Detailed documentation for sections covered in this tutorial can be found at:

• Suppliers
• SMSCs
• SMSC groups
• Supplier endpoints
• Routes

Add a new supplier and connection

To add a new supplier and SMSC connection to that supplier, use "Quick Create Supplier+SMSC" to create the supplier, SMSC connection and SMSC group.

To start, go to the Suppliers section of the SSG Admin Portal and click "Quick Create Supplier+SMSC".

A wizard will open as shown below:

Click Next to go to the Supplier page of the wizard.

Enter the name of your supplier in the "Organisation name" box and select the country of that organisation.

Click Next to go to the SMSC page of the wizard.

Enter the host, port, system ID and password for the SMPP account from the supplier

Select the SSG location where the connection should be made from to the supplier. The SSG has six global locations from where connections to your suppliers can be made. The IP addresses for these locations can be found in Supplier endpoints.

Note that customer connections and supplier connections do not need to be on the same site for SMS traffic to flow between those customers and suppliers.

Click Next to go to the Review page of the wizard.

The next page shows the details you have entered for the new supplier and SMSC connection.

If any of the details are incorrect, click the Previous button to go back to the relevant page and correct.

To proceed with setting-up the new supplier and SMSC connection, click Setup.

A dialog will display showing the supplier, SMSC and SMSC group that have been set-up.

Click OK to dismiss this dialog.

The Suppliers section of the SSG Admin Portal now shows the new supplier.

Double-click on the new entry in the table or click Edit to open the dialog showing the supplier's details.

Make any necessary changes to this supplier and then click Save. Click Cancel if not making any changes.

Go to the Suppliers > SMSCs section of the SSG Admin Portal.

The SMSCs section now shows the new SMSC connection:

The status area at the top of the page shows the SMSC connection and its state. The vertical rectangle on the right indicates if the SMSC connection is down (red) or up (green). The circle on the left indicates if the message submission to that SMSC connection has been manually suspended (red) or not suspended (green).

Double-click on the new entry in the table or click Edit to open the dialog showing the SMSC connection's details.

Click on the Logs tab to see the latest log entries for the new SMSC connection.

A successful SMPP bind for the SMSC connection should show:

Bind response status=0 (0x0)

This means that there was no error when attempting to bind. If any other status value is seen, you can check the meaning of the SMPP "command status" value at https://smpp.org/smpp-error-codes.html.

Make any necessary changes to the SMSC connection in each tab and then click Save. Click Cancel if not making any changes.

Go to the Suppliers > SMSC groups section of the SSG Admin Portal.

The SMSC groups section now shows the new SMSC group for the supplier and SMSC connection:

Click on the black arrow to the left of the new SMSC group entry to display the new SMSC connection as a member of the group.

SMSC groups contain SMSC connections to the same service of a supplier. The SSG regards each SMSC connection in an SMSC group as the equivalent of the other SMSC connections in the same group. This applies to routing, coverage, performance and capability.

Add supplier SMSC connections

The "Quick Create Supplier+SMSC" wizard described above shows how to add a new supplier and SMSC connection at the same time. This part of the tutorial walks you through how to add a new SMSC connection to an existing supplier.

Go to the Suppliers > SMSCs section of the SSG Admin Portal.

Click on Add SMSC.

A new SMSC connection dialog will display:

Select the existing supplier name from the Supplier dropdown list.

Enter a name for the SMSC connection (e.g. ABC_Messaging HQ).

Enter a short name for the SMSC connection (e.g. ABC_Messag HQ). This is used in widgets, diagrams and elsewhere.

Enter the SMPP account details given to you by your supplier in the system ID, password, system type (if any), host and port. Note that the host must be included in curly brackets {} (e.g. {194.247.82.144}).

Select the SSG location where the connection should be made from to the supplier.

On the Parameters tab you can further configure the SMSC connection. For example, to set the number of binds to be made as part of the SMSC connection, change the "Maximum binds" to the number of binds required.

Click Save to add the SMSC connection.

The new SMSC connection will be shown in the table and the SMSC's indicator will show at the top of the page.

The SMSC connection's indicator will turn green when the SMSC connection is up.

The SMSC connection is now UP but must be added to an SMSC group to be used in routing.

Go to the Suppliers > SMSC groups section of the SSG Admin Portal.

You can either add the new SMSC connection to an existing group or add it to a new SMSC group. For the purpose of this tutorial, we will add it to a new SMSC group.

Click "Add group".

Enter the group name and any descriptive note about this SMSC group (optional).

Click Save to add the new SMSC group.

Click on the black arrow to the left of the new SMSC group. You will see no SMSCs in the new SMSC group.

Click "Add member".

Select the new SMSC connection from the dropdown list.

Click Update.

The new SMSC connection is now shown as a member of the new SMSC group.

Adding supplier coverage and costs

Supplier coverage and route costs are added in the Suppliers > Routes section.

Add new individual route

A new individual route (i.e. single network or country) can be added using the "Add route" dialog.

Go to the Suppliers > Routes section.

Click "Add route".

Select the SMSC Group that the route to which the supplier's route should be added.

Note: This will be the SMSC group that contains one or more relevant SMSC connections from the supplier.

Select the Network for the route.

Note: For a single route that includes all networks in the country, you can selected the "default" network for that country.

Enter the cost in "Cost (submit)" or "Cost (delivered)", depending on whether the cost is based on submission or delivery.

Select the currency for the cost.

Enter the Effective date/time for when the route is available at this cost or leave if available immediately.

