Integrating Celona network with your existing infrastructure

After you completed the steps for initial setup and configuration of your Celona CBRS network, your first site is now operational and your first devices are connected. Let’s explore the additional configuration options:

• IP Domain configuration is used to translate your private mobile network resources to the existing L2/L3 network configuration on your infrastructure.

• Device Group configuration use the unique SIM identity (specifically, the IMSI) to create logical groups of users or devices.

• Application configuration within the Celona Orchestrator focus on identifying and classifying the wireless traffic on the Celona Access Points (AP).

• MicroSlicing policy configuration control network performance by Device Groups, Applications, or a combination.

Configuring IP Domains with Celona Edge Clusters

As explained in detail in this article, IP Domains help translate cellular wireless to existing enterprise network resources for L2/L3 traffic forwarding.

Related network policies are managed via the Celona Orchestrator: select Edge Clusters from the left hand menu in the Orchestrator to start. From the list, select the name of the Edge Cluster which you will be configuring the IP Domains for.

In the IP Domains panel, click + to create a new IP Domain.

Give your IP Domain a Name, then choose an IP Domain Type. Note that multiple IP Domains of various types can be configured on each Celona Edge Cluster.

• Internal IP Domains are fully managed by Celona Edge, the default IP Domain on every Celona Edge is Internal, NAT mode. Additional Internal, NAT mode domains can be added.

• External IP Domains are used to connect an existing VLAN or subnet to a specific Device Group in your private mobile network.

Configure an Internal IP Domain

• Define the start and end IP address of the DHCP range that will be provided by the Celona Edge.

• Set custom DNS servers if required. Otherwise, devices will default to using Primary - 8.8.8.8, Secondary - 1.1.1.1.

• Click Add to save your new Internal IP Domain.

Configure an External IP Domain

• Specify the IP address or subnet of the DHCP server in your existing network that will provide IPv4 addresses to devices in this IP Domain. Leave it blank to broadcast the DHCP request.

• Enter the numerical VLAN ID that this IP Domain will belong to.

• NOTE: Celona Edge switch interface should be a trunk port, with native VLAN untagged for management and tagged VLANs for client traffic forwarding

• Once added, Celona Edge will create a corresponding VLAN sub-interface on its primary interface and request an IP address via DHCP broadcast on that VLAN. Leaving this blank connects the IP Domain directly to the default VLAN of the Celona Edge primary interface.

• Click Add to save your new External IP Domain. It will be provisioned and ready for use on your Edge Cluster within a few seconds.

Configuring Device Groups and Applications

In order configure new device groups within the Celona Orchestrator for your site, follow the following steps:

• Access the Device Groups page via the left-hand menu. The default device group exists on every Celona Edge and cannot be deleted.

• Select the IP Domain that you want to connect to the Device Group.

• Select which Devices will be members of the Device Group.

• Click Add to save.

In order configure new applications within the Celona Orchestrator for your site, follow the following steps:

• Go to the Applications page in the Orchestrator, click Create Application. Give your application a Name, and specify at least one application parameter.

• Enter Remote IP. For example, the IP address of the cloud server used by this Application.

• Enter Remote Start / End Port. For example, a live RTMP video stream sends to remote port 485.

• Enter Device Start / End Port. For example, IP cameras often serve their video feed using RTSP on port 554.

• Enter the binary DSCP tag used by your application.

• Click Add to save. Celona Edge will be able to detect and classify your application on the Celona wireless network within a few seconds.

With all of these elements now configured, we can now move on to setting policies for application performance using Celona MicroSlicing.

Configuring MicroSlicing

MicroSlicing policies are used to deliver predictable performance and network segmentation on the Celona private mobile network for Device Groups and Applications. Let’s go ahead and configure your first MicroSlicing policy.

Access the MicroSlicing page via the left-hand menu and click Create, and give your policy a unique name.

Configure a MicroSlicing policy with Non-Guaranteed Bit Rate

This option is used to set traffic policy for device groups and applications that are not bit rate sensitive. For example, delivering best performance for an RFID scanning application requires predictable latency and packet error rate.

• Choose Non-GBR

• Select the Quality of Service Class from the dropdown.

Configure a MicroSlicing policy with Guaranteed Bit Rate

This option is used to set traffic policy for device groups and applications that require specific bitrate for best performance. For example, ensuring adequate bandwidth available to receive real-time HD video from a remotely operated vehicle.

• Choose Guaranteed Bit Rate.

• Set bit rates that would be applied on a per individual device, or per application on each device. Set at least one.

• Select the Quality of Service Class from the dropdown.

Finalize MicroSlicing policy configuration

• Select which device groups will be included in this policy, at least one is required. Next, choose Permit All Applications or select from the list of Applications you created.

• Permit all Applications is used when the MicroSlicing policy should be applied to all traffic generated by devices in the selected device groups. A great option for single-purpose devices like Point of Sale terminals.

• Applying the policy by both Device Group and your customized Application list will provide even more granular control. A specific use case would be employee owned smartphones that run both Enterprise and personal apps.

• Click Save and your MicroSlicing policy configuration will automatically be made available on your Celona Edge Cluster.

You can review historical policy performance via the main dashboard of the Celona Orchestrator.

How is throughput calculated?

• Uplink and downlink data received and transmitted on the relevant MicroSlicing policy over a specific time interval.

  • For 1 hour & 6 hour charts, the time interval per data point is 1 minute.

  • For 24 hour & 7 day charts, the time interval per data point is 5 minutes.

• Within Celona Orchestrator, Aggregate Chart considers traffic to/from all devices in the interval, and Per Device Chart shows the average throughput across devices in the interval.

• Note that, Sessions represent the number of unique devices that sent/received traffic on this MicroSlicing policy during a 5 minute interval.

How is latency calculated?

• Round-trip times between Celona Edge and connected devices are estimated on an ongoing basis. The latency value reported would then be the median across all samples in a 5 minute interval.

• Within Celona Orchestrator, Aggregate Chart considers traffic from Celona Edge to all devices in the interval, and Per Device Chart shows the average latency across devices in the interval.

For additional details on different IP domain configuration options, and specific integration guides with Ethernet to private cellular gateways / routers, please see this article collection in our help center.

Face of the Celona platform, Celona Orchestrator, can be used to manage multiple deployments at once (e.g. as a managed services dashboard) with its multi-tenant capabilities. To learn more, give our next article in this series a read.