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MATRIXX 5G Integration
MATRIXX SBA Gateway
This section describes the Service Based Architecture (SBA) Gateway, which provides the framework to build 5G network function (NF) services based on 3GPP technical specifications.
Configuring SBA Gateway
SBA Gateway is configured as 5G network functions in several ways.
NRF Client Load and Capacity Reporting
The NRF Client can report load and capacity values to the NRF.

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MATRIXX 5G Integration
- About MATRIXX 5G Integration
  MATRIXX 5G Integration describes how to implement the Service-Based Architecture (SBA) Gateway and messaging. In addition, this document provides information about security configuration (secured and not secured).
- MATRIXX SBA Gateway
  This section describes the Service Based Architecture (SBA) Gateway, which provides the framework to build 5G network function (NF) services based on 3GPP technical specifications.
  - MATRIXX SBA Gateway Overview
    SBA Gateway converts incoming 5G JSON messages to MATRIXX Data Containers (MDCs) and forwards these requests to the Traffic Routing Agent (TRA), which routes them to the correct sub-domain on MATRIXX Engine. Outgoing messages are converted from MDCs to 5G JSON messages.
  - Installing SBA Gateway
    This section describes installing SBA Gateway in hybrid deployments and installing CHF within an Istio service mesh.
  - Upgrading SBA Gateway
    When upgrading to a new version of SBA Gateway, there are several things you must consider to ensure the upgrade is successful and the correct configuration is applied.
  - Viewing the SBA Gateway Version
    You can use version, revision, and timestamp data to check which version of SBA Gateway is running.
  - Configuring SBA Gateway
    SBA Gateway is configured as 5G network functions in several ways.
    - Creating a CHF Configuration Source
      The Charging Function (CHF) configuration source template has files that can be used to create an image for configuring the CHF network function as a docker type configuration source.
    - Defining the Common SBA Gateway Configuration
      The common SBA Gateway configuration, provided by the SBA library, defines a default configuration that is shared by every network function.
    - Configuring SBA Gateway Properties
      SBA Gateway network functions are configured using environment variables or by editing the configuration in the nf.yaml file for the network function.
    - Configuring CHF
      The CHF configuration overrides some properties defined in gateway.yaml but only for this particular network function (CHF).
    - Configure an SBA Gateway HTTP/2 Connection to Traffic Routing Agent
      Configure an HTTP/2 connection with Traffic Routing Agent (TRA-RT/DR) using the SBA Gateway sub-chart of the main MATRIXX Helm chart.
    - MDC Handlers
      CHF configuration supports the definition of MATRIXX Data Container (MDC) handlers that process the messages received by one or more network function endpoints. These handlers convert JSON messages to MDCs before sending them to MATRIXX Engine. The response is converted from MDC format back to JSON and returned to the endpoint.
    - Configuring Multiple Sub-Domains
      In an environment with multiple sub-domains, incoming traffic is directed to the correct sub-domain by the Traffic Routing Agent (TRA) positioned in the topology between the SBA Gateway (CHF) and MATRIXX Engine.
    - Mapping JSON Messages to MDCs
      SBA Gateway uses OpenAPI (Swagger) specifications to check the format of incoming JSON requests. After validation, these JSON messages are mapped to _glossary/mdc.html structures using the Dynamic Message Mapper. This uses Mapping configuration files to map fields in the incoming JSON request to and from MDCs before sending them to and from MATRIXX Engine.
    - Routing SBA 5G Requests
      The TRA-RT requires that any MATRIXX Data Containers (MDCs) submitted have sub-domain routing information provided in the MtxMsg.TrafficRouteData field.
    - Network Function Endpoints
      Network function endpoints define the URLs and HTTP methods that they accept. Optionally, they can also check HTTP headers, path variables, or query parameters.
    - NRF Client Load and Capacity Reporting
      The NRF Client can report load and capacity values to the NRF.
      - Load and Capacity Reporting with Prometheus
        In this architecture shown in 5g_integration/c_5g_load_cap_rep_prometheus.html#c_load_cap_rep_prometheus__fig_u3c_xvx_blb, the Prometheus Node Exporter process is deployed within the Kubernetes cluster as a DaemonSet, ensuring one pod runs on each Kubernetes node. The Node Exporter reports system metrics such as load and CPU usage to Prometheus.
      - Polling the Prometheus REST API
        You can monitor system load with a Prometheus REST API, using PromQL.
    - Overriding nfProfile Fields
      A common requirement is having a common nfProfile for all environments where a few values can be overridden for each environment. This can be achieved using the global variables section of the common configuration.
    - Backstop Processing
      Backstop Processing is functionality that returns a positive message when downstream components are not available.
    - Rating Bypass
      You can configure business logic in the SBA Gateway Charging Function (CHF) to filter charging requests and spending limit requests that should not be sent to the Charging Server for rating.
    - Response Generator
      Response Generator is functionality used by Backstop Processing and Rating Bypass functionality to generate a custom response.
    - Spending Limit Notification Error Processing
      When MATRIXX Engine receives an unsuccessful Mtx5GSpendingLimitResponse, the session is retained or ended based on a configuration table in mtx_config.xml.
    - ActiveMQ Gateway Configuration
      MATRIXX Engine uses ActiveMQ to produce outbound 5G Notify requests for SBA Gateway and to consume their inbound responses.
    - Customize 5G Messages
      In MATRIXX, you can extend the 5G request and response messages beyond the options specified in the 3GPP specification.
  - Monitoring and Logging
    You administer the SBA Gateway by configuring its logging and monitoring features. For more information about monitoring SBA Gateway administration tasks, see the discussions about monitoring SBA Gateway and configuring the SNMP Prometheus adapter in MATRIXX Monitoring and Logging.
  - Creating a Mapping Configuration
    The following documentation provides information about how to create a mapping configuration. For a list of 5G message mappings from MATRIXX Data Container (MDCs) to OpenAPI supported by MATRIXX, see the discussion about MATRIXX 5G message mapping.
  - Security
    SBA Gateway supports HTTP BASIC authentication and TLS Mutual Authentication.
  - API for 5G Integration
    The URI, mapping, and OpenAPI specification are configurable, and only the HTTP method and mapping filename are not.
  - Throttling
    SBA Gateway can be throttled to protect the platform from overload conditions.
  - Connecting to Multiple Networks with Multus
    Depending on requirements, SBA Gateway might require a dedicated connection to the 5G network separate from its connection to other MATRIXX components.
  - MATRIXX 5G Message Mapping
    The following sections describe the default configuration for SBA Gateway-supported 5G message mapping. Topics in the following sections describe the mappings from MATRIXX Data Container (MDC) format to OpenAPI format for each 3GPP 5G version.
- Charging Function
  This section describes the Charging Function components and how to deploy and configure them.
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Glossary

