This section of the manual covers upgrading the SGC and the TCAP stack.

Upgrading from OCSS7 1.0.1.x to OCSS7 1.1.0.x

Notable Changes

The TCAP stack now supports a meshed-style connection architecture, where each TCAP stack instance is connected to one or more SGCs simultaneously. The meshed connection style also enables prefix migration between SGCs. That is, if an SGC responsible for a prefix terminates for any reason, another SGC can take on responsibility for it, directing messages for that prefix towards the correct TCAP stack.

Meshed-style connections require the use of the new ocss7.sgcs configuration property. The old ocss7.urlList property continues to be available for backwards compatibility reasons, but it is highly recommended to switch to the meshed-style architecture for maximum resiliency. See ocss7.sgcs Connection Method for more details.

The SGCs have a new configuration property sgc.tcap.maxMigratedPrefixes. Similar to the existing sgc.tcap.maxPeers property, this controls the maximum number of prefixes that may be migrated to any given SGC and must be configured appropriately. See Static SGC instance configuration for more details.

An SGC cluster may contain only 1.0.1.x members or only 1.1.0.x members. A cluster consisting of 1.0.1.x and 1.1.0.x SGC nodes will have undefined behaviour and is not supported.

Online Upgrade Using STP Redirection

This approach manages the upgrade externally to Rhino and OCSS7, and requires support from the STP and surrounding network, as well as support in the existing service. It can be used for all types of upgrade.

Prerequisites

Before upgrading using STP redirection, make sure that:

  • Inbound TC-BEGINs are addressed to a "logical" GT. The STP translates this GT to one-of-N "physical" addresses using a load-balancing mechanism. These "physical" addresses route to a particular cluster.

  • The STP needs the ability to reconfigure the translation addresses in use at runtime.

  • The old and new clusters are assigned different "physical" addresses.

  • The service ensures that initial responding TC-CONTINUEs provide an SCCP Calling Party Address that is the "physical" address for the cluster that is responding.

  • Subsequent traffic uses the "physical" address using normal TCAP procedures.

Upgrade process

To upgrade using STP redirection:

  1. Set up the new clusters (Rhino and SGC) with a new "physical" address. Ensure that the new Rhino cluster has a different clusterID to the existing Rhino cluster. Similarly, the new SGC cluster must have a different Hazelcast cluster ID to the existing SGC cluster.

  2. Configure and activate the new clusters.

  3. Reconfigure the STP to include the new cluster’s physical address when translating the logical GT.

  4. Verify that traffic is processed by the new cluster correctly.

  5. Reconfigure the STP to exclude the old cluster’s physical address when translating the logical GT.

  6. Wait for all existing dialogs to drain from the old clusters.

  7. Halt the old clusters.

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