Problem Statement for

Management of

Synchronization Networks

Greg Dowd

Problem Statement for Management of Synchronization Networks

Synchronization for telecoms applications (e.g. sync to wireless basestations, wireline sync replacement, circuit emulation services) is a mission-critical service, in the sense that if the sync goes out of tolerance, the enabled service goes down and impacts revenue. Packet-based synchronization (e.g. PTP or NTP distributed over IP or MPLS networks) therefore requires both in-service monitoring and remote management.

Issues to be resolved : autodiscovery

Discovery of network elements containing sync functions

Options:• sync function identifies itself to a pre-programmed sync

management node on startup

• periodic multicast or broadcast query by the sync management node requesting unannounced sync functions to identify themselves

• sync masters or servers maintaining a list of their currently serviced slaves/clients for the management device to query

Issues to be resolved : discovery of on-path support

Discovery of “on-path support” elements :

• repeaters and re-timers,

• boundary clocks,

• transparent clocks

Issues to be resolved : sync information

Is there a standard set of “sync information” that each sync function must support to provide operational or performance data to a sync network manager?•what should this set contain?•should this be defined in a standard MIB for different types of sync functions?

Issues to be resolved : alarms

Is there a standard set of alarms that a sync function should be capable of generating to alert the sync network manager about issues requiring attention?•what should this set contain?

Issues to be resolved : collection of management data

Options:• through a management channel in the sync flow

(e.g. PTP management messages)• through the element management system of the

network element containing the sync function, and then northbound into the OSS

• through the element management system of the network element containing the sync function, and then northbound into a separate sync network manager

Issues to be resolved : provisioning of management nodeIf sync slaves/clients are connected over secure paths, how can the paths be provisioned to include the management node as well as the master/server functions?