Marco Gonzalez for AWS Community Builders

Posted on Nov 6, 2023

Open5GS-ERANSIM on AWS

#aws #5g #opensource #5gran

Delving into new technologies brings a variety of challenges to professionals in every field. For developers, the quest for a dependable and powerful infrastructure to deploy their code is paramount. Solution Architects, on the other hand, seek in-depth insights into testing environments to deliver superior solutions and identify possible defects or areas for enhancement proactively. Ultimately, this leads us to a universal query: Where can we find the liberty to fully exercise our technical capabilities?

Fortunately, the open-source community offers a remedy to these concerns, with a single, unique challenge: the execution and ongoing management of open-source software. Emphasizing collaboration is vital, and it is with this spirit that I intend to arm both 5G developers and Solution Architects through this post with a 5G RAN-Core Open-Source platform, which is ideal for comprehensive End-to-End simulations and diligent monitoring of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Proposed Topology:

AWS Topology includes Components such as:

VPC
Internet Gateway
NAT gateway
EC2 (T2.Medium) -> Selection based on Memory utilization. The cheapest option would be T4G.nano For a cost estimation, please refer to the following link: AWS_calculator

IP Design & Requirements:

5G-RAN&CORE

The first image shows the VM requirements for Open5GS and ERANSIM open-source projects:

The following tables describe the 5G-RAN and 5G Core components main configurations (some of them are default values when deploying software packages)'

gNB Configuration

AMF Configuration

SMF Configuration

UPF Configuration

5G-UE

The table below describes UE setup:

Other Software Packages

One of the common issues you can face while deploying open-source projects is software version compatibility. The Below table details all tested software versions used for this 5GRAN-Core architecture.

Configuration:

For the initial software installation, I used the following references, which already explain the step-by-step installation:

Open5GS & UERANSIM 5G-Core Setup
UERANSIM UERANSIM Installation

In this blog though, I want to discuss the issues I found while executing the above guidelines.

Troubleshooting:

1. During Open5GS - UE Device Provisioning:

This is a key step to perform E2E test cases, as we need to provision 5G UEs into UDR to complete initial registration.

During Step-4 (Register UE Device)

# install nodejs
sudo apt update
sudo apt install curl
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install nodejs

# clone webui
git clone https://github.com/open5gs/open5gs.git

# run webui with npm
cd webui
npm run dev --host 0.0.0.0

The following error is shown:

node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1080
throw err;
^

Error: Cannot find module 'co'
Require stack:

/home/freicy/open5gs/webui/server/index.js
at Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1077:15)
at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:922:27)
at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1143:19)
at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:121:18)
at Object. (/home/freicy/open5gs/webui/server/index.js:6:12)
at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1256:14)
at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1310:10)
at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1119:32)
at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:960:12)
at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:81:12) {
code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
requireStack: [ '/home/freicy/open5gs/webui/server/index.js' ]
}

In order to solve this error, NodeJS must be installed in a docker container as follows:
Reference: NodeJS Installation

$ cd docker
$ docker compose run dev
root@ip-10-0-14-98:~# sudo apt update
root@ip-10-0-14-98:~#sudo apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
root@ip-10-0-14-98:~# sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
root@ip-10-0-14-98:~# curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg
root@ip-10-0-14-98:~# NODE_MAJOR=20
root@ip-10-0-14-98:~# echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_$NODE_MAJOR.x nodistro main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list
root@ip-10-0-14-98:~# sudo apt update
root@ip-10-0-14-98:~# sudo apt install nodejs -y
root@ip-10-0-14-98:~# sudo npm run dev

Once Web interface is available, you should be able to login using default admin credentials:
username - admin
password - 1423

After provisioning 5G-UE, the information will be shown as below:

2. During UERANSIM installation:

After executing the following steps:

sudo snap install cmake --classic
cd ~/UERANSIM
make

The following error showed up:

