open5gs/docs/_docs/guide/03-splitting-network-elements.md

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Open5GS Splitting Network Elements	<style> .blue { color: blue; } </style>

In a production network network elements would typically not all be on the same machine, as is the default example that ships with Open5GS.

Open5GS is designed to be standards compliant, so in theory you can connect any core network element (MME, PGW, SGW, PCRF, HSS) from Open5GS or any other vendor to form a functioning network, so long as they are 3GPP compliant.

To demonstrate this we will cover isolating each network element onto it's on machine and connect each network element to the other. For some interfaces specifying multiple interfaces is supported to allow connection to multiple

In these examples we'll be connecting Open5GS elements together, but it could just as easily be EPC elements from a different vendor in the place of any Open5GS network element.

Service	IP	Identity
P-GW	10.0.1.121	pgw.localdomain
S-GW	10.0.1.122
PCRF	10.0.1.123	pcrf.localdomain
MME	10.0.1.124	mme.localdomain
HSS	10.0.1.118	hss.localdomain

External P-GW

In it's simplest from the P-GW has 3 interfaces:

• S5 - Connection to home network S-GW (GTP-C)
• Gx - Connection to PCRF (Diameter)
• Sgi - Connection to external network (Generally the Internet via standard TCP/IP)

S5 Interface Configuration

Edit /etc/open5gs/pgw.yaml and change the address to IP of the server running the P-GW for the listener on GTP-C and GTP-U interfaces.

pgw:
    freeDiameter: /etc/freeDiameter/pgw.conf
    gtpc: 
      addr:
        - 10.0.1.121
     gtpu: 
      addr:
        - 10.0.1.121

Gx Interface Configuration

Edit /etc/freeDiameter/pgw.conf

Update ListenOn address to IP of the server running the P-GW:

ListenOn = "10.0.1.121";

Update ConnectPeer to connect to the PCRF on it's IP.

ConnectPeer = "pcrf.localdomain" { ConnectTo = "10.0.1.123"; No_TLS; };

Restart Services

Restart Open5GS PGW Daemon:

$ sudo systemctl restart open5gs-pgwd

External S-GW

In it's simplest form the S-GW has 2 interfaces:

• S11 - Connection to MME (GTP-C)
• S5 - Connection to the home network P-GW (GTP-C)

S5 Interface Configuration

Edit /etc/open5gs/sgw.yaml and change the address to IP of the server running the S-GW for the listener on GTP-C interface.

sgw:
    freeDiameter: /etc/freeDiameter/pgw.conf
    gtpc: 
      addr:
        - 10.0.1.122

Restart Open5GS SGW Daemon:

$ sudo systemctl restart open5gs-sgwd

External PCRF

In it's simplest from the PCRF has 1 network interface:

• Gx - Connection to P-GW (Diameter)

Gx Interface Configuration

Edit /etc/freeDiameter/hss.conf

Update ListenOn address to IP of the server running the HSS on it's IP:

ListenOn = "10.0.1.123";

Update ConnectPeer to connect to the MME.

ConnectPeer = "pgw.localdomain" { ConnectTo = "10.0.1.121"; No_TLS; };

MongoDB Interface Configuration (Open5GS HSS only)

Edit /etc/freeDiameter/hss.conf and change the db_uri: to point at the HSS: db_uri: mongodb://10.0.1.118/open5gs

Restart Open5GS PCRF Daemon:

$ sudo systemctl restart open5gs-pcrfd

External HSS

In it's simplest form the HSS has 1 network interface:

• S6a - Connection to MME (Diameter)

S6a Interface Configuration

Edit /etc/freeDiameter/hss.conf

Update ListenOn address to IP of the server running the HSS on it's IP:

ListenOn = "10.0.1.118";

Update ConnectPeer to connect to the MME.

ConnectPeer = "mme.localdomain" { ConnectTo = "10.0.1.124"; No_TLS; };

Restart Open5GS HSS Daemon:

$ sudo systemctl restart open5gs-hssd

MongoDB Interface Configuration (Open5GS specific)

If you are using Open5GS's HSS you may need to enable MongoDB access from the PCRF. This is done by editing ''/etc/mongodb.conf'' and changing the bind IP to: bind_ip = 0.0.0.0

Restart MongoDB for changes to take effect.

$ /etc/init.d/mongodb restart

External MME

In it's simplest form the MME has 3 interfaces:

• S1AP - Connections from eNodeBs
• S6a - Connection to HSS (Diameter)
• S11 - Connection to S-GW (GTP-C)

S11 Interface Configuration

Edit /etc/open5gs/mme.yaml and filling the IP address of the S-GW and P-GW servers.

sgw:
    gtpc:
      addr: 10.0.1.122

pgw:
    gtpc:
      addr:
        - 10.0.1.121

S6a Interface Configuration

Edit /etc/freeDiameter/mme.conf

Update ListenOn address to IP of the server running the MME:

ListenOn = "10.0.1.124";

Update ConnectPeer to connect to the PCRF on it's IP.

ConnectPeer = "hss.localdomain" { ConnectTo = "10.0.1.118"; No_TLS; };

Restart Services

Restart Open5GS MME Daemon:

$ sudo systemctl restart open5gs-mmed