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Where can I find more information on SS7?

Description: OpenSS7 Frequently Asked Questions #13.

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

Note: Some of the information concerning the reference sources and lists of books in this section may be incomplete, incorrect, out of date, or inconsistent with a publisher or document broker's actual offerings. Please consult with your book or document dealer before making any decisions. Also note that lists in this section do not constitute an endorsement of any document source, book, product, or service. The authors of OpenSS7, their sponsors, agents and representatives will not take responsibility in it.

Rather than working directly for the specifications documents (most of which one must pay money for a copy), there are a number of good books publishes which provide the details of the operation of the SS7 protocol:

(I personally do not own any of these books. Possibly because I could have written them. However, I have seen copies of the books and have coworkers and friends who swear by them.)

  • Signaling System 7, 2nd ed., Travis Russell
  • ISDN and SS7: Architectures for Digital Signaling Networks, Uyless D. Black
  • Signaling in Telecommunications Networks, John G. Van Bosse

Many of the specifications are available only at a significant (significant to opensource developers) charge. For example, the last price I saw on ATIS T1.PP.111 (MTP) was $530 USD; ATIS T1.PP.112 (SCCP) was $530 USD, also. Perhaps we can convince someone to donate copies of these specifications for use by the project. For information on the specifications for variants of the ITU-T SS7 protocol, the following links may be helpful:

International Telecommunications Union - Telecommunications Sector

Specifications of the SS7 protocol are provided at the international level by the International Telecommunications Union - Telephony Sector (ITU-T) in their Q.700 series recommendations. Many of the implementors guides and documents are publicly available without charge off of the ITU website, however, the ITU does charge for most of the primary specifications documents in the Q.700 series, and, therefore, you will not find them available on the OpenSS7 website.

Table of ITU-T Q.700 Series Recommendations
Document
Number
Description
Rec. Q.700 Introduction to CCITT Signalling System No. 7
Rec. Q.701 Functional description of the message transfer part (MTP) of Signalling System No. 7
Rec. Q.702 Signalling data link
Rec. Q.703 Signalling link
Rec. Q.704 Signalling network functions and messages
Rec. Q.705 Signalling network structure
Rec. Q.706 Message transfer part signalling performance
Rec. Q.707 Testing and maintenance
Rec. Q.708 Assignment procedures for international signalling point codes
Rec. Q.709 Hypothetical signalling reference connection
Rec. Q.710 Simplified MTP for small systems
Rec. Q.711 Functional description of the Signalling Connection Control Part
Rec. Q.712 Definition and function of signalling connection control part messages
Rec. Q.713 Signalling connection control part formats and codes
Rec. Q.714 Signalling connection control part procedures
Rec. Q.715 Signalling connection control part user guide
Rec. Q.716 Signalling connection control part performance

Of course, the ITU-T provides recommendations, specifications and standards for a large number of protocols including ISUP, TCAP, AIN, GSM, MAP, etc., which will be of interest to applications developer using OpenSS7, but only the MTP and SCCP portions of the specification directly impact the OpenSS7 stack and are the only recommendations listed above.

European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)

ETSI documents are individually downloadable, free of charge, however, free of charge does not mean that I can post copies here for you. You will have to go register with ETSI and get your own documents from the ETSI Publications Download Area. Most ETSI documents at this level are really just modifications of the ITU-T documents and only contain changes from the ITU-T documents, rather than the complete text of the specification. It is very difficult to work with these modification documents without the original ITU-T Q.700 series recommendations to which the modifications apply.

Table of ETSI Technical Specification Documents
Document
Number
Description
ETSI ETS 300 008-1 Signalling System No. 7;
Message Transfer Part (MTP) to support international interconnection;
Part 1: Protocol specification [ITU-T Recommendations Q.701, Q.702, Q.703, Q.704, Q.705, Q.706, Q.707 and Q.708 modified]
ETSI ETS 300 008-2 Signalling System No. 7;
Message Transfer Part (MTP) to support international interconnection;
Part 2: Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) proforma specification
ETSI ETS 300 336 Signalling System No. 7;
Message Transfer Part (MTP);
Test specifications [ITU-T Recommendations Q.781 and Q.782 (1993), modified]
ETSI ETS 300 346 Signalling System No. 7;
Message Transfer Part (MTP) protocol Tester (MT)
ETSI ETS 300 009-1 Signalling System No. 7;
Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP)
(connectionless and connection-oriented) to support international interconnection;
Part 1: Protocol specification [ITU-T Recommendations Q.711 to Q.716 (1996), modified]
ETSI ETS 300 009-2 Signalling System No. 7;
Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP)
(connectionless and connection-oriented class 2) to support international interconnection;
Part 2: Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) proforma specification
ETSI ETS 300 009-3 Signalling System No. 7;
Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP)
(connectionless and connection-oriented class 2) to support international interconnection;
Part 3: Abstract Test Suite (ATS) and partial Protocol Implementation eXtra Information for Testing (PIXIT) proforma specification
ETSI ETS 301 008 Signalling System No. 7;
Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP)
Interoperability test specification

ETSI has a great number of technical specifications and standards on their website available for download. Many of these specifications have to do with ISUP, TCAP, AIN, GSM, MAP, etc., and are of interest to the OpenSS7 application developer. Because they do not directly relate to SS7 MTP or SCCP, they are not listed here.

