[Chapter-delegates] [Ecc-council] Statement relating to today’s ITU-T SG15 MPLS development decision

[borka at e5.ijs.si]

Hi,

I do not know what exactly  is in the ITU presentation/decision  but I
agree fully with Marcin explanation. This is most probably with OAM and 
not MPLS itself.

Maybe this is another attempt from ITU to be "specific" in Internet 
standardisation.

With regards,

Borka


On Sat, 26 Feb 2011, Marcin Cieslak wrote:

> (All: please fix bugs in my quick explanatory note if needed)
>
> On Sat, 26 Feb 2011, Christopher Wilkinson wrote:
>
>> Good evening:
>> 
>> Before taking this matter up with relevant policy makers, could we please 
>> have a definition and explanation of what is MPLS and OAM.
>
> Folks on Wikipedia say:
>
> Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a mechanism in high-performance
> telecommunications networks which directs and carries data from one
> network node to the next with the help of labels. MPLS makes it
> easy to create "virtual links" between distant nodes. It can
> encapsulate packets of various network protocols.
>
> (continued on:)
>
> https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Multiprotocol_Label_Switching
>
> -----
>
> OAM - Operations, Administration, Maintenance
>
> A collection of mechanisms and processes used
> to monitor the health of the network and to
> diagnose problems with occur within the network
>
> http://www.mpls.jp/2006/presentations/061031_09.pdf
>
> In plain speak: OAM is a way to talk to the networking equipment
> to find out how it behaves and if everything is working okay.
>
> Most pieces of the telecom infrastructure have their own OAM
> protocols (the 2006 presentation cited above compares
> those of SONET, ATM, MPLS and Carrier Ethernet).
>
> So, MPLS-OAM is the way to find out whether MPLS network
> behaves. It is not the MPLS itself, i.e. you can
> in theory run the network without the OAM, but most
> carriers are unwilling to do so.
>
> From my telecommunications experience there is a variety
> of OAM protocols, some of the are standardized (mostly
> by ITU). However, many vendors choose to use their own
> extensions/workarounds/incompatibilities which leads
> to delivery of a vendor-specific network management
> software and devices as well as related integration services.
>
> As having network management protocols in place is a must
> of the carriers, this leads to deployment of those network management tools.
>
> I have worked on a pretty large telecommunications network
> that had a separate network operations centers for different vendors' 
> equipment (like, for Siemens equipment,
> Alcatel equipment, AT&T/Lucent, etc.). So having multitude
> of management protocols is not unusual in the traditional
> telecommunicatons.
>
> That's not quite the way the Internet protocols operate.
>
> //Marcin
>
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