Diameter Protocol

Overview

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Copyright © 2006 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

 Foreword
 The Diameter protocol is intended to provide an Authentication,
Authorization and Accounting (AAA) framework for applications
such as network access or IP mobility

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 References
 RFC3588 - [Diameter Base Protocol]

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 Objectives
 Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
 Know the function of Diameter protocol.
 Describe the structure of Diameter protocol
 Describe Header format and AVP format of Diameter protocol.
 Describe the connection mechanisms of Diameter protocol

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 Contents
1. Diameter Introduction
2. Protocol Overview
3. Diameter Headers & AVPs
4. Diameter Peers

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What’s Diameter?
 Diameter protocol
 Radius, as an AAA protocol, provide Authentication, Authorization and
Accounting (AAA) function
 Advanced than “radius”, so it is called “diameter”

AAA server Diameter server

Radius Diameter
NAS Diameter client

PPP
DSL WLAN

3G

Traditional network
Future network

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New demands on AAA protocols

Failover Auditability
Transmission-level
Transition support
security
Reliable transport Capability negotiation
Peer discovery and
Agent support
configuration
Server-initiated
Roaming support
messages

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New demands on AAA protocols
(Cont)
Failover Auditability
Transmission-level
Transition support
security
Reliable transport Capability negotiation
Peer discovery and
Agent support
configuration
Server-initiated
Roaming support
messages

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Characteristic
 The Diameter base protocol provides the following facilities
 Ability to exchange messages and deliver AVPs
 Capabilities negotiation
 Error notification
 Extensibility, through addition of new commands and AVPs
 Basic services necessary for applications, such as handling of user
sessions or accounting

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Diameter in 3GPP Network
 Diameter is mainly used in EPC networks
 MME – HSS S6a
 MME – EIR S13
 EPC-GW – PCRF Gx
 EPC_GW – OCS Gy

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 Contents
1. Diameter Introduction
2. Protocol Overview
3. Diameter Headers & AVPs
4. Diameter Peers

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Diameter framework
 Diameter specification consists
 The Diameter base protocol
 Applications
 Mobile IPv4 [DIAMMIP] application
 NASREQ [NASREQ] application
 3GPP based application
 ……

Diameter Mobile
NASREQ
3GPP
etc
Applications IPv4 application

Diameter Base Protocol

TCP or SCTP [port 3868]

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 Role of Diameter Nodes
A Diameter Server is one that handles
AAA requests for a particular realm, a
Diameter Server MUST support
Diameter Diameter applications in addition to the
Server base protocol.
A Diameter Client is a
device at the edge of
the network that
performs access
control. An example of Diameter A Diameter Agent is
a Diameter client is a Node a Diameter node that
NAS or a FA. provides either relay,
Diameter Diameter proxy, redirect or
translation services.
Client Agent

A Diameter node is a host process that implements the

Diameter protocol, and acts either as a Client, Agent or Server.
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Application Identification
 Each Diameter application MUST have an IANA (Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority) assigned Application Identifier
 During the capabilities exchange, Diameter nodes inform their
peers of locally supported applications.

Diameter Common Messages 0

NASREQ 1
Mobile-IP 2
Diameter Base Accounting 3
Relay 0xffffffff

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Connections & Sessions
 A connection is a transport level connection between two peers, used to
send and receive Diameter messages.
 A session is a logical concept at the application layer, and is shared
between an access device and a server, and is identified via the Session-
Id AVP.

Client Relay Server

Peer connection A Peer connection B

User Session x

There is no relationship between a connection and a session!

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 Role of Diameter Agents
Relay agent  Relay Agents are Diameter agents that accept requests and route messages
to other Diameter nodes based on information found in the messages (e.g.,
Destination-Realm).
 This routing decision is performed using a list of supported realms, and
known peers.
Proxy agent  Similarly to relays, proxy agents route Diameter messages using the
Diameter Routing Table.
 However, they differ since proxy agent modify messages to implement
policy enforcement.
Redirect agent  Redirect agents are useful in scenarios where the Diameter routing
configuration needs to be centralized.
 Redirect agents do not relay messages, and only return an answer with the
information necessary for Diameter agents to communicate directly
Translation agent  A translation agent is a device that provides translation between two
protocols (e.g., RADIUS<->Diameter).

