Address List Overview

What is an address list?

An address list is a searchable collection of addresses. Each address in an address list may also have some associated data. You can use address lists for some of the features bundled with Sentinel, such as:

  • special prefixes — Prefix and Suffix Analysis Feature does a longest prefix match against a dialled number to see if the dialled address includes one of the prefixes.

  • short-codes — The Short Code Feature does an exact match against a dialled number to see if the dialled number is a short-code. Each short-code in the address list has the fully qualified address the short-code represents.

  • global-title addresses — The SS7 Determine Network Operator Feature does a longest prefix match against the destination SCCP address to determine which network operator the new session is for.

Each address list has a unique name. The addresses in the address list are stored in SLEE profiles. Sentinel manages a cached digit tree for each address list. The digit tree provides fast exact, longest prefix, and longest suffix matching of addresses.

addresslist
Figure 1. addresses in an address list called “Prefixes”, mapped into a digit tree

Addresses in an address list are sequences of: 0 …​ 9, a …​ f, A …​ F, #, *, .

Tip You provision address lists using the Sentinel Element Manager. See the Sentinel Administration Guide for details.
Important Address lists should only be managed with the Sentinel Element Manager or the RESTful HTTP provisioning interface. The SLEE profile tables, how they are named, and many of the fields are internal to Sentinel and the Element Manager.

Profile Tables for Address Lists

Address lists are stored using SLEE profiles:

  • Address list configuration profile — defines configuration properties of the address list (for example, should it be cached).

  • Address list entry profile  — the entries in the address list (and any associated data, if any)

Note

An address list is identified by two properties:

  • address list name — the name of the address list. For example, the PrefixAndSuffixAnalysis feature uses address lists called: ‘SpecialPrefixList’ and ‘SpecialSuffixList’.

  • schema name  — corresponds to the type of the address list. For example, the PrefixAndSuffixAnalysis feature address lists have the schema name ‘PrefixAndSuffixAnalysis’. Address lists that do not associate any data with an address list entry have the schema name ‘Sentinel’.

Sentinel adopts a simple naming convention for mapping an address list schema name to the SLEE profile tables required for address lists that use that schema.

  • Address list configuration Table Name — <PlatformOperatorName>_<SchemaName>_AddressListConfigurationTable

  • Address list entry Table Name  — <PlatformOperatorName>_<SchemaName>_AddressListEntryTable

For example, the PrefixAndSuffixAnalysis feature uses address lists that are stored in these profile tables:

  • <PlatformOperatorName>_PrefixAndSuffixAnalysis_AddressListConfigurationTable

  • <PlatformOperatorName>_PrefixAndSuffixAnalysis_AddressListEntryTable

Address lists that do not have any data associated with entries in the address list use a schema name of ‘Sentinel’ and are stored in the following SLEE profile tables:

  • <PlatformOperatorName>_Sentinel_AddressListConfigurationTable

  • <PlatformOperatorName>_Sentinel_AddressListEntryTable

Address List Configuration Profile

Each address list has a configuration profile with these properties:

Parameter Type Description

Description

String

Name

String

The name of this address list

SchemaName

String

The name of the schema of this address list

PlatformOperator

String

…​ of the Selection key, for this address list to be used

NetworkOperator

String

…​ of the Selection key, for this address list to be used

SessionType

String

…​ of the Selection key, for this address list to be used

PlanId

String

…​ of the Selection key, for this address list to be used

SubscriptionId

String

…​ of the Selection key, for this address list to be used

DefaultSearchMode

Integer

One of: 0 — exact match, 1 — longest prefix match, 2 — longest suffix match

ShouldCache

Boolean

True, if the Sentinel core should maintain a cached version of the address list in memory

Version

Long

Sentinel core tracks the version for address lists that are cached in memory. If the version changes, then the Sentinel core re-builds the cached version of the address list. The version is incremented by the Sentinel Element Manager, once a set of updates to an address list (either by changing this configuration, or changing list entries) should be applied to any cached versions of the address list in memory.

Address List Entry Profile

Each Address List entry corresponds to a profile with these properties:

Parameter Type Description

Description

String

Address

String

The address string — a sequence of characters matching: 0 …​ 9, a …​ f, A …​ F, #, *, .

listId

String

The list id is a string that identifies the address list this entry belongs to. It has the following form: <selectionkey>:<schemaName>:<listname>
Note Address lists that have additional data will have additional properties for that data. See Using Address Lists in the Extending Sentinel with the SDK guide to understand how a feature uses an address list and how you can associate data with entries in an address list.
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Sentinel Express Version 4.1