ATM-NETWORK MANAGEMENT

ARCHITECTURES
TRAN CONG HUNG , M.Sc
Deputy Head of Faculty of Information Technology II
Post & Telecommunication Institute of Technology of Viet Nam
Email : conghung@yahoo.com
Abstract – The most important of Network Management • Administration involves the set of activities involved
Architectures in ATM can brief definition of each element of with designing the network, processing orders, assigning
Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning addresses, tracking usage, and accounting.
(OAM&P)
• Maintenance involves the inevitable circumstances that
OAM&P PHILOSOPHY arise when everything does not work as planned, or it is
A brief definition of each element of Operations, necessary to diagnose what went wrong and repair it.
Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning (OAM&P) • Provisioning involves installing equipment, setting
and how they interrelate is described below and depicted in parameters, verifying that the service is operational, and
the flow diagram of Figure 1 also deinstallation.

User OAM&P Functions Network SNMP – Based Network Management Systems

(NMS)
Order The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) defined
in IETF standards has five messages types : GET REQUEST
Charge Administration (or simple GET), GET NEXT REQUEST (or simply GET
NEXT), SET REQUEST (or simply SET), RESPONSE, and
TRAP (which is like an alarm). The SET, GET, and GET
Schedule Report NEXT messages are all replied to by the RESPONSE
message. The TRAP message is very important since it is the
Install notification of an unexpected event, such as a failure or a
system restart. SNMP normally operates over the User
Datagram Protocol (UDP), which then usually operates over
Provisioning Verify IP in the Internet Protocol (IP) stack, but may operate over
some other protocol.
SNMP utilizes a subset of Abstract Syntax Notation 1
Turn Up Query (ASN.1) to define a Management Information Base (MIB) as
a data structure that can be referenced in SNMP messages.
The MIB defines objects in terms of primitives such as
Inquire Monitor
strings, integers, and bit maps, and allows a simple form of
indexing. Each object has a name, a syntax, and an encoding.
Respond Operations Control
The ATM Forum ILMI design provides essential interface
management functions to early users of ATM until these
Dispatch Coordinate functions are standardized in ATM OAM cells. Figure 2
illustrates the configuration in which the ILMI operates. Each
ATM End System (ES), and every network that implements a
Diagnose Private Network UNI or Public Network UNI, has a UNI
Management Entity (UME) which is responsible for
Maintenance maintaining the information and responding to SNMP
Repair commands received over the ATM UNI. The information in
the ILMI MIB can be actually contained on a separate private
Figure 1 OAM&P Process Flow
or public Network Management System (NMS) or may be
accessed over another physical interface. NMSs may also be
• Operations involves the day – to – day, and often minute connected to networks or end systems by other network
– to – minute, care and feeding of the data network in management interfaces. The Customer Network Management
order to ensure that it is fulfilling its designed purpose.
 Private Public
NMS NMS

Agent Agent

Other Network Management

Interfaces

Public Public
Private Agent Agent ATM
Agent ATM Agent
ATM UNI
UNI
UNI
ATM End Private ATM Public ATM ATM End
System Network Network System

UME UME UME UME UME UME

ILMI ILMI
ILMI
(SNMP/AAL) (SNMP/AAL) (SNMP/AAL)

Figure 2 ATM Forum ILMI Configuration

(CNM) capability is important for carrier – based services.

This should include at least physical port status, VPC/VCC
status, order parameters, and selected performance metrics.
Delivery of detailed performance counts will involve
additional complexity and cost.
single VP. Each flow can be either connected of
OAM FLOW REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE terminated at an endpoint. Each of the F4/F5 flows may
be either end – to – end or segment oriented. End – to –
Currently OAM flows are only defined for point – to – end flows are received only by the device that
point connections. A fundamental part of the terminates the ATM connection. Only network nodes
infrastructure for network management is that of receive segment OAM flows. Indeed, network nodes
Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) must remove segment flows before they ever reach
information. Figure 3 shows the reference architecture devices that terminate an ATM (VP or VC) connection.
that describes how ATM OAM flows relate to OAM flows maybe either segment or end – to – end. An
SONET/SDH management flows . The F1 flows are for end – to – end flow is from one endpoint at the same
the regenerator section level (called the Section level in level to the other endpoint. A segment flow is from one
SONET), F2 flows are for the digital section level connection point to another connection point.
(called the Line level in SONET), and F3 flows are for
the transmission path (call the Path level in SONET).
ATM adds F4 flows for Virtual Paths (VPs) and F5
flows for Virtual Channels. (VCs), where multiple VCs
are completely contained within a
 Virtual Channel Connection (VCC)

VC Link VC Link

ATM
F5
Layer
Virtual Path Connection (VPC)
VP Link VP Link

F4

Transmission Path
Physical
Layer F3
Digital Section (Line)

F2

Regenerator Section
F1

Figure 3 : ATM Management Plane Reference Architecture

OAM CELL FORMATS
Figure 4 shows the ATM OAM cell format : There are Virtual
Path (VP) flows (F4) and Virtual Channel (VC) flows (F5)
between connection endpoints that are defined as end – to –
end OAM flows. There are also F4 and F5 OAM flows that
occur across one or more interconnected VC or VP links that
are called segment OAM Flows. VP flows (F4) utilize
different VCI to identify whether the flow in either end – to
end (VCI = 3) or segment (VCI = 4). Recall that the first 16
VCIs are reserved for future tandardization. For a VC flow
(F5), a specific VCI cannot be used because all VCIs are
available to users in the service. Therefore, the Payload Type
(PT) differentiates between the end – to – end (PT=100) and
Segment (PT=101) flows in a VCC.
Table 1 summarizes the OAM type and function type fields in
the OAM cells from Figure 4. The three OAM types are fault
management, performance management, and activation /
deactivation. Each OAM type has further function types with
codepoints as identified in Table 1. For the fault management
OAM type there are Alarm Indication Signal (AIS), Remote
Defect Indication (RDI) (also called Far End Reporting
Failure (FERF), and continuity check function types. For the
performance management OAM type there are forward
monitoring and backward reporting types, or a third type that
is a combination of these two, called monitoring and
reporting. The third OAM type defines activation and
deactivation of the other OAM types. Currently, there are
activation and deactivation function types for performance
management and the continuity check.

G C G C
F VPI VCI PT L HEC OAM Function Function specific Reserved CRC -10 F VPI VCI PT L HEC OAM Function Function specific Reserved CRC-10
C P Type Type Fields C P Type Type Fields

5 bytes 4 bits 4 bits 45 bytes 6 bits 10 bits 5 bytes 4 bits 4 bits 45 bytes 6 bits 10 bits
Same as Same as
F4 (VPC) OAM Cell Format F5 (VCC) OAM Cell Format
User Cell User Cell
VCI=3 (Segment) PT=100 (Segment)
VCI=4 (End to end) PT=101 (End to end)