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Diameter Agents
 Relay Agent (Proxy Agent)

1. Request 2. Request Home

Relay
NAS Diameter
Agent
Server
4. Answer 3. Answer

 Translation Agent

Home
RADIUS Request Translation Diameter Request
NAS Diameter
Agent
Server
RADIUS Answer Diameter Answer

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Diameter Agents
 Redirect Agent

Redirect
Agent

2. Request 3.Redirection
Notification

Home
1. Request Relay 4. Request
NAS Diameter
Agent
Server
6. Answer 5. Answer

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Diameter Packet – Overview
 Structure of diameter packet
IP Header
TCP/SCTP Header
Diameter Header
Diameter AVP 1
Diameter AVP 2
Diameter AVP 3
Diameter AVP …
Diameter AVP n

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 Contents
1. Diameter Introduction
2. Protocol Overview
3. Diameter Headers & AVPs
4. Diameter Peers

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 Contents
3. Protocol Overview
3.1 Diameter Header
3.2 Diameter AVPs

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 Diameter Header
0 7 8 15 16 23 24 31

Version Message Length

Command flags Command code

Application-ID

Hop-by-Hop Identifier

End-to-End Identifier

AVPs……

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 Diameter Header
0 7 8 15 16 23 24 31

Version Message Length

Command flags Command code

Application-ID

Hop-by-Hop Identifier

End-to-End Identifier

AVPs……

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Diameter Header
Hop-by-Hop Id & End-to-End Id
 We’ve discussed the connections and session previously

Client Relay Server

Peer connection A Peer connection B

User Session x

Hop-by-Hop Hop-by-Hop
Identifier A Identifier B

End-to-End Identifier x

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Diameter Header – Command Flags
 The Command Flags field is eight bits. The following bits are
assigned:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
R P E T r r r r

Potentially re-transmitted message

Error

Proxiable

Request

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Diameter Header – Command Code
 Each Request/Answer pair is assigned a command code
Command-Name Abbreviation Command code
Abort-Session-Request/Answer ASR/ASA 274
Accounting-Request/Answer ACR/ACA 271
Capabilities-Exchange-Request/
CER/CEA 257
Answer
Device-Watchdog-Request/Answer DWR/DWA 280
Disconnect-Peer-Request/Answer DPR/DPA 282
Re-Auth-Request/Answer RAR/RAA 258
Session-Termination-Request/
STR/STA 275
Answer

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 Contents
3. Protocol Overview
3.1 Diameter Header
3.2 Diameter AVPs

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Diameter AVPs
 Diameter AVP(Attribute-Value-Pairs) carry specific
authentication, accounting, authorization, routing and security
information as well as configuration details for the request and
reply.
 An AVP includes:
 AVP header
 AVP data

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 AVP Header
0 7 8 15 16 23 24 31

AVP Code

VMPrrrrr AVP Length

Vendor ID (Optional)

AVP Data ……

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AVP Header – AVP Flags
 V bit: Vendor-Specific bit, indicates whether the optional Vendor-ID
field is present in the AVP header
 P bit: the need for encryption for end-to-end security
 M bit: Mandatory bit, indicates whether support of the AVP is required
 If an AVP with the 'M' bit set is received by a Diameter client, server, proxy,
or translation agent and either the AVP or its value is unrecognized, the
message MUST be rejected.
 Diameter Relay and redirect agents MUST NOT reject messages with
unrecognized AVPs.

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Basic AVP Data Formats
 The format of the Data field MUST be one of the following base data
types or a data type derived from the base data types.
AVP format AVP Length (*)
OctetString 8 ~ N (**)
Integer32 12
Integer64 16
Unsigned32 12
Unsigned64 16
Float32 12
Float64 16
Grouped 8 ~ M*4 (***)

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Derived AVP Data Formats
 Applications may define data formats derived from the Basic AVP Data
Formats.
AVP format Derived from; description
Address OctetString; IP address type + IP address
Time OctetString; NTP timestamp
UTF8String OctetString; string coded in UTF-8
DiameterIdentity OctetString; FQDN/realm
DiameterURI OctetString; Uniform Resource Identifiers
Enumerated Integer32; a list of valid values and their interpretation
IPFilterRule OctetString; an ACL for filtering
QoSFilterRule OctetString; used to mark/meter packets

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Grouped AVP Values
 The Diameter protocol allows AVP values of type 'Grouped.' This
implies that the Data field is actually a sequence of AVPs.
 A group AVP is list as the following
Example-AVP ::= < AVP Header: 999999 >
{ Origin-Host }
1*{ Session-Id }
*[ AVP ]

::= defined as
<> Mandatory element
{} Required
[] Optional element
* Repetition

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 Grouped AVP Values
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Example AVP Header (AVP Code = 999999), Length = 468

Origin-Host AVP Header (AVP Code = 264), Length = 19

e x a m p l e .

c o m Padding Session-Id AVP Header

(AVP Code = 263), Length = 50 g r u m

......

a b f 3 2 padding padding padding

Session-Id AVP Header (AVP Code = 263), Length = 51

g r u m p . e x

......

