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rfc:rfc6291

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) L. Andersson Request for Comments: 6291 Ericsson BCP: 161 H. van Helvoort Category: Best Current Practice Huawei Technologies ISSN: 2070-1721 R. Bonica

                                                      Juniper Networks
                                                          D. Romascanu
                                                                 Avaya
                                                          S. Mansfield
                                                              Ericsson
                                                             June 2011
      Guidelines for the Use of the "OAM" Acronym in the IETF

Abstract

 At first glance, the acronym "OAM" seems to be well-known and well-
 understood.  Looking at the acronym a bit more closely reveals a set
 of recurring problems that are revisited time and again.
 This document provides a definition of the acronym "OAM" (Operations,
 Administration, and Maintenance) for use in all future IETF documents
 that refer to OAM.  There are other definitions and acronyms that
 will be discussed while exploring the definition of the constituent
 parts of the "OAM" term.

Status of This Memo

 This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.
 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).  Further information on
 BCPs is available in 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/rfc6291.

Andersson, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 1] RFC 6291 OAM Terminology June 2011

Copyright Notice

 Copyright (c) 2011 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.

Table of Contents

 1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   1.1.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
 2.  Pre-Existing Uses of OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   2.1.  Uses of OAM in Other SDOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
     2.1.1.  The "O" in OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
     2.1.2.  The "A" in OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
     2.1.3.  The "M" in OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   2.2.  Uses of OAM in the IETF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
 3.  Recommendations on the Use of the "OAM" Acronym . . . . . . . . 5
 4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
 5.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
 6.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Andersson, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 2] RFC 6291 OAM Terminology June 2011

1. Introduction

 The main purpose of this document is to provide a definition of the
 acronym "OAM" (Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) for use
 in all future IETF documents that refer to OAM.
 The acronym "OAM" is frequently used in the data and
 telecommunication industry.  One would assume that something that is
 so widely used is very clearly defined.  However, a closer look
 reveals some points that need to be clarified.
 If such an important piece of our technology is so poorly defined, or
 if there are dialects of the technology with different understandings
 of such a key concept, this will eventually cause problems.
 Trying to understand the use of an acronym that is as "content-rich"
 as OAM reveals two levels of complexity.  First, each letter in the
 acronym represents an integrated piece of functionality.  Second, the
 acronym, as such, represents something that is more than just the sum
 of its parts.
 There is also the issue of how each piece of the acronym is defined.
 This document provides an analysis of what each initial of the
 initialism represents and provides possible interpretations of the
 acronym.  Finally, a recommendation for the interpretation of the
 "OAM" acronym is provided.
 Another useful document to make the "OAM" term understandable in a
 wider scope is found in "An Overview of Operations, Administration,
 and Maintenance (OAM) Mechanisms" [OAM-OVERVIEW].

1.1. Terminology

 o  "Mgmt" - Management
 o  O&M - OAM and Management
 o  OAM - Operations, Administration, and Maintenance
 o  SDO - Standards Development Organization

2. Pre-Existing Uses of OAM

 This section provides information on how OAM is used in other SDOs
 (Standards Development Organizations) and provides the background
 necessary to understand the how the term is used in the IETF.

Andersson, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 3] RFC 6291 OAM Terminology June 2011

2.1. Uses of OAM in Other SDOs

 Operations And Maintenance (OAM): A group of network management
 functions that provide network fault indication, performance
 information, and data and diagnosis functions.  ATM OAM ITU-T I.610
 [ITU-T-I.610] is an example specification that uses this expansion of
 the "OAM" acronym.
 Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM): A group of network
 management functions that provide network fault indication, fault
 localization, performance information, and data and diagnosis
 functions.  Examples where this acronym is used are Clause 57 of IEEE
 802.3-2008 [IEEE.802.3-2008] and ITU-T Y.1731 [ITU-T-Y.1731].
 The ITU-T M.3010 [ITU-T-M.3010] Recommendation defines operations
 systems function as a function block that processes information
 related to the telecommunications management for the purpose of
 monitoring/coordinating and/or controlling telecommunication
 functions including management functions (i.e., the TMN
 (Telecommunications Management Network) itself).
 The Metro Ethernet Forum refers to OAM as the tools and utilities to
 install, monitor, and troubleshoot a network, helping carriers run
 their networks more effectively MEF 17 [MEF-17].

2.1.1. The "O" in OAM

 The "O" in OAM invariably stands for "Operations".  However, there is
 some ambivalence in the definition and scope of the term "Operation".
 Examples of tools related to "operations" are performance monitoring
 tools used for service level agreement (SLA) measurement, fault
 management tools used to monitor the health of nodes and links in the
 network, and network provisioning tools.

2.1.2. The "A" in OAM

 The "A" in OAM stands for "Administration".
 Examples of "administration" tools are network discovery and planning
 tools.

Andersson, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 4] RFC 6291 OAM Terminology June 2011

2.1.3. The "M" in OAM

 The "M" in OAM stands for "Maintenance" or "Management".
 Examples of "maintenance" tools are implementations of connectivity
 check, loopback, link trace, and other tools that can be used to
 monitor and diagnose failures in a network or network element.
 The Recommendation ITU-T M.20 [ITU-T-M.20] defines maintenance as the
 whole of operations required for setting up and maintaining, within
 prescribed limits, any element involved in the setting up of a
 connection (see the ITU-T M.60 [ITU-T-M.60] Recommendation).  The
 purpose is to properly plan and program the maintenance operations
 required to establish and maintain a network.
 A major aim of the concept of maintenance is to minimize both the
 occurrence and the impact of failures and to ensure that in case of a
 failure the correct actions are taken.

2.2. Uses of OAM in the IETF

 The examples below show a number of different ways that the "OAM"
 acronym has been expanded in IETF RFCs.  The reference list is not
 exhaustive.
 o  OAM = Operations, Administration, and Maintenance in RFC 5586
    [RFC5586]
 o  OAM = Operations and Maintenance in RFC 3429 [RFC3429]
 o  OAM = Operations and Management in RFC 4377 [RFC4377]
 o  O&M = OAM and Maintenance in RFC 1812 [RFC1812]
 Sometimes there is a fourth letter added to the acronym:
 o  OAM&P = Operations, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning
    in RFC 4594 [RFC4594]

3. Recommendations on the Use of the "OAM" Acronym

 The IETF-recommended expansion of the "OAM" acronym is given below.
 In addition to the "OAM" acronym, two other recommendations are made
 in this section.
 o  OAM - Operations, Administration, and Maintenance
 o  O&M - OAM and Management

Andersson, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 5] RFC 6291 OAM Terminology June 2011

 o  "Mgmt" - Management
 The components of the "OAM" acronym (and provisioning) are defined as
 follows:
 o  Operations - Operation activities are undertaken to keep the
    network (and the services that the network provides) up and
    running.  It includes monitoring the network and finding problems.
    Ideally these problems should be found before users are affected.
 o  Administration - Administration activities involve keeping track
    of resources in the network and how they are used.  It includes
    all the bookkeeping that is necessary to track networking
    resources and the network under control.
 o  Maintenance - Maintenance activities are focused on facilitating
    repairs and upgrades -- for example, when equipment must be
    replaced, when a router needs a patch for an operating system
    image, or when a new switch is added to a network.  Maintenance
    also involves corrective and preventive measures to make the
    managed network run more effectively, e.g., adjusting device
    configuration and parameters.
 "Provisioning" is outside the scope of this document, but the
 following definition is provided for completeness.
 o  Provisioning - Provisioning activities involve configuring
    resources in the network to support the offered services.  This
    might include setting up the network so that a new customer can
    receive an Internet access service.
 In general, Provisioning is used to configure the network to provide
 new services, whereas OAM is used to keep the network in a state that
 it can support already existing services.
 Sometimes it is necessary to talk about the combination of functions
 and tools supplied by OAM and Management, it is preferred that this
 is spelled out as "OAM and Management".  In cases where an acronym is
 needed, O&M should be used.
 "Mgmt" will be used if an abbreviation for "Management" is needed.
 This document does not define Management.

4. Security Considerations

 This document provides guidance for the use of the "OAM" acronym in
 other documents.  This document does not have direct security
 implications.

Andersson, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 6] RFC 6291 OAM Terminology June 2011

 The misunderstanding of an acronym may lead to incorrect
 specification or implementation which may, in turn, open up security
 concerns with protocols or deployed networks.  Clarifying the meaning
 of OAM is, therefore, a benefit for future stability of
 specifications.

5. Acknowledgments

 The following individuals significantly contributed to this document.
 o  Malcolm Betts from M. C. Betts Consulting, Ltd.
 o  Kam Lam from Alcatel Lucent
 o  Dieter Beller from Alcatel Lucent
 o  David Harrington from Huawei Technologies
 Thanks to the experts of ITU-T SG 15 for their review and comments.

6. Informative References

 [IEEE.802.3-2008]  IEEE, "Information technology - Telecommunications
                    and information exchange between systems - Local
                    and metropolitan area networks - Specific
                    requirements - Part 3: Carrier sense multiple
                    access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) access
                    method and physical layer specifications",
                    IEEE Standard 802.3, December 2008.
 [ITU-T-I.610]      International Telecommunication Union, "B-ISDN
                    operation and maintenance principles and
                    functions", ITU-T Recommendation I.610,
                    February 1999.
 [ITU-T-M.20]       International Telecommunication Union,
                    "Maintenance philosophy for telecommunication
                    networks", ITU-T Recommendation M.20,
                    October 1992.
 [ITU-T-M.3010]     International Telecommunication Union, "Principles
                    for a telecommunications management network", ITU-
                    T Recommendation M.3010, February 2000.
 [ITU-T-M.60]       International Telecommunication Union,
                    "Maintenance terminology and definitions", ITU-
                    T Recommendation M.60, March 1993.

Andersson, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 7] RFC 6291 OAM Terminology June 2011

 [ITU-T-Y.1731]     International Telecommunication Union, "OAM
                    functions and mechanisms for Ethernet based
                    networks", ITU-T Recommendation Y.1731,
                    February 2008.
 [MEF-17]           Metro Ethernet Forum, "Service OAM Requirements &
                    Framework - Phase 1", MEF Technical Specification
                    MEF 17, April 2007.
 [OAM-OVERVIEW]     Mizrahi, T., Sprecher, N., Bellagamba, E., and Y.
                    Weingarten, "An Overview of Operations,
                    Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) Mechanisms",
                    Work in Progress, March 2011.
 [RFC1812]          Baker, F., "Requirements for IP Version 4
                    Routers", RFC 1812, June 1995.
 [RFC3429]          Ohta, H., "Assignment of the 'OAM Alert Label' for
                    Multiprotocol Label Switching Architecture (MPLS)
                    Operation and Maintenance (OAM) Functions",
                    RFC 3429, November 2002.
 [RFC4377]          Nadeau, T., Morrow, M., Swallow, G., Allan, D.,
                    and S. Matsushima, "Operations and Management
                    (OAM) Requirements for Multi-Protocol Label
                    Switched (MPLS) Networks", RFC 4377,
                    February 2006.
 [RFC4594]          Babiarz, J., Chan, K., and F. Baker,
                    "Configuration Guidelines for DiffServ Service
                    Classes", RFC 4594, August 2006.
 [RFC5586]          Bocci, M., Vigoureux, M., and S. Bryant, "MPLS
                    Generic Associated Channel", RFC 5586, June 2009.

Andersson, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 8] RFC 6291 OAM Terminology June 2011

Authors' Addresses

 Loa Andersson
 Ericsson
 EMail: loa.andersson@ericsson.com
 Huub van Helvoort
 Huawei Technologies
 EMail: huub.van.helvoort@huawei.com
 Ron Bonica
 Juniper Networks
 EMail: rbonica@juniper.net
 Dan Romascanu
 Avaya
 EMail: dromasca@avaya.com
 Scott Mansfield
 Ericsson
 EMail: scott.mansfield@ericsson.com

Andersson, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 9]

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