ETHERNET OVER SDH

An introduction to Ethernet
services transported over a SDH network
SUMMARY
As discussed in this paper, Nera has implemented the latest
technologies that leverage existing network investments of a
Service Provider’s network that meets tomorrows converged
network demands. Ethernet traffic can be checked against Class of
Service (CoS) parameters according to customers SLA's, and with
this packet technology together with next generation SDH
technology optimal transport of Ethernet and TDM traffic has
become viable in legacy SDH networks for many years to come.
With the importance and strong focus there is on operational and
maintenance aspects for a service provider and the robustness of the
SDH networks, Nera is convinced that Next Generation SDH will
continue to play a major role. The Nera Metro Ethernet solution is
providing in an integrated way necessary features that meet today
the Service Providers future requirements depending on what
infrastructure that the provider has available or plan to design.

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 INTRODUCTION
Seen from a network operator's point of view, an increasing demand
for Ethernet/IP services has created a demand for more bandwidth
or more efficient usage of existing bandwidth and the ability to
build new revenue generating services and manage these services
efficiently. SDH technology has been deployed in the backbone and
in metro rings by most of the network operators through the 90's,
and most of the traffic in the network at that time was voice or
circuit switched /TDM (Time Division Multiplexed).
This has dramatically changed and data has surpassed voice, and
most of the data traffic is transported between end users with
Ethernet as the user-network interface. An important consideration
for the network providers is the divergence between TDM (circuit
switched services) and data services (packet oriented) and the future
expected convergence between these technologies. Designing a
network today require, in most cases, an efficient integration of both
technologies (TDM and Data).
In the past, data networks and most MAN/WAN
(Metropolitan/Wide Area Network) were based on locations
interconnected by leased lines supplied by service provider using
either ATM or Frame Relay transported by either PDH or SDH
networks. Leased lines are costly, and they are inflexible with the
amount of bandwidth available. The customer may have to choose
between leased lines with too little bandwidth or a much more
costly and far more bandwidth than needed, with nothing in-
between.
The SDH as a transport mechanism is a well-proven technology that
introduces small delays, has an efficient multiplexing scheme - fully
standardised, protection mechanism, interoperable in a multi-vendor
environment and strong on operation and maintenance features.
With its ITU-T standardised interfaces, interconnection between
metro- access network and backbone for transport over long
distances is simple.
But SDH as it was deployed in the 90's does not have any
mechanism for sharing efficiently the packet oriented traffic in a
dynamically way. As mentioned SDH was designed with focus on
TDM (circuit switched) services, and for instance, 2 Mbps PABX
lines to the PSTN network is straightforward.

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ETHERNET OVER SDH (EOS)
Ethernet over SDH (EoS) consists of a set of new industry standards
that has been developed for more optimised mapping and control of
Ethernet traffic over SDH. Collectively these new standards provide
tools for a network operator to design networks enabling more
efficient bandwidth usage through mechanism for prioritising
traffic, sharing bandwidth, improved bandwidth granularity and last
but not least easier service creation. All these features are integrated
and embedded in hybrid Ethernet/SDH equipment solutions and
application software packages that Nera can deliver today and with
a clear migration path towards new services that will be offered as
standards and harmonisations are achieved.

SDH Core Network

STM-16 / DWDM

IP Backbone PSTN
MPLS Network

SDH Access Network

STM-1 / STM-4

PABX
PABX
Telephone
Telephone

SmartNode
LAN
LAN

Servers
Firewall Servers
Firewall
LAN
PCs PCs
PCs PCs
Data storage

PCs PCs

Figure 1 - Ethernet Services over SDH networks

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SDH enhancements - Next Generation SDH