/home/ubuntu/UERANSIM/src/ue.cpp: In function ‘nr::ue::UeConfig* ReadConfigYaml()’:
/home/ubuntu/UERANSIM/src/ue.cpp:164:17: error: ‘struct nr::ue::UeConfig’ has no member named ‘tunPrefix’
  164 |         result->tunPrefix = yaml::GetString(config, "tunPrefix", 1, 12);
      |                 ^~~~~~~~~
/home/ubuntu/UERANSIM/src/ue.cpp: In function ‘nr::ue::UeConfig* GetConfigByUe(int)’:
/home/ubuntu/UERANSIM/src/ue.cpp:362:8: error: ‘struct nr::ue::UeConfig’ has no member named ‘tunPrefix’
  362 |     c->tunPrefix = g_refConfig->tunPrefix;
      |        ^~~~~~~~~
/home/ubuntu/UERANSIM/src/ue.cpp:362:33: error: ‘struct nr::ue::UeConfig’ has no member named ‘tunPrefix’
  362 |     c->tunPrefix = g_refConfig->tunPrefix;
      |                                 ^~~~~~~~~
gmake[3]: *** [CMakeFiles/nr-ue.dir/build.make:76: CMakeFiles/nr-ue.dir/src/ue.cpp.o] Error 1
gmake[3]: Leaving directory '/home/ubuntu/UERANSIM/cmake-build-release'
gmake[2]: *** [CMakeFiles/Makefile2:270: CMakeFiles/nr-ue.dir/all] Error 2
gmake[2]: Leaving directory '/home/ubuntu/UERANSIM/cmake-build-release'
gmake[1]: *** [Makefile:91: all] Error 2
gmake[1]: Leaving directory '/home/ubuntu/UERANSIM/cmake-build-release'
make: *** [makefile:12: build] Error 2

Workaround:

I made the following changes, commenting lines #163-164 and 362:

vi /home/ubuntu/UERANSIM/src/ue.cpp
...
356     c->imeiSv = g_refConfig->imeiSv;
357     c->supi = g_refConfig->supi;
358     c->protectionScheme = g_refConfig->protectionScheme;
359     c->homeNetworkPublicKey = g_refConfig->homeNetworkPublicKey.copy();
360     c->homeNetworkPublicKeyId = g_refConfig->homeNetworkPublicKeyId;
361     c->routingIndicator = g_refConfig->routingIndicator;
362     //c->tunPrefix = g_refConfig->tunPrefix;
363     c->hplmn = g_refConfig->hplmn;
364     c->configuredNssai = g_refConfig->configuredNssai;
365     c->defaultConfiguredNssai = g_refConfig->defaultConfiguredNssai;
366     c->supportedAlgs = g_refConfig->supportedAlgs;
367     c->gnbSearchList = g_refConfig->gnbSearchList;
...

148     // If we have multiple UEs in the same process, then log names should be separated.
149     result->prefixLogger = g_options.count > 1;
150 
151     if (yaml::HasField(config, "supi"))
152         result->supi = Supi::Parse(yaml::GetString(config, "supi"));
153     if (yaml::HasField(config, "protectionScheme"))
154         result->protectionScheme = yaml::GetInt32(config, "protectionScheme", 0, 255);
155     if (yaml::HasField(config, "homeNetworkPublicKeyId"))
156         result->homeNetworkPublicKeyId = yaml::GetInt32(config, "homeNetworkPublicKeyId", 0, 255);
157     if (yaml::HasField(config, "homeNetworkPublicKey"))
158         result->homeNetworkPublicKey = OctetString::FromHex(yaml::GetString(config, "homeNetworkPublicKey", 64, 64));
159     if (yaml::HasField(config, "imei"))
160         result->imei = yaml::GetString(config, "imei", 15, 15);
161     if (yaml::HasField(config, "imeiSv"))
162         result->imeiSv = yaml::GetString(config, "imeiSv", 16, 16);
163     /*if (yaml::HasField(config, "tunPrefix"))
164         result->tunPrefix = yaml::GetString(config, "tunPrefix", 1, 12);*/
165 
166     yaml::AssertHasField(config, "integrity");
167     yaml::AssertHasField(config, "ciphering");

Explanation:
Commented lines refer to TunPrefix attribute for 5G-UE, which is not a mandatory attribute for PDU Session Establishment.