Click "Save"

Modifying individual route cost

If the route costs changes in the future, use the "Change cost" button to modify the cost, current and effective date/time.

Add multiple routes

Supplier coverage and costs can be imported in bulk for an SMSC group in Suppliers > Routes.

Go to the Suppliers > Routes section of the SSG Admin Portal.

Click Upload to open the Import SMSC Group Pricing wizard, or drag and drop a CSV file onto the page.

Select the SMSC group that should receive the coverage and costs.

Choose the CSV file from your supplier (or an export previously downloaded from this section). The import process accepts several common supplier formats. See Upload SMSC Group Pricing for the supported CSV layouts.

Importing will close (cease) any existing coverage and costs for the destinations that are being imported.

When the import completes, a dialog shows the detailed outcome. Review any rows that were skipped or failed, then click OK.

To export the current coverage and costs for an SMSC group, click Download, select the SMSC group, and save the CSV. The download format can be used as a template for a later upload.

Configuration parameters

Open an SMSC connection in Suppliers > SMSCs (double-click the row or click Edit) and use the Parameters tab to control how the SSG talks to the supplier.

Typical settings:

• Submit limit (TPS) — the rate at which the SSG submits SMS to this SMSC, in transactions per second. Set this to the throughput your supplier has granted. Setting it higher than the supplier allows can cause throttling or rejected submits.
• EnquireLink interval (s) — the maximum period of inactivity before the SSG sends an enquire_link PDU to keep the bind alive.
• SMPP version — the SMPP version used when binding to the SMSC.
• Use TRX — if checked, a transceiver bind is used. If unchecked, separate transmitter and receiver binds are established.
• Maximum binds — the number of binds to establish as part of this SMSC connection.

On the Main tab, confirm:

• Host is entered in curly brackets, for example {smpp.supplier.example} or {194.247.82.144}.
• Connect From is the SSG site that should originate the connection (London, Frankfurt, Singapore, Sydney, São Paulo or the USA). Give your supplier the IP addresses for that site from Supplier endpoints so they can whitelist the connection.
• Use TLS is not used in the portal. For SMPP over TLS, contact Support with the supplier host and port; a TLS proxy host and port will be provided.

Click Save after changing parameters. The connection will reconnect using the new settings where required.

Controlling connection

The Control tab on an SMSC connection is used for day-to-day operation. Do not disable an SMSC unless it is being retired.

• Administratively down — bring the SMPP bind down and disconnect from the SMSC. Use this when the supplier has asked you to stop connecting, or while you are changing credentials.
• Suspend submit — leave the bind up but stop sending SMS to this SMSC. Traffic that would have used this connection is handled according to the routing profile (other SMSCs in the same group, or other groups). Use this to take a supplier out of traffic without dropping the bind.
• Enabled — makes the SSG platform aware of the SMSC. Uncheck only when the connection is no longer required. Existing binds are not forcibly disconnected by this setting.

The status indicator at the top of Suppliers > SMSCs (and on the Dashboard) reflects these controls:

• Circle on the left — green if submissions are allowed; red if Suspend submit is set.
• Rectangle on the right — green if the connection and bind are UP; red if DOWN.

To take a supplier out of live traffic temporarily:

1. Open the SMSC connection.
2. On the Control tab, check Suspend submit.
3. Click Save.
4. Confirm the left-hand circle turns red.

To reconnect after a planned outage:

1. Uncheck Administratively down (and Suspend submit if it was set).
2. Click Save.
3. Open the Logs tab and wait for Bind response status=0 (0x0).

Reporting

Use these sections to review supplier traffic, cost and delivery performance:

• Reports > Suppliers > Summary — message volume by supplier and SMSC.
• Reports > Suppliers > Detail — volume, delivery rate and related metrics by SMSC.
• Reports > Customers > Margin — customer revenue, supplier cost and margin in the instance base currency. Filter by supplier to see the cost of a connection.
• Dashboard — live widgets for supplier volume, delivery state, revenue and cost.

To inspect an individual message that used a supplier:

1. Open Status > Message lookup (or Message lookup on the Dashboard).
2. Search by destination MSISDN, message ID or time range.
3. Expand the message to see the SMSC used, cost, and delivery outcome.

CDRs for completed messages are available in Status and via the Daily CDRs Management API.

Monitoring

Watch SMSC health from three places:

1. Dashboard — SMSC indicators at the top of the page. Enable or disable the widget for an SMSC on the Monitoring tab of the SMSC dialog (Dashboard, Dashboard2, Suppliers > SMSCs).
2. Suppliers > SMSCs — the same indicators, plus the table of connections.
3. Logs tab on the SMSC dialog — bind attempts, bind responses and disconnects.

Alerts

On the Monitoring tab, set Alert webhook (JSON) so that UP and DOWN state changes are posted to an external system.

The webhook receives a POST with a JSON payload similar to:

{"From":"MLSSGMonitor","Message":"SMSC DOWN: EU-UK ML SMSC Simulator 1","To":"Operations"}

The Message field is formatted as SMSC [state]: [site] [smsc-name], where state is UP or DOWN.

See Supplier SMSC alerts using SIGNL4 for a complete alerting walkthrough. Alerts can also be sent to LINE or other messaging apps; see SMSCs — Monitoring.

Troubleshooting

If the issue remains, contact Support with:

• SMSC name and Connect From site
• Screenshot of the Logs tab around the failure
• Screenshot of Routing > Analyser for an example destination and customer SMPP account (if traffic is not leaving the platform)