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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   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
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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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