Multiple SCTP associations per S1AP connection and moving S1AP signaling connection between SCTP associations

1. A method for use in a first network node, the method comprising:

establishing a first Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) association for an application protocol connection between the first network node and a second network node, wherein the first network node is a core network node or a radio access node, and wherein the second network node is a core network node or a radio access network node;

connecting the application protocol connection between the first network node and the second network node, the connecting including sending a setup request to the second network node and receiving a response to the setup request from the second network node;

establishing a second SCTP association for the application protocol connection between the first network node and the second network node in a Radio Access Network (RAN); and

moving traffic from the first SCTP association to the second SCTP association, wherein the traffic includes at least one of user equipment (UE) associated application protocol control signaling or non-UE associated application protocol control signaling, and wherein moving the traffic includes:

the first network node sending, to the second network node, a stop marker that indicates a last message transmitted by the first network node on the first SCTP association, and

the first network node receiving, from the second network node, a stop marker that indicates a last message transmitted by the second network node on the first SCTP association.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

dedicating the first SCTP association to one or more user equipment (UE) associated signaling streams, each UE associated signaling stream associated with a respective UE; and

dedicating the second SCTP association to a non-UE associated signaling stream.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

associating a first set of one or more user equipment (UE) associated signaling streams with the first SCTP association and a second set of one or more UE associated signaling streams with the second SCTP association, each UE associated signaling stream associated with a respective UE; and

associating a first non-UE associated signaling stream with the first SCTP association and a second non-UE associated signaling stream with the second SCTP association.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein moving the traffic from the first SCTP association to the second SCTP association is performed in response to at least one of: a load balancing determination; hardware maintenance; hardware expansion; or a determination to perform network slicing.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein moving the traffic from the first SCTP association to the second SCTP association comprises:

sending outgoing application protocol messages on the second SCTP association after stopping outgoing application protocol messages on the first SCTP association and confirming that incoming application protocol messages on the first SCTP association have stopped.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein all of the traffic from the first SCTP association is moved to at least one of the second SCTP association or other SCTP association(s) between the first network node and the second network node.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising deleting the first SCTP association after moving all of the traffic from the first SCTP association.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the traffic comprises a plurality of streams and messaging between the first network node and the second network node identifies one or more of the streams to move from the first SCTP association to the second SCTP association.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the traffic comprises a plurality of user equipment (UE) associated signaling streams and messaging between the first network node and the second network node comprises a list identifying at least two of the UE associated signaling streams to move from the first SCTP association to the second SCTP association.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the traffic is moved from the first SCTP association to the second SCTP association without tearing down the application protocol connection.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a plurality of identifiers associated with the first SCTP association, the identifiers comprising:

a first configuration identifier that the first network node associates with the application protocol connection;

a second configuration identifier that the second network node associates with the application protocol connection;

a first bundle identifier that the first network node associates with the first SCTP association; and

a second bundle identifier that the second network node associates with the first SCTP association; and

using one or more of the identifiers to establish, delete, or reset the first SCTP association.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a plurality of identifiers associated with the first SCTP association, the identifiers comprising:

a first configuration identifier that the first network node associates with the application protocol connection;

a second configuration identifier that the second network node associates with the application protocol connection;

a first bundle identifier that the first network node associates with a signaling stream of the first SCTP association; and

a second bundle identifier that the second network node associates with the signaling stream of the first SCTP association; and

using one or more of the identifiers to establish, delete, or move the signaling stream.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second SCTP association is established using a Transport Network (TN) address that the first network node receives from the second network node.

14. A first network node, comprising:

an interface to facilitate communications with a second network node, a memory to store instructions, and processing circuitry to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising:

establishing a first Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) association for an application protocol connection between the first network node and the second network node, wherein the first network node is a core network node or a radio access node, and wherein the second network node is a core network node or a radio access network node;

connecting the application protocol connection between the first network node and the second network node, the connecting including sending a setup request to the second network node and receiving a response to the setup request from the second network node;

establishing a second SCTP association for the application protocol connection between the first network node and the second network node in a Radio Access Network (RAN); and

moving traffic from the first SCTP association to the second SCTP association, wherein the traffic includes at least one of user equipment (UE) associated application protocol control signaling or non-UE associated application protocol control signaling, and wherein moving the traffic includes:

the first network node sending, to the second network node, a stop marker that indicates a last message transmitted by the first network node on the first SCTP association, and

the first network node receiving, from the second network node, a stop marker that indicates a last message transmitted by the second network node on the first SCTP association.

15. The first network node of claim 14 , wherein the second SCTP association is established using a Transport Network (TN) address that the first network node receives from the second network node.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code, the computer readable program code executed by a first network node to perform operations comprising:

establishing a first Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) association for an application protocol connection between the first network node and a second network node, wherein the first network node is a core network node or a radio access node, and wherein the second network node is a core network node or a radio access network node;

connecting the application protocol connection between the first network node and the second network node, the connecting including sending a setup request to the second network node and receiving a response to the setup request from the second network node;

establishing a second SCTP association for the application protocol connection between the first network node and the second network node in a Radio Access Network (RAN); and

moving traffic from the first SCTP association to the second SCTP association, wherein the traffic includes at least one of user equipment (UE) associated application protocol control signaling or non-UE associated application protocol control signaling, and wherein moving the traffic includes:

the first network node sending, to the second network node, a stop marker that indicates a last message transmitted by the first network node on the first SCTP association, and

the first network node receiving, from the second network node, a stop marker that indicates a last message transmitted by the second network node on the first SCTP association.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the second SCTP association is established using a Transport Network (TN) address that the first network node receives from the second network node.