WebSphere brand IBM WebSphere IP Multimedia Subsystem Connector, Version 6.2

Rf accounting Web service

Rf accounting Web service provides an IMS™ Application Server application with a Diameter messaging interface to enable the application to send accounting messages to Charging Collection Function (CCF). The CCF builds a Charging Data Record (CDR) which is sent to and consumed by the billing system.

The IMS Application Server communicates with the accounting server through Rf accounting Web service using either a session or event offline charging method as shown here:

The choice of using session charging versus event charging will depend on the applications using this interface. The actual accounting functionality is based on other network elements, such as billing, and is not part of the Rf accounting Web service. The Rf interface defines several external Web service methods used for offline accounting messages, start session, interim session, stop session and event charging.

Application overview

The following is a brief overview of the system components and how they play in a Diameter transaction:
  • IMS Application Server Application: The IMS Application Server Application uses WSDL and/or helper classes to prepare a Web service request to be sent to one of the Diameter Enabler Web service applications.

    If the Diameter Enabler Web service supports notifications, the IMS Application Server application must use the WSDL and/or helper classes to implement the "server" Web service that receives notifications. The URL of the "server" Web service is provided to the Diameter Enabler when invoking subscription requests.

  • Diameter Enabler: The Diameter Enabler is capable of receiving Web service requests and converting them into Diameter request packets. The Diameter Enabler receives the Web service request, validates its contents, converts it to a Diameter request packet, and routes it to the correct Diameter Server. The Diameter Server responds with a Diameter response packet, which is returned as a Web service response object to the IMS Application Server application that performed the request.

    The Diameter Enabler is also capable of receiving notification requests from a Diameter server. The Diameter Enabler validates the contents of the Diameter request packet and responds to the peer with a Diameter answer packet. If the IMS Application Server Application has created a subscription to receive the notifications, the Diameter Enabler opens an outbound Web service request to a Web service endpoint provided in the subscription data.

  • Diameter Server: The Diameter Server is a Diameter peer that exchanges Diameter messages with the Diameter Enabler. The Diameter Server is capable of sending and receiving Diameter request and answer packets.

Application deployment

Rf accounting Web service is deployed in a WebSphere® Application Server environment. Prior to installing Rf accounting Web service, you must install Diameter Enabler base. Any application with the appropriate access and security may invoke these functions while the supported transport is SOAP over HTTP. The Rf accounting Web service are stateless and support multiple simultaneous calls.



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