E2E Verification:

NG Setup Procedure:

For verification, I will use the following commands from UERANSIM Server:

ubuntu@ip-10-0-31-9:~/UERANSIM/build$ pwd
/home/ubuntu/UERANSIM/build
ubuntu@ip-10-0-31-9:~/UERANSIM/build$ ./nr-gnb -c ../config/open5gs-gnb.yaml

gGNB:
UERANSIM v3.2.6
[2023-11-06 12:16:16.825] [sctp] [info] Trying to establish SCTP connection... (10.0.14.98:38412)
[2023-11-06 12:16:16.829] [sctp] [info] SCTP connection established (10.0.14.98:38412)
[2023-11-06 12:16:16.829] [sctp] [debug] SCTP association setup ascId[4]
[2023-11-06 12:16:16.830] [ngap] [debug] Sending NG Setup Request
[2023-11-06 12:16:16.831] [ngap] [debug] NG Setup Response received
[2023-11-06 12:16:16.831] [ngap] [info] NG Setup procedure is successful

AMF:

11/06 12:30:35.332: [amf] INFO: gNB-N2 accepted[10.0.31.9]:60504 in ng-path module (../src/amf/ngap-sctp.c:113)
11/06 12:30:35.332: [amf] INFO: gNB-N2 accepted[10.0.31.9] in master_sm module (../src/amf/amf-sm.c:741)
11/06 12:30:35.332: [amf] INFO: [Added] Number of gNBs is now 1 (../src/amf/context.c:1185)
11/06 12:30:35.332: [amf] INFO: gNB-N2[10.0.31.9] max_num_of_ostreams : 10 (../src/amf/amf-sm.c:780)

UE Registration & PDU Session Establishment:

gNB

ubuntu@ip-10-0-31-9:~/UERANSIM/build$ ./nr-ue -c ../config/open5gs-ue.yaml
UERANSIM v3.2.6
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.643] [rrc] [debug] UE[1] new signal detected
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.644] [nas] [info] UE switches to state [MM-DEREGISTERED/PLMN-SEARCH]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.645] [rrc] [debug] New signal detected for cell[1], total [1] cells in coverage
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.646] [nas] [info] Selected plmn[901/70]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.646] [rrc] [info] Selected cell plmn[901/70] tac[1] category[SUITABLE]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.646] [nas] [info] UE switches to state [MM-DEREGISTERED/PS]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.646] [nas] [info] UE switches to state [MM-DEREGISTERED/NORMAL-SERVICE]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.646] [nas] [debug] Initial registration required due to [MM-DEREG-NORMAL-SERVICE]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.650] [nas] [debug] UAC access attempt is allowed for identity[0], category[MO_sig]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.650] [nas] [debug] Sending Initial Registration
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.652] [nas] [info] UE switches to state [MM-REGISTER-INITIATED]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.652] [rrc] [debug] Sending RRC Setup Request
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.652] [rrc] [info] RRC Setup for UE[1]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.653] [rrc] [info] RRC connection established
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.653] [rrc] [info] UE switches to state [RRC-CONNECTED]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.653] [nas] [info] UE switches to state [CM-CONNECTED]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.653] [ngap] [debug] Initial NAS message received from UE[1]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.666] [nas] [debug] Authentication Request received
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.673] [nas] [debug] Security Mode Command received
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.673] [nas] [debug] Selected integrity[2] ciphering[0]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.694] [ngap] [debug] Initial Context Setup Request received
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.694] [nas] [debug] Registration accept received
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.695] [nas] [info] UE switches to state [MM-REGISTERED/NORMAL-SERVICE]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.695] [nas] [debug] Sending Registration Complete
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.695] [nas] [info] Initial Registration is successful
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.695] [nas] [debug] Sending PDU Session Establishment Request
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.695] [nas] [debug] UAC access attempt is allowed for identity[0], category[MO_sig]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.899] [nas] [debug] Configuration Update Command received
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.917] [ngap] [info] PDU session resource(s) setup for UE[1] count[1]
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.918] [nas] [debug] PDU Session Establishment Accept received
[2023-11-06 12:31:38.918] [nas] [info] PDU Session establishment is successful PSI[1]

