echnical rief APEX Service Delivery Platform System Architecture
able of Contents Introduction... 3 APEX SDP Architectural Advantages... 3 OmniVox3D Application Server... 3 APEX SDP System Architecture... 4 OmniVox3D Application Server... 4 Call Management and Routing... 6 Application Service Execution... 6 SIP Session Manager... 7 SIP Proxy... 7 SMS exting Manager... 7 Dynamic Video Generator... 8 VXML Dialog Generator (XG)... 8 Data Management... 8 Diameter Server... 9 OmniView Service Creation and OAM&P... 9 Configuration Manager... 10 OmniView Console: OAM&P & Service Creation... 10 Monitoring & Reporting... 11 OmniVoXML Media Gateway... 12 elephony Server (S)... 12 Signaling Gateway (SG)... 13 APEX Media Server... 13 APEX Media Server... 13 VXML Voice rowser (X)... 14 Key echnological Advantages of the APEX SDP Architecture... 14 APEX SDP System Configurations... 15 High Availability APEX SDP Configuration... 15 Distributed APEX SDP Configuration... 16 Stand-alone APEX SDP Configuration... 16 Summary... 17 echnical rief 2
Introduction he APEX Service Delivery Platform (APEX SDP ) is an IMS compliant solution featuring voice, video and data solutions. It is deployed in more than 250 telecom service provider networks in more than 95 countries, as well as many of the top Fortune 100 companies of the world. Applications running on APEX SDP range from Network IVR (Voice, Video, ext and USSD), Call Intercept Announcements, Multi-Media Conferencing, ACD & Contact Center Integration, Unified Messaging, Automated Collect Calling, Prepaid Calling services, basic IVR and a myriad of custom applications that have been built by our VARS and customers. At the core of the APEX SDP is the OmniVox3D Application Server, the most powerful SIP Application Server available on the market today. he APEX SDP also includes the OmniView Console for OAM&P and Service Creation, the OmniVoXML elephony Gateway and the APEX Media Server together as well as a large catalogue of Service Ready Applications. he flexible APEX SDP architecture allows for multiple configurations in order to satisfy the diverse number of services and telecom network requirements. his document describes OmniVox3D and the APEX SDP software architecture in detail, as well as the interaction between the different components. It provides examples of different configurations and indicates features and benefits allowing the reader to design the best possible system configuration for any given network infrastructure. APEX SDP Architectural Advantages he APEX SDP s distributed architecture and scalable design provides the ideal solution for enterprises needing as little as 24 sessions to Network Operators requiring upwards of 60,000 concurrent sessions. It s complete set of Service Delivery components creates flexibility in deployment while it s all inclusive signaling protocol stack, including a SIP Session Manager and a SS7 Signaling Gateway, allows applications to be written once and deployed worldwide over any SIP, PSN, Wireless or converged network. ying these components together is OmniView, the centralized browser-based Console providing OAM&P: Operations, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning services as well as Service Creation and deployment from the same Java-based user interface. Such power and flexibility makes the OmniVox3D Application Server and the APEX SDP the best Service Delivery Platform for DM, 3G, SIP, IMS/LE and converged networks. OmniVox3D Application Server he OmniVox3D Application Server, OmniView Service Creation/OAM&P Environment and SIP Session Manager are the core elements of the APEX SDP, the leading SIP Multi- Service Delivery Platform. he OmniVox3D Application Server provides unmatched stability and proven reliability with over 15,000 installations worldwide processing billions of calls. A wide range of service-ready applications are available including: Network IVR, Multi-Media Conferencing, Call Interception, Unified Messaging, Automated Collect Calling, echnical rief 3
Intelligent 800-Number Routing, among many others, along with the best-in-class Service Creation Environment to provide a simplified, yet robust, method of implementing Enhanced Services. Once an application is Designed and Developed, Deployment is made simple through OmniView s browser-based OAM&P console. APEX SDP System Architecture he APEX SDP consists of three major sub-systems: 1. OmniVox3D - Application Server 2. OmniView - Service Creation and OAM&P 3. OmniVoXML - elephony Gateway and Media Server OmniVox3D Application Server OmniVox3D is the most flexible and powerful multi-media Application Server on the market today. hrough its different modules, it can service different networks using a variety of SIP compatible Media Servers with a diverse set of applications. OmniVox3D gives the power to Design, Develop and Deploy a variety of applications and services to elecom Service Providers and Enterprises alike. Design SERVICES Develop echnical rief 4 Deploy
