General Switch Management Protocol
charter-ietf-gsmp-01

The base General Switch Management Protocol (GSMPv3) protocol has been
submitted to the IESG with the request that it become a proposed
standard. Currently the GSMP protocol provides switch configuration
control and reporting, port management, connection control, QoS and
traffic engineering control and the reporting of statistics and
asynchronous events for MPLS label switch devices, all either from or
to
a third party controller.

The working group is responsible for completing the standardization
of the GSMP protocol by responding to protocol issues that arise
during implementation of the current specifications.

Additionally, the working group is responsible for augmenting the
protocol as follows:

• Support for Optical and Other Extensions and CCAMP Features

The architecture of some optical, TDM, spatial and other switch types
makes the ability to remotely control the connection state of a switch
important. GSMP has been designed especially for such remote control
operations. GSMP is, however, currently lacking in the specific
semantics necessary for switches with some new technologies,
especially in the optical space. The WG will collect requirements and
define solutions to support optical and other new switching
technologies, compatibly with the common control and measurement
protocols WG (CCAMP) work. This work will be done in cooperation with
the other Sub IP Working groups involved in this area.

The extensions will include definition of new instances of "labels"
(for instance lambda identifiers) as needed, to support the usage
in the new technologies. They will also include definitions of port
types, of service definitions and of traffic parameters.

• Switch Partitioning

The current version of GSMP is designed to work with a static switch
partition. Recently, some regulatory environments (on multiple
continents) have mandated multi-provider access to the same physical
infrastructure. The working group will develop extensions to GSMP to
support dynamic switch portioning. This work would be to adapt GSMP to
work with multiple partitions in which resource allocation is dynamic
and variable between the switch partitions. This work would allow
network operators to dynamically open their forwarders (optical, TDM,
and other switch types) to multiple administrative domains of control.
The working group will also see what is achieved by using available
management tools, e.g. MIBs to monitor and control dynamic switch
portioning.

• Relationship to Forwarding and Control Element Separation

The WG will conduct a brief (one-meeting) analysis of the potential use
of GSMP in mechanisms that allow third party network processors in
switch architectures. The output will be an agreement of the likely
scope for a distinct WG that might be using GSMP for this purpose.