SDH DCN Overview and Principles Rel5

323-4061-091
SDH TRANSMISSION
Data Communications
Networks
SDH DCN Overview and Principles
Release 5 Standard May 2001
Please refer to the SDH DCN Design Web page

regarding DCN status changes occurring between
major releases of DCN documentation:
http://bbndhwww.europe.nortel.com/DCN/
The latest released documents will be available

via the SDH DCN Design Web page.
SDH TRANSMISSION
Data Communications Networks
Document Number: 323-4061-091

Document Status: Standard
Product Release Number: 5
Date: May 2001
Copyright  2001 Nortel Networks, All Rights Reserved.
Printed in England
The copyright of this document is the property of Nortel Networks. Without the written consent of Nortel Networks, given by contract
or otherwise, this document must not be copied, reprinted or reproduced in any material form, either wholly or in part, and the
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*NORTEL NETWORKS, the Nortel Networks logo, the Globemark, How the World Shares Ideas and Unified Networks are
trademarks of Nortel Networks.
Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

v
Publication history
May 2001
Standard issue

vii
Contents
About this information xiii
Audience xiii
Scope xiii
SDH DCN status changes xiv
Product references xiv
Preside Application Platform xiv
OPTera xiv
Acronyms xiv
Associated information xiv
Introduction 1-1
What is a DCN? 1-1
Why is a DCN needed? 1-1
Internal and external DCN 1-1
OSI and IP in the DCN 1-2
OSI and IP role of SDH DCN components 1-3
SDH NEs 1-4
Element Controllers 1-4
High-level managers and xterms 1-5
Routers 1-5
Example network topology 1-5
ISO 7-layer model 2-1

The OSI model 2-1
Functions of the layers 2-2
Physical layer 2-2
Data link layer 2-2
Network layer 2-3
Transport layer 2-3
Session layer 2-4
Presentation layer 2-4
Application layer 2-4
LANs and VLANs 3-1

Hubs, bridges, and switches 3-1
Hubs 3-1
Bridges and switches 3-2
Transparent bridging 3-2
Loops in a bridged/switched network 3-3
Spanning Tree algorithm 3-4
Spanning Tree terminology 3-6
Root bridge election 3-6

viii Contents
Root path determination 3-6

Breaking loops 3-6
Disadvantages of the Spanning Tree algorithm 3-7
Bridge latency 3-7
Switch latency 3-7
Bridge/switch memory issue 3-8
Ethernet 3-8
Physical implementation of Ethernet 3-9
10Base5 3-10
10Base2 3-10
10BaseT 3-10
Fast Ethernet (100BaseT) 3-11
DCE and DTE configurations 3-12
WAN links 4-1

WAN cables and connections 4-1
X.21 4-1
X.21 to G.703 modem connection 4-2
FE1/E1 modules 4-2
Introduction 4-2
Example 4-3
ISDN BRI dial services 4-4
Introduction 4-4
ISDN BRI dial backup 4-4
Example 4-4
ISDN BRI dial-on-demand 4-5
Example 4-5
Call authentication 4-7
SDH D-bytes 4-7
STM-1 SOH (Section Overhead) 4-8
OSC (Optical Service Channel) 4-8
Introduction 4-8
MOR/MOR+ 4-8
1600G amplifier 4-8
Implementation of a bidirectional OSC 4-9
OSC structure 4-11
When is OSC required? 4-11
Layer 2 WAN protocols 4-11
PPP 4-11
PPP frame format 4-12
Link initialization 4-14
Multiline PPP 4-15
Routing principles 5-1

Static routes 5-1
Dynamic routing 5-1
Routing algorithms 5-1
Distance vector protocol 5-2
Transitional routing loops 5-3
Poison reverse 5-4
Split horizon 5-5
Link state protocol 5-5
‘Shortest Path First’ algorithm 5-5
DRs (Designated Routers) 5-6
323-4061-091 Release 5 Standard

Contents ix
Metrics/costs 5-7
IP routing 6-1
IP networks, addressing, and masks 6-1
Dotted decimal notation for IP addresses 6-2
Circuitless IP interface 6-3
IP routing protocols 6-4
ARP 6-4
RIP/RIP 2 6-5
OSPF 6-6
Interfacing OSPF networks with non-OSPF networks 6-7
Redistribution 6-7
Implementing OSPF in a network 6-7
Terms 6-7
Topology considerations 6-9
A comparison between OSPF and RIP 6-11
Route preference 6-12
Static and default routes 6-13
Subnetting and supernetting - IP addressing examples 6-14
IPv4 to IPv6 transition 6-21
Changes from IPv4 6-21
Transition from IPv4 to IPv6 6-22
OSI routing 7-1

L1 and L2 OSI routing/ISs 7-2
OSI routing protocols (ES-IS, IS-IS) 7-3
ES-IS protocol 7-3
IS-IS protocol 7-4
RIB (Routing Information Base) 7-4
Establishing the FIB 7-5
Designated routers and pseudo-nodes 7-5
OSI addressing 7-6
Local format NSAP (12-byte) 7-7
DCC format NSAP 7-7
ICD format NSAP 7-8
Manual and Computed Area Addresses 7-9
Recommended addressing schemes 7-10
Example OSI configuration 7-12
CLNS/CLNP 7-14
Advanced data communications topics 8-1

OSI tunnelling 8-1
Tunnelling OSI over IP - GRE (Generic Route Encapsulation) 8-1
VRRP 8-4
Introduction 8-4
How VRRP works 8-5
Critical IP interface 8-6
HSRP 8-7
Protocol prioritization 8-7
Priority queues 8-7
Priority filters and traffic 8-9
Dequeuing 8-9
Bandwidth allocation algorithm 8-9
Strict dequeuing algorithm 8-10

x Contents
Latency 8-10
Queue size 8-11
Example SDH DCN design 9-1

Overview 9-1
SDH DCN design 9-1
SDH network analysis 9-1
SDH management domain 9-4
DCN topology 9-4
Management systems 9-5
Management area 9-5
SDH NE areas 9-6
Addressing 9-12
OSI addresses 9-12
IP addresses 9-13
Power supply type 9-18
Location definition/considerations 9-18
Generation of components list 9-19
Installation/integration information 9-20
Appendix A: Obtaining addresses 10-1

IP addresses 10-1
OSI addresses 10-2
Appendix B: Protocol references 11-1

IP 11-1
OSI 11-1
Appendix C: Recommended reading 12-1
List of terms 13-1

Terms specific to Access products: 13-1
Terms used generally within the SDH DCN: 13-3
Index 14-1
Figures
Figure 1-1 Typical example of an SDH DCN 1-3
Figure 1-2 IP and OSI network terms 1-4
Figure 1-3 Example SDH management area 1-6
Figure 1-4 Example SDH NE area 1-7
Figure 1-5 Generic SDH DCN topology 1-8
Figure 2-1 Communication through the hierarchy of the OSI seven layers 2-1
Figure 3-1 Closed loop in a bridged network 3-4
Figure 3-2 Network topology before and after implementing the Spanning
Tree algorithm 3-5
Figure 3-3 Interconnecting two stations 3-11
Figure 3-4 Interconnecting multiple stations
3-11
Figure 4-1 Master-slave modem configuration 4-2
Figure 4-2 Typical network topologies 4-3
Figure 4-3 Typical network topology - dial backup 4-4
Figure 4-4 Typical network topology - dial-on-demand 4-6
Figure 4-5 CHAP authentication 4-7

Contents xi
Figure 4-6 OSC: Management comms connections to optical elements 4-9

Figure 4-7 Parallel optical links 4-10
Figure 4-8 Single optical links 4-10
Figure 4-9 Components of PPP 4-12
Figure 4-10 PPP frame format 4-14
Figure 4-11 Link initialization phases 4-15
Figure 5-1 Link state and distance vector routing 5-2
Figure 5-2 Transitional routing loops 5-4
Figure 5-3 Pseudo-node situations 5-7
Figure 6-1 OSPF areas 6-10
Figure 6-2 Route summarization 6-12
Figure 6-3 Default and static routes 6-13
Figure 6-4 Two routers within an SDH NE area 6-15
Figure 6-5 Allocation of IP addresses 6-17
Figure 6-6 Routers within a management area 6-18
Figure 6-7 Allocation of IP addresses in a management location 6-21
Figure 7-1 SDH Management Domain/area structure 7-2
Figure 7-2 Routing Information Base 7-5
Figure 7-3 Node (DR) 7-6
Figure 7-4 OSI address structure as defined in ITU-T X.213 7-9
Figure 7-5 OSI ICD, DCC, and local formats 7-11
Figure 8-1 Tunnelling 8-2
Figure 8-2 Tunnelling to protect partitioning 8-3
Figure 8-3 Typical network topology 8-4
Figure 8-4 Network topology using VRRP 8-5
Figure 8-5 Protocol prioritization 8-8
Figure 8-6 Bandwidth allocation algorithm 8-10
Figure 8-7 Strict dequeuing algorithm 8-10
Figure 9-1 Network example 9-3
Figure 9-2 Management domain 9-4
Figure 9-3 SDH management area 9-5
Figure 9-4 SDH NE area 1 9-6
Figure 9-5 SDH NE and OPTera LH NE area 2
9-8
Figure 9-8 DCN router network design
9-17
Figure 9-9 System illustrating connectivity at location 9-19
Tables
Table 3-1 CSMA/CD frame structure 3-9
Table 3-2 Examples of physical implementations 3-10
Table 3-3 Fast Ethernet standards for Layer 1 implementations 3-12
Table 3-4 10BaseT cable types 3-13
Table 6-1 Possible address allocations 6-20
Table 9-1 Needed DCN components 9-20
Procedures
Procedure 7-1 Using ISO DCC format 7-11

xiii
About this information

Audience
The audience for this information includes the following Nortel Networks
organizations:
• PLM (Product Line Management)
• USS ION (United Sales Support, International Optical Networks) Network
Engineering
• ISG (Integrated Solutions Group)
• Commissioning engineers
• GPS (Global Product Support)
• GCC CATS (Global Customer Care, Customer Advanced Technical
Services)
Scope
In som e instances, the Nortel Netw orks line

of routers m ay be referred to as ‘Bay’ for
reasons of conciseness and product history/
identification. Such references distinguish
form er Bay Networks products from Nortel
Networks SDH products.
W here SDH networks are referred to within the

inform ation, principles m ay be applicable to
optical com ponents. Refer to SDH DCN Design
for Transm ission Products, 323-4061-100 , for
further clarification.

xiv
SDH DCN status changes
Please refer to the SDH DCN Design Web page

regarding DCN status changes occurring between
major releases of DCN documentation:
The latest released information will be available

via the SDH DCN Design Web page.
Product references
Preside Application Platform
The term ‘PAP (Preside Application Platform)’ is a direct replacement for the
entire portfolio of INM/NRM (Integrated Network Manager/Network
Resource Manager) functionality. Refer to the Release 5 handbook SDH DCN
Design for Transmission Products, 323-4061-100, for historical perspectives
of INM and NRM.
OPTera
For information regarding OPTera product rebranding, refer to
http://spc.us.nortel.com/products/optical/rebranding/index.html
Acronyms
To enhance the readability of this information, each acronym (upon first
reference in each chapter) is followed by its meaning in brackets. These
acronyms also appear in the List of Terms.
Associated information
1 SDH DCN Design for Transmission Products, 323-4061-100
2 SDH DCN Design Using Nortel Networks Routers, 323-4061-101
3 SDH DCN Design Using Cisco Routers, 323-4061-102
4 SDH DCN Design for Access Products, 323-4061-103

1
1-1
Introduction 1-
What is a DCN?
A DCN (Data Communications Network) is the set of processes, equipment,
or facilities used to transport signals from one data processing device at one
location to another data processing device at another location.
Why is a DCN needed?

An SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) network is a high-speed
transmission network consisting principally of NEs (Network Elements), the
equipment which multiplexes, cross-connects, and regenerates the traffic.
Because of the nature of transmission equipment, NEs are usually sited at
widely separated, remote locations. NE OAM&P (Operations,
Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning) functions such as alarm
monitoring, configuration, and software download are carried out by
management systems typically located at one or more centralized sites. The
number of NEs under the control of a single manager is limited, and different
managers are required for different NE types; therefore several of each type
may be required. These managers consist of the element level managers,
which are specific to an NE type, and include ECs (Element Controllers) and
OPCs (Operations Controllers), and high-level managers such as PAP
(Preside Application Platform), which was formerly known as INM
(Integrated Network Manager). See SDH DCN Design for Transmission
Products, 323-4061-100, for further information. PAP provides network-wide
configuration and monitoring functions and a single point of access to the
element managers and NEs. A DCN is needed to transport management data
between the high-level manager and the element manager platforms, and
between the element managers and NEs.
In small networks, it is possible for all managers and gateway (head-end) NEs
(that is, those NEs forming connectivity between the EC and other NEs) to be
close enough to each other to be connected by a DCN consisting of LANs
(Local Area Networks) only. However, in most networks, some NEs and
element controllers are located remotely from the other managers, and the
DCN is made up of several LANs connected by point-to-point WAN (Wide
Area Network) links.
Internal and external DCN

For design purposes, the SDH DCN can be divided into two parts: the internal
DCN and the external DCN.

1-2 Introduction
The internal DCN is the part of the DCN which uses the SDH NE
infrastructure. Management data is transported between NEs in the DCC
(Data Communications Channel), which is part of the SDH traffic overhead
or an OSC. Two DCCs are defined: the 576 kbit/s MS (Multiplex Section)
DCC, and the 192 kbit/s RS (Regenerator Section) DCC. For optical-only
elements such as optical amplifiers, when there is no other route for data
communications, an OSC (Optical Service Channel) is used.
The external DCN consists of standard data communications devices such as

routers, hubs, switches, and modems. These are needed to provide greater
bandwidth capability (such as access to 2 Mbit/s WAN links) and greater data
communications functionality (such as separation of NEs into different areas)
than can be provided by the SDH ECC (Embedded Communications
Channel).
OSI and IP in the DCN

Data communications networks rely on a set of common protocols. Protocols
are rules which allow two data-processing devices (such as an element
controller and an SDH NE) to communicate with each other. The protocol
definitions specify the physical transmission of bytes, framing, and error
checking, as well as network-level functions such as addressing and routing.
Two sets of networking protocols are used in the SDH DCN: OSI (Open
Systems Interconnect) CLNP (Connectionless-mode Network Layer
Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol). The SDH standards specify that the OSI
protocol suite is used for data communications; therefore, NE to NE
communications are OSI. (A few exceptions use IP for communications to
their NEs.) The high-level managers and xterms communicate use the IP set
of protocols. ECs usually run both IP and OSI protocol suites (that is, they
have both IP and OSI management interfaces) to communicate with both the
NEs and the high-level managers. There is no DCC through the ECs (that is,
there is no protocol translation); all OSI and IP data is terminated. A software
application, the MOA (Managed Object Agent), runs on the EC platforms to
interface the element controller to the high-level manager and allows the
manager access to information on the NEs. The IP and OSI components of the
DCN are shown in Figure 1-1.

Introduction 1-3
Figure 1-1
Typical example of an SDH DCN
1
PAP xterm xterm

PAP
xterm xterm
IP LAN/WAN
O
P
C
16 EC EC
S
D
H
D OSI LAN/WAN
C
N
1/4 1/4
16
SDH DCC
OSI and IP role of SDH DCN components

This section explains the role of the individual components—the NEs,
managers, and routers—in the SDH DCN OSI and IP networks, starting with
an explanation of the main terms and definitions.
• An IP AS (Autonomous System), or OSI routing domain is, for example,
an entire customer network.
• Since entire customer networks can be very large, they are broken down
into smaller entities (for example, by country or city) to simplify routing
and administration. In IP, these entities are networks/subnetworks; in OSI
they are areas, which can comprise a number of LAN/WAN links. Devices
within a network/subnetwork use the same physical layer (for example,
Ethernet).
• IP routers or OSI ISs (Intermediate Systems) connect networks/areas,
including those using different physical media (for example, Ethernet to
2 Mbit/s E1). They forward information and choose the best route to the
destination address. Within OSI, there are two types of routing:
L1 (Level 1) routing is used within areas, and L2 (Level 2) routing is used
between OSI areas.

1-4 Introduction
• IP hosts or OSI ESs (End Systems) are the source and destination of data
communications traffic but they cannot forward data.
In Figure 1-2, the IP term is followed by the OSI equivalent.

Figure 1-2
IP and OSI network terms
Host/ES Host/ES
Network/
Subnetwork/
Router/ Area B Router/ Host/ES
IS IS
Network/ Network/
Subnetwork/ Subnetwork/
Area A Area C
Router/ Router/
IS IS
Network/
Subnetwork/
Area D
AS (Autonomous System)/Domain
SDH NEs
Most SDH NEs are OSI ISs, since they need to pass OSI data on to adjacent
NEs. They have L1 IS routing capabilities only, so only route within OSI
areas. A few NEs or other SDH devices (for example, the ATU
[Asynchronous Telemetry Unit]), which do not need to pass on OSI data, are
ESs. Packets not addressed to the device are discarded. Most NEs have a LAN
connection to enable them to connect to an OSI LAN or to another NE.
Note: New releases of SDH and optical devices will employ L2 routing
capabilities.
Element Controllers
ECs terminate both OSI data from NEs and IP data from higher level
managers so one EC is both an OSI ES and an IP host. They have two LAN
ports to enable connection to both an OSI and an IP LAN.

Introduction 1-5
Note: OPC/POPCs (Partitioned Operations Controllers) ECs are located

in the NE subrack. OSI communication to the OPC/POPC is via the
1
backplane of the host NE.
High-level managers and xterms
High-level managers and xterms are IP hosts, and connect to IP LANs.
Routers
Routers support both OSI and IP protocols, and have WAN links to access
remote devices, as well as LAN interfaces. In addition to L1 routing
capabilities, routers provide the L2 IS routing functionality which is needed
on the 2 Mbit/s E1 links between OSI areas. They also provide IP routing
between management entities.
Example network topology

This section discusses the SDH DCN topology in more detail.
The number of OSI areas in the network depends on the number of SDH NEs,
since there is a limit of OSI devices in an area. Refer to SDH DCN Design for
Transmission Products, 323-4061-100, for further information. In large
networks, the managers are in their own OSI area, with SDH NEs allocated to
other areas. Small networks consist of one OSI area in total. An example
management area is shown in Figure 1-3. Note that the IP and OSI protocols
are separated on the LANs, but coexist on the WAN links. The management
location is duplicated to increase availability of the managers. The 2 Mbit/s
E1 links to the SDH NE area are L2 routing only, since they are between OSI
areas.

1-6 Introduction
Figure 1-3
Example SDH management area
SDH Management Location SDH Management Location
PAP xterm PAP xterm
IP LAN IP LAN
EC EC
EC EC
OSI LAN OSI LAN
E1
Router M M Router
IP/OSI
M M
E1 E1
OSI L2 and IP OSI L2 and IP
Figure 1-4 shows an OSI area containing SDH NEs and routers. The E1 links
provide connections back to the management area either directly, or via other
SDH NE OSI areas:
(a) For SDH NEs with an in-shelf EC (the TN-16Xs in this example), the
OSI communications which are carried over the DCC are localized
between the in-shelf controller and NEs, so they are not carried outside
the OSI area.
(b) The in-shelf controller uses an IP LAN connection to the router to

provide communication to the PAP that is located back in the
management area.
(c) To provide management connectivity between the NEs that use

standalone controllers (for example, TN-1X), and their standalone EC (for
example, Preside EC-1) which is located in the management site, an OSI
LAN connection between a ‘head-end’ NE and a collocated router is used.
This connection allows the NE traffic, which within the OSI area uses the
DCC, to be carried from the NE area to the management area over the
WAN/ ‘OSI Level 2 router’ infrastructure.
(d) Any links to SDH NEs in other OSI areas should have the DCC
disabled to ensure separation of the OSI areas.

Introduction 1-7
Note: All information between the PAP and NEs is terminated at the EC,
with the EC providing a translation between the PAP and NEs different
1
instruction sets. The EC can also initiate instruction to the NEs it is
managing, allowing the NE to be reconfigured.
Routers are used at two NE locations to increase network availability.
Figure 1-4
Example SDH NE area
E1 OSI (L2 only) and IP OSI (L2 only) and IP E1
(c) (b)
OSI (L1/L2) and IP

Router E1 Router
OSI IP 1X IP OSI
DCC
OPC 16X OPC
DCC
16X OSI 16X

(a)
DCC
16X
SDH NE Area
(d) DCC Disabled
4X
Figure 1-5 shows how SDH NE OSI areas such as that in Figure 1-4 are
connected together in a large network. All links shown carry both L2 OSI and
IP data. Each chain should contain no more than five SDH NE areas linked
back to the management area. The use of two links to the management areas
makes the network more resilient in the case of a network failure. The two
routers within each area should be located as far away from each other as
possible for resiliency, but DCN equipment in adjacent areas may in fact be
collocated.

1-8 Introduction
Figure 1-5
Generic SDH DCN topology
SDH Management Domain
SDH Management Area

SDH Management SDH Management
Location Location
SDH NE Area 16-20

E1 E1
SDH NE Area 11-15
E1 E1
SDH NE Area 6-10

.
E1 E1
SDH NE SDH NE
Area 1 Area 5
SDH NE SDH NE SDH NE

Area 2 Area 3 Area 4

2-1
2
ISO 7-layer model 2-
This chapter introduces the principles of data communications by describing
the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 7-layer model. It is
important to have some appreciation of the model, as it provides the context
for the material in later chapters.
The OSI model

The OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) model consists of seven layers
covering all aspects of networking. The OSI model was developed in such
form to break down the networking issues into manageable units interacting
with one another. The seven layers, from top to bottom, and the relevant
communication path are shown in Figure 2-1.
When a computer sends data, each layer receives the data from the layer
above it, adds its own information (header) and sends it down to the layer
beneath it (that is, from the application layer to the physical layer). The
opposite occurs on the receiving computer—from the physical layer to the
application layer, the data is sent from each layer to the layer above it, the
headers are removed, and the destination computer receives the data in the
same format the data was sent.
Figure 2-1
Communication through the hierarchy of the OSI seven layers
7. Application Application
6. Presentation Presentation
5. Session Session
4. Transport Transport
3. N etw ork Network
2. Data Link
1. Physical
DCN Data Link
Physical
Layers 1 to 4 (physical, data link, network, and transport) are concerned with
data transport; layers 5 to 7 (session, presentation, and application) are mainly
used by applications.
Most SDH DCN (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy Data Communications

Networks) products support protocols within the same layer (that is, layer 1 to
layer 1, layer 2 to layer 2, and layer 3 to layer 3), and they simply forward

2-2 ISO 7-layer model
data between layers 1 to 3. However, these layers can use upper layer
protocols (that is, layers 4 to 7) to communicate with management systems.
Functions of the layers

Each layer performs specific functions, even though some functions are
defined in more than one layer. SDH DCN is concerned with layers 1 to 3,
which are the network dependent layers, as their detailed operation depends
on the type of network. The functions of the layers are described in the
following sections, taking a bottom-to-top layer approach.
Physical layer
The physical layer is concerned with moving data on to, across and off the
network medium. It defines how to access the medium, which involves the
physical topology of the network, the electrical and physical aspects, the
encoding and timing of bit transmission and reception.
An example of a physical layer device is a repeater. A repeater simply

receives frames, regenerates them and passes them along, thus overcoming
the problem of longer distance networks. It does not perform any processing
with the data contained in the frames, and does not deal with addressing
issues. Therefore, repeaters are simpler and less expensive than bridges and
routers.
Repeaters can have multiple ports, in which case they are called hubs.
Therefore, hubs are also physical layer devices (see “Hubs, bridges, and
switches” on page 3-1).
Generally speaking, network components such as physical cables and

connections reside in the physical layer, as well as relevant protocols (for
example, X.21 refers to both a type of interface and corresponding interface
protocol). Refer to “X.21” on page 4-1.
Data link layer

The data link layer takes the bit stream received by the physical layer, and
divides it up into frames. The main purpose of this layer is to detect errors in
the received data, so frames include a FCS (Frame Check Sequence) field.
Recovery from errors (for example, by frame retransmission), may also be
carried out by the data link layer, or by the layers above. Frame
synchronization—the detection of where frames begin and end —is achieved
by including a known sequence of bits, often known as the 'flag' or 'preamble'.
Layer 2 protocols are concerned with communication across individual links,
rather than across networks, so addresses used at this layer are dependent on
the underlying technology.
The ISO 8802/IEEE 802 set of standards define data link protocols for
different LAN (Local Area Network) protocols, dividing them into two
sublayers: the LLC (Logical Link Control) and MAC (Media Access Control)
sublayers.

ISO 7-layer model 2-3
The LLC (ISO 8802-2) sublayer implements framing; it also manages flow
control and error correction between devices in simple networks. The LLC
sublayer also establishes and maintains a connection between devices (for
example, a workstation and a server), thus handling the network layer service
interface.
2
The MAC (ISO 8802-3) sublayer allows multiple devices to share the media
on the local network. It maintains physical device addresses for
communicating with other devices. These are referred to as MAC addresses,
which must be given to each device and must be unique.
Bridges and switches are data link layer devices, as they deal with addressing
on the local network (see “Bridges and switches” on page 3-2). In the same
section the Spanning Tree algorithm is described, which is used by bridges
and switches in order to overcome the problem of routing loops. An example
of data link layer protocol is PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol), described in
“PPP” on page 4-11.
Normally, the data link layer provides two types of link service:
connectionless, which treats each information frame as a self-contained entity
that is transferred using a best-try approach. This means that if errors are
detected in a frame, the destination computer does not notify the source
and the frame is simply discarded.
connection oriented, which endeavours to provide an error-free information

transfer facility. If the destination computer detects an error when
receiving a message, it notifies the source and asks for retransmission.
This connection-oriented service is therefore slower than the
connectionless service, but it is reliable as it guarantees a correct delivery
of the message.
Network layer
The network layer is concerned with determining the route that packets take
through a network in order to get to their destination. Routes can either be
static, or be determined dynamically by routing protocols. Since the network
layer must be able to route packets from a source host on one network
towards a destination host on another, the addressing used at this layer is
independent of the subnet technology.
Routers are devices operating at the network layer. Unlike bridges, routers
stop broadcast storms, as they only forward packets to a known address.
However, because routers process so much information, they tend to be
slower than bridges.
Transport layer
The transport layer is responsible for end-to-end delivery of data from its
source to its destination.

2-4 ISO 7-layer model
The transport layer deals with segment sequencing and error control. Segment
sequencing consists of receiving segments out of order and resequencing
them in the right order. Error control uses acknowledgements to manage the
data flow between devices. In order to overcome errors, some transport layer
protocols can require retransmission of recently sent segments.
For IP, the following transport layer protocols are commonly used:
UDP (User Datagram Protocol, defined in RFC 768): connectionless protocol
used unacknowledged data transport, with no delivery guarantees. UDP
relies on other protocols for error processing and retransmission handling.
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol, defined in RFC 793): connection

oriented protocol that provides reliable delivery of data.
Session layer
The session layer manages information exchange between computers in three
phases by establishing, managing, and terminating communication (a session)
between source and destination computers. In the first phase (establishment)
the network layer initiates the service by setting the communication rules. In
the second phase (data transfer), the computers communicate with one
another according to the rules set in the establishment phase. Finally, the
termination phase looks after the completion of the session in an orderly way.
The session layer utilizes three types of dialogue: simplex, half-duplex, and
full-duplex. Simplex dialogues allow data to flow in only one direction,
therefore information can be sent, but not responded to or even
acknowledged. Half-duplex dialogues allow data to flow in two directions,
but in only one direction at a time. Replies and acknowledgement are then
possible, but if an error is detected early on in transmission, the receiver must
wait for the sender to terminate its communication before any action can be
taken. Full-duplex dialogues allow data to flow in both directions
simultaneously. This is the most flexible and reliable type of dialogue, but it is
also the most complex and expensive.
Presentation layer
The presentation layer ensures that the data received from the application
layer is sent to the session layer in a standard format and vice versa, as
different types of computers can interpret identical data in different ways.
Therefore, when the presentation layer receives data from the application/
session layer that is not in the proper format for the session/application layer,
it converts the data into the proper format (for example, it performs a
character code translation).
Application layer
The application layer provides a consistent, neutral interface to the network
(for example, a consistent way for an application to save files to the network
file server or to a network printer). The application layer also advertises a
computer’s available resources to the rest of the network.

3-1
LANs and VLANs 3-

3
DCNs (Data Communications Networks) consist of data links which fall into
two distinct categories: LANs (Local Area Networks, or broadcast networks)
and WANs (Wide Area Networks, or point-to-point links). WAN links are
covered in detail in Chapter 4, “WAN links”. This chapter covers LANs and
VLANs.
LANs are broadcast networks—that is, any number of devices (up to a limit
depending on the technology) share the same data communications medium
(for example, a piece of coax cable, or a hub backplane). Examples of LAN
technology are Ethernet, Token Ring, and FDDI. The SDH (Synchronous
Digital Hierarchy) DCN uses only Ethernet LANs.
The introduction of more intelligent bridges and Ethernet switches allows

broadcast networks to be more flexible—several notional LANs can share the
same hardware infrastructure, and a LAN can be extended geographically
over different media. These broadcast networks are known as VLANs (Virtual
LANs).
Hubs, bridges, and switches

Hubs, bridges, and switches are devices used within non-routed networks,
which means that these devices do not make any routing decisions. Hubs are
physical layer (layer 1) devices, whereas bridges and switches are data link
layer (layer 2) devices. Bridges and switches are both implemented using the
standard IEEE 802.1d. A description follows about the function of these
devices.
Hubs
Hubs are simply multiport repeaters. A repeater is a device that regenerates
(amplifies) the data (that is, it regenerates the incoming digital signal, thus
extending the coverage of the physical LAN). On a hub, the regenerated
signal is simply forwarded out all ports except the port it was received from.
Hubs do not read the frames they receive. Note that some hubs do not
regenerate the signal but just forward it, and as such they are known as
passive hubs, whereas those that regenerate the signal are called active hubs.
All devices connected to a hub participate in the same collision domain (as
well as in the same broadcast domain), because they have to forward collision
fragments. Therefore, as the network grows in terms of both propagation
length and number of attached devices—so does the collision domain. This
problem can be greatly minimized by means of bridges and switches, as these

3-2 LANs and VLANs
devices segment the network, thus breaking collision domains into smaller
ones.
When implemented within a network, hubs (or, generally speaking, repeaters)

have to follow some specific 802.3 standard rules, such as the 5-4-3 rule. The
5-4-3 rule states that two stations on a LAN can be separated by a maximum
of 5 segments, with a maximum of 4 repeaters between them; furthermore, no
more than 3 segments may have active nodes attached to them.
Bridges and switches

Unlike hubs, bridges and switches read the frames they receive (that is, they
read the source MAC address of each frame, store it in a filter table [also
known as forwarding table] and associate the source MAC address to the
port the frame was received from). By doing this, bridges and switches get to
know the location of the devices they are attached to.
A big advantage of bridges and switches is that each interface is in its own
collision domain. This implies that the devices connected to different
interfaces belong to different collision domains. This enhances the network
performance in terms of bandwidth utilization, as the number of collisions is
greatly reduced. In fact, where a device is connected directly to a switch or
bridge, the full bandwidth of a link is available (for example, with a 10BaseT
device, the link to/from the bridge switch can operate at 10 Mbit/s), whereas
with a hub the bandwidth utilization is generally limited to 30-40% (for
example, the link can work at up to 3-4 Mbit/s with a 10BaseT device,
because of collisions).
The SDH DCN portfolio does not include any bridges; however, routers may
be configured to bridge Ethernet traffic and as such behave as bridges.
Transparent bridging
Transparent bridging is the most commonly used bridging method. Bridges
and switches use transparent bridging to connect LANs that use the same data
link protocol. This bridging method is called ‘transparent’ as it is invisible to
users. When a bridge/switch is powered up, its filter table is empty, then the
device starts to build the table up as the frames are received from the attached
devices. Once the filter table is built, when receiving a frame the layer 2 device
checks the destination address against the filter table, then it takes one of the
following actions:
• If the address is found on a different port (LAN) from the port the frame
was received from, it forwards the frame on the appropriate port;
• If the address is found on the same port (LAN) the frame was received
from, it drops the frame; this occurs because all nodes on that LAN have
already received the frame;
• If the address is not found, it floods (that is, it forwards to all ports -
LANs) the frame except for the port the frame was received from.
As unknown addresses are always flooded, so are broadcasts and multicasts.

