Real-time GPRS Protocol Analyzer
Overview
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) permits continuous data connectivity over wireless GSM networks. For example, mobile phones and laptops can be
used to send and receive data over the Internet, e.g. e-mail and WEB surfing are typical examples. GL's GPRS Analyzer performs real time (and offline) analysis
across the Gb (T1/E1) and Gn (Ethernet) interface. The companion GSM Analyzer can also monitor the Abis and A interfaces, simultaneously.
The GPRS Analyzer when connected between SGSN and BSS elements of a GPRS network, permits the monitoring of Gb interface. Similarly, when connected
between SGSN and GGSN elements, permits monitoring of the Gn interface.
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GL Communications supports the following types of GPRS analyzers:
- Real-time GPRS Analyzer (Pre-requisites: GL's field proven E1 or T1 internal cards or USB Laptop E1 or T1 external units, required licenses and Windows XP
(or higher) Operating System)
- Offline GPRS Analyzers (Pre-requisites: Hardware Dongle, and Windows XP (or higher) Operating System)
Main Features
- Supports filtering and search features based on Gb Interface parameters such as Data Link, Network Service, BssGp, LLC, Gprs Mobility/Session Mgmt, SMS,
TOM and SNDCP and Gn Interface parameters such as Data Link, MAC, IP, UDP, TCP, ICMP, GTP'/GTP, GTP_IP, GTP_UDP, and GTP_TCP.
- Displays Summary, Detail, Hex-dump, Statistics, and Call Trace Views, the contents of this view can also be copied to clipboard.
- Summary view displays GB Interface information such as DLCI, FECN, BECN, SAPI, CTL, Session Mgmt Message etc and Gn Interface information such as
Protocols, Source/Destination IP Address, UDP Source/Destination port, TCP Source/Destination Port, Message Type etc.
- Detail View displays decodes of user selected frame from the Summary View.
- Hex dump view displays raw frame data as hexadecimal and ASCII octet dump, the contents of this view can also be copied to clipboard.
- Statistics View displays statistics based on frame count, byte count, frames/sec, bytes/sec etc for the entire captured data. It also displays Total Frames,
Average Frames and Utilization, Maximum Frames and Utilization, and so on.
- Call Detail View displays called/ calling number, released calls, call status, & more.
- Capability to export Summary View to a comma separated values (CSV) format for subsequent import into a database or spreadsheet.
- Capability to export detail decodes information to an ASCII file.
- Any protocol field can be added to the summary view, filtering, and search features providing users more flexibility to monitor required protocol fields.
- Remote monitoring capability using GL's Network Surveillance System.
Additional features supported by real-time GPRS analyzer are:
- Multiple streams of GPRS traffic on various T1/E1 channels can be simultaneously decoded with different GUI instances .
For Gb Interface,
- Streams can be captured on the selected time slots (contiguous or non-contiguous), sub-channels or full bandwidth. Frames may also be contained in either
one, n x 64 kbps, or n x 56 kbps data channels.
- Supports decoding of frames with FCS of 16 bits and 32 bits, or none.
- Capturing filter based on length of frames (FISU - Length as 5 and LSSU - Length as 7) can be set.
- Call Detail Recording feature includes data link groups that help in defining the direction of the calls in a given network and form logical groups comprised of
unidirectional (either 'Forward' or 'Backward') data links.
- Recorded trace files can be played back using HDLC Playback application.
For Gn Interface,
- Ethernet based capture and filtering capabilities such as filtering based on Source IP address, Destination IP address, MAC Layer Address, Source/Destination
port no etc can be applied.
- Capturing filter based on selection of layers such as MAC address, IP address, TCP Source/Destination Port, UDP Source/Destination Port, SCTP
Source/Destination Port, and GTP can be set.
Additional features supported by Offline GPRS Analyzer:
- Trace files for analysis can be loaded through simple command-line arguments.
- Multiple trace files can be loaded simultaneously with different GUI instances for offline analysis.
Protocols Supported
The supported protocol interfaces in GPRS analyzer are Gb Interface, Ga/Gn Interface.
| Supported Protocols |
Specification Used |
| LAPF |
Q.922 |
| BSSGP |
3GPP TS 08.18 V8.10.0 |
| LLC |
3GPP TS 04.64 V8.7.0 |
| GMM |
3GPP TS 04.08 V7.19.0 |
| SMS |
3GPP TS 03.40 V7.5.0 / GSM 03.38 version 7.2.0 |
| TOM |
3GPP TS 04.64 V8.7.0 (2001-12)-Annex B |
| SNDCP |
3GPP TS 04.64 V8.7.0 |
| SMG |
3GPP TS 04.08 V7.19.0 |
| NS (Network Service Frame Relay) |
GSM 8.16 ETSI TS 101 299 V8.0.0 |
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| IP |
RFC 791 |
| TCP |
RFC 793 |
| UDP |
RFC 768 |
| MAC |
IEEE 802.3 |
| ICMP |
RFC 792 |
| GTP / GTPv2 / GTP' |
3GPP TS 09.60 V7.9.0 / 3GPP TS 29.060 V6.5.0 / 3GPP TS 32.005 V3.7.0 and 3GPP TS 32.015 V3.12.0 |
| LLC |
3GPP TS 04.64 V8.7.0 |
Click here to view the protocol glossary page for more information
Summary, Detail, and Hex-dump Views
The GPRS analyzer application is invoked from the main menu of GL's T1/E1 Analyzer for real-time analysis. The offline GPRS analyzer is invoked from the
installation directory of the offline GPRS analyzer. Both GPRS (Gb) as well as GPRS (Gn) analyzer has three different panes i.e. Summary, Detail and Hex Dump
Views. The Summary View for Gb interface displays Direction, Device Number, Frame Number, Time, Length, Time of Capture, Frame Error, DLCI Value, FECN
Value, BECN Value, NS PDU Type, BSSGP PDU Type, SAPI Value, LLC Frame Type, N (S), N(R), N (U), Control Field Format, GPRS Mobility Management / Session
Management Message Type, SNDCP Message Type, SMS Message Type etc. Summary View for Gn interface displays Direction, Device Number, Frame Number,
Time, Length, Time of Capture, Frame Error, Source IP Address, Destination IP Address, UDP Source and Destination Port, TCP Source Port and TCP Destination
Port, GTP Message Type etc. User can select a frame in Summary View to analyze and decode each frame in the Detail View. The Hex dump View displays the
frame information in HEX and ASCII formats.
Screen Shot of Summary, Detail and Hex dump Views for Gb Interface
Screen Shot of Summary, Detail and Hex dump Views for Ga/Gn Interface
Real-time and Offline Analysis
Users can capture and analyze multiple GPRS interfaces in real-time and record all or filtered traffic into a trace file. The recorded trace file can be used for
offline analysis, or exported to a comma-delimited file, or ASCII file.
For real-time capturing on Gb interface, users are required to specify timeslots, bit inversion, octet bit reversion, user/network side, FCS, and data transmission
rate. For Gn interface, Ethernet boards have to be specified on which data can be received. Recorded trace files over the Gb interface can be played back on T1/E1
using the HDLC file playback option.
Screen Shot of Timeslot selection
Screen Shot of Ethernet Card Selection for GPRS IP Gx Interface
Filtering and Search
Users can record all or filtered traffic into a trace file. Filtering and search capabilities is another powerful feature available with the GPRS Analyzer. These
features isolate required frames from all frames in real-time as well as in off-line modes.
For Gb interface, users can specify custom values for frame length to filter frames during real-time capture. The frames can also be filtered after completion
of capture according to to Frame Number, Time, Length, Error, C/R, SAPI, CTL and more.
For Gn Interface, Ethernet based real-time capture filtering capabilities based on Source/Destination IP address, Mac Layer Address, and more can be
applied.
Similarly, Search capability helps user to search for a particular frame based on specific search criteria.
Screen Shot of Setting the Filtering Criteria
Screen Shot of Setting the Filtering Criteria in Gn Interface
Call Detail Record and Statistics View
Important call specific parameters like Call ID, Call Status, Call duration, Device Number, BVCI, Call type etc are calculated for Gb Interface and IMSI, NSAPI for
Gn Interface are displayed in the Call Detail Record View. for each individual call from the captured data. Call traces can also be logically grouped, with each group
comprised of unidirectional (either 'Forward' or 'Backward') data links (applicable for Gb interface only). Additionally, users are provided with the option to search
for a particular call detail record from the captured traces.
Statistics is an important feature available in GPRS analyzer and can be obtained for all frames both in real-time as well as offline mode.Various statistics can
be obtained to study the performance and trend in the GPRS network based on protocol fields and different parameters.
Screen Shot of Statistics and Call Detail Record View for Gb Interface
Screen Shot of Statistics and Call Detail Record View for Ga/Gn Interface
Enhanced Trace Saving Options
Users can control the captured trace files by saving the trace using different conventions such as trace files with user-defined prefixes, trace file with date-time
prefixes, and slider control to indicate the total number of files, file size, frame count, or time limit. This feature also allows the captured frames to be saved into a
trace file based on the filtering criteria set using display filter feature.
Screen Shot of Enhanced Trace Saving Options Window
Save/Load All Configuration Settings
Protocol Configuration window provides a consolidated interface for all the important settings required in the analyzer. This includes various options such as
protocol selection, startup options, stream/interface selection, filter/search criteria and so on. Any protocol field can be added to the summary view, filtering, and
search features from this GUI providing the users more flexibility to monitor required protocol fields. All the configuration settings done in any of these options can
be saved to a file, loaded from a configuration file, or user may just revert to the default values using the default option.
Screen Shot of Save/Load All Configuration Settings Window
Bridge and Monitor Connections
Buyer's Guide:
Please Note: The XX in the Item No. refers to the hardware platform, listed at the bottom of the Buyer's Guide, which
the software will be running on. Therefore, XX can either be ETA or EEA (Octal/Quad Boards), PTA or PEA (tProbe Units),
UTA or UEA (USB Units), HUT or HUE (Universal Cards), and HDT or HDE (HD cards) depending upon the hardware.
* Specifications and features subject to change without notice.
Back to Protocol Analysis Index Page
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