Scaling and Securing the Control Plane

Optimizing Critical Systems

With the transition to all-IP networks, CSPs are migrating traditional signaling traffic to an IP infrastructure. CSPs must maintain the control plane at the same high levels of availability, security, and performance associated with previous signaling networks, or risk losing an increasingly mobile subscriber base. The shift to an all-IP network comes with risk, but also opportunities. The stakes are high, as the success of new and innovative applications and services, made possible by the adoption of the 3GPP defined IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), depends on the performance, scale, and reliability of the underlying control plane.

CSPs rely on the control plane for the critical systems and functions that ensure a competitive quality of experience (QoE) for subscribers. But they must also be concerned with the security of subscriber and billing data, as well as their capacity to withstand potential attacks on the control plane that could undermine the stability and performance of these critical subscriber management systems. Such systems include existing infrastructure components such as AAA, DNS, and SIP messaging services along with emerging functions that provide signaling and policy management capabilities such as the Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) and Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF). Proactive investments will enable carriers to avoid the serious threat of degraded service availability and performance.

F5 technologies provide multifunction capabilities that eliminate the need for multiple point products while enhancing critical network functions across the application, control, and data planes. This approach simplifies management, reduces operating and capital costs, and improves end-to-end performance while protecting against multiple avenues of attack. The BIG-IP system provides strategic points of control within networks for steering traffic, expanding opportunities for CSPs to monetize network services by scaling and securing the control plane.

CSPs can use F5 iRules—an event-driven application traffic management language—to implement customizable rules to direct traffic, modify traffic elements, and define what type of traffic is delivered to the appropriate systems. With this flexibility, along with innovative solutions that incorporate new functionalities for DRA, PCEF, and other critical CSP functions into a single unified platform, the BIG-IP system enables CSPs to define exactly how traffic is managed on the control plane.

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) optimizes and intelligently scales the standards-defined Diameter, RADIUS, and SIP interfaces on which new signaling systems are delineated. Furthermore, the BIG-IP system’s carrier-grade DNS provides a secure, high-availability, and high-performance DNS-resolving and authoritative solution. The BIG-IP platform also provides CSPs with customizable, high-speed, and highly scalable strategic points of control with which to support their business across the control plane.

Solution

The BIG-IP platform offers multiple, consolidated product solutions for carrier service providers that require high availability, security, and scalability for subscriber management through the control plane.

BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager (GTM) is a global load balancing and carrier-grade DNS and application delivery solution that directs users to the most appropriate service location based on geography, level of service, and availability. BIG-IP GTM includes DNSSEC capabilities and scaling, and actively participates in the DNS service delivery architecture as a fully secure and authoritative member.

BIG-IP GTM provides name services and security services through:

• DNS services at the edge of the network for all internal and external services.
• Geolocation for pinpoint service delivery accuracy based on locations of mobile subscribers.
• IP anycast addressing and routing for scalability and defense against DoS and DDoS attacks.
• Scalability by handling millions of global name requests per second.
• A single point of control for management of all global and local name services.

BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is a local load balancing and application delivery solution. It provides an efficient and cost-effective means of ensuring high availability, security, and scalability of the control plane through:

• Consolidation of network functions.
• Centralized management of network functions.
• Improved end-to-end performance.
• Rapid and dynamic scale of services and infrastructure.
• Intelligent signaling routing.
• Flexibility and programmability that support custom traffic routing.
• Native support for Diameter, SIP, and RADIUS.

The F5 product suite includes all the components required to support a scalable and secure control plane. The BIG-IP platform gives CSPs the flexibility, manageability, and agility necessary to transition to next generation networks.

These other critical solutions for service providers are addressed in more detail in separate profiles:

• Carrier-Grade NAT and IPv6 Services
• Intelligent Traffic Management
• Security for Communication Service Providers
• Application-Aware Services and Cloud Delivery

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