Therefore, bridges and switches do not break up broadcast domains.
Traditionally, this issue has been addressed by using a layer 3 device (that is, a

LANs and VLANs 3-3
router; a router does not forward layer-2 broadcast traffic, as routers are
located at the boundaries of the broadcast domain). A more recent
switch-based solution is to divide a physical LAN in VLANs). Individual
nodes on the LAN can be grouped into a VLAN, which forms a single
broadcast domain. However, a router is still needed to route traffic between
VLANs.
Loops in a bridged/switched network

A physical loop in a bridged topology can cause the occurrence of a traffic
loop, and hence the corruption of the filter tables. Figure 3-1 illustrates a
simple closed loop in a bridged network, whose scenario is explained below:
3
1 After bridges A and B are initialized, host 1 sends the first frame to host
2; host 2 has not sent any frames yet.
2 Both bridge A and bridge B receive the frame (the first one from host 1),
record the source address on their filter tables thus associating host 1 to
LAN 1, then they flood the frame onto LAN 2 (as they do not know about
host 2 yet).
3 The frame sent by host 1 and flooded by bridges A and B is received not
only by host 2, but also by bridges B and A respectively, on their interfaces
on LAN 2 (dashed lines). Therefore, both bridges A and B update their
filter table, and wrongly associate host 1 to LAN 2.
4 When host 2 replies to host 1, both bridges A and B receive the frame on
their interfaces on LAN2 and look for the destination address (host 1) in
their filter table. Since their filter tables contain the incorrect association
host 1/LAN 2, both bridges A and B send the frame back out the same
interface on LAN 2.
5 The duplicate frames will circulate indefinitely within LAN 2, whereas
host 1 is now invisible from LAN 2.
An even more catastrophic issue regarding bridge/switch loops is that the first
broadcast packet will be regenerated at each bridge, causing a broadcast
storm, which will quickly cause the LAN to be congested, thus making it
unusable.
The problem of traffic loops is solved by the Spanning Tree algorithm.

3-4 LANs and VLANs
Figure 3-1
Closed loop in a bridged network
Host 1
LAN 1
Bridge A Bridge B
LAN 2
Host 2
Spanning Tree algorithm

The Spanning Tree algorithm has been developed to overcome the
closed-loop problem, and it is incorporated in the IEEE 802.1d standard.
When a physical loop exists in a network, the Spanning Tree algorithm
ensures a loop-free traffic topology by enabling a single path through the
network. This process is transparent to end users. Furthermore, in case of
bridge/switch or data path failure, the Spanning Tree algorithm provides
automatic reconfiguration of the Spanning Tree topology.
The Spanning Tree terminology is defined in terms of bridges; however, the

operation for switches is identical (with some added complexity, since most
switches are devices with more than two ports).
Figure 3-2 shows an example of network topology with physical loops before
and after the Spanning Tree algorithm is implemented. The implementation is
explained in the following section. By applying the Spanning Tree algorithm
to such a topology, traffic loops will be avoided, with no need to change the
physical topology.

LANs and VLANs 3-5
Figure 3-2
Network topology before and after implementing the Spanning Tree algorithm
Physical network topology before implementing the Spanning Tree algorithm
Bridge 1
C =10 C =10
LAN 1 LAN 2
3
C=5 C=5
Bridge 5 Bridge 4
C=5 C=5
C=10 D
Bridge 3
C=10 C=10
Bridge 2
C=5 C=5
LAN 5
LAN 3 LAN 4
Logical network topology after having implemented the Spanning Tree algorithm
Bridge 1 RPC=0
C =10 C =10
D D
LAN 1 LAN 2
R R
C=5 C=5
Bridge 5 RPC=5 Bridge 4 RPC=5
C=5 R C=5
B C=10 D
R Bridge 3 RPC=10
C=10 RPC=10 C=10
Bridge 2
B LAN 5
C =5 C =5
D D B = ports in blocking mode
C = cost
D = designated port
LAN 3 LAN 4 R = root port
RPC = root-path cost
The number of each bridge represents its priority value.

3-6 LANs and VLANs
Spanning Tree terminology

• Root bridge: bridge/switch at the root of the spanning tree
• Designated bridge: the bridge or switch port that provides the least-cost
path to the root bridge
• Root port: bridge/ switch port that leads to the root bridge
• Designated port: bridge/switch port that connects to the LAN away from
the root bridge
• Path cost: cost of transmitting via a bridge/switch port
• Root path cost: cost of the path to the root bridge
Root bridge election

At startup of the Spanning Tree algorithm, all bridges/switches start
multicasting a periodic BPDU (Bridge Protocol Data Unit) containing the
bridge priority and the MAC address (Media Access Control address) of the
bridge, in order to claim to be the root bridge. The bridge priority is an
assigned value, and it is the primary factor in the election of the root bridge.
Therefore, it is a network designer’s important task to assign the appropriate
bridge priority values in such a way that the root bridge is central and not
peripheral to the network.
When a bridge receives a BPDU from another bridge with lower priority, it
stops sending BPDUs. At the end of the election process, only the root bridge
will keep on sending BPDUs. Therefore, the bridge with the lowest priority
will be elected as the root bridge. In case of more than one bridge having the
same lowest priority value, the bridge with the lowest MAC address will be
elected as the root bridge.
Root path determination

Once the root bridge is elected, all other bridges determine the minimum cost
path to the root bridge, based on the root cost field contained in the BPDUs
received on all bridge interfaces. The interface receiving the lowest overall
cost to the root bridge will be the root port (that is, the port that leads to the
root bridge).
Breaking loops
Once the root bridge is elected and the root path is determined on each bridge,
the Spanning Tree algorithm will break loops by causing bridges to block
redundant ports.
On each LAN, a bridge is selected as the ‘designated bridge’, which is the

bridge with the lowest cost path to the root bridge. The designated bridge for
a LAN is responsible for accepting traffic from that LAN, and forwarding to
the root bridge. The designated bridge is the only bridge that forwards
BPDUs on that LAN. The port used by the designated bridge for a LAN to
receive frames from that LAN is called ‘designated port’.
Once the Spanning Tree algorithm has converged, there will be a single active
path between any two stations, so that a loop-free environment will be
provided. Non-designated bridges are blocked (bridges 3 and 5 in

LANs and VLANs 3-7
Figure 3-2), but continue to receive BPDUs so that the Spanning Tree status
can be monitored. In this way an automatic reconfiguration of the Spanning
Tree topology is ensured in case of any type of failure.
Disadvantages of the Spanning Tree algorithm

The bridges in blocking (or standby) mode are not used, and therefore spare
bandwidth on redundant links is not used. This has a much reduced impact on
switches, as only some ports will usually be in blocking mode.
The traffic always flows from the source toward the root, then backs out to the
destination. This is not necessarily the optimum path. For example, in
3
Figure 3-2 the optimum path between LANs 1 and 5 would be through
bridge 5 only. However, since bridge 5 is in blocking mode after the
implementation of the Spanning Tree algorithm, frames between LANs 1 and
5 will have to go through both bridges 1 and 4.
The Spanning Tree algorithm can take some time to converge in large
networks. This issue mainly affects switches.
Bridge latency
When a bridge receives a frame, it reads it into the device before it is
processed, and then it either forwards or filters or floods it. A device of this
type is called a store-and-forward device.
The time interval between the last bit arriving at the device and the first bit
leaving it is referred to as latency. The lower the latency, the more powerful
the device, as less total delay is introduced in the frame transmission. The
total delay introduced by a bridge is given by the sum of the input
serialization delay, the output serialization delay, and the latency of the
device.
Switch latency
Two types of switches are defined according to the way they deal with the
frame once they receive it: store-and-forward and cut-through switches.
A store-and-forward switch operates identically to a store-and-forward bridge

(that is, it sends/filters the frame after the whole frame is received, therefore it
is characterized by the same type of latency as for a bridge).
A cut-through switch operates differently in that on receipt of a frame, it reads

the destination address and compares it to its filter table, then it immediately
makes its filter/send decision, before the remainder of the frame is read.
Therefore, as it starts forwarding the frame before the last bit is arrived, a
cut-through switch is characterized by a negative latency value, which
decreases the total delay value.
Although cut-through switches offer better performance than

store-and-forward switches, they introduce the following issues:
• Cut-through switches are typically more expensive than store-and-forward
switches.

3-8 LANs and VLANs
• Unlike store-and-forward switches, cut-through switches only work when

the input and output ports operate at the same speed.
• When a network is busy, cut-through switches have to store and forward
the frames, thus nulling their advantage with respect to store-and-forward
switches.
Bridge/switch memory issue

Other than the bridge/switch latency, another important performance
parameter is the bridge/switch memory.
In bridged/switched networks, most traffic goes through the bridge/

switch.When ‘bursty’ LAN traffic occurs, a bridge/switch is likely to need to
buffer the incoming frames. Therefore buffer capacity is an important issue.
In fact, when the memory is full, most bridges/switches discard arriving
frames, thus triggering higher-level protocols to retransmit lost frames.
Furthermore, by 802.1d default setting, frames that remain in the buffer for
more than one second are discarded, so they also need to be retransmitted.
Ethernet
Technical and office environments widely use CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense
Multiple Access with Collision Detection) bus networks, better known as
Ethernet networks. An Ethernet resides at layer 1 (physical connections) and
layer 2 (routing within a LAN) of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnect)
model.
LAN implementations must follow the rule that a maximum of 1024 devices
can participate in a LAN.
When two or more devices interfere with one another (i.e., in an attempt to
transmit data onto the network), a collision occurs. As a result, transmission is
slowed down. In order to reduce collisions within LANs, the MAC sublayer
uses CSMA/CD for access to the physical medium. Table 3-1 displays the
CSMA/CD frame structure. A CSMA/CD device ‘senses’ the network before
transmitting data. If no other devices are transmitting, the device sends the
data. However, if two or more devices, after having verified that no other
devices are transmitting, send data at the same time, a collision occurs. In this
case, the devices detect the collision and send an alert to the other nodes that a
collision has occurred. All nodes then stop transmitting, and send the data
after a random period of time, according to a Backoff algorithm. Thus,
CSMA/CD does not stop collisions from happening, but reduces them, and
can handle the situations when collisions occur.
The nature of a conventional CSMA/CD LAN means that as the number of

CSMA/CD devices and the amount (and frequency) of information
transmission increases, the likelihood of collisions also increases. These
collisions reduce the effective throughput of the LAN, and can, under extreme
circumstances (i.e., when too many devices are connected to a LAN), cause
the LAN to be unusable. It is generally accepted that for operational
efficiency, on LANs with more than three or four devices connected, traffic

LANs and VLANs 3-9
levels should be limited to between 30% and 40% of the LAN bandwidth
(i.e., between 3 and 4 Mbit/s on a standard Ethernet network).
Ethernet switches limit the number of CSMA/CD stations physically

connected to a LAN segment to two (the host device and the switch), and thus
allow higher data rates to be achieved. Each connection on the switch is,
essentially, a full duplex link operating at full bandwidth (10 Mbit/s for
10BaseT; 100 Mbit/s for Fast Ethernet [100BaseT]).
Table 3-1
CSMA/CD frame structure
3
Preamble 7 bytes
Start Of Frame (SOF) delimiter 1 byte
Destination address 6 bytes
Source address 6 bytes
Length Indicator 2 bytes
Data
46 - 1500 bytes
Pad (optional) (to ensure minimum data size)

Frame Check Sequence (FCS) 4 bytes
Physical implementation of Ethernet

ISO 8802-3 specifies several different physical layers, with an ‘ISO 8802-3
physical-layer name’, such as ‘10Base5’. The naming convention includes
three components:
• the LAN speed in Mbit/s
• the signalling method (‘Base’ = Baseband or ‘Broad’ = broadband)
• the LAN segment length in 100-metre multiples
Note: When only two 10BaseT devices need interconnection, this can be
created using a direct connection. Cable type will depend upon the type of
devices being connected. Refer to “DCE and DTE configurations” on page
3-12.
Table 3-2 displays examples of physical implementations.

3-10 LANs and VLANs
Table 3-2
Examples of physical implementations
Data Signalling Maximum Segment Media Topology
rate Method Length (m)
(Mbit/s)
10BaseT 10 baseband 100 UTP wire star
10Base5 10 baseband 500 50-Ohm coax bus
(thick)
10Base2 10 baseband 185 50-Ohm coax bus
(thin)
Note: HF = half duplex, FD = full duplex, UTP = unshielded twisted pair.
10Base5
10Base5, also known as thick-wire Ethernet, is a legacy implementation,
and is supported in the SDH DCN for older NEs (Network Elements) such as
the TN-1X. Devices which use 10Base5 have an AUI (Attachment Unit
Interface) port—a 15-way D-type with a locking collar. A cable (known as the
drop cable) runs from the AUI port to a transceiver which is clamped onto
the coaxial LAN cable. Alternatively, a number of devices could be connected
via drop-cables to a hub, sometimes known as a fan-out unit.
Where 10Base5 devices are incorporated into 10BaseT networks, a

specialized transceiver is used, with an AUI interface on the device side and a
10BaseT interface presented as an RJ-45 socket on the network side.
10Base2
10Base2, also known as thin-wire Ethernet, uses thinner core coaxial cable
and BNC connectors. It is not used in the SDH DCN because of its poor noise
immunity.
10BaseT
The main advantage of 10BaseT over its predecessors is that the media used
is CAT5 UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) cable, which is cheaper and much
easier to manage. The network infrastructure consists of hubs, switches or a
combination of both, with devices usually connected using RJ-45 to RJ-45
cables (there are some exceptions in the SDH DCN. Refer to SDH DCN
Design for Transmission Products, 323-4061-100).

LANs and VLANs 3-11
Figure 3-3
Interconnecting two stations
Equipment with built-in

10BaseT Transceiver
(e.g., ATU)
10BaseT Cables
AUI to 10BaseT Transceiver
3
AUI Interface
Equipment with AUI

Port (e.g., TN-1X)
Figure 3-4
Interconnecting multiple stations
Equipment with built-in

10BaseT hub
10BaseT Transceiver
(e.g. ATU)
10BaseT hub RJ45-RJ45

10BaseT Cables
AUI to 10BaseT Transceiver
Dupont-RJ45
10BaseT Cables
AUI interface
Equipment with built-in Equipment with
10BaseT Transceiver AUI Interface
(e.g., OPC) (e.g., TN-1X)
Fast Ethernet (100BaseT)

Fast Ethernet is a LAN technology developed in order to obtain an order of
magnitude with respect to 10BaseT Ethernet (that is,
100 Mbit/s), with the minimum impact on existing networking technology
(that is, aiming to maintain the same wiring system, MAC method, and frame
formats). A fast Ethernet is therefore also referred to as 100BaseT.

3-12 LANs and VLANs
In practice, the major problem for fast Ethernet is how to achieve a speed of
100 Mbit/s over 100 m of unshielded twisted pair cable, as for 10BaseT. To
overcome the inherent difficulties, three standards are utilized to implement
Layer 1, as shown in Table 3-3:
Table 3-3
Fast Ethernet standards for Layer 1 implementations
Characteristics 100BaseTX 100BaseFX 100BaseT4
Cable/number of Category 5 UTP 62.5/125 micron Category 3, 4, or

pairs or strands or Type 1 and 2 multimode fibre/2 5 UTP/4
STP/2
Connector RJ-45 Duplex SC RJ-45

media-interface
connector (MIC)
ST
Maximum segment 100 m 400 m 100 m

length
Maximum network 200 m with a 400 m 200 m

diameter maximum of 2
hubs
DCE and DTE configurations

The acronyms DCE (Data Circuit Terminating Equipment and DTE (Data
Terminal Equipment) derive from the EIA (Electronic Industries Association)
data standards and are used to differentiate between one end of a link and the
other. The terms are also applied to equipment attached to a LAN and are
used interchangeably with MDI (Media Dependant Interface) and MDI-X
(Media Dependant Interface Crossed).
A host or a router without a hub is referred to as a DTE (MDI) and a hub or

switch as a DCE (MDI-X). Thus a host or a router without a hub is usually
connected to a hub or switch using a standard (straight) RJ45-RJ45 LAN
cable. A host is connected to another host or a router without a hub using a
crossover RJ45-RJ45 LAN cable.
A crossover cable can also used to connect a hub to a hub in order to cascade
them. On most hubs this is not necessary, as there is normally one port which
is switchable between MDI and MDI-X, in which case a straight cable can be

LANs and VLANs 3-13
used between a standard MDI-X port on one hub, and a port switched to MDI
on the other. Table 3-4 summarizes.
Table 3-4
10BaseT cable types
Interconnected ports 10BaseT cable type
DCE to DCE crossed
DCE to DTE straight 3

DTE to DCE straight
DTE to DTE crossed
Refer to SDH DCN Design Using Nortel Networks Routers, 323-4061-101,

Appendix B ‘Wiring for connectors and cables’, for pinouts for these cables.
end of chapter

4-1
WAN links 4-
Routers in the SDH DCN (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy Data
Communications Networks) are normally connected by WAN (Wide Area
Network) links, which, in contrast to LANs (Local Area Networks), are
point-to-point—that is, two devices are connected together, often over a long
4
distance. There are several types of WAN interface in the SDH DCN—routers
use X.21, E1, and ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), while NEs
(Network Elements) use the ECC (Embedded Communications Channel).
Data carried over WAN links is carried in frames.
WAN cables and connections

WANs are networks which provide connectivity between LANs or individual
devices that are at different physical locations. In the SDH DCN these are
router-to-router links. WAN links are serial, point-to-point links rather than
the broadcast media used in LANs. They use existing telecoms connections: 2
Mbit/s (E1) lines leased from PSTNs (Public Switched Telephone Networks),
or switched ISDN lines. To connect to E1 systems, routers must have either
an E1 interface or connect from a serial interface to a modem. Note that when
routers are collocated, they still use back-to-back serial connections.
The following are examples of WAN connections. These are explained in

detail in this section.
• router serial port to high-speed modem over line system to modem to serial
port
• router serial port direct to local router serial port over back-to-back cable
• router E1/FE1 port over line system to E1/FE1 port
• router E1/FE1 port to local E1/FE1 port via back-to-back cable
• router E1/FE1 port over line system to high-speed modem to serial port
• router ISDN BRI (Basic Rate Interface) port over ISDN switched network
to ISDN BRI port
X.21
The X.21 standard interface has been defined for interfacing a DTE (Data
Terminal Equipment) to a DCE (Data Circuit Terminating Equipment, for
example, a modem) of a public data network. The X.21 interface is also used
as the termination interface for digital leased circuits of n x 64 kbit/s. As the

4-2 WAN links
X.21 standard interface is concerned with the physical media, it resides at

layer 1 of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) model (physical layer).
X.21 to G.703 modem connection

In the SDH DCN it is usually necessary to connect the serial ports of routers
over 2 Mbit/s WAN links in SDH networks, often as leased lines. For this type
of link, a G.703 modem can be used to connect to an X.21 serial port of a
router, over a 2 Mbit/s line. The modem links could have either:
• a serial port at each end (in which case a pair of modems is required) or
• a router E1 interface at one end and a serial port at the other, in which case
only one modem is required on the serial port end.
The modem supplies the clock signal to the router. The modem is therefore
DCE and the router is DTE; this is true at both ends of the connection. One of
the modems supplies the clock to the other over the leased line. One is
therefore required to be set up as ‘Master’ and the other as ‘Slave’, as shown
in the serial port to serial port example in Figure 4-1.
Figure 4-1
Master-slave modem configuration
Master Slave
Router Modem Leased line Modem Router
DTE DCE DCE DTE
For an E1 to serial port link using only one modem, the modem must be set
for master clock.
FE1/E1 modules
Introduction
These modules provide a G.703 2048 kbit/s interface for access routers,
which eliminates the need for external X.21 to G.703 high-speed modems for
WAN links. These WAN links could connect a network operator’s router over
PTT (Post, Telephone, and Telegraph) leased lines or over spare 2 Mbit/s
channels in the network operator’s infrastructure. These modules are physical
devices; therefore they reside at layer 1 of the OSI model.
Each module can be configured to provide either an unframed E1 or a

fractionalized FE1 interface.

WAN links 4-3
Unframed E1 interfaces can be used to replace existing X.21/modem WAN

links since they offer full 2048 kbit/s capacity. Support will also be provided
for WAN links with a high-speed modem on one end and a router with an E1
module at the other. Unframed E1 interfaces connect directly to 2 Mbit/s
tributaries on point-to-point connections between devices (see Figure 4-2).
The option to operate in fractionalized FE1 mode allows an individual

64 kbit/s channel, or an aggregated number of 64 kbit/s channels
(or n x 64 kbit/s), to be used if full E1 capacity is not required or not available.
Individual channels are not accessible, the aggregated capacity being
identified with a single IP (Internet Protocol) address at each end for example.
Note that FE1 mode cannot be used if a high-speed modem is used at one end
of the WAN link. Fractionalized FE1 interfaces would connect to the 2 Mbit/s
ports of Access products such as UE3000.
4
Both E1 and FE1 interfaces are subject to existing serial link guidelines (for
example, PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) WAN protocol with its associated
LQM/LQR [Link Quality Monitoring/Link Quality Reporting]).
The FE1/E1 interface is presented as a 120 Ohm RJ45 socket for each of the
three types of router. Conversion to 75 Ohm is achieved by means of an
external adaptor, known as a balun, which provides TX and RX BNC
connectors.
Example
Figure 4-2 shows an example of high-level topologies and the supported
interoperability options for the FE1/E1 interfaces on the various routers.
Figure 4-2
Typical network topologies
E1 or FE1 E1 or FE1
Router Router
75 or 120 Ohm
75 or 120 Ohm
2 M line system
E1 only E1 X.21
Router Modem Router
75 or 120 Ohm 75 or
2 M line system 120 Ohm
Note: Unframed E1 interfaces connect directly to 2 Mbit/s tributaries on

point-to-point connections between devices.

4-4 WAN links
ISDN BRI dial services

Introduction
Nortel Networks routers configured with ISDN interfaces provide the facility
for WAN connections which are used only as required, making a
cost-effective alternative to permanent connections. The ISDN BRI provides
2 x 64 kbit/s B channels (bearer channels) in addition to the 16 kbit/s
D channel, which is used for call setup.
Compared to modem connections over the PSTN, ISDN provides faster call
setup, a more reliable service, and higher data rates. The applications covered
in this section are dial backup and dial-on-demand services. In addition,
Nortel Networks routers support bandwidth-on-demand, where B channels
are dynamically aggregated into a single circuit to provide greater bandwidth
when required.
ISDN BRI dial backup

ISDN BRI provides dial backup of a point-to-point WAN connection with a
64 kbit/s digital link which is activated when the primary line fails.
Advantages over traditional dial connections include faster call setup and a
reliable, end-to-end digital service.
Example
Figure 4-3 shows a typical network topology for dial backup.
Figure 4-3
Typical network topology - dial backup
WAN link, primary circuit
S21 S21
ISDN ISDN
Master Slave
64 kbit/s backup circuit
IS D N
The serial WAN circuit (S21), running PPP, is the permanent circuit which is
backed up by the dial-up ISDN connection. BOFL (Breath of Life) packets
are enabled on this link; this is the only time BOFL packets are enabled on a
PPP line. The BOFLs are used to detect whether the primary circuit is up or
down. When failure of the circuit is detected, a call is set up across the ISDN
network. To avoid call collisions, the router designated as master always calls
the slave router. The ISDN line automatically inherits the upper layer
protocols from the primary circuit; this includes cost/metric values.

WAN links 4-5
Dial backup will be of limited use in routers connected in ring configurations,

since this topology allows redirection of routing traffic around the ring in the
event of a link failure. Dial backup is more likely to be of use in spur ISDN
BRI dial-on-demand.
ISDN BRI dial-on-demand

Where only occasional use of a WAN link is required (for example, when a
remote xterm or element controller site with NEs needs to be accessed), an
ISDN dial-on-demand connection may be a cheaper solution than a leased
link. In the basic form of dial-on-demand, the connection is initiated when
there is data to send, and is brought down when the inactivity timer expires.
Unlike ISDN dial backup circuits, either router can initiate a call to bring up
the link.
Note: Only demand circuits supporting IP—not IP/OSI— are considered 4

in this section. EC-1 sends a ‘keep-alive’ every 8 seconds to its NEs, so an
ISDN dial-on-demand circuit supporting this type of OSI link would not
be suitable.
Example
Figure 4-4 shows a typical network topology for dial-on-demand.

4-6 WAN links
Figure 4-4
Typical network topology - dial-on-demand
NE
NELAN
P reside EC
xterm E C -1 IP L A N
Central Site 192.1 68.1.5 192.1 68.1.6
ASBR (Autonomous
Rem ote Site
System Boundary Router)
router IS D N router
S tatic ro ute to rem o te L A N , D e fa u lt ro u te to e .g . 0 .0 .0 .0

n e xt h o p 1 9 2 .1 6 8 .1 .6 n e xt h o p 1 9 2 .1 6 8 .1 .5
D ia l-on -dem an d circuit,
IP only (no routing)
Collision Master Collision Slave
SDH DCN
One of the main considerations when configuring a dial-on-demand circuit is

that any data, including routing traffic, will bring up the link. Routing
protocols are therefore not configured on the link; static routes are used
instead. In Figure 4-4, the router at the remote site needs a default route to
enable it to reach the rest of the network. The router at the central site needs
static routes to reach any LANs/circuitless IPs configured at the remote site.
To ensure that other routers in the SDH DCN can reach the remote LAN, the
router at the central site must advertise its static route to the rest of the
network. In an OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) network this is done by
designating the router an ‘ASBR’ (Autonomous System Boundary Router).
For more information on static routes, refer to SDH DCN Design Using
Nortel Networks Routers, 323-4061-101, Chapter 3, ‘Basic router
configuration with BCC and Site Manager’.
One router is configured as the collision master, and one as the collision slave.
This master/slave relationship operates only if both routers try to initiate a call
at the same time, in which case the slave backs down. Normally whichever
router has data to send will initiate the ISDN call.

WAN links 4-7
Call authentication
For dial services, it is important to authenticate calls made to the router. PPP
supports CHAP (Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol, which is
performed during link setup) before any data is sent. The calling router sends
its own local CHAP name and secret. The called router is configured with a
caller resolution table which contains the CHAP name and secret for each
circuit. When an incoming call is received, it uses the caller resolution table to
verify the caller. In ISDN dial-on-demand, either router may initiate a call, so
both routers must be configured with a local CHAP name and secret for
outgoing calls and a caller resolution table to look up incoming calls. In ISDN
dial backup, the master router always calls the slave—therefore the master is
configured with an outgoing phone number and CHAP parameters, and the
slave is configured with a caller resolution table.
Figure 4-5 illustrates the CHAP information that must be configured when 4
either router can initiate a call.
Figure 4-5
CHAP authentication
Router A ISDN Router B ISDN

S en t in o utgo in g calls
CHA P local nam e: Router_A CHA P local nam e: Router_B
C HA P secret: w est C HA P secret: east
C aller R esolution Table

C aller R esolution Table
L oo k-u p fo r inco m ing ca lls C H A P Local S ecret
C H A P Local S ecret
N am e
N am e
R outer_A w est
R outer_B east
SDH D-bytes
As defined in ITU-T G.784, bytes D1 to D3 and D4 to D12 provide two
transparent management channels operating at 192 kbit/s and 576 kbit/s
respectively. These channels are referred to as DCCs (Data Communication
Channels).
Standards define that D1 to D3 is accessible by both regenerator and

multiplexer equipment, with D4 to D12 being accessed only by multiplexers.
Nortel Networks equipment, however, does not strictly follow these rules.

4-8 WAN links
STM-1 SOH (Section Overhead)
A1 A1 A1 A2 A2 A2 J0 Regenerator
B1 E1 F1 Section
D1 D2 D3 Overhead (RSOH)
AU Pointer(s)
B2 B2 B2 K1 K2
D4 D5 D6 Multiplex
D7 D8 D9 Section
D10 D11 D12 Overhead (MSOH)
S1 Z1 Z1 Z2 Z2 M1 E2
OSC (Optical Service Channel)

Introduction
For optical-only elements (such as optical amplifiers), data communications
to the elements must be carried separately from the data to be amplified. This
is because the STM-N frames (with their RSOH [Regenerator Section
Overhead] and MSOH [Multiplex Section Overhead]) are not accessible
when a remote optical-only element cannot be connected to a collocated SDH
NE. Figure 4-6 illustrates the problem.
The MOR (Multiwavelength Optical Repeater) and 1600G amplifier provides

these data communications over an OSC.
MOR/MOR+
Inherent within the MOR/MOR+ with OSC card is a unidirectional OSC
supported on a 1510 nm wavelength. The 1510 nm OSC is transmitted in the
same direction as the RED direction of the MOR/MOR+ (wavelengths
1547-1560 nm).
Note: An MOR/MOR+ without an OSC card is also available.
Additionally, an OSC card can be provisioned with the MOR/MOR+ to

support another unidirectional OSC using a 1625 nm wavelength. This
1625 nm OSC when used is transmitted in the BLUE direction of the MOR
(wavelengths 1530-1542 nm).
1600G amplifier
The 1600G amplifier configuration differs slightly from the MOR/ MOR+
configuration, as both OSC wavelengths are proposed on a single dedicated
OSC card NOT as part of the 1600G amplifier itself. A single OSC card
provides both a 1550 nm and a 1625 nm OSC channels.

