Exchanging SMS over SIGTRAN M2PA links

Objectives
Build two GSM-MAP signaling nodes using Dialogic Host based protocols to exchange Short Messages (SMS) over a SIGTRAN M2PA link.

MTU
(0x2d)

MTR
(0x2d)

MAP (0x15) TCAP (0x14) SCCP (0x33) MTP3 (0x22) M2PA (0xC1) SCTP (0xD1) IP
Point Code 1 SSN 0x08

MAP_FORWARD_SMS

MAP (0x15) TCAP (0x14) SCCP (0x33)

MAP_FORWARD_SMS_ACK

MTP3 (0x22) M2PA (0xC1)

M2PA link SLC 0

SCTP (0xD1) IP
Point Code 2 SSN 0x08

Requirements
Hardware o Windows PC with active Ethernet port Software o SS7 development package V5.03 for Windows or later Download from: http://www.dialogic.com/support/helpweb/signaling/software3.htm o Host based protocols for Windows (M2PA, MTP3, SCCP-CL, TCAP, MAP) Download from http://www.dialogic.com/support/helpweb/signaling/software4.htm o Wireshark V0.99.8 Download from http://www.wireshark.org/download.html

Lab instructions
Decide which server will send SMS messages (using MTU) and which server will receive SMS messages (using MTR).

1. Network adapter configuration

Using ipconfig, check the IP addresses of the network adapter of each server. You will need to feed these IP addresses in the respective config.txt files (see in Section 3). Make sure to disable the Windows firewall!

2. Software installation Download and install the Dialogic SS7 Development Package in c:\Septel
(you dont need to select any options since you are not using any SS7 cards in this particular case) Download all the requested protocol binaries (m2pa_nt.exe, mtp_nt.exe, sccp_nt.exe, tcp_nt.exe, map_nt.exe) from the Dialogic website and put them into the c:\Septel folder. Copy either the MTU demo (mtu.exe) or the MTR demo (mtr.exe) from the web forum into the c:\Septel folder Rename system.windows.txt into system.txt and copy it into c:\Septel, overwriting the default system.txt that was created when the DPK was installed. Install Wireshark

3. Update config.txt
On MTU side, rename the config.mtu.txt file into config.txt and copy it in c:\Septel On MTR side, rename the config.mtr.txt file into config.txt and copy it in c:\Septel

Update the IP address fields of the CNSYS and SNSLI commands. Once these changes are done, please save your work and try to start up the SS7 software. Go to the c:\Septel folder and execute the following command: gctload d If gctload starts successfully (this is confirmed by the S7_MGT Boot Complete message and by the absence of any error messages), you can try to activate your M2PA link towards the adjacent node. This can be achieved using the mtpsl tool in a separate DOS window (in the c:\Septel folder):

mtpsl act 0 0 Note that this must be done on each side! If everything goes well, you should observe that the destination point code is available.
S7L:I0000 MTP Event : linkset_id/link_ref=0000 Changeback S7L:I0000 MTP Event : linkset_id=00 Link set recovered S7L:I0000 MTP Event : linkset_id=00 Adjacent SP accessible S7L:I0000 MTP Event : point code=00000001 Destination available

4. Capture SS7 traces using Wireshark

Using Wireshark, you can capture traces of the SS7 protocol messages being exchanged between the 2 systems. Launch Wireshark, select Capture>Options and define the following capture filter: Filter string: sctp Make sure you have chosen the right Interface. In the Display Options, select the Update list of packets in real time and Automatic scrolling in live capture check-boxes then click on Start to start monitoring traffic.

Bring the link down on one system (using mtpsl deact 0 0), and up again (using mtpsl act 0 0), and try to better understand the stack model (SCTP, M2PA, MTP3, SCCP, etc.) and the flow of MTP3 Signaling Link Test messages (SLTM, SLTA). 30 seconds after the link has been started, you will notice the SCCP SST (sub-system test) messages being sent by both peers, and which should result in SSA messages (sub-system allowed) being sent back. Then (and only then!), you can verify that your configuration is valid, by generating some real SMS traffic: On local point code = 2, run the MAP Test Responder (MTR)
mtr.exe m0x2d

On local point code = 1, run MAP Test Utility (MTU) with the following options:
mtu.exe d0 -a43020008 -g43010008 i987654321 -s"Merry Xmas"

Please capture some Wireshark traces and have a closer look at them after successfully generating some GSM-MAP SMS traffic.