Meeting System Requirements

This section describes the hardware and software requirements for running Steel-Belted Radius Carrier on the following server and operating system combinations:

Oracle Sparc server and Solaris operating system
x86 server and Linux operating system

Standalone SBR Carrier Server Hardware

These basic specifications may be used for any standalone Steel-Belted Radius Carrier server—one that does not participate in a Session State Register cluster.

Session State Register servers have additional system requirements, such as dual Gigabit Ethernet NICs (to provide redundant communication links). These additional requirements are discussed in Supported SBR Carrier SSR Cluster Configurations.

Table 11 lists the hardware requirements for 64-bit standalone SBR Carrier server.

Note

These hardware requirements are also applicable to VMs hosting standalone SBR Carrier in virtualized environments. Overprovisioning is not recommended.

Table 11: 64-Bit Version of Standalone SBR Carrier Server Hardware Configurations

Server	RAM	Solaris CPU	Linux CPU	Free Disk Space
`64-Bit Standalone SBR Carrier Server (Minimum Configuration)`	8 GB RAM.¹	Two-CPU M5000 system or better, running at 2.6 GHz.	Xeon 2-core at 2.0 GHz supported for testing. Xeon 4-core or 2x2-core at 2.4 GHz supported for limited performance production use.	At least 8 GB of local hard disk space (not NFS).
`64-Bit Standalone SBR Carrier Server (Recommended Configuration)`	16 GB RAM or more. If Mitel’s Signalware communication stack is used, for systems processing a heavier-than-normal load (for instance, with WiMAX or additional session licenses), or when configuring a large number of threads (for example, to accommodate high latency of proxy targets), more memory produces better performance.	SPARC T5 or better, running at 3.6 GHz.	Xeon 2x6-core at 3.6 GHz or higher. Higher core counts with lower processing speeds may not improve throughput in certain cases. See the Performance, Planning, and Tuning Guide for more information.	At least 16 GB of local hard disk space (not NFS).

Server

RAM

Solaris CPU

Linux CPU

Free Disk Space

64-Bit Standalone SBR Carrier Server (Minimum Configuration)

8 GB RAM.¹

Two-CPU M5000 system or better, running at 2.6 GHz.

Xeon 2-core at 2.0 GHz supported for testing.

Xeon 4-core or 2x2-core at 2.4 GHz supported for limited performance production use.

At least 8 GB of local hard disk space (not NFS).

64-Bit Standalone SBR Carrier Server (Recommended Configuration)

16 GB RAM or more.

If Mitel’s Signalware communication stack is used, for systems processing a heavier-than-normal load (for instance, with WiMAX or additional session licenses), or when configuring a large number of threads (for example, to accommodate high latency of proxy targets), more memory produces better performance.

SPARC T5 or better, running at 3.6 GHz.

Xeon 2x6-core at 3.6 GHz or higher.

Higher core counts with lower processing speeds may not improve throughput in certain cases. See the Performance, Planning, and Tuning Guide for more information.

At least 16 GB of local hard disk space (not NFS).

1. The memory size can be increased based on the subscriber count.

Session State Register Host Hardware

SBR Carrier and Management Node Hosts

Table 12 lists the hardware requirements for Session State Register cluster SBR Carrier and management node hosts for 64-bit SBR Carrier server.

Table 12: Session State Register SBRC and Management Node Host Hardware Configurations for 64-Bit SBR Carrier

Server	RAM	Solaris CPU	Linux CPU	Free Disk Space	Network Interfaces
`64-Bit SBRC and/or Management Node Host (Minimum Configuration)`	8 GB RAM.	SPARC T5 or better, running at 3.6 GHz.	Xeon 2-core at 2 GHz supported for testing and M-only node. Xeon 4-core or 2x2-core supported for production for a single SM node.	At least 8 GB of local hard disk space (not NFS).	Two physical interfaces on a 100 Base-T network. Multipath configuration is required.
`64-Bit SBRC and/or Management Node Host (Recommended Configuration)`	16 GB RAM or more. If Mitel’s Signalware communication stack is used, for systems processing a heavier-than-normal load (for instance, with WiMAX or additional session licenses), or when configuring a large number of threads (for example, to accommodate high latency of proxy targets), more memory produces better performance.	SPARC S7 or better, running at 4.2 GHz.	Xeon 2x4-core at 3.6 GHz or higher. Higher core counts do not improve performance. See the Performance, Planning, and Tuning Guide for more information.	At least 16 GB of local hard disk space (not NFS).	Two physical interfaces on a Gigabit Ethernet network. Multipath configuration is required.

