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External Core — Bring Your Own

INSTALL_RACORA_CORE=external (with plain helm: global.core.provider: external) deploys no core. The CU-CP dials the AMF you name in INSTALL_RACORA_AMF_ADDR (global.core.amfAddr), a DNS name or an IP address every CU-CP pod reaches over SCTP on port 38412. The controller renders the address into the CU-CP's boot overlay, so a changed amfAddr takes effect at the next CU-CP restart. The install command, and the two gates that refuse external without an address or an address with any other provider, are on Configure the 5G Core.

What Your Core Must Do​

  • Serve the network identity. The CU-CP advertises global.network — the PLMN, the tracking areas, the slices — in NG Setup, and every cell declares a PLMN and TAC from it. Your AMF must serve exactly that; Racora cannot check it, and an AMF that does not rejects NG Setup with unknown-PLMN-or-SNPN, visible in the CU-CP log. Declare the identity to match your core (Configure the 5G Core).
  • Be reachable over SCTP from the cluster: NGAP is SCTP, and the CU-CP reconnects on its own when the association drops.
  • Own UE addressing and egress. Racora installs no UE-pool NAT; UE addressing and egress are your core's, and it knows nothing about your UPF.
  • User plane. The CU-UP binds NG-U (GTP-U, UDP 2152) on its pod IP and advertises that address, so your UPF needs a route to the cluster's pod network and the CU-UP a route to the UPF; without it registration succeeds and no PDU session carries data (the check).

What Racora Does Not Do​

  • Subscribers. A Subscriber you declare is reported Unmanaged — provision the SIM in your core. The surface is the same, so the declarations carry over unchanged if you switch to a provider with an adapter.
  • Host units. None: the control node needs nothing beyond the node contract.
  • Uninstall. The ran scope removes Racora and leaves your core alone.