he OmniVox3D Application Server serves applications inside SIP, DM and Wireless Service Provider networks controlling Voice and Video Media Servers through standards based protocols including MSML/MOML & MSCML as well as VXML. In an enterprise network OmniVox3D is an Application Server serving both SIP and DM environments. Of course, for the thousands of users that have deployed APEX over the years, OmniVox3D serves the same applications to the OmniVoXML Gateway, the APEX SDP s DM elephony Server, as well as SIP Media Servers. he OmniVox3D Application Server consists of the following components: Call Management and Routing Application Service Execution SIP Session Management SIP Proxy Manager SMS exting Manager Dynamic Video generator Web Service Manager VXML Dialog Generator Data Manager Diameter Manager echnical rief 5
Call Management and Routing Call Manager (CM) is the internal central message router of the OmniVox3D Application Server. here can be multiple CM s running creating redundant systems. CM downloads its configuration from CFM (see OmniView below) at load time and connects to the session interfaces (DM/IP) for session processing. CM enables the following functions: Call Routing Message Routing and ranslation Central Resource Management Reporting and Monitoring CM receives call offered events from User Agents and routes sessions based on a pattern-matching algorithm to applications running the Application Manager modules using load balancing. CM receives all messages to and from the Application Manager and the Interfaces translates these messages into the appropriate format and action. CM provides central resource management services for Conferencing, Automated Speech Recognition and other global resources. It tracks the state of all sessions in the system information that s used for system wide Activity Monitoring and Reporting. When reporting is enabled, CM sends reporting Call Detail Records (CDRs) to the Data Manager at the termination of every session. he Data Manager then inserts these CDRs into a database for reporting. When monitoring is enabled in OmniView, CM sends the data back to OmniView for real-time on-screen display. CMs design is based on I/O Completion Ports and asynchronous I/O technology to ensure that it will not become a throttling point within the system. It has been stress tested to handle a minimum of 10,000 messages a second on a standard Intel Pentium IV processor. Application Service Execution Application Manager (AM) is the application execution engine of the OmniVox3D Application Server. It implements the Finite State Machines, which processes sessions based on the application call flow designed within the OmniView Service Creation Environment. AM obtains information from CFM about the applications it services downloading those applications from CFM where they are stored in XML format and prepares them to run. After downloading, AM publishes these applications with CM allowing session to be routed to these applications. AM supports playing of Voice and Video prompts, sending and receiving SMSs, collection of DMFs, call re-routing and call flow logic. It has additional modules for specific services including: CI Integration, ODC, LDAP/IMAP, asic Scripts, Java Scripts, Automated Speech Recognition (ASR), ext-to-speech (S), Conferencing, Web Services and many others. Multiple instances of AM can be run on a single box or multiple boxes to help share the traffic load. his allows CPU intensive or database intensive applications to be distributed on multiple servers to handle the load. It also allows administrators to isolate and test new applications. echnical rief 6
SIP Session Manager he OmniVox3D SIP Session Manager (SM) is a SIP ack-to-ack User Agent (2UA), a type of SIP proxy server that serves as a front-end interface for incoming SIP Calls to the OmniVox3D Application Server. he SIP Session Manager provides the following functionalities that are essential for creating SIP-based telephony services: OmniVox3D Application Server Program Control: he SIP Session Manager answers sessions, performs call dialogs, transfers and ends sessions under program control of OmniVox3D s Application Manager, and call dialog programs provisioned by the programmer using OmniView. Interface to Media Servers: he SIP Session Manager interfaces to third-party standards-based Voice and Video media servers via SIP with MSML/MOML, MSCML or VXML markup languages. hese media servers are used for playing Voice and Video prompt messages, message recording and the collection of DMF digits and speech recognition from/by the caller under program control of the OmniVox3D Application Server. Call Control: he SIP Session Manager manage is a third-party call controller that allows for complete manipulation of SIP headers and IMS headers. he Session Manager is perfect for use in Multi-Media Conferencing, Prepaid illing and Call Center applications. Under program control of OmniVox3D, it is able to control the length of destination calls, interrupt and play warning messages (via media servers) and perform "follow-on" calls. ecause the SIP Session Manager integrates the SIP signaling, media servers and gateways can efficiently be freed from pure SIP calls once the call is routed. Real ime illing Controls: Under program control of the OmniVox3D, it is able to control the