Figure 4 : ATM OAM Cell Types and Format


OAM Type Function Type
Fault Management 0001 AIS 0000
0001 RDI/FERF 0001
0001 Continuity Check 0100
0001 Loopback 1000
Performance management 0010 Forward Moni toring 0000
0010 Backward Reporting 0001
0010 Monitoring& Reporting 0010
Activation/Deactivation 1000 Performance Monitoring 0000
1000 Continuity Check 0001
Table 1: OAM Types & OAM Function Types
Note that there are a significant number of unassigned
codepoints in the OAM and function types. The definition of
OAM cellformats, functions, and protocols is ongoing and
evolving in standards and specification development . For this
reason , the ATM Forum UNI specification recommends that
these OAM functions be implemented in software.
FAULT MANAGEMENT
+ AIS and RDI/FERF Theory and Operation
Figure 5 illustrates the ATM OAM cell AIS and RDI/FERF function
– specific fields. The meaning of each field is described below.
• Failure Type is an indication of what type of
failure has occurred. Currently no specific
values are standardized.
• Failure Location is an indication of where the
failure occurred. Currently no specific values
are standardized.
Failure Type * Failure Location* Unused
1 byte 9 bytes 35 bytes
* Default Coding = ‘6A’ Hex for all octets
Figure 5 : Function – Specific Fields for AIS and RDI/FERF
Figure 6 illustrates the operation and theory of the Alarm
indication Signal (AIS) and Far End Reporting Failure
(FERF) {for equivalently Remote Defect Indication (RDI)}
ATM OAM cell function types. We cover two examples, (a)
where a failure occurs in both directions simultaneously, and
(b) where a failure occurs in only one direction. In both
examples there is a VP (or VC) connection between node 1
and node 4.
Part (a) illustrates the typical failure of both directions of the
physical layer between nodes 2 and 3 that causes the
underlying VPs and VCs to simultaneously fail. The failures
in each direction are indicated as “Failure – A” and “Failure –
B” in the figure so that the resulting AIS and RDI/FERF cells
can be traced to the failure location. A node adjacent to the
failure generates an AIS signal in the downstream direction to
indicate that an upstream failure has occurred, as indicated in
the figure. As can be seen from example (a), both ends of the
connection (nodes 1 and 4) are aware of the failure because of
AIS alarm that they receive. However, by convention, each
generates a RDI/FERF signal.
Example (b) illustrates the purpose of the FERF (or RDI)
signal. In most communications applications the connection
should be considered failed, even if it fails in only one
direction. This is especially true in data communication.
Example (b) illustrates the case of a failure that affects only
one direction of a full duplex connection between nodes 2 and
3. Node 3, which is downstream from the failure, generates an
AIS alarm, which propagates to the connection end (node 4),
which in turn generates the RDI/FERF signal. The RDI/FERF
signal propagates to the other connection end (node 1), which
is now aware that the connection has failed. Without the
RDI/FERF signal, node 1 would not be aware that there was a
failure in the connection between nodes 2 and 3. This method
will also detect any combination of single – direction failures.
Note that the node(s) that generate the AIS signals know
exactly where the failure is, and could report this to a
centralized network management system, or take a distributed
rerouting response.
a) Failure in Both Directions
“Downstream” from A
“Upstream” from A
RDI/FERF-B AIS-A
Failure A
1 2 3 4
Failure B
AIS-B FERF-A
“Downstream” from B
“Upstream” from B
b) Failure in One Direction
“Upstream” from A “Downstream” from A
AIS-A
Failure A
1 2 3 4
RDI-FERF-A
Figure 6: Illustration of AIS and RDI/FERF theory and Operation
+ Loopback Operation and Diagnostic Usage
Figure 7 illustrates the ATM OAM cell Loopback function-
specific fields.
A summary of the ATM OAM cell Loopback function-
specific fields is:
Ä Loopback Indication is a field that contains “01”
when originated, and is decremented by the receiver. It should
be extracted by the sender when it is received with a value of
“00”. This prevents the cell from looping around the network
indefinitely.
Ä Correlation Tag is a field defined for use by the
OAM cell originator since there may be multiple OAM cells
in transit on a particular VPC/VCC, and this allows the sender
to identify which one of these has been received.
 Ä Loopback Location ID is a field provided to the
sender and receiver for use in segment loopbacks to identify
where the loopback should occur. The default value of all 1s
indicates that the loopback should occur at the end point. + Continuity Check

Ä Source ID is a field provided so that theloopback The continuity check can detect failures that AIS cannot,
source can be identified in the cell. This can be used by nodes such as an erroneous VP aross-connect change, as illustrated
to extract OAM cells that they have inserted for extraction in Figure 9 .Part (a) shows an VP connection traversing three
after they have loopback to the source. VP cross-connect nodes with VPI mappings shown in the
figure carrying only Continuity Check (CC) cell traffic. In
part (b) an erroneous cross-connect is made at node 2,
Loopback Correlation Loopback Source Unused interrupting the flow of CC cells. In part (c) node 3 detects
Indication Tag Location ID ID this continuity failure and generates a VP-RDI/FERF OAM
1 byte 9 bytes 12 bytes 12 bytes 16 bytes
cell in the opposite (upstream) direction.

