Policy Components

The policy management architecture is fully compliant with Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) policy management standards. The SRC policy management system uses a distributed architecture with the following components:

• Policy editor—Defines and deploys policies

  • Policies, Services, and Subscribers CLI

  • Policies, Services, and Subscribers subtasks in the C-Web interface

• Policy engine—Resides on the SAE and makes policy decisions (policy decision point)

• Policy enforcement point—Resides on the router or policy server and performs policy management on the router

• Policy repository—Resides in the directory and stores and distributes policies

Figure 6 shows the components of the policy management system. As shown:

1. Policy editor (Policies, Services, and Subscribers CLI or the Policies, Services, and Subscribers subtasks in the C-Web interface) is used to create policies and maintain policy data in the policy repository.

2. The policy repository distributes policy data to policy engines that are located on SAEs throughout the network.

3. The policy engine uses the policy data to instruct the policy enforcement points to apply appropriate policies to subscriber traffic in the network.

Figure 6: Policy Management Components

Policies, Services, and Subscribers CLI and the Policies, Services, and Subscribers Subtasks in the C-Web Interface

The Policies, Services, and Subscribers CLI and the Policies, Services, and Subscribers subtasks in the C-Web interface are the applications that you use to define policies. In the CLI, you can use show commands to view information about configured policies.

Policy Engine

The policy engine acts as a policy decision point (PDP) and is responsible for making decisions about the deployment of policies on the router or the CMTS device. The policy engine runs as part of the SAE.

Policy Repository

The policy repository is a directory that stores policies and distributes policies to policy engines.

Policy Enforcement Point

The policy enforcement point is the policy management component of the router that is responsible for enforcing the deployed policies. In cable networks, the policy enforcement point is the CMTS device.