pfcpsim

pfcpsim is a simulator to interact with PFCP agents. Can be used to simulate a 4G SGW-C / 5G SMF.

Overview

pfcpsim is designed to work within a containerized environment. The docker image comes with both client (pfcpctl) and server (pfcpsim).

PFCPClient is embedded in a gRPC Server. Interaction between pfcpsim and pfcpctl is performed through RPCs, as shown in the following schema:

Getting Started

1. Create the container. Images are available on Dockerhub:

docker container run --rm -d --name pfcpsim pfcpsim:<image_tag> -p 12345 --interface <interface-name>

• -p (optional, default is 54321): to set a custom gRPC listening port
• --interface (optional, default is first non-loopback interface): to specify a specific interface from which retrieve local IP address

2. Use pfcpctl to configure server's remote peer address and N3 interface address:

docker exec pfcpsim pfcpctl --server localhost:12345 -c configure --n3-addr <N3-interface-address> --remote-peer <PFCP-server-address>

• --server: (optional, Default is localhost:54321) gRPC server address.
• -c: command to execute.
• --n3-addr: address of the N3 Interface between UPF and nodeB.
• --remote-peer: address of the PFCP server. It supports the override of the IANA PFCP port (e.g. 10.0.0.1:8888).

To list all the available commands just append --help, when executing pfcpctl.

3. associate command will connect to remote peer set in the previous configuration step and perform an association.

docker exec pfcpsim pfcpctl --server localhost:12345 -c associate

4. Create 5 sessions

docker exec pfcpsim pfcpctl --server localhost:12345 -c create --count 5 --baseID 2 --ue-pool <CIDR-IP-pool> --nb-addr <NodeB-address>

• --count the amount of sessions to create
• --baseID the base ID used to incrementally create sessions
• --ue-pool the IP pool from which UE addresses will be generated (e.g. 17.0.0.0/24)
• --nb-addr the nodeB address

5. Delete the sessions

docker exec pfcpsim pfcpctl --server localhost:12345 -c delete --count 5 --baseID 2

6. disassociate command will perform disassociation and close connection with remote peer.

docker exec pfcpsim pfcpctl --server localhost:12345 -c disassociate