The following clauses specify a network element behaviour, if it receives a GTPv1-U Error Indication message. The reception of the message triggers a node internal procedure and/or a Control Plane procedure (GTPv1-C, GTPv2, RANAP, S1-AP). For the PMIP based S5/S8 interface, an error in the form of an ICMP message is used instead of a GTPv1-U Error Indication message for the Error Indication handling.

GTP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the GGSN receives a GTP error indication for a PDP context that has the DTI flag set (i.e. from an RNC), the GGSN should not delete the associated PDP context but mark it as invalid. Any subsequent packets arriving for an invalid PDP context should be discarded. The GGSN shall inform the SGSN that the GGSN received a GTP error indication from RNC. The SGSN shall re-establish the tunnel between the SGSN and GGSN as specified in TS 29.060, which sets the related PDP context as valid again in the GGSN. The GGSN then forwards any subsequent downlink packets to the SGSN.
• If the GGSN receives a GTP error indication for a PDP context that has the no DTI flag set (i.e. from an SGSN), the GGSN shall delete its PDP context and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.

GTP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the SGSN receives a GTP error indication from a GGSN, the SGSN shall delete its PDP context and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element. Additionally it shall send a Deactivate PDP Context Request message to the MS with cause "re-activation required"
• If the SGSN receives a GTP error indication from the RNC it shall locally release the RAB. The SGSN should preserve the associated PDP context. The SGSN may initiate the RAB Assignment procedure in order to re-establish the RAB.
• For MBMS, when an Error Indication is received from an SGSN, the receiving GGSN shall delete all information associated with the relevant SGSN in its MBMS Bearer Context and the GGSN may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element. In addition, for broadcast mode the GGSN may request the re-establishment of the MBMS Bearer Context by sending an MBMS Session Start Request message (see clause 7.5A.2.5 of TS 29.060). Furthermore, if the GGSN serves only one downstream SGSN for MBMS data transfer and the GGSN does not support the re-establishment procedure, the GGSN shall delete its MBMS Bearer Context together with the affected MBMS UE Context(s).

GTP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the S4-SGSN receives a GTP error indication from a SGW, the S4-SGSN shall delete its Bearer context and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element. Additionally it shall send a Deactivate PDP Context Request message to the MS with cause "re-activation required"
• If the S4-SGSN receives a GTP error indication from the RNC it shall locally release the RAB. The S4-SGSN should preserve the associated Bearer context. The S4-SGSN may initiate the RAB Assignment procedure in order to re-establish the RAB.

GTP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• When the RNC receives GTP error indication from the SGSN, it shall initiate the RAB Release procedure with the error cause "GTP Resources Unavailable" and shall immediately locally release the RAB (i.e. without waiting for a response from the SGSN).
• If the RNC receives a GTP error indication from the GGSN (i.e. if Direct Tunnel is established), it shall initiate the RAB Release procedure with the error cause "GTP Resources Unavailable" and immediately locally release the RAB (i.e. without waiting for a response from the SGSN). The SGSN shall delete the related PDP context at the SGSN and send a Deactivate PDP Context Request message to the MS with cause "re-activation required".
• If the RNC receives a GTP error indication from the SGW (i.e. if Direct Tunnel is established), it shall initiate the RAB Release procedure with the error cause "GTP Resources Unavailable" and immediately locally release the RAB (i.e. without waiting for a response from the SGSN). The SGSN shall delete the related PDP context and send a Deactivate PDP Context Request message to the MS with the cause "re-activation required". If the deleted PDP context is a primary PDP context, the SGSN shall set the "Tear down indicator" bit in the Deactivate PDP Context Request message. The SGSN may also optionally send a Delete Bearer Command or a Delete Session Request message to the SGW if the deleted PDP context is a secondary PDP context or a primary PDP context respectively.