length of destination calls, interrupt and play warning messages (via media servers) and perform "follow-on" calls. Interface to Session order Controllers: he SIP Session Manager interfaces to third party Session order Controllers for routing and application services. SIP Proxy he OmniVox3D SIP Proxy (SIPP) is a true SIP registration server and proxy server. he SIP Proxy has the following functionalities that are essential for creating SIP-based telephony services: Registration and Authentication Presence Routing SMS exting Manager he SMPP SMS exting Manager (SMS) is a module that uses the SMPP/MM7 protocol stacks to send and receive SMS and MMS messages from an SMSC (Short Message Service Center). he texting manager can take requests from applications for SMS delivery or can route SMS requests up to applications for processing. For low SMS traffic echnical rief 7
environments where a dedicated SMPP link is cost prohibitive, the SMPP server has been made to work with several Web Services clients for sending SMS requests. SMPP obtains information from CFM about what smpp links it services. It creates those links and publishes them with CM allowing SMS requests from applications to be serviced. SMPP server can be configured to create CDR request for every SMS message sent and received. Dynamic Video Generator OmniVox3D s Dynamic Video Generator (DVG) is designed to create video content for Interactive Video (IVVR) call dialogs. his is analogous to the spoken structured announcements which are dynamically created and used in Voice only IVR systems. DVG can be used to create screens of data personalized for the caller which are accompanied by the spoken announcements. he video content produced by OmniVox3D s DVG can also be made to be as complex and visually pleasing as the network operator likes. DVG produces video content from templates coded in HML and deployed on common web servers. hese templates are used to create visual content with a combination of text, GIF, JPEG and PNG images, as well Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Since the DVG loads these templates on a per call basis using the HP protocol, the templates themselves can be generated dynamically from the server using ASP, PHP or other common web programming languages. Commands for controlling the DVG have been integrated into the OmniView Service Creation Environment. hese DVG commands can be combined with IVR, ODC and Web Services commands to create Value Added Services which extend beyond playing static video. DVG obtains information from CFM about what links it needs to open for requesting applications. It then creates these links allowing Dynamic Video requests from applications to be serviced. VXML Dialog Generator (XG) he VXML Dialog Generator (XG) is a module that runs on top of the Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services) Web Server. he VXML Dialog Generator takes in HP VXML requests and hands them to the OmniVox3D. OmniVox3D runs the appropriate script and responds with VXML responses back through the VXML Dialog Generator to the VXML Gateway when telephony functions or media resources are required. hrough the VXML Dialog Generator the OmniVox3D Application Server can service any third party VXML gateway. he OmniVox3D Application Server utilizing the VXML Dialog Generator provides any VXML gateway with the most powerful Service Creation engine using GUI-based IVR customization tools and multitudes of applications ready to run. Data Management Data Manager (DM) stores the data generated by all the APEX SDP components during the course of session execution. A system can be configured to run single or multiple DM instance(s) depending on load factors or preferences. echnical rief 8
DM services these main tasks: Error Logging/SNMP rap sending Call Detail Record (CDR) logging Custom CDR logging Debug Logging for the other componebts Collection of Reporting CDRs and Database management Application Statistical Reporting management When an error is encountered in OmniVox3D it is sent to DM for logging. DM can be configured to place these errors in the Microsoft Windows event viewer and trapped to the configured SNMP host. CM can be configured to create reporting CDRs and send them to DM to insert into a database. OmniView can then use its reporting capabilities to create real time custom reports on applications, ports and system usage. AM can be configured to create Application Statistical data and send them to DM for database management, this database can be used by the Web Reporting Application to create and view custom application reports. his approach allows centralized or distributed reporting depending on ever changing network and application needs. Diameter Server he Diameter Server within the OmniVox3D Application Server enables subscriber Authentication, Authorization and On-line charging using the Diameter Credit Control Application interfacing with the HSS (Home Subscriber Server) in IMS networks. here is a command set that allows developers to create services that can be charged directly to the subscribers accounts. he incremental nature of the Diameter online charging applications permits the subscribers accounts to be charged for several services simultaneously, enabling value added services (such as video/multimedia content, ringtones, etc.) to be charged by an application server while the network bills the account for the entire call. OmniView Service Creation and OAM&P OmniView is the Service Creation Environment and OAM&P (Operations, Administration, Management and Provisioning) Console of the APEX Service Delivery Platform. Its functionality is broken into the following key areas: Configuration Management Service Creation Fault Management Performance Management his sub-system is comprised of two primary components: Configuration Manager OmniView Console echnical rief 9
