Maintenance Domains - Cisco NCS 5500 Series Configuration Manual

Ethernet CFM

Maintenance Domains

A maintenance domain describes a management space for the purpose of managing and administering a
network. A domain is owned and operated by a single entity and defined by the set of interfaces internal to it
and at its boundary, as shown in this figure.
Figure 1: CFM Maintenance Domain
A maintenance domain is defined by the bridge ports that are provisioned within it. Domains are assigned
maintenance levels, in the range of 0 to 7, by the administrator. The level of the domain is useful in defining
the hierarchical relationships of multiple domains.
CFM maintenance domains allow different organizations to use CFM in the same network, but independently.
For example, consider a service provider who offers a service to a customer, and to provide that service, they
use two other operators in segments of the network. In this environment, CFM can be used in the following
ways:
• The customer can use CFM between their CE devices, to verify and manage connectivity across the
whole network.
• The service provider can use CFM between their PE devices, to verify and manage the services they are
providing.
• Each operator can use CFM within their operator network, to verify and manage connectivity within
their network.
Each organization uses a different CFM maintenance domain.
This figure shows an example of the different levels of maintenance domains in a network.
Interface and Hardware Component Configuration Guide for Cisco NCS 5500 Series Routers, IOS XR Release
6.1.x
26
Configuring Ethernet OAM