SS7 MAP: ActivateTraceMode - How to "Set User Error: Facility not supported"?

I am looking at:

Digital cellular telecommunications system (Phase 2+); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Mobile Application Part (MAP) specification (3GPP TS 29.002 version 6.12.1 Release 6)

Page 864, "Figure 25.9/4: Macro Activate_Tracing_VLR".

I do not understand the box "Set User Error: Facility not supported". How is this error "set"?

On page 320, I see that the ActivateTraceMode operation is defined as:

activateTraceMode OPERATION ::= { ARGUMENT ActivateTraceModeArg RESULT ActivateTraceModeRes -- optional ERRORS { systemFailure | dataMissing | unexpectedDataValue | facilityNotSupported | unidentifiedSubscriber | tracingBufferFull} CODE local:50 }

However, I haven't been able to figure out what "ERRORS" means. Do I use a TC-U-ERROR to convey the FACILITY_NOT_SUPPORTED? Can someone please tell me where "ERRORS" is defined?

Page 376 includes this definition of ActivateTraceModeRes:

ActivateTraceModeRes ::= SEQUENCE { extensionContainer [0] ExtensionContainer OPTIONAL, ..., traceSupportIndicator [1] NULL OPTIONAL }

So, there's no way to carry the FACILITY_NOT_SUPPORTED reason code in ActivateTraceModeRes.

If someone knows of a rail diagram that shows the messages between a VLR and HLR when the VLR responds to ActivateTraceMode with a FacilityNotSupported, could you please point me to that diagram?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks very much in advance.

Steven...

The error is only 'set' in that the responding entity will send an error response back to the requesting entity. It might better be labeled "Error detected: Facility not supported." MAP dictates that the responding entity should send the requesting entity an error response in the form of a TCAP ReturnError component.

The ERRORS part of all OPERATION macros is used to specify the errors that may be generated by the responding entity (in ReturnError components) when it receives the associated operation ARGUMENT (in an Invoke component).

In answer to your question: No, there is no way to carry the FACILITY_NOT_SUPPORTED reason code in an ActivateTraceModeRes. The ActivateTraceModeRes would be carried in a ReturnResult component. The FACILITY_NOT_SUPPORTED reason code would be carried as the errorCode on a ReturnError component.

You may want to search through the overview sections of the MAP specification for TCAP information. There are also a couple of papers on the Holmespun Solutions web site

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that deal with MAP and TCAP subjects.

...Holmespundit

Steven Vernick wrote: