Do I need a hardware card for OpenSS7?

Description: OpenSS7 Frequently Asked Questions #12.

Keywords: ss7 ss7/ip ss7 over ip ss7 mtp ss7 sccp ss7 tcap sigtran mtp sccp tcap openss7 acb56 linux telephony pstn linux telephony linux nebs linux compactpci

Well, no. One of the objectives of providing the SIGTRAN and related protocols (see Where can I find more information on SIGTRAN?) was to permit SS7 MTP and SCCP to be run on a Linux box which did not have any physical SS7 links attached to it. So, you do not need one of the SS7 link interface cards listed (see What hardware is supported?). All that you need is a Network Interface Card (NIC) capable of doing IP and you are in business: multiple SS7 nodes can be set up to communicate with each other using IP.

OpenSS7 provides two drivers that provide an IP-based signalling link as follows:

M2PA - SS7 MTP2 User Peer-to-Perr Adaptation Layer

Provides an SCTP-based network driver for an SS7 Signalling Link.

SS7 over UDP Driver

Provides a UDP-based network driver for an SS7 Signalling Link.