IEEE 802.3ah/IEEE 802.3ag

RouterOS General
1

hello there,

i am wondering if mikrotik is planning for the future to implement:

IEEE 802.3ah
IEEE 802.3ag

reason why i am asking - we currently evaluating HW/SW for acting as an dermacation-device.

thanks for fast responding

chris

2

give us more detailed info what you want us to add/make?

3

hi there,

for your information here´s the small background.

we are an austrian isp offering “EthernetPrivateLines” (EPL against MEF6) on different kind of ways.

EPL method´s could be:
a.) SDH
b.) via cooper wire on the last mile
c.) via xconnect countrywide where we have an POP (either l2tpv3 or mpls encapsulated)

these different kind of connections allows us to be flexible and to offer dynamically an line to the endcustomer.

the customer is just simply getting an port on a box which is not always managable and not always in our hand.
therefore we setup an box behind that line to have simply an visibility if a customer complains regarding speed, packetloss -
even SLA could be an good idea to handle it on that way.

at this point, this story explains the requirement of an box (dermacationdevice) on the side of the customer!



possible management of that dermacationdevice:
a.) simply manage it as usual by ip (1 management vlan + 1 SVLAN where the customer get his transparency)
b.) using OAM (Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) - IEEE 802.3ah/IEEE 802.3ag

background and what it is:
Ethernet Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) is a protocol for installing, monitoring,
and troubleshooting Ethernet networks to increase management capability within the context of the
overall Ethernet infrastructure.

IEEE 802.1ag: Connectivity Fault (end to end)

IEEE 802.3ah:
Ethernet OAM discovery, link monitoring, remote fault detection, and remote loopback. Ethernet OAM manager
controls the interworking between any two of the protocols (CFM, E-LMI, and OAM).

hope you understood what i am actually asking for.

we are asking mikrotik if you can implement such feature? (currently we testing this equipment without that features only.

regarding this issue there is still an open unanswered thread here in the forum regarding “cdp/stp/vtp” transparency which
is here documented:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/question-regarding-q-in-q-vlan-stacking/40042/1

thanks!

chris

4

currently we don’t have any plans. And currently you are the only one who asked about such features.

5

hi!

thanks for answering.

means there is probably no way to implemented - because seldom asked ?

thanks!

chris

6

You are not alone to ask. I wrote in a couple of other messages in the forum some wishes for this.

Watch here near the end of the thread :

http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/roadmap-for-ipv6/40204/1

I’m asking for EtherSAM testing as well (ITU-T Y.156sam). This is mandatory to test correctly QOS for VoIP / Data shared links.

Actually only EXFO has EtherSAM testing, it’s a pity to see this.

Big providers in west europe began use those technologies since more than 2 years. They have working networks in production with this. Medium or small providers do not have other solutions than buying Cisco, Juniper, Nortel, or similar big names box to be competitive or simply to be able to enter in the provider market.


It would be nice if lower priced Linux boxes, with the help of low cost network processors like broadcom or intel ones, would arrive on the market.

Actually, as Sonet / SDH and ATM is progressively dropped, even at tier one providers, it’s an opportunity to start Ethernet networks at provider access and backbone levels.

Actually, there are very few solutions. I’ve noted Zebos for software routers, Brocade for switches.

There is no doubt that there will be a market for manufacturers supporting those technologies, before they will be supported natively by Linux in a few years.

7

Sorry to dredge this thread back up, but I’d like to register my interest for Ethernet OAM.

8

The network technology we have inside the Linux kernel (used by Mikrotik) is outdated.

I think that everyone interested in actual network technology like 802.1ah, 802.1Qay and 802.3ag should write a word to Linus Torvalds to explain it the actual situation and ask him to stop supporting esotheric things or desktop computing distributions inside the kernel to free up ressources so that really usefull network functions could be implemented.

Some background work needs to be done fastly in the Linux kernel so that we can see those technologies at least at demarcation points in low cost products.

Legacy Ethernet, 802.1Q and 802.1ad included (VLAN and QinQ) is simply not usable like this for provider backbones and Access Networks.


If this is not done inside the Linux kernel, i doubt Mikrotik sized companies can implement this. To much work load. But who knows…

9

Yeah, dredging. :slight_smile: So yes, there are quite a large amount of people would be happy to see things like 802.1ag monitoring or RFC2544 measurement features. I register as one. :slight_smile:

10

Hmm, why the ranting? You are banging your head on open gates, and don’t make anyone happy along.
Linux pretty much supports everything we need, and MikroTik in general supports 802.1ad (SVLANs), and it is not an “outdated network stack” which defines missing features like 802.1ag (I guess you’ve meant that) and 802.1ah. Actually I’ve found a 802.1ag tool (https://noc.sara.nl/nrg/dot1ag-utils/) I haven’t tried yet and it’s not really impossible to write 802.1ag and its traffic management. You can do it, or you can offer money for others to do it. It may be a problem of course if you want others to do it for you and you do not plan to support them. :slight_smile:

But stating that linux network technology is outdated is a bit of an exaggeration. But I’m sure you’re not forced to use it, both Cisco and Juniper is pretty available to buy. :stuck_out_tongue: [Not to mention other dozens of manufacturers.]

11

Having a full suite of ethernet OAM standards implemented in Mikrotik OS would make the units substantially more useful as an inexpensive ethernet NID. Count me in on this request.

12

Please count me in as well on this feature.

13

+1 for this feature… Mikrotik as demarc would be fantastic. Please implement.

14

+1 for me on this too would like to see Ethernet OAM

15

+1 for me on this too would like to see Ethernet OAM

16

+1 also for us!

17

+1


Alcatel-Lucent have an excellent OAM implementation if Mikrotik are looking for more information.

18

Please add CFM to Mikrotik OS : +1

19

+1 for
802.3ah
802.1ag
Y.1731
E-LMI

Perhaps the new bridge implementation of the linux kernel will be hopefuly integrated in MikroTik in order to have true per VLAN switching + all the E-UNI and E-NNI mapping/swapping/stacking. This could help to be Carrier Ethernet compliant.

Some implementations of 802.1ag related tools are available on Linux :

It also seems that there are some efforts to enable CFM in openvswitch.

20

bump