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Message Transport Part Level 3 User Adaptation Layer (M3UA)
Overview
Signaling Transport (SIGTRAN) is a set of protocol standards defined by the International Engineering Task Force (IETF) to provide the architectural model of signaling transport over IP networks.
One of these standards is the MTP3 User Adaptation (M3UA) layer, which supports the transport of any SS7 MTP3 User Signaling over IP using the services of the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP).
In a network running M3UA, the Application Servers are the logical entity within the CSP. The Application Server Processes are the physical entities, which are physically connected to the Signaling Gateway Processes through the IP network.
The Signaling Gateways are the logical entities associated with the Signaling Gateway Processes. The two logical entities, Application Server and Signaling Gateway, are connected logically.
The figure below summarizes this type of network.
Figure 15-1 Physical and logical connections