Network Working Group L. Andersson
Internet-Draft Redback Networks
Intended status: Informational M. Betts
Expires: July 19, 2009 Nortel
R. Bonica
Juniper Networks
H. van Helvoort
Huawei Technologies
D. Romascanu
Avaya
January 15, 2009
"The OAM Acronym Soup"
draft-andersson-mpls-tp-oam-def-01.txt
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Abstract
At first glance the acronym "OAM" seems to be well known and well
understood. Looking at it a bit more closely reveals a set of
recurring problems that are revisited time and again. This document
has one primary and a secondary goal. The primary goal is to find an
understanding of OAM that is feasible for the MPLS Transport Profile
(MPLS-TP)effort. The secondary goal is to make this understanding
applicable in a wider scope
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. OAM and O, A and M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1. OAM as a functional unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2. The acronym broken up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.1. O in OAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.2. A in OAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.3. M in OAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3. Use of the OAM acronym MPLS-TP effort . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4. Acronyms for the MPLS-TP effort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5. IANA considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6. Security considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
7. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.2. Informative references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
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1. Introduction
The state of this work is very much "work in progress" and the
discussion is ongoing. The reason to publish the draft at this stage
is that some of the relevant MPLS-TP drafts are getting close to
working group last call and some of the directives in this document
is needed for consistency within that group af draft.
The acronym OAM is frequently used in the data- and telecommunication
industry. One would assume that something that is so widely used is
very clearly defined. However a closer look reveals some points that
needs to be clarified.
The examples used below comes mainly from the first set of MPLS-TP
IDs. In the IDs there were a number of examples of how the acronym
could be a number of ways to expand and understand the acronym e.g.:
o OAM = Operations, Administration, Maintenance
o OAM = Operations, Administration, Management
o OAM = Operations and Maintenance
o OAM = Operations and Management
o O&M = Operations and Maintenance
o O&M = Operations and Management
The examples above were taken from drafts that later has been
corrected and aligned with what is proposed in this document.
Sometimes there is a fourth letter added to the acronym:
o OAM and P = Operations, Administration, Maintenance and
Provisioning
If such an important piece of our technology is so poorly defined, or
if there are dialects of the technology with different understandings
of such a key concept, this will eventually cause problems.
Trying to understand the use of an acronym that is as "content-rich"
as OAM reveals two levels of complexity. First, each letter in the
acronym represent a integrated piece of functionality; secondly the
acronym as such represent something that is more than just the sum of
the pieces
There is also the issue of how each piece of the acronym is defined.
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In this document we will analyse how each piece of the acronym is
defined and provide possible interpretations of the acronym. Finally
we will suggest the use of the OAM acronym for the MPLS-TP effort
based on the greement reached based on the JWT report
[I-D.bryant-mpls-tp-jwt-report].
Our immediate target is to document the use of the OAM acronym such
that it is useful for MPLS-TP. However, we hope to shed some light
on the issue in a broader scope.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].
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2. OAM and O, A and M
2.1. OAM as a functional unit
Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM): A group of network
management functions that provide network fault indication,
performance information, and data and diagnosis functions. Examples
are ATM OAM [ITU-T I-610] and IEEE Std. 802.3 Clause 57 OAM
Alternatively (Huub :) )
Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM): A group of network
management functions that provide network fault indication, fault
localisation performance information, and data and diagnosis
functions.
ITU-T M.3010 recommendation defines:
operations systems function: A function block that processes
information related to the telecommunications management for the
purpose of monitoring/coordinating and/or controlling
telecommunication functions including management functions (i.e. the
TMN itself).
The Metro Ethernet Forum refers to OAM as to: OAM refers to the tools
and utilities to install, monitor and troubleshoot a network, helping
carriers run their networks more efficiently.
Note: the paragraphs above are so far just placeholders.
2.2. The acronym broken up
2.2.1. O in OAM
The O in the OAM acronym invariably stands for "Operations".
However there is some ambivalences in the definition and scope of
"Operation"
Note: Examples to be provided.