WAN links 4-9
Figure 4-6
OSC: Management comms connections to optical elements
No Problem Central Site can also receive Management

information from the collocated SDH NEs.
DCC DCC
SDH NE SDH NE SDH NE
Management information
ifrom
NE
d collocated SDH
4
No electrical DCN link to this NE
The Problem
DCC DCC
SDH NE SDH NE
Management information
fromi collocated
d SDH NE
Implementation of a bidirectional OSC

To allow communications to pass between the two elements, a bidirectional
data communications link is required. Depending on the physical network
transmission network, this can be implemented via (1) parallel optical links or
(2) single optical links.

4-10 WAN links
Figure 4-7
Parallel optical links
Physical
P MOR
of i i icards
forms a OSC
ii
DCC DCC
SDH NE SDH NE
1510nm OSC + Bi-directional (Red & Blue) Traffic Wavelengths
Bi-directional (Red & Blue) Traffic Wavelengths
In systems with two parallel collocated MOR systems, the two unidirectional
1510 nm OSCs provided by the MORs can be configured as a single
bidirectional OSC. The positioning of the MORs in the subracks define the
pairing of the 1510 nm OSCs.
Note 1: With the 1600G amplifiers a similar configuration can be deployed

using the dedicated OSC cards using 1550 nm and 1625 nm wavelengths.
Note 2: With MOR+ and 1600G systems, at the line amplifier sites the
equipment is configured using two amplifiers, which in some
configurations require use of two OSC cards for the 1600G solution.
Figure 4-8
Single optical links
P h y si cal P o siti o n ing

o f M O R an d O S C car d s O O O
fo r m s a O S C p air in g . S S S
C C C
C C C C
D CC D CC
SDH NE SDH NE
C O SC C o up ler B i- d ire ctio n al ( Re d & B lu e) T raff ic W av ele n g ths
1 5 1 0 n m O S C + Bi-d i rect io nal (R ed & Bl u e) T ra ffic W av elen g th s B i- d ire ctio n al ( Re d & B lu e) T raff ic W av ele n g ths
an d b o t h 1 5 1 0 n m & 1 6 2 5 n m O S C
1625nm OSC

WAN links 4-11
In networks with a single MOR system, provision of the 1625 nm OSC card
in the appropriate slot in the subrack defines the 1510 nm and 1625 nm
unidirectional channels as a bidirectional OSC. The additional optical
coupling introduces additional losses which may affect the optical power
budgets.
In MOR+ and 1600G systems, at the line amplifier sites the equipment is
configured using two amplifiers, which in some configurations require use of
two OSC cards.
OSC structure
The OSC is a proprietary interface with a proprietary bit rate and frame with a
maximum information bit rate of 4.86 Mbit/s. This includes:
• section data communications channel of 576 kbit/s, that supports the OSI
management communications
4
• wayside channel: 2.112 Mbit/s - in the future, this channel could be used
to carry a DS-1 or E-1 channel
• local orderwire, express orderwire, data channel (E1, E2, F1 bytes) -
192 kbit/s (some of these channels are reserved for future use only, so are
not presently implemented).
• proprietary message bytes - 160 kbit/s. Presently used by Power Optimiser
software.
When is OSC required?

An OSC is required when no other data communications routed is available to
a MOR element (for example, a MOR line amplifier). Post- and
pre-amplifiers are located with other equipment, providing other possible data
communications routes.
Note: Use of optional features such as Power Optimiser may require

implementation of a bidirectional OSC, even though for data
communications reasons it is not required.
Layer 2 WAN protocols

PPP
PPP is a Layer 2 encapsulation protocol which provides transport between
devices over point-to-point links. PPP thus provides remote node-to-network
or router-to-router connections over telephone lines and modems, ISDN, and
high-speed links. PPP is capable of operating across any DTE/DCE interface,
and does not impose any restrictions concerning transmission rate other than
those imposed by the particular DTE/DCE interface in use. The only absolute
requirement imposed by PPP is the provision of a duplex circuit, either
dedicated or switched. This duplex circuit must be capable of operating in
either a synchronous or asynchronous mode, transparent to PPP link-layer
frames. PPP provides three main functions:
• link management
• network layer connection and management

4-12 WAN links
• multi-protocol encapsulation.
PPP consists of two components—LCP (Link Control Protocol) and NCP

(Network Control Protocol):
1 LCP opens, configures, and terminates the line. Once the circuit is opened,
LCP runs in the background until the line is terminated. Other functions
supported by LCP are:
— authentication, using either PAP (Password Authentication Protocol)
or CHAP
— link integrity, using LQM
Without PAP, CHAP, or LQM enabled, there will be only LCP traffic on
the line when the link is started or terminated. By default, each of these
options is disabled. If LCP does not run successfully, NCP cannot run.
2 NCP opens, configures, and closes network layer protocol communication.
Figure 4-9 illustrates the components of the PPP related to the OSI model.
The figure shows that PPP encompasses both the physical and the data link
layers.
Figure 4-9
Components of PPP
Network Network
Data Link NCP
Data Link
Physical LCP Physical
ROUTER ROUTER
PPP frame format

The fields of the PPP frame are defined as follows. Figure 4-10 illustrates the
PPP frame format.
• Flag - A single byte that indicates the beginning or end of the PPP frame.
It consists of the binary sequence 01111110 (hex 7E).

WAN links 4-13
• Address - A single byte containing the binary sequence 11111111 (hex

FF— that is, the standard broadcast address). See Chapter 6, “IP routing”
for more information. PPP does not assign individual station addresses.
• Control - A single byte containing the binary sequence 00000011 (hex 03),
which is equivalent to UI (unnumbered information—that is, transmission
of user data in an unsequenced frame) or connectionless service.
• Information - This field is divided into two parts:
— Protocol - Two bytes identifying the type of data being transported:
– 0xxx indicates that the information field contains network layer
protocol data
– 8xxx indicates that the information field contains NCP data
– Cxxx indicates that the information field contains LCP data. 4
The most up-to-date values of the protocol field are specified in the
most recent Assigned Numbers Request for Comments (RFC).
— Data - Zero or more bytes containing the datagram for the protocol
specified in the protocol field (LCP, NCP, or network layer protocol).
The default maximum length of the information field is 1500 bytes.
However, by prior agreement, consenting PPP implementations allow
for a different maximum length value.
• FCS (Frame Check Sequence) - Normally 2 bytes used to verify the
integrity of the frame. It must be configured to agree end-to-end. By prior
agreement, consenting PPP implementations can use a 4-byte FCS for
improved error detection.

4-14 WAN links
Figure 4-10
PPP frame format
Flag Address Control Information FCS Flag

(7E) (FF) (03) (7E)
protocol data
Identifies data portion as LCP, NCP

or network layer information:
Cxxx = LCP
8xxx = NCP
0xxx = network layer
Link initialization
PPP is initialized using both LCP and NCP. Figure 4-11 shows the link
initialization phases. Five phases are defined:
1 dead phase - Determines the physical readiness of the circuit. This is the
phase a PPP circuit begins and ends its life with. As the physical layer is
initiated, the circuit moves into the establish phase.
2 establish phase - Initiates LCP and negotiates the data link layer
parameters. When Configure Ack is received on both ends, the circuit
moves into the authenticate phase.
3 authenticate phase (optional) - Authenticates each end of the circuit using
PAP or CHAP. The circuit moves to the network phase only when
authentication is successful. In case of unsuccessful authentication, the
circuit goes to the termination phase.
Note: The authentication phase is optional on a dedicated PPP line, but is
required on dial services using PPP.
4 network phase - Activates any supported network layer protocols using the
appropriate NCP. Once an NCP is opened, the PPP circuit transports data
across the circuit.
Note: During the IPCP (Internet Protocol Control Protocol) Configure
Request, the IP address of each router is exchanged (supported by NCP).
5 terminate phase - Terminates the PPP circuit. The terminate phase can be
caused by physical failure, circuit-quality failure, configuration rejection,
or authentication failure. The network administrator can also disable the
circuit for diagnostic purposes. LCP uses Terminate Request packets to
end the circuit and notifies the appropriate NCPs that the circuit is
terminating.

WAN links 4-15
Figure 4-11
Link initialization phases
Router Router
dead phase
establish phase
send Config Request receive Config Request
receive Config Ack send Config Ack
receive Config Request
send Config Ack
send Config Request
receive Config Ack
4
authenticate phase (optional)
LCP is up
network phase
send IPCP Config Request receive IPCP Config Request
receive IPCP Config Ack send IPCP Config Ack
receive IPCP Config Request send IPCP Config Request
send IPCP Config Ack receive IPCP Config Ack
IPCP (NCP) is up
data exchange data exchange
terminate phase
send Terminate Request receive Terminate Request
receive Terminate Ack send Terminate Ack
receive Terminate Request send Terminate Request
send Terminate Ack receive Terminate Ack
Multiline PPP
Multiline PPP is a proprietary feature of BayRS to aggregate the bandwidth of
two or more WAN links (to a maximum of 16) into one logical link. The
maximum bandwidth available on WAN links between routers in the SDH
DCN is 2 Mbit/s, or 5 Mbit/s where the routers are physically close to each
other. While this is generally adequate, it is sometimes necessary to increase
the bandwidth-for example, when linking routers which support fast Ethernet
(100BaseT) LANs.
Any point-to-point interface can participate in a Multiline PPP link—the

physical media and clockrates of the individual interfaces do not have to
match, nor do they have to be on the same interface module or slot.
When a Multiline PPP link is in operation between routers, packets are

transmitted over participating interfaces according to an algorithm which
takes the relative bandwidths of each interface into consideration. For this

4-16 WAN links
reason, it is important that the bandwidth value for each interface is correctly
identified—if the interface is clocked externally, the default bandwidth setting
is 64 kbit/s, so this should be changed if necessary to reflect the correct
bandwidth. The algorithm which handles the distribution of the packets
between interfaces is configurable—it can be set to distribute based either on
destination address (which is the default setting) or randomly.
One further advantage of Multiline PPP circuits is that they introduce a higher
level of resilience—if any of the interfaces in the Multiline PPP circuit fails,
the link remains active so long as one of the interfaces is operational. As
interfaces on different modules (and in the case of stacked ASNs [Access
StackNodes], different routers) can be joined into a single Multiline PPP
circuit, it is particularly useful to construct such circuits from interfaces
distributed over a number of modules, as this significantly increases link
resilience.
end of chapter

5-1
Routing principles 5-
This information details the methods employed to implement Layer 3 of the
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 7-layer model—the
network layer. It covers the various techniques used to establish and maintain
routes through a DCN (Data Communications Network).
Static routes
Initially, when data networks evolved beyond single LANs (Local Area
Networks), and routers were used to link networks together, devices 5
communicated with each other over fixed paths which were calculated by the
network administrator. These fixed paths were implemented by configuring
static routes on each router on the path. In networks of limited size and
complexity, where the traffic was relatively predictable and restricted, routing
strategies which rely entirely on static routes are adequate.
However, this method of routing has fundamental flaws inherent in the fact
that the routes are static, and must therefore be changed manually when the
network changes, whether the change is planned (for example, when a new
router is added to the network) or unplanned (for example, when a fault
causes a link to fail, or indeed when such a fault is cleared).
Dynamic routing
As the size and complexity of routed networks grew, algorithms were
developed to calculate routes dynamically. These algorithms are capable of
responding to changes in the network topology, and re-calculate routes
without reconfiguration of routers and, more importantly, without interruption
of service.
Whilst dynamic routing algorithms have evolved to be extremely powerful

and efficient, occasions remain when it is more efficient to use them in
conjunction with static routes.
Routing algorithms
Routing algorithms initialize and maintain routing tables, which contain
routing information useful for the process of path determination of the packets.
The information is routed according to the routing algorithm used. Routing
algorithms must have several features:
• Optimality. Capability to select the best route.

5-2 Routing principles
• Low overhead. A routing algorithm must work efficiently with the

minimum possible overhead.
• Robustness. Ability to perform correctly in unforeseen circumstances.
• Rapid convergence. Fast process of agreement on an optimal route by all
routers.
• Flexibility. Capability to adapt quickly and accurately to a variety of
network circumstances (that is, a link failure).
Distance vector protocol

With distance vector technology (based on Bellman-Ford algorithms), a
complete picture of the network is exchanged between neighbouring routers
only. Thus a topology change requires some local computing before an
updated network picture (routing table) can be sent out.
Routing tables are exchanged at the initialization of each router and every
30 seconds thereafter. With all routing elements in the network performing
similar calculations, it can be some time before all elements have an identical
picture (convergence) and several exchanges of topology may occur. The
slowness of convergence that characterizes the distance vector algorithms
causes them to be prone to routing loops, which have the undesired effect of
slowing down the network traffic.
Figure 5-1 displays link state and distance vector routing.

Figure 5-1
Link state and distance vector routing
A B A B
D istance Vectors
R outer E receives
R ecalculated
R o u ter E se nd s
d ista nce vecto rs E E d ista nce vecto rs
to its n e ig hb o u rs
from its neighbours
C D Table of distance ve ctors

(R outing table)
C D
D istance vector routing
A B A
B
R outer E receives R outer E sends

link state packets E E a link state packet
from its neighbours to its neighbours
Link S tate D ataba se
C D D
C
D ijkstra’s algorithm
Link state routing
R outing table

Transitional routing loops

Routing loops are inherent problems with distance vector algorithms such as
RIP (Routing Internet Protocol); see “RIP/RIP 2” on page 6-5. Figure 5-2
illustrates how a routing loop can occur:
• Routers A, B and C send updates to one another about their routes. For
example, router A sends to router B an update that network 1 is one hop
away (through the appropriate interface). Router B will therefore know that
network 1 is two hops away (through the appropriate interface). Router C
will then learn from router B that network 1 is three hops away (through
the appropriate interface), etc.
• The connection to network 1 goes down. Router A will eventually know
that network 1 is unreachable (equivalent to 16 hops for RIP), and will
advertise to routers B and C about this change. However, it might happen
that router A will receive an update from router B (stating that it is two
hops away from network 1) after the network 1 failure, but before sending
the relevant update to router B (that is, network 1 is 16 hops away). Router
A will therefore believe that network 1 can be reached at a lower cost via
router B, and will place a new route in its tables pointing back to router B
(that is, if network 1 is two hops away from router B, router A will believe
5
that network 1 is three hops away, though the interface is linked to router
B).
• When either router A or router B receives a packet for network 1, they will
route it back and forth until the packet is dropped because it reaches its
TTL (Time-To-Live) expiration. Therefore, the user will not receive that
packet, and will believe that there is no connection or that the connection
is broken.
Poison reverse and split horizon are two methods utilized by distance vector
routing protocols in order to limit the occurrence of loops.

Figure 5-2
Transitional routing loops
Network 1 Network 2 Network 3 Network 4
1) Router A Router B Router C
Network-Hops Network-Hops Network-Hops

N1-1 N1-2 N1-3
N2-1 N2-1 N2-2
N3-2 N3-1 N3-1
N4-3 N4-2 N4-1
Network 1 Network 2 Network 3 Network 4
2) X Router A Router B Router C
N1-16 (Unreachable, RIP) N1-2
Network 1 Network 2 N1-2 Network 3 Network 4
3) X Router A Router B Router C
N1-3
Poison reverse
Poison reverse speeds up the convergence of the routing tables of the network
by reducing the possibility of routing loops between adjacent nodes.
Poison reverse works as follows: When a routing algorithm learns some

networks through an interface configured with poison reverse, then it
advertises those networks out of the same interface with a cost of infinity
(16 hops for RIP).
The principle of poison reverse (referring to Figure 5-2) states that when
router B learns about a network 1 from router A through a certain interface,
router B cannot be closer (in terms of hops) than router A to the network 1,
through that interface.
The routing loop of Figure 5-2 between routers A and B will not occur if the
interfaces are configured with poison reverse, because router B, after having
learnt from router A (in the first update) that network 1 is two hops away

(through the interface linked to Router A), will advertise router A back out
the same interface that network 1 is unreachable. Therefore, if network 1 fails,
both router A and router B will advertise each other that network 1 is
unreachable through those interfaces.
Split horizon
Whereas poison reverse has the intrinsic disadvantage of using bandwidth to
advertise unreachable networks, split horizon attempts to solve this problem.
When an interface is configured with split horizon, the distance vector

algorithm will simply not advertise networks learnt through a certain interface
back out that same interface. This will result in routing updates of reduced
size, which implies less bandwidth utilization. Referring to Figure 5-2, when
router B learns about a network 1 from router A through a certain interface, it
will simply not advertise router A about network 1 back out that interface. In
the case of network 1 failure, the routing loop between routers A and B
cannot occur because router A will update router B that network 1 is
unreachable, but it will not receive any update through that interface.
Link state protocol

5
In link state technology (based on Dijkstra’s ‘Shortest Path First’ algorithm)
when a routing element detects a topology change, it floods the network (not
just its neighbours) about adjacent routing elements. This update is not a
network view but a local picture (that is, each router sends only the portion of
the routing table that describes the state of its own links). It is able to
disseminate this information immediately after a topology change, for it
requires no local computing. Routing tables are built up in all routers from the
receipt of these updates. Note that routers on a LAN do not flood each other
but instead send updates only to the DR (Designated Router). The DR then
floods these updates to the rest of the network.
While distance vector technology is slow because after an update, a routing

table requires computing and is sent in entirety but only to neighbours, link
state technology is fast and scalable because updates require no computing. It
contains only neighbours information (link state updates) and are sent
network wide. As link state algorithms converge more quickly, they are less
susceptible to routing loops than distance vector algorithms.
The link state protocols used for IP (Internet Protocol) and OSI (Open
Systems Interconnect) routing are discussed in the relevant sections. These
protocols are OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) for IP routing and IS-IS
(Intermediate System-Intermediate System) for OSI routing.
‘Shortest Path First’ algorithm

When an SPF (Shortest Path First) routing process is started, it sends and
listens for ‘hello packets’ on all the interfaces which are configured for the
protocol. This handshaking protocol allows the routing process to compile a
list of neighbours, or adjacencies. These packets continue to be transmitted at
regular intervals to indicate to adjacent routers that the router and routing
process are still operational.

After completing the list of adjacent routers, it sends (multicasts) a packet

containing information about each of the links to its neighbours to every other
peer router in the routing domain. This packet is called an LSP (Link State
Packet) or an LSA (Link State Advertisement), and the process of distributing
these packets is called flooding.
If two or more routers are present on a LAN, a DR and a Backup DR are

elected based on the router priority, which is configurable. In the event of a
tie, the router with the lowest MAC address (Media Access Control address)
wins; refer to the following section, “DRs (designated routers)”. The
designated router is responsible for generating LSAs or LSPs on behalf of all
the routers on the LAN. This mechanism significantly reduces traffic,
processor load on routers which are not DR, and the amount of memory
required to store routing information.
Each router sends an LSA periodically, and also whenever there is a change in
status to any of its links to neighbours. Therefore, failed routers can be
detected quickly by a comparison between established adjacencies and link
states, and the network topology can be modified accordingly. From the
topological database generated by LSAs, each router calculates its
shortest-path tree, with itself as root.
DRs (Designated Routers)

Link state routing protocols such as OSPF and IS-IS have an inherent
problem when a number of routers exist on the same LAN—see
“Pseudo-node situations” on page 5-7. The solution is for a router to be
elected as a proxy for all the routers on the LAN—this is known as a DR. The
DR creates a dummy routing entity, (known as a pseudo-node in IS-IS) with
which all routers on the LAN form an adjacency. There are no other
adjacencies formed on the LAN. Thus, routers on a LAN will have only one
link on the LAN, rather than one for each of the other routers on the LAN.
This means that the number of links on a LAN with n routers is reduced from
n * (n - 1) to n * 2.

Figure 5-3
Pseudo-node situations
Situation without a Pseudo-node:

Every node has an adjacency with every
other node. As more nodes are added to
the LAN the number of adjacencies rises
dramatically. This would place a heavy
load on the routing process.
Situation with a Pseudo-node:

Every node has an adjacency with the
pseudo-node. The number of adjacencies
now becomes linear with respect to the
number of nodes on the LAN. This makes
the routing process much more simple.
5
Metrics/costs
Routing algorithms use routing tables in order to select the best route for
packets from source to destination. Routing tables contain information about
the possible routes between any of the devices within a network. Routing
algorithms utilize metrics to determine the best route.
Routing metrics are also referred to as routing costs. On the other hand, the
cost of a path can be regarded as one of the metrics. Generally speaking, a
metric is a standard of measurement which is used by routing algorithms in
order to determine the optimal path to a destination. There are several common
metrics, which depend upon the routing algorithm used. More sophisticated
routing algorithms base their route selection on multiple metrics, combining
them in a single (hybrid) metric. Metrics used by routing algorithms follow:
• Path length is the most common routing metric, sometimes simply
referred to as cost. In simple algorithms (such as RIP), the path length is
simply given by number of intermediate passes through internetworking
devices, that packets need to take from source to destination (hop count).
However, some routing protocols allow the user to set a cost to each
network link (i.e, a cost of two or more can be given to one physical
interface). On the other hand, increasing interface cost parameters causes
the maximum distance vector to be reached sooner.
• Reliability is based on several physical factors (to which numerical values
are assigned), which express the reliability of a network link, appointed by
network administrators. In fact, network links can go down and can be

repaired reasonably quickly. Therefore, this metric expresses the

dependability of each network link, usually described in terms of bit-error
rate.
• Bandwidth refers to the available traffic capacity of a link. For example,
if all other metrics are equal, a 2 Mbit/s link is preferable to a 64 kbit/s one.
However, this does not necessarily mean that the link with higher capacity
can guarantee higher speed of transmission. In fact, if the link with higher
capacity is very busy, it can happen that the packets are delivered more
quickly through the link with lower capacity.
• Delay is given by the amount of time required to deliver a packet from
source to destination through the internetwork. The delay is a common and
useful metric, as it depends on several important factors (that is, the
bandwidth of intermediate network links, the queues at the ports of the
routers, the network congestion on the network links, and the physical
distance between source and destination).
• Load represents the level at which a network resource, such as a router, is
busy. It is calculated according to different criteria, among which are CPU
utilization and packets processed per second. It must be taken into account
that monitoring these parameters on a continual basis can be
resource-intensive itself.
• Communication cost represents the real cost for transmitting information
(that is, the operating expenditures). For example, some companies would
use their own lines rather than the public ones (which cost in terms of usage
time), even though their own links can be slower.
end of chapter

6-1
IP routing 6-
IP networks, addressing, and masks
This section briefly explains the concepts of IP (Internet Protocol, version 4)
addressing and uses examples from DCN (Data Communications Networks)
to illustrate.
• Every interface within an IP system must have a unique IP address (four
bytes expressed in decimal and separated by dots [for example,
192.168.12.43]). For more information on this notation, see “Dotted
decimal notation for IP addresses” on page 6-2.
• The IP addresses available for the system are divided into networks and
further subdivided into subnetworks.
• Devices must be grouped together such that they are directly connected 6
only to other devices with IP addresses conforming to the same
subnetwork addresses.
• There are two groups of networks: public and private networks.
— Public networks are those networks which can be connected to the
Internet; therefore they are accessible from any device outside that
network, as long as this device is also connected to the Internet.
— Private networks are isolated from the outside world; therefore they
cannot be connected to the Internet, and as such they are not accessible
by any device that does not belong to the same network. Well-defined
ranges of addresses are reserved for private networks.
– One of the address ranges available for private networks is
192.168.x.y (x = 0 to 255, y = 0 to 255, which is the decimal
representation of an 8-bit binary number); ‘x’ is the part of the IP
address which is available for the network address. For example,
192.168.1.0, 192.168.2.0, and 192.168.3.0 are three different
network addresses. Every device or interface connected to
network 192.168.1.0 must have an IP address that is 192.168.1.y,
where ‘y’ is the part of the IP address which is available for both
the subnetworks and the host ID (identifier).
• The subnetwork mask identifies the number of bits allocated to the host ID
and the number allocated to the subnetwork.
• When subnetting a network, two subnets are not available: those identified
by all ones (used as a broadcast address), and all zeros (reserved by
convention as it is used to identify the network).

6-2 IP routing
• As for subnets, host addresses of all ones (broadcast) and all zeros (by
convention) are not available.
• The network designer will decide how many bits define the subnetwork
and how many define the host ID, according to the actual and possible
future network architecture.
It is important to note that the original distinction of addresses between

classes A, B, and C did not allow the network designer to vary the length of
the subnetwork mask once an IP address was assigned. In fact, classes A, B,
and C defined a rigid scheme for assigning the number of bits which identify
the networks, and those which identify the host ID, regardless of the network
designer’s needs. For its intrinsic limits, the notation for classes A, B, and C is
no longer used.
The next section of this information shows the bit significance of the dotted
decimal notation.
Dotted decimal notation for IP addresses

An IP address is 32 bits long. To aid memory of this string of digits, the
address is split into 4 groups of 8 bits each. These are represented by a
decimal number between 0 and 255 for ease of display. The decimal number
has no other significance.
The decimal number represented by the eight bits can be determined by

looking up the decimal value of each bit and then simply adding them up:
• 00000001 is represented by 1
Example: 10010001
• Total 145
An IP address contains a 32-bit address field and a 32-bit subnet mask. The
mask defines which part of the address is a network address and which is a
device address. The mask thus allows a router to decide whether the address
of the packet is destined for one of the subnets to which it is connected. For
example:

IP routing 6-3
An address of 47.9.64.172 has a mask of 255.255.240.0; the mask is

AND’ed with the address:
Address of packet is:
00101111.00001001.01000000.10101100
Mask is:
11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000
This means that the network part of the address is:
00101111.00001001.01000000.00000000
The device part of the address is:
00000000.00000000.00000000.10101100
occupying the last 12 bits.
CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) addresses represent masks in a

different way. A CIDR address is defined by a starting address and a mask
which defines the size of the address allocation. For example:
An allocation of addresses in the range 196.0.16.0 to 196.0.31.255 can be

represented by:
196.0.16.0/20 (see note)
where the 20 is a mask of 20 contiguous 1 bits.
6
Start address is:
11000100.00000000.00010000.00000000
End address is:
11000100.00000000.00011111.11111111
And the mask is:
11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000
The last 12 bits are available to the user to use as subnet address and device
address.
Note: This notation is conventional for CIDR addresses. However, the
method in which an IP address is configured can vary according to the
router where it is performed. For example, the IP address notation
196.0.16.0/20 can be used to configure a Cisco router, whereas Nortel
Networks routers require the full notation 196.0.16.0 with the subnetwork
mask 255.255.240.0. There is no substantial difference between these two
methods.
Circuitless IP interface
A circuitless IP interface is a virtual interface that exists in software only. The
special property of this interface is that it always exists and is therefore always
included in the routing tables. Ethernet and serial interfaces cease to exist if a
connector falls out, or if the device at the other end of the cable fails for any
reason. The interface then shuts down and is removed from the routing tables.

6-4 IP routing
Note that circuitless IP is a Bay term; Cisco uses the term ‘loopback’ for these
interfaces. Having an interface that always exists within a router is very useful
for the following reasons:
1 If a tunnel is set up between two router interfaces and one of the interfaces
fails, the tunnel fails. However, when the tunnel is set up between two
circuitless IP interfaces, if the normal route fails, the tunnel is re-routed if
another route exists and does not fail.
2 If during a Telnet session on a router the interface to which the session is
connected goes down, then the session is lost. Another connection via the
IP address of an alternative interface must be made. If Telnet sessions are
set up to connect to the router using the circuitless IP interface, then loss
of one interface is not a problem, providing the router has at least one
working IP interface.
3 Other interfaces can be referenced to the circuitless IP interface. This is
known as an unnumbered interface. This applies only to point-to-point
interfaces (that is, not an Ethernet port). This reduces the number of IP
addresses needed.
Note: It is more difficult to find faults in a network with an unnumbered
link, and topologies from some network management systems are easier to
follow with unnumbered serial links. For this reason, SDH DCN Release 6
issues templates with all serial links numbered. The use of unnumbered
links is still permissible where sufficient IP addressing space is not
available.
4 The circuitless IP interface identifies a router for OSPF (Open Shortest

Path First), tunnelling and management.
IP routing protocols
The primary function of IP, which resides at the network layer (3) of the OSI
(Open Systems Interconnect) model, is to receive data from the higher layer
protocols (TCP [Transmission Control Protocol] or UDP [User Datagram
Protocol] layers) on a source host, create a datagram and route the datagram
through a network to a destination host. Secondary functions of IP include
fragmentation and reassembly of the datagram, and packet lifetime control.
The most important IP routing protocols are explained in the following
sections.
ARP
ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) is used to map IP addresses to LAN
(Local Area Network) hardware addresses. When a host wishes to send a
packet to a host on another network, it sends the packet to its gateway for
forwarding. It can also do the same for a packet destined for a host within the
same network but it leads to excessively high traffic levels, especially if a
large number of hosts are on the LAN. Therefore, in order to reduce the traffic
on a LAN, a node uses ARP with another node when it determines that the
destination address is on a directly attached network. The node can determine
if the host is local by comparing the network portion of its own IP address
(including the subnet) with the target address.

IP routing 6-5
Therefore, in order to avoid using the gateway, the originating host needs to
determine the destination host’s local data link layer address. It achieves this
by sending out an ARP request message containing its own IP address and
data link layer address, and the IP address of the destination host. This
message is sent via the gateway. The destination host then responds with an
ARP reply message containing its own data link layer address and uses the
originating host’s data link layer address as the destination address. Thus the
reply does not need to go via the gateway. The originating host and
destination host store the learned network and data link layer address pairing
in their ARP caches for future use, thus avoiding the use of the gateway
altogether. The rest of the hosts on the LAN build up similar caches, thus
reducing LAN traffic.
RIP/RIP 2
RIP (Routing Internet Protocol) is a distance vector protocol, based on
Bellman-Ford algorithm. RIP uses hop count as its only metric, therefore it
makes its routing decisions based solely on distance, measured in hops
(factors such as congestion, line speed, and cost are not taken into account for
the choice of the best path). RIP is used to perform routing within single
areas, and as such is an IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol); EGPs (Exterior
Gateway Protocols) route packets between different areas.
RIP sends routing updates at regular intervals every 30 seconds and also when
network topology changes occur. The latter type of updates is sent
6
independently of the former one (that is, the normally scheduled updates).
When a router receives the update of a network change, it updates its own
routing table, and increases the metric value for the path by one, indicating
the sender as the next hop. Only the best route (the one with the lowest
metric) is maintained by the RIP routers.
RIP assigns a hop-count value (typically 1) to each hop in a path from source
to destination. RIP allows a maximum of 15 hops by default; setting a limit to
the number of hops prevents routing loops from continuing indefinitely. A
network which is 16 hops far from the source is considered unreachable.
Some implementations may allow the use of extended RIP (up to 127 hops) in
the network topology. However, extended RIP is not recommended, as it will
cause a significant increase in network convergence time.
In order to adjust for rapid network topology changes, RIP specifies features
that are common to many routing protocols, such as poison reverse (see
“Poison reverse” on page 5-4) and split horizon (see “Split horizon” on page
5-5), which reduce the occurrence of transitional routing loops, thus reducing
the network convergence time.
RIP is defined in the document Request For Comments (RFC) 1058, where
the first implementation of RIP is described.
RIP 2 specification differs from RIP in that it allows more information to be

included in RIP packets and provides a simple authentication mechanism.
RIP 2 specification is described in Request For Comments (RFC) 1723.

