System and method for monitoring, controlling and provisioning a telecommunications access network

An access device for providing customer premise equipment access to an access network, the access device comprising:

• a first port configured to communicatively couple to the access network;
• a second port configured to communicatively couple to one or more demarcation devices that are communicatively coupled to one or more customer premise equipment (CPE);
• and
• a processing unit configured for performing the steps of:
• communicating via a first communications link coupled to the first port, the first communications link having a plurality of flows;
• establishing an in-band management flow in the first communications link, the in-band management flow being a VLAN and the first communications link being a non-dedicated communications link;
• establishing one or more customer flows in the first communications link;
• and
• transmitting access device information via the in-band management flow;
• wherein the processing unit is further configured to block attempts from the second port to access the in-band management flow;
• and
• wherein a VLAN header encapsulates maintenance and control messages in a maintenance and control flow, and the VLAN header includes a flow identifier and a VLAN identifier for specifying a maintenance and control VLAN and specifying the first and second ports as a combination of a shelf identifier, card identifier, and port identifier.

A control system in a telecommunications network, the control system comprising:

• a first port configured to communicatively couple to the telecommunications network;
• and
• a processing unit configured for performing the steps of:
• establishing a communications link over the telecommunications network to an access device, the access device being communicatively coupled, via a second port, to one or more demarcation devices, the communications link having a plurality of flows, and at least one of the flows configured to transmit customer data;
• establishing an in-band management flow via the communications link, the in-band management flow being via a non-dedicated VLAN;
• and
• receiving management information from the access device via the in-band management flow on the first port;
• wherein the processing unit is further configured to block attempts from the second port to access the in-band management flow;
• and
• wherein a VLAN header encapsulates maintenance and control messages in a maintenance and control flow, and the VLAN header includes a flow identifier and a VLAN identifier for specifying a maintenance and control VLAN and specifying the first and second ports as a combination of a shelf identifier, card identifier, and port identifier.