SRC Server Components
The SRC server components are;
Service Activation Engine
The Service Activation Engine (SAE) is the core manager of an SRC network. It interacts with other systems, such as Juniper Networks routers, CMTS devices, directories, Web application servers, and RADIUS servers to retrieve and disseminate data in the SRC environment. The SAE authorizes, activates and deactivates, and tracks sessions during which a subscriber is logged in to the network and during which a service is active. The SAE can track more than one service session for a subscriber at a time.
Policy and Service Management
The SAE makes decisions about the deployment of policies on JUNOSe routers and JUNOS routing platforms. When a subscriber's IP interface comes up on the router, the SAE determines whether it manages the interface. If the interface is managed—or controlled by—the SAE, the SAE sends the subscriber's default policy configuration to the router. These default policies define the subscriber's initial network access. When the subscriber activates an SAE service (a service that supplements a subscriber's standard services), the SAE translates the service into lists of policies and sends them to the router. This process lets subscribers manage their own subscriptions, typically through a Web page.
Accounting Support
The SAE also collects usage information about subscribers and services and passes the information to the appropriate rating and billing system. The SRC software allows a variety of accounting deployments, and provides a standard deployment that incorporates a RADIUS server. You can also create deployments that do not require a RADIUS server.
SAE Extensions
The SAE provides plug-ins and APIs that extend the capabilities of the SRC software. Plug-ins are software programs that augment existing programs and make them more flexible. SRC plug-ins provide authentication, authorization, and tracking capabilities. The SAE APIs let you create customized programs to integrate with the SAE.
Juniper Policy Server
The Juniper policy Server (JPS) is a PCMM-compliant policy server. In a PCMM environment, the policy server acts as a policy decision point (PDP) and policy enforcement point (PEP) that manages the relationships between application managers and cable management termination system (CMTS) devices.
Network Information Collector
The Network Information Collector (NIC) is the component that locates which SAE manages a subscriber or an interface. The NIC uses information that identifies the subscriber or the interface to identify the managing SAE. The NIC collects information about the state of the network and can provide a mappings from a given type of network data, known as a key, to another type of network data, known as a value.
For services to be activated for a subscriber session, applications such as the SRC-VTA, Dynamic Service Activator, Enterprise Manager Portal, or a residential portal need to locate the SAE that manages the subscriber. An application such as the SRC-TMP needs to locate the SAE that manages interfaces through which traffic destined for a specified IP address enters the network. The NIC component includes a Web administration application to monitor and inspect the state of NIC servers. Other SRC components such as an enterprise service portal and the sample residential portal use NIC.
Table 6 shows the NIC resolutions that the standard SRC software can perform. For customized NIC implementations that provide other resolutions, contact Juniper Networks Professional Services.
The NIC comprises a set of software components that work together to collect, process, and provide data.
Redirect Server
The redirect server redirects filtered HTTP requests to a captive portal page. The redirect server examines requested paths and detects proxy HTTP requests. If the requested URL is served by the captive portal server, the redirect server opens a TCP connection to the captive portal and directs traffic to the captive portal rather than to the requested URL.