Wi-Fi aggregation and offload

The WLAN-GW supports N:M warm standby redundancy on an IOM level. One WLAN-GW group can be configured with a set of WLAN-GW IOMs, and a limit of active IOMs. Each WLAN-GW IOM can only contain ISA hardware with the ISA BB image loaded. Any combination with other hardware or ISAs with another image is not supported and MDA-based redundancy must be used instead.

In IOM resiliency mode, all ISAs on an IOM are either active or standby and the maximum number of active resources is also configured at the IOM level using the active-iom-limit command. IOMs beyond the active limit act as warm standby and take over the tunnel termination and session management functions from a failed IOM. It is not possible to change the active-iom-limit while a system is running.

The WLAN-GW supports N:M warm standby redundancy on an MDA level. With this feature, it is possible to configure separate MDAs in the WLAN-GW group without the restriction that all MDAs in an IOM be BB modules. Up to 14 BB modules can be configured and active at one time.

MDA-based redundancy makes hardware provisioning more flexible but does not guarantee that all ESM session states is recovered after an MDA failure. Because BB MDAs share IOM resources with another MDA in the same IOM, there is no guarantee that the same set of resources is available on the IOM of the new MDA after a failure. This restriction does not apply to DSM.

There are several ways to ensure that the system has adequate IOM resources following a failure.

• Use symmetric provisioning over all IOMs with BB modules. For example, do not create a 2:3 active:standby group by putting two BB MDAs on one IOM (IOM A) and one BB MDA on another IOM (IOM B). When the active ISAs are spread over IOM A and IOM B, the WLAN-GW has the full resources of two IOMs. However, after a failure, it is possible that both active ISAs is on IOM A and limited to the resources of a single IOM.

• Combine BB MDAs with MDAs and services using predictable and fixed resources. For example, combining BB functionality with AA modules provides enhanced traffic services because AA modules typically have a fixed resource usage that allows you to predict resources following a failure.

• Create a safety buffer by leaving some resources unallocated. By not maximizing resource usage on a single IOM, it is more likely those resources are also available on a backup location.

For more details, contact a Nokia representative.

The GRE encapsulation is based on RFC 1701/2784, Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE), WLAN-GW encapsulates according to RFC 1701 with all the flag fields set to 0, and no optional fields present. WLAN-GW can receive both encapsulations specified in RFC 1701 and RFC 2784, with all flag fields set to 0, and no optional fields present in the header.

The encapsulation is built as follows:

• Outer Ethernet header: (14 bytes)

  • Source MAC: MAC address of the Wi-Fi AP/RG/HGW HW address

  • Destination MAC: MAC address of the first IP NH the Wi-Fi AP/RG/HGW is connected to (for example, CMTS, IP aggregation router, BNG, and so on)

• Outer VLAN: (4 bytes): optional, typically used for service delineation in the access or aggregation network.

• Outer IPv4 Header: (20 bytes)

  • Source IP — IP address used for WAN addressing which is retrieved by the AP/RG from the ISP through DHCP, PPPoX, and so on

  • Destination IP — Soft-GRE server address which can be retrieved by a DHCP Option, PPPoX option or configured by TR69 or configured statically in a boot file (in cable environment).

  • DSCP — Reflects QoS used in the access/aggregation network.

  • TTL — Should be set to 255 or should reflect the amount of IP hops in the access/aggregation network

• GRE: (4 bytes)

  • All flags are set to 0, such as checksum, sequence number and keys are not present.

  • The Ether-Type is set to 0x6558 for native Ethernet is used, and 0x8847 when MPLS encapsulation is used.

• MPLS Pseudowire Label (4 bytes)

  • Label Value, statically assigned in the Wi-Fi AP/Controller and reflected from the soft-GRE server to the Wi-Fi AP/Controller. The Label is unique within the context of the source IP address of the tunnel.

  • EXP: 0 (not used)

  • TTL: 255 (not used)

• Inner Ethernet header: (14 bytes)

  • Source MAC: MAC address of the UE

  • Destination MAC: MAC address of the soft-GRE server/WLAN-GW.

• Inner VLAN: (4 bytes): optional, inserted by AP/RG per unique SSID (typically, when the AP is providing SSID per retailer). WLAN-GW allows mapping the VLAN to a service context per retailer, in the data plane.

• Inner IPv4 Header: (20 bytes)

  • Source IP: Client’s IP address obtained via DHCP (tunneled).

  • Destination IP: IP address of the destination client trying to reach.

  • DSCP: set by the client/application

  • TTL: set by the client/application

Soft-GRE tunnel termination is performed on dedicated IOMs with MS-ISAs (referred to as WLAN-GW IOM). Each WLAN-GW IOM requires both MS-ISAs to be plugged in for soft-GRE tunnel termination. MS-ISA provides tunnel encapsulation/decapsulation and anchor point for inter-AP mobility. The carrier IOMs of the ISA where the tunnel is terminated performs bandwidth shaping per tunnel (or per-tunnel per SSID). ESM function such as per-subscriber anti-spoofing (IP and MAC), filters, hierarchical policing, and lawful intercept are provided on the carrier IOM corresponding to the ISA where the subscriber is anchored.

An ESM and soft-gre configuration is required for wlan-gw functions. Subscriber and group interfaces are configured as part of normal ESM configuration. The group interface is enabled for wlan-gw by configuration. L2oGRE is the currently supported soft tunnel types. The wlan-gw related configuration includes the following:

• Tunnel end-point IP address.

• Service context for tunnel termination.

• TCP MSS segment size. This is set in TCP SYN and SYN-ACKs by WLAN-GW to adjust to the MTU on access/aggregation network to prevent fragmentation of upstream and downstream TCP packets.

• Mobility related configuration, including mobility trigger packet types (normal data or special Ethernet IAPP fame), and hold-down time between successive mobility triggers.

• VLAN to retailer mapping. The AP typically inserts a unique dot1Q tag per retail service provider in the Ethernet payload. The mapping of dot1Q tag to retail service context is configured under wlan-gw tunnel. The subscriber is then created in the configured retail service context. The retail service context can also be provided by AAA server in authentication-accept message based on subscriber credentials or SSID information contained in DHCP Option82.

• Egress QoS configuration for downstream traffic entering the wlan-gw module for tunnel encapsulation. This includes type of aggregate bandwidth shaping (per-tunnel or per-retailer), aggregate-rate-limit, egress QoS policy and scheduler policy. The tunnel shaping can be configured to be applied only when there is more than one subscriber on the tunnel. By default the shaping if configured is applied when first subscriber on the tunnel logs in.

*B:Dut-C>config>service>vprn>sub-if>grp-if>wlan-gw# info detail 
----------------------------------------------
                        authentication
                            no authentication-policy
                            hold-time sec 5 
                        exit
                        no data-triggered-ue-creation
                        dhcp
                            shutdown
                            active-lease-time min 10 
                            initial-lease-time min 10 
                            no l2-aware-ip-address
                            no primary-dns
                            no primary-nbns
                            no secondary-dns
                            no secondary-nbns
                        exit
                        egress
                            no agg-rate-limit
                            no hold-time
                            qos 1
                            no scheduler-policy
                            no shape-multi-client-only
                            no shaping
                        exit
                        gw-addresses
                            address 10.1.1.4
                        exit
                        no http-redirect-policy
                        no nat-policy
                        mobility
                            hold-time 5
                            no trigger
                        exit
                        router 70
                        no tcp-mss-adjust
                        track-mobility
                            mac-format "aa:"
                            no radius-proxy-cache
                        exit
                        wlan-gw-group 3
                        vlan-tag-ranges
                            range start 0 end 100
                                authentication
                                    no authentication-policy
                                    hold-time sec 5 
                                exit
                                no data-triggered-ue-creation
                                dhcp
                                    shutdown
                                    active-lease-time min 10 
                                    initial-lease-time min 10 
                                    no l2-aware-ip-address
                                    no primary-dns
                                    no primary-nbns
                                    no secondary-dns
                                    no secondary-nbns
                                exit
                                no http-redirect-policy
                                no nat-policy
                                retail-svc-id 35
                                track-mobility
                                    mac-format "aa:"
                                    no radius-proxy-cache
                                exit
                            exit
                        exit
                        no shutdown

In the upstream direction, the ingress IOM receiving the GRE tunneled packets from the Wi-Fi AP or AC, load-balances tunnel processing amongst the set of MS-ISAs on the active WLAN-GW IOMs in the WLAN-GW group. The load-balancing is based on a hash of source IP address in the outer IP header. The MS-ISA receiving the GRE encapsulated packets removes the tunnel encapsulation, and internally tunnels (MAC-in-MAC, using BVPLS) the packet to an anchor MS-ISA on the WLAN-GW IOM. All traffic from a specific UE is always forwarded to the same anchor MS-ISA based on hashing on UE’s MAC address. The MS-ISA provides a mobility anchor point for the UE. The UE MAC’s association to the GRE tunnel identifier is created or updated. The corresponding IOM provides ESM functions including ESM lookup, ingress ACLs and QoS. DHCP packets are forwarded to the CPM from the anchor IOM.

In the downstream direction, the IP packets are forwarded as normal from the network IOM (based on route lookup yielding subscriber subnet) to the IOM where the ESM host is anchored. ESM processing including per UE hierarchical policing and LI is performed on the anchor IOM. Configured MTU on the group-interface is enforced on the IOM, and if required packets are fragmented. The packets are then forwarded to the appropriate anchor MS-ISA housed by this IOM. Lookup based on UE’s MAC address is performed to get the tunnel identification, and the packets are MAC-in-MAC tunneled to the MS-ISA terminating the GRE tunnel. Aggregate shaping on the tunneled traffic (per tunnel or per retailer) is performed on the carrier IOM housing the tunnel termination MS-ISA. The tunnel termination MS-ISA removes MAC-in-MAC encapsulation, and GRE encapsulates the Layer 2 packet, which exits on the Layer 3 SAP to the carrier IOM. The GRE tunneled packet is forwarded to the right access IOM toward the Wi-Fi AP-based on a routing lookup on IP DA in the outer header.