Server

RAM

Solaris CPU

Linux CPU

Free Disk Space

Network Interfaces

64-Bit SBRC and/or Management Node Host (Minimum Configuration)

8 GB RAM.

SPARC T5 or better, running at 3.6 GHz.

Xeon 2-core at 2 GHz supported for testing and M-only node.

Xeon 4-core or 2x2-core supported for production for a single SM node.

At least 8 GB of local hard disk space (not NFS).

Two physical interfaces on a 100 Base-T network.

Multipath configuration is required.

64-Bit SBRC and/or Management Node Host (Recommended Configuration)

16 GB RAM or more.

SPARC S7 or better, running at 4.2 GHz.

Xeon 2x4-core at 3.6 GHz or higher.

Higher core counts do not improve performance. See the Performance, Planning, and Tuning Guide for more information.

At least 16 GB of local hard disk space (not NFS).

Two physical interfaces on a Gigabit Ethernet network.

Multipath configuration is required.

Data Node Hosts

Table 13 lists the hardware requirements for Session State Register data node hosts.

All data node hosts in a cluster must have the same configuration. Because they collaborate to keep a shared database in virtual shared memory, the processing power, RAM, and communications capability of all the machines need to be very similar.

Note

This free disk space shown in Table 13 must be available specifically to the /opt file system for installation of the SSR software.

Table 13: Session State Register Data Node Host Hardware Configurations

Server	RAM	Solaris CPU	Linux CPU	Free Disk Space	Network Interfaces
`Data Node Host (Minimum Configuration)`	10 GB RAM.	SPARC T5 or better, running at 3.6 GHz.	Xeon 2-core at 2.0 GHz supported for testing. Xeon 4-core or 2x2-core at 2.4 GHz supported for production.	The local disk space requirement is related to the amount of RAM assigned to the data node. To calculate the minimum requirement for the amount of RAM on the node, use the formula: (RAM - 4 GB) * 12. For example, a data node with 16 GB of RAM requires a minimum of (16 GB - 4 GB) * 12, or 144 GB of local disk storage space.	Two physical interfaces on a 100 Base-T network. Multipath configuration is required.
`Data Node Host (Recommended Configuration)`	More than 10 GB RAM. More than the minimum of 10 GB of RAM supports more connections because more of the SSR database can be held in memory. More database in memory may translate into faster processing because disk operations are minimized. Note: In particular, you have to manually increase the memory set to the `DataMemory` parameter in `config.ini` if you want the SSR to store more CST data.	SPARC S7 or better, running at 4.2 GHz.	Xeon 2X4-core at 3.6 GHz or higher for highest throughput.	Two physical interfaces on a Gigabit Ethernet network. Multipath configuration is required.

Server

RAM

Solaris CPU

Linux CPU

Free Disk Space

Network Interfaces

Data Node Host (Minimum Configuration)

10 GB RAM.

SPARC T5 or better, running at 3.6 GHz.

Xeon 2-core at 2.0 GHz supported for testing.

Xeon 4-core or 2x2-core at 2.4 GHz supported for production.

The local disk space requirement is related to the amount of RAM assigned to the data node. To calculate the minimum requirement for the amount of RAM on the node, use the formula: (RAM - 4 GB) * 12.

For example, a data node with 16 GB of RAM requires a minimum of (16 GB - 4 GB) * 12, or 144 GB of local disk storage space.

Two physical interfaces on a 100 Base-T network.

Multipath configuration is required.

Data Node Host (Recommended Configuration)

More than 10 GB RAM.

More than the minimum of 10 GB of RAM supports more connections because more of the SSR database can be held in memory. More database in memory may translate into faster processing because disk operations are minimized.

Note: In particular, you have to manually increase the memory set to the DataMemory parameter in config.ini if you want the SSR to store more CST data.

SPARC S7 or better, running at 4.2 GHz.

Xeon 2X4-core at 3.6 GHz or higher for highest throughput.

Two physical interfaces on a Gigabit Ethernet network.

Multipath configuration is required.

