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

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

Page2

References

RFC3558

3GPP TS 29.229

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

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Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

Know the structure of Diameter protocol.

Describe the application of Diameter in the SIP

condition

Describe the procedure of the Diameter application

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

Page4

Contents
1.

Diameter Protocol Overview

2.

Diameter for SIP Applicatioin

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

Page5

Contents
1.

Diameter Protocol Overview

1.1 Diameter introduction
1.2 Diameter framework
1.3 Message structure

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

Page6

Whats Diameter?

Diameter protocol

An AAA protocol, provide Authentication, Authorization

and Accounting (AAA) function
Advanced than radius, so it is called diameter
AAA server

Radius

AAA server

Diameter
AAA client

NAS
PPP

WLAN

DSL
3G

Traditional network

future network

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

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New demands on AAA

protocols
Network access requirements for AAA protocols

Failover

Transmission-level security

Reliable transport

Agent support

Server-initiated messages

Capability negotiation

Peer discovery and configuration

Roaming support

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

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Characteristic

The Diameter base protocol provides the following

facilities

Delivery of AVPs (attribute value pairs)

Capabilities negotiation

Error notification

Extensibility, through addition of new commands and

AVPs (required in [AAAREQ]).

Basic services necessary for applications, such as

handling of user sessions or accounting

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

Page9

Contents
1.

Diameter Protocol Overview

1.1 Diameter introduction
1.2 Diameter framework
1.3 Message structure

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

Page10

Diameter framework

Diameter specification consists

The Diameter base protocol

Transport Profile [AAATRANS]

Applications

Mobile IPv4 [DIAMMIP] application

NASREQ [NASREQ] application

SIP
application

SIP application

NASREQ
application

MIP
application

EAP
application

Diameter Base protocol, Transport profile

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

Page11

Diameter node type

Diameter node type

Client

Server

A Diameter Client is a device at the edge of the network

that performs access control. An example of a Diameter
client is a Network Access Server (NAS) or a Foreign Agent
(FA).
A Diameter Server is one that handles authentication,
authorization and accounting requests for a particular
realm. By its very nature, a Diameter Server MUST support
Diameter applications in addition to the base protocol.

Agent

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

Page12

Role of Diameter Agents

There are four kinds of Diameter Agents

Proxy Agent or Proxy

Relay Agent or Relay

Redirect Agent

Translation Agent

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

Page13

Contents
1.

Diameter Protocol Overview

1.1 Diameter introduction
1.2 Diameter framework
1.3 Message structure

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

Page14

Diameter PDU

Diameter PDU includes two parts:

Diameter header

Diameter AVP
0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
version

Message Length

command

Command-Code

flags
RPETrrrr
Application-ID
Hop-by-Hop Identifier
End-to-End Identifier
AVPs ...
Copyright 2006 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Diameter PDU

Command code
Command-Name

Abbrev

Code

Abort-Session-Request

ASR

274

Abort-Session-Answer

ASA

274

Accounting-Request

ACR

271

Accounting-Answer

ACA

271

Capabilities-Exchange-Request

CER

257

Capabilities-Exchange- Answer

CEA

257

Device-Watchdog-Request

DWR

280

Device-Watchdog-Answer

DWA

280

Session-Termination- Request

STR

275

Session-Termination- Answer

STA

275

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

Page16

Diameter PDU

AVP

The Diameter protocol consists of a header followed by

one or more Attribute-Value-Pairs (AVPs). An AVP
includes a header and is used to encapsulate protocolspecific data (e.g., routing information) as well as
authentication, authorization or accounting information
APV structure
0
1
2
3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
AVP Code
AVP flags
AVP Length
VMPrrrrr
Vendor-ID (opt)
AVP data

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

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Example

Use Cx message as an example

I-CSCF

HSS
Diameter message: UAA

Diameter header

Command code

AVPs

AVP header

AVP data

UAA
AVP code

AVP length

603

10415

603: server capabilities

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

Page18

Contents
1.

Diameter Protocol Overview

2.

Diameter for SIP Applicatioin

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

Page19

Diameter for SIP Application

framework

Diameter
server
Diameter
UAR/UAA
LIR/LIA

SIP UA

SIP server1

Diameter
PPR/PPA
SAR/SAA
RTR/RTA

SIP sever2

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

Page20

SIP UA

Command code in SIP

Application
Command-Name
User-Authorization-Request

Abbrev
UAR

Code
300

User-Authorization-Answer

UAA

300

Server-Assignment-Request

SAR

301

Server-Assignment-Answer

SAA

301

Location-Info-Request

LIR

302

Location-Info-Answer

LIA

302

Multimedia-Auth-Request

MAR

303

Multimedia-Auth-Answer

MAA

303

Registration-Termination-Request

RTR

304

Registration-Termination-Answer

RTA

304

Push-Profile-Request

PPR

305

Push-Profile-Answer

PPA

305

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Page21

AVP code in SIP application

Command-Name
Visited-Network-Identifier

Code
601

Public-Identity

602

Server-Name

603

Server-Capabilities

604

Mandatory-Capability

605

Optional-Capability

606

User-Data

607

SIP-Number-Auth-Items

608

SIP-Authentication-Scheme

609

SIP-Authenticate

610

SIP-Authorization

611

SIP-Authentication-Context

612

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Page22

AVP code in SIP application

Command-Name
SIP-Auth-Data-Item

Code
613

SIP-Item-Number

614

Server-Assignment-Type

615

Deregistration-Reason

616

Reason-Code

617

Reason-Info

618

Charging-Information

619

Primary-Event-Charging-Function-Name

620

Secondary-Event-Charging-Function-Name

621

Primary-Charging-Collection-Function-Name

622

Secondary-Charging-Collection-Function-Name

623

User-Authorization-Type

624

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Page23

AVP code in SIP application

Command-Name
User-Data-Already-Available

Code
625

Confidentiality-Key

626

Integrity-Key

627

Supported-Features

628

Feature-List-ID

629

Feature-List

630

Supported-Applications

631

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

Page24

Diameter signaling procedure

inExample
SIP Application
(register)

HSS

I-CSCF
1.SIP register

8.401 unauthorized
9.SIP register

16.200OK

S-CSCF

2.UAR
3.UAA

7.401 unauthorized
10.UAR
11.UAA

4.SIP register
5.MAR
6.MAA

12.SIP register
13.SAR
14.SAA

15.200 OK

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

Page25

UAR/UAA --User-Authorization
request/answer
User register/User deregister

I-CSCF HSS to query the S-CSCF

HSS Action

if the IMPU is allowed to roam in the visited network

if the IMPU is allowed to authorized to register

if the IMPU isnt barred

HSS Return

S-CSCF Name or

S-CSCF Capabilities

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

Page26

MAR/MAA --MultimediaAuthentication
request/answer
S-CSCFHSS to retrieve authentication vectors

from the HSS

HSS Action

Check the register status of the user and judge if the SCSCF name equal to the server name stored in HSS

Returns the AVs(RAND|AUTN|XRES|CK|IK) that S-CSCF

requests

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

Page27

SAR/SAA --Server-Assignment
request/answer
S-CSCFHSS to notify to register or deregister the user

S-CSCF HSS to request the user profile

HSS Action

Check the user current register state and update to the

new register state

Store the S-CSCF server name for the user

Return the user profile and/or charging information to SCSCF

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

Page28

Summary

Please describe the diameter application in register

procedure

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

Page29

Thank you
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