NID Features & Benefits

802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management

Carrier Ethernet services must deliver the predictable reliability of TDM and legacy networks, and Service Level Agreements for service availability have penalties when guarantees are not met. This requires continuous monitoring of network services for instant notification of service outages, and mechanisms to quickly isolate the location of network faults. This becomes more challenging when Carrier Ethernet services traverse multiple operator networks over thousands of miles.

iConverter® Network Interface Devices provide comprehensive support of the IEEE 802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) and IEEE 802.3ah Link OAM standards. Support for these Service OAM fault management mechanisms are crucial to network operations and enable the famous five nines (99.999%) of network up time.

  • IEEE 802.1ag CFM with 8 Maintenance Domain levels and 256 Maintenance Associations
  • IEEE 802.3ah Link OAM (formerly known as Ethernet in the First Mile) with dying gasp
FeaturesBenefits
IEEE 802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management and IEEE 802.3ah Link OAM

Improved customer satisfaction with predictable reliability (fewer service outages and faster service restoration)

Cost savings from reduced SLA penalties for:

  • Network/Service Availability
  • Trouble Response Time
  • Mean Time to Restore/Repair (MMTR)
  • Excessive Outage Time/Recurrences
802.1ag Connectivity Check Message - CCMs constantly monitor the service and provide an automatic mechanism to proactively detect network faults
  • Provides proactive fault monitoring with instant notification of loss of service and gives Service Providers a head start verifying and restoring service as soon as possible
802.1ag Loopback – An operator initiated function that provides the means to verify a network fault
  • Rapid confirmation of a service outage
802.1ag Linktrace – An operator initiated function that provides the means to trace the service path and isolate faults
  • Quickly isolate the problem from any remote management location
  • Reduces costs associated with multiple truck rolls
  • Reduces SLA penalties and improves customer satisfaction
802.3ah Link OAM – Provides a variety of fault management functions point-to-point network links
  • Provides threshold-based performance monitoring of links to proactively monitor for link degradation
  • Enables troubleshooting of individual network links
  • Dying gasp sends an alarm upon equipment failure or loss of power
Automatic Link Shutdown (ALS) – Informs the subscriber of a service issue by disabling the customer-facing UNI port
  • Service issues can be reported to Subscriber via ALS to automatically activate protective measures, such as routing to a backup connection, or perform backup/restore
Built-in UTP cable tester
  • Enables troubleshooting the UTP cable through to the Customer Equipment to isolate problems on the Enterprise side of the UNI

 

Functions of 802.1ag

802.1ag Fault Management

IEEE 802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) is the foundation for Service OAM. 802.1ag is referred to as Connectivity Fault Management because it has the capability to proactively monitor and provide fault detection of the entire EVC. 802.1ag fault monitoring functions across all domains and Maintenance Associations.

  • 802.1ag Connectivity Check Message
  • 802.1ag Loopback
  • 802.1ag Linktrace

The Service Provider can use 802.1ag to monitor for faults from UNI to UNI, while each Operator along the service path can monitor for faults across their service responsibility from ENNI to ENNI or from an ENNI to a UNI.

An additional feature that leverages the fault monitoring capability of 802.1ag is Automatic Link Shutdown (ALS) informs the subscriber of a service issue by disabling the customer-facing UNI port. ALS condition can be triggered by a service outage, and/or by detecting a link loss at the remote customer-facing UNI port at the other end of the service.

Download the “End-to-End Service OAM” White Paper for more information on 802.1ag CFM

Download the “802.3ah Link OAM” white paper