GTP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the eNodeB receives a GTP error indication from the SGW over an S1-U tunnel not doing indirect forwarding, it shall initiate the E-RAB Release procedure and immediately locally release the E-RAB (i.e. without waiting for a response from the MME). If the MME receives the E-RAB Release Indication for a default bearer that is not the last default bearer of a UE or that the UE has a SCEF PDN connection or that the UE supports Attach without PDN connectivity as specified in clause 5.3.8.3 of TS 23.401, the MME should send a Delete Session Request to the SGW. Additionally the MME may also send a Deactivate EPS Bearer Context Request to the UE with the ESM cause set to "Reactivation Requested" if the MME has decided to restore the PDN connection based on operator policy, QCI and/or ARP and/or APN. If the MME receives the E-RAB Release Indication for the last default bearer of a UE and the UE does not have a SCEF PDN connection and the UE does not support Attach without PDN connectivity as specified in clause 5.3.8.3 of TS 23.401, the MME shall initiate a MME initiated Detach procedure with the detach type "re-attach required". If the MME receives the UE Context Release Request from the eNB, the MME shall send a Release Access Bearers Request to the SGW but if the SGW responds with a "context not found" cause and the UE does not have a SCEF PDN connection and the UE does not support Attach without PDN connectivity, then the MME shall initiate a MME initiated Detach procedure with the detach type "re-attach required".
• If the eNodeB receives a GTP error indication from a peer eNodeB over an X2-U direct forwarding tunnel or from an SGW over an S1-U indirect forwarding tunnel, the eNodeB may ignore the error indication received over the forwarding tunnels or delete the forwarding tunnel context locally without deleting the EPS bearers.
• For dual connectivity case as specified in TS 36.300:
  • If the MeNodeB receives a GTP error indication from the SGW over an S1-U tunnel, it shall initiate the E-RAB Release procedure and immediately locally release the E-RAB (i.e. without waiting for a response from the MME);
  • If the MeNodeB/SeNodeB receives a GTP error indication from the peer SeNodeB/MeNodeB, the MeNodeB/SeNodeB shall delete the X2-U tunnel locally;
  • If the SeNodeB receives a GTP error indication from the SGW over an S1-U tunnel, it shall delete the S1-U tunnel locally;
  • The MeNodeB and SeNodeB may initiate an additional dual connectivity procedure(s) as specified in TS 36.300.

GTP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• For an 'Active' mode UE having a user plane connection with an RNC, i.e. SGW has F-TEIDs assigned by RNC for user plane for the UE,when the SGW receives a GTP Error Indication for a Bearer Context that has the DTI flag set (i.e. from an RNC), the SGW should not delete the associated Bearer Context but delete all the RNC GTP-U tunnel TEIDs for this MS and sends a Downlink Data Notification message to the SGSN (the complete behaviour is specified in clause 22). Then the SGW starts buffering downlink packets received for this MS.
• For an 'Active' mode UE having a user plane connection with an eNB, i.e. SGW has F-TEIDs assigned by eNB for user plane for the UE, when the SGW receives a GTP Error Indication for a Bearer Context from an eNodeB, the SGW should not delete the associated Bearer Context but delete all the eNodeB GTP-U tunnel TEIDs for this UE and sends a Downlink Data Notification message to the MME (the complete behaviour is specified in clause 22). Then the SGW starts buffering downlink packets received for this UE.
• For a UE having an S11 user plane connection with an MME, i.e. SGW has S11-U F-TEIDs assigned by MME for user plane for the UE, when the SGW receives a GTP Error Indication for a Bearer Context from an MME, the SGW may:
  • delete all the Bearer contexts associated with the PDN connection (identified by the default bearer) and notify the Operation and Maintenance network element, or as an alternative,
  • delete the MME GTP-U tunnel TEID for this UE and send a Downlink Data Notification message to the MME to re-establish the user plane path without deleting the PDN connection (the complete behaviour is specified in clause 22). Then the SGW starts buffering downlink packets received for this UE.
• If the SGW receives a GTP error indication from S4-SGSN for a Bearer Context other than the default bearer when S4-U is used, the SGW may delete its Bearer context and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element, or as an alternative, the SGW may send Downlink Data Notification message to the S4-SGSN to re-establish the user plane path without deleting the bearer context.
• If the SGW receives a GTP error indication from S4-SGSN for the default bearer when S4-U is used, the SGW may delete all the Bearer contexts associated with the PDN connection (identified by the default bearer) and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element, or as an alternative, the SGW may send Downlink Data Notification message to the S4-SGSN to re-establish the user plane path without deleting the PDN connection.
• If the SGW receives a GTP error indication from a PGW for the bearer other than the default bearer, the SGW shall delete its Bearer context and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.
• If the SGW receives a GTP error indication from a PGW for the default bearer, the SGW shall delete all the Bearer contexts associated with the PDN connection (identified by the default bearer) and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element. The SGW may send the Delete Bearer Request for the default bearer to the MME/S4 SGSN to delete the associated PDN connection.

