Primary residential subscriber policy components

Overview

This section describes the major policy components that are essential components in a residential subscriber configuration.

These required policies include:

• Subscriber identification policies

• Subscriber profiles

• SLA profiles

• Subscriber explicit maps

See Chapter 74, Residential subscriber management for information about configuring and managing residential subscribers.

Subscriber identification policies

Subscriber identification policies apply to SAPs and associate dynamic residential subscriber hosts with NE subscriber instances. Hosts that use the same subscriber identifier, called a subscriber identification string, belong to the same subscriber and receive common general HQoS and accounting treatment as defined by the customer SLA specifications in a subscriber profile. Hosts from multiple SAPs can belong to the same subscriber, but for HQoS scheduling purposes, all hosts of a subscriber must be active on the same IOM.

A subscriber identification policy includes:

• URLs for subscriber identification scripts

• subscriber profile map

• SLA profile map

Entries in the subscriber and SLA profile maps are optional and are used for the direct assignment of profiles to hosts when hosts include profile ID strings in the DHCP Option 82 field.

Default subscriber identification policy

Although the NFM-P is installed with no default subscriber identification policy, the user can create a subscriber identification policy and designate it as the default policy by giving it the case-sensitive name “default”.

Subscriber identification scripts

A URL in a subscriber identification policy points to the location of a subscriber identification script that an NE uses to parse DHCP option information. During initialization, an NE downloads scripts from the URLs that are specified in the applied subscriber identification policies. An NE can store a maximum of four subscriber identification policies; each policy can contain up to three scripts.

A subscriber identification script derives the mandatory subscriber ID string, as well as a DSLAM identifier and optional profile ID strings, from the DHCP option information.

The user assigns a priority to each script in a subscriber identification policy. Only the operationally enabled script with the highest priority is active. If an NE encounters an error in a script or cannot find a script at the specified location, the NE marks the URL as operationally down, raises an alarm, and attempts to use the script that is next in priority.

The script-related alarms that the NFM-P raises against the local instance of a subscriber identification policy are:

• warning alarm when the primary URL is operationally up but a lower-priority URL is operationally down

• major alarm when the primary script is operationally down but one of the other scripts is operationally up

• critical alarm when all scripts are operationally down

A modification to a subscriber identification script or URL takes effect only after the URL is administratively disabled and then re-enabled, which causes an NE to reload the script. Replacing or modifying a subscriber identification script or a URL can be service-affecting if not done properly. To avoid a service disruption when you modify a subscriber identification script or URL, perform To modify the primary subscriber identification script or URL .

Subscriber profiles

A subscriber profile defines the aggregate HQoS and accounting characteristics for the hosts of a specific subscriber. During the creation of a subscriber profile, the user chooses ingress and egress scheduler policies that apply to all host queues of the subscriber. A subscriber profile permits the optional selection of SLA profiles to override the SLA profiles that are named in the subscriber identification policy.

A subscriber profile can be specified in the following components, which an NE searches in the order shown when it attempts to assign a subscriber profile to a host:

• subscriber explicit map

• subscriber identification policy

A subscriber requires an association with one and only one subscriber profile. If no subscriber profile is associated with a subscriber ID string or explicitly specified by a host, and there is no available default subscriber profile on an NE or on a SAP, the NE rejects the host.

When an accounting policy is associated with the subscriber profile, the user can configure the type of subscriber host accounting data that is reported in the RADIUS accounting message, and in the XML accounting records.

The user can define a default subscriber profile for an NE or a SAP by giving it the case-sensitive name “default” during profile creation. NE and SAP default subscriber profiles apply to hosts for which a subscriber profile is unspecified in the subscriber explicit map and subscriber identification policy.

SLA profiles

An SLA profile defines the resources that an NE assigns to a particular subset of subscriber hosts, such as VoIP telephones or BTV set-top boxes. These resources include network-access and ACL policies. An SLA profile also optionally defines the maximum number of hosts that use the profile and the action taken when the number of hosts reaches the maximum.

An SLA profile can be specified in the following components, which an NE searches in the order shown when it attempts to assign an SLA profile to a host:

• subscriber explicit map

• subscriber profile

• subscriber identification policy

An SLA profile includes:

• access ingress policy association

• access egress policy association

• local scheduler policy association for access egress policy

• ingress IP ACL filter policy association

• egress IP ACL filter policy association

• host limit that specifies the maximum number of hosts that use the SLA profile

• access ingress and access egress policy parameter override values

• access ingress and access egress policer override values

• egress scheduler override values

The queues in the access ingress and egress policies of an SLA profile must use a scheduler from the scheduler policy in the subscriber profile as their parent scheduler. Additionally, a local scheduler can be specified under the access egress policy configuration. The local scheduler policy QoS settings override the QoS settings of the parent scheduler specified in the subscriber profile.

All hosts that use the SLA profile must be active on the same IOM. When an SLA profile does not name an access ingress or access egress policy, an NE uses the SAP default policy.

The user can define a default SLA profile for a SAP. A default SAP SLA profile applies only to hosts for which an SLA profile is unspecified in the subscriber explicit map, subscriber profile, and subscriber identification policy.

Subscriber explicit maps

A subscriber explicit map is a table that directly associates dynamic subscriber hosts with subscriber profiles and SLA profiles. The entries in a subscriber explicit map override the default profile definitions. A subscriber ID string is the unique key for a subscriber explicit map entry.

A subscriber explicit map includes:

• subscriber ID string

• subscriber profile name

• SLA profile name

• AA group policy name

• subscriber ID alias

A subscriber explicit map does not allow the association of a subscriber ID string with the subscriber profile called “default”. However, if the explicit mapping omits a subscriber profile, the subscriber ID string is associated with the SAP or NE default subscriber profile. An attempt to delete a subscriber profile that is named in a subscriber explicit map fails. The user can remove explicit map entries at any time.

If the user creates a subscriber explicit map entry without using the NFM-P, for example, using CLI, the NFM-P creates a subscriber instance in the global subscriber explicit map. If the NFM-P subsequently discovers another NE with the same subscriber entry that has a mapping to different profile, the NFM-P treats the second mapping as a local mismatch to the global entry for the subscriber.