Challenge 8 : PCF

PCF stands for “Policy Control Function.” It is a core network element responsible for policy control and enforcement in the 5G network.

The main tasks performed by the PCF include:

• Policy Control: PCF is responsible for defining and managing policies that govern how various services and applications are treated on the network. These policies include Quality of Service (QoS) rules, access control rules, and other network behavior-related guidelines.
• Service Quality Management: PCF ensures that the network resources are allocated efficiently to provide the required quality of service to different users and applications. It takes into account factors such as latency, bandwidth, and priority levels to deliver a satisfactory user experience.
• Support for Network Slicing: PCF plays a crucial role in enabling network slicing, a key feature of 5G. It allows the network to be divided into multiple virtual network instances, each tailored to specific service requirements, and PCF ensures the proper policy enforcement within each slice.

PCF : Configuration

To configure the PCF, you must provide the necessary information in the file located at “~/free5gc/config/pcfcfg.yaml”

• registerIPv4: 127.0.0.7
• bindingIPv4: 127.0.0.7
• port: 8000
•  nrfUri: http://127.0.0.10:8000

Navigate to the PCF configuration file and modify the mentioned attributes with their respective values.

vim ~/free5gc/config/pcfcfg.yaml

Running the Entire 5GC Network:

• To run all 5G nodes, make sure to deactivate then activate them again

deactivate-5gc

activate-5gc

This will activate and Show all 5GC nodes status:

You notice that all nodes are active except the SMF, indicating a misconfiguration related to it.

In the upcoming challenge, we will focus on troubleshooting the SMF.