Following important standards have emerged recently as important

contributions for Ethernet encapsulation and transport over SDH
networks:
• Generic Framing Procedure (GFP), ITU-T G.7041, provides a
generic mechanism to adapt packet data (GFP-F used by
Ethernet MAC frames or IP/PPP) or block-code oriented
constant bit-rate streams (GFP-T for use in Fibre channels or
ESCON/SBCON) signals over transport network.
• Link Capacity Adjustment scheme (LCAS) for virtual
concatenated signals defined in ITU-T G.7042 that basically
specify how link capacity adjustment schemes shall be
implemented for increasing and decreasing the capacity of a
container in the SDH network.
• Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) is an extension to G.707 for
concatenation of low and high order VC's (VC-12, VC-3, VC-4).
VCAT allows multiple individual SDH channels to be combined
into a larger channel of appropriate size for a given payload.
Only the end points, (sink and source) need to know the
existence. GFP uses very simple encapsulation techniques that
eliminates the need for termination of customer's Layer 2 frame
and re-map it into PPP as required by POS (Packet over
SONET/SDH, IETF RFC 2615).
GFP is using a deterministic amount of bandwidth relative to the
client signal bandwidth. According to SDH, the VC is defined at
two levels, high-order and low order Virtual Containers (VC) and
with a virtual concatenation scheme as fohllows;
• VC-n-Xv is the low-order virtual concatenation of X SDH VCs
for n=12 and 3.
• VC-4-Xv is the high-order virtual concatenation for X SDH VC-
4. Low-order virtual concatenation allows creation of sub-rate
WAN channels with an incremental size between 2 Mbps (VC-
12) and 34/45 Mbps (VC-3), and high order allow a
concatenation of 140Mbps channels for users belonging to a
Virtual Concatenation Group (VCG).

Nera NMS
LCAS control

LCAS Provisioning
LCAS Provisioning

SmartNode SDH NE SDH NE SmartNode

Source Sink
SDH transport plane

Figure 2 - LACS management plane

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 A link is created with a source and a sink for a VCG (Virtual
Concatenated Group) by using the NMS system.
LCAS is used as a mechanism for adjusting the bandwidth of a
VCAT channel by provisioning and control of the same termination
elements. If a provisioning change is required, LCAS will adjust the
capacity of the VCAT channel without interrupting the traffic. Thus,
LCAS in combination with VCAT provide the customer with a tool
to adjust the bandwidth as the customer requirements changes.
VCAT functionality is only required at the path termination network
elements and can work with older legacy equipment (not supporting
LCAS&VCAT) in the intermediate network.
Above enhancements and new features has made SDH more
flexible, but SDH does not solve the need for packet data traffic
handling. Prioritisation and load control must be solved before the
traffic enters the SDH access network transportation mechanism,
but before this switching mechanism is further discussed it is
necessary to look at the IP and Ethernet services that currently are
available and/or being standardised.

Metro Ethernet Forum technical specification and Service

definitions

Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) are defining Ethernet and carrier class
Ethernet services by specifying architecture, protocols and
management for metro Ethernet transport networks. Nera as a
metro-access-network solution vendor is adapting the MEF
standards that have become widely accepted by service providers
and other equipment vendors.
MEF has as phase 1 defined 3 technical specifications, Ethernet
Services Model (ESM) that defines service attributes, Ethernet
Services Definitions (ESD) and Ethernet Traffic Management
(ETM). An Ethernet service is defined by Service Type, Service
Attributes and Service Attribute Parameters.
Metro Ethernet forum has a basic model where they refers to
definitions as Metro Ethernet Network (MEN) that can use different
transport technologies, Customer Equipment (CE) that can be a
router or IEEE802.1 bridge (switch) and the User to Network
Interface (UNI) using a standard IEEE 802.3 Ethernet protocol
(PHY and MAC layers) at 10Mbps, 100Mbps, 1Gbps or 10Gbps.
One important rule in the work of MEF is that service frames shall
be delivered with the Ethernet MAC addresses and frame contents
unchanged.
One key service attribute is the Ethernet Virtual Connection (EVC)
that can be a point-to-point or multipoint-to-multipoint connection.
EVC has two functions, i.e. connects two or more subscriber sites
enabling transfer of Ethernet service frames between them and
prevents data transfer between subscriber's sites that are not part of
the same EVC.

