MEPs

MEP description

The MEPs are configured at the edge of an MD and perform the following functions:

MEPs can be added to services automatically or manually. When a MEP is assigned to a service manually, it associates its MEG with a single site on the service. When a MEP is assigned to a service automatically, it associates its MEG with all sites on the service. MEPs which are generated automatically can inherit test generation options from the SAP or service site. See To configure an Ethernet CFM MD policy and subordinate objects for more information.

You can configure an initial MEP ID for automatic MEP ID assignment on an NE.

You can also add MEPs to services during Ethernet CFM test configuration from the Service Topology map. See Working with Ethernet CFM objects in Chapter 4, Topology map management for more information.

Each MEP is assigned an up or down direction. An up MEP is provisioned on an ingress port, and monitors the forwarding path inside a bridge NE to the egress port. A down MEP is provisioned on an egress port, and monitors the forwarding path between bridge NEs.

You can assign roles to managed MEPs and unmanaged remote MEPs during OAM test suite configuration. A MEP can be designated as a hub or spoke, and as a test source, a test target, or both. Assigning roles to MEPs in test suites can reduce the total number of automatic tests generated. See To configure an Ethernet CFM MD policy and subordinate objects .

MEPs can inherit their roles from the SAP or service site. You can propagate test generation role settings to all unmanaged remote and managed MEPs on a SAP or service site using the Propagate to MEPs button on the ETH-CFM tab of the Access Interface (Edit) and Site (Edit) forms.

MEP association

An up MEP can be associated with the following object types:

A down MEP can be associated with the following object types:

Virtual MEPs

A virtual MEP is an up MEP that is created on a VPLS site when a CFM continuity check test is run. Each virtual MEP transmits a CFM continuity check stream on all SAPs and SDPs of the site. A virtual MEP uses the site MAC address, if configured; otherwise, it uses the shelf MAC address. See Chapter 77, VPLS management for information about assigning virtual MEPs to a VPLS.

The following rules apply to virtual MEP management:

Facility MEP

A facility MEP is a MEP that is down and is created on a router interface, network interface, port, or LAG. A facility MEP detects failure conditions for an Ethernet transport network using ETH-CCM or AIS and, where appropriate, propagates alarm conditions so that the services that share this common transport are aware of the failure.

A virtual tunnel facility MEP is created by configuring a LAG MEP or a port MEP with a VLAN ID. In this instance the VLAN ID must match the outer encapsulation value of the SAP that is associated with the Tunnel MEP.

The following rules apply to facility MEP management:

Unicast MEPs

The following rules apply to Unicast MEP management: