What are Diameter Interfaces?
Diameter interfaces provide connections among Diameter nodes to enable essential service provider network functions such as authentication, online and offline billing, and policy and charging.
Seamless connectivity among the many different network components in 4G LTE environments is essential to the ability of service providers (SPs) to ensure service availability. It’s also essential in creating an interconnected environment that combines legacy and LTE elements.
Using the F5 BIG-IP platform, SPs can add support for new Diameter interfaces by simply uploading XML-based Diameter data dictionaries to BIG-IP for fast interconnection with multiple Diameter nodes.
The BIG-IP platform also provides seamless and transparent support for any vendor-specific AVPs (attribute-value pairs) and can transparently handle multiple different versions of the same AVP with different encoding. If the solution needs to modify these AVPs, they can be added into the dictionary file with different names, to allow a user to access and modify these AVPs using their real names.
The following tables shows the complete list of interfaces that are supported by the BIG-IP platform.
| Interface | Network location | Supported version |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter Base Protocol | IETF RFC 3588 | |
| Sh interface | Between AS and HSS, Subscription and Authentication Data – IMS | 3GPP TS 29.328 & TS 29.329 |
| Sd interface | Between PCRF and TDF (Traffic Detection Function) | 3GPP TS 29.212 |
| Sy interface | Between PCRF and OCS/OFCS, Policy and Charging Control over Sy reference point | 3GPP TS 29.219 |
| Dh interface | Between AS and SLF | 3GPP TS 29.328 & TS 29.329 |
| Rf interface | Between AS and OFCS, postpaid charging | RFC 4006, 3GPP TS 32.225 & TS 32.299 |
| Ro interface | Between AS and OCS, online charging in IMS & LTE | RFC 4006, 3GPP TS 32.225 & TS 32.299 |
| Re interface | Between OCF and Rating function | 3GPP TS 32.296 |
| Cx interface | Between CSCF and HSS, Subscription and Authentication Data – IMS | 3GPP TS 29.228 & TS29.229 |
| Dx interface | Between CSCF and SLF | 3GPP TS 29.228 & TS29.229 |
| Sp interface | Between PCRF and SPR | 3GPP TS 23.203, TS 29.328 & TS 29.329 |
| Rx interface | Between AF and the PCRF, QoS and Policy | 3GPP TS 23.203 & TS 29.214 |
| Gx interface | Between PCEF and the PCRF, QoS and Policy | 3GPP TS 29.212 & TS 23.203 |
| Gy interface | Between OCS and PCEF, online charging | 3GPP TS 32.299, TS 32.251 & RFC 4006 |
| Gz interface | Between PCEF and OFCS | 3GPP TS 32.240, TS 32.295 |
| Gq interface | Between AF and PDF | 3GPP TS 29.209 |
| Gi interface | Between Packet Domain and an external packet data network | 3GPP TS 29.061 |
| SGi interface | Between the EPC based PLMN and the packet data network | 3GPP TS 29.061 |
| Zh interface | Between BSF and HSS | 3GPP TS 29.109 & TS 33.220 |
| Zh interface | Between BSF and HSS (used between operators) | 3GPP TS 29.109 & TS 33.220 |
| Dz interface | Between BSF and SLF | 3GPP TS 29.109 & TS 33.220 |
| Zn interface | Between BSF and NAF | 3GPP TS 29.109 & TS 33.220 |
| Zn' interface | Between BSF and Zn Proxy | 3GPP TS 29.109 & TS 33.220 |
| Dw interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Server and an SLF | 3GPP TS 29.234 |
| Wa interface | Between the WLAN AN and the 3GPP AAA Proxy | 3GPP TS 29.234 |
| Wd interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Proxy and 3GPP AAA Server | 3GPP TS 29.234 |
| Wx interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Server and the HSS | 3GPP TS 29.234 |
| Wm interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Server and the PDG | 3GPP TS 29.234 |
| Wg interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Server/Proxy and the WAG | 3GPP TS 29.234 |
| Pr interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Server and the PNA | 3GPP TS 29.234 |
| Wm interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Server and the PDG | 3GPP TS 29.234 |
| Gmb interface | Between GGSN and BM-SC | 3GPP TS 29.061 |
| Mz interface | Mz is the roaming variant of the Gmb reference point with the same functionality | 3GPP TS 29.061 |
| Bi interface | CCF to BS | 3GPP TS TS 32.225 |
| MM10 interface | Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) | OMA MM10 interface |
| Ty interface | Between AGW and PCRF | 3GPP2 TSG-X X.S0013-014 |
| Tx interface | Between AF and PCRF | 3GPP2 TSG-X X.S0013-013 |
| S6a interface | Between MME and HSS, Subscription and Authentication Data | 3GPP TS 29.272 |
| S6b interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Server/Proxy and the PDN GW | 3GPP TS 23402 |
| S6d interface | Between SGSN and HSS, Subscription and Authentication Data | 3GPP TS 29.272 |
| S7c interface | Transfer of (QoS) policy information from PCRF to the S-GW. | 3GPP TS 32820, TS 23402 |
| S9 interface | Between PCRF in the HPLMN (H PCRF) and a PCRF in the VPLMN (V PCRF) | 3GPP TS 23.203 & TS 29.215 |
| S13 and S13' interface | Between EIR and MME/SGSN | 3GPP TS 29.272 |
| Gxa interface | PCRF and the BBERF | 3GPP TS 23.203 |
| Gxb interface | Between ePDG and vPCRF | 3GPP TS 23.203 |
| Gxc interface | BPCRF and the BBERF | 3GPP TS 23.203 |
| SWa interface | Between an un-trusted non-3GPP IP access and the 3GPP AAA Server/Proxy | 3GPP TS 23402 |
| SWd interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Proxy and 3GPP AAA Server | 3GPP TS 23402 |
| SWn interface | Between Untrusted Non-3GPP IP Access and ePDG | 3GPP TS 23402 |
| SWm interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Server/Proxy and the ePDG | 3GPP TS 23402 |
| SWx interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Server and the HSS | 3GPP TS 23402 |
| Sta interface | Between a trusted non-3GPP IP access and the 3GPP AAA Server/Proxy | 3GPP TS 23402 |
| H2 interface | Between the 3GPP AAA Server and the HA | 3GPP TS 23402 |
| Gq’ interface | Between AF and RACS | ETSI TS 183.017 |
| E2 interface | Between AF and NASS | ETSI TS 283 035 |
| E4 interface | Between NASS and RACS | ETSI TS 283 034 |
| E5 interface | Between UAAF – UAAF | ETSI TS 282 004 |
| Re interface | Between RCEF and RACS | ETSI TS 183 060 |
| A4 interface | Between CLF and UAAF | ETSI TS 282 004 |
| Rr interface | x-RACF | 03196-NGN-R3 |
| Zh interface | Generic Authentication Architecture (GAA) | PKT-SP-29.109 |
| Zn interface | Generic Authentication Architecture (GAA) | PKT-SP-29.109 |
| Cx interface | CSCF- HSS | PKT-SP-29.229 |
| Dx interface | CSCF- SLF | PKT-SP-29.229 |
| Pkt-laes-2 interface | Session Control Element — DF (electronic surveillance requirements) | PKT-SP-ES-INF-I01 |
| P-CSCF- PAM Interface | Between P-CSCF – PAM | PKT-SP-QOS-I02-080425, 3GPP TS 23.203 & TS 29.214 |
| Pkt-mm-2 interface | Policy Server — CMTS | 3GPP TS 29.212 & TS 23.203 |
| TC-6 | Based on 3GPP Rx | MSF-IA-DIAMETER.010-FINAL |
| TC-7 | Based on 3GPP Ty | MSF-IA-DIAMETER.014-FINAL |
| TC-8 | Based on 3GPP Tx | MSF-IA-DIAMETER.013-FINAL |
| TC-9 | Based on 3GPP Rq | MSF-IA-DIAMETER.005-FINAL |
| TC-10 | Based on 3GPP Gx | MSF-IA-DIAMETER.012-FINAL |
| TC-11 | Based on 3GPP e4 | MSF-OA-DIMATER.011-FINAL |
| DB-0 | Based on 3GPP Cx/Dx | MSF-IA-DIAMETER.006-FINAL |
| DB-2 | Based on 3GPP Sh/Dh | MSF-IA-DIAMETER.003-FINAL |
| BI-1 | Based on 3GPP Rf | MSF-IA-BILLING.001-FINAL |
| LOC-1 | Based on 3GPP e2 | MSF-IA.DIAMETER.008-FINAL |
| Rw interface | Between the Policy Decision Physical Entity (PD-PE) and the Policy Enforcement Physical Entity (PE-PE) | ITU Q.3303.3 |
| Rs interface | Between Service Control Physical Entity (SC-PE) and Resource and Admission Control Physical Entity (RAC-PE) | ITU Q.3301 |
Related Content
