AQM Quota Management AVPs

Adaptive Quota Management (AQM) sets values for quota-related AVPs.

AQM sets the values for the following AVPs:
  • Authorized quota

    Service is interrupted when the quota is exhausted unless a reauthorization is initiated.

  • Quota thresholds
    • Time-Quota-Threshold (TQT)
    • Volume-Quota-Threshold (VQT)
    • Unit-Quota-Threshold (UQT)

      The quota threshold is the amount of remaining quota below which quota should be reauthorized. Service can continue during reauthorization as long as some quota remains.

      The quota threshold drops to zero (0) in the following circumstances:
      • Authorized quota drops below the configured quota threshold for any reason.
      • Balance Threshold Feedback (BTF) tries to reach a balance threshold on an unshared balance.
      • Authorization would exhaust all available balances.
      Important: When AQM is enabled, set the VQT to zero with the following parameter values:
      • quota_threshold=0
      • quota_threshold_unit=bytes

    For more information about quota thresholds, see the discussion about Diameter quota configuration.

  • Validity-Time (QVT)
    The QVT is the period of time for which the authorized quota is valid. Service is interrupted when the QVT expires unless a reauthorization request is granted. Three values configured in the service type definition are used when determining the quota validity-time:
    • Minimum Quota Validity Time — The minimum time that the returned quota is valid for the service. This parameter is used when the session starts. A quota less than the minimum quota is granted only to completely use a balance with a credit limit when there is no alternative payment resource. The default value is 1 second.
    • Default Quota Validity Time — The quota to authorize for the service if no other factors influence how the QVT is determined. This parameter is only used when a session is in progress (it is not used after the QHT is met or after a FINAL reporting reason). The default value is 86400 seconds.
    • Maximum Quota Validity Time — The maximum time that the returned quota is valid. The default value is 86400 seconds.
      Important: If you do not define the QVT parameters in the service type, the default values are used. To customize one or more of the QVT parameters, you must define all three parameters in the service type or a price loading validation error (10022) is generated.
  • Tariff-Time-Change (TTC)

    The TTC is the time at which a change occurs in the rating rules. Units consumed are reported in "before" and "after" buckets relative to the TTC.

    Note: If a TTC is due solely to a rate change, the more expensive rate acts as a limiter. For example, if AQM authorizes with a TTC at the boundary between a $0.02/MB off-peak rate and a $0.03/MB peak rate, and BAF or BTF imposes a limit of $0.12, 6MB is covered at the off-peak rate but only 4MB at the peak rate. For this reason, only 4MB would be authorized.
    The following rules apply during a time change:
    • If the target quota is reduced before a time change by AQM, that becomes the new target quota.
    • If the target quota is reduced before a time change due to insufficient credit, only FUI and QVT are set (TTC is not set).
    • If the target quota is reduced after a time change (for any reason), only QVT is set (FUI and TTC are not set).
In addition, the following can occur when a CCR is received:
  • If the subscriber or device is not active, the Granted-Service-Unit (GSU) is not returned in the CCA or the FUI (diameter result code 4010).
  • If the Requested-Service-Unit has a quantity of 0 or is not present and the default authorization is 0, a GSU of 0 is returned in the CCA and a message is logged if tracing is enabled (diameter result code 2001 DIAMETER_SUCCESS).
  • If AQM limits the authorized amount to 0, a GSU of 0 is returned in the CCA and the FUI (diameter result code 4010).
  • If a credit limit limits the authorized amount to 0, a GSU of 0 is returned in the CCA and the FUI (diameter result code 4010).
  • If no applicable offers limit the authorized amount to 0, a GSU of 0 is returned in the CCA or the FUI (diameter result code 4010).
Important: If a CCA is returned with a result code other than 2001 (DIAMETER_SUCCESS) at the message or command level, the session is stopped immediately. If AQM is enabled, the MinAuthQuantity must be greater than 0 or a pricing validation error 10024 is generated.

For more information about Diameter result codes, see the discussion about denial codes.