Configuration Manager Configuration Manager (CFM) is at the center of OAM&P for APEX SDP and is tasked with four separate operations within the system. It manages the configuration database, supplies configurations to each of the components at load time, is the interface to manage the components at runtime, and allows for real-time monitoring of the system. he CFM database contains the following: Configurations for all APEX SDP modules XML parameter files for all modules Applications in XML format Voice and Video media files, including their format and descriptions At system start up, each APEX SDP module registers with CFM and download its configuration. he configuration includes the information needed to allow interaction between components in the system and operational data such as media prompts for the elephony Servers and application call flows for the Application Managers. he CFM provides a central position for configuration and control. In a distributed, High Availability OmniVox3D Application Server configuration there is no need to configure each of the separate systems. he configuration files, application files and media files are automatically distributed to the remote components across the Network. OmniView Console: OAM&P & Service Creation he OmniView Console is a browser-based portal into the APEX SDP that significantly reduces the cost of developing and maintaining services. OmniView provides the following services: echnical rief 10
Configuration of all Modules Real-ime Device Monitoring Call Routing Management Real-ime Application Monitoring Service Creation and Application Development Prompt Management Recording and Playback Resource Monitoring and Reporting Command Line Interface to all Modules OmniView s multi-user provisioning feature provides pre-defined user profiles for different levels of access to the APEX SDP. Developers, administrators and technicians can be assigned access based on responsibilities. herefore, everyone has the same entry point into the system, but with different privileges depending on access granted. CFM in conjunction with OmniView enables online management of the system. OmniView can enable and disable trunks, circuits, reload applications, change debugging and routing information by sending commands to CFM, which are then passed on to the appropriate module. he APEX SDP OAM&P tool provides for central management of deployed applications and simplicity in development of new applications. Its powerful design and unparalleled ease-of-use reduces network maintenance costs. Monitoring & Reporting he OmniVox3D Application Server includes real time monitoring module as well as a robust reporting module. he monitoring module provides real time information of the APEX SDP subsystems and live traffic. hrough the monitoring module, administrators can drill down and obtain information down to a specific session. echnical rief 11
he reporting module provides a simple method for running system and application reports. hrough the reporting web portal, users can generate a variety of operation, administration and business reports depending on their credentials. OmniVoXML Media Gateway OmniVoXML is a multi-purpose Media Gateway, VXML Gateway and elephony Server. he OmniVoXML Gateway is specifically designed for deploying voice and speech-enabled applications in VoIP, ISDN and SS7 networks. It supports industry-standard VoiceXML 2.0 and 2.1 and additional extensions based on XML. his allows for basic and advanced IVR, outbound dialing, conferencing and speech recognition. he OmniVoXML Gateway is fully SIP enabled and can be combined with any VoiceXML compatible Application Server, including OmniVox3D, to provide applications with advanced user dialogs and speech processing. his OmniVoXML Media Gateway sub-system has four components: elephony Server Media Server SS7 Signaling Gateway VXML Voice rowser elephony Server (S) he elephony Server (S) is the center of session processing for the APEX SDP for DM networks. It interacts directly with the signaling plane and the media plane. S is responsible for opening and managing all the devices on the system and interacting with other media related items such as Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), ext-to- Speech (S), Fax, and Conferencing. PSN S handles the following Protocols: SIP Wireless SIP, SIP Registration 1, E1, IP, ISDN, H.323, CAS, etc. SS7, SS7 ISUP Loop-ack, SS7/IN in conjunction with the Signaling Gateway Upon starting, S downloads its configuration and media files from CFM. S waits for connections from the OmniVox3D Application Server to unblock circuits. When a call is received, S hands the session to CM for routing and application execution. S is stateless and has no application knowledge. echnical rief 12
