Carrier Class OAM

Service Concentration Switches from Worldwide Packets support a rich set of features defined in the IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) standard for Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) management capabilities as well as IEEE 802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) capabilities. OAM and CFM capabilities enable Service Concentration Switches to share and distribute management information across point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, and multipoint-to-multipoint connections.

• Link Events
  Service Concentration Switches support IEEE 802.3ah specifications for link events by monitoring normal system operation for degraded, but not yet inoperable Ethernet connections. Link events allow the number of frame errors in a given interval and the number of frame errors out of a set of frames to be actively monitored and event notifications to be sent to an OAM peer.
• Remote Loopback
  Remote Loopback is an important diagnostic tool for isolating problem connections and segments in a larger network. Remote Loopback capabilities in IEEE 802.3ah enable Service Concentration Switches to transmit every frame received back to the same port as a way to track important packet information metrics such as dropped, received, CRCs, etc. The Remote Loopback feature is valuable for qualitatively testing a link prior to activating and enabling services. It is also useful as a diagnostic tool for troubleshooting the location of faults when errors occur after a service has been deployed.
• MAC Ping/Traceroute
  Cost-effective network operations centers (NOCs) with a minimum of staffing require automated techniques for monitoring paths and connections within a Carrier Ethernet topology. The CFM 802.1ag Traceroute feature provides the ability to ensure that virtual link/path connectivity exists for a given service and enables periodic or operator-initiated diagnostic operations. If configured across all devices in the service path MAC Ping/Traceroute also enables fault isolation.
• Continuity Check
  Service Concentration Switches implement Continuity Check, also defined within IEEE 802.1ag CFM. Continuity Check is an always-on heartbeat-style protocol that continuously checks the paths between devices in a Carrier Ethernet network. In the event that an error is detected along a provisioned, configured path, the NOC can be alerted.

These tools provide for carrier-class management of Ethernet services over Metro and Wide Area Networks.

• Introduction
• Configuration Flexibility
• Common LE-OS Operating System
• Carrier Class QoS
• Robust Multicast Support
• Reliability and Resiliency
• Carrier Class OAM

PDS-0008-001 Rev A.1