PMIP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the SGW receives an ICMP message from a PGW that indicates the UE specific error indication, as specified in the TS 29.275, the SGW may delete the associated PDN connection (identified by the GRE key included in the ICMP message) and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element. In this case, the SGW may also:
  • send the Delete Bearer Request for the default bearer to the MME/S4 SGSN to delete the associated PDN connection, and/or,
  • perform other implementation specific actions, such as: sending messages to release other external resources (e.g. PCC messages).

GTP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the PGW receives a GTP error indication from a SGW/a TWAN /an ePDG for the bearer other than the default bearer, the PGW shall delete its Bearer context and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.
• If the PGW receives a GTP error indication from a SGW/a TWAN /an ePDG for the default bearer, the PGW shall delete all the Bearer contexts associated with the PDN connection (identified by the default bearer) and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.

PMIP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the PGW receives an ICMP message from an SGW/an ePDG/a Trusted Non-3GPP IP access node that indicates the UE specific error indication as specified in the TS 29.275, the PGW may delete the associated PDN connection (identified by the GRE key included in the ICMP message) and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.

GTP Error Indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the MBMS GW receives a GTP Error Indication from a SGSN, the MBMS GW shall delete its Bearer context and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.

GTP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the ePDG receives a GTP error indication from a PGW for the bearer other than the default bearer, the ePDG shall delete its Bearer context and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.
• If the ePDG receives a GTP error indication from a PGW for the default bearer, the ePDG shall delete all the Bearer contexts associated with the PDN connection (identified by the default bearer) and initiate the release of the corresponding SWu instance (i.e. IKEv2 tunnel). The ePDG may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.

PMIP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the ePDG receives an ICMP message from a PGW that indicates the UE specific error indication as specified in the TS 29.275, the ePDG may delete the associated PDN connection (identified by the GRE key included in the ICMP message) and initiate the release of the corresponding SWu instance (i.e. IKEv2 tunnel) . The ePDG may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.

GTP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the TWAN receives a GTP error indication from a PGW for the bearer other than the default bearer, the TWAN shall delete its Bearer context and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.
• If the TWAN receives a GTP error indication from a PGW for the default bearer, the TWAN shall delete all the Bearer contexts associated with the PDN connection (identified by the default bearer) and may initiate the release of the corresponding WLAN specific resource. The TWAN may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.

PMIP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the TWAN receives an ICMP message from a PGW that indicates the UE specific error indication as specified in the TS 29.275, the TWAN may delete the associated PDN connection (identified by the GRE key included in the ICMP message) and may initiate the release of the corresponding WLAN specific resource. The TWAN may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element.

GTP error indication message shall be handled as follows:

• If the MME receives a GTP error indication from an SGW, the MME shall delete its Bearer context and may notify the Operation and Maintenance network element. Additionally the MME shall deactivate the corresponding PDN connection towards the UE with the cause "re-activation required", or initiate an explicit detach with reattached required procedure, as appropriate, see TS 24.301.