S has a complete SIP stack and is RFC 3261 compliant. It can run as an Application Node in an IMS network for 3G wireless networks. he APEX SDP SIP implementation is as flexible and extendable as the rest of the APEX SDP components. Media files can be modified at any time, including while calls are being processed, by updating the configuration database using the OmniView console. Signaling Gateway (SG) Signaling Gateway (SG) is the SS7 interface for the APEX SDP using Dialogic s NetStructure SS7 as the basis for its ISUP, ISUP loop-back and WIN/CAMEL solutions. A direct interface to the boards and Signaling Interface allows for more flexibility and power. SG can run as a component of the elephone Server driving an SS7 board or can handle redundant SS7 switching interfaces. he SG supports ISUP Loop-ack, Release Link runking and Call Deflection to help drive down deployment and integration costs. he SG can be a shared central resource providing SS7 signaling across several Ss reducing the number of signaling points needed, offering geographic distribution and further reducing costs. he APEX SDP architecture with its separate S and SG has a clear advantage in its ability to match network requirements by supporting the widest array of protocols with flexibility. Sharing of resources and interfaces with the latest ASR and S Speech echnologies insure that the APEX SDP with the OmniVox3D Application Server is the correct choice for the most demanding services. APEX Media Server he APEX Media Server (MS) provides media services to the APEX Service Delivery Platform and the OmniVox3D SIP Application Server. It provides the MR-F (Media Resource Function) in the IMS network for multi-media services. he VoiceXML rowser component provides voice services, mostly for enterprise applications. APEX Media Server he APEX Media Server is a carrier grade, nextgeneration software media server that enables standards-based, real-time multimedia communications solutions for mobile and broadband environments. he APEX Media Server is controlled by the business logic of applications running on the OmniVox3D application server to execute high density real-time multimedia communication functions including inbound and outbound session/call control, audio/video play and record, transcoding, transrating, transizing of video streams, multimedia conference mixing, content streaming, and a wide range of advanced supporting functions for communication sessions. he APEX Media Server is controlled by the OmniVox3D Application Server via IMS-based control interfaces, including SIP with Media Server Markup Language (MSML RFC 5707). echnical rief 13
It supports Real-ime Protocol (RP) for audio, video, fax, and speech media including MRCP (Media Resource Control Protocol) to provide multi-vendor Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) as well as ext-o-speech (S) technologies. he Media Server component may also be deployed to interact with third-party Application Servers, as part of a soft-switch controlled broadband network. VXML Voice rowser (X) VXML Voice rowser (X) loads and executes VXML scripts, either from static files or from the web. X obtains information from CFM about the applications it services with the corresponding URLs. After downloading the configuration the X publishes them to CM allowing calls to be routed. VXML Voice rowser allows applications written in standard VXML scripts to be run on the system opening up the APEX SDP to run applications from third-party Application Servers application as long as they are VXML 2.0 or 2.1 compliant. Key echnological Advantages of the APEX SDP Architecture he architecture of the APEX SDP and OmniVox3D Application Server provides the flexibility and power to be configured for any SIP, SIP/IMS or DM network deployment. he APEX SDP can be implemented in a single to multiple sites, from a stand-alone server to a high availability configuration in wide area network across multiple servers. he system s architecture allows for simple scalability by expanding software licenses and additional servers as required. he tremendous advantages of centralized configuration, OAM&P and application development combined with its distributed architecture and simple scalability make the APEX SDP the clear choice for implementations in SIP, IMS and LE networks for network, customer care and multi-media value added services. echnical rief 14