Unused 0/1 a) Intial Virtual Path Connection

0000000 CC
7 bit 1 bit
End Node Node Node End
Figure 7 ATM OAM Loopback Function- Specific Fields. Point VP=1 1 VPI=17 2 VPI=31 3 VPI=1 Point
1 2
As seen in the preceding section, AIS and RDI/FERF are
most useful in detecting and identifying to the connection b) Erroneous Change
endpoints that a failure has occurred. CC
Figure 8 illustrates how these loopback primitives can be End
End Node Node Node
used to diagnose a failure that would not be detected by AIS 1 VPI=17 2 VPI=13 3 VPI=1 Point
and RDI/FERF at any node. An example of such a failure Point VP=1
2
would be a misconfigured VP or VC cross-connect. The 1
example shows two endpoints and two intervening networks,
each with three nodes. Part (a) shows the verification of end– c) Fault Notification
to-end continuity via an end-to-end loopback to endpoint 1. If CC
this were to fail, then network 2 could diagnose the problem
End Node Node Node End
as follows. Part (b) shows verification of connectivity
1 VPI=17 2 VPI=13 3 VPI=1 Point
between a node in network 2 to endpoint 2 via an end-to-end Point VP=1
loopback. If this fails, then the problem is between network 2 1 2
and endpoint 2. Part (c) shows verification of connectivity to
endpoint 1 via an end-to-end loopback. If this fails, there is a
problem in the link between endpoint 1 and network 1 , a Figure 9: Illustration of Continuity Check (CC) OAM Cell Usage
problem in network 1 , or a problem in the link between
network 1 and 2. Par (d) shows verification of connectivity + RESTORATION
across networks 1 and 2 via a segment loopback. If this The standard currently do not specify what can be done in
succeeds, then the problem is the access line from endpoint1 respnse to a fault at the ATM layer. There are SONET and
to network 1. Part (e) shows verification of connectivity from SDH standards, however, that define physical layer protection
entry to exit in network 1. If this succeeds, then the problem switching on a point-to-point, 1:N redundant basis or a ring
is in network 1. Verification within any of the networks could configuration. There are also restoration stagtefies for partial
also be done using the segment loopback. mesh networks. These same concepts could also be applied to
restore ATM connections. Resoring Virtual Paths (VPs) that
End Point 1 Network 1 Network 2 End Point 2 carry a large number of Virtual Channels (VCs) would be an
efficient way to perform ATM-level restoration. We briefly
a. discuss these three restoration methods with reference to
Figure 10.
b. The term 1:N (read as “one for N”) redundancy means that
there is one bidirectional protection channel for up to N
c. working bidirectional channels, as illustrated in Figure 10 (a).
If a working channel fails, its endpoints are switched to the
protection channel. If a failure occurs and the protection
d. channel is already in use or unavailable, then the failed
e. working channel cannot be restored.

Figure 8 : Usage of Loopback in Verification/Problem Diagnostic

Figure 10 (b) illustrates a bidirectional ring. Traffic from node
1 to node 3 is sent in both directions around the ring. At each
node signals may be added as shown by the plus sign inside
the circle, or dropped as shown by the minus sign inside the
circle. At the receiver (node3) only one of the signals is
selected for output. Upon detection of a failure the receiver
will switch to the other, redundant signal, as shown in the
example for a failure between nodes 2 and 3.
The mirror image of this capability is in place for traffic between
nodes 3 and 1. Note that the ring architecture achieves 1:1
redundancy, or in other words, only half of the transmission
bandwidth is available to traffic. These types of ring architectures are
economically attractive for metropolitan areas and can be further
optimized for ATM using Virtual Path level Add Drop Multiplexing
(ADM) to improve multiplexing efficiency

a)Point to Point Failure

1 Working 1

N Working N
N+1 Protection

b)Bi-directional Ring 2

1 3
Initial Route

Restored Route

c) Parital mesh Failure

1 2 3

Restored
Initial Route
Route

4 6
5

Figure 10 : Basic Restoration Method Examples

Figure 10 (C) illustrates a partial mesh network. In the
example, traffic between nodes 3 and 4 initially follows the
route shown by the solid line. A failure between nodes 1 and
2 impacts the node 3 to 4 traffic on its current route. This can
be detected in a centralized, distributed, or hybrid network
management system to find a new route shown by he dashed
line in the example. Longer distance networks tend to have
the type of lattice structure shown in the example and tend to
use this type of restoration . In the example of Figure 10(c),
1:2 redundancy is provided for some routes.
REFERENCES
[1] David E. MC DySan and Darren L. Spohn , "ATM theory and
Application", McGraw-Hill series on Computer Communication,
International Editions 1995, Printed in Taiwan.
[2] Othmar Kyas, "ATM Networks", International Thomson Computer Press,
ITP An International,Thomson Publishing, First printed 1995, Reprinted
1995,Printed in the UK by the Alden Press, Oxford.
[3] Document on Internet :
http://www.tmo.hp.com/tmo/pia/VXIbus/PIAProd/datasheets/English/HPQ0
SS1.html
+ Test & Measurement , Product Information HEWLETT PACKARD
[4]Dr.Kon MIYAKE, “Standardization ^ Technology on B-ISDN & ATM
Network”, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation(NTT), Technical
Seminar on ITU-T Standardization(Tss-96) Nov,1996.