1

High Availability for Metro Deployments

ERP

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Why Ring Topology in MAN & Trend

Technology Benefits/Issues

50 ms failover
SONET/SDH
Reserved BW due to Circuit based Connections

50 ms failover
SONET/SDH &
Increase BW & QoS
Ethernet Hybrid - RPR
Utilizing existing fiber ring network over MAN

Today ?

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Today Metro Ethernet

Carrier grade Reliability & L2 50 ms failover

Triple Play Services
Ethernet - ERPS
Lowest price/BW - Ethernet for technology of choice
Utilize Simplicity & Security features of Ethernet

Ethernet

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Impact of Network Down Time

Outage Time Impacts

Sub-50ms No outages, No TCP fallbacks

50 ~ 200ms 5% Voice band disconnects, Video pixelization

200ms ~ 2s TCP/IP back-off

TCP time-outs, Webpage not available, Routing protocols

2s ~ 10s
get affected

10s ~ 5min All sessions terminated, Routing table re-convergence

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Reason for Service Outage

Mis-configuration: Easily corrected

Resource failure: Major cause of failures

Fiber cut:
100 to 1000 times frequent than node failure
Metro 13 cuts every 1,000 miles per year
Long haul 4 cuts every 1,000 miles per year
Node failure:
Software
Hardware

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Ethernet Ring Protection (ERP) ITU G.8032

Why?
A standard version of the RRSTP

What?
ERP is a network protection mechanism (ring topology) that enables 50 ms
convergence time upon a link or node failure
Prevents loops within the ring by blocking one of the links.
Monitoring of the ETH layer for discovery and identification of Signal Failure (SF)
conditions.
Total communication for the protection mechanism consumes a very small
percentage of total available bandwidth

Standards Supported:
Ethernet Ring Protection - ITU-T G.8032/Y.1344
Packet format compliant to OAM PDU Format - IEEE 802.1ag

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 ERPS Competitive Comparison

Vendor ALU Extreme Foundry Cisco

Solution ERPS RRSTP EAPS MRP REP

RFC 3619
Standard ITU-T G.8032 Proprietary (Informational = Proprietary Proprietary
proprietary)

50 ms ~ 100ms for
Convergence Sub-second for
Triple Play (Data, 50ms ~ 200ms 50 ms for Multicast 50 ms ~ 250 ms
Time Multicast
Voice, Video)

No STP Re- Relies on MSTP NO FDB Flip 3 TCN upon a link

convergence 128 Rings FDB Flush msg by failure. Meaning,
4 rings per node 40 nodes/ring Master Switch has to
Note 16 nodes per flush & learn MACs
ring (recd) per TCN
Reliability/fast
convergence

6400/6850 w Base Image X450e w Edge FWS-X424 C3750 ME Switch

Pricing 24 GE w 4 Combo 24 GE w 4 Combo 24 GE w 4 Combo 24 FE & 4 GE
65.48 Mpps 65.48 Mpps 65.48 Mpps 8.55 Mpps

ITU: International org. to standardize and regulate international Telecommunication

IEEE: International org. advancement of technology related to electricity. 802.3, 802.11
7 Internet Standard. RFC
IETF: All Rights Reserved Alcatel-Lucent 2008
Proposed Architecture (1 Ring With RRSTP)

Uses less fibre

Site X Broadcast involves every

node

Convergence involves
more nodes

Site Y

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Proposed Architecture (2 Rings With ERP)

Cleaner Design, but uses

more fibre.
Site 3-1
Broadcast is isolated
and divided in 2 rings
rather than 1.

Ring 1 Lesser nodes involved in

Ring 2 convergence

Site 3-7

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Physical Connectivity

Today

GE Ring GE Ring

OS6850 OS6850
OS6850

Increased
Resiliency
GE Ring

GE Ring

OS6850 OS6850
OS6850

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ERP- Ring Idle State
Physical topology has all nodes connected
in a ring ETH-CC ETH-CC
RPL RPL
ETH-CC Owner
ERP guarantees lack of loop by blocking ETH-CC

ETH-CC
the RPL (link between 6 & 1 in figure)

ETH-CC
ETH-CC

ETH-CC
Logical topology has all nodes connected
without a loop.
ETH-CC ETH-CC
Each link is monitored by its two adjacent
ETH-CC ETH-CC
nodes using ETH CC OAM messages
Signal Failure (SF) is triggered to ring
protection
Loss of Continuity
2 1 6
RPL
Or physical link down
3 4 5
Configuration:
Physical topology
- ring identifier

- ring ports assigned 2 1 6

- service VLAN

- designate a RPL owner/master 3 4 5

Logical topology
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ERP- Ring Protection Mode

Link/node failure is detected by RPL RPL

Owner
the nodes adjacent to the failure.

The nodes adjacent to the failure,

R-APS(SF)
block the failed link and report this
R-APS(SF) R-APS(SF)
failure to the ring using R-APS
(SF) message
R-APS(SF)

R-APS (SF) message triggers

RPL Owner unblocks the RPL

2 1 6 2 1 6
All nodes perform FDB RPL RPL
flushing 3 4 5 3 4 5
Ring is in protection state Physical topology

All nodes remain connected in the 2 1 6 2 1 6

logical topology.
3 4 5 3 4 5
Logical topology
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ERP - Failure Recovery

A. When the failed link recovers, the

R-APS(NR, RB)
traffic is kept blocked on the nodes
RPL RPL
adjacent to the recovered link Owner

R-APS(NR,R-APS(NR)
B. The nodes adjacent to the recovered
link transmit R-APS(NR) message

RB)
indicating they have no local request R-APS(NR) R-APS(NR)

present
R-APS(NR)
C. When the RPL Owner receives R-
APS(NR) message it Starts WTR timer

D. Once WTR timer expires, RPL Owner 2 1 6 2 1 6

RPL RPL
blocks RPL and transmits R-APS (NR,
RB) message 3 4 5 3 4 5
Physical topology
E. Nodes receiving the message
perform a FDB Flush and unblock 2 1 6 2 1 6
their previously blocked ports

F. Ring is now returned to Idle state 3 4 5 3 4 5

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Logical topology
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ERP ERP over STP ring

ERP frames are transparently

switched through the STP part
of the network

Node 3 and 4 use Eth OEM to

detect end to-end
connectivity

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6850 ERP vs RRSTP Performance / Configuration

6850 RRSTP Performance :

6850 ERP Performance :

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