QoS Profiles

QoS profiles define the quality of service provided by a specific policy profile. Multiple QoS profiles can be assigned to a policy profile.

There are two types of QoS profiles:
  • QoS Info
  • Default EPS Bearer

The ApnAggregateMaxBitrateUpload and ApnAggregateMaxBitrateDownload values provide the PCEF with bandwidth requirements at the Access Point Name (APN) level, which is a combination of data flows (configured at the PCC rule level). Field values in the Gx policy QoS profile returned by the MATRIXX PCRF in Gx CCA/RAR messages determine how MATRIXX Engine controls this behavior.

For information about configuring QoS profiles, see the discussion about creating a QoS profile in My MATRIXX Help.

In each QoS profile the ApnAggregateMaxBitrateUpload/ApnAggregateMaxBitrateDownload pair can be independently retrieved from one of the following three sources:
  • Network AVPs (QoS-Information received in the Gx CCR from PCEF).
  • Extended MATRIXX MDC fields.
  • Hard-coded My MATRIXX values.
The order of selection is:
  1. If Apn QoS Prefer Network is selected in My MATRIXX, then the values are retrieved at runtime from the PCEF Gx CCR messages (if available).
  2. If a source MDC field is configured in My MATRIXX then the values are retrieved at runtime from the configured MDC field (if available).
  3. The hard-coded My MATRIXX default ApnAggregateMaxBitrateUpload and ApnAggregateMaxBitrateDownload values are used.

The selected upload/download pair is used directly if this is the only Gx policy QoS profile active during a call. Otherwise, if there are multiple QoS profiles, the pair is used as input to an algorithm to determine the values returned in the Gx CCA/RAR messages.

Multiple Gx Policy QoS profiles may be active during a call if the policy component's parent offers are configured as policy supplemental. The QoS profile APN QoS Treatment value set in My MATRIXX affects the upload/download values when combined with values in other QoS profiles.

When applying the Apn QoS Treatment value, the order of precedence is:
  1. Override — The upload/download pair takes precedence over others. If multiple active QoS profiles have APN QoS Treatment = override, then the value selected is the QoS profile in the highest priority offer followed by the QoS profile in the most recent offer.
  2. Ceiling — The upload/download pair sets limiting values. If multiple active QoS profiles have APN QoS Treatment = ceiling, then the value selected is the lowest ceiling.
  3. Floor — The upload/download pair is treated as a minimum requirement. If multiple active QoS profiles have APN QoS Treatment = floor, the value selected is the highest floor value.
In mixed APN QoS Treatment combinations, the order of precedence is (in descending order of importance):
  1. The highest priority, most recent override QoS profile.
  2. The lowest ceiling QoS profile.
  3. The highest floor QoS profile.

If there is no QoS profile with APN QoS Treatment value override, the QoS profile with the highest APN QoS Treatment floor value is used, unless it exceeds the QoS profile with the lowest APN QoS Treatment ceiling value which would be used instead.

Figure 1 demonstrates the selection process when there are upload/download values retrieved from multiple sources. Green QoS profiles indicate that APN QoS Treatment = floor (Charging Server reports the highest floor) and red QoS profiles indicate APN QoS Treatment = ceiling (but values cannot exceed the lowest ceiling).

Figure 1. Example QoS Profile Combinations

When you enable policy look-ahead by entering a nonzero value to the following create_config.info question, The QoS profile algorithms are applied separately to the current and pending policies: Global:Session:Policy:Notify:How long (in minutes) is the policy evaluation look ahead time?1440

Answer the following create_config.info question with "pending" to configure that the ApnAggregateMaxBitrate upload and download values sent by the MATRIXX PCRF in Gx CCA/RAR messages are determined by the algorithm described in this section:
Global:Session:Policy:Notify:What rules will be referred to by APN Qos-Information values (current/pending)?

For more information about policies and QoS profiles, see the discussion about policies in MATRIXX Pricing and Rating.