Sub-IP, draft-harrison-mpls-oam-00.txt

[Shahram Davari <Shahram_Davari@pmc-sierra.com>]

NAME OF I-D:	
http://search.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-harrison-mpls-oam-00.txt

SUMMARY:	
This Internet draft provides mechanisms for OAM (Operation and Maintenance) of the user-plane for explicitly routed/signalled LSPs in MPLS networks.  A connectivity verification "CV" OAM packet is defined, which is transmitted periodically from LSP source to LSP sink.  The CV flow could be used to detect defects related to misrouting of LSPs as well as link and nodal failure, and if required to trigger protection switching to the protection path.  A forward defect identifier "FDI" and a backward defect identifier "BDI" are defined, which carry the defect type and location to the near end and far end respectively.  At every LSP terminating node, the FDI is mapped from server layer to client layer.  By doing so FDI could suppress the alarm storm, and let the appropriate layer take control of protection switching.  BDI is used to inform the far-end (ie LSP source) from near-end defects and to start or stop any QoS aggregation, depending on whether the LSP is in available or unavailable state.  The criteria for entry and exit to the various defects and available/unavailable states are also defined in this document.

RELATED DOCUMENTS:
Requirements for OAM in MPLS Networks 
draft-harrison-mpls-oam-req-00.txt 
Expires: Nov 2001

WHERE DOES IT FIT IN THE SUB-IP WORK?
TE-WG and MPLS-WG

WHY IS IT TARGETED AT THIS WG?
This work was presented in MPLS-WG in IETF 50. The AD (S. Bradner) identified TEWG as the appropriate WG for the MPLS OAM work.

JUSTIFICATION:
Network operators have requested for MPLS OAM, and this work is supported by several major operators/carriers.  This is a clear message that this work is required. Additionally the currently available methods (e.g., GTTP) cannot inherently satisfy the most important MPLS OAM requirement, which is availability performance.

Shahram Davari.vcf