RFC 6291

Guidelines for the Use of the "OAM" Acronym in the IETF

📅 published June 2011, from ietf

RFC 6291: Guidelines for the Use of the "OAM" Acronym in the IETF 💖

Series: Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) 🌸 Number: RFC 6291 ✨ BCP: 161 Category: Best Current Practice ISSN: 2070-1721 Date: June 2011 📅 Obsoletes / Updates: the title block lists neither, so this doc doesn't obsolete or update anything 🙅‍♀️

Authors:

  • L. Andersson (Ericsson) 🦋
  • H. van Helvoort (Huawei Technologies) 🎀
  • R. Bonica (Juniper Networks) 💅
  • D. Romascanu (Avaya) 🧚
  • S. Mansfield (Ericsson) 🫶

Abstract ✨

okay so "OAM" looks like everyone knows what it means, right? 👀 But if you look a teeny bit closer, the same problems keep popping up again and again 😭

This document gives a definition of the acronym "OAM" (Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) so that every future IETF document that mentions OAM is on the same page 📖. We also dig into other definitions and acronyms along the way, since you need to understand the pieces of the "OAM" term to get the whole thing 🌈.

Status of This Memo 🧾

This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice 💜.

This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and it represents the consensus of the IETF community 🤝. It got public review and was approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) ✅. If you want more info on BCPs, check Section 2 of RFC 5741 🔍.

For the current status of this document, any errata, and how to send feedback, go to http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6291 🔗.

Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the people listed as document authors. All rights reserved 🩷.

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents, which you can find at http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info and which are in effect on the date this document was published 📜. Please actually read these, because they spell out your rights and restrictions for this document 🙏. Code Components pulled out of this document have to include the Simplified BSD License text described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions, and they come with no warranty, as the Simplified BSD License describes 🧡.

Table of Contents 🗂️

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     1.1.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   2.  Pre-Existing Uses of OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     2.1.  Uses of OAM in Other SDOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
       2.1.1.  The "O" in OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
       2.1.2.  The "A" in OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
       2.1.3.  The "M" in OAM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
     2.2.  Uses of OAM in the IETF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   3.  Recommendations on the Use of the "OAM" Acronym . . . . . . . . 5
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   5.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   6.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1. Introduction 🌷

The main point of this document is to define the acronym "OAM" (Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) so that all future IETF documents that mention OAM use the same meaning 💅.

"OAM" gets thrown around a LOT in the data and telecom industry 📡. You'd think something that popular would be super clearly defined, right? Well, a closer look shows there are some things that need clearing up 🙈.

And honestly? If such a big piece of our technology is this fuzzy, or if different groups have different takes on a key concept, it's going to cause problems eventually 💀.

Understanding an acronym as "content-rich" as OAM is a two-level situation 🧩. First, every letter stands for its own integrated chunk of functionality. Second, the whole acronym is more than just those parts added together ✨.

Then there's the question of how each piece gets defined 🤔. This document looks at what each initial in the initialism stands for, lists the possible interpretations of the acronym, and finally recommends one interpretation for "OAM" 🎯.

If you want a broader, more beginner-friendly look at the same topic, check out "An Overview of Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) Mechanisms" [OAM-OVERVIEW] 📚.

1.1. Terminology 🏷️

  • "Mgmt" - Management
  • O&M - OAM and Management
  • OAM - Operations, Administration, and Maintenance
  • SDO - Standards Development Organization

2. Pre-Existing Uses of OAM 🕰️

This section covers how OAM gets used in other SDOs (Standards Development Organizations), and it gives the background you need to understand how the term is used in the IETF 🧠.

2.1. Uses of OAM in Other SDOs 🌍

Operations And Maintenance (OAM): a group of network management functions that give network fault indication, performance information, and data and diagnosis functions 🩺. ATM OAM ITU-T I.610 [ITU-T-I.610] is an example spec that uses this expansion of "OAM" 📋.

Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM): a group of network management functions that give network fault indication, fault localization, performance information, and data and diagnosis functions 🔎. You'll see this one in Clause 57 of IEEE 802.3-2008 [IEEE.802.3-2008] and in ITU-T Y.1731 [ITU-T-Y.1731] 💫.

The ITU-T M.3010 [ITU-T-M.3010] Recommendation says an operations systems function is a function block that processes information related to telecommunications management, for the purpose of monitoring, coordinating, and/or controlling telecommunication functions, including management functions. That includes the TMN (Telecommunications Management Network) itself 🛰️.

The Metro Ethernet Forum describes OAM as the tools and utilities used to install, monitor, and troubleshoot a network, which help carriers run their networks more effectively. That's MEF 17 [MEF-17] 🛠️.

2.1.1. The "O" in OAM 🅾️

The "O" in OAM always stands for "Operations" 💯. The catch is that the definition and scope of "Operation" are a little bit wishy-washy 😬.

Examples of "operations" tools are performance monitoring tools used for service level agreement (SLA) measurement, fault management tools that keep an eye on the health of nodes and links in the network, and network provisioning tools 📊.

2.1.2. The "A" in OAM 🅰️

The "A" in OAM stands for "Administration" 🗂️.

Examples of "administration" tools are network discovery and planning tools 🗺️.

2.1.3. The "M" in OAM 🔧

The "M" in OAM stands for "Maintenance" or "Management" 🧰. Both are allowed, which is part of the fuzziness 🌀.

Examples of "maintenance" tools are implementations of connectivity check, loopback, link trace, and other tools that help monitor and diagnose failures in a network or network element 🩹.

The Recommendation ITU-T M.20 [ITU-T-M.20] defines maintenance as the whole set of operations needed to set up and maintain, within prescribed limits, any element involved in setting up a connection (see the ITU-T M.60 [ITU-T-M.60] Recommendation) 🔌. The point is to properly plan and program the maintenance operations required to establish and maintain a network 📅.

A big goal of maintenance is to minimize both how often failures happen and how much they hurt, and to make sure the right actions get taken when a failure does happen 🚑.

2.2. Uses of OAM in the IETF 🎀

The examples below show a bunch of different ways the "OAM" acronym has been expanded in IETF RFCs 🌈. This list isn't exhaustive, so there are definitely more out there 😌.

Sometimes people even add a fourth letter to the acronym 🤭:

  • OAM&P = Operations, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning in RFC 4594 [RFC4594] 🍓

6. Informative References ✨

Okay bestie, here's the reading list 📚💖 These are the informative references, so they're background reading that helps you understand the rest of the doc. Every citation tag is kept exactly as written so you can find each one easily 🫶

  • [IEEE.802.3-2008] IEEE, "Information technology - Telecommunications and information exchange between systems - Local and metropolitan area networks - Specific requirements - Part 3: Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) access method and physical layer specifications", IEEE Standard 802.3, December 2008. ⚡
  • [ITU-T-I.610] International Telecommunication Union, "B-ISDN operation and maintenance principles and functions", ITU-T Recommendation I.610, February 1999. 🌸
  • [ITU-T-M.20] International Telecommunication Union, "Maintenance philosophy for telecommunication networks", ITU-T Recommendation M.20, October 1992. 🧚
  • [ITU-T-M.3010] International Telecommunication Union, "Principles for a telecommunications management network", ITU-T Recommendation M.3010, February 2000. 💅
  • [ITU-T-M.60] International Telecommunication Union, "Maintenance terminology and definitions", ITU-T Recommendation M.60, March 1993. 📖
  • [ITU-T-Y.1731] International Telecommunication Union, "OAM functions and mechanisms for Ethernet based networks", ITU-T Recommendation Y.1731, February 2008. 🦋
  • [MEF-17] Metro Ethernet Forum, "Service OAM Requirements & Framework - Phase 1", MEF Technical Specification MEF 17, April 2007. 🎀
  • [OAM-OVERVIEW] Mizrahi, T., Sprecher, N., Bellagamba, E., and Y. Weingarten, "An Overview of Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) Mechanisms", Work in Progress, March 2011. 🌈
  • [RFC1812] Baker, F., "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers", RFC 1812, June 1995. 🍓
  • [RFC3429] Ohta, H., "Assignment of the 'OAM Alert Label' for Multiprotocol Label Switching Architecture (MPLS) Operation and Maintenance (OAM) Functions", RFC 3429, November 2002. 💜
  • [RFC4377] Nadeau, T., Morrow, M., Swallow, G., Allan, D., and S. Matsushima, "Operations and Management (OAM) Requirements for Multi-Protocol Label Switched (MPLS) Networks", RFC 4377, February 2006. ⭐
  • [RFC4594] Babiarz, J., Chan, K., and F. Baker, "Configuration Guidelines for DiffServ Service Classes", RFC 4594, August 2006. 🙈
  • [RFC5586] Bocci, M., Vigoureux, M., and S. Bryant, "MPLS Generic Associated Channel", RFC 5586, June 2009. 👑

Authors' Addresses 💌

Loa Andersson 🫶 Ericsson EMail: loa.andersson@ericsson.com

Huub van Helvoort 🌷 Huawei Technologies EMail: huub.van.helvoort@huawei.com

Ron Bonica 🍑 Juniper Networks EMail: rbonica@juniper.net

Dan Romascanu 🩵 Avaya EMail: dromasca@avaya.com

Scott Mansfield 💖 Ericsson EMail: scott.mansfield@ericsson.com

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