Information About Using Ethernet Operations Administration and Maintenance
Ethernet OAM
Ethernet OAM is a protocol for installing, monitoring, and troubleshooting metro Ethernet networks and Ethernet WANs. It relies on a new, optional sublayer in the data link layer of the OSI model. Ethernet OAM can be implemented on any full-duplex point-to-point or emulated point-to-point Ethernet link. A system-wide implementation is not required; OAM can be deployed for part of a system; that is, on particular interfaces.
Normal link operation does not require Ethernet OAM. OAM frames, called OAM protocol data units (PDUs), use the slow protocol destination MAC address 0180.c200.0002. They are intercepted by the MAC sublayer and cannot propagate beyond a single hop within an Ethernet network.
Ethernet OAM is a relatively slow protocol with modest bandwidth requirements. The frame transmission rate is limited to a maximum of 10 frames per second; therefore, the impact of OAM on normal operations is negligible. However, when link monitoring is enabled, the CPU must poll error counters frequently. In this case, the required CPU cycles will be proportional to the number of interfaces that have to be polled.
Two major components, the OAM client and the OAM sublayer, make up Ethernet OAM. The following two sections describe these components.
OAM Client
The OAM client is responsible for establishing and managing Ethernet OAM on a link. The OAM client also enables and configures the OAM sublayer. During the OAM discovery phase, the OAM client monitors OAM PDUs received from the remote peer and enables OAM functionality on the link based on local and remote state as well as configuration settings. Beyond the discovery phase (at steady state), the OAM client is responsible for managing the rules of response to OAM PDUs and managing the OAM remote loopback mode.
OAM Sublayer
The OAM sublayer presents two standard IEEE 802.3 MAC service interfaces: one facing toward the superior sublayers, which include the MAC client (or link aggregation), and the other interface facing toward the subordinate MAC control sublayer. The OAM sublayer provides a dedicated interface for passing OAM control information and OAM PDUs to and from a client.
The OAM sublayer is made up of three components: control block, multiplexer, and packet parser (p-parser). Each component is described in the following sections.
Control Block
The control block provides the interface between the OAM client and other blocks internal to the OAM sublayer. The control block incorporates the discovery process, which detects the existence and capabilities of remote OAM peers. It also includes the transmit process that governs the transmission of OAM PDUs to the multiplexer and a set of rules that govern the receipt of OAM PDUs from the p-parser.
Multiplexer
The multiplexer manages frames generated (or relayed) from the MAC client, control block, and p-parser. The multiplexer passes through frames generated by the MAC client untouched. It passes OAM PDUs generated by the control block to the subordinate sublayer; for example, the MAC sublayer. Similarly, the multiplexer passes loopback frames from the p-parser to the same subordinate sublayer when the interface is in OAM remote loopback mode.
P-Parser
The p-parser classifies frames as OAM PDUs, MAC client frames, or loopback frames and then dispatches each class to the appropriate entity. OAM PDUs are sent to the control block. MAC client frames are passed to the superior sublayer. Loopback frames are dispatched to the multiplexer.
Benefits of Ethernet OAM
Ethernet OAM provides the following benefits:
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Competitive advantage for service providers.
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Standardized mechanism to monitor the health of a link and perform diagnostics.
Note |
REP traps are prioritized when both Ethernet OAM and REP traps are configured on the same port. If you want to view Ethernet OAM logs, then you must disable REP configurations. |
Cisco Implementation of Ethernet OAM
The Cisco implementation of Ethernet OAM consists of the Ethernet OAM shim and the Ethernet OAM module.
The Ethernet OAM shim is a thin layer that connects the Ethernet OAM module and the platform code. It is implemented in the platform code (driver). The shim also communicates port state and error conditions to the Ethernet OAM module via control signals.
The Ethernet OAM module, implemented within the control plane, handles the OAM client as well as control block functionality of the OAM sublayer. This module interacts with the CLI and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)/programmatic interface via control signals. In addition, this module interacts with the Ethernet OAM shim through OAM PDU flows.
OAM Features
The OAM features as defined by IEEE 802.3ah, Ethernet in the First Mile, are discovery, Link Monitoring, Remote Fault Detection, Remote Loopback, and Cisco Proprietary Extensions.
Discovery
Discovery is the first phase of Ethernet OAM and it identifies the devices in the network and their OAM capabilities. Discovery uses information OAM PDUs. During the discovery phase, the following information is advertised within periodic information OAM PDUs:
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OAM mode—Conveyed to the remote OAM entity. The mode can be either active or passive and can be used to determine device functionality.
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OAM configuration (capabilities)—Advertises the capabilities of the local OAM entity. With this information a peer can determine what functions are supported and accessible; for example, loopback capability.
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OAM PDU configuration—Includes the maximum OAM PDU size for receipt and delivery. This information along with the rate limiting of 10 frames per second can be used to limit the bandwidth allocated to OAM traffic.
