OAA000005

H.248/MeGaCo protocol
ISSUE 2.0

Fixed
Fixed Network
Network Curriculum
Curriculum
Development
Development Section
Section
 Objective

After this session, you will learn:

Functions of H.248/MeGaCo protocol

H.248/MeGaCo commands

Meanings and usage of parameters in

H.248/MeGaCo commands

Message interaction process of

H.248/MeGaCo protocol

2
 References

Product Manual -- Technical Manual – Signaling and

Protocols -- Chapter 4 H.248 Protocol

3
About this session

Section 1 Overview

Section 2 Message Structure

Section 3 Call Flow

4
 Bearer Control Protocols

Bearer control protocols are used for

the communication between Media
Gateway Controller (MGC) and Media
Gateway (MG).

As the control-layer equipment,
SoftX3000 supports two bearer
control protocols: MGCP and H.248.

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 Concept

H.248 and MeGaCo refer to the same kind of protocol. It is an

achievement from the efforts of both ITU and IETF. It is named H.248 by
ITU-T and MeGaCo by IETF.

H.248 comes into being on the basis of MGCP and is combined with
features of other media gateway control associated protocols.

The function structure of H.248 is similar to that of MGCP. In NGN, both
H.248 and MGCP can be used between SoftX and most components.

MGCP is deficient in its descriptive capability, which restricts its
applications in large gateways. For those large-scaled gateways, H.248
is a much better choice.

MGCP message transportation depends on UDP packets over IP
network, and H.248 signaling messages may be based on multiple
bearers such as UDP/TCP/SCTP.

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 H.248 Implementation in SoftX3000

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 Terms

Media Gateway (MG):
 An MG converts media provided in one type of network to the
format required in another type of network.

Media Gateway Controller (MGC):
 It controls the call state pertaining to connection control of media
channels of MG.

Termination:
 A Termination is a logical entity on an MG, capable of sending
and/or receiving one or more streams. A Termination is described
by a number of characterizing properties, which are grouped in a
set of descriptors included in commands. One termination belongs
to one and only one context at any time.

Context: A context is the association among terminations. It
describes topology relationships among terminations and
media-mixed/switched parameters. 8
 Terms

Context: A context is the association among terminations. It
describes topology relationships among terminations and
media-mixed/switched parameters.

M ed ia G atew ay

CCoonntext
text Te rminatio n
SC N Be a re r C hanne l
Te rmina tio n
R TP Stre a m
* Te rmina tio n
SC N Be a re r C hanne l

C o n text N u ll C o n text
Termina tio n Te rmina tio n
R T P Stre a m
* SC N Be a re r C ha nne l

C o n text
Te rmina tio n Te rmina tio n
R T P Strea m
* SC N Be a re r C hanne l

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 Four Attributes of a Context

Context ID: The identifier of a context.

Topology structure: Who hears/sees whom, flow
direction of media.

Priority: Providing the prior handling information of a
context.

Emergency: Providing the emergent handling
information of a context.

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 Protocol Stack

H.248 H.248

UDP/TCP/SCTP MTP3-B
SSCF
SSCOP
IP
AAL5
ATM
Transport media
Physical layer

(a) IP-based H.248 (b) ATM-based H.248

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About this session

Section 1 Overview

Section 2 Message Structure

Section 3 Call Flow

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 Message Mechanism of H.248

Message Message
Transaction
TransactionI
Context ContextID1
Command
CMD1 Des-1 Des-n
Descriptor

...CMDn
ContextIDn
...
TransactionIDn

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 Protocol Message

The unit of information is message.

A message can contain multiple transactions.

A message has a header, which contains the ID of the
sender.

Each Message has a version number, indicating the
version followed by the protocol message.

There is no relationship among the transactions in a
message. They are treated independently.

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 Message Structure

Megaco/H.248 message

Header Transaction Transaction .... Transaction

Req or Reply Req or Reply Req or Reply

Trans Hdr ....

Action Action

Ctx Hdr Ctx Properties Command .... Command

Trans Hdr Descriptor .... Descriptor

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 Code of Protocol Message

The code of a protocol message can be in the text format

or the binary format.

MGC must support both formats, while MG can support
either one.

