Guidelines for the Use of the "OAM" Acronym in the IETF
RFC 6291

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                      L. Andersson
Request for Comments: 6291                                      Ericsson
BCP: 161                                                 H. van Helvoort
Category: Best Current Practice                      Huawei Technologies
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                R. Bonica
                                                        Juniper Networks
                                                            D. Romascanu
                                                                   Avaya
                                                            S. Mansfield
                                                                Ericsson
                                                               June 2011

        Guidelines for the Use of the "OAM" Acronym in the IETF

Abstract

   At first glance, the acronym "OAM" seems to be well-known and well-
   understood.  Looking at the acronym a bit more closely reveals a set
   of recurring problems that are revisited time and again.

   This document provides a definition of the acronym "OAM" (Operations,
   Administration, and Maintenance) for use in all future IETF documents
   that refer to OAM.  There are other definitions and acronyms that
   will be discussed while exploring the definition of the constituent
   parts of the "OAM" term.

Status of This Memo

   This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   BCPs is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6291.

Andersson, et al.         Best Current Practice                 [Page 1]
RFC 6291                     OAM Terminology                   June 2011

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     1.1.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   2.  Pre-Existing Uses of OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     2.1.  Uses of OAM in Other SDOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
       2.1.1.  The "O" in OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
       2.1.2.  The "A" in OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
       2.1.3.  The "M" in OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
     2.2.  Uses of OAM in the IETF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   3.  Recommendations on the Use of the "OAM" Acronym . . . . . . . . 5
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   5.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   6.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Andersson, et al.         Best Current Practice                 [Page 2]
RFC 6291                     OAM Terminology                   June 2011

1.  Introduction

   The main purpose of this document is to provide a definition of the
   acronym "OAM" (Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) for use
   in all future IETF documents that refer to OAM.

   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 need to be clarified.

   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 represents an integrated piece of functionality.  Second, the
   acronym, as such, represents something that is more than just the sum
   of its parts.

   There is also the issue of how each piece of the acronym is defined.
   This document provides an analysis of what each initial of the