Off-net Calling with BGCF and IBCF¶

The Clearwater IBCF (Interconnection Border Control Function) provides an interface point between a Clearwater deployment and one or more trusted SIP trunks.

The IBCF does not currently provide all of the functions of an IMS compliant IBCF - in particular it does not support topology hiding or an H.248 interface to control a Transition Gateway.

To use the IBCF function you must install and configure at least one IBCF node, set up the ENUM configuration appropriately, and set up BGCF (Breakout Gateway Control Function) routing configuration on the Sprout nodes.

Install and Configure an IBCF¶

Install and configure an IBCF node with the following steps.

Install the node as if installing a Bono node, either manually or using Chef. If using Chef, use the ibcf role, for example
```
knife box create -E <env> ibcf
```
Edit the /etc/clearwater/user_settings file (creating it if it does not already exist) and add or update the line defining the IP addresses of SIP trunk peer nodes.
```
trusted_peers="<trunk 1 IP address>,<trunk 2 IP address>,<trunk 3 IP address>, ..."
```

Restart the Bono daemon.

service stop bono (allow monit to restart Bono)

ENUM Configuration¶

The number ranges that should be routed over the SIP trunk must be set up in the ENUM configuration to map to a SIP URI owned by the SIP trunk provider, and routable to that provider. For example, you would normally want to map a dialed number to a URI of the form <number>@<domain>.

This can either be achieved by defining rules for each number range you want to route over the trunk, for example

*.0.1.5 IN NAPTR 1 1 "u" "E2U+sip" "!(^.*$)!sip:\\1@<trunk IP address>!" .
*.0.1.5.1 IN NAPTR 1 1 "u" "E2U+sip" "!(^.*$)!sip:\\1@<trunk IP address>!" .

or by defining a default mapping to the trunk and exceptions for number ranges you want to keep on-net, for example

* IN NAPTR 1 1 "u" "E2U+sip" "!(^.*$)!sip:\\1@<trunk IP address>!" .
*.3.2.1.2.4.2 IN NAPTR 1 1 "u" "E2U+sip" "!(^.*$)!sip:\\1@<local domain>!" .
*.3.2.1.2.4.2.1 IN NAPTR 1 1 "u" "E2U+sip" "!(^.*$)!sip:\\1@<local domain>!" .

You can also use ENUM to provide number portability information, for example

*.3.2.1.2.4.2 IN NAPTR 1 1 "u" "E2U+pstn:tel" "!(^.*$)!sip:\\1;npdi;rn=+242123@<local domain>!" .
*.3.2.1.2.4.2.1 IN NAPTR 1 1 "u" "E2U+pstn:tel" "!(^.*$)!sip:\\1;npdi@<local domain>!" .

Refer to the ENUM guide for more about how to configure ENUM.

BGCF Configuration¶

BGCF (Border Gateway Control Function) configuration is stored in the bgcf.json file in /etc/clearwater on each Sprout node (both I- and S-CSCF). The bgcf.json file stores two types of mappings. To edit a copy of bgcf.json you must download a local copy using cw-config download bgcf_json.

The first maps from SIP trunk IP addresses and/or domain names to IBCF SIP URIs
The second maps from a telephone number (contained in the rn parameter of a Tel URI, the rn parameter in a SIP URI, a TEL URI or the user part of a SIP URI with a user=phone parameter) to an IBCF SIP URI using prefix matching on the number.

These mappings control which IBCF nodes are used to route to a particular destination. Each entry can only apply to one type of mapping.

Multiple nodes to route to can be specified. In this case, Route headers are added to the message such that it is sent to the first node and the first node sends it to the second node and so on; the message is not tried at the second node if it fails at the first node.

The bgcf.json file is in JSON format, for example.

{
    "routes" : [
        {   "name" : "<route 1 descriptive name>",
            "domain" : "<SIP trunk IP address or domain name>",
            "route" : ["<IBCF SIP URI>"]
        },
        {   "name" : "<route 2 descriptive name>",
            "domain" : "<SIP trunk IP address or domain name>",
            "route" : ["<IBCF SIP URI>", "<IBCF SIP URI>"]
        },
        {   "name" : "<route 3 descriptive name>",
            "number" : "<Telephone number>",
            "route" : ["<IBCF SIP URI>", "<IBCF SIP URI>"]
        }
    ]
}

There can be only one route set for any given SIP trunk IP address or domain name. If there are multiple routes with the same destination IP address or domain name, only the first will be used. Likewise, there can only be one route set for any given telephone number; if there are multiple routes with the same telephone number only the first will be used.

A default route set can be configured by having an entry where the domain is set to "*". This will be used by the BGCF if it is trying to route based on the the domain and there’s no explicit match for the domain in the configuration, or if it is trying to route based on a telephone number and there’s no explicit match for the number in the configuration.

After making a change to this file you should run cw-config upload bgcf_json to ensure the change is synchronized to other Sprout nodes on your system (including nodes added in the future).