AMF

ubuntu@ip-10-0-14-98:~$ sudo tail -f /var/log/open5gs/amf.log
11/06 12:31:38.654: [amf] INFO: InitialUEMessage (../src/amf/ngap-handler.c:401)
11/06 12:31:38.654: [amf] INFO: [Added] Number of gNB-UEs is now 1 (../src/amf/context.c:2523)
11/06 12:31:38.654: [amf] INFO:     RAN_UE_NGAP_ID[1] AMF_UE_NGAP_ID[1] TAC[1] CellID[0x10] (../src/amf/ngap-handler.c:562)
11/06 12:31:38.655: [amf] INFO: [suci-0-901-70-0000-0-0-0000000001] Unknown UE by SUCI (../src/amf/context.c:1789)
11/06 12:31:38.655: [amf] INFO: [Added] Number of AMF-UEs is now 1 (../src/amf/context.c:1570)
11/06 12:31:38.655: [gmm] INFO: Registration request (../src/amf/gmm-sm.c:1061)
11/06 12:31:38.655: [gmm] INFO: [suci-0-901-70-0000-0-0-0000000001]    SUCI (../src/amf/gmm-handler.c:157)
11/06 12:31:38.898: [gmm] INFO: [imsi-901700000000001] Registration complete (../src/amf/gmm-sm.c:1993)
11/06 12:31:38.898: [amf] INFO: [imsi-901700000000001] Configuration update command (../src/amf/nas-path.c:612)
11/06 12:31:38.898: [gmm] INFO:     UTC [2023-11-06T12:31:38] Timezone[0]/DST[0] (../src/amf/gmm-build.c:558)
11/06 12:31:38.898: [gmm] INFO:     LOCAL [2023-11-06T12:31:38] Timezone[0]/DST[0] (../src/amf/gmm-build.c:563)
11/06 12:31:38.898: [amf] INFO: [Added] Number of AMF-Sessions is now 1 (../src/amf/context.c:2544)
11/06 12:31:38.898: [gmm] INFO: UE SUPI[imsi-901700000000001] DNN[internet] S_NSSAI[SST:1 SD:0xffffff] (../src/amf/gmm-handler.c:1247)
11/06 12:31:38.922: [amf] INFO: [imsi-901700000000001:1:11][0:0:NULL] /nsmf-pdusession/v1/sm-contexts/{smContextRef}/modify (../src/amf/nsmf-handler.c:837)

UPF

ubuntu@ip-10-0-14-98:~$ sudo tail -f /var/log/open5gs/upf.log
11/06 11:29:26.714: [pfcp] INFO: ogs_pfcp_connect() [127.0.0.4]:8805 (../lib/pfcp/path.c:61)
11/06 11:29:26.714: [upf] INFO: PFCP associated [127.0.0.4]:8805 (../src/upf/pfcp-sm.c:184)
11/06 12:31:38.911: [upf] INFO: [Added] Number of UPF-Sessions is now 1 (../src/upf/context.c:206)
11/06 12:31:38.911: [gtp] INFO: gtp_connect() [127.0.0.4]:2152 (../lib/gtp/path.c:60)
11/06 12:31:38.911: [upf] INFO: UE F-SEID[UP:0x876 CP:0x9c2] APN[internet] PDN-Type[1] IPv4[10.45.0.2] IPv6[] (../src/upf/context.c:483)
11/06 12:31:38.911: [upf] INFO: UE F-SEID[UP:0x876 CP:0x9c2] APN[internet] PDN-Type[1] IPv4[10.45.0.2] IPv6[] (../src/upf/context.c:483)
11/06 12:31:38.919: [gtp] INFO: gtp_connect() [10.0.31.9]:2152 (../lib/gtp/path.c:60)

KPI Monitoring (Ongoing):

Let's talk about the multiple KPIs we can refer for this 5G RAN-Core solution.

NFVI:

CPU utilization (%)
Network in (bytes)
Network out (bytes)
Disk reads (bytes)
Disk read operations (operations)
Disk writes (bytes)
Memory Utilization

Thanks to AWS existing Monitoring tools, such as CloudWatch, we can achieve NFVI monitoring at a granular level:

5G:

Initial Registration Failure ratio (AMF)
Service Request Failure ratio (AMF-SMF)
Number of Subscribers (SMF)
PCFP Association Setup/Session Establishment Failure Ratio (SMF-UPF)
Packet Loss (UPF)
Data Volume & Guaranteed Data rate (UPF)

RAN

Thank you for reading all the way through this post. In upcoming ones, I will discuss the challenges and benefits of deploying this same architecture in AWS Contenarized solution (AWS EKS)

Happy Learning!

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