Aviz Networks details PFCP session visibility

Aviz Service Node documents how it captures and correlates PFCP signaling on the Sxb interface in a mobile core network, then stores session metadata for export to Kafka and IPFIX. The material is aimed at operators who need visibility into subscriber sessions, policy state, and troubleshooting data after deployment. ## Research Overview Aviz describes PFCP as the control protocol used on Sxb between the PGW-C and PGW-U in a CUPS architecture. The blog says the protocol governs session setup, modification, deletion, forwarding rules, QoS settings, charging configuration, and usage reporting. It also says the Sxb interface carries the message exchange that changes user-plane behavior, which makes it a source of operational data for network teams. Aviz presents ASN as a way to collect that data across the full session lifecycle. ## Key Findings The blog says ASN continuously processes PFCP establishment, modification, and deletion messages and updates the stored session state as the session changes. It then exports the latest state for downstream use. Aviz says the captured metadata can include subscriber information, session identifiers, packet detection rules, forwarding action rules, QoS enforcement rules, usage reporting rules, charging information, traffic endpoint details, and session status. The post frames this as a consolidated view of session activity rather than packet-by-packet review. ## Technical Breakdown The article breaks out PFCP metadata into several categories, including subscriber identity, session identifiers, packet detection rules, forwarding actions, QoS enforcement, usage reporting, charging, traffic endpoints, and session status. For each category, the blog links the data to a network function such as correlation, policy enforcement, forwarding, or reporting. A subsection on charging says ASN can extract Charging Group, AAA Group, and GTPP Group values. The post also says ASN can parse compressed or uncompressed PFCP packets and normalize the metadata for downstream systems. ### What ASN exports ASN can export the latest PFCP session state through Kafka and IPFIX. Aviz says this allows the same session metadata to be used by analytics and operational reporting tools. ## Operational Impact The blog says the session view can help operators validate forwarding policies, verify QoS policies, monitor charging and usage reporting settings, and troubleshoot session establishment, modification, and deletion. It also says the data can support broader visibility across the mobile core. Aviz says the aggregated session view can reduce the need to inspect each PFCP packet separately. The post ties that to faster review of session errors, policy changes, and release reasons. ## Leadership Perspective The article presents ASN as a reporting and analysis layer over PFCP signaling rather than a change to the protocol itself. The stated value is a consolidated record of subscriber session state and related policies that can be reused across operational and analytics workflows. This Blog Signals brief is a fact-based summary of the vendor blog.