Out-of-Band Management of SDH Equipment via IP Ring

Managing ADMs on an SDH Network
The growing complexity of networks, proliferation of equipment vendors and stringent performance requirements pose serious challenges for network management systems. In large networks, such as SDH, the need for efficient centralized management is vital. Traditional in-band management for SDH networks is based on the Data Communication Channel (DCC) and is limited to single-vendor environments. Consequently, out-of-band management solutions have been introduced in recent years to address interoperability and other new requirements and to overcome in-band limitations. These solutions use an E1 link to transmit management information from the central Network Management System (NMS) to add-drop multiplexers (ADMs) over the SDH network, dropping and inserting one or more timeslots at each node (up to 30 nodes).

RAD's Solution: Creating an IP Ring on Top of the SDH Network
RAD s solution creates an IP ring on top of the SDH backbone by placing an FCD-IPD router at the central management site and at each node on the SDH ring. Rather than dropping one 64 kbps timeslot at each node, the FCD-IPD uses the full E1 bandwidth as a shared IP trunk, enabling downloads/uploads of relevant information to/from the LAN on the SDH node, and returning full E1 bandwidth to the SDH ring. Thus, by using the FCD-IPD router, the management station can statistically and dynamically allocate up to 2 Mbps per node, which can be used to configure the ADMs and other third party equipment (e.g., multiplexers, switches, auxiliary equipment) on the LAN. While providing a flexible high performance solution, this application also eliminates the need for an expensive channelized router at the central site. In the event that an E1 link fails, the IP ring is protected at both the SDH and Layer 3 (IP) levels.

The FCD-IPD is a dual-E1 main link router enabling shared E1 bandwidth over SDH or other rings. In addition to supporting RIP protocol, the FCD-IPD utilizes a specially developed routing protocol that supports up to 100 hops. This product is specifically tailored to support management applications in the SDH environment.

 

The following table indicates the minimum amount of time required to download a 2 MB configuration file over an SDH ring, using the FCD-IPD and alternative management methods: