dsTest® supports both server emulation and client simulation with the Diameter Credit-Control Application (DCCA) CC Interface application. Test PDN Gateway (PGW) Credit-Control (CC) functions with our Online Charging System (OCS) Emulator. Use the Credit Triggering Function (CTF) simulation in the CC Interface application to test the capacity and performance of an OCS. Use the OCS Emulator and the CC Interface application in tandem to test Diameter Proxies, Relay Agents, and Redirect Agents.
A rich set of operational measurements is collected at specified intervals and stored in a SQLite database on the dsTest server. Real-time measurements may be retrieved through our dsClient™ CLI interface or graphed via our dsClient GUI interface.
Implementation
The CC Interface application supports methods for:
- Quota management
- Simple Debit/Credit
- Balance checks
- Price inquiries
- Refunds
- Failure Procedures
Both session-based and event-based charging scenarios are supported.
Server Emulation
The OCS Emulator executes DCCA procedures based on configurable subscriber profiles, credit pools, and tariffs, responding to charging events from PGWs and eliminating the need to dedicate a production server to lab activities. You can reconfigure credit balances in real-time, simulating the expiration of credit and testing a PGW’s compliance with network credit policies.
The OCS Emulator provides Mobile Subscriber credit control services for the CC interface—all of the functionality required by a PGW plus all of the benefits of an emulator.
Configurable services, quota allocation rules, credit pools, tariffs, and subscriber profiles give you the flexibility to fully test charging strategies for new prepaid services before they are deployed in a live network.
- Test a CTF’s usage reporting;
- Reconfigure credit balances with run-time commands to simulate the expiration of credit, testing a CTF’s termination behavior;
- Control interface to change the emulator’s behavior;
- Reconfigure your emulator in seconds by simply loading a new configuration file;
- Simulate a non-responsive server by pausing the emulator or simulate intermittent issues by pausing and resuming;
- Disable individual subscribers during the test run, generating unknown subscriber errors.
One OCS Emulator can support any mixture of interfaces, up to 1000 client connections. Multiple OCS Emulators can be instantiated on a single server. In this mode each emulator can support multiple interfaces, up to an aggregate of 1000 client connections across all emulators. The emulators are fully independent and their subscriber databases may also be independent, overlap, or be duplicated.
Read more about our OCS Emulator.
Client Simulation
The CC Interface application can be used to simulate a PGW’s CTF functionality to determine the impact of new charging strategies or OCS features and standards before they are deployed in a network. The CC Interface application allows users to validate OCS performance and capacity in a realistic network environment, replicating the deployment configuration.
Execute timed chains of test events with a run-time command or during an automated test to generate Credit Control Requests (CCRs) towards the OCS. Verify that the OCS sends the correct answers (CCAs) to the gateway.
- Construct session-based charging event cycles – initiate the session with reserve unit requests, generate combined debit unit and reserve unit requests to simulate ongoing resource usage, and generate final debit unit requests when the session ends or when credit expires
- Generate debit unit requests to simulate event-based charging events
Multiple PGW simulators can be instantiated on a single server, each with scalable subscriber loads and transaction rates. In this mode, up to 1000 independent nodes may be simultaneously simulated. The nodes are fully independent and their subscriber configurations may also be independent, overlap, or be duplicated.
Read more about our Capacity and Performance.
Advanced Diameter Testing Features
Enhance your testing with Developing Solutions® advanced testing features:
- Insert, delete, or replace AVPs in your messages with our SmartAVP™ solution. SmartAVP enables you to define proprietary signaling or to corrupt AVPs to facilitate negative testing.
- Configure commands to define the series of actions and rates that each subscriber takes. Advanced profiles can be created using SmartEvents™ to define a mix of traffic based on probability assignments. With SmartEvents, you can specify when your SmartAVPs are used.
- Define a set of message templates against which all messages will be validated with our complete Diameter Dictionary. Every Diameter message is validated, even under load conditions.
Read more about our SmartEvents feature.
Read more about our Advanced Diameter Testing Features.
Supporting Standards
- Diameter Credit Control Application – RFC 4006
- Diameter – RFCs 6733, 3588
- SCTP – RFC 2960 (RFC 3309 checksum)
- TCP – RFC 793