Using location based policy for Wi-Fi subscribers is important. The business logic in AAA could use the location of the subscriber. Therefore, it is important to notify location change of the subscriber to AAA. Standard way to do this is by generating an interim accounting update when the WLAN-GW learns of the location change for a subscriber. The location for a Wi-Fi subscriber can be inferred from MAC@ (preferred) or WAN IP@ of the AP.

For open-SSID, learning about mobility could be data-triggered or IAPP packet triggered. If triggered, interim accounting-update is configured via CLI, then on detecting a location change for the UE, an interim accounting-update is sent immediately to the AAA server with the new AP’s MAC@ (if already known to WLAN-GW). The accounting-update contains NASP-port-id (which contains the AP’s IP@), and circuit-id (from DHCP option-82) which contains AP’s MAC@ and SSID. In case of data-triggered mobility, if the new AP’s MAC@ is not already known to WLAN-GW, a GRE encapsulated ARP packet is generated toward the AP to learn the MAC@ of the AP. The AP is expected to reply with a GRE encapsulated ARP response containing its MAC@. The generation of ARP to learn the AP’s MAC@ is controlled via CLI. The GRE encapsulated ARP packet is shown in GRE encapsulated ARP request.

The standard ARP request must be formatted as follows:

• Hardware Type = Ethernet (1)

• Protocol Type = 0x0800 (IPv4)

• H/W Addr Len = 6

• Proto Addr Len = 4

• Operational code (1 = request)

• Source hardware address = WLAN-GW MAC@

• Source protocol address = Tunnel endpoint IP@ on WLAN-GW

• Target hardware address = Unknown

• Target protocol address = WAN IP@ of the AP (source IP in GRE packet)

The AP must generate a GRE encapsulated ARP response when it receives the GRE encapsulated ARP request for its WAN IP@ (that is used to source tunneled packets). The standard ARP response should be formatted as follows:

• Hardware Type = Ethernet (1)

• Protocol Type = 0x0800 (IPv4)

• H/W Addr Len = 6

• Proto Addr Len = 4

• Operational code (2 = response)

• Source hardware address = AP MAC@

• Source protocol address = WAN IP@ of AP (used for sourcing tunneled packets)

• Target hardware address = source hardware address from the request

• Target protocol address = source protocol address from ARP request

For 802.1x/EAP SSID, the location change (mobility) is learned from an interim-accounting update from the AP. The called-station-Id (containing the AP MAC@) is compared against the current stored called-station-Id that the subscriber is associated with. If the called-station-id is different than the received interim accounting update is immediately forwarded to the accounting server, if triggered interim accounting-update is configured via CLI. In previous releases, the interim-update received from the AP is not immediately forwarded by the accounting proxy. Only a regularly scheduled interim-update is sent.

This feature supports configurable inclusion of counters for an ESM host (UE) in triggered interim updates, because of mobility, generated from WLAN-GW. Triggered interim updates provide a way for RADIUS to learn of the current location of the UE (such as AP MAC).

The feature also supports a configurable hold down time to protect against very frequent mobility events. The CPM must communicate with the IOM for each mobility event to obtain the counters. By default, when inclusion of counters is enabled, no hold-down time is imposed on mobility triggered interim updates. If a hold down time is configured, the first mobility event triggers an interim update with counters included and start the hold down timer. If the hold down timer has not expired, interim updates because of a mobility event are not sent.

The inclusion of counters and hold down time are applicable to all access-types (soft-GRE, soft-L2TPv3, L2-AP, SAP, PW-SAP, and so on), and for DHCP, data-triggered, and EAP authentication or re-authentication triggered mobility.

The configuration for counter inclusion subject to optional hold down time is only applicable to ESM. For counters to be included in the mobility-triggered interim updates, the general std-acct-attributes or detailed-acct-attributes in the include-attribute in the radius-accounting-policy must also be enabled. With DSM, counters are always included in mobility-triggered interim updates if the isa-radius-policy has inclusion for either or both frame-counters or octet-counters enabled. Unlike ESM, no new WLAN-GW-specific configuration is required for the counter inclusion.

The feature is supported at the maximum ESM host scale.

config>router>wlan-gw>mobility-triggered-acct> 
     interim-update
     interim-update include-counters [hold-down <seconds>]
     no interim-update
<include-counters>   : keyword
<seconds>            : [60..86400]

Following command shows if GRE encapsulated ARP request is enabled.

*A:Dut-C# show router 4 interface "grp-vprn_ue-2/1/2:50" detail
=====================================================================
Interface Table (Service: 4)
=====================================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Interface
--------------------------------------------------------------------
If Name          : grp-vprn_ue-2/1/2:50
Sub If Name      : ies-4-20.0.0.1
Red If Name      :
Admin State      : Up                   Oper (v4/v6)      : Up/Up
Protocols        : None

WLAN Gateway details
Administrative state        : in-service
Router                      : 50
IP address                  : 10.1.1.3
IPv6 address                : 2001:db8::0
ISA group ID                : 1
Egr shaping                 : none
Egr shape multi UE only     : false
Egr qos policy ID           : (Not Specified)
Egr scheduler policy        : (Not Specified)
Egr agg rate limit (kbps)   : (Not Specified)
Egr qos resrc hold time (s) : 0
Mobility trigger            : data iapp
Mobility ARP AP             : enabled
Mobility hold time (s)      : 0
Default retailer service    : (Not Specified)
TCP MSS adjust              : (Not Specified)
Number of tunnels           : 0
Last management change      : 02/19/2014 17:48:52

Migrant user support can only be used for closed SSIDs when there is no RADIUS-proxy configured on WLAN-GW. If no RADIUS proxy is configured, then initial RADIUS request carrying EAP from the AP is normally forwarded to a RADIUS server. The RADIUS exchange is between AP and the AAA server, and no information from EAP authentication is cached on the WLAN-GW. The subsequent DHCP DISCOVER after successful EAP authentication is received on the ISA. However, for subscriber that needs to be GTP tunneled to PGW/GGSN, the DHCP is forwarded to the CPM, where it triggers a RADIUS authorization. RADIUS correlates the MAC address with calling-station-id from EAP authentication for the user. GTP tunnel initiation, and ESM host creation then follows after receiving an Access-Accept. However, for a ‟local-breakout” subscriber DHCP and L2-aware NAT is handled on the ISA (as in the case for migrant users with portal based authentication). Shared inside IP address can be handed out to each subscriber. The first L3 packet triggers MAC address based RADIUS authorization from the ISA. RADIUS server can correlate the EAP authentication with the MAC address of the user and send an access-accept. This triggers ESM host creation as normal.

For closed SSIDs with EAP authentication, if a RADIUS proxy function is configured on WLAN-GW, then the initial EAP authentication from the AP is processed by the RADIUS-proxy on the CPM and is forwarded to the RADIUS server based on configured authentication policy. Based on authentication response, ESM host creation with local DHCP address assignment or GTP tunnel initiation proceeds as usual.

With data-triggered-ue-creation configured under wlan-gw group interface or per VLAN range (such as, per one or more SSIDs), the first UDP or TCP packet received on WLAN-GW ISA from an unknown subscriber (with no prior state, such as an unknown MAC address) triggers RADIUS authentication from the ISA. The authentication is based on configured isa-radius-policy (under the aaa context). If RADIUS authentication succeeds, then ESM host is created from the CPM. The ESM host can get deleted based on idle-timeout. Data-triggered authentication and subscriber creation enables stateless inter WLAN-GW redundancy, as shown in N:1 WLAN-GW redundancy based on data-triggered authentication and subscriber creation. If the AP is configured with a backup WLAN-GW address (or FQDN), it can tunnel subscriber traffic to the backup WLAN-GW, when it detects failure of the primary WLAN-GW (based on periodic liveness detection). With ‟data-triggered-ue-creation” configured, the first data packet results in authentication and ESM host creation on the backup WLAN-GW. If the subscriber had obtained an IP address via DHCP with L2-aware NAT on the primary WLAN-GW, it can retain it with L2 aware NAT on the backup WLAN-GW. The NAT outside pool for the subscriber changes on the backup WLAN-GW based on local configuration. For a subscriber that needs to be anchored on GGSN/PGW (as indicated via RADIUS access-accept), RADIUS server returns the IP address of PGW/GGSN where the UE was anchored before the switch-over. GTP tunnel is then signaled with ‟handover indication” set. The PGW/GGSN must return the requested IP address of the UE, which is the address with which the UE originated data packet that triggered authentication.

The same data-triggered authentication and subscriber creation is also used to support inter WLAN-GW mobility, such as when a UE moves form one AP to another AP such that the new AP is anchored on a different WLAN-GW. This is shown in N:1 WLAN-GW redundancy based on data-triggered authentication and subscriber creation.

The following output displays the configuration for migrant user support and ‟data-triggered” subscriber creation.

Migrant user NAT configuration

#------------------------------------------------------
 NAT configuration for migrant and authenticated users
#------------------------------------------------------
service

  vprn 300 customer 1 create

     nat
       inside
          l2-aware
               address 10.20.12/16
          exit
       exit
       outside
           pool "migrant_outside_pool" nat-group 1 type wlan-gw-anchor create 
                address-range 10.22.0.0 10.22.0.255 create
                exit
                no shutdown
           exit
           pool "wifi_outside_pool" nat-group 1 type l2-aware create 
                address-range 10.0.0.0 10.0.0.255 create
                exit
                no shutdown
           exit
       exit
     exit
  exit

  nat
   nat-policy "migrant_nat_300" create
        pool "migrant_outside_pool" router 300
        timeouts
             tcp-established min 1 
        exit
   exit

   nat-policy "wifi_nat_300" create
        pool "wifi_outside_pool" router 300
   exit

 exit

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
echo "AAA Configuration" - ISA-RADIUS-Policy for authentication from WLAN-GW ISA
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    aaa
        isa-radius-policy "wifi_isa_radius" create
            description "Default authentication policy for migrant users"
            password "i2KzVe9XPxgy4KN2UEIf6jKeMT3X4mT6JcUmnnPZIrw" hash2
            servers
                router "Base"
                source-address-range 10.100.100.4
                server 1 create
                    authentication
                    coa
                    ip-address 10.100.100.2
                    secret "ABIQRobhHXzq13ycwqS74FSrj.OdTwh5IdjhRB.yAF." hash2
                    no shutdown
                exit
            exit
        exit
        radius-server-policy "radius_server_policy" create
            servers
                router "Base"
                server 1 name "radius_server"
            exit
        exit
    exit

#--------------------------------------------------
echo "Subscriber-mgmt Configuration" - Redirect Policy
#--------------------------------------------------
    subscriber-mgmt             
        http-redirect-policy "migrant_redirect" create
            url "portal.ipdtest.nokia.com:8081/start/?mac=$MAC&url=$URL&ip=$IP"
            portal-hold-time 10
            forward-entries
                dst-ip 10.8.8.1 protocol tcp dst-port 8081
                dst-ip 10.8.8.7 protocol tcp dst-port 8007
                dst-ip 10.8.8.8 protocol udp dst-port 53
            exit
        exit
     exit
service

#----------------------------------------------------------------
echo "migrant user configuration under wlan-gw group interface”
#---------------------------------------------------------------

  vprn 300 customer 1 create

    subscriber-interface "ies-4-20.10.1.1" create
        address 10.20.12/16
                
        group-interface "grp-vprn_ue-2/1/2:51" wlangw create
            sap-parameters
                sub-sla-mgmt
                    def-sla-profile "slaprof_1"
                    def-sub-profile "subprof_1"
                    sub-ident-policy "identprof"
                 exit
             exit
             dhcp
                 proxy-server
                     emulated-server 10.20.12.12
                     no shutdown
                 exit
                 trusted
                 lease-populate 32767
                 user-db "radius_ludb"
                 no shutdown
              exit
              host-connectivity-verify interval 1000
              wlan-gw
                  gw-addresses
                     address 10.1.1.4
                  exit
                  mobility
                      hold-time 0
                      trigger data iapp 
                  exit
                  router 50
                  wlan-gw-group 1
                  vlan-tag-ranges
                       range start 100 end 100
                            authentication
                                 authentication-policy "wifi_isa_radius"
                            exit
                            data-triggered-ue-creation
                            dhcp
                               l2-aware-ip-address 10.1.1.2
                               primary-dns 10.1.1.1
                               secondary-dns 10.1.1.1
                               no shutdown
                            exit
                            nat-policy "migrant_nat_4"
                        exit                                                
    exit
                   no shutdown
                exit
          exit
     exit
exit

Based on DHCP and L2 NAT configuration on the ISA, the configured IP address (l2-aware-ip-address configured under vlan-tag-ranges range start vlan-id end vlan-id or vlan-tag-ranges range default) is assigned to the user via DHCP. A different DHCP lease-time can be configured for an un-authenticated and an authenticated user for which an ESM or DSM host has been created. DHCP return options, for example, DNS and NBNS server addresses can be configured. This configuration can be per soft-wlan-gw group interface (by explicitly configuring it under vlan-tag-ranges range default), or per VLAN range (where a VLAN tag corresponds to an SSID). By default, for open SSIDs, DHCP DORA is completed, and authentication request is sent to AAA server only on reception of the first Layer 3 packet. However, with an authenticate-on-dhcp command configured under vlan-tag-ranges range default (default or specific range), authentication can be triggered on received DHCP DISCOVER or REQUEST when no UE state is present. If UE anchoring on GGSN/PGW is required, then authenticate-on-dhcp must be enabled, because the decision to setup GTP tunnel (in which case the IP@ for the UE comes from the GGSN/PGW) is based on RADIUS response.

To support unique inside IP addresses, the ISA Pool Manager can be used. Pools are allocated to each ISA in large blocks, requiring an IPv4 subnet with prefix-length 16. From this prefix, the subnet address (x.x.0.0), broadcast address (x.x.255.255), and gateway address (x.x.0.1) are reserved and not allocated to UEs, reducing the total number of available addresses by three. NAT pools are only available in non-retailer subscriber interfaces. Any retail service ID derived from configuration or AAA is only used for IPv6 pool selection and is ignored for IPv4 NAT pools. Forwarding in a different VRF can be achieved by selecting a different NAT policy and outside VRF.

The authentication is initiated from RADIUS client on the ISA anchoring the user, based on an isa-radius-policy (configured under aaa) and specified on the wlan-gw group-interface. This support exists in prior releases and is described in Authentication and forwarding. The auth-policy can contain up to ten servers, five of which can be for authentication and all ten can be COA servers.

To generate accounting updates for DSM UEs, an accounting policy (type isa-radius-policy) must be configured under the aaa node and specified under vlan-range (default or specific range) on the wlan-gw interface. Accounting for DSM UEs includes accounting-start, accounting-stop, and interim-updates. Interim-update interval is configurable under vlan-range on wlan-gw interface. The username format to be included in RADIUS messages is configurable in the auth-policy and accounting-policy via the user-name-format command. By default, the username contains the UE MAC address, but can be configured to include the UEs MAC address and IP address, or circuit-id or DHCP vendor options. If authenticate-on-dhcp is enabled, then the IP address for the UE is not known before authentication, and, if the username is configured to contain both MAC and IP address, then only the MAC address is included.

The accounting-policy can be configured with attributes to be included in the accounting messages. The details of the attributes are covered in the 7450 ESS, 7750 SR, and VSR RADIUS Attributes Reference Guide. The attributes are included here for reference.

*A:Dut-1>config>aaa# info 
----------------------------------------------
  isa-radius-policy "isaRadiusPol1" create 
      user-name-format mac mac-format alu
     acct-include-attributes
           acct-delay-time
           acct-trigger-reason
           called-station-id
           calling-station-id
           circuit-id
           dhcp-options
           dhcp-vendor-class-id
           frame-counters
           framed-ip-addr
           framed-ip-netmask
           hardware-timestamp
           inside-service-id
           mac-address
           multi-session-id
           nas-identifier
           nas-port-id
           nas-port-type
           octet-counters        
           outside-ip
           outside-service-id
           port-range-block
           release-reason
           remote-id
           session-time
           subscriber-id
           ue-creation-type
           user-name
           wifi-rssi
           wifi-ssid-vlan 
        exit

The isa-radius-policy for auth/COA and accounting specifies the server selection method for the servers specified in the policy with respect to load-balancing and failure of one or more servers. The three methods implemented include:

• direct

  Specifies that the first server is used as primary for all RADIUS messages, the second server is used as secondary (that is, used for all RADIUS messages if primary server fails), and so on.

• round-robin

  RADIUS messages across accounting-sessions are distributed in a round-robin manner amongst the list of configured servers. All accounting messages for a given session are sent to the selected server for that session, until that server fails. If a server fails, then the sessions targeted to that server are distributed in a round-robin manner amongst the remaining servers. If the failed server comes back up, the sessions that were originally assigned to the failed server revert to the original server.

• hash

  Server is picked via hash on UE MAC. The hash list consists of all configured servers that are up. If a server fails, then the UEs hashed to that server are re-hashed over the remaining servers that are up.

If a response is not received for a RADIUS message from a particular server for a configurable timeout value (per server), and the time elapsed because the last packet received from this RADIUS server is longer than this configured timeout value, then the server is deemed to be down. Periodically an accounting-on message is sent to a server that is marked as down, to probe if it has become responsive. If a response is received then the server is marked as up.

*A:Dut-1>config>aaa# info
isa-radius-policy "isaRadiusPol1" create
            nas-ip-address-origin system-ip
            password "6mNsKxvTe.0.nNCTIpGFcu.rr/qtdijazQ3ED8WAFfk" hash2
            user-name-format mac mac-format alu release-reason
            servers
                access-algorithm hash-based
                retry 3
                router "Base"
                source-address-range 81.1.0.1
                timeout sec 5 
                server 1 create
                    accounting port 1813
                    authentication port 1812
                    coa port 3799
                    ip-address 10.13.0.2
                    secret "3BmWbBfDO38hPY8DtLFn8bYDBaduy6w.ogeSUsouoHc" hash2
                    no shutdown
                exit
            exit
        exit 
----------------------------------------------
*A:Dut-1>config>aaa#

Filtering based on protocol, destination IP, destination port or any combination is supported for traffic to and from the UE. The match entries and corresponding actions can be specified within the isa-filter which can be created in the config>subscr-mgmt context. The filter can be associated with a vlan-range (default or specific vlan-range) on wlan-gw interface, in which case all subscribers associated with the vlan-range is associated with an instance of this filter.

The supported filter actions include drop and forward. The first match causes corresponding action to be executed and no further match entries is executed. If there is no match, or no action configured for a match, configurable default action for the filter is executed. The filter can be overridden on a per UE basis via RADIUS access-accept or COA. The new VSA Alc-Wlan-Dsm-Ip-Filter is defined for specifying the per UE filter from RADIUS. The VSA is defined in the RADIUS guide.

A:system>config>subscr-mgmt# info
----------------------------------------------
                isa-filter  ‟foo” type dsm create
                    default-action forward
                    entry 1 create
                        action drop
                        match protocol udp
                            dst-ip 239.0.113.0/32
                            dst-port  eq  53
                        exit
                    exit
                    ipv6
                        default-action forward
                        entry 1 create
                            action drop
                            match protocol tcp
                                dst-ip 2001:db8::/120
                                dst-port  eq  80
                            exit
                        exit
                    exit
----------------------------------------------


*A:vsim>config>service>vprn# info
----------------------------------------------
 subscriber-interface "s1" create
      group-interface "g1" wlangw create
             wlan-gw
                   vlan-tag-ranges
                          range default
                               distributed-sub-mgmt                        
                                    dsm-ip-filter ‟foo”

                               exit
                          exit
                   exit
              exit
----------------------------------------------

Per UE policing for both ingress and egress direction is supported. Policers can be created in the config>subscr-mgmt>isa-policer context. The policers can be of type single-bucket (PIR) bandwidth limiting or dual-bucket (PIR and CIR) bandwidth limiting. Only policer action supported as permit-deny, non-conforming traffic is dropped, as opposed to marked out-of-profile. The administrative peak and committed rates and peak and committed burst sizes are configurable. For single-bucket bandwidth policers, CIR and CBS are not applicable, and only PIR and MBS are configurable.

*A:vsim>config>subscr-mgmt>isa-policer# info detail
----------------------------------------------
                    no description
                    action permit-deny
                    cbs 100
                    mbs 200
                    rate 1000 cir 500

The policers can be associated with a vlan-range (default or specific vlan-range) on wlan-gw interface, in which case all subscribers associated with the vlan-range is associated with an instance of these policers. These ingress and egress policers can be overridden on per UE basis via RADIUS access-accept or COA. The new VSAs Alc-Wlan-Dsm-Ingress-Policer and Alc-Wlan-Dsm-Egress-Policer are defined for specifying the per UE policers from RADIUS. The VSAs are defined in the 7750 SR-OS RADIUS Attributes Reference Guide. If the policers specified in access-accept are not found the message is dropped. If the policers specified in COA are not found, a NACK is sent back.

*A:vsim>config>service>vprn# info
----------------------------------------------
 subscriber-interface "s1" create
      group-interface "g1" wlangw create
             wlan-gw
                   vlan-tag-ranges
                          range default
                               distributed-sub-mgmt                        
                                    egress-policer "silver-egress"
                                    ingress-policer "silver-ingress"
                               exit
                          exit
                   exit
              exit
----------------------------------------------

LI can be triggered for a DSM UE LI via CLI or RADIUS, and is performed post-NAT. Only routable encaps (IP/UDP/LI-shim) and IP-only mirror-dest are supported. A maximum of 2K DSM UEs per-chassis can be under LI simultaneously. LI mirror dest (service in which mirrored packets are injected) along with other required mirror information (mirror-dest type, encapsulation-type, ip-udp-shim, and encapsulation information, IP and UDP header information) is configurable. A DSM UE identified by its MAC address can be associated with the mirror destination (service in which mirrored packets for the host are injected) via the li-source command. For routable encapsulation (IP/UDP/LI-Shim), the session-id and transaction-id to be inserted in the LI-Shim are configured under li-source.

A:Dut-1>config>mirror# info 
----------------------------------------------
        mirror-dest 60000 type ip-only create
            encap
                layer-3-encap ip-udp-shim create
                    gateway create
                        ip src 1.1.1.1 dest 2.2.2.2
                        udp src 2048 dest 2049
                    exit
                exit
            exit
            no shutdown
        exit
 
----------------------------------------------
A:Dut-1>config>li# info 
----------------------------------------------
        li-source 60000
            wlan-gw
                dsm-subscriber mac 00:00:00:07:02:03
                    intercept-id 10000
                    session-id 20000
                exit
            exit
            no shutdown
        exit

LI can be enabled or disabled from RADIUS via inclusion of the Alc-LI-Action VSA in access-accept or COA. The Alc-LI-Destination VSA is required to indicate the mirror-dest service that the DSM UE under LI is associated with. The Intercept-Id and Session-Id for a DSM UE can be provided from RADIUS access-accept or COA via inclusion of Alc-LI-Intercept-Id and Alc-LI-Session-Id VSAs. These LI related VSAs are described in the 7450 ESS, 7750 SR, and VSR RADIUS Attributes Reference Guide.

Information for a specific li-source and its associated mirror-dest can be shown via CLI.

Like data-triggered UE creation with ESM, a DSM UE can also be created based on data-triggered authentication discussed in Data-triggered subscriber creation. The decision to create ESM versus DSM UE is based on the value of RADIUS VSA Alc-Wlan-Ue-Creation-Type present in the access-accept message. The data-triggered authentication and UE creation if configured provides for WLAN-GW IOM redundancy. The DSM UE is created on the standby ISA based on successful data-triggered authentication. Also, inter-chassis redundancy is supported for DSM UE based on data-triggered authentication and is identical to ESM (as described in Data-triggered subscriber creation).

The per UE idle-timeout value can be provided in RADIUS access-accept or COA for a DSM UE in standard Idle-Timeout attribute. The minimum idle-timeout allowed is 150 seconds. The idle-timeout is enforced on the ISA for a DSM UE. If there is no data to/from a UE for up to idle-timeout value, the UE is removed and accounting-stop is sent. Subsequently, if a UE re-associates and connects to an open SSID on an AP, and has an IP address with a valid lease, then the first data packet from the UE triggers authentication. Successful authentication results in creation of DSM UE.

To improve idle-timeout behavior an optional SHCV check can be performed after the idle-timeout expires. This check verifies connectivity to all DHCP, DHCPv6 and /128 SLAAC addresses using ARP or NDP. While the check is performed for every address, the result is applied to the whole UE. The UE is only deleted when verification of all addresses fails. When at least one connectivity verification succeeds the UE and all of the allocated addresses are kept and the idle-timeout process is restarted.

The per UE session timeout value can be provided in RADIUS access-accept or COA in standard Session-Timeout attribute. The value is interpreted as an absolute value, and the UE is unconditionally deleted regardless of activity. The minimum allowed value for session-timeout is 300 seconds.

The following shows the command usage to dump information about UE under LI (only allowed to users with LI privilege).

A:Dut-1# tools dump li wlan-gw ue 
No sessions on Slot #2 MDA #1 match the query
======================================================================
Matched 2 sessions on Slot #2 MDA #2
=====================================================================
UE-Mac          : 00:00:00:07:02:03     Mirror Service  : 60000                
LI Intercept-Id : 10000                 LI Session-Id   : 20000                
---------------------------------------------------------------------
UE-Mac          : 00:00:00:07:02:08     Mirror Service  : 60000                
LI Intercept-Id : 42                    LI Session-Id   : 2013                 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
=====================================================================


A:Dut-1>show>li# li-source 60000
===============================================================================
Mirror Service
===============================================================================
Service Id       : 60000                Type          : ipOnly
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
L3 encap type    : ip-udp-shim          Router        : Router: Base
                                        Direction bit : No
Primary gateway
Source IP        : 1.1.1.1              Dest IP       : 2.2.2.2
Source UDP port  : 2048                 Dest UDP port : 2049
===============================================================================
Local Sources
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Admin State      : Up                   
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WLAN Gateway LI sources
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAC-Address                                            Intercept-Id Session-Id
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:00:00:07:02:03                                      10000        20000
===============================================================================

To support allocations of unique IP addresses each ISA is assigned pools from a centralized pool manager on the CPM. The ISA can subsequently assign addresses from these pools to UEs, but this state is not synchronized back to the CPM. Different applications have different pools, for example, SLAAC and DHCPv6 IA_NA cannot share a single pool. To support Wholesale/Retail scenarios a pool-manager can be configured per subscriber interface.

The allocation of additional pools and freeing up unused pools is based on configurable high and low watermarks. When the usage level of all pools combined on an ISA reaches the high watermark, a new pool is allocated. When the usage level of a single pool reaches zero and the usage level of the other pools combined is below the low watermark, this pool is freed.

With redundancy, the pool manager signals the pools that were allocated to the failed ISA back to the new active ISA. These pools can no longer be used to allocate new addresses because allocations are lost. However, these can still be used to forward traffic based on data-triggered UE creation. This is supported both for IOM redundancy and Active/Standby WLAN-GW redundancy. The new active ISA also receives new pools that it can use for new allocations.

The pool manager uses DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation to allocate pools to the ISAs. Each ISA is represented by a separate DHCPv6 Client ID. These clients request fixed prefix sizes to accommodate up to 64K UEs. With Active/Standby redundancy the Pool Manager uses a DHCPv6 Lease Query Message to retrieve the prefixes that were allocated to the failed WLAN-GW. To identify the correct PD leases in the DHCPv6 server, a configurable virtual-chassis-name is added to the DHCPv6 client-id, this value should be identical on both WLAN-GWs and unique otherwise. The Pool Manager always sends out a DHCPv6 Relay message and supports up to eight DHCPv6 servers.

IPv4 pools are supported by encoding an IPv4 subnet into an IPv6 prefix. The least significant 32 bits of the prefix are treated as an IPv4 address and the allocated prefix-length is subtracted with 96 to obtain an IPv4 prefix length. It is recommended to use the special IPv6 prefix ‟::ffff:/96” to provision these pools.

A:system>config>subscr-mgmt>wlan-gw# info
----------------------------------------------
            virtual-chassis-identifier "wlan_gw_pair"
----------------------------------------------
A:system>config>service>vprn>sub-if>wlan-gw# info
----------------------------------------------
                pool-manager
                    watermarks high 85 low 66
                    wlan-gw-group 1
                    dhcpv6-client
                        server 2001:db8::1
                        lease-query max-retry 2
                        slaac
                            pool-name "pool_ue_pd_v6_slaac"
                            no shutdown
                        exit
                        ia-na
                            pool-name "pool_ue_pd_v6_dhcp6"
                            no shutdown
                        exit
                        dhcpv4-nat
                            pool-name "pool_ue_pd_v6_dhcp4_nat"
                            no shutdown
                        exit
                    exit
                exit
----------------------------------------------

DHCPv6 and SLAAC support can be configured per VLAN range. Authentication can be triggered by a Router Solicit, DHCPv6, or DHCP packet but is only triggered only one time per UE. Each UE can be assigned a unique DHCPv6 IA_NA address (/128) or SLAAC prefix (/64) from the ISA pools. The IPv6 pools are installed by the centralized pool manager. SLAAC privacy extensions are supported and up to three /128 SLAAC addresses can be learned via either Duplicate Address Detection or upstream data. Wholesale/retail is supported (IPv6 only) both by RADIUS and per vlan-range CLI, the applicable pool is selected from the retailer service. ESM and DSM IPv6 are not supported in the same vlan-range context.

A:system>config>service>vprn>sub-if>grp-if>wlan-gw>ranges>range# info
----------------------------------------------
                                ...
                                authenticate-on-dhcp
                                ...
                                dhcp6
                                    active-preferred-lifetime hrs 1
                                    active-valid-lifetime hrs 1
                                    no shutdown
                                exit
                                slaac
                                    active-preferred-lifetime hrs 1
                                    active-valid-lifetime hrs 1
                                    no shutdown
                                exit
                                ...
----------------------------------------------

Configuration of other DHCPv6/SLAAC parameters, such as server DUID and RA flags is taken from the wlan-gw group-interface configuration. For DSM only the configuration of the wlan-gw group-interface applies, the retailer interface cannot override this configuration.

A:system>config>service>vprn>sub-if>grp-if>ipv6# info
----------------------------------------------
                        router-advertisements
                            other-stateful-configuration
                            prefix-options
                                autonomous
                            exit
                        exit
                        dhcp6
                            proxy-server
                                server-id duid-en string "example_duid"
                            exit
                        exit

A subset of DHCPv6 options retrieved by the pool-manager in the PD process is reflected in DHCPv6 toward the client. For IA_NA leases these are included in the associated DHCPv6 messages. For SLAAC allocations, the DNS option can be reflected in the Router Advertisement and all options can also be reflected in a stateless DHCPv6 Information Reply message.

When using a captive portal, different valid/preferred lifetimes can be configured for authenticated and un-authenticated UEs. The DHCPv6 lease time is equal to the applied valid-lifetime and can be extended via the regular renew process. SLAAC lifetime is equal to the applied valid-lifetime and is extended when sending an RA including the SLAAC prefix. To avoid infinite SLAAC allocations, when sending an unsolicited RA, SHCV is performed for all learned /128 addresses. If SHCV fails for all addresses, the unsolicited RA is not contained the SLAAC prefix and the SLAAC lifetime is not extended.

In redundancy scenarios the new active ISA migrates the leases in the old pools as soon as possible to a lease in the new pools. For SLAAC this is done by sending an unsolicited RA to deprecate the old prefix (lifetimes 0) and include a new prefix. For DHCPv6 this is done during the first Renew, that again deprecates the old address (lifetimes 0) and include a new address in the same IA.

To support Application Assurance (AA) with DSM, an AA group needs to be linked to a WLAN-GW group. By default, every ISA configured in the WLAN-GW, including standby ISAs, requires a counterpart in the AA group. In case AA is only required for a subset of UEs, an oversubscription factor can be configured. With an oversubscription factor of N, each AA ISA can serve up to N WLAN-GW ISAs, including standby ISAs.

When oversubscription is used, the maximum number of AA-enabled UEs per WLAN-GW ISA is the maximum number of UEs for that ISA divided by the oversubscription factor.

AA is enabled per-UE by provisioning an application profile to the UE. A default profile can be provisioned under a vlan-range, or a specific profile can be signaled using RADIUS.

When an ISA AA fails, the corresponding BB ISAs continue to forward traffic without AA functionality. After the AA ISA recovers, AA is enabled again for those UEs.

For more information about how to configure AA, see the 7450 ESS, 7750 SR, and VSR Multiservice ISA and ESA Guide.

Volume quota can be provided per UE using the RADIUS attribute Alc-Credit-Control-Quota. For DSM, the time quota of the attribute is not supported and must be zero. The quota categories are non-configurable and must be either soft or hard. Upon exhaustion of hard quota the UE is immediately disconnected.

The following non-configurable quota categories are supported:

• hard quota

  When a hard quota is exhausted, the UE is immediately disconnected.

• soft quota

  When a soft quota is exhausted, the WLAN-GW can apply several actions:

  • Send a triggered RADIUS Accounting Interim Update with the reason WLAN-Quota-Exhausted, if enabled under the configure aaa isa-radius-policy name acct-update-triggers soft-quota-exhausted context.

  • Apply a filter configured under the vlan-tag-ranges range range distribute-sub-mgmt soft-quota-exhausted-filter context. The filter replaces any previous filter applied to the UE. If the soft quota is extended by a CoA message, the filter is reverted to the previously applied filter for that UE.

Both soft and hard quotas can be independently extended by means of CoA messages, using the same attribute. Quotas received in a CoA message are only enforced from that moment onward and none of the UE traffic before the CoA message counts toward the new quota. This supports flexible combinations of hard and soft quotas, for example:

• Apply soft quota close to hard quota to offer some grace period before the session is terminated. During this grace period, the UE is notified when nearing quota exhaustion using an HTTP redirect installed by the soft-quota-exhausted-filter command and can buy new credit. After the UE buys new credit, a CoA message updates both hard and soft quota.

• Apply hard quota as the real limit but use soft quota to automatically trigger accounting updates instead of rely on periodic interim updates; for example, for each 5% of volume consumed. Upon each interim update, a CoA message is sent that resets only the soft quota and generates a new report.

• Apply hard quota as the real limit but use the soft-quota-exhausted-filter command (configure service ies/vprn subscriber-interface group-interface wlan-gw vlan-tag-ranges range distributed-sub-mgmt) to redirect to an advertisement page, for each amount of volume consumed. After the advertisement has been shown, a CoA message extends the soft volume to remove the filter again.

By default, quota is enforced on the combination of upstream and downstream traffic. This can be changed to only upstream or only downstream using the volume-quota-direction command in the vlan-tag-ranges range range distribute-sub-mgmt volume-quota-direction context.

The solution supports multiple authentication mechanisms. Type of authentication support depends on the Wi-Fi AP, UE capabilities and customer preference. In case of 802.1x/EAP capable Wi-Fi APs, supporting secure SSIDs via 802.11i/WPA2, various EAP based authentication such as SIM/uSIM based (SIM/AKA/AKA’), TTLS, PEAP, certs, and so on, are supported. The solution also supports web-portal based authentication with or without WISPr client on the UE. EAP and portal authentication works independent of the type of connectivity from the AP (tunneled or native IP).

The SR OS WLAN-GW uses the IPoE session concept to authenticate and manage UEs in ESM. Every WLAN-GW group interface uses a pre-defined default ipoe-session-policy that cannot be changed or disabled. The contents of the default policy also cannot be changed and always uses sap and mac as session-key. The ipoe-session session-timeout can optionally be ignored in a wlan-gw context. This is to support closed SSID authentication where the session-timeout is relative to the last re-authentication while for ipoe-session the timeout is absolute to the start of the session.

It can be useful to identify the AP and the SSID to which a UE is connected. Therefore, the AP MAC and SSID name can be learned as follows:

• From the called-station-id as defined in RFC 3580, Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 3.1 Certificate Handling

• From DHCP circuit-Id or DHCPv6 interface-ID, if those options use the format specified below

• From ARP or ND over GRE as specified in section 11.10. This only identifies the AP MAC, not the SSID

• From the L2TPv3 cookie as specified in section 11.22. This only identifies the AP MAC, not the SSID

The format used for DHCP(v6) is AP-MAC;SSID-STRING;SSID-Type, where the AP-MAC should contain the AP MAC address in colon separated format (xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx), the SSID string should not contain the ‟;” delimiter and the SSID type is a single character ‟s” (secure) or ‟o” (open).

For example, if AP-MAC is ‟00:10:A4:23:19:C0”, SSID is ‟SP1-Wi-Fi”, and SSID-type is secure, then the value of circuit-id or interface-id would be the string ‟00:10:A4:23:19:C0;SP1-wifi;s”.

The address to the UEs can be assigned via local DHCP server from locally defined pools, or from RADIUS server via local DHCP proxy, or from an external DHCP server. Subscriber-interface and group-interface are configured as part of normal ESM configuration. In the case of wlan-gw, the group interface is wlan-gw enabled. Subnets on the subscriber interface are used for the pools from which the DHCP local server assigns addresses to UEs.

The following output displays an address assignment configuration example.

config>service>vprn       
    dhcp  
       local-dhcp-server "dhcp" create    #### create local DHCP server
           pool ‟1” create                #### define Pool
               options
                   dns-server 10.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
                   lease-time min 5
               exit
               subnet 203.0.113.255/30 create   
                  options
                     subnet-mask 239.255.0.0
                     default-router 10.203.254.181
                  exit
                  address-range 128.203.254.182 128.203.254.183 
               exit
             exit
         exit
     exit
             
    interface "DHCP-lb" create          #### loopback interface with DHCP server
        address 10.1.1.1/32
        local-dhcp-server "dhcp"
        loopback
    exit 
               
    subscriber-interface "sub-int" create          #### subscriber interface
         address 172.31.235.235/30                #### Subnets out of which UE  
         address 172.31.245.245/16                ######  addresses are allocated.
         group-interface "group-int" wlangw create
             sap-parameters
                 sub-sla-mgmt
                   def-sla-profile "sla_def"
                   def-sub-profile "sub_def"
                   sub-ident-policy "sub_ident"
                 exit
              exit
         exit
         dhcp
             proxy-server
                 emulated-server 10.10.0.1   #### proxy to get IP address from AAA
                 lease-time min 5           #### or from DHCP server. Can provide   
                 no shutdown        #### split lease (shorter lease towards client, 
              exit                 #### and longer lease towards AAA or DHCP server.
              no option                       
              server 10.1.1.1                #### DHCP local server           
                  trusted
                  lease-populate 32000
                  gi-address 172.31.245.245
                  user-db "radius_ludb"      #### LUDB for proxy cache co-relation
                  no shutdown
               exit
          exit

With EAP the AAA server can look at the realm from the user credential (IMSI) in authentication request and appropriately provide the service context in retail-service-id, for the ESM host corresponding to the UE.

For open SSID, the decision can be made by the AAA server based on the SSID, as learned by any of the methods described in Authentication.

The SSID is passed to the AAA server in initial MAC based authentication on DHCP DISCOVER. The retail-service-id can be returned in access-accept. This assumes the AP broadcasts unique SSID per retail provider and inserts it in Option82 as a DHCP relay-agent. As an alternative to SSID in option-82, the AP can insert a unique dot1Q tag per retail provider, before tunneling the Ethernet frame, using single GRE tunnel per AP to the WLAN-GW. 7750 supports configuring a map of dot1Q tags to retail-service-id. Therefore, the determination of the retail provider for the subscriber can be made in the data plane when DHCP is received, and the subscriber state can be created and processed in the right service context.

The following output displays a wholesale configuration example.

config>service>ies>
config>service>vprn>
subscriber-interface <ip-int-name> 
group-interface <ip-int-name> wlangw
wlan-gw
[no] router (base | <vprn-id>) # tunnel service context
[no] wlan-gw-group <group-id>
....snip
vlan-tag-ranges # Precedence for retail-service-id: 
# RADIUS, vlan-retail-service-map, default-retail-svc 
  [no] vlan start <start-tag> end <end-tag> retail-svc-id <svc-id>
  [no] default-retail-svc-id
exit
exit
exit

The WLAN-GW supports 3G/4G interworking based on a per-UE GTP tunnel from WLAN-GW to the mobile packet core (GGSN or P-GW). For more details on the GTP uplink setup, see the GTP section. The bridged Wi-Fi AP connectivity with the WLAN-GW can be WLAN-GW-based (soft-tunnel/l2-ap), or it can be a native Layer 2 (regular group-interface).

Both LSN and L2-aware NAT for WIFI subscribers over wlan-gw tunnels is supported. NAT on WLAN-GW is only supported for locally terminated subscribers and not for GTP tunneled subscribers. NAT can be performed on the same set of ISAs that are used for WLAN-GW functions, by referring to the WLAN-GW ISA group from NAT configuration. Alternatively, dedicated set of ISAs can be used for NAT function by creating and referencing a separate NAT-group. Configuration related to LSN and L2-aware NAT is provided in the 7450 ESS, 7750 SR, and VSR Multiservice ISA and ESA Guide.

Mirroring traffic for WIFI subscribers to a mediation device, when the subscriber is under legal intercept is supported. The mirroring function is performed on the anchor IOM where the subscriber is anchored. Both Ether and IP-only mirror is supported. With Ether mirror, VLAN tags which are part of internal SAP between ISA and IOM, are included in the mirrored Ethernet frame of the subscriber. IP-only mirror includes the IP header and the payload. Conventional IP-only mirror service can be used with direct p2p or MPLS (for remote mirroring) connection to the mediation device. Routable-encapsulation is also supported. Both IP/UDP encapsulation with optional shim-header for subscriber correlation on the mediation device, and IP/GRE encapsulation is supported with routable-encapsulation of mirrored data. LI can be triggered via CLI, SNMPv3 or RADIUS, as supported with ESM. RADIUS triggered LI can be via LI related VSAs in access-accept or in CoA. The CoA is keyed on accounting-session-id. LI is supported for both local and GTP tunneled subscribers.

Existing LI support with ESM is described in the 7450 ESS, 7750 SR, 7950 XRS, and VSR OAM and Diagnostics Guide.

Downstream traffic can be subjected to aggregate rate-limit per tunnel or per tunnel and per retailer combination (in case of wholesale). Typically a unique SSID is used per retailer for wholesale on the AP and is reflected via unique dot1Q tag. With a wlan-gw tunnel per AP, the tunnel encapsulation is performed on the tunnel ISA. The downstream traffic on the tunnel IOM is received over B-VPLS from the anchor IOM, and is MAC-in-MAC (802.1ah) encapsulated. I-SID in the packet represents the GRE tunnel or tunnel and retailer combination. SAP-egress QoS policy defining queues (with rates), and FC to queue mapping, can be specified under the wlan-gw interface. This policy is applicable to all tunnels (or tunnel and SSID combinations) associated with the wlan-gw interface and is attached to corresponding I-SIDs on the B-VPLS SAP. Traffic is shaped into these queues based on configured queue rates. An aggregate rate-limit applied across queues on an I-SID (representing tunnel or tunnel and retailer combination) can be configured under the wlan-gw interface (represented by the wlan-gw node under the group-interface configuration). The aggregate rate-limit works in conjunction with a port-scheduler. The port-scheduler corresponds to the internal port between tunnel ISA and its carrier IOM and is specified at the wlan-gw IOM group level. The rate-limit includes the B-VPLS encapsulation overhead. The configuration is shown in EAP authentication call flow with WLAN-GW RADIUS proxy. Queues per I-SID also work with virtual-scheduler (with or without a port scheduler). Virtual-scheduling and aggregate-rate enforcement are mutually exclusive. Configuration is shown in Portal authentication for open SSIDs. Egress SAP QoS policy, aggregate rate-limit, port-scheduler, and virtual-schedulers are described in the 7450 ESS, 7750 SR, 7950 XRS, and VSR Quality of Service Guide. The SAP egress QoS policy associated with a wlan-gw interface implicitly creates queues (and scheduler association) on ISIDs as corresponding wlan-gw tunnels are created. General ISID queuing and shaping is defined in the SR OS Services Guide.

A configuration node under wlan-gw interface (egress) controls where the egress shaping is applied and can specify either tunnel or retailer (tunnel and retailer combination in case of wholesale). Per I-SID shaping resources can be held after the last subscriber on the tunnel is deleted, for a configurable amount of time (hold-time) configured under the wlan-gw interface. During ISA or IOM failover the tunnel resources on the IOM kept because the hold-time are reclaimed. ISID shaping can be configured (via knob shape-multi-client) to be applied only when there is more than one UE on the corresponding tunnel (or tunnel and retailer combination). A total of 40,000 shaped tunnels (or shaped tunnel and retailer combinations) are supported per WLAN-GW IOM. Hardware resources for tunnel (ISID) shapers are shared with subscribers. With 3 WLAN-GW IOMs per chassis, a maximum of 98,000 (3 *64K / 2) shaped tunnels and subscribers can be supported per chassis.

The following output depicts per tunnel or per tunnel/SSID egress QoS (with aggregate-rate and port-scheduler).

// Port-scheduler

config>qos# 
      port-scheduler-policy ‟lo-gre-port-sched”
           max-rate 5000
           level 1 rate 1000 cir-rate 1000
           level 8 rate 500 cir-rate 500 
      exit
exit

// Egress queues (per ISID) parented by port-scheduler specified under associated wlan-gw interface

config>qos>
   sap-egress 3 create
       queue 1 create
          rate 300
          port-parent level 1 weight 10 cir-level 1 weight 10
       exit
       queue 2 create 
          rate 100
          port-parent level 8 weight 10 cir-level 8 weight 10
       fc af create
           dot1p 2
           de-markweight 
       exit
       fc be create
          queue 1
          dot1p 0
          de-mark
       exit
       fc ef create
           queue 2
           dot1p 5
           de-mark
       exit
   exit
exit

// The wlan-gw interface refers to SAP egress QoS policy and aggregate rate-limit for associated ISIDs

config>service>ies>sub-if>grp-if>wlan-gw>egress
      agg-rate-limit 2000
      hold-time 300
      qos 3
      shaping per-tunnel
      shape-multi-client
exit                 

// Port-scheduler parenting queues (per ISID)

Per Tunnel or Per Tunnel/SSID Egress QoS (with aggregate-rate and port-scheduler)

config>isa>wlan-gw-group# 
      active-iom-limit 1
      tunnel-port-policy "lo-gre-port-sched"
      iom 2
      iom 3
      no shutdown
exit

The following output depicts per tunnel or per tunnel/SSID egress QoS (with virtual-scheduler).

// hierarchical virtual scheduler 
config>qos# 
      scheduler-policy ‟virtual-sched-policy”
           tier1
               scheduler ‟all-traffic” create 
                    rate 10000 
               exit
           exit
           tier2 
               scheduler ‟non-voice” create
                   parent all-traffic cir-level 1
                   rate 9000
               exit
               scheduler ‟voice” create
                  parent all-traffic level 2 cir-level 2
                  rate 3000
               exit
           exit
           
       exit

// egress queues (per ISID) parented by virtual scheduler

config>qos>
   sap-egress 3 create
       queue 1 create
          parent ‟non-voice”
          rate 2000 cir 1000
       exit
       queue 2 create 
          parent ‟voice” 
          rate 500 cir-rate 500 
       fc be create
          queue 1
          dot1p 0
          de-mark
       exit
       fc ef create
           queue 2
           dot1p 5
           de-mark
       exit
   exit
exit

// A wlan-gw interface refers to SAP egress QoS policy and hierarchical scheduler for associated ISIDs

config>service>ies>sub-if>grp-if>wlan-gw>egress
      hold-time 300
      qos 3
      scheduler-policy ‟virt-sched-policy”
      shaping per-tunnel
      shape-multi-client
exit

For ESM support authenticate-on-dhcp must be enabled under configure service ies | vprn service-id subscriber-interface ip-int-name group-interface ip-int-name wlan-gw vlan-tag-ranges range start start end end. When receiving DHCPv4 the ISA sends the DHCP message and the cached access-accept to the CPM which further processes the setup sequence. On the CPM a regular RADIUS authentication policy should be picked up for the UE either through configuration on the group interface or via the LUDB. Typically this policy reflects the ISA policy. This policy is used as a context to store the access-accept on the CPM for 10s.

IPv6 hosts are supported but can only be authenticated after DHCPv4 has triggered the promote from ISA to CPM. When IPoE linking is enabled a SLAAC host is created together with the DHCPv4 host as usual. If an additional IPv6 host would arrive after the 10s timeout, a regular RADIUS authentication is started from the CPM using the previously mentioned RADIUS policy.

When tracking is enabled, the radius messages are handled on the ISA and specific tracking actions (mobility, delete) are sent directly to the CPM.

For DSM support the radius-proxy cache is directly tied to the UE record on the anchor ISA and is automatically used during UE creation. Tracking immediately executes the associated actions (mobility, timed host-delete) on the UE record. If a cached accept would time out before DHCP is received, a regular RADIUS authentication is used using the configuration under configure service ies | vprn service-id subscriber-interface ip-int-name group-interface ip-int-name wlan-gw vlan-tag-ranges range start start end end authentication.

The distributed RADIUS proxy optionally allows inclusion of the Alc-WLAN-SSID-VLAN attribute in an Access-Accept message. When this attribute is received, any subsequent traffic, including control plane traffic, must match the VLAN or VLAN-range, otherwise it is dropped. When an Access-Accept message with this attribute is received for a UE, one of the following scenarios may occur.

• The VLAN in authentication matches the current UE VLAN or VLAN-range. This is assumed to be a re-authentication within the same SSID, and no further action is taken.

• The VLAN in authentication does not match the current VLAN or VLAN-range. It is assumed that the UE moved between SSIDs and that this is a new initial authentication. The UE is returned to an authenticated-only state from which the UE can be recreated with the correct new SSID parameters. If the UE was in the ESM or DSM state, it is gracefully removed. Any allocated IP addresses are released, and final accounting data is sent.

The DRP checks on the exact VLAN or VLAN range based on configuration of inter-VLAN mobility. When inter-VLAN mobility is enabled, it is assumed that an SSID maps to a VLAN range instead of a single VLAN, and all comparisons are adapted accordingly. Additionally, when receiving an Access-Accept message for a UE with a different VLAN in the same VLAN range, the UE starts using the new VLAN to send downstream traffic.

This is recommended for deployment models where there are multiple SSIDs. Without specifying the VLAN, every authentication for a UE would be considered as a re-authentication for the same SSID and would make no changes to the WLAN-GW state. After authentication, the UE would send control-plane messages on the new SSID with a different VLAN or VLAN-range. The WLAN-GW would see this as a non-seamless change and trigger SHCV to remove the UE. Only after the UE is removed would control-plane traffic on the new VLAN or VLAN-range succeed, and it would also require an additional authentication trigger.

The following commands display all statistics related to the radius-proxy, both for communication toward the client and for communication toward the server.

show router router-id radius-proxy-server server-name statistics

clear router router-id radius-proxy-server server-name statistics

Example output:

*A:Dut-C# show router 50 radius-proxy-server "radius_proxy_isa" statistics
...
Group 1 member 3
-------------------------------------------------------------
Rx packet                                                : 2
Rx Access-Request                                        : 2
Rx Accounting-Request                                    : 0
Rx dropped                                               : 0
  Retransmit                                             : 0
  Wrong purpose                                          : 0
  No UE MAC to cache                                     : 0
  Client context limit reached                           : 0
  No ISA RADIUS policy configured                        : 0
  Invalid attribute encoding                             : 0
  Invalid password                                       : 0
  Accounting-Request with invalid Acct-Status-Type       : 0
  Accounting-Request with no Acct-Status-Type            : 0
  Invalid accounting Authenticator                       : 0
  Invalid Message-Authenticator                          : 0
  Management core overload                               : 0

Tx Access-Accept                                         : 1
Tx Access-Reject                                         : 0
Tx Access-Challenge                                      : 1
Tx Accounting-Response                                   : 0
Tx dropped                                               : 0
  Server timeout                                         : 0
  Invalid response Authenticator                         : 0
  Invalid Message-Authenticator                          : 0
  Invalid attribute encoding                             : 0
  RADIUS server send failure                             : 0
...

The following RADIUS proxy messages sent to the server using this policy are also counted here.

show aaa isa-radius-policy policy-name

clear aaa isa-radius-policy policy-name statistics

Example output:

*A:Dut-C# show aaa isa-radius-policy "wifi_isa_radius"
...
Server 1, group 1, member 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Purposes Up                                     : accounting authentication
Source IP address                               : 10.100.100.6
Acct Tx Requests                                : 0
Acct Tx Retries                                 : 0
Acct Tx Timeouts                                : 0
Acct Rx Replies                                 : 0
Auth Tx Requests                                : 2
Auth Tx Retries                                 : 0
Auth Tx Timeouts                                : 0
Auth Rx Replies                                 : 2
CoA Rx Requests                                 : 0
...

1:1 redundancy provided with this feature only handles complete failure of WLAN-GW (either because of a chassis reboot or because of the number of operational WLAN-GW IOMs in WLAN-GW group falling below the number of active WLAN-GW IOMs, which operationally brings down the WLAN-GW group, and trigger switchover). For any partial failures (port, MDA or IOM failure), it is assumed there is network level redundancy, such that the soft-GRE tunnel is re-routed to the primary WLAN-GW. This ensures there is only one active WLAN-GW owning the subnets defined on the two WLAN-GWs (that is, allows local/local subnets). The DHCP servers state is synchronized between the two WLAN-GWs using MCS.

Supported access includes:

• DHCPv4 relay to external server

• DHCPv4 relay to local server

  • Pool name could be returned by AAA (framed-pool) in access-accept

  • Pool name could come from LUDB (as relay we would set use-pool-from-client). LUDB could be specified under group-interface or under DHCP server. LUDB or AAA returned pool allows support for per SSID pool selection. SSID is contained in circuit-id.

  • Local pool selection based on giaddr

• DHCPv4 proxy (IP@ from AAA or IP@ from PGW/GGSN)

The unnumbered case works in relay and proxy scenarios. IPv6 is not supported (data-triggered auth and subscriber creation for IPv6 is not supported). Therefore, DHCPv6 server synchronization is not applicable. Also, IPv4 address from LUDB is not supported (as data-triggered authentication against LUDB is not supported).

When standby WLAN-GW transitions to an active state and receives data on the anchor ISA there is not a UE state on the anchor ISA. Data-triggered authentication Data-triggered subscriber creation is used to create the subscriber. To infer how the UE originally obtained the IP@ (DHCP relay versus proxy, such as AAA or GTP), the following holds:

1. If any GTP related parameters are returned in access-accept, then it is assumed the IP@ comes from GGSN/PGW, and the origin for the IP@ is assumed to be GTP.

2. If no GTP parameter is returned, and access-accept contains framed-IP, then proxy case is assumed (that is, the origin as AAA).

3. If no GTP parameter or framed-IP is returned, then DHCP relay is assumed. The remaining lease time is set to initial lease-time (if it was originally provided from AAA on primary WLAN-GW, it could be provided in access-accept for data-triggered auth on backup WLAN-GW). If AAA does not provide it, then it is initialized to default value of 7 days.

If authentication indicates GTP for the subscriber, then create-session-request is signaled with Handover indication. However, for dual-sack subscriber over soft-GRE, if AAA returns the SLAAC prefix in access-accept (in response to IPv4 data-triggered auth), and linking is configured, RA message is sent (unicast to client’s MAC@), and a SLAAC host is created.

Support for IPv6 GRE tunnels require configuration of local IPv6 tunnel end-point address under wlan-gw configuration on the group-interface. The transport for L2oGRE (or L2VPNoGRE) packet is IPv6 as shown below. The outer IPv6 header contains the value 0x2F (GRE) in its Next Header field. GRE header contains protocol Ethernet (0x6558) or Ethernet-over-MPLS (0x8847) as in the case IPv4 GRE.

IPv6 Transport for L2oGRE Packet:

    +-----------------------------------+
    |                                   |
    |           IPv6 Header             |
    |                                   |
    +-----------------------------------+
    |                                   |
    |           GRE Header              |
    |                                   |
    +-----------------------------------+
    |                                   |
    |       UE Ethernet Packet          |
    |                                   |
    +-----------------------------------+

A single wlan-gw endpoint instance on the group-interface can have both IPv4 and IPv6 address configured as shown below. Inter-AP mobility between IPv4 and IPv6 only APs is supported in this scenario.

IPv6 Endpoint Configuration for WLAN-GW:

service
    vprn 300 customer 1 create
        group-interface "grp-intf-1" wlangw create
            wlan-gw
                gw-addresses
                   address 10.1.1.4
                   address 2001:db8:
                exit
                gw-ipv6-address 2001:db8::0
                mobility
                   hold-time 0
                   trigger data iapp 
                exit
                egress
                   shaping per-tunnel
                exit
                tcp-mss-adjust 1000
                vlan-tag-ranges
                    range start 100 end 100
                        data-triggered-ue-creation
                        retail-svc-id 402
                    exit
                 exit
                 router 30
                 wlan-gw-group 1
                 no shutdown
              exit
           exit
      exit
exit

The data-path for IPv6 GRE tunneled packets, including load-balancing of tunneled packets amongst set of ISAs in the WLAN-GW group, and anchoring after tunnel decapsulation remains unchanged. Per tunnel traffic shaping is supported like IPv4 tunnels. All existing per tunnel configuration on the group-interface described in previous sections (including mobility, egress shaping, VLAN ranges, and so on) is supported identically for IPv6 tunnels. Tunnel reassembly for upstream tunneled traffic is not supported for IPv6 tunnels. TCP mss-adjust is supported for IPv6 tunnels and is configurable under wlan-gw mode on group-interface. APs must use globally routable addresses for GRE IPv6 transport. Packets with extension headers are dropped.

