GTP IP Filtering

Filtering IP-based communication in GTP sessions

The Profitap X2-Series NPBs perform GTP policy filtering by checking GTP-U data-plane packets against the configured policies regulating GTP traffic and then forwarding, dropping, or tunneling the packets.

GTP is a group of IP-based communications protocols used to carry GPRS traffic within GSM and UTMS networks. It is designed as a carrier to transport actual mobile packets over the network via tunneling. The tunnel is a channel between multiple GPRS support nodes through which the hosts exchange data. All IP addresses in the GTP packets are for mobile network elements such as the base station and the serving gateway.

When IP tunneling is used to deliver IP traffic across the core network using GTP, this traffic is encapsulated. That’s where the GTP IP filtering feature comes in handy. This feature will allow you to filter by IP in GTP sessions based on information in the data stream to control data flow within your infrastructure. This can be done by configuring the device to pass or drop the encapsulated traffic that doesn’t match the packet policy from the mobile station through identifying the source and the destination.