Checking Free Disk Space

Use the df command to verify the amount of free disk space on a potential server.

Execute:

df -hk

Checking Free Disk Space with the df
Command

Software

The Steel-Belted Radius Carrier software can be installed on both Solaris and Linux operating systems.

Note

You cannot run multiple instances of SBR Carrier on Solaris and Linux platforms.

Make sure that nss-util, nss, nspr, gcc, openldap, Kerberos, cyrus-sasl, and zlib libraries are installed on your system before installing the SBR Carrier software. The libraries are normally available and installed with the OS base bundle. SBR Carrier supports the package versions of preceding libraries that are provided with Solaris 11.3.36.10.0 or later and RHEL 7.3 or later.

We recommend you to update the OS regularly for security reasons. Any questions concerning vulnerabilities of libraries that are not distributed by Juniper Networks should be addressed to the OS vendor (Red Hat or Oracle).

Solaris

SBR Carrier has been qualified on and supports Oracle Solaris 11.3.36.10, 11.3.36.20, and 11.4.25.0.1.75.3.

Note

Because the Signalware communication stack is not supported on Solaris, the SIM authentication module cannot be used on the Solaris platform to communicate with an HLR to process RADIUS requests. However, the module can be used with an HSS by using the RADIUS to Diameter conversion feature.

Special Notes on Solaris Platform Support

You need to consider the following special notes while using SBR Carrier on a Solaris platform:

To use the command-line tools (snmpget, scriptcheck, ldapsearch, and so on) for 64-bit Solaris, first set the library path environment variable and then run the command.
To set the library path environment variable for 64-bit Solaris, execute the following strings:

Linux

SBR Carrier supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, and 8.1 on Intel (Xeon) hardware.

Note

SBR Carrier does not support RHEL 6.x, 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2.

By default, SCTP module is blacklisted in RHEL8. Refer the Blacklisting SCTP module by default in RHEL 8 section of the RHEL8 release notes to enable the SCTP module for Diameter Feature.

The SBR standalone and cluster configurations are supported on the 64-bit version of Linux operating system.

Note

SBR automatically updates the required shared packages from the Red Hat repository. A current Red Hat Enterprise Linux support subscription and an access to the Red Hat repository or a local repository are required to get the latest updates to shared packages. See the appropriate Red Hat administration manuals for more information.

Special Notes on Linux Platform Support

You need to consider the following special notes while using SBR Carrier on a Linux platform.

The authGateway and GWrelay processes must be restarted whenever SBR restarts. This is applicable only on Linux.
SBR installation depends on the binary calculator (bc) command-line tool because the AddPools.sh script fails to run if the “bc” tool is not installed.

Table 14 lists the features that are limited to support on specific operating systems.

Table 14: Features and Their Supported OS

Feature	64-bit Linux Support?	64-bit Solaris Support?	VM Support?
authGateway application	Yes	Yes	Yes
SIM authentication module and GWrelay application	Yes	Yes	Yes
SSR cluster	Yes	Yes	No^*
Customer-written SDK plug-ins	Yes	Yes	Yes

^*SSR cluster in virtualized environments is not officially supported. Juniper Networks may still provide support for known issues and for those where you can demonstrate the issue exists on the native OS.

Subject to the preceding limitation, SBR Carrier supports virtualization on Linux, VMware hypervisor, Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor, and logical domains on Solaris. SBR Carrier has been tested with VMware ESXi 5.1, 5.5, 6.0, and 6.5 versions and KVM hypervisor on a RHEL 7.3 machine. For more information on planning and tuning the performance of SBR Carrier running on the Linux and Solaris operating systems, see the Performance, Planning, and Tuning Guide.

Perl

Oracle Solaris 11 is shipped with Perl 5.12.5, and Steel-Belted Radius Carrier has been tested with this version. Multiple Perl installations in discrete directories are supported, but attempting to use other versions of Perl with SBR Carrier may cause problems.

After installation, be sure that the first line of the radiusd script specifies the correct path to the Perl 5.12.5 executable. For example, if Perl 5.12.5 is installed in the default location, /usr/bin/perl, then the first line of the radiusd script must be:

LDAP Plug-in

The LDAP plug-in requires SASL, which is included with the SBR Carrier package only for Solaris versions and not for Linux versions. For a Linux machine, you must ensure that you have the SASL package installed before starting SBR.