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 Two Ethernet Service types has been defined:
• Ethernet Line (E-line) Service Type
- point-to-point service
• Ethernet LAN (E-LAN) Service Type
- Multipoint service

Ethernet over SDH (EoS)

UNI1 UNI2
TDM
TDM/ /SDH
SDH
SmartNode SmartNode

Figure 3 - E-Line service using point-to-point EVC

Ethernet over SDH (EoS) UNI2

UNI1

SmartNode
SmartNode
TDM
TDM/ /SDH
SDH
UNI3

UNI4

SmartNode
SmartNode

Figure 4 - E-LAN service using multipoint EVC

An Ethernet service must in addition to Service type also specify

important characteristics for the UNI and EVC defined as service
Attributes.
CoS
The MEF has defined the Bandwidth Profile service attributes for
ingress bandwidth per UNI, per EVC and per CoS. The bandwidth
profile consists of four traffic parameters; CIR (Committed
Information Rate), CBS (Committed Burst Size), EIR (Excess
Information Rate) and EBS (Excess Burst Size).
MEF has also defined service frame colours based on the traffic
conformance to the bandwidth profile that can be two or three
colours depending on the configuration of the traffic parameters. A
service frame is marked "green" if it is CIR/CBS-conformant,
yellow if it is not CIR conformant but EIR and EBS conformant and
red if it is neither CIR nor EIR conformant.
The service provider will usually reserve capacity in the network
according to CIR capacity.

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 Service Performance
Service performance parameters specify availability and frame
delay, jitter and loss. They are valid for delivery based on per CoS
ID, that is 802.1p user priority per EVC or per UNI (port) with 1
CoS for all EVCs at the UNI. Performance parameters, i.e. Frame
delay, Frame Jitter and Frame Loss parameters, are all parameters in
the CoS Service attribute.
CE-VLAN ID and Class of Service Identifiers
Important MEF Ethernet service attribute that will be supported is
CE-VLAN Tag. Service Frames at the UNI interface may have a tag
that identifies the Customer Edge VLAN ID (CE-VLAN ID) and
CE-VLAN CoS. The tag information is according to IEEE 802.1Q.
A service provider may also add an additional TAG to the VLAN.
This will isolate the customers Tag information.
Bundling and service multiplexing
The bundling mechanism enables two or more CE-VLAN ID's to be
mapped to a single EVC at a UNI and Service Multiplexing is used
to support multiple EVCs at one UNI.

Ethernet traffic priority mapping in Nera's solution

If the edge of a Access network is equipped with a hybrid Ethernet

over SDH (EoS) SmartNode, the CE Ethernet traffic will first enter
a policing module checking whether the traffic is CIR, EIR
conformant and according to the SLA. Based on the CoS and
whether there is congestion in the network Ethernet frames will be
transported successfully or discarded. For instance if the traffic is
conformant to CIR, the traffic will be prioritised above EIR
conformant traffic in the network.
When the EoS node is part of a ring structure, the Ethernet switch in
the hybrid node also processes the Ethernet frames in the ring, and
if the Ethernet traffic entering (ingress) the node creates congestion
the switch will drop traffic in the ring with lower priority than the
ingress traffic of the node. This is particularly important when
building fibre-rings where the service provider's interest is to share
the bandwidth between many users. The service provider has now
got the necessary tools for obtaining a "shared packet over SDH"
ring structure where he can match the ring transport capacity up to
the sum of CIR conformant SLAs and allow a over-provisioning
based on EIR. Traffic that is not CIR or EIR conformant will be
transported based on "best effort".