0 a f 3 b 8 2 padding

Optional AVP Header (AVP Code = 8341), Length = 223

hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value

......

hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value padding

Optional AVP Header (AVP Code = 15930), Length = 137

hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value hex-value

......

hex-value padding padding padding 　 　 　 　

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 Diameter Base Protocol AVPs
 The diameter base protocol AVPs are defined in RFC 3588:
Acct-Interim- Accounting- Acct-Multi- Accounting-
Interval Realtime-Required Session-Id Record-Number
Accounting- Acct-Session-Id Accounting-Sub- Acct-
Record-Type Session-Id Application-Id
Auth- Auth-Request-Type Authorization- Auth-Grace-
Application- Lifetime Period
Id
Auth-Session- Re-Auth-Request- Class Destination-
State Type Host
Destination- Disconnect-Cause Error-Message Error-
Realm Reporting-Host
Event- Experimental-Result Experimental- Failed-AVP
Timestamp Result-Code

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 Diameter Base Protocol AVPs
 The diameter base protocol AVPs are defined in RFC 3588:
Firmware- Host-IP-Address Inband-Security- Multi-Round-Time-
Revision Id Out
Origin-Host Origin-Realm Origin-State-Id Product-Name
Proxy-Host Proxy-Info Proxy-State Redirect-Host
Redirect-Host- Redirect-Max- Result-Code Route-Record
Usage Cache-Time
Session-Id Session-Timeout Session-Binding Session-Server-
Failover
Supported- Termination- User-Name Vendor-Id
Vendor-Id Cause
Vendor-
Specific-
Application-Id

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 Contents
1. Diameter Introduction
2. Protocol Overview
3. Diameter Headers & AVPs
4. Diameter Peers

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 Contents
4. Diameter Peers
4.1 Peers Connections
4.2 Disconnecting Peer connections
4.3 Transport Failure Detection

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Diameter Peers
 Connections between diameter peers are established using their
valid DiameterIdentity.
 A DiameterIdentity includes:
FQDN and realm
 A Diameter node initiating a connection to a peer
MUST know the peer's DiameterIdentity.
 A peer might be removed in case of:
 Peer unreachable, transport connection is shut down
 Not receiving a DWA within an allotted time frame

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Peer Connection Establishment

Diameter Establish a
transport Capabilities Connection
Peer connection Exchange Established
Discovery (TCP or SCTP)

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Diameter Peer Discovery
 There are two peer discovery mechanisms:
 Manual configuration
 DNS
 Diameter peer discovery
 Diameter client needs to discover a first-hop Diameter agent
 Diameter agent needs to discover another agent for further handling
of a Diameter operation

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Peer Discovery Search Order
 A node will find its peer in the following order:
 Local statically configured peer
 Uses SLPv2 (Service Location Protocol) to discover Diameter
services
 a NAPTR query for a server in a particular realm
 If the DNS server returns no address records, the requestor gives up.

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Capability Exchange
 Peers MUST exchange the Capabilities Exchange messages
(CER/CEA)
 Protocol version number
 Supported Diameter applications
 Security mechanisms
 Typical errors Result-Code AVPs:
 DIAMETER_NO_COMMON_APPLICATION
 DIAMETER_NO_COMMON_SECURITY
 DIAMETER_UNKNOWN_PEER

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Capabilities-Exchange-Request
 The Capabilities-Exchange-Request (CER), indicated by the
Command-Code set to 257 and the Command Flags' 'R' bit set, is
sent to exchange local capabilities.
 When Diameter is run over SCTP, which allows for connections to
span multiple interfaces and multiple IP addresses, the Capabilities-
Exchange-Request message MUST contain one Host-IP-
Address AVP for each potential IP address that MAY be locally
used when transmitting Diameter messages.