6-6 IP routing
OSPF
OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) is an open protocol, as defined in Request
For Comments (RFC) 1247. It is based on the Dijkstra’s ‘Shortest Path First’
algorithm, which is a link state routing mechanism (see “Link state protocol”
on page 5-5).
This summary of OSPF is not intended to be anything beyond an introduction

and a list of topics for further reading. Unlike RIP, it is not a ‘plug and play’
protocol. It is complex and requires considerable network planning before
implementation. It is essential that network designers and implementers have
a comprehensive understanding of the routing protocol before attempting to
use it.
OSPF is an advanced protocol which converges more quickly after topology

changes but has higher system overheads than RIP. It was developed because
in the 1980s RIP was increasingly unsuitable for large networks with many
routers.
OSPF is designed specifically for use on larger networks, providing several

features to reduce the amount of traffic and processing overhead associated
with the routing protocol. Amongst these features are the ability to segment a
large network into a number of areas, and route summarization, a technique
which greatly reduces the volume of route advertisement traffic where the
addressing scheme is hierarchical.
The manner in which a network is segmented into areas is governed by strict

rules. There is a core area—known as the backbone area—which is area
0.0.0.0, sometimes referred to as area 0. All other areas are connected directly
to the backbone area, or, where this is not possible, connected indirectly using
a ‘virtual link’ or tunnel. See Figure 6-1.
The topology of each OSPF area is invisible to entities outside the area. This
area partitioning system speeds up routing, because all packets with
destinations within an area are contained within that area; packets destined for
another area are sent to the backbone area for redirection. For the SDH DCN,
which is usually constructed using a ring topology and does not lend itself to
this hub/spoke design, OSPF is implemented using only the backbone area.
The only exception to this is for access networks— for further information,
refer to SDH DCN Design for Access Products, 323-4061-103.
The rules for area use within OSPF networks contrast with the way areas are
implemented in OSI in the following ways:
• There is no requirement for a backbone area within OSI.

• The border between OSI areas is between routers (that is, a OSI router can
only reside in one area), whereas the border between OSPF areas runs
through a router (that is, an OSPF router may be in more than one area).

IP routing 6-7
Interfacing OSPF networks with non-OSPF networks

The DCN design does not support running other IP routing protocols within
the OSPF network. However, there are SDH applications where RIP or RIP 2
is the only protocol available and these networks must be able to send to and
receive packets from the OSPF network.
There are two ways in which this can be done:

1 static routes (see Figure 6-3) and
2 redistribution.
Redistribution
Redistribution gives visibility of both networks using dynamic routing. Routes
from one area to subnets in the other are costed within limitations. There is no
easy way for RIP to interpret OSPF metrics and vice versa.
• The boundary router advertises all OSPF routes into the RIP network with
a cost of one hop.
• Redistributing RIP routes into the OSPF network is more complex.
To a router within the OSPF network, networks in the RIP network within
one hop of the boundary router have the same cost as the cost of reaching
the boundary router. To a router within the OSPF network, networks in the
RIP network beyond one hop of the boundary router have a cost equal to
the number of hops required in the RIP network. The cost to reach the
6
boundary router within the OSPF area is considered to be zero.
How this is implemented varies between router manufacturers.
A router (boundary router) must always be used as the interface between the
two networks. There may be more than one router performing this role.
Implementing OSPF in a network

This section covers issues that the implementer of an OSPF network needs to
be aware of. The configuration of the router is covered in SDH DCN Design
Using Nortel Networks Routers, 323-4061-101, Chapter 3, ‘Basic router
configuration using BCC and Site Manager’.
Terms
Some terms associated with OSPF are:
• Costs Routes have a cost associated with them. The higher the cost the less
favourable the route. With RIP the costs of routes is a simple hop count to
a limit of 15. Routes of 16 hops and over are unreachable in RIP terms.
OSPF has a number of metrics which are converted with algorithm into a
cost.
• Policy filters This parameter only applies when an OSPF network uses
external routes. An announce filter acts on the outward advertisements
form the OSPF area and the accept filter acts on inward advertisements. As
the LSPs are modified by the filter and the resultant used to produce a
routing table, it follows that policy filters need to be applied to all routers
in the OSPF network and not just to the boundary router.
• Link state is the status of a link between two routers.

6-8 IP routing
• Cost of a link is computed from bandwidth, real cost, availability,

reliability and other link metrics.
• OSPF area is a collection of connected routers which exchange link state
updates.
• Adjacencies database lists all a router’s neighbours.
• Link State Database is a list of link states from all other routers in the
OSPF area. All routers have identical link state databases.
• OSPF routing table is produced from the OSPF link state database.
• Routing table (forwarding table). The best routes are chosen from all
protocol routing tables. Note that each router has a different routing table.
• Backbone area Area to which all other OSPF areas are connected, either
directly or via a virtual link. It is referred to as area 0.0.0.0 or area 0.
• Standard area Area which is not the backbone area but which receives all
link state updates from external networks.
• Stub areas These are areas which can have more than one interface, but by
definition do not carry transit data and do not receive link state updates
from external networks. As the standard DCN uses only a backbone area
0.0.0.0, stub areas are not used in the standard DCN. All routers in a stub
area must be set to be stub routers. How this is implemented varies between
router manufacturers.
• Totally stubby areas Stub areas which do not receive summary LSAs.
• NSSA (Not So Stubby Areas) Stub areas which receive certain link state
updates from external networks.
• Router ID This is the number by which each router is known to OSPF. On
a Bay router the default is the IP address of the first configured interface.
On Cisco the default is the highest configured IP address. On both routers
it should be manually configured to be the same as the circuitless IP/
loopback address.
• Border router A router which is in the backbone area and one or more
other OSPF areas.
• Boundary router (or ASBR—Autonomous System Border Router) A
router which is the gateway between an OSPF network and another
network which uses a separate routing mechanism, including static routes.
• Designated router The concept of DR in an OSPF environment is similar
to that of OSI. Refer to “DRs (Designated Routers)” on page 5-6. The
differences are:
— A router with a priority of 0 never becomes DR.
— If a router with a higher priority connects to the network there is no
re-election.
— Changing router priorities does not cause a re-election.
— Changing router IDs does not cause a re-election.

IP routing 6-9
• OSPF multicasts. Packets sent out with 224.0.0.5 are sent to all OSPF
routers. Packets sent out with 224.0.0.6 are sent to all OSPF designated
routers.
Topology considerations
As with OSI, an OSPF network has to be planned out in areas to take full
advantage of the protocol.
With OSI, inter-area connectivity places few restrictions on the designer. A

packet destined for another area is sent to a L2 router which has a L2 routing
table which it used to forward the packet, whereas with OSPF packets
destined for an area outside the current area are sent to area 0.
Thus it may be inferred that all areas must have a connection to area 0. There
may be more than one connection between an area and area 0 but there must
be no inter-area connections.
It can be concluded that OSPF networks are tree structures which lend
themselves to hierarchical addressing schemes using variable length subnet
masks.
In order to maintain the ring structure of DCN networks, standard designs

should use OSPF area 0 only. The advantages of route Summarization and use
of many areas is lost, but the speed of convergence is retained. Multiple areas 6
are used in access networks. Their use is described in SDH DCN Design for
Access Products, 323-4061-103.
OSPF places demands upon a routing processor. It is recommended that no

more than 50 OSPF routers be placed within an OSPF area.
The designated router on a LAN in a network running OSPF has a very high
processor utilization. It may be that some routers are unsuitable for this role
and so should be allocated a priority of 0.
If it is not possible to have an area connected directly to area 0, a virtual route

may be used as in Figure 6-1 (dashed line).

6-10 IP routing
Figure 6-1
OSPF areas
Area 1
Area 2
Area 0
(Backbone)
Area 3
virtual route Area4
Area 6
AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM (AU)
Wherever possible the SDH DCN network should be fitted into one area
(area 0). This gives the benefit of OSPF speed and versatility without the
restrictions on topology.
When the network is large enough to merit more than one area or the customer
currently runs OSPF on a network to which the IP part of the DCN is added,
contact the SDH DCN Design team for further assistance. Additional material
may be found on the SDH DCN Design Web page at:
All the router templates presented at Release 6 use OSPF within a single area.
However, if UE3000 Release 16 or later is in the network, multiple areas must
be used.
Basic OSPF configuration steps for each interface are:

1 Enable OSPF.
2 Define an OSPF area.
3 Define interface type.
4 Define interface metrics.
Other parameters may need to be changed. Refer to SDH DCN Design Using
Nortel Networks Routers, 323-4061-101, Chapter 3, ‘Basic router
configuration with BCC and Site Manager’ which provides instructions for
configuration of OSPF on a Bay router.

IP routing 6-11
A comparison between OSPF and RIP

OSPF is link state technology as opposed to the distance vector technology
used in RIP. OSPF addresses the requirements of large scalable networks
which RIP could not. Issues addressed by OSPF are:
• Speed of convergence In large networks RIP convergence can take several
minutes while routes are aged out. With OSPF convergence is quicker
because routing changes are flooded throughout the network and new
routing tables computed in parallel.
• Variable length subnet masks RIP does not support variable subnet
masking and only advertises on one subnet level. OSPF does not have such
a restriction and advertises varying levels of subnets. Unlike OSPF, RIP
does not advertise network masks. The recipient of a RIP update assigns a
mask to a received network which matches its class. Thus a notification
about network 47.137.20.0 would be assigned a mask of 255.0.0.0, as it is
a class A address. A subsequent entry in a routing table would appear as
47.0.0.0.
However, subnets can be used in a limited manner and some router

manufacturers have devised better ways to allocate masks. These are all
proprietary. Bay and Cisco routers can be configured to use the same mask
as the interface on which the update is received. This, however, only works
where the network class and subnet mask are consistent throughout the
network. 6
Refer to SDH DCN Design Using Nortel Networks Routers, 323-4061-101,
Chapter 3, ‘Basic router configuration with BCC and Site Manager’ to see
how this problem can be managed in Bay routers. RIP 2 also supports
subnetting. Thus, an IP network can be broken into many subnets of
various sizes, which provides network administrators with extra network
configuration flexibility.
• Route summarization is the consolidation of multiple routes into one single
advertisement. It requires a hierarchical network but has the advantage of
confining topology changes to within an area and so significantly reduces
the workload on routers in other areas. Because of the ring structure of the
SDH networks, route summarization is not widely used in the DCN. See
Figure 6-2.

6-12 IP routing
Figure 6-2
Route summarization
.
Route summarization
140.100.10.0/24
140.150.10.0/24 Area Border 140.100.20.0/24
Router 140.100.30.0/24
140.100.40.0/24
140.150.10.0/24 140.100.0.0/16
Route summarization allows the right hand networks to be

advertised using one update
• Supernetting comes from the introduction of CIDR (see “IP addresses” on

page 10-1). Address space is allocated without class as a contiguous
number of class C addresses. For example, an allocation of addresses in the
range 196.0.16.0 to 196.0.31.255 could be represented by 196.0.16/20.
Such an entry in a routing table is referred to as a supernet. Subnetting is
used to achieve route summarization and cannot be used with routing
protocols such as RIP which categorize IP addresses by class.
• Network reachability RIP and RIP 2 networks have a path limit of
15 hops. There is no limit with OSPF.
• Bandwidth considerations RIP broadcasts full routing tables every
30 seconds. OSPF just sends out link state updates when they occur, with
a maximum interval of 30 minutes.
• Route selection RIP determines a best route by hop count only. With
OSPF the concept of cost is introduced. Where two equal-cost RIP paths
exist, the first learnt route is used. Each interface configured with OSPF
has a metric parameter, whose value has been derived from the formula
108/interface speed (however, it is at the discretion of the engineer to
change it, if required—for example when the link is busy). According to
the formula, some values are:
— Ethernet 100BaseTX: 1
— Ethernet 10BaseT: 10
— Serial at 2 Mbit/s: 48
— Serial at 64 kbit/s: 1562
Route preference
All routing protocols are assigned a preference which allows the router to
select routes when different protocols each report a path to the same network.
It could be considered as a measure of believability. IGRP (Internet Gateway
Routing Protocol) routes are used in preference to OSPF routes which are

IP routing 6-13
used in preference to RIP routes. A static route should be assigned a high

preference and a default route a low one.
Nortel Networks routers assign 16 for highest priority and 1 for lowest and
refer to the parameter as preference. Cisco routers assign 0 for highest
(connected interface) and 255 for lowest (unknown) and call the parameter
administrative distance.
Static and default routes

Static routes are manually configured on a router in contrast to routes learned
via a routing protocol. Static routes are permanent and remain in the routing
table even though an interface associated with the route goes down. They are
most commonly used for:
• Defining routes to use when two autonomous systems must exchange
routing information, rather than having entire routing tables exchanged.
Often subnetworks linked to a corporate network do not wish to receive
routing updates but require some facilities provided by the corporate
network. The intermediate router on the border would advertise to the
corporate network that it had a route to the subnetwork.
• A network which has dial-on-demand links. Routing updates passing over
this link would keep the link up permanently. A static route ensures that the
link is only enabled when traffic data requires the link to reach its
destination. 6
Routers must be configured to listen to and redistribute static routes.
Default routes are a form of static routes in that they provide a catch-all for
destinations not contained in routing tables. In effect they provide a static
route to a large network rather than a specific IP address or subnetwork. In the
case of the subnetwork attached to a corporate network, the intermediate
router on the border has a default route to the corporate network advertised
into the subnetwork.
Figure 6-3 shows an example of the way that static routes and default routes
are used.
Figure 6-3
Default and static routes
Intermediate router Subnetwork

Corporate Network 47.132.32.0/20
and Internet gateway
default route to
corporate network
route advertisement
static route (0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0)
to subnetwork
route advertisement
(47.132.32.0 mask 255.255.240.0)

6-14 IP routing
Subnetting and supernetting - IP addressing examples

When a network address is allocated, the network administrator may need to
subdivide the network into smaller subnetworks, based on the network
design. This is achieved by subnetting the network address, which consists in
subdividing the available network address range into smaller subnetwork
addresses ranges. To do so, the network administrator can allocate some of
the available bits for the subnetworks and some for the hosts.
Supernetting is the opposite of subnetting, as it consists in aggregating several

networks together into a single address and relevant address mask.
Supernetting is used for route summarization (sometimes called route
aggregation), to allow collections of networks to be advertised with a single
routing entry. This reduces the burden of big routing tables to advertise a large
number of hosts.
The following examples illustrate how this system works. They are used to
illustrate the mechanism of address allocation and subnetting. It is left to the
reader as an exercise to modify the examples to achieve a more efficient use
of IP addressing space. However, remember to allow for network expansion
when allocating IP addresses. Failure to do so can lead to unnecessary and
time-consuming address reallocation when modifications to the network are
made.
Although not shown in these examples, when address availability is limited, it

may be beneficial to begin network numbering from the most significant end
of the mask to allow the network/host boundary to be redefined at a later date
without allocating new addresses. For example, if an allocation of IP addresses
were given with a mask of 255.255.240.0, six bits could be used for host (h)
and six bits for subnetworks (s):
11111111.11111111.1111nnnn.nnhhhhhh
Host numbering would start 000001, 000010,000011 etc., but network

numbering would start at 100000, 010000, 110000, etc.
Figure 6-4 shows two routers within an SDH NE area.

IP routing 6-15
Figure 6-4
Two routers within an SDH NE area
Serial link 2
Serial link 1 S0 S1 S1 S0 Serial link 3
router 1 router 2
circuitless IP circuitless IP
Ethernet 0 Ethernet 0
LAN LAN
Between them, the two routers shown in Figure 6-4 have the following
interfaces:
• router 1, serial 0
• router 1, Ethernet 0
•
•
router 1, circuitless IP
router 2, serial 0
6
• router 2, Ethernet 0
• router 2, circuitless IP
Seven separate subnetworks are required. These are the networks connected
to R1 Ethernet 0, R1 circuitless IP, R2 Ethernet 0, and R2 circuitless IP, and
the three serial links. In order to provide seven subnetworks, three bits are
required.
If four bits are used for the subnetwork addresses, this gives provision for up
to 14 subnetworks; subnets 0000 and 1111 are reserved. This leaves four bits
that are used for the host ID.
However, not all the subnetworks need to be the same size. Only two devices
are on a WAN point-to-point link, so a mask of 255.255.255.252 would
suffice, giving four combinations (host ID of 00 and 11 not allowed). Certain
routers can have a mask of 255.255.255.255. The circuitless IP addresses,
although they are singularities, require a mask of 255.255.255.252. In the
following examples, one subnet has been further subnetted for the serial links
and another for the circuitless IP interfaces.
Four bits gives 16 combinations. The host IDs of 0000 and 1111 are reserved.
The Ethernet port of the router usually has host ID 0001. Therefore 0010 to
1110 are available for up to 13 other devices.

6-16 IP routing
The subnetwork mask is therefore:

in binary:
11111111 11111111 11111111 1111 0000

Subnetwork Host ID
in decimal: 255.255.255.240
Subnetworks available with this mask are:
• 192.168.7.0 (reserved as the subnet field is all zeros)
• 192.168.7.16
• 192.168.7.32
• 192 168.7.192
• 192 168.7.208 (addresses in this range are used for serial interfaces with a
mask of 255.255.255.252, four addresses)
• 192 168.7.224 (addresses in this subnet range are used for circuitless IP
interfaces with a mask of 255.255.255.252, single address)
Therefore, the following addresses can be allocated for the Ethernet ports (see
Figure 6-5):
• R1 Ethernet 0
— subnetwork 192.168.7.16 (192.168.7.0 is reserved)
— IP address 192.168.7.17, subnetwork mask 255.255.255.240
— host ID for other devices connected to R1 Ethernet 0: 192.168.7.18 to
192.168.7.30
• R2 Ethernet 0
— subnetwork 192.168.7.32
— host ID for other devices connected to R2 Ethernet 0: 192.168.7.34 to
192.168.7.46
Circuitless IP addresses are as follows:
• R1 circuitless IP
• R2 circuitless IP
— IP address 192.168.7.229 subnetwork mask 255.255.255.252
Note: A subnet mask of 255.255.255.255 cannot be entered for circuitless
IP
Serial interface addresses are as follows:

• serial link 1
— subnetwork 192.168.7.208

IP routing 6-17
— IP address 192.168.7.209 and 192.168.7.210*, subnetwork mask

255.255.255.252
• serial link 2
— subnetwork 192.168.7.212
— IP address 192.168.7.213 and 192.168.7.214, subnetwork mask
255.255.255.252
• serial link 3
— subnetwork 192.168.7.216
— IP address 192.168.7.217 and 192.168.7.218*, subnetwork mask
255.255.255.252
* These addresses are used by the routers at the other end of links 1 and 3.
• Subnetworks 192.168.7.48, 192.168.7.64, up to 192.168.7.192 are

available for future expansion.
• Note that network address 192.168.7.0 is used in order to leave network
addresses 192.168.1.0 through 192.168.6.0 for the management areas.
Figure 6-5
Allocation of IP addresses
6
Serial link 2
Serial link 1 Serial link 3
192.168.7.212
192.168.7.208 S0 S1 S1 S0 192.168.7.216
circuitless IP: circuitless IP:

192.168.7.225 192.168.7.229
Ethernet 0: Ethernet 0:
S0 192.168.7 209 192.168.7.17 192.168.7.33 S0 192.168.7.217
S1 192.168.7.213 S1 192.168.7.214
LAN LAN
Subnet: Subnet:
192.168.7.16 192.168.7.32
Network: 192.168.7.0
Figure 6-6 shows routers within a management area.

6-18 IP routing
Figure 6-6
Routers within a management area
LAN
R3
Ethernet 0 Serial
circuitless IP link 1
Serial
link 2
LAN LAN
R1 R2
Eth 0 Eth 1 Eth 0 Eth 1
Between them, the three routers in Figure 6-6 require the following
subnetworks:
• router 1 - Ethernet 0
• router 1 - circuitless IP
• router 3 - serial 0
• router 3 - serial 1
Ten subnetworks are listed. To allow for expansion, use four bits of
subnetwork mask. This leaves 4 bits for the host ID, allowing 14 hosts on each
subnet—the router and 13 workstations.
• Each serial loop supports up to 750 NEs. Each LAN in the management
area must therefore be capable of supporting enough workstations to
manage 750 NEs. Thirteen host IDs are not adequate, thus the management
areas require multiple IP network addresses. This is achieved in the
following way:
— network address 192.168.1.0 for router 1 - Ethernet 1, router 2 -
Ethernet 1, router 3 - Ethernet 0, and all of the circuitless IP interfaces

IP routing 6-19
— network address 192.168.2.0 for router 1 - Ethernet 0

— network address 192.168.3.0 for router 2 - Ethernet 0
— network address 192.168.2.0 and 192.168.3.0 have no subnetworks.
The subnetwork mask for these two networks is 255.255.255.0. Up to
253 hosts or other devices can be connected to Ethernet 0 in addition
to the router.
Network address 192.168.1.0 has four subnetworks. To allow for addition of

extra serial loops and routers, use four bits for subnetwork address and the
remaining four bits for host IDs. The subnetwork mask is therefore
in binary:
11111111 11111111 11111111 1111 0000
Subnetwork Host ID
in decimal: 255.255.255.240

6-20 IP routing
Table 6-1 shows possible address allocations.
Table 6-1
Possible address allocations
R3 Ethernet 0 network 192.168.1.0

subnetwork 192.168.1.16
IP address 192.168.1.17, subnetwork mask 255.255.255.240
R3 circuitless IP IP address 192.168.1.225, subnetwork mask 255.255.255.252

host ID for other devices connected to R1 Ethernet 0:192.168.2.2
to192.168.2.254


host ID for other devices connected to R1 Ethernet 0: 192.168.3.2
to 192.168.3.254

R3 serial link 1 network 192 168.1.208

R3 serial link 2 network 192 168.1.212

Subnetworks available for 192.168.1.80

future expansion, though each 192.168.1.96
has only four bits available for 192.168.1.112
the host ID (14 host addresses) 192.168.1.128
192.168.1.144
192.168.1.160
192.168.1.176
192.168.1.192

IP routing 6-21
Figure 6-7 illustrates IP address allocation in a management location.

Figure 6-7
Allocation of IP addresses in a management location
Network 192.168.1.0
Subnetwork 192.168.1.16
LAN
R3 Network:
192.168.1.208
Ethernet 0: Serial link 1:
192.168.1.17 192.168.1.209
circuitless IP: Serial link 2:

Network: Network: 192.168.1.225 192.168.1.213
192.168.2.0 192.168.3.0 Network:
LAN LAN 192.168.1.212
R1 R2 192.168.1.3
192.168.2.1 192.168.1.18 192.168.3.1 192.168.1.19

Eth 0 Eth 1 Eth 0 Eth 1
circuitless IP: circuitless IP:

192.168.1.229 192.168.1.233
6
IPv4 to IPv6 transition

The massive and rapid growth of the Internet in the 1990s has given rise to the
problem of the allocation of IP addresses. A new version (number 6) of
Internet Protocol, IPv6, has been developed, and the transition methodology
from IPv4 (defined in RFC 791) to IPv6 (RFC 1933) is still being worked out.
Changes from IPv4

• Extended addressing capabilities
— IPv6 increases the IP address size from 32 bits to 128 bits, 64 of which
are reserved for the interface ID. This will support a much greater
number of addressable nodes, more levels of addressing hierarchy and
simpler auto-configuration of addresses.
— Broadcast will be replaced by multicast (One-to-Many), by adding a
‘scope’ field to multicast addresses.
— A new type of address is defined, called ‘anycast address’, having the
ability to send a packet to any ONE of a group of nodes
(One-to-One-of-Many [the nearest]).
— The three IPv6 address types are unicast (One-to-One), multicast, and
anycast.
• Header format simplification

6-22 IP routing
— The IPv6 header is much simplified from IPv4. Whilst a couple of

fields have been added, many considered superfluous have been
removed or made optional, to reduce the common-case processing cost
of a packet handling and to limit the bandwidth cost of the IPv6 header.
One of the removed fields from IPv4 is the header checksum. As both
the link layer and usually the transport layer have their own checksums,
any errors are likely to be detected in one of those two layers. This will
dramatically improve IPv6 performance versus IPv4, as most IPv4
implementations use half their instructions calculating the IPv4
checksum.
• Improved support for extensions and options
— IPv6 header options are encoded in such a way to allow more efficient
forwarding than IPv4. In IPv6, optional Internet layer information is
encoded in separate headers (to be placed between the IPv6 header and
the upper-layer header in a packet). There is a small number of
extension headers;
– hop-by-hop options
– routing
– fragment
– destination options
– AH (Authentication Header)
– ESP (Encapsulating Security Payload)
Extension headers are not examined or processed by any node along a
packet’s delivery path, but only by the node identified by IPv6
destination address, resulting in much lower overhead than IPv4
options. The only exception is the hop-by-hop options header, which
carries information that must be examined and processed by every
node along a packet’s delivery path, including the source and
destination nodes.
• FLOW labelling
— A flow is a sequence of packets from a particular source to a particular
(unicast or multicast) destination for which the source may require
special handling by the intervening routers, such as non-default quality
of service or real-time service. A flow label (a 24-bit field) is a
pseudo-random number chosen by the source, and it identifies a flow,
such that the traffic can be subject to the desired special handling.
• Authentication and privacy capabilities
— Extensions to support authentication, data integrity, and (optional) data
confidentiality are specified for IPv6.
Transition from IPv4 to IPv6
IPv6 recently started to appear, thus IPv4 hosts and routers are gradually
being upgraded. The transitional period will possibly last for several years.
IPv6 is operational in some experimental ‘islands’; however, IPv6-IPv4 hosts
are starting to appear on IPv4 networks.

IP routing 6-23
To ensure IPv6 connectivity within a predominantly IPv4 environment, it is

necessary to create an overlay network, often called a ‘virtual network’,
consisting of tunnels which interconnect the IPv6-capable islands. Thus, IPv6
packets are encapsulated in IPv4 packets in order to be deliverable onto IPv4
environment. However, as more and more routers are upgraded to IPv6,
tunnels can be dismantled.
Therefore, the initial transition involves upgrading hosts and routers such that
they incorporate IPv6 functionality, whilst keeping their IPv4 functionality
(called ‘dual stack’). Further ahead, it is likely that IPv6-only nodes will
appear that have no in-built IPv4 functionality. If these hosts are to fully
interoperate with the installed IPv4 base, some form of header translation is
necessary—this is difficult to manage, due to the differences between IPv4
and IPv6 headers. Alternatively, such hosts can only talk to other IPv6-only
hosts, which may be acceptable in some scenarios.
Both IPv4 and IPv6 support the DNS (Domain Name System) to map
hostnames into addresses. A new resource record type named ‘AAAA’ has
been defined for IPv6, whereas the resource record type for IPv4 is referred to
as ‘A’. IPv6/IPv4 nodes must be able to interoperate directly with both IPv4
and IPv6 nodes, and therefore they must provide resolver libraries capable of
dealing with IPv4 ‘A’ records as well as IPv6 ‘AAAA’ records. IPv6/IPv4
nodes supporting automatic tunnelling have both A and AAAA records listed
in the DNS. The AAAA record holds the full IPv4-compatible IPv6 address,
6
and the A record holds the low-order 32-bits of that address. Thus, DNS
queries can be satisfied by both IPv6 and IPv4-only nodes.
Whilst it is predictable that IPv6 will become more and more necessary, due
to the shortage—and the eventual lack—of available IPv4 addresses, it is also
unlikely that IPv4 will actually ever be removed completely, as some sites
may decide that the upgrade is not worth the effort, and remain with IPv4.
end of chapter

7-1
OSI routing 7-
There are two types of OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) host—the end
system or ES, which has no routing functionality (equivalent to the IP host),
and the intermediate system or IS, which is capable of routing OSI traffic.
An ES provides a source and destination for data communications traffic. ESs

can be attached to one or more data communications links or subnetworks,
but they cannot pass data communications traffic between them. The ECs
(Element Controllers) and some NEs (Network Elements), such as TN-1P and
ATUs (Asynchronous Telemetry Units) are ESs. All other SDH NEs and
external DCN routers are ISs.
The SDH Management OSI network is known as the SDH Management

Domain and, in common with all OSI networks, is split into areas (see “SDH
Management Domain/area structure” on page 7-2). Each ES and IS has an
address (known as an NSAP—Network Service Access Point) that indicates
to which area it belongs—see “OSI addressing” on page 7-6. An IS which is
responsible for routing traffic between areas is known as a Level 2 (L2) 7
router, whilst those which route traffic within an area are known as Level 1
(L1) routers. In most networks, L2 routers are also L1 routers.
The number of ISs and ESs in an area in an SDH DCN is subject to limits
which are specified in SDH DCN Design for Transmission Products,
323-4061-100.

7-2 OSI routing
Figure 7-1
SDH Management Domain/area structure
SDH Management Area A

Domain ES ES
IS
L2 L2
Area B Area C
L1 L1
IS IS IS IS
L1 L1/L2 L1
L1/L2
L2
ES IS IS ES
L1 and L2 OSI routing/ISs

The hierarchical structure of OSI networks minimizes the amount of
information each system needs to hold for routing purposes. ISs connected
together are configured to enable L1 and/or L2 routing depending on their
position within the network. The links between ISs are configured to be L1
only, L2 only or L1/L2.
• L1 routing is used by devices to route packets within a single OSI area
only, therefore L1 ISs only need to know how to route within their area, and
how to route traffic to the nearest L2 IS for the delivery of packets outside
the area. Links between L1 ISs are L1 only. L1 ISs have no knowledge of
the topology of other areas.
• L2 routing is used to route packets between OSI areas. The links between
routers which are connected together but in different OSI areas should be
configured as L2 only.
• Where an IS can operate as a L1 and L2 router, each interface can be
configured to run L1 and/or L2 routing. Generally interfaces within an area
are configured to support L1 only. Where L2 routing is carried through the
area, interfaces are configured for L1 and L2 routing, and interfaces which
connect to routers in other areas are normally configured to support only
L2 routing. This must be specified by the network designer for every
interface of every router which supports both OSI L1 and L2 routing. In
general, this applies only to external routers, as most Nortel NEs, and all
low capacity NEs, are L1 routers only.
• SDH NEs (such as multiplexers) are often connected together directly via
fibre links, but reside in different OSI areas. Where this occurs, the NEs
management interface (the DCC [Data Communications Channel]) over
the fibre must be disabled to isolate the two areas.