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 Commands

H.248 protocol defines eight commands, all of which are sent to MG by
MGC except the command “Notify”, which is sent to MGC by MG. The

command “ServiceChange” can be sent by either the MG or the MGC. .

Commands Direction Description

Add →MG
MGC→ used to add a Termination to a Context. If no
ContextID is specified, a Context will be
generated and then a Termination is added into it.
Modify →MG
MGC→ used to modify the properties, events and signals
of a Termination.
Subtract →MG
MGC→ used to remove a Termination from a Context and
return statistics on the Termination's
participation in the Context. The Subtract
command on the last Termination in a Context
deletes the Context.
Move →MG
MGC→ used to move a Termination from one Context to
another.

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 Commands (cont.)

Commands: Direction meanings

AuditValue →MG
MGC→ used to return the current state of
properties, events, signals and
statistics of Terminations.
→MG
AuditCapabilities MGC→ used to return a collection of
termination capabilities.
Notify →MGC
MG→ used to allow MG to notify MGC of the
detected event.
ServiceChange MGC↔MG used to allow the MG to notify the MGC
that a Termination or group of
Terminations is about to be taken out
of or into service. ServiceChange is
also used by the MG to announce its
availability to an MGC (registration),
and used for notification of MGC
suspension and active/standby
switchover.
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About this session

Section 1 Overview

Section 2 Message Structure

Section 3 Call Flow

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 Scenario 1 – Registration

MG SoftX3000

SVC_CHG_REQ

SVC_CHG_REPLY

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 Scenario 2 – Initiation of MG
MG SoftX3000

MOD_REQ

MOD_REPLY

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 Scenario 3 – Successful call
UserA Termination1 SoftX3000 Termination2 UserB
Off-hook
1 NTFY_REQ
NTFY_REPLY
2 MOD_REQ
dial-tone MOD_REPLY
dialing 3 NTFY_REQ
NTFY_REPLY
4 ADD_REQ
ADD_REPLY
5 ADD_REQ
ADD_REPLY
6 MOD_REQ
7 MOD_REQ Ringing
MOD_REPLY
Ringback tone MOD_REPLY Off-hook
8 NTFY_REQ
NTFY_REPLY
9 MOD_REQ
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MOD_REPLY
 Scenario 3 – Successful call (cont.)
UserA Termination1 SoftX3000 Termination2 UserB
10 MOD_REQ
MOD_REPLY
Conversation
On-hook 11 NTFY_REQ
NTFY_REPLY
12 MOD_REQ
MOD_REPLY
13 SUB_REQ 14 MOD_REQ
SUB_REPLY MOD_REPLY Busy-tone
15 MOD_REQ On-hook
16 NTFY_REQ
MOD_REPLY
NTFY_REPLY
17 SUB_REQ
SUB_REPLY

18 MOD_REQ
MOD_REPLY
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 Scenario 4 – Successful trunk call
SG TG SoftX3000 AMG UserB
IAM
1 ADD_REQ
ADD_REPLY 2 ADD_REQ
ADD_REPLY
3 MOD_REQ
MOD_REPLY Ringing
4 MOD_REQ
MOD_REPLY
ACM
5 NTFY_REQ Off-hook
NTFY_REPLY
6 MOD_REQ
MOD_REPLY
7 MOD_REQ
MOD_REPLY
ANM

Conversation
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 Scenario 4 – Successful trunk call (cont.)

SG TG SoftX3000 AMG UserB

8 NTFY_REQ On-hook

NTFY_REPLY

9 MOD_REQ
MOD_REPLY

10 SUB_REQ
SUB_REPLY
REL

RLC

11 SUB_REQ
SUB_REPLY

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 Summary

Concept and function of H.248: As a bearer control protocol,

H.248 is used for communication between MGC and MG. The
protocol communication consists of terminations and
contexts.

There are multiple concepts for H.248, and the inclusion
relation in ascending order is as follows: descriptor –
command – action – transaction – message.

There are 6 commands: ADD, MODIFY, SUBSTRACT, MOVE,
AUDITVALUE, AUDITCAPABILLITIES, NOTIFY and
SERVICECHANGE.

The function of each command in H.248 call flow must be
mastered as the key point.
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