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Platform identity—A combination of an organization unique identifier (OUI) and 32-bits of vendor-specific information. OUI allocation, controlled by the IEEE, is typically the first three bytes of a MAC address.
Discovery includes an optional phase in which the local station can accept or reject the configuration of the peer OAM entity. For example, a node may require that its partner support loopback capability to be accepted into the management network. These policy decisions may be implemented as vendor-specific extensions.
Link Monitoring
Link monitoring in Ethernet OAM detects and indicates link faults under a variety of conditions. Link monitoring uses the event notification OAM PDU and sends events to the remote OAM entity when there are problems detected on the link. The error events include the following:
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Error Symbol Period (error symbols per second)—The number of symbol errors that occurred during a specified period exceeded a threshold. These errors are coding symbol errors.
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Error Frame (error frames per second)—The number of frame errors detected during a specified period exceeded a threshold.
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Error Frame Period (error frames per n frames)—The number of frame errors within the last n frames has exceeded a threshold.
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Error Frame Seconds Summary (error seconds per m seconds)—The number of error seconds (1-second intervals with at least one frame error) within the last m seconds has exceeded a threshold.
Since IEEE 802.3ah OAM does not provide a guaranteed delivery of any OAM PDU, the event notification OAM PDU may be sent multiple times to reduce the probability of a lost notification. A sequence number is used to recognize duplicate events.
Remote Failure Indication
Faults in Ethernet connectivity that are caused by slowly deteriorating quality are difficult to detect. Ethernet OAM provides a mechanism for an OAM entity to convey these failure conditions to its peer via specific flags in the OAM PDU. The following failure conditions can be communicated:
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Link Fault—Loss of signal is detected by the receiver; for instance, the peer’s laser is malfunctioning. A link fault is sent once per second in the information OAM PDU. Link fault applies only when the physical sublayer is capable of independently transmitting and receiving signals.
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Dying Gasp—An unrecoverable condition has occurred; for example, when an interface is shut down. This type of condition is vendor specific. A notification about the condition may be sent immediately and continuously.
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Dying Gasp is only supported on interface down events. It is not supported in System down scenarios.
For more information on Dying Gasp, see the Dying Gasp Support for Loss of Power Supply Through SNMP, Syslog and Ethernet OAM chapter in the Cisco NCS 520 Series Router Configuration Guide.
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Critical Event—An unspecified critical event has occurred. This type of event is vendor specific. A critical event may be sent immediately and continuously.
Remote Loopback
An OAM entity can put its remote peer into loopback mode using the loopback control OAM PDU. Loopback mode helps an administrator ensure the quality of links during installation or when troubleshooting. In loopback mode, every frame received is transmitted back on the same port except for OAM PDUs and pause frames. The periodic exchange of OAM PDUs must continue during the loopback state to maintain the OAM session.
The loopback command is acknowledged by responding with an information OAM PDU with the loopback state indicated in the state field. This acknowledgement allows an administrator, for example, to estimate if a network segment can satisfy a service-level agreement. Acknowledgement makes it possible to test delay, jitter, and throughput.
When an interface is set to the remote loopback mode the interface no longer participates in any other Layer 2 or Layer 3 protocols; for example Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) or Open Shortest Path First (OSPF). The reason is that when two connected ports are in a loopback session, no frames other than the OAM PDUs are sent to the CPU for software processing. The non-OAM PDU frames are either looped back at the MAC level or discarded at the MAC level.
From a user’s perspective, an interface in loopback mode is in a link-up state.
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Remote loopback is not supported on the RSP3 module. |
Cisco Vendor-Specific Extensions
Ethernet OAM allows vendors to extend the protocol by allowing them to create their own type-length-value (TLV) fields.
OAM Messages
Ethernet OAM messages or OAM PDUs are standard length, untagged Ethernet frames within the normal frame length bounds of 64 to 1518 bytes. The maximum OAM PDU frame size exchanged between two peers is negotiated during the discovery phase.
OAM PDUs always have the destination address of slow protocols (0180.c200.0002) and an Ethertype of 8809. OAM PDUs do not go beyond a single hop and have a hard-set maximum transmission rate of 10 OAM PDUs per second. Some OAM PDU types may be transmitted multiple times to increase the likelihood that they will be successfully received on a deteriorating link.
Four types of OAM messages are supported:
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Information OAM PDU--A variable-length OAM PDU that is used for discovery. This OAM PDU includes local, remote, and organization-specific information.
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Event notification OAM PDU--A variable-length OAM PDU that is used for link monitoring. This type of OAM PDU may be transmitted multiple times to increase the chance of a successful receipt; for example, in the case of high-bit errors. Event notification OAM PDUs also may include a time stamp when generated.
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Loopback control OAM PDU--An OAM PDU fixed at 64 bytes in length that is used to enable or disable the remote loopback command.
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Vendor-specific OAM PDU--A variable-length OAM PDU that allows the addition of vendor-specific extensions to OAM.
