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SS7 over IP Signaling Transport & SCTP
PDF of this tutorial6. M2PA and M2UA Comparison
Figures 4 and 6 depict a possible architecture to describe the differences between the two protocols:
| M2PA | M2UA | |
| MTP3 Data Messages | Transport MTP3 data messages | Transport MTP3 data messages |
| Interface with MTP3 | Present an MTP2 upper interface to MTP3 | Present an MTP2 upper interface to MTP3 |
| Primitives | IP signaling-point processes MTP3–to–MTP2 primitives | IP signaling point transport MTP3-to-MTP2 primitives to SG's MTP2 (via the interworking function) for processing |
| Types of Links | SG to IP signaling-point connection is an SS7 link (in MTP3 aspects). | SG to IP signaling-point connection is not an SS7 link. It is an extension of MTP2 to a remote node. |
| Point Codes | SG is an SS7 node with a point code. | SG is not an SS7 node and has no point code. |
| SS7 Upper Layers | SG can have upper SS7 layers, e.g., SCCP. | SG does not have upper SS7 layers because it has no MTP3. |
| Management | Relies on MTP3 for management procedures | Uses M2UA management procedures |
