Ethernet over SDH

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ethernet Over SDH (EoS or EoSDH) or Ethernet over SONET refers to a set of protocols
which allow Ethernet traffic to be carried over synchronous digital hierarchy networks in an
efficient and flexible way. The same functions are available using SONET

Ethernet frames which are to be sent on the SDH link are sent through an "encapsulation"
block (typically Generic Framing Procedure or GFP) to create a synchronous stream of data
from the asynchronous Ethernet packets. The synchronous stream of encapsulated data is then
passed through a mapping block which typically uses virtual concatenation (VCAT) to route
the stream of bits over one or more SDH paths. As this is byte interleaved, it provides a better
level of security compared to other mechanisms for Ethernet transport.[citation needed]

After traversing SDH paths, the traffic is processed in the reverse fashion: virtual
concatenation path processing to recreate the original synchronous byte stream, followed by
decapsulation to converting the synchronous data stream to an asynchronous stream of
Ethernet frames.

The SDH paths may be VC-4, VC-3, VC-12 or VC-11 paths. Up to 64 VC-11 or VC-12 paths
can be concatenated together to form a single larger virtually concatenated group. Up to 256
VC-3 or VC-4 paths can be concatenated together to form a single larger virtually
concatenated group. The paths within a group are referred to as "members". A virtually
concatenated group is typically referred to by the notation <pathType>-<X>v, where
<pathType> is VC-4, VC-3, VC-12 or VC-11 and X is the number of members in the group.

A 10-Mbit/s Ethernet link is often transported over a VC-12-5v which allows the full
bandwidth to be carried for all packet sizes.
A 100-Mbit/s Ethernet link is often transported over a VC-3-2v which allows the full
bandwidth to be carried when smaller packets are used (< 250 bytes) and Ethernet
flow control restricts the rate of traffic for larger packets. But does only give ca.
97Mbit/s, not full 100Mb.
A 1000-Mbit/s (or 1 GigE) Ethernet link is often transported over a VC-3-21v or a
VC-4-7v which allows the full bandwidth to be carried for all packets.
 Possible bandwidths[citation needed]
Container (SDH) Container (SONET) Type Payload Capacity (Mbit/s)
VC-11-Xv VT-1.5-Xv SPE Low Order X x 1.600 (X = 1 to 64)
VC-12-Xv VT-2-Xv SPE Low Order X x 2.176 (X = 1 to 64)
VC-2-Xv - Low Order X x 6.848 (X = 1 to 64)
VC-3-Xv STS-1-Xv SPE High Order X x 48.384 (X = 1 to 256)
VC-4-Xv STS-3c-Xv SPE High Order X x 149.76 (X = 1 to 256)

EoS also drops the "idle" packets of the Ethernet frame before encapsulating the Ethernet
frame to GFP, which is recreated at the other end during decapsulation process. Hence this
provide a better throughput compared to native Ethernet transport.

An additional protocol, called link capacity adjustment scheme (LCAS), allows the two
endpoints of the SDH paths to negotiate which paths are working and can carry traffic versus
which paths should not be used to carry traffic.

Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) is a multiplexing technique defined by ITU-T G.7041.

This allows mapping of variable length, higher-layer client signals over a circuit switched
transport network like OTN, SDH/SONET or PDH. The client signals can be protocol data
unit (PDU) oriented (like IP/PPP or Ethernet Media Access Control) or can be block-code
oriented (like Fibre Channel.)

There are two modes of GFP: Generic Framing Procedure - Framed (GFP-F) and Generic
Framing Procedure - Transparent (GFP-T):

GFP-F maps each client frame into a single GFP frame. GFP-F is used where the
client signal is framed or packetized by the client protocol.
GFP-T, on the other hand, allows mapping of multiple 8B/10B block-coded client
data streams into an efficient 64B/65B block code for transport within a GFP frame.

GFP utilizes a length/HEC-based frame delineation mechanism that is more robust than that
used by High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC), which is single octet flag based.

There are two types of GFP frames: a GFP client frame and a GFP control frame. A GFP
client frame can be further classified as either a client data frame or a client management
frame. The former is used to transport client data, while the latter is used to transport point-to-
point management information like loss of signal, etc. Client management frames can be
differentiated from the client data frames based on the payload type indicator. The GFP
control frame currently consists only of a core header field with no payload area. This frame
is used to compensate for the gaps between the client signal where the transport medium has a
higher capacity than the client signal, and is better known as an idle frame.