IEEE 802.3ah Link Fault RFI Support
The IEEE 802.3ah Link Fault RFI Support feature provides a per-port configurable option that moves a port into a blocking state when an OAM PDU control request packet is received with the Link Fault Status flag set. In the blocking state, the port can continue to receive OAM PDUs, detect remote link status, and automatically recover when the remote link becomes operational. When an OAM PDU is received with the Link Fault Status flag set to zero or FALSE, the port is enabled and all VLANs configured on the port are set to “forwarding.”
Note |
If you configure the Ethernet OAM timeout period to be the minimum allowable value of 2 seconds, the Ethernet OAM session may be dropped briefly when the port transitions from blocked to unblocked. This action will not occur by default; the default timeout value is 5 seconds. |
Before the release of the IEEE 802.3ah Link Fault RFI Support feature, when an OAM PDU control request packet was received with the Link Fault Status flag set, one of three actions was taken:
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The port was put in the error-disable state, meaning that the port did not send or receive packets, including Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDU) packets. In the error-disable state, a link can automatically recover after the error-disable timeout period but cannot recover automatically when the remote link becomes operational.
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A warning message was displayed or logged, and the port remained operational.
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The Link Fault Status flag was ignored.
Ethernet Connectivity Fault Management
Ethernet connectivity fault management (CFM) is an end-to-end per-service-instance Ethernet layer OAM protocol that includes proactive connectivity monitoring, fault verification, and fault isolation. End to end can be provider edge (PE) to PE or customer edge (CE) to CE. Per service instance means per VLAN.
For more information about Ethernet CFM, see Ethernet Connectivity Fault Management .
High Availability Features Supported by 802.3ah
In access and service provider networks using Ethernet technology, High Availability (HA) is a requirement, especially on Ethernet OAM components that manage Ethernet virtual circuit (EVC) connectivity. End-to-end connectivity status information is critical and must be maintained on a hot standby Route Switch Processor (RSP) (a standby RSP that has the same software image as the active RSP and supports synchronization of line card, protocol, and application state information between RSPs for supported features and protocols). End-to-end connectivity status is maintained on the CE, PE, and access aggregation PE (uPE) network nodes based on information received by protocols such as CFM and 802.3ah. This status information is used to either stop traffic or switch to backup paths when an EVC is down. Metro Ethernet clients (for example, CFM and 802.3ah) maintain configuration data and dynamic data, which is learned through protocols. Every transaction involves either accessing or updating data among the various databases. If the databases are synchronized across active and standby modules, the RSPs are transparent to clients.
Cisco infrastructure provides various component application program interfaces (APIs) for clients that are helpful in maintaining a hot standby RSP. Metro Ethernet HA clients (such as, HA/ISSU, CFM HA/ISSU, 802.3ah HA/ISSU) interact with these components, update the databases, and trigger necessary events to other components.
Note |
HAor ISSU, SSO, is not supported on Cisco ASR 902 router. |
Note |
HAor ISSU, SSO, is not supported on the RSP3 module. |
Benefits of 802.3ah HA
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Elimination of network downtime for Cisco software image upgrades, resulting in higher availability
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Elimination of resource scheduling challenges associated with planned outages and late night maintenance windows
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Accelerated deployment of new services and applications and faster implementation of new features, hardware, and fixes due to the elimination of network downtime during upgrades
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Reduced operating costs due to outages while delivering higher service levels due to the elimination of network downtime during upgrades
NSF SSO Support in 802.3ah OAM
The redundancy configurations Stateful Switchover (SSO) and Nonstop Forwarding (NSF) are both supported in Ethernet OAM and are automatically enabled. A switchover from an active to a standby Route Switch Processor (RSP) occurs when the active RSP fails, is removed from the networking device, or is manually taken down for maintenance. NSF interoperates with the SSO feature to minimize network downtime following a switchover. The primary function of Cisco NSF is to continue forwarding IP packets following an RSP switchover.
For detailed information about the SSO feature, see the “Configuring Stateful Switchover” module of the High Availability Configuration Guide. For detailed information about the NSF feature, see the “Configuring Cisco Nonstop Forwarding” module of the High Availability Configuration Guide.
ISSU Support in 802.3ah OAM
Cisco In-Service Software Upgrades (ISSUs) allow you to perform a Cisco software upgrade or downgrade without disrupting packet flow. ISSU is automatically enabled in 802.3ah. OAM performs a bulk update and a runtime update of the continuity check database to the standby Route Switch Processor (RSP), including adding, deleting, or updating a row. This checkpoint data requires ISSU capability to transform messages from one release to another. All the components that perform active RSP to standby RSP updates using messages require ISSU support.
ISSU lowers the impact that planned maintenance activities have on network availability by allowing software changes while the system is in service. For detailed information about ISSU, see the “Performing an In Service Software Upgrade” module of the High Availability Configuration Guide.