APEX SDP System Configurations he APEX SDP modular design and true open architecture allows for multiple possible configuration options. he APEX SDP recommended configuration depends on the number of required sites, number of concurrent sessions, accessibility of signaling points and availability requirements, It can vary from a single stand-alone server, running the OmniVox3D Application Server and the MR-F Media Server components in a single server to a High Availability configuration implemented across a wide area network. Independently of the APEX SDP configuration, the solution always provides a centralized point of configuration and operation through the OmniView OAM&P console. he APEX SDP may be implemented in one of three possible configurations: High Availability APEX SDP Distributed APEX SDP Stand Alone APEX SDP High Availability APEX SDP & Load alancing Configuration he APEX SDP may be configured for High Availability, implemented in multiple sites, across a wide area network. his configuration is typically implemented in telecom networks where there are geographic redundancy and disaster recovery requirements. he HA configuration delivers load sharing capabilities providing access to all MR-Fmedia server resources in the network for all OmniVox3D Application Servers. he APEX SDP High Availability configuration is widely deployed in ier 1 and ier 2 carriers for a variety of network, customer care and value added services including: Network IVR, Automated Collect Calling, Voice Messaging and multi-media conferencing. Site A APEX SDP High Availability Configuration Site OmniVox3D Application Server OmniVox3D Application Server WAN D Media Server Farm (MR-F) Media Server Farm (MR-F) his diagram illustrates a High Availability APEX SDP, implemented across two remote sites, in a load sharing configuration. Each OmniVox3D Application Server can process 100% of the traffic upon contingency situations. echnical rief 15
he APEX SDP High Availability configuration relies on specially configured SRV records in the local DNS service. he DNS SRV records contain a round-robin list of individual hosts in an Application Server farm. Each new name lookup by a client causes the DNS server to respond with the next host in the list. DNS SRV records can be utilized to indicate some hosts as primary servers and others as backups. In addition to providing a High Availability configuration it provides load balancing functionality to the APEX Service Delivery Platform. Distributed APEX SDP Configuration For those implementations where geographic redundancy in not a requirement, customers implement the APEX SDP in a distributed configuration where the OmniVox3D Application Server and the MR-F Media Server systems run in separate servers, in multiple sites. APEX SDP Distributed Configuration Site A Site Site N OmniVox3D Application Server D Media Server Farm (MR-F) his diagram illustrates distributed, independent APEX SDPs, implemented in three remote sites. Each site processes it own local traffic independently from the other sites. Stand-alone APEX SDP Configuration For smaller configurations, from 24 up to 720 concurrent sessions, all APEX SDP components including the OmniVox3D application and APEX media server can reside in a single stand-alone server. Expansion of the stand-alone APEX SDP configuration is simple, by adding server hardware and separating the Application Server from the Media Server components and converting it into a distributed configuration. echnical rief 16
Summary ased on APEX Voice Communications 24+ years as an industry leader, the latest generation of the APEX Service Delivery Platform and its core component the OmniVox3D Application Server, offer true open architecture, as well as the most robust and flexible media processing solution available. he APEX Service Delivery Platform s distributed architecture, combined with its superior OAM&P capabilities, allows for unparalleled flexibility and reliability. When requirements call for the deployment of the most flexible, reliable and cost effective solution available, the APEX SDP is the clear choice for any packet-switched or legacy DM network. he architecture is perfect for rapidly Designing, Developing and Deploying revenuegenerating services used by Network Operators and cost cutting applications in the Enterprise. echnical rief 17
www.apexvoice.com sales@apexvoice.com +1 818.379.8400 Document Name: High-Availability System Architecture Document ype: echnical rief Document Number: Architecture- 020813 Document Revision Number: 3.6 Document Revision Date: February 8, 2013 Copyright 2013 APEX Voice Communications, Inc. All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, photocopied, stored on a retrieval system, translated, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the express prior written permission of APEX Voice Communications, Inc. he content of this publication is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of APEX Voice Communications, Inc. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication. However, due to ongoing improvements and revisions, APEX Voice Communications, Inc. cannot guarantee the accuracy of printed material after date of publication nor can it accept responsibility for errors or omissions. APEX Voice Communications, Inc. will publish updates and revisions to this publication as needed. OmniVox3D, OmniVox, OmniView, OmniVoXML, OmniFlow, OmniScript, OmniNet and OmniSIP are registered trademarks and APEX SDP is a trademark of APEX Voice Communications, Inc. Other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective companies. echnical rief 18