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Capabilities-Exchange-Request
 Message format
<CER> ::= < Diameter Header: 257, REQ >
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
1*{ Host-IP-Address }
{ Vendor-Id }
{ Product-Name }
[ Origin-State-Id ]
*[ Supported-Vendor-Id ]
*[ Auth-Application-Id ]
*[ Inband-Security-Id ]
*[ Acct-Application-Id ]
*[ Vendor-Specific-Application-Id ]
[ Firmware-Revision ]
*[ AVP ]

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Capabilities-Exchange-Request (Cont)
 Message format
<CER> ::= < Diameter Header: 257, REQ >
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
1*{ Host-IP-Address }
{ Vendor-Id }
{ Product-Name }
[ Origin-State-Id ]
*[ Supported-Vendor-Id ]
*[ Auth-Application-Id ]
*[ Inband-Security-Id ]
*[ Acct-Application-Id ]
*[ Vendor-Specific-Application-Id ]
[ Firmware-Revision ]
*[ AVP ]

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Capabilities-Exchange-Answer
 The Capabilities-Exchange-Answer (CEA), indicated by the
Command-Code set to 257 and the Command Flags' 'R' bit
cleared, is sent in response to a CER message.

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Capabilities-Exchange-Answer
 Message format
<CEA> ::= < Diameter Header: 257 >
{ Result-Code }
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
1*{ Host-IP-Address }
{ Vendor-Id }
{ Product-Name }
[ Origin-State-Id ]
[ Error-Message ]
*[ Failed-AVP ]
*[ Supported-Vendor-Id ]
*[ Auth-Application-Id ]
*[ Inband-Security-Id ]
*[ Acct-Application-Id ]
*[ Vendor-Specific-Application-Id ]
[ Firmware-Revision ]
*[ AVP ]

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Result-code in CEA
 The Result-Code AVP indicates whether a particular request was completed
successfully or an error occurred. All Diameter answer messages in IETF-
defined Diameter application specifications MUST include one Result-Code
AVP.
 A non-successful Result-Code AVP MUST include the Error-Reporting-Host
AVP if the host setting the Result-Code AVP is different from the identity
encoded in the Origin-Host AVP.
 1xxx (Informational)
 2xxx (Success)
 3xxx (Protocol Errors)
 4xxx (Transient Failures)
 5xxx (Permanent Failure)

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Result-code in CEA
Result-code Meaning
1001 DIAMETER_MULTI_ROUND_AUTH
This informational error is returned by a Diameter server to
inform the access device that the authentication mechanism
being used requires multiple round trips, and a subsequent
request needs to be issued in order for access to be granted.
2001 DIAMETER_SUCCESS
2002 DIAMETER_LIMITED_SUCCESS
When returned, the request was successfully completed, but
additional processing is required by the application in order to
provide service to the user.

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Result-code in CEA
Result-code Meaning
3001 DIAMETER_COMMAND_UNSUPPORTED
3002 DIAMETER_UNABLE_TO_DELIVER
3003 DIAMETER_REALM_NOT_SERVED
3004 DIAMETER_TOO_BUSY
3005 DIAMETER_LOOP_DETECTED
3006 DIAMETER_REDIRECT_INDICATION
3007 DIAMETER_APPLICATION_UNSUPPORTED
3008 DIAMETER_INVALID_HDR_BITS
3009 DIAMETER_INVALID_AVP_BITS
3010 DIAMETER_UNKNOWN_PEER

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Result-code in CEA
Result-code Meaning
4001 DIAMETER_AUTHENTICATION_REJECTED
The authentication process for the user failed, most likely due to
an invalid password used by the user. Further attempts MUST
only be tried after prompting the user for a new password.
4002 DIAMETER_OUT_OF_SPACE
A Diameter node received the accounting request but was
unable to commit it to stable storage due to a temporary lack of
space.
4003 ELECTION_LOST
The peer has determined that it has lost the election process and
has therefore disconnected the transport connection.

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Result-code in CEA
Result-code Meaning
5001 DIAMETER_AVP_UNSUPPORTED
5002 DIAMETER_UNKNOWN_SESSION_ID
5003 DIAMETER_AUTHORIZATION_REJECTED
5004 DIAMETER_INVALID_AVP_VALUE
5005 DIAMETER_MISSING_AVP
5006 DIAMETER_RESOURCES_EXCEEDED
5007 DIAMETER_CONTRADICTING_AVPS
5008 DIAMETER_AVP_NOT_ALLOWED
5009 DIAMETER_AVP_OCCURS_TOO_MANY_TIMES
5010 DIAMETER_NO_COMMON_APPLICATION

