[RFC] Exposing profiles (provisioned contexts) in the API

[Aleksander Morgado]

Hey!

> > >
> > > for Cinterion modems that support the profiles, there is a special
> > > command to read them (ATI61, no mbim equivalent, maybe qmi but I
> > > wouldn't know it; and an at^scfg? option to read the current one) as a
> > > list and would fit well with option 2.
> > > The second option would also sit better in the context of a get/set
> > > option, because clearly option 3 wouldn't set it globally, and option
> > > 1 would be just informative.
> > >
> > > For Cinterion modems, the profiles have been experimented with for a
> > > few years, so old modems restart when a new profile is selected (for
> > > example, the PLAS9-X).
> > > Also, for all Cinterion modems supporting profile selection, they are
> > > normally in automatic mode and the property is indeed read-only.  It
> > > becomes writeable by changing the flag automatic/manual.
> > >
> > > I don't know exactly how other manufacturers work, but there are
> > > chances that it is implemented in a similar way, because the profiles
> > > were introduced by the chipset manufactures (initially) to deal with
> > > the various VoLTE flavours.
> > >
> >
> > I believe we're not talking about the same thing, maybe we chose the
> > "profile" name poorly. The suggestion to manage the profiles in the
> > merge request is to be able to manage the settings for the PDP
> > contexts / EPS bearers stored in the modem. E.g. when you run
> > AT+CGDCONT? you get the list of contexts/bearers settings reported by
> > the module, that is what we would call "profiles" in the API. I don't
> > think this is what you were referring to, right? Maybe we should
> > choose a different name to avoid confusions.
> >
>
> I am not sure it is different.
> If a MM "profile"  is a set of APN settings, to be set in the modem
> one-by-one with eg. CGDCONT, it is different.
> A modem "profile" is this (ie: a set of APN, including attach APN,
> data APN, administrative APN, IMS apn, ...), plus additional settings
> related to VoLTE (SIP/SDP format and datagrams), SMS handling (over
> IMS, SGs, CSFG), audio codecs.
> All these settings are applied at once, depending on the inserted SIM.
> I know that Thales changes the required settings, and have heard that
> Sierra selects a whole different image instead (like a different
> virtual modem).  Not sure about the handling by other manufacturers.
>

Ah, I get what you mean now. Yes, we're talking about different things then.

The "profiles" in our case is the list of APN settings stored in the
modem. The "modem profile" that you refer to is what I would call the
"carrier config settings", and as you said, different manufacturers do
that in different ways; e.g. Sierra has the different carrier config
partitions for each carrier, similar to Foxconn modules, but they
manage them differently (e.g. Sierra can do "auto SIM" carrier config
selection automatically, while for the Foxconn modules it is
ModemManager running QMI PDC actions to select the best one based on
SIM). Changing the "carrier config settings" will also change the list
of APN settings stored in the module. For the Sierra case, the current
Modem.Firmware() interface can also be used to select a different
carrier config partition, as long as it's installed in the module
itself.


-- 
Aleksander
https://aleksander.es