OSI routing 7-3
• The only case in which an IS is configured as L2 only, is when it is the only

IS within its OSI area. This is extremely rare and unlikely to be
encountered within the SDH DCN.
OSI routing protocols (ES-IS, IS-IS)

ES-IS protocol
This is the OSI protocol used between ESs and ISs to communicate routing
and configuration information, which allows the network layer on both
systems to perform Internet routing of PDUs (Protocol Data Units). ES-IS
(similar to ARP [Address Resolution Protocol] in IP) is defined in ISO 9542.
In order to perform its functions, ES-IS is responsible for building a database

of all routes within the network. This database is maintained within each ES,
and is called ES-RIB (End System Routing Information Base).
The ES-IS protocol addresses the following problems:

— how an ES routes information to other ESs on other subnetworks
— how an ES knows about other ESs on the same network
— how an IS discovers the identity of the ESs located on the subnetworks
to which the IS is attached
— how ESs decide which IS to use in order to forward data to a
destination when more than one IS exists on the subnetwork
The two main functions of the ES-IS protocol are:

1 to allow an ES to send a PDU to its local IS 7
2 to allow an IS to route PDUs to an ES
When an ES is powered up, it is unaware of other ESs connected on the same

network, and vice versa. Furthermore, nobody is aware of the NSAPs
(Network Service Access Point) on the ES, and therefore of the applications
served by those NSAPs. To overcome this problem, each ES sends an ESH
(End System Hello) PDU. The ESH PDU is broadcast on the subnetwork and
contains a list of all the NSAPs in that ES, so that other ESs are aware of the
existence of that ES.
The ESH PDU informs a local IS of the existence of that ES (and its SNPA
address) and informs all local systems of the NSAPs available on that ES. The
PDU contains a pair of NSAP and SNPA values for each NSAP resident on
the system.
When an IS is powered up, it broadcasts an ISH (Intermediate System Hello)

PDU to announce itself to everyone else on the subnetwork. The ISH PDU
contains the identity of the IS by the pair of values SNPA and NET.
Based on the exchange of PDUs, an ES-RIB contains a list of NSAPs on the

local subnetwork and their associated SNPA; and a list of NETs (and
therefore a list of ISs) on the local subnetwork and their associated SNPAs.

7-4 OSI routing
Other than ESH and ISH PDUs, ES-IS also uses redirected PDUs. This are
used by ISs to inform ESs of a better route through which to route
information for certain PDUs (the alternative route could be either via another
IS on the same network, or the SNPA (Subnetwork Point of Attachment) of
the destination ES itself).
IS-IS protocol
This is the protocol used by ISs to communicate routing information to each
other at Levels 1 and 2. IS-IS is a link state routing protocol (similar to OSPF
[Open Shortest Path First] in IP), defined in ISO 10589.
A routing metric of between 1 and 63 (0 and 63 on Cisco routers) is

configured for each interface, where 1 (0) is most preferable (lowest cost) and
63 is least preferable (highest cost). This metric is used by the IS-IS routing
process to evaluate the best (that is, the lowest cost) route between stations.
RIB (Routing Information Base)

The RIB contains two databases: the link state database and the forwarding
database. A separate RIB is maintained for L1 and L2 routing processes.
• LSD (Link State Database)
Contains a list of link state PDUs received from all ISs in the area (for the
L1 RIB) or all L2 ISs in the routing domain (for the L2 RIB). Link state
PDUs contain information, including metrics, on the adjacencies of the IS
originating the PDU. The LSD is updated from the update process when
new link state PDUs arrive.
• Forwarding database
One forwarding database exists for each metric (default, delay, expense or
error). The database is created by running the SPF (Shortest Path First)
algorithm on the LSD. The forwarding database contains a list of
adjacencies for this IS. More than one adjacency with the same cost may
be listed for a given destination. The forwarding process selects the
appropriate forwarding database, based on the metric specified in the
CLNS (Connectionless-mode Network Service) Quality of Service field,
and chooses the adjacency on which to forward the PDU.
An IS-IS RIB is shown in Figure 7-2.

OSI routing 7-5
Figure 7-2
Routing Information Base
Update
Link State Database
Decision
(SPF algorithm)
Forwarding Database
Forward
Establishing the FIB

The function of the IS-IS protocol is to establish the FIB (Forwarding
Information Base) within each IS. This is achieved in three steps: 7
1 Each IS broadcasts an IS-to-IS PDU on each subnetwork to which it is
attached. This PDU contains the NET (Network Entity Title) of the IS and
its associated SNPA address. Each IS receiving this PDU stores this
information in its adjacency database.
2 Using the contents of its circuits database, each IS periodically sends an LS
(link state) PDU to each of its neighbours. This contains the NET of the IS
and a list of identifiers for each subnetwork to which the IS is attached,
associated with the cost values for each subnetwork. Each IS receives an
LS PDU from each of its neighbours, and stores this information in the link
state database.
3 After processing an LS PDU, each IS forwards that PDU to its own
neighbours, except for the one the PDU was sent from. This way of
propagating routing information throughout the Internet is referred to as
flooding.
Designated routers and pseudo-nodes

IS-IS is a Link State routing protocol, and therefore uses DRs (Designated
Routers) to reduce routing overheads on LANs; refer to “DRs (Designated
Routers)” on page 5-6.

7-6 OSI routing
One node on a LAN performs the work of the pseudo-node. It must maintain
its own list of adjacencies and generate its own LSPs (Link State Packets). It
must do the same work for the pseudo-node. The node which is performing
this task is called the DR. The pseudo-node must be given an address; the
address used is a combination of the DR’s system ID and the circuit used to
connect the DR to the LAN.
Normal nodes refer to themselves using their system ID followed by 0x00

(indicating non-pseudo-node). The pseudo-node’s address is also referred to
as the LAN-ID. The final octet of the LAN-ID may not always be 0x01. Take
an example of a node which is connected to two LANs. The node also
happens to be DR on both LANs. The LAN-IDs must be unique. To ensure
that this is the case, the circuit ID of the connection onto the LAN forms the
LAN-ID’s final octet.
Figure 7-3 shows a node which is the DR on two broadcast networks. Notice
that despite this the LAN-IDs are still unique.
Figure 7-3
Node (DR)
LAN-ID: 0010.7B80.1226.01
Circuit:
0x01
Node connected to two LANs.
System ID: 0010.7B80.1226
Circuit: 0x02
LAN-ID: 0010.7B80.1226.02
Selection of the designated router is performed by an election. The node with

the highest priority is selected. If a number of nodes have the same priority,
then the node with the highest system ID is chosen.
OSI addressing
This section briefly explains some of the concepts of OSI addressing as it
relates to Nortel Networks SDH DCN. Many features of OSI are not used in
DCN and are not discussed here.

OSI routing 7-7
Note: For clarity, OSI addresses in this section have a dot between groups
of four digits.When configuring a Bay router, this dot should not be used.
An IP address points to an interface or network, whereas an OSI address

points to a device such as a router or SDH NE. OSI addressing is more
structured and controlled than IP addressing.
Note that an IP address is the dotted decimal representation of a binary

address, whereas an OSI address is a hexadecimal representation of a binary
address.
Every device in an OSI network, whether an ES or an IS has at least one

unique OSI address, or NSAP. The format and length of the NSAP varies
depending on the addressing scheme employed by the network designer. The
NSAP formats most commonly used within the SDH DCN are the 12-byte
local or unregistered format (with an AFI [Authority and Format Indicator] of
49), or 20-byte DCC (Data Country Code) (AFI of 39) or ICD (International
Code Designator) (AFI of 47) format.
Local format NSAP (12-byte)

The local, or unregistered format NSAP has four fields—the AFI, the Area,
the SID (System Identifier) and the SEL (Selector). The AFI is a single octet,
which for Local Format is always 4916. The Area field is 2 octets (16 bits), and
may be any value from 0 to FFFF16. The SID is six octets, and uniquely
identifies the IS or ES within the network. For equipment for which the SID is
not already configured (for example, a router) Nortel Networks strongly
recommends that this field should be configured to contain the MAC address
of one of the Ethernet ports on the device. 7
DCC format NSAP
The DCC format NSAPs within the SDH DCN are generally 20 bytes in
length, though the length can be varied. The DCC NSAP is formatted as
follows:
• AFI - one octet
— For DCC format addressing, the value of this field is 3916.
• DCC - two octets
— This field contains a 12-bit value indicating the country, right padded
with binary 1s. The country codes are defined in ISO 3166. The UK,
for example, is 82616, so the field would contain 826F16 for an address
in the UK.
• DFI - one octet
— Data Format Indicator. Within the SDH DCN, this field must always be
80, indicating OSI routing.
• ORG - three octets
— Organization ID. This field is allocated by the country's Address
Allocation Authority, and is a unique value which identifies the
organization which owns the equipment.

7-8 OSI routing
• Reserved - two octets

— This field must be 0000.
• RD - two octets
— Routing Domain
• Area - two octets
— The value of this field and the RD field are assigned by the individual
organization based on their OSI routing architecture.
• SID - six octets
— This field uniquely identifies the IS or ES within the network. For
equipment for which the SID is not already configured (for example, a
router) Nortel Networks strongly recommends that this field should be
configured to contain the MAC address of one of the Ethernet ports on
the device.
• SEL - one octet
— This field is generally used to identify different destinations on an ES
such as applications or services above the data link layer. An NSAP
with a SEL of 0 is also known as a NET and addresses the routing
process on the equipment. Nortel Networks management traffic
generally uses a SEL of 1. This is not a configurable item, although it
is necessary to specify the whole NSAP when configuring some
routers, in which case a SEL of 00 should be specified.
ICD format NSAP
The ICD format NSAP is very similar to the DCC format, except that the AFI
value is 4716, while the organization identified in the ICD field (which
replaces the DCC field) is responsible for the management of whatever is to
the right of that field (the domain).
Note: From a routing perspective, the ISIS routing protocol treats all fields
before the SID as the area designation. Thus DCC, ICD and Local format
addresses can be mixed in the same OSI network, with ISIS treating them
all as separate areas.
Often a shortened version of DCC format addressing is used. This is 17-byte

rather than 20-byte and has the two reserved bytes and one of the RD bytes
removed. This is seen in some management areas as it is a format used by
EC-1 Release 6. This is because EC-1 Release 6 supports area addresses up to
only 10 instead of the 13 bytes used for the ICD and DCC formats. Figure 7-4
summarizes these fields.

OSI routing 7-9
Figure 7-4
OSI address structure as defined in ITU-T X.213
OSI NSAP/NET Address Structure
IDP DSP
AFI IDI HO-DSP SID SEL
area address (3 for local, 13 for ICD and DCC formats) system ID (6) SEL (1)
For more information on the structure of the OSI addresses, see ITU-T X.213
Network Service Definition.
Manual and Computed Area Addresses

Each OSI router (or IS) is configured with at least one, and up to three, area
addresses, or MAAs (Manual Area Address). All ISs advertise all their area
addresses over all L1 interfaces, and each IS assumes membership of any 7
areas whose addresses it learns from its neighbours through this mechanism.
These learned area addresses are known as CAAs (Computed Area Address).
For example, Routers A, B and C are connected in a spur (A-B-C), and each
is configured to be in area x. Additionally, Router B is configured to be in area
y, and Router C is configured to be in area z. Router B examines the L1 IS
protocol packets (called IS Hellos, or ISHs) from Router C and sees that they
share membership of area x. This association is referred to as an adjacency.
Router B therefore assumes membership of area z, as Router C is in area z.
Router C, similarly, assumes membership of area y, as Router B is in area y.
Router B, therefore, has two MAAs (x and y) and one CAA (z), while Router
C also has two MAAs (x and z), and one CAA (y). Router B advertises all its
areas (x, y and z) to Router A, which has also formed an adjacency with
Router B, courtesy of its membership of x. Router A, therefore, has one MAA
(x) and two CAAs (y and z).
Nortel Networks uses this mechanism to simplify the installation and

commissioning of their NEs. Each NE is factory programmed to be in area
49.0000. All external routers are configured to have either a DCC (39...) or
ICD (47...) format address, with 49.0000 as a second MAA. When an NE is
connected to the network, it will learn its DCC or ICD address from its
neighbours. The 49.0000 area is isolated from adjoining areas because the
only link between areas is the L2 WAN link between external routers, and

7-10 OSI routing
only the primary MAA is exchanged over L2 links. It should be noted,

however, that this mechanism is vulnerable to indiscipline, in that if NEs in
adjacent areas are linked by fibre, and management comms (DCC) is enabled
on that fibre link, the two areas will merge into one large area. The impact of
such an occurrence can be disastrous, and cause loss of management comms
to NEs in both areas.
There is an engineering limitation of a total of three area addresses per IS

(whether manual or computed). This is because the amount of memory
required to store routing information on an IS grows dramatically with the
addition of each area address.
Recommended addressing schemes

OSI supports many different schemes for assigning the area address. Nortel
Networks recommends that one of the following addressing schemes is
employed:
• ISO DCC or ICD addressing combined with the default 49.0000
addressing as described in the previous section. is to be used in networks
which are connected to, or are likely to be connected to other OSI
networks. This is the addressing scheme most commonly used for Nortel
Networks SDH networks.
• For some networks it is helpful to replace the MAA of each NE and
controller from the default unregistered address
(49.0000.eeee.eeee.eeee.ss where ‘e’s represent the MAC address (Media
Access Control) of the device and ‘s’s the selector field) to a full ISO DCC
address. This has several advantages—areas cannot merge if a link
between NEs bridges them; the routing overhead is reduced—but has the
disadvantage that the equipment must be configured before deployment,
and reconfigured if moved to a different area.
Note: This change cannot be done in networks containing TN-16X
elements. This is because the OPC (Operations Controller) has its default
address hard-coded to area 49.0000; the TN-16X elements (prior to
Release 9) under its span of control must be in the same area. However, this
will change in an imminent release. Refer to SDH DCN Design for
Transmission Products, 323-4061-100; see the TN-16X section.
• Unregistered format, which can be used only when the network is truly
‘private’, only contains low order NEs (that is, the network is never
connected to another OSI network and never connected to any TN-16Xs or
TN-64X's via DCC links). The address is of format
49.aaaa.eeee.eeee.eeee.ss where ‘a’s represent the area, ‘e’s represent the
MAC address of the device, and ‘s’s the selector field.
Full details can be found in ISO 8348 Appendix A. Figure 7-5 provides a
tabular comparison between DCC, ICD, and local formats.

OSI routing 7-11
Figure 7-5
OSI ICD, DCC, and local formats
IC D :
F ie ld S iz e in b y t e s C o n te n t V a lu e
AFI 1 IC D N S A P f o r m a t 47
ID I 2 IO T A a d d r e s s in g s c h e m e 0124
O r g ID 3 W o r ld C o m ( f o r e x a m p le ) 001003
FI 1 F o r m a t In d ic a to r xx
A re a 2 A re a a d d re s s xxxx
S u b A re a 2 S u b a re a a d d re s s xxxx
N e tw o r k 2 N e tw o r k A d d r e s s xxxx
ID 6 M A C a d d re s s x x x x .x x x x .x x x x
N -S e l 1 N - S e le c to r xx
T o ta l b y te s 20
DCC:
AFI 1 D C C N S A P fo rm a t 39
ID I 2 C o u n tr y in d ic a to r 0 0 0 0 -F F F F
DFI 1 D S P f o r m a t id e n tif ie r 80
O r g ID 3 T e le s p ( f o r e x a m p le ) 076F
R e s e rv e d 2 0000
R o u tin g D o m a in 2 F o r in te r d o m a in r o u tin g xxxx
A re a 2 F o r le v e l 2 r o u tin g xxxx
T o ta l b y te s 20
L o c a l:
AFI 1 D C C N S A P fo rm a t 49
A re a 2 F o r le v e l 2 r o u tin g xxxx
Note: Information appearing in Figure 7-5 should be used as a guide only. 7

To use ISO DCC format, the network designer follows Procedure 7-1.
Procedure 7-1
Using ISO DCC format
Step Action
1 Obtain the correct country code.

2 Obtain the correct organization code. If the network owners do not already
have one, approach the relevant authority.
3 Approach the network owners for a unused RD.
4 Analyse the network and split it into areas. Allocate area codes to each part
of the network.
—end—

7-12 OSI routing
An OSI address which uses the unregistered format is expressed as

49.aaaa.eeee.eeee.eeee.ss
Use of this addressing method has the advantage that it can be used without
reference to a registration authority. However, it may be used only if the DCN
is truly private (that is, the DCN is isolated from any other OSI networks).
Where the network is sufficiently small to occupy a single area, and provided
the network is private and isolated from other OSI DCNs, the default
addressing scheme may be employed (that is, 49.0000).
Example OSI configuration

The same examples as those used earlier to explain IP addressing are now
used to explain OSI addressing. See Figure 7-6.
Figure 7-6
Serial link Serial link Serial link
Tunnel
Ethernet0 Ethernet0
L1 L1
LAN LAN
For each router the following is required to write the router configurations:
— an OSI area address
— circuit-type for each interface (that is, L1, L1 and L2, or L2 only)
— metric for each interface
For the purposes of this example, the area is part of a network belonging to an
imaginary organization in Brazil.
— The country code for Brazil is 076F.
— The organization code for our imaginary company is 123456.
— The reserved field is fixed at 0000.
— This is the first OSI network installed into this company, so RD 0001
can be used.
— This is area 0002. Area 0001 is the management area.

OSI routing 7-13
The OSI address for the two routers is therefore

39.076F.8012.3456.0000.0001.0002.eeee.eeee.eeee.00
where eeee.eeee.eeee is the MAC address which the router is shipped with.
The default configuration for all interfaces is to allow L1 and L2 routing.

Enter the commands into the serial port configuration of each router, which
leaves the area to allow L2 routing only. The serial ports which connect the
two routers within the area must be left as default (L1 and L2 enabled).
Considerations arising from SDH NE configuration:

• The router’s interfaces must be configured with a L1 priority of 65.
— This is because the SDH NEs have a priority of 64. In accordance with
the IS-IS protocol, whichever IS has the priority set numerically
highest is the ‘DR’ (designated router). Setting the routers to a L1
priority of 65 guarantees that one of the routers is the DR, not one of
the SDH NEs. The DR is the router which advertises the LAN
connectivity to all of the other routers and SDH NEs in the OSI area.
• The Ethernet ports must be configured with a L1 metric of 63.
• The serial ports must be configured with a L1 metric of 20.
— The maximum that the metric can be set to is 63. Packets are routed
through the path that has the lowest total metric. Set the router’s metric:
– high enough to be unattractive to packets which are sent between
OPC pairs in a TN-16X ring
– low enough to encourage traffic to a cross-connect near to a router
to follow a direct path through the router, rather than using the
7
SDH network or a cross-connect.
Setting 63 on the Ethernet ports and 20 on the serial ports achieves this,
provided that OPCs are on opposite sides of the TN-16X ring.
• Configure the OSI-over-IP tunnel with a L1 metric of 21.
— The tunnel is a backup for the serial link between the two routers and
must have a higher metric than the serial link.
• Each router must be configured with a second MAA to conform with
Nortel Networks NE’s default OSI address which is of the form
49.0000.eeee.eeee.eeee.00
where eeee.eeee.eeee is the MAC address which the router is shipped with.
Figure 7-7 shows the area as configured for OSI.

7-14 OSI routing
Figure 7-7
.
Serial link L2 only Serial link L2 only Serial link

L1/L2
R1 Tunnel R2
Ethernet 0 Ethernet 0
L1/L2 L1/L2
LAN LAN
R1: 39.076F.8012.3456.0001.0001.0002.1C3F.2B95.780E.00
49.0000.1C3F.2B95.780E.00
R2: 39.076F.8012.3456.0001.0001.0002.34A0.8C45.98F4.00
49.0000.134A0.8C45.98F4.00
The routers in all of the other areas are configured in the same way, except that
the area addresses vary as follows:
• 39.076F.8012.3456.0000.0001.0001.eeee.eeee.eeee.ss for the
management area
• 39.076F.8012.3456.0000.0001.0002.eeee.eeee.eeee.ss for SDH NE area 1
Configure the routers with a second address as follows:

• Router in management area connected to EC-1 Release 6 has a second OSI
address of 39.076F.8012.3456.0100.01ee.eeee.eeee.ee00.
Routers in SDH NE areas have a second MAA of

49.0000.eeee.eeee.eeee.00.
CLNS/CLNP
IS-IS and ES-IS are routing protocols for the CLNS/CLNP network layer
service. CLNS and CLNP (Connectionless mode Network Layer Protocol)
provide OSI connectionless network service.
CLNS provides network-layer service to the transport layer via CLNP. As the
paths for each packet sent through the network are determined independently,
CLNS does not perform connection setup or termination (unlike
connection-oriented service). CLNS provides best-effort delivery (that is,
there is no guarantee that the data is not lost, corrupted, misordered or
duplicated). CLNS relies on transport-layer protocols to perform error
detection and correction.

OSI routing 7-15
CLNP is an OSI network-layer protocol that provides the interface between

CLNS and upper layers. CLNP carries upper-layer data and error indications
over connectionless links.
end of chapter

8-1
Advanced data communications

topics 8-
OSI tunnelling
OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) tunnels are used to protect the OSI network
in the specific case of the link breaking between two routers in the same OSI
area. This is necessary because in the event of the link breaking, a router on
the edge of the area advertises to the other areas that it has a route to all
devices with the same area address (using L2 [Level 2] routing). However, if
the router receives a packet destined for a device on the other side of the
break, it has no route for it and the OSI packet is lost. The router is advertising
routes to devices which it cannot reach. This is because routers in the DCN
portfolio do not support the IS-IS (Intermediate System-Intermediate System)
protocol partition repair function. In the event of such a break, the IP (Internet
Protocol) re-routes correctly. Therefore, if a properly configured OSI over IP
tunnel is present, the routers reach each other through the tunnel.
OSI tunnels can also be used where the customer requires different parts of
the DCN to be connected via an existing data network, which often does not
support OSI.
Note: The system identifier is a Layer 2 entity. By convention, in Nortel 8

Networks SDH networks the MAC (Media Access Control) address of a
device is used as the system identifier. The MAC address is also referred to
as the Ethernet address, but should not be confused with the IP address
which is a Layer 3 entity.
Tunnelling OSI over IP - GRE (Generic Route Encapsulation)

GRE is a tunnelling method by which non-IP traffic (such as OSI) can be
routed across networks that support only IP. GRE is defined in RFC 1701. A
tunnel can be set up between two routers, whereby non-IP traffic is
encapsulated into an IP format, sent across the tunnel, and decoded at the
other end. In this way, two OSI networks can be linked together across an
IP-only network. The two routers advertise the connection to the OSI
networks as if they were directly connected. The IP packets which are used to
transport the OSI through the IP network appear the same as any other IP
packet to the IP network. Figure 8-1 illustrates the concept.

8-2 Advanced data communications topics
Figure 8-1
Tunnelling
OSI network
OSI OSI packet
Router (OSI & IP)

Tunnel (virtual
path visible to OSI) OSI packet encapsulated
IP OSI
within IP packet
IP only network
OSI packet encapsulated

IP OSI
within IP packet
Router (OSI & IP)
OSI OSI packet
OSI network
An OSI-over-IP tunnel can also be used to provide extra protection to an OSI

link within a network which does support OSI. Two routers can be linked
together both by a normal OSI link and an OSI tunnel. If the link between the
routers fails and an alternative OSI route cannot be established but an IP route
can, the OSI is routed through the IP tunnel. This is dependent on the tunnel
being configured correctly as advised here. Figure 8-2 shows this particular
application of a tunnel. The router at each end of the tunnel must support the
protocol which is being sent across the tunnel. It must have a tunnel interface
configured and referenced to the router at the other end of the tunnel.

Figure 8-2
Tunnelling to protect partitioning
IP only network
Tunnel (virtual path visible to OSI)
OSI tunnel through IP only area
encapsulated in IP
IP only area
OSI packet
encapsulated in IP
OSI packet
OSI packet
encapsulated
within IP packet
OSI packet
encapsulated
s1 Router A V3 s0 Router B s1
(O S I and IP ) (OSI and IP)
e0 e0
LAN connection to NEs LAN connection to NEs
Partitioned OSI area
Routers in the DCN do not support partition repair when an OSI area is
fragmented. Figure 8-2 shows that after the area is partitioned by some
network event, both routers report routes to the same area, although neither
router has routes to all NEs in the area. To prevent this, the area is maintained
8
as a single entity by the OSI-over-IP tunnel. The metrics associated with the
tunnel are such that it is only used when the serial link between the two
routers is lost.
The tunnel is configured between two IP addresses. Normally an IP address is

the address of a specific interface. Therefore, if the interface goes down, the
tunnel fails even if another path still exists between the two routers that form
the tunnel. For this reason, Nortel Networks strongly recommends setting up
tunnels between circuitless IP interfaces, as this type of interface never goes
down.
Note: Each router can be anywhere within its respective OSI network
where there is an IP path to the other router which forms the tunnel. The
routers do not need to be at the edge of the part of the network which
supports OSI.

VRRP
Introduction
Each host on an IP LAN needs to have the IP address of its default gateway
(sometimes called the default router) configured if it is to communicate with
hosts on other IP subnets. If the default gateway fails in any way which affects
its ability to route packets to and from other subnets, the LAN segment it
serves becomes unreachable. The network is therefore vulnerable to a single
point of failure.
VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol) is a Nortel Networks

proprietary protocol which addresses this problem. A primary interface may
be backed up by up to 254 Nortel Networks interfaces on the same LAN. If
the primary default gateway interface fails, one of the backup interfaces
continues as the default gateway.
Note: This subsection covers the use of a single backup router only—
SDH DCN support is not available for configurations with multiple backup
routers.
Example
Figure 8-3
Typical network topology
IP Address:
192.168.17.3
Default Gateway:
192.168.17.1
EC-1
SDH DCN
192.168.17.1
192.168.17.0/24
Management IP LAN
IP Address:
Preside* 192.168.17.2
Default Gateway:
192.168.17.1
Note: The network manager Preside was formerly known as INM.
Consider the network in Figure 8-3. If the router in the above topology fails,
the network manager Preside (formerly known as the INM [Integrated

Network Manager) loses IP connectivity with any OPCs or ECs not on the
192.168.17.0/24 subnet. Similarly, if there are other Preside platforms
elsewhere in the SDH DCN, these will be unreachable for the EC-1 at
192.168.17.3.
The solution is to add a redundant router on the same LAN (Local Area
Network), and configure a ‘Virtual’ router on it and the primary default
gateway using VRRP, as in Figure 8-4. Thus, both routers present the virtual
router, with the redundant (or Backup) VRRP router taking on the role of
default gateway in the event of a failure of the primary (or Master) VRRP
router.
Figure 8-4
Network topology using VRRP
IP Address:
192.168.17.3
Default Gateway:
192.168.17.1 Router B
192.168.17.4
EC-1 Router A
192.168.20.2
SDH DCN
192.168.17.1
192.168.17.0/24 Management IP LAN
Preside
IP Address:
192.168.17.2
8
Default Gateway:
192.168.17.1
Note: The network manager Preside was formerly known as INM.
VRRP is configured on each of the routers—router A is the master router, and

router B is the backup router. If the interface at 192.168.17.1 fails, router B
detects it and takes over as the master router, taking on the IP address
192.168.17.1 for itself. When router A recovers, router B relinquishes its role
as master and returns to backup, and router A is reinstated as the master
router.
How VRRP works

Each router broadcasts a VRRP advertisement on a regular basis (default
1 second) over the interface configured for VRRP. This advertisement

contains, amongst other things, the IP address of the virtual router, the
advertising router’s priority, and the virtual router ID. From these
advertisements, the VRRP routers identify the master router from the
priority—the master router is the one which owns the interface with the
address which will be used as the default gateway. It will generally have the
highest possible priority of 255.
When a host on the LAN with the VRRP routers issues an ARP (Address
Resolution Protocol) request for the default gateway IP address, the master
router responds, but instead of replying with the MAC address of the Ethernet
port, as it would normally, it responds with a pseudo-MAC address of
0000.5e00.01<VRRP Virtual Router ID>. Subsequent traffic directed at that
MAC address is handled by the master router.
If the master router’s interface goes down, and it ceases to advertise in the
normal way, the backup router with the highest priority becomes the master
router. This means that it now takes ownership of the pseudo-MAC address,
taking on responsibility for all traffic directed at the pseudo-MAC address and
responding to any subsequent ARP requests for the default gateway address
with the same pseudo-MAC address.
If there are further failures, this process of transfer of default gateway

responsibility continues until there are no more backup routers.
When the original master router recovers, it resumes advertising itself, and
the normal election process ensures that it becomes master once more,
resuming responsibility as default gateway.
Critical IP interface
In addition to the protection offered by VRRP for the LAN interface, a second
interface on the master VRRP router—typically a WAN (Wide Area
Network) interface connected to the remainder of the network—may be
identified as a critical IP interface, so that if either interface were to fail, the
backup VRRP router would take over. Only one interface may be configured
as the critical IP interface.
Consider the network topology in Figure 8-4. If the interface at 192.168.20.2

were to fail, routes would again be lost, as the hosts on the LAN still directs
traffic destined for other subnets to router A, which cannot forward them. By
adding this second interface to the VRRP configuration as a critical IP
interface, router A can resign as gateway router if either interface fails,
allowing router B, which has a forwarding path intact, to take over.
When the interface with the critical IP address recovers, router A advertises
that it is healthy again, and resumes its role as default gateway.
Note: The critical IP address feature must be used with care—some

topologies should not use the critical IP address. In particular, where a
router has diverse paths (two or more) to the remainder of the network, the
critical IP interface field must be left at 0.0.0.0; otherwise routing may not
work under failure conditions.

HSRP
HSRP (Hot Standby Router Protocol) is a Cisco proprietary protocol which
addresses the same problems as VRRP. It is important to bear in mind that
HSRP and VRRP are similar in function, but do not interwork together.
The correspondence of terminology between HSRP and VRRP follows:

• Phantom router (HSRP) - Virtual router (VRRP)
• Active router (HSRP) - Master router (VRRP)
• Standby router (HSRP) - Backup router (VRRP)
A priority value is assigned to each router by a network administrator to

control the order in which active routers are selected. Priorities can also be
configured to change dynamically. Up to 255 interfaces can be configured
with HSRP on the same LAN. These principles are the same as for VRRP.
Protocol prioritization
As a router operates, network traffic from a variety of sources converges at
each WAN interface. Without protocol prioritization, the router transmits
packets in a FIFO (first-in, first-out) order. By implementing protocol
prioritization, the router is instructed to use a different transmit order for
specified ranges of packets.
Protocol prioritization, as implemented on BayRS routers, is an outbound

filter that allows certain types of frames to be given a higher or lower priority
when transmitted out of the circuit. An outbound filter can also drop any
traffic not wanted on the circuit. This feature is supported on synchronous
MCT1 and MCE1 interfaces running the following protocols:
• PPP
• Standard (Nortel Networks standard PPP) 8
• Frame Relay
• SMDS (Switched Multimegabit Data Service)
Furthermore, protocol prioritization is supported on HSSI (High-Speed Serial
Interfaces) running Frame Relay only. Specifically, prioritization is
performed at the virtual circuit level, and not at the HSSI driver level.
Note: Protocol prioritization is automatically enabled for circuits running

PPP, Frame Relay, and SMDS.
Priority queues
Depending on how protocol priority is configured, the router queues each
packet and holds them in one of the four priority queues:
• Low queue. Used for transmitting low-priority data such as file transfers or
web browsers.
• Normal queue. Used for all user traffic without an assigned priority. This
is the default for all traffic types.

• High queue. Used for critical or time-sensitive data, such as SNA (systems
network architecture).
• Interrupt queue. Used by various link management entities such as Frame
Relay, SMDS, or PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol).
The router will empty these queues by sending the traffic to the outbound
buffer, or transmit queue, based on a dequeuing algorithm (see Figure 8-5).
An outbound filter cannot be configured to direct traffic to the interrupt
queue. This queue is reserved for circuit management updates.
Figure 8-5
Packets being passed through prioritization and/or outbound filter
LMI
Queues: Interrupt High Normal Low

Dropped
Dequeuing algorithm
Transmit queue
Sync, HSSI, MCT1, MCE1 port

Priority filters and traffic

Priority outbound filters help time-sensitive traffic avoid loss of connections
and poor terminal response. The following are examples of time-sensitive
traffic:
• routing updates such as RIP (Routing Internet Protocol) and OSPF (Open
Shortest Path First)
• terminal traffic-SNA (Systems Network Architecture), DEC LAT (Local
Area Transport) and Telnet
• high-priority applications
• spanning tree BPDUs (Bridge Protocol Data Units)
• smoothing out bursty traffic
Prioritizing traffic is particularly useful in the following situations:

• slow-speed synchronous lines
• synchronous lines with heavy traffic
• synchronous lines with time-critical packets
• restricting traffic from being transmitted
Dequeuing
The two following dequeuing algorithms determine how packets are removed
from the high, normal, and low queues:
1 bandwidth allocation algorithm
2 strict dequeuing algorithm
Other configured values also affect the transmission of traffic. These are:
• latency
• queue size 8
Bandwidth allocation algorithm
Using bandwidth allocation algorithm (see Figure 8-6), the queues are
serviced based on a configured percentage of the transmit queue utilization.
The router transmits from one queue until the utilization percentage of the
transmit queue is reached. When the router reaches this percentage, it services
the next lower-priority queue.
Default percentages are as follows:

• 70% for high priority
• 20% for normal priority
• 10% for low priority

Figure 8-6
70%
20%
10%
High Normal Low
Strict dequeuing algorithm

Using the strict dequeuing algorithm (Figure 8-7), the queues are serviced
high to low for a given time, called latency. Servicing begins with the high
queue and moves to the normal queue when the high queue is empty. When
the latency period is reached, a new round of servicing begins, with the high
queue serviced first.
Therefore, if there is a lot of high priority traffic, the router may not have the
chance to service the normal and low priority traffic.
Figure 8-7
#1 #2 #3
High Normal Low
Latency
Latency, or line delay, specifies how many normal and low-priority bytes the
router can allocate to the transmit queue at any one time. Latency, therefore,
determines the delay that a high-priority packet could experience.
Latency is based on the line speed of the attached media and the number of bits
queued. The following formula illustrates how line speed, bits queued and
latency value are related:
Latency = Bits queued/Line speed (bit/sec)
Nortel Networks recommends the default value of 250 ms.

A lower value will potentially result in lower throughput for normal and low-
priority packets or possibly prevent them from being queued. A higher value
may result in slower terminal response time.
Queue size
Queue size is the number of packets each priority queue can hold; this is a
configurable number. Queue size determines the number of buffers set aside
for each queue to hold packets. If an insufficient number of buffers are
assigned, packets may be clipped (dropped).
The following protocol prioritization statistics help determine appropriate

settings for queue size:
• High-water packets mark. This is the greatest number of packets that
have been in each queue.
• Clipped packet count. This indicates the number of packets the router has
discarded from each queue when the priority queue is full.
If clipped packets are occurring and it is not a transient condition, it is possible

to:
• increase the queue size for the affected queue and decrease the queue size
for the queue that consistently uses only a small number of buffers.
• remove the priority status of some traffic, especially if using the strict
dequeuing algorithm.
end of chapter

9-1
Example SDH DCN design 9-
For a definitive statement of engineering limits,

refer to SDH DCN Design for Transmission Products
(323-4061-100, Appendix A) or the appropriate
Access product guide.
Overview
This section contains a worked example of an SDH DCN design including a
small OPTera LH network. It supplements other chapters in this publication
and illustrates how to apply the guidelines detailed in SDH DCN Design for
Transmission Products, 323-4061-100, and SDH DCN Design Using Nortel
Networks Routers, 323-4061-101.
SDH DCN design

SDH DCN design should follow these stages:
1 SDH network analysis
2 SDH management domain definition, including:
— OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) area identification
— Router network design
— OSI addressing 9
— IP (Internet Protocol) addressing
3 Power supply type
4 Location definition considerations
5 Generation of component list
6 Configuration
7 Installation/integration information
SDH network analysis

A network is provided for the purposes of this example in Figure 9-1.

9-2 Example SDH DCN design
The following information is collected:

• Quantities
— TN-16X ADMs (Add/Drop Multiplexers): 9
— TN-16X regenerators: 4
— TN-4XE/16XE: 42
— TN-1X/TN-1C: 165
— TN-64X: 10 (note TN-64X Release 3 is comparable to DX1 in this
example)
— OPTera LH Repeaters: 2
— OPTera LH OAS (Optical Amplifier Shelf): 4
• interfaces
— All connection lines on the diagram are optical bi-directional links
(that is, representing two fibres, except for the point-to-point OPTera
LH network which uses a single fibre).
• topology
— The northwest rings contain 51 IS (Intermediate System) NEs.
— The northeast ring contains 72 IS NEs.
— The north central ring contains 36 IS NEs.
— The OPTera LH system contains 6 IS NEs.
— The south central and southwest rings contain 71 IS NEs.

Management Management
location #1 location #2
Figure 9-1
Network example
Northwest rings
Northeast ring
North central ring
KEY
OPTera LH network O PTe ra LH
R epe ater
T N -64 X
OAS
T N -16 X
South central ring
TN -1 6X E /4 X E
Southwest
ring T N -1 X/1C
S TM -16
R eg ene rato r

9
SDH management domain

The whole network contains 236 IS NEs (Network Elements), which exceeds
the limit of 150 ISs per OSI area. Since the north and south central rings will
grow in the future, several OSI areas will be required to cater for expansion.
DCN topology
The first action is to group the SDH NEs into areas and allocate the routers.
Base the areas around the various rings and include a management area. The
large sizes of the northwest and northeast rings make them obvious separate
areas. The remainder of the system will be 113 NEs. Given the 150 IS limit, it
is prudent to have two areas. The best partition is to include the OPTera LH
system in with the north central ring and have a separate area for the south
central ring and southwest ring. The addition of a management area gives a
total of five areas.
So in summary we have the following OSI areas:

• management area
• Area 1: Northwest rings with 51 IS NEs.
• Area 2: North central ring and OPTera LH system with 42 IS NEs.
• Area 3: South central ring and Southwest ring with 71 IS NEs.
• Area 4: Northeast ring with 72 IS NEs.
Arrange the four areas in a chain. Connect each end of the chain to a
management area.
Figure 9-2
Management domain
SDH Management Domain
SDH Management Area

SDH Management SDH Management
Location Location
SDH NE SDH NE
Area 1 Area 4
SDH NE SDH NE
Area 2 Area 3
All inter- or intra-area links are E1 (2 Mbit/s).

Management systems
The following network managers are needed:
• EC-1: two per management site, each of which can control up to 128 low-
capacity NEs (TN-1X/1C and TN-4XE/TN-16XE)
• POPC (Partitioned Operations Controller) - OPTera LH: two deployed in
the system (primary and backup)
• POPC - TN-64X: four (two deployed in each of the central rings as primary
and backup)
• OPC (Operations Controller): two deployed in the STM-16 northwest ring
as primary and backup
• Preside managers: two (one in each management location)
Although not shown in Figure 9-3, xterms are often deployed at each location
to support multiple users on the Preside platforms.
Management area
A single 2-Mbit/s link is used to connect between the two management
locations. The management locations can be at any location where there are
two 2-Mbit/s links available into the SDH network.
Figure 9-3
SDH management area
SDH Management Location # 1 SDH Management Location # 2
PAP PAP
IP LAN IP LAN
EC-1 EC-1 EC-1 EC-1
Router (ASN)
OSI LAN
Router (ASN)
OSI LAN
9
M M M M
E1 E1
hub
OSI (L1/L2) and IP M high-speed

modem
OSI (L2 only) and IP OSI (L2 only) and IP
to SDH NE area 1 to SDH NE area 4
Note 1: Figure 9-3 is an overview of the management area. All LANs

(Local Area Networks) should be either IP-only or OSI-only.
Note 2: One EC-1 is capable of controlling 128 NEs.

Note 3: POPCs are deployed in pairs—one primary and one backup. From
OPTera LH Release 1.5 Repeater and OAS NEs (up to 34) can be in the
same SOC (span of control). However, the TN-64X NEs (up to 24 ADMs)
need to be in a separate SOC and hence need their own pair of POPCs.
POPCs should be deployed in the same OSI area as the NEs which they
manage.
Note 4: OPCs are deployed in pairs in the same OSI area as the NEs which
they manage. One pair can control up to 34 TN-16X elements in total, up
to 24 of which can be TN-16X ADMs. However, there is a limit of 16
TN-16X ADMs per ring.
Note 5: Preside is scalable to control an extremely large number of NEs.
Two are used in this network to protect the network against the failure of
one management location.
SDH NE areas
SDH NE area 1 consists of the northwest rings of TN-16XEs and TN-1Xs.
Two router locations are recommended for resilient access to SDH NE area
from the management area. Each router location contains a router and two
2-Mbit/s connections (here using high-speed modems between router serial
interfaces and NE tributaries).
Figure 9-4
SDH NE area 1
M
Router 1-2
2-1 M
1-1
N orthw est rings OSI LAN
OSI LAN
1-2 DCC OFF DCC OFF

Router 1-1 M ma-1
M
KEY
O PTe ra L H
R ep eater TN -1 6X E /4X E
T N -64 X T N -1 X /1C
OAS S TM -16
R eg ene ra to r
T N -16 X

Note 1: The routers are best placed on opposite sides of the area at
locations where headend NEs and 2 Mbit/s tributaries are available for
WAN (Wide Area Network) connections.
Note 2: In this case TN-1Xs are used as headend NEs and connected by
their OSI Ethernet ports to the collocated router OSI LAN. In this way the
headend NEs, and subsequently the rest of the NEs of the area, learn their
OSI address from the routers.
Note 3: All of the DCCs (Data Communications Channels) are enabled
except for the two STM-1 connections to the north central ring. These are
turned off to separate the northwest rings OSI area from other OSI areas.
Note 4: The 2 Mbit/s tributary connections (E1s) are made between the NE
and the router X.21 serial ports via high-speed modems. If possible each
serial connection should be hosted to different SDH devices to avoid a
single point of failure. If there is only one SDH device at a location the
serial connections should be hosted to different 2 Mbit/s tributary cards.
Note 5: Each E1 bi-directional connection at a router site is labelled to
show its far end (for example, ‘1-2’ means far end is router 2 in area 1 and
‘ma-1’ means far-end is management area router 1). There is always an
inter-area WAN connection between the routers running L1 (Level 1) and
L2 (Level 2) routing, in this case E1 1-2/1-1. The WAN connections out of
area 1 to the management area and area 2 are both L2 only.
Note 6: In the preceding example there are a number of potential single
points of failure (for example, the STM1 link between the TN-1X ring and
the TN-16XE ring). However, the routers will have a L1 OSI tunnel over
IP enabled between them to maintain the integrity of the OSI area in the
event of this kind of break.
Note 7: Only 63 NEs can be managed via a single TN-1X headend. In this
case if one headend fails, the limit has not been exceeded (that is, only 51
NEs in area).
Note 8: For password information regarding Nortel Networks routers in

the SDH DCN, refer to SDH DCN Design Using Nortel Networks Routers,
323-4061-101 (‘Access and security’). For password information
regarding Cisco routers in the SDH DCN, refer to SDH DCN Design Using
Cisco Routers, 323-4061-102 (‘Security’).
9

SDH NE area 2 consists of the north central ring, which incorporates the
OPTera LH system.
Figure 9-5
SDH NE and OPTera LH NE area 2
DCC OFF DCC OFF
DCC OFF
DCC OFF DCC OFF

North central ring
1-2 3-1
to OSI LAN to OSI LAN
2-2 PP PB 2-1
OPTera LH network
M
M
M
M
Router 2-1
Router 2-2
PP PB
IP LAN IP LAN
OSI LAN* OSI LAN*
*Backup in case of TN-64X failure
KEY
O PTera LH
R epe ate r T N -16 X E/4X E
T N -64X T N -1X /1C
OAS S T M -16
R ege nerator
TN -16X
Note 1: In Figure 9-5, the OPTera LH system transports the SDH traffic of
the north and south central TN-64X rings using four wavelengths over a
single fibre. The Repeater NEs are of the wavelength translator type and so
together with the OASs, form an optical-only network. There is no
demultiplexing of the SDH frames and neither RS DCC (Regenerator
Section Data Communications Channel) nor MS DCC (Multiplex Section
Data Communications Channel) are terminated. A bi-directional OSC
(Optical Service Channel) is implemented from end to end to allow
management from PP (POPC - Primary) or PB (POPC - Backup).
Note 2: The TN-64X NEs need to be in a separate SOC (Span of Control)
to the OPTera LH system. So they need their own PP and PB placed on
either side of the ring.

Note 3: Figure 9-5 shows some SDH NEs collocated with the OPTera LH
Repeaters. At each site there is a TN-64X, a TN-4XE, and a TN-1X with
E1 interfaces. These two sites, with their access to 2 Mbit/s tributaries for
WAN connections, are therefore chosen for the router deployments.
Note 4: At each of these headend sites the router needs direct IP LAN
connections to the local POPCs to allow management from Preside and a
direct OSI LAN connection to the OPTera LH Repeater and the collocated
TN-64X. This ensures the TN-64X ring and the OPTera LH system are
joined in the same OSI area, with the address being learnt from the router.
Note 5: All DCC channels are enabled except for the headend TN-64X
STM16 tributary connections to the south central ring (area 3), the
TN-4XE STM1 tributary connections to the northwest rings (area 1) and
the TN-4XE STM1 tributary connection to the southwest ring (area 3).
Note 6: The E1 WAN connections are labelled with their far-end router
reference, (for example, 3-1 indicates a far-end router 1 in OSI area 3).
Note 7: Generally when there are several collocated NEs at a headend site
which are to be in the same OSI area (that is, a choice of headend NEs is
available), ensure a direct LAN connection is made from the router to the
higher capacity NE.
Note 8: Here the OPTera LH system is using MORs (Multiwavelength
Optical Repeater) which are subject to a seven-hop (that is, seven-fibre
span) limitation. If the OPTera LH system included more NEs, then a
workaround would be required involving the addition of another router.
Note 9: If NEs with E1 access are not collocated with OPTera LH NEs at
sites where routers need to be deployed, then E1s will need to be leased
from a third-party telecoms operator.
SDH NE area 3 includes an TN-64X ring and a TN-4XE ring. Three router
locations are required, as each POPC requires direct connection to a router
and the TN-4XE spur requires a router.

Figure 9-6
SDH NE area 3
DCC OFF DCC OFF

DCC OFF OPTera LH system
South central ring
Southwest PP PB
ring
2-2 3-2
3-3 4-1 IP LAN
Router 3-1 M
M
3-1 IP LAN 3-2

M Router 3-3
M Router 3-2
OSI LAN M
M
OSI LAN
OSI LAN
KEY
O PTera L H
R epe ater T N -1 6X E /4 X E
T N -64 X T N -1X /1C
OAS S TM -16
R ege nera to r
T N -16X
Note 1: In Figure 9-6, the TN-64X ring is closed by its SDH STM64 traffic
passing transparently across the OPTera LH system.
Note 2: On all STM-N links, DCC is turned on (except the STM16
tributary connections to the north central ring and the STM1 tributary
connection from the southwest ring to the north central ring).
Note 3: The diagram shows the ideal placement for PP and PB for the
TN-64X SOC. In this example collocated NEs are available to provide E1
connectivity for WANs. Each POPC connects to the router IP LAN and
each router OSI LAN connects to the TN-64X headend OSI Ethernet port.
Note 4: Figure 9-6 shows a case when three routers are required in the
same OSI area. The positions of routers 3-2 and 3-3 are governed by the
POPC positioning rules and the fact that POPCs are always plugged
directly into one of the TN-64Xs they are managing. However, this area’s
topology includes a TN-4XE spur in the shape of the southwest ring.
Without router 3-1 a failure of the SDH link between the southwest ring
and the south central ring would cause a loss of management in the

southwest ring. Router 3-1 is required to provide a second path for DCN
comms to the southwest ring. The three routers are joined together by a L1
and L2 WAN with only 3-1 and 3-3 having L2-only WANs to other areas.
The E1 connection to 3-1 from 2-2 must be directed via the north central
ring connection to the southwest ring, while the E1 to 3-3 from 4-1 must
be via the south central ring. In this way if the STM1 link between the
southwest ring to south central ring fails, then area 3 integrity is maintained
by the OSI-over-IP GRE (Generic Route Encapsulation). If the E1 to 3-1
from 2-2 is carried over the southwest ring to south central ring connection,
then a failure of this STM1 link will leave the southwest ring and router
3-1 isolated.
SDH NE area 4 includes an STM-16 ring and TN-1Xs. Two router locations
are required. Each router location contains an OPC, a router and two 2-Mbit/s
connections.
Figure 9-7
SDH NE area 4
3-3
M
Router 4-1
M
IP LAN 4-2
OSI LAN
Northeast ring
OPC-B
OPC-P
OSI LAN IP
LAN
ma-2
M Router 4-2
4-1 M
STM4 trib 1
DCC OFF
KEY
STM4 trib 2
DCC OFF 9
O PTe ra L H
R ep eater TN -1 6X E /4X E
T N -64 X T N -1 X/1C
OAS S TM -16
R eg ene ra to r
T N -16 X
Note 1: OPCs plug directly into one of the TN-16X NEs in their SOC of
any one SDH link from isolating router 3.

Note 2: An OPC pair controls up to 16 TN-16X ADMs in a ring and 18

STM-16 regenerators.
Note 3: In a linear system, OPCs would be placed at each end for
maximum resiliency.
Note 4: Connect every OPC IP Ethernet port directly to a router.
Note 5: From TN-16X Release 7, an OSI Ethernet port is available on the
shelf controller. In Figure 9-7, this is used to connect to the local router. It
is assumed that a TN-1X is collocated with the TN-16X to provide the E1
WAN lines; however, it is preferred that the TN-16X is made the headend
NE (i.e, a direct OSI LAN connection made to the router).
Note 6: The E1 WAN connections are labelled with their far-end router
reference. The E1 paths must be diverse to protect against a single point of
failure. For example, 3-3 could go via STM4 trib 1 and the management
connection, ma-2, via STM4 trib 2.
Note 7: DCC is turned on except for the STM4 connections across to the
north central ring.
Note 8: Management packets can be communicated to TN-1X NE via the
DCC between TN-16X and TN-1X. This channel exists for both STM-1
electrical and optical interfaces.
Note 9: No more than two TN-1Xs can be connected to the same LAN and
have the DCC link to a shared TN-16X. The first two may have the DCC
to the TN-16X active and be connected to a LAN; after that, the others
must be connected via either the DCC or the LAN but not both. See
Appendix A of SDH DCN Design for Transmission Products,
323-4061-100 for more detail.
Addressing
The second action is to assign addresses to the DCN.
OSI addresses
For the purpose of this example, the ANSI country code format is used, using
an imaginary organization in Brazil. The OSI address is of the form
39.076F.8012.3456.0000.dddd.aaaa.eeee.eeee.eeee.00
where
• dddd is the domain, 0001 is used
• aaaa is the area, 0001 through 0005 is used
• eeee is the MAC (Media Access Control) of any given device in the
network. This needs to be a unique 6 byte hex number and it usually cannot
be changed.
• NEs are installed with a default address of 49.0000. They learn, or
compute, their 39. address from the routers in their L1 OSI areas.
• The EC-1s need to have their MAAs (Manual Area Addresses) set to the
particular 39. address in which they reside. They then need to be
programmed with the individual NSAP (Network Service Access Point)
addresses of NEs in their SOC in order to manage them.

Allocating the OSI address is now simple. It is:

• 39.076F.8012.3456.0000.0001.0005.eeee.eeee.eeee.00 for the
management area.
• 39.076F.8012.3456.0000.0001.0001.eeee.eeee.eeee.00 for SDH NE
area 1, with a second local format OSI address of
49.0000.eeee.eeee.eeee.00 for the routers.
Note 1: Routers in SDH NE areas are configured with two OSI addresses:
a local format OSI address, also referred to as an MAA, and an ISO DCC
OSI address.
Note 2: The local format OSI address is always 49.0000.eeee.eeee.eeee.00.
Note 3: Routers in an area with no SDH NEs (that is, management areas)
need only the ISO DCC OSI address.
Note 4: Configuration details need to define whether serial ports are
connected to another router in the same OSI area (L1/L2) or to a router in
a different OSI area (L2 only).
Note 5: Provide an IP tunnel between the routers to protect the link
between two routers in the same OSI area.
IP addresses
Assigning the IP addresses and subnetwork masks is a more involved process.
To assign the IP addresses and subnetwork masks, the following information
is required:
• the number of routers in each area
9
• the number of IP devices that are connected to each router (that is,
workstations for Preside and element controllers such as POPC, OPC, and
EC-1)
This example uses the IANA (Internet Address Numbering Authority) class C
addresses, which are reserved for private networks. These are addresses
192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255.
The example assumes that OSPF routing is used which allows classless IP
addressing.
Router serial ports are always configured with IP and OSI, whereas their
Ethernet ports are always separated into IP only or OSI only.

Network addresses for circuitless IP, IP LANs and serial links are to be chosen
from the range:
192.168.5.0 to 192.168.5.255
It is important to agree the IP address range with the customer at an early stage
in the DCN design. Even with a private network, the customer may seek to
minimize the address allocation for the DCN implementation.
The management area in this example contains two routers and six
workstations. Each router has a circuitless IP interface, an IP Ethernet
interface, and two serial interfaces.
• Serial ports and circuitless IP each require minimum subnet masks of
255.255.255.252 (that is, a 30 bit mask).
• The IP LANs are each required to support three hosts; a subnet mask of
255.255.255.240 (that is, a 28 bit mask) is chosen which allows up to 13
hosts per LAN plus the router interface. This leaves plenty of room for
future expansion such as the addition of more EC-1s or xterms.
• The management area IP addresses and masks are allocated as follows:
— 192.168.5.5/30 router ma-1 circuitless IP
— 192.168.5.9/30 router ma-1 serial 1/1
— 192.168.5.13/30 router ma-1 serial 1/2
— 192.168.5.17/28 router ma-1 IP Ethernet interface
— 192.168.5.18/28 EC-1#1 address
— 192.168.5.19/28 EC-1#2 address
— 192.168.5.20/28 Preside#1 address
— 192.168.5.49/30 router ma-2 circuitless IP
— 192.168.5.53/30 router ma-2 serial 1/1
— 192.168.5.10/30 router ma-2 serial 1/2
— 192.168.5.33/28 router ma-2 IP Ethernet interface
— 192.168.5.34/28 EC-1#3 interface
— 192.168.5.35/28 EC-1#4 interface
— 192.168.5.36/28 Preside#2 interface
• SDH NE areas tend to have more routers, but very few host IDs are
required. Generally each IP Ethernet port is connected to only one or two
OPC/POPCs. Most of the devices connected to a router in an SDH NE area
do not support IP. In the case of this particular example, a subnetwork mask
of 255.255.255.248 is used for each POPC/OPC IP LAN. This allows up
to five hosts and the router interface. Some routers do not need IP LANs.
The SDH routers, POPCs, and OPCs have the following IP addresses
allocated:
— 192.168.5.14 router 1-1 S1/1

— 192.168.5.57 router 1-1 circuitless IP

— 192.168.5.61 router 1-1 S1/2
— 192.168.5.62 router 1-2 S1/1
— 192.168.5.69 router 1-2 S1/2
— 192.168.5.70 router 2-1 S1/2
— 192.168.5.81 router 2-1 LAN
— 192.168.5.82 area 2 TN-64X PP
— 192.168.5.83 area 2 OPTera LH Repeater PP
— 192.168.5.77 router 2-1 S1/2
— 192.168.5.78 router 2-2 S1/1
— 192.168.5.89 router 2-2 LAN
— 192.168.5.90 area 2 TN-64X PB
— 192.168.5.91 area 2 OPTera LH PB
— 192.168.5.101 router 2-2 S1/2
— 192.168.5.102 router 3-1 S1/1
— 192.168.5.109 router 3-1 S1/2
— 192.168.5.110 router 3-2 S1/1
— 192.168.5.113 router 3-2 LAN
— 192.168.5.114 area 3 TN-64X PP
— 192.168.5.133 router 3-2 S1/2
9
— 192.168.5.134 router 3-3 S1/1
— 192.168.5.121 router 3-3 LAN
— 192.168.5.122 area 3 TN-64X PB
— 192.168.5.141 router 3-3 S1/2
— 192.168.5.142 router 4-1 S1/1
— 192.168.5.145 router 4-1 LAN
— 192.168.5.146 area 4 TN-16X OPC Primary

— 192.168.5.165 router 4-1 S1/2

— 192.168.5.166 router 4-2 S1/1
— 192.168.5.153 router 4-2 LAN
— 192.168.5.154 area 4 TN-16X OPC Backup
— 192.168.5.54 router 4-2 S1/2
Note 1: Large management areas for systems containing thousands of NEs

may well require multiple network addresses. Provide large amounts of
room for expansion of the network with IP networks.
Note 2: Links between routers that are in the same OSI area should have a
tunnel interface configured between them in order to protect the OSI
against link failure. The tunnel should be referenced to the circuitless IP
interface.
Note 3: The destination of the tunnel should be the circuitless IP interface
of the router at the other end of the tunnel.
Note 4: Enable the tunnel for L1 OSI routing.
Note 5: Do not use the host ID of all zeros or all ones.
Note 6: Choose suitably descriptive host names for the routers. Nortel
Networks suggests linking the name to the physical location of the router.
Figure 9-8 shows the DCN router network design. The IP addresses have
been abbreviated to the last decimal number. The OSI areas are abbreviated to
only the area bytes of the full address (that is,
39.076f8012.3456.0000.0001.0005 becomes 0005). OSI areas are separated
by WAN links running IP and OSI L2 only. Inter-area WANs run IP, OSI L1,
and OSI L2. Tunnels (that is, OSI over IP GRE) are set up between routers in
the same OSI area to protect against OSI area fragmentation.

Figure 9-8
DCN router network design
E C -1 E C -1 P resid e
E C -1 E C -1 P resid e
OSI OSI
(.17) (.33)
S12 ma-1 S11 S12 ma-2 S11

(.13) (.5) (.9) (.10) (.49) (.53)
L2 L2
GRE across OSI area 0005
(.54) S12
S11 (.14)
1-1 (.154) (.153) 4-2 OSI

OSI
(.57) (.169)
GRE GRE
S12 (.61) across across (.166) S11
OSI area OSI
0001 area OPC-B
S11 (.62) 0004 (.165) S12
(.145) 4-1 OSI
OSI 1-2 (.146) (.161)
(.65)
S12 (.69) (.142) S11
OPC-P
L2
S11 (.70) (.82)

2-1 (.81) PP
OSI (.73)
S12 (.77) GRE across
(.83) L2
PP OSI area 0002
S11 (.78) (.90)

9
2-2 (.89) PB
OSI (.97) PP PB
(.114) (.122)
S12 (.101)
(.91)PB
L2 (.113) (.121)
S11 3-1 S12 S11 3-2 S12 S11 3-3 S12

(.105) (.109) (.129) (.133) (.137) (.141)
(.102)
(.110) (.134)
OSI OSI OSI
GRE across OSI area 0003

Power supply type

Not all DCN devices (routers, modems, hubs and so forth) have both ac- and
dc-powered versions. Consider power supply for each location so that the
correct part can be purchased. Refer to SDH DCN Design Using Nortel
Networks Routers, 323-4061-101, Appendix A. Power availability may also
influence choice of deployment locations. Generally management sites will
be exclusively ac-powered while NE sites will be mainly dc-powered.
Location definition/considerations
A key consideration is access to E1s for router WAN links. In some cases the
customer’s infrastructure may not offer E1s at key locations (i.e, low-capacity
NEs with 2-Mbit/s tributaries may not be collocated with POPC/OPCs and
routers). OPTera LH optical-only NEs may well face this problem. In this case
E1s need to be obtained from a third-party telecoms operator as leased lines.
Consider the effects of a single point of failure and plan router locations and
connections accordingly, as shown in Figure 9-6 with the south central ring
and its three routers.
In the example shown in Figure 9-8, each router has been located in a
different site. All WAN connections are therefore made to collocated NE E1
tributaries. Consequently all router serial ports are set for external clock, at a
rate of 2048000 Hz. However, some network designs have multiple OSI areas
terminating at large sites (that is, many headend NEs, each sitting in its own
OSI area). In this case a router is required to connect to each headend NE OSI
port (that is, one Nortel Networks router for each OSI area terminating at the
site). In order to maintain the ring architecture of the router network, the
collocated routers are connected via back-to-back serial cables with OSI L2
only enabled across them. Directly connected routers are set for the internal
clock at a rate of 2.5 MHz.
In Figure 9-9, one of the router locations from the northeast ring is used as an
example to illustrate the connectivity at the location. This location consists of
one TN-16X, four TN-1Xs, an OPC, a router, and two G.703 modems. The
following are required:
• LAN to connect all the TN-1Xs, the router, and the OPC
• two E1 connections (75 Ω or 120 Ω)
• power for all DCN components
This is achieved by using a system as shown in Figure 9-9.

