MEF 7.2 Carrier Ethernet Information Model

1. “The Network Element view is concerned with the information that is required to manage a Network Element (NE).” This includes “the information required to manage the Network Element Function (NEF) and the physical aspects of the NE.”
2. “The Network view is concerned with the information representing the network, both physically and logically. It is concerned with how Network Element entities are related, topographically interconnected, and configured to provide and maintain end-to-end connectivity.”
3. “The service view is concerned with how network view aspects (such as an end-to-end path) are utilized to provide a network service, and, as such, is concerned with the requirements of a network service (e.g. availability, cost, etc.), and how these requirements are met through the use of the network, and all related customer information.”

This Specification defines a common set of managed object definitions that are consistent and readily integrated into a Carrier Ethernet Provider’s operations environment. This common management model helps ensure that vendors provide management functionality and information in their OSSs, NMSs, EMSs, and NEs in a logically consistent fashion, and allows service providers to readily integrate such capabilities into their management environment. ITU-T Recommendation M.3100, the Generic Information Model, defines three management information views:

“Objects defined for a given view may be used in others, and any object may be used by any interface which requires it.”

This Specification describes the overall Carrier Ethernet Management Information Model to identify and define the set of management information necessary to manage the Carrier Ethernet services as defined by the Metro Ethernet Forum. This Management Information Model serves as the base model that will be applied to define the information requirements for specific management interfaces (e.g., EMS-NMS, Remote Management Interface (RMI), Element-View interface, etc.). Each interface specific definition will identify its information requirements as a subset of this core model, and describe how each information element will be applied to suit the particular needs of the management interface.

The management functions supported by the information model in this Specification include: configuration management, performance management including performance monitoring and evaluation of performance, and alarm reporting and testing in fault management. This Specification does not cover all aspects of Ethernet management, only those related to the management of Carrier Ethernet services as defined by the MEF. In addition this document draws upon service requirements identified in MEF, ITU-T, and IEEE documents identified in the reference section.

In particular, this MEF Technical Specifications draws from ITU-T Q.840.1. ITU-T Q.840.1 provides a network view of Carrier Ethernet and EoT managed entities are modeled according to a protocol-neutral information modeling approach, and the Unified Modeling Language (UML) use case descriptions. Class diagrams and sequence diagrams are also provided for both the requirements and the analysis of this management interface. Many of the object classes defined in ITU-T Q.840.1 may be reapplied in defining a Management Information Model for Carrier Ethernet Services.

Beyond the information model provided in MEF 7.1, MEF 7.2 supports additional sets of service attributes defined in recent MEF Specifications. Specifically MEF 7.2 adds support for: Ethernet External Network Network Interface (ENNI) Service Attributes, UNI Tunnel Access (UTA) / Virtual User Network Interface (VUNI) Service Attributes, SOAM Service Attributes,Virtual Network Interface Device (vNID) Remote Management Interface, and Ethernet Access Services