An Overview of Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) Tools
RFC 7276

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                        T. Mizrahi
Request for Comments: 7276                                       Marvell
Category: Informational                                      N. Sprecher
ISSN: 2070-1721                             Nokia Solutions and Networks
                                                           E. Bellagamba
                                                                Ericsson
                                                           Y. Weingarten
                                                               June 2014

                             An Overview of
        Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) Tools

Abstract

   Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) is a general term
   that refers to a toolset for fault detection and isolation, and for
   performance measurement.  Over the years, various OAM tools have been
   defined for various layers in the protocol stack.

   This document summarizes some of the OAM tools defined in the IETF in
   the context of IP unicast, MPLS, MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP),
   pseudowires, and Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links
   (TRILL).  This document focuses on tools for detecting and isolating
   failures in networks and for performance monitoring.  Control and
   management aspects of OAM are outside the scope of this document.
   Network repair functions such as Fast Reroute (FRR) and protection
   switching, which are often triggered by OAM protocols, are also out
   of the scope of this document.

   The target audience of this document includes network equipment
   vendors, network operators, and standards development organizations.
   This document can be used as an index to some of the main OAM tools
   defined in the IETF.  At the end of the document, a list of the OAM
   toolsets and a list of the OAM functions are presented as a summary.

Mizrahi, et al.               Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 7276                  Overview of OAM Tools                June 2014

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7276.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Mizrahi, et al.               Informational                     [Page 2]
RFC 7276                  Overview of OAM Tools                June 2014

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................4
      1.1. Background .................................................5
      1.2. Target Audience ............................................6
      1.3. OAM-Related Work in the IETF ...............................6
      1.4. Focusing on the Data Plane .................................7
   2. Terminology .....................................................8
      2.1. Abbreviations ..............................................8
      2.2. Terminology Used in OAM Standards .........................10
           2.2.1. General Terms ......................................10
           2.2.2. Operations, Administration, and Maintenance ........10
           2.2.3. Functions, Tools, and Protocols ....................11
           2.2.4. Data Plane, Control Plane, and Management Plane ....11
           2.2.5. The Players ........................................12
           2.2.6. Proactive and On-Demand Activation .................13
           2.2.7. Connectivity Verification and Continuity Checks ....14
           2.2.8. Connection-Oriented vs. Connectionless
                  Communication ......................................15
           2.2.9. Point-to-Point vs. Point-to-Multipoint Services ....16
           2.2.10. Failures ..........................................16