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US 8,274,899 B2Granted
Autoconfiguration of ethernet OAM points
AssigneeAlcatel Lucent
InventorsDavid Elie-Dit-Cosaque, Kamakshi Sridhar, Maarten Petrus Joseph Vissers, Tony Van Kerckhove
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Abstract
A system and method for configuring Maintenance Intermediate Point (MIP) nodes of an Ethernet OAM network based on absolute level indicia as well as relative level indicia encoded in OAM frames generated by Maintenance End Point (MEP) nodes. A first OAM level field in a payload portion of an Ethernet OAM frame is encoded with an absolute OAM level associated with the originating MEP's OAM domain. A second OAM level field is encoded with a relative OAM level indicative of the number of OAM domain levels traversed by the Ethernet OAM frame.
Claims29
A method of configuring domain hierarchical levels of Maintenance Intermediate Point (MIP) nodes disposed in an Ethernet Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) network, comprising:
- configuring absolute level indicia associated with an OAM domain hierarchical level of Maintenance End Point (MEP) nodes of said Ethernet OAM network;
- initiating, by at least one of said MEP nodes, an OAM frame having an absolute level indicium of the at least one MEP node initiating the OAM frame and a relative level indicium encoded therein;
- offsetting the OAM frame's relative OAM domain level indicium when the OAM frame traverses from a first OAM domain at one hierarchical level to a second OAM domain at another hierarchical level;
- and
- when the OAM frame arrives at a particular MIP node, determining said particular MIP node's absolute level indicium based on the OAM frame's absolute level indicium and relative level indicium, wherein said particular MIP node's absolute level indicium is determined to be a value that equals the OAM frame's absolute level indicium when the OAM frame's relative level indicium indicates no hierarchical relative level change and wherein said particular MIP node's absolute level indicium is determined to be a value equaling the OAM frame's absolute level indicium that is offset by the OAM frame's relative level indicium when the OAM frame's relative level indicium indicates a hierarchical relative level change;
- auto-configuring said particular MIP node with said particular MIP node's determined absolute level indicium;
- and
- after completion of auto-configuration of said particular MIP node, detecting a frame leakage error when a second OAM frame's absolute level indicium equals said particular MIP node's determined absolute level indicium and the second OAM frame's relative level indicium indicates a hierarchical relative level change.
5 more elements
A method of providing Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) level information in an MIP node configured in an end-to-end Ethernet network having multiple levels of OAM domains, comprising:
- receiving by said MIP node an Ethernet frame wherein a first OAM level field in a payload portion of said Ethernet frame is encoded with an absolute OAM level associated with said Ethernet frame's originating OAM domain and wherein a second OAM level field in said payload portion of said Ethernet frame is encoded with a relative OAM level indicative of number of OAM domain levels traversed by said Ethernet frame;
- when said Ethernet frame arrives at said MIP node, determining said MIP node's absolute level based on the absolute OAM level and the relative OAM level encoded in said Ethernet frame, wherein determining said MIP node's absolute level includes:
- determining said MIP node's absolute level indicium is a value that equals the OAM frame's absolute level indicium when the OAM frame's relative level indicium indicates no hierarchical relative level change;
- and
- determining said MIP node's absolute level indicium is a value equaling the OAM frame's absolute level indicium that is offset by the OAM frame's relative level indicium when the OAM frame's relative level indicium indicates a hierarchical relative level change;
- auto-configuring said MIP node with said MIP node's determined absolute level;
- and
- after completion of auto-configuration of said MIP node, detecting a frame leakage error when a second OAM frame's absolute level indicium equals said MIP node's determined absolute level indicium and the second OAM frame's relative level indicium indicates a hierarchical relative level change.
5 more elements
A network entity configured for an Ethernet Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) network having multiple levels of OAM domains, comprising:
- a Maintenance End Point (MEP) interface of the network entity configured as a MEP of a first level of the multiple levels of OAM domains, wherein the MEP interface is operable to:
- receive an OAM frame, wherein the OAM frame includes an absolute relative indicium of a source MEP node at a second level of the multiple levels of OAM domains;
- encode a relative level indicium in the OAM frame based on the hierarchical relationship of the second level of the source MEP node and the first level of the MEP interface of the network entity;
- and
- a Maintenance Intermediate Point (MIP) interface of the network entity configured as a MIP of the second level of the multiple levels of OAM domains, wherein the MIP interface is operable to:
- receive the OAM frame from the MEP interface of the network entity;
- determine the absolute level indicium of the MIP interface of the network entity based on the absolute level indicium and the relative level indicium encoded in the OAM frame received by the MIP interface;
- and
- auto-configure the MIP interface of the network entity with the determined absolute level indicium;
- and
- after completion of auto-configuration of the MIP interface of the network entity, detect a frame leakage error when a second OAM frame's absolute level indicium equals the MIP interfaces's determined absolute level indicium and the second OAM frame's relative level indicium indicates a hierarchical relative level change.
8 more elements
A method in a Maintenance Intermediate Node (MIP) in an Ethernet Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) network having multiple levels of OAM domains, comprising:
- receiving an OAM frame by the MIP node, wherein the OAM frame includes a source absolute level indicia associated with a first level of the multiple levels of OAM domains of a source Maintenance End Point (MEP) node and wherein the OAM frame includes a relative level indicium which is incremented by at least one boundary MEP node when the OAM frame is transmitted to another higher level OAM domain;
- determining an absolute level indicium of the MIP node based on the source absolute level indicium associated with the first level of the multiple levels of OAM domains of the source MEP node and the relative level indicium in the OAM frame, wherein determining an absolute level indicium includes:
- determining the MIP node's absolute level indicium is a value that equals the OAM frame's source absolute level indicium when the OAM frame's relative level indicium indicates no hierarchical relative level change;
- and
- determining the MIP node's absolute level indicium is a value that equals the OAM frame's source absolute level indicium offset by the OAM frame's relative level indicium when the OAM frame's relative level indicium indicates a hierarchical relative level change;
- auto-configuring by the MIP node its determined absolute level indicium;
- and
- upon completion of auto-configuration of the MIP node, detecting a frame leakage error when a second OAM frame's absolute level indicium equals the MIP node's determined absolute level indicium and the second OAM frame's relative level indicium indicates a hierarchical relative level change.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.