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SERVICE PROVIDERS REQUIREMENTS FOR METRO
ETHERNET SOLUTIONS
In the past Service Providers data networks used point-to-point
leased line connections in WAN solutions, and leased lines were
either based on Frame Relay or ATM. In this case the Customer
Equipment (CE) required Layer 3 routing functionality for handling
multiple connections.
With new metro Ethernet services this can be slightly different. The
CE is connected with only one logical connection to the Edge of
Service Providers Access network, and the edge will switch the
traffic into multiple point-to-point connections, thus, giving a
multipoint network solution. CE does no longer strictly need costly
Layer 3 functionality.
For this multipoint services the operator need an Ethernet device at
the edge of the network that supports necessary Layer 1 and 2
features for providing desired Ethernet services optionally together
with legacy TDM services.
Nera's SmartNode solutions positioned for Metro Networks are
designed with a high degree of flexibility by standard and license
enabled SW features together with pluggable HW modules.
Features that has been implemented in Nera's platform and which
are important for integrated EoS nodes in a Service provider metro
Ethernet network can be summarised as follows;
• VLAN Tag Support (IEEE802.1ad and Q-in-Q). When a
Customer Tagged Ethernet frame enters the network operator's
edge device, an additional Tag is added to the Ethernet frame. As
a result the network will maintain the integrity of the traffic and
keep one customer's traffic separated from another's traffic. This
is commonly known as Q-in-Q tag stacking which has been
available for some time as proprietary solution. This feature will
also improve significantly the scalability of Service Providers
switched Ethernet infrastructure.
• Subscriber Spanning Tree tunnelling (EE802.1ad Provider
Bridge) provides Customers Spanning Tree Protocol transport
through the network giving Ethernet restoration isolation from
the operator's protection mechanism.
• Policing functionality. Checks customer traffic priority, or CoS,
and provide necessary provisioning based on this information.
• Rapid Spanning Tree (RSTP), IEEE802.1w, which is an
improvement of SPT and a critical feature for large switched
Ethernet network infrastructures.
• Multiple Spanning Tree (MSPT), IEEE802.1s, where a number
of VLANs are mapped to a specific Spanning Tree instance. This
will reduce the number of SPT instances, and will as an effect
reduce overhead communication and bandwidth. This feature can
also be used as a load balancing mechanism.

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 • Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) is used by the
Service Provider (SP) for aggregation of multiple ports into one
logical port. This will enable the SP to offer higher bandwidth
between switches in the network adding ports available on that
switch with combinations of 10, 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps.
• Rate Limitations per traffic flow or per port is possible.
• Multicast Storm protection and Broadcast Storm protection
feature prevents LAN ports to be flooded by this type of traffic
on the physical interface. This mechanism checks over an
interval if this type of traffic storm exceeds a certain percentage
of the total traffic per traffic type.
• Generic Attribute Registration Protocol (GARP) is used by
participants in the GARP group to exchange and register or de-
register attribute values within the group.
• GARP VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP) dynamically
register VLAN membership information at the end points in the
network and distribute this information by the use of GARP
• If the Layer 2 switches support IGMP snooping it monitors the
traffic between the CE and the Layer 3 device and dynamically
sets up filters accordingly
• GARP Multicast Registration Protocol (GMRP), which is a
new standard, allows the switch and the end station to
communicate directly, ensuring that the traffic reaches only the
stations requiring this traffic.

Shared Packet Rings

The basic idea with a shared packet ring in a Service Providers

Metro Access Network is that several users with both data and
circuit switched traffic shall share the same capacity available in the
ring. Normally the data traffic is larger than the circuit switched,
and the data traffic is bursty by nature. The Service Provider will be
able, by QoS and policing mechanism in Nera's solution, to handle
an over provisioning of data traffic and at the same time guarantee
committed data traffic rate. This is giving the customer most of the
time an experienced data rate higher than the committed Service
Level Agreement rate, and the network provider will benefit from a
more optimal bandwidth usage and the ability to build more
enhanced services.
With SDH as a transport mechanism the TDM traffic will meet all
ITU-T requirements, and with Nera's EoS technology carrier class
Ethernet requirements can be obtained in shared packet rings.