American Telecommunications Standards Institute (ANSI)

ANSI provides the standards specifications for the MTP and SCCP portions of the SS7 protocol for most of North America. Telcordia (formerly Bellcore) documents are based heavily on the ANSI documents. The ANSI documents themselves are based heavily upon the ITU-T documents. One source for ANSI documents is Global Engineering Documents . Some popular ANSI SS7 documents are as follows. Most of these documents carry a pretty hefty price tag (several hundred US dollars each). They are not made publicly available without charge.

Table of ANSI T1.11x Specifications
Document
Number
Description
ANSI T1.110 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
General Information
ANSI T1.111 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Message Transfer Part (MTP)
ANSI T1.112 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP)
ANSI T1.113 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Intergrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) User Part
ANSI T1.114 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Transaction Capability Application Part (TCAP)
ANSI T1.115 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Monitoring and Measurements for Networks
ANSI T1.116 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Operations, Maintenance and Administration Part (OMAP)
ANSI T1.118 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Intermediate Signalling Network Identification (ISNI)
ANSI T1.226 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning (OAM&P) Management of Functions for Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) Network Interconnections
ANSI T1.234 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
MTP Levels 2 and 3 Compatibility Testing
ANSI T1.235 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
SCCP Class 0 Compatibility Testing
ANSI T1.236 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
ISDN User Part Compatibility Testing
ANSI T1.611 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Supplementary Services for Non-ISDN Subscribers
ANSI T1.631 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
High Probability of Completion (HPC) Network Capability
ANSI T1.648 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network User Part (B-ISUP)
ANSI T1.655 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Upper Layer Security Capability
ANSI T1.661 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Release to Pivot (RTP)
ANSI T1.666 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Operator Services Network Capabilities
ANSI T1.668 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Facility Request to Pivot (FRP)
ANSI T1.669 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Intermediate Network Selection (INS)
ANSI T1.671 Signalling System Number 7 (SS7) -
Carrier Service Provider Identification (CSPI)
Telcordia (formerly Bellcore)

Telcordia (formerly Bellcore, or Bell Communications Research) was the standization and engineering powerhouse of the RBOCs. Telcordia still fills much of their old role in providing standardization documentation and generic requirements documents for telecommunications carriers in the US. The Telcordia SS7 documentation at the MTP and SCCP level provide for both specification of the protocol as well as conformance tests. Telcordia documents on SS7 are not made freely available, they are publicly available at a fee. Telcordia documents are available from their website. Some of the documents and titles that you may be interested in are as follows:

Table of Telcordia Generic Requirements Documents
Document
Number
Description
GR-82-CORE Signaling Transfer Point (STP) Generic Requirements
GR-246-CORE Telcordia Technologies
Specification of Signaling System Number 7
GR-905-CORE Common Channel Signaling Network Interface Specification (CCSNIS)
Supporting Network Interconnection,
Message Transfer Part (MTP) and ISDN User Part (ISUP)
GR-1272-CORE Gateway Signaling Transfer Point (GSTP) Local Message
Screening Test Capability Generic Requirements
GR-1432-CORE Common Channel Signaling Network Interface Specification (CCSNIS)
Supporting SCCP and TCAP
GR-2878-CORE Generic Requirements for CCS Nodes Supporting ATM High-Speed Signaling Links (HSLS)
GR-3012-CORE Generic Requirements for Network Interconnection Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) Link Monitoring System (LMS) Automatic Message Accounting (AMA)
GR-3053-CORE Voice over Packet (VoP): Next Generation Network (NGN) Signaling Generic Requirements

Telcordia has other specifications relating to ISUP, TCAP, AIN, MAP, etc. which are at the application level and which are not of direct interest to the OpenSS7 project. OpenSS7 applications will be interested in some of these documents. Please see the Telcordia website for more information.

OpenSS7
SS7 for the
Common Man
Home Top Index First Prev Next Last More Download Info FAQ Mail  Home -> Documentation -> FAQ -> FAQ#13
Last modified: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 08:34:08 GMT
© Copyright 1997-2007 OpenSS7 Corporation All Rights Reserved.