Application Note

Ethernet Ring Protection Switching (ERPS)

with XMC20 for Mission-Critical Networks

XMC20 ERPS solution provides:

Sub-50 ms switch-over for Ethernet ring network Topologies
System level ERPS functionality for XMC20 chassis switch Ethernet units
Support of major/sub-ring configurations for different ring interconnection scenarios
Multiple ERP instances for the support of multiple logical ring configurations
Compliance with ITU-T G.8032v2

2015-08-31
KEYMILE 2015

Application Note
ERPS with XMC20

Abstract

ITU-T G.8032v2 overview

Mission-Critical Systems (MCS) need to operate

in highly available communications networks.
KEYMILE recognizes the changes taking place
in telecommunication technology, and which
affect the way in which MCS networks will solve
their communication needs in packet-switched
transport networks. KEYMILEs XMC20 ERPS
solution addresses the current evolution of
MCS networks, from TDM towards packetswitched Ethernet networks, and the challenges with which MCS network operators are
faced to maintain a comparable network
resiliency as the one obtained with TDM
transport networks (e.g. SDH). ERPS provides
reliable switchover traffic interruption times
within 50 ms on Ethernet networks. In addition,
XMC20 ERPS solution can be extended to a
high number of Ethernet ports with capabilities
to support multiple physical/logical ring
interconnection configurations.

ITU-T G.8032v2 (ERPS) specifies protection

switching mechanisms and a protocol for
Ethernet layer network rings. Ethernet rings can
provide wide-area multipoint connectivity more
economically due to their reduced number of
links. The mechanisms and protocol defined in
this standard allow Ethernet networks to
achieve highly reliable and stable protection;
also preventing loops, which would fatally
affect network operation and service availability.
In an Ethernet ring, without congestion, with all
Ethernet ring nodes in the idle state (i.e. no
detected failure, no active automatic or external command and receiving only NR, RB
R-APS messages), with less than 1,200 km of
ring fiber circumference and fewer than 16
Ethernet ring nodes, the switch completion for
a failure on a ring link shall be less than 50 ms.
On Ethernet rings under all other conditions,
the switch completion time may vary, to allow
time to negotiate and accommodate coexisting
APS requests. Since there are no timers
involved in the switching from idle state to
protection state of ring nodes, a very fast
switching time can be realized.
In Ethernet ring networks, a ring link is
bounded by two adjacent Ethernet ring nodes
and a port for a ring link is called a ring port.
The minimum number of Ethernet ring nodes in
an Ethernet ring is two. Loop avoidance in an
Ethernet ring is achieved by guaranteeing that
traffic may flow on all but one of the ring links.
This particular link is called the ring protection
link (RPL), and under normal conditions this ring
link is blocked, i.e., not used for service traffic.
One designated Ethernet ring node, the RPL
owner node, is responsible to block traffic at
one end of the RPL. Under an Ethernet ring
failure condition, the RPL owner node is

2015-08-31
KEYMILE 2015

Application Note
ERPS with XMC20

responsible to unblock its end of the RPL,

unless the RPL failed, allowing the RPL to be
used for traffic. The other Ethernet ring node
adjacent to the RPL, the RPL neighbor node,
may also participate in blocking or unblocking
its end of the RPL. The event of an Ethernet
ring failure results in protection switching of the
traffic. Ring Automatic Protection Switching
(R-APS) protocol is used to coordinate the
protection actions over the ring.
B

ERPS support of multiple ERP

instances
An ERP instance is an entity that is responsible
for the protection of a subset of VLANs that
transport traffic over the physical Ethernet ring.
Each ERP instance is independent of other ERP
instance that may be configured on the physical Ethernet ring.

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F

KEYMILEs ERPS solution supports revertive

and non-revertive mode operation and may be
configured differently for each ERP instance
configured in the Ethernet ring.

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Figure 2: Multiple ERP instances

Figure 1: ERPS protection mechanism

KEYMILEs ERPS solution supports multiple ERP

instances (with up to 12 ERP instances per
XMC20 Chassis Switch) for the support of per
set of VLANs ERPS, load sharing and interconnected rings.

ERPS revertive and non-revertive switching

ERPS considers revertive and non-revertive
operation. In revertive operation, after the
condition(s) causing a switch has cleared, the
traffic channel is restored to the working
transport entity, i.e. blocked on the RPL. In the
case of clearing of a defect, the traffic channel
reverts after the expiry of a WTR timer, which is
used to avoid toggling protection states in case
of intermittent defects. In non-revertive operation, the traffic channel continues to use the
RPL, if it is not failed, after a switch condition
has cleared.

Application Note
ERPS with XMC20

ERPS interconnected rings

The Ethernet rings support a multi-ring/ladder
network that consists of conjoined Ethernet
rings by one or more interconnection points,
based on the following principles:

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Major ring: A major ring constitutes a closed

ring, which is controlled by its own ERP
instance with its own RPL.

Figure 4: Multi-ring network connectivity

Note: Caution should be exercised when

deploying multiple ERPS ring interconnections
involving shared node to avoid looping of
traffic.

Sub-ring: A sub-ring is connected to a major

ring or upper sub-ring via the interconnection points and does not constitute a closed
ring. It is controlled by its own ERP instance
with its own RPL.