2.2.2. A in OAM
The A in the OAM acronym mostly stands for "Adminstration", though in
a few cases it seems like "Accounting" have crept in. For the
purpose of this document we will assume that "Adminstration" is the
correct expansion of "A".
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Note: Examples to be provided.
Admistration is used to support maintenance functions, e.g. by
collecting failure and performance information, continuous or on-
demand.
2.2.3. M in OAM
In the list above the M in the OAM acronym stands for "Maintenance"
or "Management".
Since Maintenance and Management are defined as two different
actvities it does not seem to be a good idea to use them
interchangeably.
Note: Examples to be provided.
The recommendation M.20 from ITU-T defines mainteance:
Maintenance involves the whole of operations required for setting up
and maintaining, within prescribed limits, any element entering into
the setting-up of a connection (see Recommendation M.60). In order
to properly plan and program the maintenance operations required to
establish and maintain a network.
It should have as a major aim to minimize both the occurrence and the
impact of failures and to ensure that in cause of a failure the
correct actions are taken. The ITU-T document also clearly defines a
maintenace philosphy.
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3. Use of the OAM acronym MPLS-TP effort
In Section 4 we list the acronyms as they will be used in the MPLS-TP
effort, this section gives somwe background.
If we need as an abbreviation for "Management" we will use "Mgt". We
do not define Management in this draft, but note that an important
part of the Management funtionality relates to tools to report the
state of the network.
We propose that the OAM acronym is reserved to be used for
"Operations, Administration and Maintenance", i.e. excluding
provisioning.
OAM tools and protocols and the "Management space" are complementary
in natur. Management focuses on FCAPS functionality and on manager
(or NOC) to device (or network) interaction.
From an architecture point of view OAM protocols and tools tend to be
"horizontal" i.e. network element to network element while the
management protocols tend to be "vertical"
Where each part of the acronym and provisioning is defined as
follows:
o Operations - Operation activities is undertaken to keep the
network (and the services that the network provides) up and
running. It includes monitoring the network and find problems.
Ideally these problems should be found before users are affected."
o Administration - Administration activities involves keeping track
of resources in the network and how they are used. It includes
all the book keeping that is necessary to keep track of networking
resources and the network under control.
o Maintenance - Maintenance activities are focused on facilitating
repairs and upgrades - for example, when equipment must be
replaced, when a router needs a patch for an operating system
image, when a new switch is added to a network. Maintenance also
involves corrective and preventive measures to make the managed
network run more efficient, e.g. adjusting device configuration
and parameters.
o Even though we don't include "Provisioning" in the OAM acronym we
note that:
Provisioning - Provisioning activities involves configuring
resources in the network to support the offered services. This
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might include setting up the network so that a new customer can
receive an Internet access service.
o We also note that sometimes it is necessary to talk about the
combination of functions and tools suplied by OAM and Management,
we prefer that this is spelled out as "OAM and Management". In
cases where an acronym is needed O&M should be used.
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4. Acronyms for the MPLS-TP effort
OAM - Operations, Adminstration and Maintenance
O&M - Operations, Adminstration, Maintenance and Management
"Mgt" - Management
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5. IANA considerations
There are no requests for IANA allocation of code points in this
document.
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6. Security considerations
This document only changes the name of one field in the MPLS Shim
Header and thus does not introduce any new security considerations.
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7. Acknowledgments
-
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8. References
8.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
8.2. Informative references
[I-D.bryant-mpls-tp-jwt-report]
Bryant, S. and L. Andersson, "JWT Report on MPLS
Architectural Considerations for a Transport Profile",
draft-bryant-mpls-tp-jwt-report-00 (work in progress),
July 2008.
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Authors' Addresses
Loa Andersson
Redback Networks
Email: loa@pi.nu
Malcolm Betts
Nortel
Email: betts01@nortel.com
Ron Bonica
Juniper Networks
Email: rbonica@juniper.net
Huub van Helvoort
Huawei Technologies
Email: hhelvoort@chello.nl
Dan Romascanu
Avaya
Email: dromasca@avaya.com
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