Figure 9-9
System illustrating connectivity at location
OPC OPC Ethernet

TN-16X straight cable
STM-1o ports
with no no with
DCC DCC DCC DCC
TN-1X
TN-1X
TN-1X
O SI LAN IP LAN
TN-1X Eth1 Eth2
E1 E1 Router 4-2
M Serial 1/1 Serial 1/2

G.703 modem DC M
75 Ω BNC
X 21
Note 1: TN-1Xs and TN-4Xs require an AUI (Attachment Unit Interface)

to 10Base-T transceiver to connect their NE LAN ports to the hub LAN
port.
Note 2: G.703 modems are switchable between 75 Ω or 120 Ω. For the
purposes of this example, 75 Ω will be used. Note that integral E1
interfaces are now available on some Nortel Networks routers which
would allow direct connections to NE 2-Mbit/s tributaries without the need
for high-speed modems.
Note 3: The OSI LAN can be expanded using a dc-powered hub. Connect 9
the LAN ports of the NEs together using the hub instead of using the
DCCs. Switch on the DCCs of no more than two of the NEs connected to
the hub.
Note 4: Leave one hub port free for plugging in diagnostic equipment or
terminals in the future. If there are not enough hub ports for all the NEs,
use DCCs.
Note 5: If no hub is used, switch on the DCC of all NEs.
Generation of components list

A components list is generated based on the equipment at the location.

Complete a site survey to ascertain mechanical details, cable lengths, and so

forth. Components at SDH NE locations are normally mounted in shelves.
The installation team selects mechanical parts after the site survey.
Table 9-1 details all the DCN components needed for this site.
Table 9-1
Needed DCN components
Description Part number Quantity
ARN dc-powered router including hub NTJM04KA 1
G.703 modem, dc-powered NTJM04GA 2
Modem cable 44-pin to X.21 15-pin NTJM04JA 2
AUI to 10BaseT transceiver NTJM01VA 4
20 metre LAN cable 32YCN00727CAA 4
20 metre OPC LAN cable NT7E44JE 1
—end—
Other required parts include:

• four 75 Ω BNC cables to connect G.703 modems to TN-1X
• suitable cable for -48 V dc power connections
• mechanical fixings and brackets
Installation/integration information
The preceding information in this example DCN design would need to be
summarized by the DCN designer and passed on to the installation/integration
teams. This information needs to include details on:
• locations
• addressing
• interfaces
• configuration
• connectivity
When the physical installation of DCN components, cables, and E1 links is

complete, a period of network integration is required to commission the DCN
network. It is recommended that all router configurations are produced in
advance either by the DCN designer or DCN integration engineer. If possible
the router configuration files should be sanity tested before being delivered to
the site.
Many standard router configuration templates are available. It is strongly

recommended that these templates are used as a basis for all router
configurations, as they contain default and preset values which will minimize

the amount of new information to be added and reduce the chance of

mistakes. For more information on templates, see SDH DCN Design Using
Nortel Networks Routers, 323-4061-101 and SDH DCN Design Using Cisco
Routers, 323-4061-102.
end of chapter

10-1
Appendix A: Obtaining addresses 10-

IP addresses
The global authority for IP (Internet Protocol) addressing is the IANA
(Internet Address Numbering Authority) NIC (Network Information Centre).
IANA delegates its address assignment to three regional bodies:

1 For Europe, Middle East, Africa: RIPE (Reseau IP Europeens):
http://www.ripe.net
address: RIPE NCC, Singel 258, 1016 AB Amsterdam, The Netherlands
e-mailhostmaster@ripe.net
2 For the Americas: ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers):
http://www.arin.net
address: ARIN, 4506 Daly Drive, Suite 200, Chantilly, VA 20151 United
States
e-mailhostmaster@arin.net
3 For Asia/Pacific:. Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
http://www.apnic.net
address:APNIC Ltd., Telecom Centre East, 4th floor, Mail Box 1017
2 – 38 Aomi, Koto-Ku, Tokyo 135-70, Japan
e-mailhostmaster@apnic.net
The three delegated bodies provide a service in the allocation of blocks of

addresses to their local in-country Internet registries. For further information
regarding securing for Nortel Networks’s customers their own block of IP
addresses, please visit the Web site of their regional authority as shown above.
The policy of IANA in the allocation of Internet protocol addresses is to adopt

the CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) strategy. The essence of this
strategy is not to allocate class A or B addresses, but rather to allocate
contiguous blocks of class C addresses. This provides for the better usage of
10
address space and also facilitates aggregation, which can reduce the size of
routing tables.
CIDR promotes the efficient allocation of the IPv4 address space by

eliminating the traditional concept of class A, class B, and class C (classful)
network addresses and substituting them with the concept of a ‘network
prefix’. The routers use this network prefix, rather than the first three bits of
the IP address, to determine the dividing point between the network number
and the host number. As a result, CIDR supports the deployment of arbitrarily

10-2 Appendix A: Obtaining addresses
sized networks rather than the standard networks normally associated with
classful addressing. In the CIDR model, every item of routing information is
advertised with a bit mask (prefix). The prefix length is a way of specifying
the number of left-most contiguous bits in the network portion of the routing
table entry. In order to support CIDR, routers do not make assumptions based
on the first three bits of the address; rather they rely on the prefix length
information provided with the route.
Nortel Networks recommends that customers use a specific class C allocation

requested from their appropriate regional authority. This both aligns with
CIDR and eases the integration of the SDH DCN with any existing Intranet.
However, IANA has reserved the following three blocks of address space for
private networks (that is, networks that are not connected to the public
Internet):
• 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 (class A)
• 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 (class B)
• 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 (class C)
Whilst it is practical to use class A or B (classful) addresses, Nortel Networks

recommends that where customers wish to use an address allocation for a
private network, a class C address from the above range is selected to align
with CIDR.
OSI addresses
Information regarding the allocation of ISO DCC addresses within the United
Kingdom and other countries that operate registered schemes can be found by
visiting the Web site of the International Register of ISO DCC NSAP
schemes at:
http://fm6.facility.pipex.com/fei/dcc-nsap.htm
end of chapter

11-1
Appendix B: Protocol references 11-

IP
• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP-RFC 793)
• Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4-RFC 791)
• Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6-RFC 1933)
• Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP-RFC 792)
• Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol (ARP-RFC 826)
• User Datagram Protocol (UDP-RFC 768)
• Point to Point Protocol (PPP-RFC1331)
• Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP-RFC 783/1350)
• File Transfer Protocol (FTP-RFC 414)
• Telnet Protocol (RFC 854)
• Bootstrap loading using TFTP (Boot FTP-RFC 906)
• Routing Information Protocol (RIP-RFC 1058)
• Routing Information Protocol 2 (RIP2-RFC 1723)
• Open Shortest Path First Protocol, version 2 (OSPF- RFC 1247)
• Extended Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP - Cisco proprietary)
OSI
• connection-mode transport service, as defined in ITU-T X.214
• connection-mode transport protocol Class 4 (TP4) mandatory procedures
for operating over the CLNS, as defined in ITU-T X. 224
• the transport layer profile for use over connectionless-mode network
services, as defined in ITU-T Q.812, section 3.2
• mandatory procedures, as defined in ITU-T X. 234 Connectionless-mode
Transport Protocol (CLTP)
• CLNS defined in ITU-T X.213/ISO 8473
• CLNP with full protocol subset of category “type 1” functions defined in
11
ITU-T X.233/ISO 8473
• ESs only ES-IS routing information exchange protocol as an ES defined in
ISO/IEC 9542 (ES-IS)

11-2 Appendix B: Protocol references
• ISs only ES-IS routing information exchange protocol as an IS defined in

ISO/IEC 9542 (ES-IS)
• ISs only IS-IS routing information exchange protocol as a Level-1 IS (SDH
NEs) defined in ISO/IEC 10589 (IS-IS)
• ISs only IS-IS routing information exchange protocol as a Level-2 IS
(routers) defined in ISO/IEC 10589 (IS-IS)
• SDH ECC (Embedded Communications Channel)
— data link layer service and LAP-D (Link Access Protocol on the
D-channel) defined in ITU-T Q.920 and ITU-T Q.921 (LAP-D)
— mapping between the OSI connection-mode data link service
primitives defined in ITU-T X.212 and the LAP-D service primitives
defined in ITU-T Q.920 defined in ITU-T G.784
— profile for the data link layer defined in ITU-T G.784
— physical layer to support one or more of the following interfaces:
– RSOH (Regenerator Section Overhead) DCC termination defined
in ITU-T G.784 (D1-D3). Serial channel bit rate 192 kbit/s
– MSOH (Multiplex Section Overhead) DCC termination defined in
ITU-T G.784 (D4-D12). Serial channel bit rate 576 kbit/s
• SDH OSI LAN:
— data link layer service and protocol defined in ISO 8802-2 (LLC1) and
ISO 8802-3 (MAC)
— profile for the data link layer defined in ITU-T Q.811, section 5.3.2
— physical layer to support one or more of the following interfaces
defined in ISO 8802-3:
– 10BaseT DTE (RJ45) NE, workstation, and 10BaseT transceiver
– 10BaseT DCE (RJ45) LAN hub
– AUI (15-way female D-type) router, NE, and workstation
• WAN (routers and modems):
— physical layer to support an ITU-T X.21 DTE serial interface. Serial
interface up to 2 Mbit/s. Modems provide for X.21 to G.703
conversion.
• asynchronous serial
— character set based on ITU-T T.50 (American Standard Code for
Information Interchange [ASCII]) and a physical interface based on
ITU-T V.24 as a DTE or DCE
• GRE
— GRE is defined in RFC 1701.
end of chapter

12-1
Appendix C: Recommended reading 12-

Halsall, Fred. Data Communications Computer Networks and Open
Systems
Jennings, Fred. Practical Data Communications. Modems, Networks, and
Protocols
Moy, John T. OSPF - Anatomy of an Internet Routing Protocol
Perlman, Radia. Interconnections. Bridges and Routers
Piscitello and Chapin. Open Systems Networking. TCP/IP and OSI
Cisco IOS Reference Library. Cisco IOS Wide Area Network Solutions
end of chapter
12
13
13-1
List of terms 13-

Terms specific to Access products:
ATU
Asynchronous Transfer Unit. A means to transport IP management data over
SDH networks for legacy PDMX-Es.
CENCA
Control unit for a legacy PDMX-E.
COBUQ, COBUX and COBUV

Control units for UE3000.
COBU<X>
Generic term for UE3000 control unit.
EOC
Dedicated 64 kbit/s channel for management comms in PDH aggregate.
F interface
A point-to-point RS-232 1200-115200 kbit/s interface for local and remote
management of the UE3000.
Legacy PDMX-E
PDMX-E Release 15 or earlier.
LSDB
Link State Database
MEGIF card
2 Mbit/s interface card
PDH ECC
N x 64 kbit/s Management Data Channel in a 2 Mbit/s PDH aggregate.
Preside UE3000 Manager

Unix Element manager for the UE3000.
Qx
LAN interface on a UE3000 COBUX card carrying OSI and IP protocols.

13-2 List of terms
Q1
A management communication interface to a bus conforming to RS 485.
Q1 master
An interface on the UE3000 COBUx card allowing management of legacy
multiplexers over their Q1 interfaces.
RS-232
See V.24.
SIFOX card
Allows access to the EOC channel from the F interface.
SCSI terminal server

Connects to SCSI interface on Preside UE3000 Manager workstation to
produce 16 RS232 “F” interfaces.
SDH ECC
Embedded Control Channel in all SDH aggregates running at either
192 kbit/s or 576 kbit/s.
SYNIO card
STM-1 aggregate card in a UE3000.
TRDB
Tunnel Routing Database
TTRP
Tunnel-to-Tunnel Routing Protocol. The tunnel discovery protocol.
UCST
UE3000 craft terminal connected via the F interface.
V.24
CCITT standard defining the DTE-DEC physical interface. Also known as
RS-232.

List of terms 13-3
Terms used generally within the SDH DCN: 13

10BaseT
Ethernet wiring scheme using twisted-pair cabling in a star configuration.
Uses RJ-45 connectors and has a reach of up to 100 m. Maximum bit rate is
10 Mbit/s.
100BaseTX
Ethernet wiring scheme using twisted-pair cabling in a star configuration.
Uses RJ-45 connectors and has a reach of up to 100 m. Maximum bit rate is
100 Mbit/s.
adjacencies database
In OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) protocol, a list of all a router’s
neighbours.
ADM
Add-Drop Multiplexer
AFI
Authority and Format Identifier
AH
Authentication Header
AN
Access Node
ANH
Access Node Hub
ARN
Access Remote Node
ARP
Address Resolution Protocol
AS
Autonomous System
ASBR
Autonomous System Boundary Router
ASN
Access StackNode
ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
ATU
Asynchronous Telemetry Unit

13-4 List of terms
AUI
Attachment Unit Interface. Connection to 10BaseT LAN requires 10BaseT
transceiver to be provisioned.
autonomous system
An IP data communications network of hosts, routers, and networks under the
same administration. Inside the autonomous system, interior gateway
protocols such as RIP or OSPF are used to maintain routing information. It
functions as an independent system with regard to other IP networks. In order
to reach other Autonomous Systems, a ‘gateway’ is required (for example,
running a Border Gateway Protocol).
backbone area
Area to which all other OSPF areas are connected, either directly or via a
virtual link. It is always referred to as area 0.0.0.0.
BCC
Bay Command Console
B channel
Bearer Channel
BLN/BCN
Backbone Link Node/Concentrator Node
BN
Backbone Node
BOFL
Breath of Life. A Bay proprietary link quality monitor.
border router
A router which sits between two OSPF areas.
boundary router
A router which sits between an OSPF and non OSPF area.
BPDU
Bridge Protocol Data Unit
BRI
Basic Rate Interface
bridge
Joins two or more LAN segments together at the OSI data link layer (layer 2).
Bridges are normally connected together in pairs--one at either end of a WAN
serial link. The terms ‘transparent bridge’ or ‘spanning tree bridge’ are
sometimes used to refer to bridges that link Ethernet LANs.
CHAP
Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol

List of terms 13-5
CIDR
Classless Inter-Domain Routing
13
CLNS
Connectionless-mode Network Service
CLNP
Connectionless-mode Network Layer Protocol
CLTP
Connectionless-mode Transport Protocol
CLUI
Command Line User Interface
CNET
Communications Network. Data bus used to connect OPC to TN-16X.
Community Strings
A rudimentary level of security provided by SNMP.
CORBA
Common Object Request Broker Architecture
cost
Routes have a cost associated with them. The higher the cost the less
favourable the route. With RIP the costs of routes is a simple hop count to a
limit of 15. Routes of 16 hops and over are unreachable in RIP terms. OSPF
has a number of metrics which are converted with algorithm into a cost.
cost of a link
In OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) protocol, cost is computed from
bandwidth, real cost, availability, reliability and other link metrics.
CP
circuit pack
cross-connect
A network element which allows flexible switching of traffic containers
between interface and any other.
CSM
Centralized Software Manager
CSMA/CD
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
CSPDN
Circuit Switched Public Data Network

13-6 List of terms
DCC
(1) Data Communications Channel, defined in G.784, Synchronous Digital
Hierarchy (SDH) Management. DCCr = D1-D3; DCCm = D4-D12.
(2) Data Country Code.
DCD - PRC
Digital Clock Distributor - Primary Reference Clock. The Digital Clock
Distributor - Primary Reference Clock (DCD-PRC) is a range of timing
source options. The main item, in terms of being an NE requiring
management over the DCN, is the DCD 521 digital clock distribution shelf
which supports options for GPS and cesium timing sources.
DCE
Data Circuit Terminating Equipment. Refers to the equipment that provides a
connection into a data transmission network. In this document the term is
used to refer specifically to the type of physical interface provided by the
equipment.
DCN
Data Communications Network
designated router
A router elected on the basis of OSPF priority.
DIL
Dual In-Line
DNS
Domain Name System
DR
Designated Router
DRAM
Dynamic RAM
DSP
Domain Specific Part
DTE
Data Terminal Equipment. This term refers to equipment that is to be
connected to a network. In this document the term is used to refer specifically
to the type of physical interface provided by the equipment.
DVP
Distance Vector Protocol
DWDM
Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing

List of terms 13-7
EC
Element Controller. Consists of a workstation and software. Used to
13
configure one or more NEs. EC and NE are connected via a network which is
the DCN.
ECC
Embedded Communications Channel. See DCC.
EEPROM
Electronically Erasable PROM
EGP
Exterior Gateway Protocol
EIGRP
Enhanced Internet Gateway Routing Protocol. A Cisco proprietary routing
protocol
EIA
Electronic Industries Association
end system
Provides a source and destination for data communications traffic. ESs can be
attached to one or more data communications links or subnetworks, but they
cannot pass data communications traffic between them. The EC (Element
Controllers) and some NEs (for example, TN-1P and ATU) are ESs.
ES
End System. See above.
ESH
End System Hello
ESP
Encapsulating Security Payload
ES-RIB
End System Routing Information Base
ESWD
Electronic Software Download
FCS
Frame Check Sequence
FIB
Forwarding Information Base
FIFO
First-In, First-Out

13-8 List of terms
FTP
File Transfer Protocol
forwarding table
See Routing Table.
FRE
Fast Routing Engine
FRU
Field Replacement Unit
GNB
Graphical Network Browser
GNE
Graphical Network Editor
GRE
Generic Route Encapsulation
GUI
Graphical User Interface
HDLC
High-Level Data Link Control
high-capacity SDH NE
TN-16X, TN-16 4F, TN-64X, and X/40.
HO-DSP
High Order Domain Specific Part
host
An IP equivalent of the OSI end system. Examples of IP hosts connected to
the SDH DCN are network controllers, element controllers, and X terminals.
HSRP
Hot Standby Router Protocol
HSSI
High-Speed Serial Interfaces
IANA
Internet Address Numbering Authority
ICD
International Code Designator
IDI
Initial Domain Identifier

List of terms 13-9
IDP
Initial Domain Part
13
IGP
Interior Gateway Protocol
IGRP
Internet Gateway Routing Protocol
INM
Integrated Network Manager, now known as Preside; formerly known as
NRM (Network Resource Manager)
IP
Internet Protocol
IPCP
Internet Protocol Control Protocol
intermediate system
Can pass data communications traffic between subnetworks to which it is
connected. This functionality is sometimes referred to as routing. Most SDH
NEs and third-party OSI routers are ISs. ISs may be Level 1 or Level 2.
IS
Intermediate System. See above.
ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network
ISDN-BRI
Integrated Services Digital Network Basic Rate Interface
ISH
Intermediate System Hello
ISO
International Organization for Standardization
IS RIB
Intermediate System Routing Information Base
ITU-T
International Telecommunications Union Telecommunications
Standardization Section. Previously known as CCITT.
L1
Level 1 routing
L2
Level 2 routing

13-10 List of terms
LAP-D
Link Access Protocol on the D-channel
LAN
Local Area Network
LAT
Local Area Transport
LCAP
Local Craft Access Panel
LCP
Link Control Protocol
LED
Light Emitting Diode
link state
In OSPF protocol, the status of a link between two routers.
link state database

A list of link states from all other routers in the OSPF area. All peer routers in
a fully converged routing area have identical link state databases.
LLC
Logical Link Control
low-capacity SDH NE
NE which multiplexes Virtual Containers VC12 and above (that is, all NEs
not regarded as high capacity, including ATU).
LQM
Link Quality Monitoring. A Bay proprietary Layer 2 protocol.
LQR
Link Quality Reporting
LS
Link State
LSA
Link State Advertisement. Routing information distributed by ABRs in an
OSPF network.
LSD
Link State Database
LSDU
Link State Data Unit

List of terms 13-11
LSP
Link State Packet. Routing information distributed by all routers in an OSI
13
network. Link State Protocol.
MAA
Manual Area Address
MAC
Media Access Control
MANLAN
Management LAN
MDI
Media Dependent Interface
MDI-X
Media Dependent Interface (Crossed). Switch setting which changes the
polarity of a UTP port.
MI
Maintenance Interface
MIB
Management Information Base. Contains various types of information, such as
read-only data which describes the equipment (manufacturer, model, and so
forth), read-write data used to configure the equipment and statistical data,
which may be read or cleared by the management station.
MIS
Maintenance Interface System
MOA
Managed Object Agent
MOR
Multiwavelength Optical Repeater
MS-SPRing
Multiplex Section Shared Protection Ring (MS-SPRing)
MS DCC
Multiplex Section Data Communications Channel. D4 -D12 bytes of the
MSOH.
MSOH
Multiplex Section Overhead. Administration bytes in the STM1 module
which are regenerated by each add/drop multiplexer but passed transparently
through a regenerator unit. Also see RSOH.
MSP
Multiplexer Section Protection

13-12 List of terms
MTBF
Mean Time Between Failures
MTD
Memory Technology Driver
MTTR
Mean Time To Repair
MX
Message Exchange
NC
Network Controller
NCP
Network Control Protocol
NE
Network Element. Refers to an element within the SDH network, such as a
TN-1X, TN-4X etc.
NELAN
Network Element LAN
NET
Network Entity Title. OSI address used for routing purposes.
NIC
Network Interface Card; Network Information Centre
NMM
Network Management Modules
NPA
Network Point of Attachment
NRM
Network Resource Manager, now known as Preside. Workstation with
software used to provide network services across an SDH network.
Connected to ECs via the DCC. See also INM.
NSAP
Network Service Access Point. OSI address used for the purpose of
communication between users or applications.
NSSA
Not so stubby areas. In OSPF protocol, stub areas which receive certain link
state updates from external networks.
NVRAM
Non-Volatile Random-Access Memory
List of terms 13-13
OADM
Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer
13
OAM&P
Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning
OAS
Optical Amplifier Shelf
OCI
Optical Channel Interface
OFA
Optical Fibre Amplifier
OPC
Operations Controller. Element controller used by TN-16X, and X/40 radio.
OSC
Optical Service Channel
OSI
Open Systems Interconnect
OSPF
Open Shortest Path First. A routing protocol intended to be used in larger
networks. See also RIP.
OSPF area
A collection of connected routers which exchange link state updates.
OSPF designated router

The concept of designated router in an OSPF environment is similar to that of
OSI. The differences are:
— a router with a priority of 0 never becomes DR

— if a router with a higher priority connects to the network there is no
re-election
— changing router priorities does not cause a re-election
— changing router IDs does not cause a re-election
OSPF multicasts
Packets sent out with a destination IP address of 224.0.0.5 are sent to all
OSPF routers. Packets sent out with a destination IP address of 224.0.0.6 are
sent to all OSPF designated routers.
OSPF routing table

Produced from the OSPF link state database.

13-14 List of terms
PAP
Password Authentication Protocol; Preside Application Platform
PB
POPC - Backup
PCMCIA
Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
PDMX-E
Primary Digital Multiplexer-Enhanced. Now known as UE3000.
PDUs
Protocol Data Units
PMOM
Preside Manager for OPTera Metro
policy filter
A parameter that applies only when an OSPF network uses external routes.
An announce filter acts on the outward advertisements form the OSPF area
and the accept filter acts on inward advertisements. As the LSPs are modified
by the filter and the resultant used to produce a routing table, it follows that
policy filters need to be applied to all routers in the OSPF network and not
just to the boundary router.
POPC
Partitioned Operations Controller. Element Controller used with TN-16 4F,
TN-64X, and OAS.
Preside Application Platform

A high-level network manager (formerly known as INM [Integrated Network
Manager] and NRM [Network Resource Manager]).
private network
Network that is not connected to another network (specifically the Internet).
PROM
Programmable Read-Only Memory
PP
POPC - Primary
PPP
Point-to-Point Protocol standard
PSDN
Public Switched Digital Network
PSTN
Public Switched Telephone Network

List of terms 13-15
PTT
Post, Telephone, and Telegraph
13
PVC
Permanent Virtual Circuit
QOS
Quality Of Service
RD
Routing Domain. See Routing Domain.
repeater
Joins two or more LAN segments together at the OSI physical layer (layer 1).
An example of a repeater in the SDH DCN is the 10BaseT LAN hub, which is
a multiport repeater.
No more than four repeaters are allowed between any two DTEs connected to
an ISO 8802-3 10 Mbit/s baseband CSMA/CD or Ethernet LAN.
RIB
RIP
Routing Internet Protocol. A simple widely used routing protocol for small
networks. See also OSPF
RML
Router Management Lab
RMON
Remote Monitoring. RMON probes can be physical devices, which can be
linked to a variety of network interfaces, or software agents within network
devices. Typical of the statistics maintained by RMON probes are packets in
and out, octets in and out, errors, broadcasts, and multicasts. More
sophisticated probes are capable of characterising traffic by packet size, frame
size and protocol. Management stations are able to poll RMON probes and
present network utilization data in real-time.
router
Joins two or more LAN segments together at the OSI network layer (Layer 3).
Routers are normally connected to other routers over WAN serial links.
Routers forward packets on the most appropriate port to each of their

destinations. Routers determine which is the most appropriate port for
accessing their routing tables. The entries in these routing tables are entered
manually or built up by dynamic routing protocols (RIP/OSPF for IP and
ES-IS/IS-IS for OSI) between routers.

13-16 List of terms
Cisco routers can be configured to route IP and OSI protocols if they have
Enterprise software. They can be configured to support one or both protocols
on an individual port basis.
SDH NEs that are classified as Intermediate Systems are OSI protocol
routers.
Routing is preferred to bridging, since it reduces to a minimum the amount of

data traffic crossing the WAN. In addition, it finds the quickest route between
any two DTEs.
router ID
In OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) protocol, this is the number by which
each router is known to OSPF. On a Bay router the default is the IP address of
the first configured interface. On Cisco the default is the highest configured
IP address. On both routers it should be manually configured to be the same
as the circuitless IP address.
routing domain
An OSI data communications network of end systems, intermediate systems,
and networks under the same administration. Inside the routing domain,
intra-domain routing protocols (such as the ES-IS protocol and the IS-IS
[L1/L2] protocol) are used to maintain routing information. It functions as an
independent system with regard to other OSI networks. In order to reach other
routing domains, a “gateway” is required (for example, running an
inter-domain routing protocol).
routing table
Also known as a forwarding table. The best routes are chosen from all
protocol routing tables. Note that each router has a different routing table.
RS DCC
Regenerator Section Data Communication Channel. D1-D3 bytes of the
RSOH.
RSOH
Regenerator Section Overhead. Administration bytes in the STM-n module
which are regenerated by each add/drop multiplexer and regenerator unit.
Also see MSOH.
SC
Shelf Controller
SDH
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
SDH management domain

The set of all ESs, ISs, and the links between them, involved in SDH
management for a particular customer network. All OSI addresses associated
with these systems have the same structure.

List of terms 13-17
SEL
Selector
13
SID
System Identifier
SIM
Station Interface Module
SMDS
Switched Multimegabit Data Service
SNA
Systems Network Architecture
SNCP
Subnetwork Connection Protection
SNMP
Simple Network Management Protocol
SNPA
Subnetwork Point of Attachment
SOC
Span of Control
SOF
Start of Frame
SOH
Section Overhead
SOHO
Small Office/Home Office
SPF algorithm
Shortest Path First algorithm
standard area
In OSPF protocol, area which is not the backbone area but which receives all
link state updates from external networks.
stub areas
In OSPF protocol, these are areas which although can have more than one
interface, by definition do not carry transit data and do not receive link state
updates from external networks. As the standard DCN uses only a backbone
area 0.0.0.0, stub areas are not used in the standard DCN. All routers in a stub
area must be set to be stub routers. How this is implemented varies between
router manufacturers.

13-18 List of terms
STM
Synchronous Transfer Mode
STP
Shielded Twisted Pair
TCP
Transmission Control Protocol
TCP/IP
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TFTP
Trivial File Transfer Protocol
TI
Technician’s Interface
TMN
Telecommunications Management Network
TT
Terminal Timing
TTL
Time to Live
totally stubby areas

In OSPF protocol, stub areas which do not receive summary LSAs.
UDP
User Datagram Protocol
UI
(1) User Interface. (2) Unnumbered Information.
UTP
Unshielded Twisted Pair
VLAN
Virtual Local Area Network
VRRP
Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol
WAN
Wide-Area Network
WT
Wavelength Translator

List of terms 13-19
XR
Regenerator
13
xterm
A machine presenting a GUI which conforms to the X-Windows open
standard for connection to an application running on a remote system.
end of chapter

14
14-1
Index 14-
‘head-end’ NE 1-6 addressing
‘Shortest Path First’ algorithm 5-5 classful 10-2
100BaseT 3-11 OSI
10Base2 3-10 recommended schemes 7-10
10Base5 3-10 adjacencies database, OSPF 6-8
10BaseT adjacency
advantage of 3-10 definition of 7-9
cable types 3-13 administrative distance, Cisco routers 6-13
device interconnection 3-9 advanced data communications topics 8-1
1600G amplifier 4-8 algorithms
configuration 4-8 ‘Shortest Path First’ 5-5
OSC card 4-8 backoff 3-8
5-4-3 rule bandwidth allocation 8-9
hubs 3-2 dequeuing 8-8
7-layer model, OSI 2-1 in dynamic routing 5-1
functions of layers 2-2 Spanning Tree 3-4
hierarchy 2-1 strict dequeuing 8-9
Layer 3 announce filter 6-7
implementation methods 5-1 application layer 2-1
function of 2-4
A area limits, SDH NEs 1-7
Access StackNodes 4-16 area, OSPF 6-8
acronym usage xiv areas
address in networks 6-6
assignment 10-1 in OSI networks 7-1
address allocations 6-20 OSPF 6-6
class C 10-2 OSPF example 6-10
address blocks rules for use 6-6
private networks 10-2 ARP
address classes 6-2 use of 6-4
Address Resolution Protocol AS 1-3
use of 6-4 ASBR 4-6, 6-8
address space ASN 4-16
private networks 10-2 assigning addresses to DCN 9-12
address, PPP 4-13 assigning IP addresses 9-13
addresses assigning subnetwork masks 9-13
IANA class C 9-13 associated information xiv
IP, obtaining 10-1 Attachment Unit Interface 3-10

14-2 Index
ATU in SDH DCN 3-2

Asynchronous Telemetry Unit 1-4 latency 3-7
audience xiii non-designated 3-6
AUI 3-10 priority value assignment 3-6
authenticate phase, PPP 4-14 bridges and switches 3-2
Autonomous System 1-3 bandwidth 3-2
Autonomous System Border Router 6-8 collision domain 3-2
Autonomous System Boundary Router 4-6 filter table 3-2
forwarding table 3-2
B MAC address 3-2
backbone area 6-6 memory issue 3-8
backbone area, OSPF 6-8 bridging
backoff algorithm 3-8 transparent 3-2
balun broadcast address 6-1
definition of 4-3 broadcast domain 3-1, 3-2
bandwidth broadcast networks 3-1
bridges and switches 3-2 broadcast storms 2-3
definition of 5-8 bridge/switch loops 3-3
hubs 3-2 buffer capacity
limits within LANs 3-9 memory 3-8
maximum on WAN links 4-15 bursty LAN traffic 3-8
Multiline PPP values 4-16 bus networks
on redundant links 3-7 Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
bandwidth allocation algorithm 8-9 Collision Detection 3-8
example 8-10 CSMA/CD 3-8
bandwidth capabilities see also Ethernet networks 3-8
external DCN 1-2
bandwidth considerations C
OSPF, RIP 6-12 CAA 7-9
bandwidth, routing metric 5-8 cables
bandwidth-on-demand 10BaseT types 3-13
definition of 4-4 crossover 3-12
Bellman-Ford algorithms 5-2, 6-5 drop cable 3-10
blocking mode for 10BaseT devices 3-9
bridges 3-7 in physical layer 2-2
BOFL 4-4 in site surveys 9-20
border router, OSPF 6-8 in WANs 4-1
boundary router 6-7 RJ-45 3-10
boundary router, OSPF 6-8 call authentication 4-7
BPDU 3-6 Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
breaking loops 3-6 Detection 3-8
Breath of Life 4-4 Challenge-Handshake Authentication
Bridge Protocol Data Unit 3-6 Protocol 4-7
bridge/switch failure CHAP 4-7
Spanning Tree algorithm in 3-4 CHAP authentication
bridged/switched network example 4-7
loops in 3-3 CIDR 6-12
bridges 3-2 IP address strategy 10-1
blocking mode 3-7 model 10-2
definition of 3-1

Index 14-3
CIDR address connectivity

example 6-3 at location, example 9-19
CIDR addresses 6-3 control, PPP 4-13
notation 6-3 convergence
circuit failure OSPF 6-11
Multiline PPP 4-16 RIP 6-11 14
circuitless IP corruption
tunnel 8-3 filter tables 3-3
circuitless IP interface cost of link, OSPF 6-8
’loopback’ 6-4 costs, OSPF 6-7
definition of 6-3 costs, routing 5-7
class A address 10-2 CSMA/CD 3-8
for private networks 10-2 collision reduction 3-8
class A, B, and C addresses 6-2 limits on Ethernet switches 3-9
class B address 10-2 customer network 1-3
for private networks 10-2 IP in 1-3
class C address 10-2 OSI in 1-3
allocation 10-2 size 1-3
for private networks 10-2 cut-through switches 3-7
classful addresses 10-2 definition of 3-7
classful addressing 10-2
Classless Inter-Domain Routing address D
mask 6-3 Data Circuit Terminating Equipment 3-12
clipped packet count 8-11 data comms devices in external DCN 1-2
CLNP 1-2, 7-14 Data Communication Channels 1-2, 4-7
CLNS 7-14 Data Communications Networks
CLNS/CLNP 7-14 definition 1-1
clock signal, modem 4-2 internal and external 1-1
closed loop need for 1-1
bridged network 3-4 data link layer 2-1
closed loops 3-3 bridges 2-3
collision domain connection oriented link service 2-3
bridges and switches 3-2 connectionless link service 2-3
hubs 3-1 error recovery 2-2
collision reduction function of 2-2
susing CSMA/CD 3-8 switches 2-3
collisions data path failure
device detection of 3-8 Spanning Tree algorithm in 3-4
collocated routers 4-1 Data Terminal Equipment 3-12
communication cost, routing metric 5-8 data traffic
comparison between OSPF and RIP 6-11 optimum path 3-7
components list, generating 9-19 data transport
Computed Area Address 7-9 ISO 7-layer model 2-1
configuration templates, router 9-20, 9-21 DCC format NSAP 7-7
connection oriented link service 2-3 DCCs (Data Communications Channels)
connectionless link service 2-3 1-2, 4-7
Connectionless-mode Network Layer 1-2 disabling, OSI areas 1-6
connections DCCs (Data Country Codes)
in physical layer 2-2 format NSAP 7-7
in WANs 4-1 DCE 3-12

14-4 Index
DCN router use 4-1

definition 1-1 E1 interface, unframed 4-3
device power supply type 9-18 E1 links
internal and external 1-1 to management areas 1-6
IP use in 1-2 E1/FE1 modules 4-2
need for 1-1 E1s
DCN router network design access to
example 9-16, 9-17 for router WAN links 9-18
DCN topology 9-4 ECC 1-2, 4-1
dead phase, PPP 4-14 ECs 1-1
decimal notation IP and OSI use 1-2
IP addresses 6-2 MOAs 1-2
default and static routes PAP and NE information 1-7
example 6-13 Element Controllers 1-1
default routes 6-13 OSI and IP data 1-4
definition of 6-13 Embedded Communications Channel 4-1
delay, routing metric 5-8 Embedded Control Channel 1-2
dequeuing End System Hello 7-3
latency 8-9 End System Routing Information Base 7-3
queue size 8-9 End Systems 1-4
dequeuing algorithms 8-8 OSI 7-1
bandwidth allocation algorithm 8-9 engineering limits 6-2, 9-1
strict dequeuing algorithm 8-9 error control 2-4
designated bridge error detection
for LAN 3-6 by data link layer 2-2
in Spanning Tree algorithm 3-6 error recovery
designated port data link layer 2-2
in Spanning Tree algorithm 3-6 ES
designated router 5-5 function of 7-1
function of 5-6 OSI 7-1
designated router, OSPF 6-8 ESH 7-3
designated routers and pseudo-nodes 7-5 ES-IS
destination address where defined 7-3
filter table 3-2 ES-IS OSI routing protocol 7-3
distance vector algorithms primary functions of 7-3
routing loops in 5-2, 5-3 problems addressed 7-3
distance vector protocol 5-2 ES-RIB 7-3
distance vector routing protocols ESs 1-4
poison reverse 5-3 establish phase, PPP 4-14
split horizon 5-3 establishing the FIB 7-5
distance vector routing, example 5-2 Ethernet 3-8
DR 5-5 example physical implementations 3-10
function of 5-6 physical implementation of 3-9
drop cable 3-10 physical layers of 3-9
DTE 3-12 Ethernet address 8-1
dynamic routing 5-1 Ethernet networks 3-8
redistribution in 6-7 Ethernet switches
limits 3-9
E example
E1 4-1 SDH management area 1-6

Index 14-5
SDH NE area 1-7 protocol prioritization 8-7

example OSI configuration 7-12 frame synchronization
example SDH DCN 1-3 definition 2-2
example SDH DCN design 9-1 frames
example, network topology 1-5 in WAN links 4-1
external DCN 1-1 full-duplex dialogue, session layer 2-4 14
bandwidth capabilities 1-2 functions of layers, 7-layer model 2-2
data comms devices in 1-2
G
F G.703 modems 9-19
fan-out unit 3-10 connection to X.21 4-2
fast Ethernet 3-11 gateway (head-end) NEs 1-1
FCS generation of components list 9-19
in data link layer 2-2 Generic Route Encapsulation 8-1
in PPP 4-13 generic SDH DCN topology 1-8
FE1, fractionalized 4-3 GRE 8-1
FE1/E1 interfaces
example of 4-3 H
FE1/E1 modules 4-2 half-duplex dialogue, session layer 2-4
FIB 7-5 head-end (gateway) NEs 1-1
filter high-level managers 1-5
announce 6-7 IP use 1-2
policy 6-7 high-water packets mark 8-11
filter table hop-count value
corruption of 3-3 RIP 6-5
destination address 3-2 Hot Standby Router Protocol 8-7
in bridges and switches 3-2 HSRP 8-7
flag similarities to VRRP 8-7
definition 2-2 hub ports 9-19
flag, PPP 4-12 hubs 3-1
flooding 3-3 5-4-3 rule 3-2
definition of 3-2 as repeaters 3-1
in transparent bridging 3-2 bandwidth 3-2
flow broadcast domain 3-1
definition of 6-22 collision domain 3-1
flow label definition of 3-1
definition of 6-22 in physical layer 2-2
FLOW labelling 6-22 use of crossover cables 3-12
forwarding database 7-4
Forwarding Information Base 7-5
forwarding table I
in bridges and switches 3-2 ICD format NSAP 7-8
OSPF 6-8 IGRP 6-12
fractionalized FE1 4-3 information field, PPP 4-13
fractionalized FE1 interface 4-2 INM 1-1
Frame Check Sequence in-shelf controller 1-6
in data link layer 2-2 in-shelf EC
PPP 4-13 for SDH NEs 1-6
frame format, PPP 4-12 installation/integration information 9-20
Frame Relay Integrated Network Manager 1-1

14-6 Index
Integrated Services Digital Network 4-1 range 9-14

integration/installation information 9-20 IP addressing 6-1, 6-14
interconnecting multiple stations IANA assignment 10-1
example of 3-11 subnetting/supernetting 6-14
interconnecting two stations IP and OSI
example of 3-11 separation 1-5
interface IP and OSI coexistence 1-5
circuitless IP 6-3 IP and OSI network terms 1-4
tunnel 8-3 IP hosts 1-5
Multiline PPP IP masks 6-1
bandwidth values 4-16 IP networks 6-1
Interfacing OSPF networks with non-OSPF IP routing 6-1
networks 6-7 IP routing protocols 6-4
Intermediate System Hello 7-3 IPv4
Intermediate System-Intermediate address space 10-1
System 5-5 changes from 6-21
Intermediate Systems 1-3 host/router upgrades 6-22, 6-23
internal and external DCN 1-1 IPv4 to IPv6 transition 6-21
International Organization for Standardization IPv6 6-21
7-layer model 2-1 host/router upgrades from IPv4 6-22
Internet Gateway Routing Protocol 6-12 IPv4 connectivity 6-23
Internet Protocol 1-2, 5-5 IS
IP 1-2, 1-5, 5-5, 6-1 OSI 7-1
data, ECs 1-4 ISDN 4-1
high-level managers 1-2 BRI dial services 4-4
hosts 1-4 ISDN BRI dial backup 4-4
in DCN 1-2 example 4-4
network terms 1-4 limits of 4-5
primary function 6-4 ISDN BRI dial-on-demand 4-5
protocol references 11-1 example 4-6
routers 1-5 router call initiation 4-7
SDH DCN components 1-3 ISH 7-3
secondary functions 6-4 IS-IS 5-5
IP addresses 6-14 where defined 7-4
allocation IS-IS OSI routing protocols 7-3, 7-4
management location 6-21 ISO 7-layer model 2-1
allocation, example 6-17 hierarchy 2-1
assigning 9-13 ISO DCC addresses 10-2
block allocation 10-1 ISO DCC format, procedure 7-11
CIDR strategy 10-1 ISs 1-3
classes 6-2
contents 6-2 L
dotted decimal notation 6-2 L1 OSI routing 1-3, 7-2
example of 6-3 L2 OSI routing 1-3, 7-2
IANA L2 routing 1-5
addressing policy 10-1 in optical devices 1-4
length 6-2 in SDH 1-4
mask 6-2
obtaining 10-1 LANs 1-1
obtaining blocks of 10-1 ‘bursty’ traffic 3-8

Index 14-7
bandwidth limits 3-9 loops

collisions within 3-8 breaking 3-6
congestion on 3-3 broadcast storms 3-3
definition 3-1 closed 3-3
designated bridge on 3-6 in bridged/switched network 3-3
examples of 3-1 in distance vector algorithms 5-2 14
fast Ethernet 3-11 routing
IP and OSI separation on 1-5 example 5-4
reducing collisions within 3-8 Spanning Tree algorithm 3-3
use in SDH DCN 3-1 transitional routing 5-3
latency 8-10 loops, routing
definition of 3-7 example 5-4
latency of bridges 3-7 LQM 4-3
latency of switches 3-7 LQR 4-3
Layer 2 protocols LSA 5-6
function of 2-2 LSD 7-4
Layer 2 WAN protocols 4-11 LSPs 5-6, 7-6
LCP 4-12
Level 1 OSI routing 1-3 M
Level 1 OSI routing/ISs 7-2 MAA 7-9
Level 1 routers 7-1 MAC address 2-3, 3-6, 5-6, 8-1
Level 2 OSI routing 1-3 in bridges/switches 3-2
Level 2 OSI routing/ISs 7-2 MAC sublayer 2-2
Level 2 routers 7-1 function of 2-3
Link Control Protocol 4-12 use of CSMA/CD 3-8
link initialization phases, example 4-15 Managed Object Agent 1-2
link initialization, PPP 4-14 management area 9-5
Link Quality Monitoring 4-3 in SDH 1-6
Link Quality Reporting 4-3 overview 9-5
link state 6-7 routers within, example 6-18
Link State Advertisement 5-6 management domain, example 9-4
Link State Database 7-4 management systems 9-5
link state database, OSPF 6-8 Manual and Computed Area Addresses 7-9
Link State Packets 5-6, 7-6 Manual Area Address 7-9
link state protocol 5-5 mask, IP addresses
link state routing, example 5-2 function of 6-2
link state technology 5-5 master-slave
link state, OSPF 6-7 example, modem configuration 4-2
list of terms 13-1 MDI 3-12
LLC sublayer 2-2 MDI-X 3-12
function of 2-3 Media Access Control address 3-6, 5-6
load, routing metric 5-8 Media Access Control sublayer 2-2
Local Area Networks Media Dependant Interface 3-12
in DCN 1-1 Media Dependant Interface Crossed 3-12
local format NSAP 7-7 memory
location definition/considerations 9-18 bridges and switches 3-8
Logical Link Control sublayer 2-2 buffer capacity 3-8
loopback metrics
circuitless IP interface 6-4 routing 5-7

14-8 Index
MOA 1-2 private 6-1, 9-13

modem public 6-1
clock signal 4-2 static routes within 6-13
example, master-slave configuration 4-2 terms, IP and OSI 1-4
master and slave 4-2 network addresses
MOR 4-8 ‘network prefix’ 10-1
MOR/MOR+ 4-8 Network Control Protocol 4-12
OSC card 4-8 Network Elements
MS 1-2 definition 1-1
MSOH 4-8 Network Elements, SDH 1-4
multicasts, OSPF 6-9 network example, diagram 9-3
Multiline PPP network layer 2-1
advantage of 4-16 function of 2-3
circuit failure 4-16 network phase, PPP 4-14
definition of 4-15 network prefix
interface bandwidth values 4-16 network addresses 10-1
interfaces with 4-15 network reachability
packet distribution OSPF, RIP 6-12
between interfaces 4-16 Network Service Access Point 7-1
Multiplex Section 1-2 network topology
Multiplex Section Overhead 4-8 using VRRP 8-5
Multiwavelength Optical Repeater 4-8 network topology, example 8-4
non-designated bridges 3-6
N non-pseudo-node 7-6
NCP 4-12 not so stubby area, OSPF 6-8
NE NSAP 7-1, 7-7
‘head-end’ 1-6 DCC format 7-7
NEs ICD format 7-8
definition 1-1 local format 7-7
gateway (head-end) 1-1
standalone controllers 1-6 O
termination of info at EC 1-7 OAM&P
network functions of 1-1
areas in 6-6 obtaining addresses 10-1
aspects of OPC 1-1, 1-5, 9-6
OSI 7-layer model 2-1 Open Shortest Path First 4-6, 5-5, 6-6
availability definition of 6-6
use of routers 1-7 Open Systems Interconnect 1-2, 5-5
bridged tunnel 8-1
closed loop in 3-4 Operations Controllers 1-1
example topology 1-5 Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and
expansion Provisioning
IP addressing 6-14 functions of 1-1
FE1/E1 interfaces, example 4-3 OPTera
infrastructure 3-10 product references xiv
integration 9-20 OPTera LH
OSI areas in 1-5 worked example 9-1
physical layer 1-3
physical loop in OPTera LH NE area 2
Spanning Tree algorithm 3-4 example 9-8

Index 14-9
Optical Service Channel 1-2, 4-8 OSI addresses

optimum path assigning 9-12
data traffic 3-7 ISO DCC 10-2
OSC 1-2, 4-8 OSI addressing 7-6
bidirectional, implementing 4-9 OSI and IP in the DCN 1-2
card 4-8 OSI and IP role 14
1600G amplifier 4-8 SDH DCN components 1-3
conifiguration OSI areas
required cards 4-11 in large network 1-7
definition of 4-11 OSI CLNP 1-2
example, parallel optical links 4-10 OSI LAN
example, single optical links 4-10 expansion of 9-19
in collocated MOR systems 4-10 OSI routing 7-1
in single MOR system 4-11 OSI routing domain 1-3
management comms connections OSI tunnelling 8-1
to optical elements 4-9 OSI tunnels 8-1
Power Optimiser 4-11 OSI use in 1-2
structure 4-11 OSI-over-IP tunnel 7-13, 8-2
use of Power Optimiser 4-11 OSPF 4-6, 5-5, 6-6
wayside channel 4-11 adjacencies database 6-8
when required 4-11 areas 6-8
OSI 1-2, 1-3, 5-5 example 6-10
7-layer model 2-1 backbone area 6-8
address allocation scheme 10-2 bandwidth considerations 6-12
areas basic interface configuration 6-10
DCC disabling 1-6 border router 6-8
areas in 7-1 boundary router 6-8
areas in network 1-5 comparison with RIP 6-11
communication to OPC/POPC 1-5 cost of a link 6-8
configuration example 7-12 costs 6-7
data, ECs 1-4 definition of 6-6
end system 7-1 designated router 6-8
ESs 1-4 forwarding table 6-8
host types 7-1 implementation in network 6-7
in DCN 1-2 interfacing with non-OSPF networks 6-7
intermediate system 7-1 link state 6-7
Intermediate Systems 1-3 link state database 6-8
L1 and L2 routing/ISs 7-2 multicasts 6-9
limits in area 1-5 network reachability 6-12
network terms 1-4 networks as tree structures 6-9
partition repair 8-3 not so stubby area 6-8
protocol references 11-1 policy filters 6-7
routers 1-5 processor utilization 6-9
routing 7-1 redistribution 6-7
routing protocols 7-3 route selection 6-12
SDH DCN components 1-3 router ID 6-8
tunnel 8-1 routing table 6-8
types of routing 1-3 rules for area use 6-6
OSI address allocation 9-13 speed of convergence 6-11
OSI address structure, example 7-9 standard area 6-8

14-10 Index
stub area 6-8 authenticate phase 4-14

summary of 6-6 components of 4-12
terminology 6-7 control 4-13
topology considerations 6-9 dead phase 4-14
totally stubby area 6-8 definition of 4-11
variable length subnet masks 6-11 establish phase 4-14
OSPF areas 6-6 example, frame format 4-14
overlay network FCS (Frame Check Sequence) 4-13
for IPv6 transition 6-23 flag 4-12
frame format 4-12
P functions of 4-11
PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) 4-12 information field 4-13
PAP (Preside Application Platform) 1-1 link initialization 4-14
info termination at EC 1-7 network phase 4-14
product references xiv protocol prioritization 8-7
partition repair, OSI 8-3 terminate phase 4-14
Partitioned Operations Controllers 1-5 preamble
partitioning definition 2-2
protection via tunnelling, example 8-3 presentation layer 2-1
Password Authentication Protocol 4-12 function of 2-4
password information, routers 9-7 Preside
path cost as replacement for ‘INM’ xiv
in Spanning Tree algorithm 3-6 product references xiv
path length, routing metric 5-7 Preside Application Platform xii, 1-1
PDUs 7-3 product references xiv
physical layer 2-1 priority filters and traffic 8-9
example device 2-2 priority queues 8-7
function of 2-2 high 8-8
hubs 2-2 interrupt 8-8
network components in 2-2 low 8-7
physical loop normal 8-7
Spanning Tree algorithm 3-4 private networks 6-1
point-to-point protocol 2-3, 4-11 address blocks 10-2
components of 4-12 address range 9-14
definition of 4-11 addressing 9-13
functions of 4-11 processor utilization, OSPF 6-9
poison reverse 5-3, 5-4 product references
bandwidth disadvantage 5-5 OPTera xiv
principle of 5-4 Preside Application Platform xiv
policy filter 6-7 protocol
OSPF 6-7 definition of 1-2
POPCs 1-5 use in SDH DCN 1-2
deployment 9-6 Protocol Data Units 7-3
possible address allocations 6-20 protocol prioritization 8-7
Post, Telephone, and Telegraph 4-2 clipped packet count 8-11
Power Optimiser example 8-8
with OSC 4-11 high-water packets mark 8-11
power supply type 9-18 protocol references 11-1
PPP 2-3, 4-11 protocols
address 4-13 in physical layer 2-2

Index 14-11
pseudo-node definition of 6-11

address 7-6 example 6-12
and designated routers 7-5 router ID, OSPF 6-8
example situations 5-7 routers 1-5
PSTNs 4-1 boundary 6-7
PTT 4-2 CIDR support 10-2 14
public networks 6-1 collision master 4-6
Public Switched Telephone Networks 4-1 collision slave 4-6
collocated 4-1
Q configuration templates 9-20, 9-21
queue size 8-11 in E1 systems 4-1
in network layer 2-3
IPv4 to IPv6 transition 6-22, 6-23
R Level 1 7-1
recommended OSI addressing schemes 7-10 Level 2 7-1
recommended reading 12-1 OSI protocol 1-5
recovery from errors password information 9-7
data link layer function 2-2 use
redistribution 6-7 bridging Ethernet traffic 3-2
function of 6-7 broadcast storm prevention 2-3
references, protocol 11-1 increase network availability 1-7
Regenerator Section 1-2 WAN links 4-1
Regenerator Section Overhead 4-8 within area
reliability, routing metric 5-7 collocated 1-7
repeaters within management area 6-18
as physical layer device 2-2 within SDH NE area, example 6-15
definition of 3-1 router-to-router links
RIB 7-4 use
example 7-5 in SDH DCN 4-1
RIP 5-3, 6-6, 6-7 routing 5-1
comparison with OSPF 6-11 dynamic 5-1
definition 6-5 example, distance vector 5-2
function of 6-5 example, link state 5-2
hop-count value 6-5 routing algorithms 5-1
routing updates 6-5 features of 5-1
transitional routing loops 6-5 function of 5-1
RIP 2 6-5, 6-7 metrics of 5-7
root bridge Routing Information Base 7-4
in Spanning Tree algorithm 3-6 example 7-5
root bridge election Routing Internet Protocol 5-3
in Spanning Tree algorithm 3-6 function of 6-5
root path cost routing loops
in Spanning Tree algorithm 3-6 example 5-4
root path determination 3-6 in distance vector algorithms 5-2
root port Spanning Tree algorithm 3-3
in Spanning Tree algorithm 3-6 transitional 5-3
route preference 6-12
routing metric
route selection bandwidth 5-8
OSPF, RIP 6-12 communication cost 5-8
route summarization 6-6

14-12 Index
delay 5-8 SDH NE OSI areas 1-7

load 5-8 SDH NEs
path length 5-7 SDN Network Elements 1-4
reliability 5-7 with in-shelf EC 1-6
routing metrics/costs 5-7 SDH network analysis 9-1
routing principles 5-1 example 9-1
routing table 5-2 Section Overhead 4-8
OSPF 6-8 serial loop
routing table, OSPF 6-8 NE limitations 6-18
RS 1-2 session layer 2-1
RSOH 4-8 dialogue types 2-4
function of 2-4
S simplex dialogue 2-4
scope of information xiii Shortest Path First algorithm 5-5
SDH simplex dialogue, session layer 2-4
definition 1-1 site survey 9-20
SDH D-bytes 4-7 needed DCN components, example 9-20
SDH DCN 1-1 SMDS
device power supply type 9-18 protocol prioritization 8-7
topology 1-5, 1-8 Spanning Tree algorithm 2-3, 3-4
typical example 1-3 bridge/switch failure 3-4
use of bridges in 3-2 closed loop 3-4
WAN interfaces in 4-1 data path failure 3-4
SDH DCN components disadvantages of 3-7
IP 1-3 example implementation 3-4, 3-5
SDH DCN design in large networks 3-7
engineering limits 9-1 loops 3-3
OPTera LH network example 9-1 root bridge election 3-6
stages of design 9-1 terminology in 3-4
worked example 9-1 terminology of 3-6
SDH DCN status changes xiv Spanning Tree topology
SDH DCN topology, generic 1-8 automatic reconfiguration of 3-7
SDH management area speed of convergence
example 1-6, 9-5 OSPF, RIP 6-11
SDH Management Domain 7-1, 9-4 SPF algorithm 5-5
SDH Management Domain/area structure split horizon 5-3
example 7-2 standalone controllers
SDH NE 1-4 with NEs 1-6
area limits 1-7 standard area, OSPF 6-8
SDH NE and OPTera LH NE area 2 standby mode
example 9-8 bridges 3-7
SDH NE area static and default routes 6-13
example 1-7 example 6-13
SDH NE area 1 static routes 5-1, 6-7, 6-13
example 9-6 definition of 6-13
SDH NE area 3 status changes, SDH DCN xiv
example 9-10 STM-1 SOH 4-8
SDH NE area 4 STM-N frames 4-8
example 9-11 store-and-forward device
SDH NE areas 9-6 definition of 3-7

Index 14-13
store-and-forward switches 3-7 example 5-4

definition of 3-7 RIP 6-5
strict dequeuing algorithm 8-10 Transmission Control Protocol 2-4
stub area, OSPF 6-8 transparent bridging 3-2
subnet mask transport layer
variable length 6-11 function of 2-3 14
subnets 6-1 protocols 2-4
broadcast 6-2 segment sequencing 2-4
mask allocations 6-11 tunnel 6-6, 8-1, 9-16
subnetting 6-14 circuitless IP 8-3
example 6-14 circuitless IP interface 6-4
subnetwork masks 6-1 OSI 8-1
assigning 9-13 OSI-over-IP 7-13, 8-2
length 6-2 tunnelling
subnetworks example 8-2
example 6-15, 6-18 partitioning protection, example 8-3
supernetting 6-12, 6-14 OSI over IP
example 6-14 GRE 8-1
switch latency 3-7 typical network topology, example 8-4
Switched Multimegabit Data Service 8-7
switches 3-2 U
cut-through 3-7 UDP 2-4, 6-4
definition of 3-1 unframed E1 interface 4-2, 4-3
latency 3-7 User Datagram Protocol 2-4, 6-4
store-and-forward 3-7
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
definition 1-1 V
system connectivity at location variable length subnet masks
example 9-19 OSPF, RIP 6-11
virtual link (tunnel) 6-6
virtual network
T for IPv6 transition 6-23
TCP 2-4, 6-4 Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol
Telnet session definition of 8-4
circuitless IP interface 6-4 VLANs
templates, configuration 9-20, 9-21 definition of 3-1
terminate phase, PPP 4-14 VRRP 8-4
terms, list of 13-1 critical IP interface 8-6
thick-wire Ethernet 3-10 default gateway responsibility 8-6
thin-wire Ethernet 3-10 definition of 8-4
time-sensitive traffic failures 8-6
examples 8-9 how it works 8-5
topology considerations network topology example 8-5
OSPF 6-9 pseudo-MAC address 8-6
totally stubby area, OSPF 6-8 similarities to HSRP 8-7
traffic, time-sensitive
examples 8-9
Tranmission Control Protocol 6-4
transceiver 3-10
transition from IPv4 to IPv6 6-22
transitional routing loops 5-3

14-14 Index
W
WANs
cables and connections 4-1
definition of 4-1
example connections 4-1
frames in 4-1
in DCN 1-1
interfaces in SDH DCN 4-1
IP and OSI coexistence 1-5
links
maximum bandwidth 4-15
protocols
Layer 2 4-11
PPP 4-11
wayside channel, OSC structure 4-11
Wide Area Network
in DCN 1-1
X
X.21 4-1
in physical layer 2-2
interface defined 4-1
to G.703 modem connection 4-2
xterms 1-2, 1-5
deployment 9-5
IP use 1-2

International Optical Networks
Technical Documentation Group
Nortel Networks
Oakleigh Road South
London, N11 1HB
So far as Nortel Networks is aware the contents of this document
are correct. However, such contents have been obtained from a
variety of sources and Nortel Networks can give no warranty or
undertaking and make no representation as to their accuracy. In
particular, Nortel Networks hereby expressly excludes liability for
any form of consequential, indirect or special loss, and loss of
data, loss of profits or loss of business opportunity, howsoever
arising and whether sustained by the user of the information
herein or any third party arising out of the contents of this
document.
*
NORTEL NETWORKS, the Nortel Networks logo, the
Globemark, How the World Shares Ideas and Unified Networks
are trademarks of Nortel Networks.
SDH TRANSMISSION
Data Communications
Networks

Copyright  2001 Nortel Networks, All Rights Reserved.
The copyright of this document is the property of Nortel Networks.

Without the written consent of Nortel Networks, given by contract
or otherwise, this document must not be copied, reprinted or
reproduced in any material form, either wholly or in part, and the
contents of this document, or any methods or techniques
available therefrom, must not be disclosed to any other person
whatsoever.
NORTEL NETWORKS CONFIDENTIAL: The information
contained herein is the property of Nortel Networks and is strictly
confidential. Except as expressly authorized in writing by Nortel
Networks, the holder shall keep all information contained herein
confidential, shall disclose it only to its employees with a need to
know, and shall protect it, in whole or in part, from disclosure and
dissemination to third parties with the same degree of care it uses
to protect its own confidential information, but with no less than
reasonable care. Except as expressly authorized in writing by
Nortel Networks, the holder is granted no rights to use the
information contained herein.
Document Number: 323-4061-091
Product Release Number: 5
Document Status: Standard
Date: May 2001
Printed in England

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Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

ISO 7-layer model 2-1

LANs and VLANs 3-1

Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

Root path determination 3-6

WAN links 4-1

Routing principles 5-1

323-4061-091 Release 5 Standard

OSI routing 7-1

Advanced data communications topics 8-1

Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

Example SDH DCN design 9-1

Appendix A: Obtaining addresses 10-1

Appendix B: Protocol references 11-1

Appendix C: Recommended reading 12-1

List of terms 13-1

323-4061-091 Release 5 Standard

Figure 4-6 OSC: Management comms connections to optical elements 4-9

Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

About this information

In som e instances, the Nortel Netw orks line

W here SDH networks are referred to within the

Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

SDH DCN status changes

Please refer to the SDH DCN Design Web page

The latest released information will be available

323-4061-091 Release 5 Standard

Why is a DCN needed?

Internal and external DCN

Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

The external DCN consists of standard data communications devices such as

OSI and IP in the DCN

323-4061-091 Release 5 Standard

PAP xterm xterm

OSI and IP role of SDH DCN components

Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

In Figure 1-2, the IP term is followed by the OSI equivalent.

323-4061-091 Release 5 Standard

Note: OPC/POPCs (Partitioned Operations Controllers) ECs are located

Example network topology

Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

SDH Management Location SDH Management Location

PAP xterm PAP xterm

OSI LAN OSI LAN

(b) The in-shelf controller uses an IP LAN connection to the router to

(c) To provide management connectivity between the NEs that use

323-4061-091 Release 5 Standard

E1 OSI (L2 only) and IP OSI (L2 only) and IP E1

OSI (L1/L2) and IP

16X OSI 16X

(d) DCC Disabled

Data Communications Networks SDH DCN Overview and Principles

SDH Management Domain

SDH Management Area

SDH NE Area 16-20

SDH NE Area 6-10

SDH NE SDH NE SDH NE

323-4061-091 Release 5 Standard