Additionally, ERPS can provide resilient single

node (Figure 5a) and dual-homed (Figure 5b)
connectivity to an aggregation network utilizing
any other technology (e.g. RSTP, MPLS-TP).
a)

Figure 3: Ethernet rings in multi-ring/ladder network

For larger networks, XMC20 ERPS ring interconnection features (involving major rings and
sub-rings) can be used to extend services
across a network. For example, major rings and
sub-rings can be interconnected to support
more diverse networks, as shown in Figure 4.

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Figure 5: ERPS network connectivity (single/dual-homed)

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KEYMILE 2015

Application Note
ERPS with XMC20

ERPS support of point-to-point

services

ERPS support of multipoint

services

In general, ERPS can support point-to-point

(P2P) services. This can be achieved by simply
creating a logical ring composed of two (2)
nodes and blocking the channel at both ends
of the RPL, providing greater network resource
utilization. See Figure 6.

ERPS supports multipoint (or any-to-any)

services via ERPS, as illustrated in Figure 8.
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Figure 8: Multipoint Service via ERPS

Figure 6: P2P service via ERPS (dual RPL block)

For a rooted multipoint service, a designated

root can communicate with other leaf nodes,
while leaf nodes can only communicate with
the designated root node. See Figure 9.

In addition, logical ring of two (2) nodes can be

created over a physical network containing
multiple (>2) nodes. See Figure 7.
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Figure 7: P2P Service over ERPS logical ring

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As illustrated in Figure 9, a network may

contain six nodes {A, B, C, D, E, F}; however,
only nodes {A, B} can be configured to be an
ERPS logical ring. The intermediate nodes {C,
D, F, E} are not participating in ERP and are
transparent to R-APS and CCM messages
exchanged between nodes {A, B}. These
intermediate nodes can be bridges/switches
with point-to-point VLAN cross connects or
even a separate layer (e.g. SDH).

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Figure 9: Rooted multipoint service over ERPS

It is possible to assign the root-to-leaf traffic on

a separate ERP instance from the leaf-to-root
traffic in order to support asymmetric communication required by the nodes involved in a
rooted multipoint service.

Application Note
ERPS with XMC20

KEYMILE ERPS solutions

XMC20 chassis switch Ethernet units can detect

SF condition based on physical link loss (LOS)
and optionally based on loss of continuity
(LoC), using Y.1731 OAM CCM messages. The
CCM mechanism can also detect signal degradation (even when a ring port does not detect
a link change) and link failures in the presence
of fiber media repeaters/converters, which
could be present in some networks (e.g. SDH
network rings).

XMC20 chassis switch Ethernet units

KEYMILEs ERPS solution is complemented by

the capability to transport Ethernet traffic over
SDH network rings available with its Ethernetover-SDH functionality (EoS) via the XMC20

Figure 10: XMC20 COGE5/COGE5-F/ETO12/ETO12-F

(from left to right)

chassis switch units: NUSA1/NUSA1-F.

Figure 11: XMC20 NUSA1/NUSA1-F/ETE24/SUP12

(from left to right)

KEYMILEs ERPS solution is applicable to all

XMC20 chassis switch Ethernet units (see
Figures 10 and 11). This means that any of the
Ethernet ports that are part of the chassis
switch can be enabled as an ERPS port and
each can be configured with multiple ERP
instances (up to 12 ERP instances per XMC20
chassis switch) for the configuration of ERPS
interconnected rings (major rings and/or
sub-rings).

2015-08-31
KEYMILE 2015

Application Note
ERPS with XMC20

Figure 12: Service distribution in MCS (e.g. urban rail network)

Figure 13: Service, distribution, aggregation and transport in MCS (e.g. airport environment)

Application Note
ERPS with XMC20

Glossary

Figure 14: XMC20 chassis switch

Summary
KEYMILEs ERPS solution assists in the evolution and expansion of MCS towards packetswitched transport Ethernet networks. In
addition, the ability for XMC20 to transport
ERPS via SDH networks gives a complete
freedom in the choice of transport interfaces.
KEYMILE provides a highly flexible and optimized ERPS solution available in all XMC20
chassis switch Ethernet units. This allows the
capability to construct multiple physical/logical
ring network configurations, supporting pointto-point and multipoint services with high
availability performance e.g. sub-50 ms
switchover and recovery, similar to SDH protection mechanisms and much better than other
spanning tree protocols.

2015-08-31
KEYMILE 2015

Abbreviation

Description

APS

Automatic Protection Switching

CCM

Continuity Check Message

ECST

Enhanced Configuration Software Tool

EoS

Ethernet over SDH

ERP

Ethernet Ring Protection

ERPS

Ethernet Ring Protection Switching

(ITU-T G.8032v2)

ITU-T

International Telecommunication Union

Telecommunication Standardization
Sector

LoC

Loss of Continuity

LoS

Loss of Signal

MCS

Mission-Critical System

MPLS-TP

Multiprotocol Protocol Label Switching

Transport Profile

NBI

Northbound-Schnittstelle

NMC

Network Management Center

NOC

Network Operation Center

NR

No Request

OAM

Operations, Administration &

Management

R-APS

Ring-APS

RB

RPL Blocked

RPL

Ring Protection Link

SDH

Synchrone Digitale Hierarchie

STM

Synchrones Transportmodul

UNEM

Universal Network Element

Management System

VID

VLAN-Identifier

VLAN

Virtuelles LAN

RSTP

Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol

TDM

Time-Division Multiplexing

WTR

Wait to Restore