18 September - 19 September 2008 (Thu - Fri)
2-day Instructor-led training. , 0900 - 1700
Lagos, Nigeria

On completion of this course the participants, will be able to:
- explain the SIGTRAN concept and impacts regarding:

• redundancy
• reliability
• capacity
• security
• migration strategies

- understand and explain the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP)
- understand and explain the most popular SIGTRAN User Adaptation Layers including:

• MTP3 User Adaptation (M3UA)
• SCCP User Adaptation (SUA)

SS7 over IP (SIGTRAN) course gives a detailed description of the structure and functions of the SIGTRAN that can be used to carry SS7 messages over the IP connection.

During the course all SIGTRAN protocols are discussed. However the emphasis is put on two of them: SCTP and M3UA, as the first is mandatory for any SIGTRAN system and the second is chosen by major GSM/UMTS equipment vendors to be implemented in their products.

Beside being familiar with the abovementioned topics, the course gives participants the opportunity to:

• analyse SIGTRAN protocol traces
• understand message flows for the SIGTRAN procedures
• compare solutions based on traditional SS7 and SIGTRAN
• compare solutions based on traditional TCP/IP and SIGTRAN
• name advantages, disadvantages and potential risks for different migration strategies from classical SS7 towards SIGTRAN
• understand terminology used in SIGTRAN documentation
• re-use their existing knowledge and experience with traditional SS7 in the new SIGTRAN environment
• understand which elements of the SIGTRAN environment are covered by the standard and which are implementation-dependent
• understand that there are differences between SIGTRAN products from different vendors that may have impact on network performance, reliability, flexibility, security, etc.

The participants should have attended courses on “Signaling System No. 7 in GSM” and “Ipv4” or equivalent knowledge.

The course is intended for network engineers and anyone who needs technical knowledge on functionality of SIGTRAN and possibilities of SS7 messages transmission over IP network.

1. Introduction
1.1 IP protocol,
1.2 Signaling System no. 7,
1.3 Voice over IP,
1.4 Mobile Core Network architecture,

2. Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP)
2.1 STCP packets,
2.2 Association establishment,
2.3 Shutdown and abort,
2.4 Multihoming,
2.5 Data transmission and data streams,
2.4 SCTP and TCP/IP – comparison.

3. SCTP adaptation layers
3.1 SIGTRAN protocol stack,
3.3 MTP2 User Adaptation Layer (M2UA),
3.4 MTP2 User Peer-to-Peer Adaptation Layer (M2PA),
3.5 MTP3 User Adaptation Layer (M3UA),
3.6 SCCP User Adaptation Layer (SUA).

4. M3UA Adaptation Layer,
4.2 Application Server (AS),
4.3 Application Server Process (ASP),
4.4 IP Server Process (IPSP),
4.3 Signaling Gateway (SG) and Signaling Gateway Process (SGP),
4.4 Services provided by the M3UA layer,
4.2 Protocol stack,
4.3 Routing,
4.4 Protocol elements and procedures

5. SIGTRAN Design
5.1 SIGTRAN Negotiation Parameters
5.2 SIGTRAN Case Studies