Troubleshooting DCN Faults

Contents
8.5.14 Troubleshooting DCN Faults

8.5.14 Troubleshooting DCN Faults

A data communication network (DCN) fault causes an NE to be unreachable due to failed
or unstable communications between the NE and the NMS.

Context

If links or lines that bear DCN channels, including data communication channels (DCCs)
and inband DCN channels, are faulty, the DCN communication is interrupted. In this case,
handle the fault in the same manner as a service fault. In other cases, the DCN
communication between an NE and the NMS is interrupted or unstable, but the services
between them are normal for the moment. This fault also needs to be rectified in time,
otherwise, you will fail to check the NE information, obtain NE alarms, or change NE
configurations when the services become faulty.

Fault Symptoms and Causes

Table 1 Fault symptoms and causes

Symptom Possible Cause

NEs connected through their • Cause 1: Services are interrupted.

service ports like air interfaces • Cause 2: DCN parameters are incorrectly set.
and Ethernet ports are • Cause 3: System control boards are faulty.
unreachable to their NMS.

NEs connected through their • Cause 1: The network cable of the NMS is
NMS ports are unreachable to disconnected or damaged.
their NMS. • Cause 2: DCN parameters are incorrectly set.
• Cause 3: System control boards are faulty.

A few NEs are unreachable or • Cause 1: DCN parameters are incorrectly set.
their connection to the NMS is • Cause 2: An NE ID or NE IP address conflict occurs
unstable. between NEs on the DCN subnet.
 Table 1 Fault symptoms and causes

Symptom Possible Cause

• Cause 3: The DCN subnet is too large.

• Cause 4: The system control unit of the NE is faulty.

Troubleshooting Procedure
Figure 1 Procedure for troubleshooting DCN faults
Table 2 Procedure description for troubleshooting DCN faults

Mark Operation Typical Symptom Measures

1 Locate the Locate the faulty NE • If the faulty NE has a service

faulty NE. based on a DCN fault, rectify the service fault first.
networking diagram. • If an unreachable NE connects to
• If all NEs its NMS through an external
within an area DCN, verify that the external
are DCN equipment or the cable used
unreachable to for DCN connection is working
their NMS, the correctly.
unreachable
NE closest to a
normal NE is
probably the
faulty NE.
• If only one NE
is unreachable
to its NMS, the
NE is the
faulty NE.

2 Handle • The faulty NE • Handle hardware alarms based on

hardware reports the maintenance and fault
faults. hardware management procedure.
alarms like • Remove and then install, or
HARD_BAD. replace the network cable and
• Check whether optical fibers.
the NMS/COM
port on the
faulty NE is
connected to a
correct cable or
whether the
network cable
of the faulty
NE is
damaged.

3 Modify The following operations • Check for unplanned NE IDs and

incorrect are performed before a NE IP addresses in the ECC
configurations. faulty NE becomes routing table of the faulty NE's
unreachable to its NMS: upstream NE. If there is an
• Modifying NE unplanned NE ID or IP address in
attributes or the ECC routing table, the faulty
NE NE is incorrectly configured. To
rectify the fault, log in to the
faulty NE using the unplanned
Table 2 Procedure description for troubleshooting DCN faults

Mark Operation Typical Symptom Measures

communication NE ID and NE IP address on the

settings NMS and correct the settings.
• Adding a new • Change the DCC settings or
NE to the inband DCN settings of the faulty
network, or NE to interrupt the DCN channel
replacing the between the faulty NE and its
faulty NE or its upstream NE. Then, check for the
system control ID and IP address of the faulty
board NE in the ECC routing table of
the upstream NE. If the ID and IP
address of the faulty NE exist in
the ECC routing table of the
upstream NE, another NE on the
ECC subnet has the same ID and
IP address as the faulty NE. In
this case, correct the settings to
ensure that each NE on the ECC
subnet has a unique ID and IP
address.
• If the inband DCN is enabled for
the faulty NE and its upstream
NE, verify that the VLAN ID is
correctly set on the upstream NE.
• Verify that static routes are
correctly set on the faulty NE's
upstream NE.
• Verify that OSPF parameters are
correctly set on the faulty NE's
upstream NE. OSPF parameter
settings must be consistent for all
NEs on the same ECC subnet.

4 Analyze the Check the number of NEs
DCN subnet in the IP routing table or
size. ECC routing table of the
faulty NE's upstream NE.
If there is a large number of NEs in the
routing table, the DCN subnet is too large in
size and some NEs on the DCN subnet may
occasionally become unreachable to their
NMS. It is recommended that an DCN subnet
consist of no more than 120 NEs, if a 192
kbit/s bandwidth is provided. If L2 DCN is
used, an L2 DCN subnet consists of not more
than 30 NEs.
Table 2 Procedure description for troubleshooting DCN faults

Mark Operation Typical Symptom Measures

5 Troubleshoot Some NEs may • Verify that a minimum of 192

NMS occasionally become kbit/s bandwidth is allocated to
information unreachable to their NMS. the inband DCN. If the allocated
loss. bandwidth is lower than 192
kbit/s, packets from the NMS
may be lost.
• Check whether the QoS priority
allocated to the inband DCN by a
third-party network is high
enough if inband DCN packets
are transmitted over the third-
party network. Lower QoS
priority of inband DCN packets
may cause NEs unreachable to the
NMS due to congestive packet
loss. The per-hop behavior (PHB)
priority of inband DCN packets
must not lower than expedited
forwarding (EF).

6 Troubleshoot • The NE fails to • Search for the IP address of the

no-response be logged in to faulty NE on the NMS.
problems. onsite. • If the IP address is not found, or if
• The NE does the IP address is found but the
not respond to NMS still cannot reach the faulty
commands. NE, restart the OptiX RTN 950A
after a power-off, in a authorized
maintenance window which
service can be interrupted.

Parent Topic: Troubleshooting

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