REMOTE VS LOCAL FAULT ALARM ON

HUAWEI OTN

Resiliently
MOVING
FORWARD
July 2023
Prepared by: Backbone Transmision O&M
 LOCAL VS REMOTE FAULT ALARM

 We recieve Local Fault and Remote Fault alarm on Huawie OTN client card port when the port is configured with Ethernet service of
capacity 10Ge and above. So lets see what the alarm mean and the possible causes as the word local and remote create confusion in fault
analysis.
 Basic Ethernet Protocol Definition
 Link Fault Signaling (LFS) is an operation protocol between reconciliation sublayer (RS) which enables communication between two
ethernet port.
 When the protocol is enabled the port can detect and report fault conditions on transmit and receive port.
 When the PHY layer on the local end detects that the link is in down state, it sends a status message "Local Fault (LF)" to the RS.
When receiving the message, the RS stops to send MAC address data and sends a status message "Remote Fault (RF)" to the remote
end. When receiving the RF message, the RS on the remote end stops to send the MAC address data - sending idle MAC address.
 Huawei Definition - Alarm Cause
 Local fault Alarm Cause: 1. The input fiber is transiently cut. 2. The board receives various bit errors. 3. The input optical power is
abnormal.4.The data received is abnormal.5.The two ends have different transmission modes or FEC modes.
 Remote Fault Alarm Cause 1.The remote station receives the LOCAL_FAULT alarm. 2.The board on the remote station is
faulty.3.Remote Fault Alarm indicates a fault detected on the receive data path between the remote RS and the local RS.
 Simple definition
 Local Fault: Fault detected and reported on the recieving Port
 Remote Fault: Fault reported (but not generated) on the recieving port
 LOCAL VS REMOTE FAULT ALARM

 From the below image you can see that a local fault is easy to identify but in case of remote fault pin pointing the exact location
of failure is difficult because
 A local fault alarm is generated and reported on the interface facing the problem but
 A remote fault alarm is generated by a pear device (IP device) but reported by the local device (transmission client card)
 A remote fault on station B is reported by the transmission client card but generated by the IP device at station B in
response to the local fault alarm on station B IP device - The local fault alarm at station B can be caused by problem at
different segment causing confussion
 LOCAL VS REMOTE FAULT ALARM

 Given our network topology

 Local fault means transmission client card have problem recieving data from IP Device (Gateway or router)
 Remote fault mean the IP device is not recieving a proper data it sends back RF signal to the transmission client port.
Note: Remote fault can be cause by
1. In response to a local fault alarm on the pear transmission client card
2. A problem on the WDM side between the two client port (Both W and P link down)
3. Problem between the local client card and the IP device
 LOCAL VS REMOTE FAULT ALARM

 So the problem is how do we know the exact cause of the remote fault alarm? Is it the OTN/WDM side failure or Ethernet side
failure?
 We can only be sure after analysing all the segment - the OTN side and the peer client card to decide
 LETS SEE AN EXAMPLE - MICROWAVE- DEWELLE 100G IGW -WDM SIDE PROBLEM

 On july 13 we have Remote Fault on Dewelle but not Microwave

 On July 14 we have Remote Fault on both Dewelle and Microwave
 We don’t have any local fault alarm on both days
 on July 13 both Working and protection channel was down toward Dewelle causing local fault on IGW device outside Ethiopia
and remote fault at Dewelle client card in response to the local fault.
 on July 14 both working and protection channel was down toward Microwave and Dewelle causing local fault on IGW device
inside and outside Ethiopia and remote fault at Dewelle and microwave client card in response to the local fault.

Client Alarm
Working Channel

Protection Channel
 LETS SEE AN EXAMPLE - MICROWAVE- DEWELLE 100G IGW -WDM SIDE PROBLEM

 On July 13 both workin and protection channel was down at the same time toward Dewelle
 Working channel: OCH was ok but there was OTU level BER Alarm
 Protection channel: R-LOS on OCH
 Only Dewelle report remote fault alarm because the fault direction of both working and protection channel was toward Dewelle
meaning IGW device outside Ethiopia has Local fault alarm that it generate and send RF alarm to Dewelle OTN client card
 LETS SEE AN EXAMPLE - MICROWAVE- DEWELLE 100G IGW -WDM SIDE PROBLEM

 On July 14 both working and protection channel was down at the same time toward Dewelle and Microwave
 Working channel: R-LOS on OCH
 Protection channel: R-LOS on OCH
 Both Microwave and Dewelle report remote fault alarm since working and protection was down in both direction meaning IGW
device both inside and outside Ethiopia has Local fault alarm that it generate and send RF alarm to Microwave and Dewelle
OTN client card
 LETS SEE ANOTHER EXAMPLE - BOLE-GALAFI 10G IGW WDM SIDE PROBLEM

 Bole-Galafi 10G IGW are transmitted using two clients (Bole to Semera and Semera to Galafi) connected back to back at semera.
Semera-Galafi transmission section encounter channel problem (R-LOS) twice toward Semera affecting the service since the path has no
protection

 On the client side

 Semera client card facing Bole report local fault - unable to recieve from the other client card of Semera facing Galafi direction due
to the fiber cut
 Semera client card facing Galafi report remote fault - in response to the local fault alarm of semera client card facing Bole
 Note: This Outage affects all IGW through Galafi - Select the 10G for analysis
LETS SEE ANOTHER EXAMPLE - BOLE-GALAFI 10G IGW WDM SIDE PROBLEM

 Semera client card facing Bole report local fault - unable to recieve from the other client card of Semera facing Galafi direction
due to the fiber cut
 Semera client card facing Galafi report remote fault - in response to the local fault alarm of semera client card facing Bole

Semera Client Alarm Facing Galafi

Semera Client Alarm Facing Bole

 LETS SEE ANOTHER EXAMPLE - BOLE-GALAFI 10G IGW WDM SIDE PROBLEM

 Since the problem is unidirectional the alarm is reported at Semera site only
 LETS SEE ANOTHER EXAMPLE - BOLE-GALAFI 10G IGW ETHERNET SIDE PROBLEM

 The same 10Ge report the below alarm on 24/07/23

 The Local fault at 11:23 was obiviously due to problem outside Ethiopia - Problem recieving from IGW device outside Ethiopia
 How about the Remote fault at 11:24?
 Analysing the alarms
 No local fault alarm at Semera at that specific time
 No OCH/OTU outage alarm between Semera and Galafi
 The remaining segment that can cause a remote fault alarm at Galafi is a problem between Galafi client card and IGW outside
Ethiopia - a remote fault alarm caused in response to a local fault alarm at IGW device outside Ethiopia
 In this case we can say the problem is outside Ethiopia (Can be in our teritory or theirs)
 GENERAL NOTE

 On IGW service Local Fault alarm on boarder site client card means the problem is outside Ethiopia
 On IGW service Remote Fault alarm on boarder site client card mean the problem is either inside or outside Ethiopia toward the
IGW outside Ethiopia - cause
 WDM side problem or
 Client problem from Internal IGW device to client (Internal IGW will report local fault too) or
 problem from transmission client card toward outside IGW Device
 The above scenario works for all IGW except the 4*10G Microwave IGW through Galafi because the client does not terminate in our
network -
 In any case or alarm report especially RF I personally recommend analysing the transmission E2E to decide the fault location.
 Question
– Analyse the possible remote and local fault alarm cause at Microwave 4*10G IGW