Configuration File¶

Ella is configured using a yaml formatted file.

Start Ella core with the --config flag to specify the path to the configuration file.

Parameters¶

logging (object): The logging configuration.
- system (object): The system logging configuration.
  - level (string): The log level. Options are trace, debug, info, warn, error, and fatal.
  - output (string): The output for the logs. Options are stdout and file.
  - path (string): The path to the log file. This is only used if the output is set to file.
- audit (object): The audit logging configuration.
  - output (string): The output for the logs. Options are stdout and file.
  - path (string): The path to the log file. This is only used if the output is set to file.
db (object): The database configuration.
- path (string): The path to the directory holding the database file (ella.db).
interfaces (object): The network interfaces configuration.
- n2 (object): The configuration for the n2 interface. This interface should be connected to the radios.
  - name (string): The name of the network interface to listen on (optional: either name or address must be provided). When set, the server binds to all IP addresses configured on this interface. Link-local addresses (IPv6 link-local and IPv4 link-local) are automatically excluded.
  - address (string): The IP address to listen on. Supports both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses (optional: either name or address must be provided). When set, the server binds to this specific address.
  - port (int): The port to listen on.
- n3 (object): The configuration for the n3 interface. This interface should be connected to the radios.
  - name (string): The name of the network interface (optional: either name or address must be provided).
  - address (string): The address to listen on. Supports both IPv4 and IPv6 (optional: either name or address must be provided).
- n6 (object): The configuration for the n6 interface. This interface should be connected to the internet.
  - name (string): The name of the network interface.
- api (object): The configuration for the api interface.
  - name (string): The name of the network interface to listen on (optional: either name or address must be provided). When set, the server listens on all addresses (0.0.0.0) but uses SO_BINDTODEVICE to restrict incoming traffic to this interface. Use this when you want to bind to a device without pinning to a specific IP address.
  - address (string): The IP address to listen on. Supports both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses (optional: either name or address must be provided). When set, the server binds to this specific address.
  - port (int): The port to listen on.
  - tls (object): The TLS configuration (optional).
    - cert (string): The path to the TLS certificate file (optional).
    - key (string): The path to the TLS key file (optional).
xdp (object): The XDP configuration.
- attach-mode (string): The XDP attach mode. Options are native and generic. native is the most performant option and only works on supported drivers.
telemetry (object): The telemetry configuration.
- enabled (boolean): Whether telemetry is enabled or not. Default is false.
- otlp-endpoint (string): The endpoint for the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) collector.
cluster (object): Clustering configuration for high-availability deployments. See Clustering for the walkthrough.
- enabled (boolean): Enables HA mode. When false, Ella Core runs as a standalone single-server instance.
- node-id (int, 1–63): Unique per node. Baked into this node's self-signed cluster certificate (SPIFFE URI) and 5G-GUTIs.
- bind-address (string): host:port the cluster listener binds to. Carries Raft consensus and cluster HTTP over mTLS.
- advertise-address (string, optional): host:port peers use to reach this node. Host may be an IP or DNS name. Defaults to bind-address. Must appear in peers and must not use an unspecified IP.
- peers (list of strings): host:port of every node in the cluster. Host may be an IP or DNS name. Must include this node's own advertise-address (or bind-address if advertise-address is unset) as the same string.
- join-token (string, optional): Single-use token minted on an existing voter via POST /api/v1/cluster/pki/join-tokens. Required on the first boot of a node joining an existing cluster; consumed and ignored on subsequent starts. Its presence also tells the daemon that this node is a joiner, not the founder.
- initial-suffrage (string, optional): voter or nonvoter. Defaults to voter.
- join-timeout (duration string, optional): Maximum wait for cluster formation during discovery.
- propose-timeout (duration string, optional): Maximum wait for a Raft commit before the API returns 503.
- snapshot-interval (duration string, optional): Minimum interval between automatic Raft snapshots.
- snapshot-threshold (int, optional): Minimum number of applied log entries between automatic snapshots.

Note

When you use the Ella Core snap, the configuration file is located at /var/snap/ella-core/common/config.yaml. After modifying the configuration file, restart Ella Core with sudo snap restart ella-core.cored for the changes to take effect.

Example¶

logging:
  system:
    level: "info"
    output: "stdout"
  audit:
    output: "file"
    path: "/var/log/ella_system.log"
db:
  path: "/var/lib/ella-core"
interfaces:
  n2:
    address: "22.22.22.2"
    port: 38412
  n3:
    name: "ens5"
  n6:
    name: "ens3"
  api:
    address: "0.0.0.0"
    port: 5002
    tls:
      cert: "/etc/ella/cert.pem"
      key: "/etc/ella/key.pem"
xdp:
  attach-mode: "native"
telemetry:
  enabled: true
  otlp-endpoint: "localhost:4317"

Clustering¶

Enable clustering on each node to deploy Ella Core in a high-availability configuration. See Deploy a High Availability Cluster for the walkthrough.

cluster:
  enabled: true
  node-id: 1
  bind-address: "10.0.0.1:7000"
  peers:
    - "10.0.0.1:7000"
    - "10.0.0.2:7000"
    - "10.0.0.3:7000"

Note

Write requests (POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE) are automatically forwarded to the current Raft leader; reads are served by any node.

IPv6 Support¶

Ella Core supports IPv6 addresses for the management interface (api), the radio interface (n2) and the GTPU interface (n3).

The following example demonstrates using an IPv6 address for those interfaces:

interfaces:
  n2:
    address: "2001:db8::1"
    port: 38412
  n3:
    address: "2001:db8::1"
  n6:
    name: "ens3"
  api:
    address: "2001:db9::1"
    port: 5002

The following example demonstrates using all non link-local addresses for those interfaces:

interfaces:
  n2:
    name: "ens5"
    port: 38412
  n3:
    address: "ens4"
  n6:
    name: "ens3"
  api:
    name: "ens0"
    port: 5002

GTP-U Transport over IPv6¶

Ella Core supports GTP-U tunnels over IPv6 for the N3 interface (between the core and the gNB). When a gNB advertises a dual-stack transport address (both IPv4 and IPv6) in the N2 signaling and Ella Core is configured for dual-stack, Ella Core always prefers IPv6 for the GTP-U data path.

To ensure Ella Core always uses IPv4 or IPv6 for GTP-U, specify an address of that family in the configuration file, or ensure only IPs of that family are configured on the interface.