Session Management Policy Configuration

MATRIXX Policy Application for Gx monitors normalized subscriber parameters and indicates which policies should be applied in one or more Policy and Charging Enforcement Functions (PCEFs).

Figure 1 shows the important MATRIXX Policy Application Gx policy components.

Figure 1. MATRIXX Policy Application Gx Architecture

You use My MATRIXX to configure the session management policy components that define a Gx policy and determine the provisioned PCC rules.

Gx configuration includes:
  • Policy and Charging Control (PCC) Rules — PCC rules are configured in the PCEF and referenced by the PCRF.

    PCC rules can be either static or dynamic. Dynamic rules include PCC rule parameters, such as the type of IP traffic, charging parameters for a service data flow, and quality-of-service (QoS) parameters. Static rules just include the names of rules already installed in your PCEF. If the static rule Rule Group box is checked, all rules in that rule group are applied.

    Gx PCC rules are configured on the PCEF and provisioned by the PCRF over the Gx interface using the Diameter AVPs described in the discussion about Diameter AVPs for the MATRIXX Policy Application. The PCRF provides the name of the local PCC rule or PCC group rules to be activated or deactivated. The following operations for Gx PCC rules are supported:

    • Install (Charging-Rule-Install) — Used to install a PCC rule or rule group that has not been installed.
    • Remove (Charging-Rule-Remove) — Used to remove a PCC rule that is already installed.
  • Event Triggers — Triggers tell the PCEF which network events trigger sending a new CCR to the PCRF for a possible policy change.

    Event triggers are separate from the notifications of policy changes that are generated when the MATRIXX Engine PCRF determines that a policy has changed. Event triggers frequently identify network attributes such as a change to RAT-type or SGSN address. The PCEF enables the event triggers sent by the PCRF in a Credit Control Answer (CCA) or Gx RAR message. For information about Gx messages, see the discussion about session management policy sessions.

    Pricing administrators create event triggers in My MATRIXX. For more information about defining event triggers, see My MATRIXX Help.

  • QoS Profiles — QoS profiles optimize network resources by enabling the allocation of specific speed profiles to subscribers based on the speed of the networks they access.

    Subscribers can be charged differently if they access a high speed network or a slower speed network allowing service differentiation.

    The QoS profile type can be either QoS Info or Default EPS Bearer. QoS profiles define the following:
    • Whether a rule applies to a service, a session, or APN.
    • QoS Class defining QCI levels (conversational, streaming, interactive, or background).
    • Allocation-Retention-Priority (ARP) (service priority).
    • Max-Requested-Bitrate for up and down link (optional).
    • APN-Maximum-Aggregate-Bitrate for up and down link (optional).
  • Policy Components — Policy components contain the business logic that determines which policy profiles are selected at a specific point in a policy session.
    • Policy Profile — Policy profiles map a condition to a policy in a policy table. The condition identifies what information is sent to the PCEF when a subscriber status change causes a policy change.
      Policy profiles include the following information:
      • A profile name.
      • A list of rules (or rule groups) to be installed.
      • A list of event triggers.
      • A QoS profile.
      • A Default Eps Bearer QoS.
      • A supported feature list.
    • Policy Table — Policy tables determine business rules using a decision table. The table identifies a policy to apply if the conditions in the policy table row have been met.

      Policy tables use decision tables that contain one or more normalizers to define conditions for a counter status. Decision tables define one or more value sets that must be true for a policy profile to be selected during rating.

    • Gx Policy Component — Policy components contain the business logic that determine which policy profile is selected at a specific point in a policy session. You first select one of these policy bases to affect:
      • Gx Session.
      • Rx Media Subcomponent.
      Note: Policy components are valid only for non-supplemental subscription offers.

      Then you select or create a policy table that contains the business logic to select the policy profile.

    For more information about configuring MATRIXX policies, see My MATRIXX Help.

  • Support for Groups — You configure support for RAR messages and rating for groups of 10 subscribers or less by answering y to the Enable Gx RAR Support for Groups create_config.info question.

    For more information about the create_config.info policy questions, see the discussion about global system configuration in MATRIXX Configuration.

You can configure the maximum number of policy sessions per device during MATRIXX Engine configuration with the following create_config.info question: Global:How many active policy sessions are allowed per device? (default= 5, maximum = 50). For more information, see the discussion about session management in MATRIXX Subscriber Management.