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Result-code in CEA
Result-code Meaning
5011 DIAMETER_UNSUPPORTED_VERSION
5012 DIAMETER_UNABLE_TO_COMPLY
5013 DIAMETER_INVALID_BIT_IN_HEADER
5014 DIAMETER_INVALID_AVP_LENGTH
5015 DIAMETER_INVALID_MESSAGE_LENGTH
5016 DIAMETER_INVALID_AVP_BIT_COMBO
5017 DIAMETER_NO_COMMON_SECURITY

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 Contents
4. Diameter Peers
4.1 Peers Connections
4.2 Disconnecting Peer connections
4.3 Transport Failure Detection

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Peer Disconnection
 Peers may be disconnected in the following cases:
 Peer in failure
 Node request to disconnect
 Messages used for disconnection
 Disconnect-Peer-Request
 Disconnect-Peer-Answer

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Disconnect-Peer-Request
 The Disconnect-Peer-Request (DPR), indicated by the Command-
Code set to 282 and the Command Flags 'R' bit set, is sent to a
peer to inform its intentions to shutdown the transport connection.
 Message format

<DPR> ::= < Diameter Header: 282, REQ >

{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
{ Disconnect-Cause }

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Disconnect-Peer-Answer
 The Disconnect-Peer-Answer (DPA), indicated by the Command-
Code set to 282 and the Command Flags 'R' bit cleared, is sent as
a response to the Disconnect-Peer-Request message. Upon receipt
of this message, the transport connection is shutdown.
 Message format

<DPA> ::= < Diameter Header: 282 >

{ Result-Code }
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
[ Error-Message ]
*[ Failed-AVP ]

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Disconnect-Cause AVP
 A Diameter node MUST include this AVP in the Disconnect-Peer-
Request message to inform the peer of the reason for its intention
to shutdown the transport connection.
 Causes:
 REBOOTING 0
 BUSY 1
 DO_NOT_WANT_TO_TALK_TO_YOU 2

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 Contents
4. Diameter Peers
4.1 Peers Connections
4.2 Disconnecting Peer connections
4.3 Transport Failure Detection

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Transport Failure Detection
 Diameter use a heart-beat like mechanism to detect transport
failure rapidly, and to provide better failure performance.
 Two messages are used for failure detection:
 Device-Watchdog-Request
 Device-Watchdog-Answer

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Device-Watchdog-Request
 The Device-Watchdog-Request (DWR), indicated by the
Command-Code set to 280 and the Command Flags 'R' bit set, is
sent to a peer when no traffic has been exchanged between two
peers.
 Message format
<DWR> ::= < Diameter Header: 280, REQ >
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
[ Origin-State-Id ]

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Device-Watchdog-Answer
 The Device-Watchdog-Answer (DWA), indicated by the
Command-Code set to 280 and the Command Flags 'R' bit cleared,
is sent as a response to the Device-Watchdog-Request message.
 Message format

<DWA> ::= < Diameter Header: 280 >

{ Result-Code }
{ Origin-Host }
{ Origin-Realm }
[ Error-Message ]
*[ Failed-AVP ]
[ Original-State-Id ]

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Failover and Failback
 Failover
 In the event that a transport failure is detected with a peer, it is
necessary for all pending request messages to be forwarded to an
alternate agent.
 Failback
 a connection request should be periodically attempted with the failed
peer in order to re-establish the transport connection. Once a
connection has been successfully established, messages can once
again be forwarded to the peer.

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Failover Mechanisms
 Hop-by-Hop Identification
 A Diameter node will maintain a pending message queue for a given
peer. When an answer message is received, the corresponding request
is removed from the queue.
 The Hop-by-Hop Identifier field is used to match the answer with the
queued request.
Message Queue for Agent_1
Hop-by-hop ID: 6044 Agent_1

Diameter
Node

Message Queue for Agent_2 Agent_2

Hop-by-hop ID: 69946

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Failover Mechanisms
Message Queue for Agent_1

X
Hop-by-hop ID: 6044 Agent_1

Diameter
Node

Message Queue for Agent_2 Agent_2

Hop-by-hop ID: 69946

When a transport failure is detected, if possible, all messages in the

queue are sent to an alternate agent with the T flag set.

Agent_1
T Flag
Diameter T Flag
T Flag
Node

Message Queue for Agent_2 Agent_2

Hop-by-hop ID: 69946

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 Summary
 Diameter protocol is designed as the successor of RADIUS.
 Diameter nodes: client, server and agent.
 Diameter header and AVPs.
 Diameter connection establishment, disconnection and failover.

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Thank you
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