On Information Modeling for the Management of Control Plane Functionality in Transport Networks

The control plane (CP) of transport networks consists in a set of entities, communicating through a signaling network, that is responsible for the set-up, release, supervision and maintenance of connections. Given the increased number of capabilities supported by the CP, the management of the CP, i.e. the ability of the management plane (MP) to keep under control the CP operation, is becoming an issue for network operators. Indeed, a proper information model (IM) for the CP is needed to support the management of the CP. In this paper we present a comprehensive proposal of an IM that represents both the CP network itself in terms of components and capabilities and the transport resources as perceived by the management plane (MP) through the CP. The methodology is based on critical review of the standardization efforts already done by ITU-T, TMF, and IETF in order to identify both convergence aspects and gaps that the proposed IM attempts to fill. Specifically, we extend the ITU-T Rec. G.8080 functional components for a CP node, by introducing new objects related to the CP interfaces and control information processing. We then propose a CP functional layering according to the switching capability of the controlled transport network, with the aim of improving the scalability of the CP management. Finally, we define a functional model for the management of routing and connectivity for multi domain scenarios. The contribution is organized in new IM fragments containing a set of managed objects that constitute the abstract representation of the CP network functionalities