Manual Chapter : Provisioning Static Subscribers

Applies To:

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BIG-IP PEM

  • 13.0.1, 13.0.0
Manual Chapter

Overview: Provisioning static subscribers

If you have subscribers that are not managed on a separate policy charging and rules function (PCRF), you can create static subscribers. Static subscribers are individual subscribers of services that are not managed by a separate policy server. You can add static subscribers directly to the Policy Enforcement Manager™, and assign enforcement policies to them. Each subscriber can have one or more enforcement policies associated with them.

You can use static subscribers alone or in combination with those managed by a PCRF.

Provisioning multiple subscribers

Before you create a subscriber, you need to create the enforcement policy that you want to associate with the subscriber.
You can provision multiple subscribers to BIG-IP® Policy Enforcement Manager™ and associate policies with them. This is useful, for example, if you are not using a separate policy charging and rules function (PCRF) for subscribers, or if you need to add a subscriber with a unique enforcement policy.
  1. On the Main tab, click Policy Enforcement > Subscribers .
    The Subscribers screen opens.
  2. Click Create.
    The New Subscriber screen opens.
  3. From the Subscriber ID Type list, select the format of the subscriber ID.
    Option Description
    E.164 A numbering plan that defines the format of an MSISDN international phone number (up to 15 digits). The number typically consists of three fields: country code, national destination code, and subscriber number.
    IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity. A globally unique code number that identifies a GSM, UMTS, or LTE mobile phone user.
    NAI Network Access Identifier. A fully qualified network name (FQDN) in the form <user>@<realm>; identifies a subscriber and the home network to which the subscriber belongs.
    Private The subscriber ID type is private for the given deployment.
  4. In the Subscriber ID field, type a unique identifier (up to 64 characters) for the subscriber, such as a phone number. The subscriber ID type determines the format.
  5. In the Subscriber IP Address area, type the IP address of the subscriber in IPv4 or IPv6-Prefix format. Click Add to add multiple IP addresses. This field is optional but recommended.
    Tip: Assigning the subscriber IP addresses ensures that the subscriber gets the entitled service faster.
  6. In the Policies setting, select at least one enforcement policy from the Available list and move it to the Selected list.
    The selected policy is the one that the system enforces for the subscriber you are adding.
    Note: You can assign a transactional policy to an active subscriber if you have created a transactional policy with the transactional reporting rule action.
  7. Click Finished.
    Policy Enforcement Manager creates a static subscriber.
When the subscriber accesses the network through the BIG-IP system, Policy Enforcement Manager applies the policy you assigned to the subscriber traffic.

Subscriber CSV file format

You can upload a list of static subscribers for policy enforcement on the BIG-IP® system. A CSV file is a text file in a comma-separated-values format. Microsoft® Excel® can be used to view and create such files. The list of subscribers must be in a text file in comma separated value (CSV) format.

Each line of the CSV file represents one subscriber in the format:

subscriber_ID,subscriber_ID_type,number_of_IP_addresses,subscriber_IP,policy_1,policy_2,policy_n
subscriber ID
A unique identifier for the subscriber that depends on the subscriber ID type.
subscriber ID type
The format of the subscriber ID. This field is optional, but the comma is required. If you omit subscriber ID type, the system assigns the default value of IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity).
subscriber IP
The IP address of the subscriber. This field is optional, but the comma is required.
subscriber IP list
The list of subscribers. This field is optional, but the comma is required.
policy_1,policy_2,policy_n
One policy or more policies assigned to the subscriber. Multiple policies must be separated by commas.
Note: To allow multiple IPs you need to change the DB variable ( tmm.pem.session.ip.addr.max ).

For example:

subscriber_11.1.1.1,private,11.1.1.1,bronze,gold,silver

You must include Subscriber ID and at least one policy enforcement policy for each subscriber. You need to include the comma for missing fields. Do not include spaces between values. The policies listed must be included on the policies list in Policy Enforcement > Policies , and be provisioned using a listener or a policy enforcement profile.

For example, to specify subscriber 8315555555 in IMSI format with a gold policy, you can leave out the subscriber ID type and subscriber IP address:

8315555555,,,gold

Provisioning a file of static subscribers

You can upload a CSV file containing a list of static subscribers. The file must be in a specific CSV file format.
  1. On the Main tab, click Policy Enforcement > Subscribers .
    The Subscribers screen opens.
  2. Click Upload.
  3. In the File Name setting, click the button to browse to the text file.
    The system opens a screen where you can select the text file
  4. Click Upload.
The Policy Enforcement Manager™ uploads the static subscriber file in chunks of 1000 subscribers. The system performs a validation on each chunk. If a validation fails, the subscribers in the current chunk and subsequent chunks are not imported. However, the subscribers loaded in previous chunks are imported onto the system. The Policy Enforcement Manager applies the appropriate policy to traffic from the subscribers in the list.