Manual Chapter :
Overview: Diameter
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IP LTM
- 16.0.1, 16.0.0
Overview: Diameter
Overview: the BIG-IP system implementation of the Diameter-based
protocol
The message routing framework (MRF) Diameter solution for the BIG-IP system
provides high scalability, availability, and reliability to Diameter proxies. The BIG-IP
local traffic manager (LTM) can distribute and balance Diameter traffic among multiple
Diameter devices to help maintain availability under high message volumes. Additionally,
the Diameter solution can perform advanced health checks on the Diameter devices,
routing Diameter clients away from unstable or unreliable devices and provide increased
reliability to existing networks.
Diameter message routing configuration
A typical Diameter message routing configuration.
Configuration object |
Description |
|---|---|
Virtual server |
Configures which IP address and port the
BIG-IP system will listen on. Objects linked by using a virtual server
object: protocol, Session profile, and Router profile. |
Session profile |
Configures various Diameter options. By
linking a session profile to a virtual server, it configures the virtual
server to handle Diameter messages. |
Static route |
Links a Diameter application ID with an origin
realm with a destination realm. |
Router profile |
Links a static route to a virtual
server. |
Diameter supported protocols
Diameter supports the following protocols in the BIG-IP system.
- TCP. You can enable TLS.
- SCTP. You can enable multi-homing.
Diameter supported features
Diameter supports the following features in the BIG-IP system.
Feature |
Description |
|---|---|
Load Balancing (LB) |
Support distributing load across multiple
Diameter servers across multiple realms. It can also route based on any
AVP value. |
High Availability (HA) |
Configure in high availability mode where a
failure of one chassis will cause the backup chassis to take
over. |
Persistence |
Remembers which Diameter peers are part of a session. Subsequent
messages using the same session ID (persistence key) are routed to the
alternate peer. |
Transformation |
Supports modification of Diameter messages
(AVP values). |
Topology hiding |
Support rewriting the Origin Host, Origin
Real, Destination Host, Destination Realm. |
In-band monitors |
Support out-of-band and in-band Diameter
monitors. |
Connection auto initialization |
Configure to connect to a Diameter server
before receiving a client connection. |
IPv6 support |
Full support for IPv6. |
Retransmission |
Supports retransmission to guarantee the delivery of a Diameter request message. |
Loop detection |
Supports Diameter loop detection. |
Dynamic routing |
Supports adding dynamic routes to an MRF Diameter
router. |
Per peer statistics |
Supports collecting Diameter pool member statistics. |
TCL context for a message |
Supports TCL context for a message. |
Diameter in-band monitor |
Supports an in-band monitor to mark a pool member down with passive traffic. |