NRF Client Load and Capacity Reporting

The NRF Client can report load and capacity values to the NRF.

Capacity and load statistics are defined in the 3GPP TS 29.510 specification as follows:

Table 1. Capacity and Load Attributes
Attribute	Data Type	P	Cardinality	Description
capacity	integer	O	0..1	Static capacity information in the range of 0–65535, expressed as a weight relative to other NF instances of the same type. If the capacity is also present in the nfServiceList parameters, those parameters have precedence over this value.
load	integer	O	0..1	Dynamic load information, ranged from 0 to 100, indicates the current load percentage of the NF.

Load and capacity can be sent on registration. The load value is dynamic and can be updated using the heartbeat message. The following is an example of an nfProfile sent on registration:

nfInstanceId: 3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6
nfType: CHF
nfStatus: REGISTERED
heartBeatTimer: 60
capacity: 20
load: 5

The following is an example of a heartbeat with an updated load value:

PATCH
.../nf-instances/4947a69a-f61b-4bc1-b9da-47c9c5d14b64

Content-Type:
application/json-patch+json

[
    { "op": "replace", "path": "/nfServices/0/nfServiceStatus", "value": "REGISTERED" }, 
    { "op": "replace", "path": "/nfServices/1/nfServiceStatus", "value": "REGISTERED" },
    { "op": "replace", "path": "/load", "value": 50 }
]

Capacity is a static value, specified in the nfProfile sent on registration. The nfProfile configuration item specifies a path to a file containing the nfProfile to send, where the capacity can be specified. The capacity value is deployment-specific, depending on the number of CHF instances and their relative capacity.

The load metric specifies the percentage load of the whole network function (NF). The network function is composed of several systems, and the SBA Gateway provides a mechanism to periodically request this metric from an external REST API and populate the load value in the registration/heartbeat messages.

Similarly, the SBA Gateway can report platform status as determined by the number of error responses received from the Prometheus REST API, relative to a configurable threshold. If the limit is exceeded, an nfStatus of SUSPENDED can be sent in the registration/heartbeat messages, instead of REGISTERED.