The VoIP Peering Puzzle�Part 4: The IETF SPEERMINT Call Procedures
Once communication has been established between two networks, there is a concrete, orderly set of steps for setting up a call.
Our two previous peering tutorials discussed the SPEERMINT Requirements and the SPEERMINT Architecture, both developed by the Session PEERing for Multimedia INTerconnect (SPEERMINT) working group within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). In those articles, we discovered that the focus of this working group is on what they call Layer 5 (or Session) Peering, in which two service providers establish a peering relationship that utilizes the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) call signaling procedures.
We also learned that the SPEERMINT Architecture draft document (see http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-speermint-architecture-02.txt) defines three functional layers:
- Location Function (LF): that develops call routing data (CRD), by discovering the Signaling Function (SF), and end user's reachable host (IP address and port).
- Signaling Function (SF): that performs routing of SIP messages, optionally performs termination and re-initiation of calls, also optionally implements security and policies on SIP messages, and assists in discovery/exchange of parameters to be used by the Media Function (MF).
- Media Function (MF): that performs media related functions such as media transcoding and media security implementation between two SIP providers.
- Analysis of a target address. Note that if the target address represents an intra-VSP (voice service provideran entity that provides transport of SIP signaling to its customers) resource, we go directly to step 4.
- Discovery of the receiving peering point address
- Enforcement of authentication and other policy
- Discovery of end user address
- Routing of SIP messages
- Session establishment
- Transfer of media
- Session termination
After the target address is analyzed (which is really an internal network issue, and beyond the scope of the inter-network-centric SPEERMINT work), the Message Flows draft document further elaborates on these call procedures by describing the message flow phases. Five phases of message flows are detailed in Section 7 of that document (see http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-speermint-flows-01.txt). These five phases provide a high-level overview of the processes involved in setting up a call:
- Discovery Phase: queries the Location Function, which would typically implement a ENUM/DNS or redirect server, to determine the next phase in the message flow.
- Policy Exchange Phase: uses the SIP SUBSCRIBE command (described in RFC 3265, ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc3265.txt) to send a request to obtain the destinations peering policy event package.
- Security Establishment Phase: after the originating proxy receives the policy event package, the security policy information is extracted, and its instructions followed, in order to satisfy the security requirements for this peering relationship.
- Signaling Exchange Phase: this phase follows standard SIP signaling procedures, such as the familiar INVITE, TRYING, RINGING, OK, ACK sequence that is typically used to establish a call.
- Media Exchange Phase: this phase is negotiated and established during the signaling exchange phase, and also follows standard SIP procedures. This element supports two-way communication, such as Real Time Protocol (RTP) media exchanges.
Copyright Acknowledgement: © 2006 DigiNet ® Corporation, All Rights Reserved
Author's Biography
Mark A. Miller, P.E. is President of DigiNet ® Corporation, a Denver-based consulting engineering firm. He is the author of many books on networking technologies, including Voice over IP Technologies, and Internet Technologies Handbook, both published by John Wiley & Sons.