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DRA — Diameter Routing Agent

The DRA is the Diameter routing hub of the core. Rather than every node holding a full mesh of Diameter connections, the EPC and IMS functions connect to the DRA and it relays and routes their signalling — S6a between the MME and HSS, Gx/Gy to the PCF/PCRF and OCS, Cx/Dx and Sh for the IMS, and so on. It chooses where each message goes from routing rules (matching on Diameter application, realm or AVP) and a peer‑selection algorithm, and it can rewrite messages with transform rules. It is the Diameter counterpart of an SS7 STP. OmniWeb surfaces the DRA's peers, routing rules, live status and a connection map; throughput and trend charts are on the Grafana dashboards reached from the same page.

← Operations Guide

The DRA is a per‑instance element page reached from the sidebar when one runs in the site's inventory, with a fleet view (the network map) where several are deployed. All traffic goes through the OmniWeb backend proxy to the DRA's API, so it stays behind the single authenticated gateway. The documentation link in the page header (the in‑context help button) opens this page. It is organised into tabs.

Network Map​

The DRA network map — the DRA at the centre with its Diameter peers around it, connected peers linked in green and a disabled peer shown dashed

A hub‑and‑spoke view of the DRA and every Diameter peer it knows, with the connection count at a glance (e.g. 5/6 connected). Connected peers are linked to the DRA in green; an administratively disabled or disconnected peer is shown greyed and dashed. It is the fastest way to see, in one picture, which signalling neighbours are up.

Status​

The Status tab reports the DRA's own identity and configuration: its Origin‑Host, realm, the listen IP and port (Diameter is usually 3868), the reported product name, and the peer‑selection algorithm in use (e.g. round‑robin). This is where you confirm the DRA is running and configured as expected.

Peers​

The DRA peers tab listing each Diameter peer with product, transport, realm and connection state, and an enable/disable toggle

Every Diameter peer, each row showing the peer's Origin‑Host, IP and port, reported product, transport (SCTP or TCP), realm, the negotiated Diameter applications, and its connection state. Peers can be filtered by name, application, realm or state. Each peer has an enable/disable toggle — disabling a peer administratively takes it out of routing without tearing down its configuration, which is how you drain a neighbour for maintenance.

Rules​

The DRA rules tab listing the active routing rules — match filters and their destination — and transform rules

The active routing rules and transform rules, and the routing algorithm they run under. Each routing rule matches on a filter (a Diameter application, an AVP, or all traffic) and resolves to a destination — either an explicit set of peers or a named strategy such as destination‑host or destination‑realm. This is where you confirm, for example, that S6a is routed to the HSS and Gx to the PCF.

Logs​

The Logs tab tails the DRA's live log output for troubleshooting a single routing agent without leaving OmniWeb.

Monitoring dashboards​

Message rates, per‑interface throughput and other time‑series for the DRA are presented as Grafana dashboards, reached from the element page — OmniWeb does not duplicate those charts natively.

  • MME and the HSS — the DRA relays S6a between them.
  • The PCF/PCRF (Gx) and OCS (Gy) — policy and charging peers routed through the DRA.
  • The CSCF and HSS — Cx/Dx IMS signalling.
  • STP — the SS7 routing counterpart to the DRA in the signalling plane.
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