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Ethernet carrier class and ring protection

Ethernet carrier class services need careful considerations when

designing the network. Nera products support STP (Spanning Tree
Protocol) and RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol) features that
provide a protection mechanism for Ethernet/IP traffic in the
network. SPT has a restoration time of typically 60 seconds when a
failure occurs in the network, and will not comply with the
requirements of carrier class. With RSTP the restoration algorithm
is different and a restoration time down to some hundred
milliseconds can be obtained. For an Ethernet carrier class service
this is not sufficient (shall be < 50 ms). This can be obtained by
designing the network carefully using SHD protection mechanisms
such as SNCP and MSP in the Nera EoS products.

RPR versus SDH

Resilient packet Ring (RPR) based networks are optimised to

transport data traffic while SDH is optimised for transport of TDM
traffic. RPR has better functionalities compared to IP routers and
Ethernet switches for solving carrier class protection switching (<50
ms) and handling of jitter and latency sensitive traffic. The IEEE
802.17 Working Group is currently defining an industry standard
for RPR Media Access Control (MAC).
SDH is in principle using a second fibre in the ring for protection
switching (i.e. SNCP) within 50 ms, while RPR is using both fibres
in the ring for transport in both directions with an inner and outer
topology. The inner ring control data for the inner ring data is
transported on the outer ring in opposite direction, and vice versa
for the outer ring control data and inner ring data. This is giving a
much better utilisation of the fibre capacity in the ring.

Outer ring control

Inner ring data

Inner ring data

Outer ring data

Figure 5 - Resilient Packet Ring

6 69801-0201

If a fibre is cut in the ring, the traffic is automatically redirected

within 50 ms. RPR deployed on dark fibre will be a cost efficient
solution when all traffic is packet based, but native TDM traffic is
not trivial to be transported and not so cost efficient as using legacy
or next generation SDH technology. When available as a
standardised solution, RPR can be used to replace SDH networks in

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 the metro network. But there is a clear trend that proprietary RPR
over SDH solutions available today is gaining widespread support
among large carriers worldwide. RPR rings can use SDH for
transparently transport of Ethernet/RPR frames. This allows carriers
to use their current infrastructure to deliver legacy services and RPR
for new data-optimized services. RPR over SDH will be available as
an integrated technology in Nera's future solutions.

Network Management

As the service and technology development of today's converging

networks increase in pace, the operational challenges of these
networks grows. Service provisioning need to be automated to the
extent it is possible and new service levels must be guaranteed
through Service Level Agreements, across multiple services,
multiple technologies and multiple networks.
Nera's NMS platform is built on the New Generation OSS
(NGOSS) initiative from TMForum and besides that it provides a
comprehensive and full management solution for all Nera's leading
edge network solutions, it also provides the basis for integration
with 3rd party systems, thus, providing the necessary parameters for
a Service Management platform.
The Nera NMS is designed with a multi-tiered and components
based architecture, providing a tremendous flexibility in
functionality and integration. This is a prerequisite for short Time to
Market for new functionality or integration, and ensures that the
Nera management products keep up with the network technology
development pace.

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ACRONYMS
ADM Add-drop Multiplexer
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
DSLAM Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer
DXCE-LAN Digital Cross connect Point-to-multipoint Ethernet connection. “Leased line Ethernet.”
E-LINEESCON Point-to-point Ethernet connection Enterprise Systems Connection
FE Fast Ethernet (100 Mb/s)
FICON Fibre Connection (storage interface)
GFP Generic Framing Procedure
GE Gigabit Ethernet
IAD Integrated Access Device (Customer Premises)
IP Internet Protocol
LAN Local Area Network
LCAS Linear Capacity Adjustment Scheme
MPLSMSPP Multi Protocol Label Switching Multi-Service Provisioning Platform
NGAN Next Generation Access Network
PDH Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy
POP Point of Presence
RPR Resilient Packet rings
SDH Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
SLA Service Level Agreement
SONET Synchronous Optical Network
TDM Time Division Multiplexing
VPN Virtual Private Network
WAN Wide Area Network

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