ERPS – Ethernet Ring Protection Switching

ERPS - Introduction

 Protection switching on Ethernet layer

 Use of Ethernet OAM frames called R-APS message for protection behavior
 Preventing any loops by blocking mechanism
 VLAN based protection switching
 Sub-50msec protection switching
 Support of administrative commands

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Basic Protection Mechanism
 Normal condition
 Block RPL (Ring Protection Link)
 Failure condition
 Block failed link
 Send R-APS messages
 Unblock RPL
 Perform FDB flush on all ring node as needed

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 Administrative commands
Basic operator administrative commands includes
• Forced Switch (FS)
– allows operator to block a particular ring port
• Effective even if there is existing SF condition
• Multiple FS commands supported per ring
• May be used to allow immediate maintenance operations

• Manual Switch (MS)

– allows operator to block a particular ring port
• Not effective if existing FS or SF condition
• Overridden by new FS and SF conditions
• New MS commands are ignored

• Clear
– cancels an existing FS/MS command on the ring port
• May be used (at RPL Owner Node) to trigger reversion

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Priority Table

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 ERPS Timers

G.8032 specifies the use of different timers to avoid race conditions and unnecessary switching
operations
• Hold-off Timers
o Faults will only be reported to the ring protection mechanism if this timer expires.
o The suggested range of the holdoff timer is 0 to 10 seconds in steps of 100 ms, with an accuracy of ±5 ms.
o The default value for the holdoff timer is 0 seconds.

• WTR (Wait to Restore) Timer

o When the failed link recovered, this is Used by the RPL Owner to verify that the ring has stabilized before restoring the ring (blocking the
RPL).

• WTB(Wait to Block) Timers

o The wait to block (WTB) timer is employed by the RPL owner to delay reversion after a forced switch or manual switch has been cleared.

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Multiple ERPS Instances

Supports multiple ERP instances

– ERP instance is composed of a set of VLANs.
– Multiple ERP instances can be configured on a same physical ring.
– ERP instance protects a subset of the VLANs that transport traffic over the physical ring.
– Each ERP instance is independent of other ring instances.

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R-APS PDU Format

a) Version: 0x01 shall be transmitted for ERPSv2.

b) OpCode: 40 shall be transmitted as defined in [ITU-T Y.1731].
c) Flags: 0x00 shall be transmitted in the current version of this Recommendation.
This field should be ignored upon reception.
d) TLV Offset: 0x40 (=32) shall be transmitted.
e) End TLV: 0x00 shall be transmitted.
In the MEL field, the MEG level of the R-APS PDU is inserted.

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R-APS PDU Format – contd.

Request/State (4 bits) – This field represents a request or state, and is encoded as

described below

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R-APS PDU Format – contd.

Status field – This includes the following status information.

1) RB – RPL Blocked
– RB = 1 – Represents that the RPL is blocked.
– RB = 0 – Represents that the RPL is unblocked.
This bit should be 0 when transmitted by non-RPL owner nodes.
2) DNF – do not flush
– DNF = 1 – Represents that an FDB Flush should not be triggered by the reception
of this message.
- DNF = 0 – Represents that an FDB Flush may be triggered by the reception of this message.
3) BPR – Blocked port reference
– BPR = 0 corresponds to ring link 0 blocked.
– BPR = 1 corresponds to ring link 1 blocked.

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Phase - I ERPS Scope of Work
Scope:
Replace the current L2 stack with ISS 9.1.0 for existing modules on Katana2 platform

 Customizations & bug fixes done in ISS 6.1.0 for MPR needs to be ported to 9.1.0
ERPS code.

 Major customizations done in 6.x.0 includes

– Warm boot Support
– Core Protection/ Redundancy Support
– CLI Support
– Bug Fixes

 All these customizations should be ported as it is from 6.x.0 to 9.1.0

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 Phase - I ERPS Scope of Work – contd.

• Interfaces of ISS modules that need to be modified

– NPAPI (BCM SDK) for hardware programming
– CLI (MPR interfaces) for minor changes
– MPR (Customized interfaces) for new events & data if any

• No major changes expected in MPR software since no new ISS modules will be enabled in ISS. Minor
changes to CLI, MIB, DB, traps and core protection foreseen for changes to existing commands &
traps.

• System will retain current existing functionality.

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