RADIUS proxy is extended to listen for incoming IPv6 RADIUS messages from IPv6 RADIUS clients on AP/CPEs. The listening interface that the RADIUS proxy binds to must be configured with an IPv6 address as shown below. The IPv6 RADIUS proxy is solely for DHCPv4-based UEs behind IPv6 only AP/CPEs (IPv6-capable UEs are not supported). All RADIUS-proxy functions (including caching, correlation with DHCPv4, and mobility tracking) are supported identically to existing IPv4 client-side RADIUS-proxy.

Configuration for IPv6 Client-Side RADIUS proxy:

service
    vprn 300 customer 1 create
        shutdown
        interface "listening_radius_server" create
             address 10.9.9.9/32
             ipv6
                 address 2001:db8::0
             exit
             loopback
         exit
     radius-proxy
         server "radius-proxy" purpose accounting authentication create
             shutdown
             cache
                 key packet-type request attribute-type 31
                 track-accounting stop interim-update accounting-on accounting-off
                 no shutdown
             exit 
             default-accounting-server-policy "radius_server_policy"
             default-authentication-server-policy "radius_server_policy"
             interface "listening_radius_server"
             load-balance-key attribute-type 102 vendor 5
             secret "AQepKzndDzjRI5g38L3LbbN3E8qualtn" hash2
             send-accounting-response
             no shutdown
         exit
     exit

This feature adds support for dual-stack UEs over wlan-gw. Each dual-stack UE appears to WLAN-GW as a bridged client. Dual-stack UE support includes both SLAAC and DHCPv6, with and without linking with DHCPv4. Handling of DHCPv6, RS/RA, and NS/NA messages over wlan-gw has been added. WLAN-GW can assign /128 GUA to the UE via DHCPv6 or assign a /64 prefix in SLAAC to each UE. Each UE can be handed via DHCPv6, a /128 IA_NA from a unique /64 prefix, with the ‟on-link” flag is off in the RA message. This is because the public Wi-Fi users are distinct subscribers, and the communication must always be via WLAN-GW. The CPE must prevent local-switching on the Wi-Fi link even if the /64 prefix is signaled as on-link or if the UEs are handed out /128 from the same /64 prefix.

Existing ESMv6 support on normal group-interface is applicable to wlan-gw group-interface and is already documented in the ESMv6 sections in this guide. There are a few exceptions that are mentioned in following sections.

A control or data packet is received on the V-GW when a UE moves to an AP behind the V-GW. The packet can be received on any supported access type (L2oGRE, L2TPv3 tunnel, or internal VLAN anchor). The packet, after tunnel decapsulation, is forwarded to the anchor ISA on the V-GW. Authentication is triggered from the anchor ISA based on the configured ISA authentication policy. The authenticate-on-dhcp command must be enabled on V-GW for DHCP-triggered UE state creation scenarios to work.

If the access-accept message contains any VSAs related to x-connect tunneling, then the UE is created in the x-connect mode, and any subsequent Layer 2 frames received in the V-GW from the UE are transparently tunneled to H-GW. By default, the x-connect tunnel used between the V-GW and the H-GW is of same type (LoGRE or L2TPv3) as an access tunnel (for example, the tunnel from the AP to the V-GW). If the access type is L2-AP (such as an internal VLAN anchor), then the x-connect tunnel used is L2oGRE. An x-connect tunnel type can be overridden from the AAA in an access-accept message by a VSA (Alc-Xconnect-Tunnel-Type). IPv6 transport is used for x-connect tunnels.

The tunnel destination for an IPv6 address on the H-GW is returned in a VSA in an access-accept message (Alc-Xconnect-Tunnel-Ipv6). The service in which the tunnel is routed is also returned in a VSA (Alc-Xconnect-Tunnel-Service). The anchor ISA on the V-GW allocates a unique IPv6 address per UE for the x-connect tunnel source. This address is allocated from a contiguous IPv6 address range assigned to the ISA (based on the configured /64 prefix for the WLAN-GW group supporting x-connect tunneling). If the UE moves from one AP to another on the V-GW, then the anchor ISA allocates a new IPv6 address to use as tunnel sources for the x-connect tunnel. This change in x-connect tunnel source services as a UE mobility indication on the H-GW.

Normal UE processing for WLAN-GW is performed on the H-GW. After tunnel decapsulation, the UE is received on the anchor ISA. If the UE state already exists on the anchor ISA, then it is treated as a mobility event, and the tunnel information in the UE (to the tunnel toward the V-GW). A mobility-triggered interim-update, if configured, is generated. The AP’s MAC address must be reflected in called-station-ID attribute. The AP MAC is learned from the DHCP circuit-ID. However, if the mobility trigger is a data packet and the tunnel type is L2oGRE, then an ARPoGRE is generated (if configured) to learn the AP MAC. The V-GW forwards ARPoGRE is received on x-connect tunnel to the access tunnel toward the AP and reflects the received response back on x-connect tunnel. If the x-connect tunnel is type L2TPv3, then the AP MAC address can be carried in the cookie field. If the UE state does not exist, then normal UE processing leads to authentication and subsequent UE creation (as DSM or ESM UE).

IPv6 tunnel reassembly is not supported.

An idle timeout (with optional SHCV) is independently enforced on the H-GW and V-GW. The idle timeout value can be provided by AAA. The UE state is deleted if the idle timeout triggers and there is no response to SHCV.

An existing distributed RADIUS proxy (as described in Distributed RADIUS proxy) can be enabled on both the H-GW and V-GW. Authentication and accounting messages are proxied to configured AAA servers. When the UE state exists on the V-GW, any authentication and accounting messages are visible on the H-GW and are proxied directly to the configured AAA server from the V-GW. Data-triggered mobility must be enabled on the H-GW, as it cannot rely on authentication and accounting messages to infer UE mobility when the UE is on V-GW.

Existing WLAN-GW controlled redundancy (active or backup decision based on monitor or export route tracking mechanism, as described in section WLAN-GW 1:1 active-backup redundancy) is supported. The backup H-GW advertises the tunnel endpoint IP in routing when it becomes the active to draw the traffic from the V-GW. The UE state is created on the new active based on data-triggered authentication.

Resources on ISA BB are statically allocated at boot time and therefore strict have limits. These limits depend on both the provisioned ISA type used and on specific configuration flags. Use the command tools dump wlan-gw isa resources mda mda-id to generate a list of all resources, together with the currently in-use, free, maximum, and peak usage counters.

Most resources are directly related to configuration, and the corresponding configuration fails if no resources are available. However, specific resources, such as the number of UEs on an ISA, are allocated dynamically. To facilitate operational maintenance, configure watermarks on those resources using the command configure isa wlan-gw-group wlan-gw-group-id watermarks. When the corresponding high watermark is reached, a notification is generated, which can prompt an operator to investigate the high resource consumption and take appropriate steps, such as optimizing load or adding additional resources.

Use the command tools dump wlan-gw isa performance mda mda-id last time-span time-unit to generate a high-level overview of ISA processing load and total data processed in a specified time span with a polling granularity depending on that time span. The following time spans and granularity are supported:

• last minute with second granularity

• last hour with minute granularity

• last day with hour granularity

• last month with day granularity

the query-based state is a mechanism to fetch the states of UEs and tunnels in large-scale environments using ISA-only features such as migrant users, l2-wholesale, or DSM. In all these cases, UE and corresponding tunnel states are only created on the ISA and can scale into the millions.

To retrieve specific data without going through all UEs and tunnels, configure a query under the config>subscriber-mgmt>wlan-gw>ue-query command or config>subscriber-mgmt>wlan-gw>tunnel-query command. This query specifies match criteria for the state output. After a query has been created, use it to retrieve the matching results through any state interface. The show>subscriber-mgmt>wlan-gw>ue>query-results and show>subscriber-mgmt>wlan-gw> tunnels>query-results commands display the results in CLI.

By retrieving only the number of records that match the specified criteria, a set of very specific custom counters can be created; for example, ‟count all DSM UEs with IPv6 addresses” or ‟count all tunnels with more than three UEs”. For UE queries, this count is always available. For tunnel queries this count must be explicitly enabled by using the command calculate-counts. Do not use tunnel counters when the expected number of tunnels is greater than 1000, because retrieving an exact count for such data sets may take too much time to complete.

            ue-query 1 name "by_mac" create
                mac-address 00:00:5e:00:53:11
            exit
            tunnel-query 1 name "min_3_dsm_ue" create
                min-num-ue 3
                ue-state
                    dsm
                exit
            exit

The ISA BB keeps extensive counters for each packet that is sent, terminated, or forwarded. These statistics are displayed using the command show isa wlan-gw-group wlan-gw-group-id member member-id statistics. Most statistics are straight-forward operational counters, such number of DHCP messages received or sent; however, there is also an extensive set of error counters available. When a WLAN-GW shows unexpected behavior, these counters can provide preliminary information about the issue. During debugging, it is recommended to first reset statistics to reset old and potentially unrelated error counters.

If a specified statistic displays an unexpected increase, it is not always easy to identify which UE or which behavior in a UE caused this increase. In this case, enable debugging of a specific statistic using the command debug wlan-gw group wlan-gw-group-id statistic. This command generates a hex dump of the first packet causing the statistic to increase in the debug logs. This packet can then be further investigated to determine the root cause and can be used to derive a UE MAC to start UE-based debugging.