What’s happening

Our copper provisioning system was upgraded in phases from November 2017 to February 2018. This system upgrade introduced the UBA Remote ID field which is aligned with UFB NGA. As this was a system-only change, the changed parameter was only applied in the network when an ADSL2+ or VDSL instance was added, upgraded or modified.

In two phases starting on the 10th of July we will update all live ADSL2+ and VDSL2 network instances’ Remote IDs to ensure consistency and alignment.

What’s the detail

In November 2017 we introduced a Remote ID using the ASID that does not change during the life of a service unlike the current ID. This aligned the UBA Remote ID field with UFB NGA by including a stable ASID-based non-repudiated credentials in this field. As this was a system-only change, this parameter was only applied in the network when an ADSL2+ or VDSL instance was added, upgraded or modified from the time of the copper provisioning upgrade (Nov 17-Feb 18).

UBA has always inserted a Circuit ID into DHCP and PPPoE requests that can be used as a non-repudiated credential to provide a strong level of confidence that traffic is coming from a particular end customer or location. Originally this Circuit ID was based on the network topology and thus could change under some circumstances, such as faults or grooming, increasing service provider operational overheads to maintain.

We have subsequently received several requests to retrospectively update existing UBA product instances with the remote ID credential, to provide consistency. As part of our Rugby World CupTM enhancements, we have recently introduced new tools that allow us to do this.

This change will be observable as follows:

• PPP services will see the new Remote ID on the next PPP session request;
• DHCP services will see the new Remote ID on the next DHCP renew request, which will depend on your specific DHCP lease time period.

The Remote ID field uses the format CHORUSNNNNNNNNNB01, where NNNNNNNNNN is the ASID or Product Instance ID.

The existing Circuit ID field will be unaffected by this update and can continue to be used as a credential, although we recommend moving to Remote ID once the update has been completed as it is not subject to change.

The Remote ID update will only apply to Enhanced UBA connections. Basic UBA connections are not impacted.

This update will occur in two phases:

• A small soak test of four DSLAMs will occur on 10th July 2019; and
• The remainder of the network will happen on 17th July 2019.

FAQs

Do I need to change my authentication for this change? No, your current authentication should not be affected by this change.

How do I find out the Remote Id for a specific product Instance? The Remote ID uses the product instance Id, or ASID, as returned in OO&T. The format is “CHORUS” + ASID + “B01”.

Can I continue to use Circuit ID for authentication? Yes. The Circuit ID field is not changing and will continue to reflect the physical port the service is connected to. We recommend, however, that you move to Remote ID at some time as the ASID-based reference is stable for the life of the product instance, while the Circuit ID can change under multiple operational scenarios.

Can I opt out of this change? No. All product instances that do not have Remote ID today will be updated to ensure consistency across the network. Note that individual product instances are effectively randomly updated today under various operational scenarios.

Will L2TP Basic UBA Customers be updated? No, this update only affects Customers on the Enhanced UBA and VDSL services. The original L2TP Basic UBA service will not be changed.

What DSLAMs are included in the soak test? The following DSLAMs will be updated on 10th July, which have 1302 UBA Customers: AAI_AE-DSLAM-03

CH_BV-DSLAM-01, CKY-DSLAM-01, DRF_A-DSLAM-01, ELL_EP-DSLAM-01, FLH_Z-DSLAM-01, GM_E-DSLAM-01, GS_BH-DSLAM-02, HCK_P-DSLAM-01, HL-DSLAM-07, HSN_BB-DSLAM-01, HSN_CL-DSLAM-01, ISL_G-DSLAM-01, ISL_Z-DSLAM-01, KAM_V-DSLAM-02, MRE_R-DSLAM-01, MRE_S-DSLAM-01, MS_CA-DSLAM-02, MU_T-DSLAM-01, MWI_AD-DSLAM-02, NA-DSLAM-07, OAA_AC-DSLAM-01, ON_AC-DSLAM-01, PTN_AB-DSLAM-03, RUK_Z-DSLAM-01, TRV_AS-DSLAM-02, TRV_Z-DSLAM-01, WN-DSLAM-31, WNK_CY-DSLAM-02, WNK_E-DSLAM-01, WR-DSLAM-05, WRE_A-DSLAM-01, WR_V-DSLAM-01, WW_AM-DSLAM-02.

Contact

Please contact your Chorus SDM if you have any concerns or questions.