Network Working Group
Request for Comments: 2297
Updates: 1987
Category: Informational
P. Newman, Nokia
W. Edwards, Sprint
R. Hinden, Nokia
E. Hoffman, Nokia
F. Ching Liaw
T. Lyon, Nokia
G. Minshall, Fiberlane
March 1998
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Ipsilon's General Switch Management Protocol Specification

Version 2.0

Status of this Memo

This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright © The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This memo specifies enhancements to the General Switch Management Protocol (GSMP) [RFC1987]. The major enhancement is the addition of Quality of Service (QoS) messages. Other improvements have been made to the protocol resulting from operational experience. GSMP is a general purpose protocol to control an ATM switch. It allows a controller to establish and release connections across the switch; add and delete leaves on a multicast connection; manage switch ports; request configuration information; and request statistics.


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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. GSMP Packet Encapsulation
2.1 ATM Encapsulation
2.2 Ethernet Encapsulation

3. Common Definitions and Procedures
3.1 GSMP Packet Format
3.2 Failure Response Messages

4. Connection Management Messages
4.1 Add Branch Message
4.2 Delete Tree Message
4.3 Verify Tree Message
4.4 Delete All Message
4.5 Delete Branches Message
4.6 Move Branch Message

5. Port Management Messages
5.1 Port Management Message
5.2 Label Range Message

6. State and Statistics Messages
6.1 Connection Activity Message
6.2 Statistics Messages
6.2.1 Port Statistics Message
6.2.2 Connection Statistics Message
6.2.3 QoS Class Statistics Message
6.3 Report Connection State Message

7. Configuration Messages
7.1 Switch Configuration Message
7.2 Port Configuration Message
7.3 All Ports Configuration Message

8. Event Messages
8.1 Port Up Message
8.2 Port Down Message
8.3 Invalid VPI/VCI Message
8.4 New Port Message
8.5 Dead Port Message

9. Quality of Service Messages
9.1 Abstract Switch Model
9.2 QoS Configuration Message
9.3 Scheduler Establishment Message


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9.4 QoS Class Establishment Message
9.5 QoS Release Message
9.6 QoS Connection Management Message
9.7 QoS Failure Response Codes
10. Adjacency Protocol
10.1 Packet Format
10.2 Procedure
10.3 Loss of Synchronization
11. Summary of Failure Response Codes
12. Summary of Message Set
References
Security Considerations
Authors' Addresses
Full Copyright Statement

1 Introduction

The General Switch Management Protocol (GSMP), is a general purpose protocol to control an ATM switch. GSMP allows a controller to establish and release connections across the switch; add and delete leaves on a multicast connection; manage switch ports; request configuration information; and request statistics. It also allows the switch to inform the controller of asynchronous events such as a link going down. GSMP runs across an ATM link connecting the controller to the switch, on a control connection (virtual channel) established at initialization. GSMP operation across an Ethernet link is also specified. The GSMP protocol is asymmetric, the controller being the master and the switch being the slave. Multiple switches may be controlled by a single controller using multiple instantiations of the protocol over separate control connections.

A switch is assumed to contain multiple "ports". Each port is a combination of one "input port" and one "output port". Some GSMP requests refer to the port as a whole whereas other requests are specific to the input port or the output port. ATM cells arrive at the switch from an external communication link on incoming virtual paths or virtual channels at an input port. ATM cells depart from the switch to an external communication link on outgoing virtual paths or virtual channels from an output port. Virtual paths on a port or link are referenced by their virtual path identifier (VPI). Virtual channels on a port or link are referenced by their virtual path and virtual channel identifiers (VPI/VCI).


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A virtual channel connection across a switch is formed by connecting an incoming virtual channel to one or more outgoing virtual channels. Virtual channel connections are referenced by the input port on which they arrive and the virtual path and virtual channel identifiers (VPI/VCI) of their incoming virtual channel. A virtual path connection across a switch is formed by connecting an incoming virtual path to one or more outgoing virtual paths. Virtual path connections are referenced by the input port on which they arrive and their virtual path identifier (VPI). In a virtual path connection the value of the VCI in each cell on that, connection is not used by the switch and remains unchanged by the switch.

GSMP supports point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connections. A multipoint-to-point connection is specified by establishing multiple point-to-point connections each of them specifying the same output branch. A multipoint-to-multipoint connection is specified by establishing multiple point-to-multipoint trees each of them specifying the same output branches.

In general a virtual channel is established with a certain quality of service (QoS). A rich set of QoS messages is introduced in this version of the protocol. However, implementation or operation of GSMP without any of the messages defined in Section 9, "Quality of service messages," is permitted. In this case each virtual channel connection or virtual path connection may be assigned a priority when it is established. It may be assumed that for virtual connections that share the same output port, an ATM cell on a connection with a higher priority is much more likely to exit the switch before an ATM cell on a connection with a lower priority if they are both in the switch at the same time. The number of priorities that each port of the switch supports may be obtained from the port configuration message.

GSMP contains an adjacency protocol. The adjacency protocol is used to synchronize state across the link, to negotiate which version of the GSMP protocol to use, to discover the identity of the entity at the other end of a link, and to detect when it changes.

2 GSMP Packet Encapsulation

2.1 ATM Encapsulation

GSMP packets are variable length and for an ATM data link layer they are encapsulated directly in an AAL-5 CPCS-PDU [I.363] with an LLC/SNAP header as illustrated:


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    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |               LLC (0xAA-AA-03)                |               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+               +
   |                   SNAP (0x00-00-00-88-0C)                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   ~                         GSMP Message                          ~
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                     Pad (0 - 47 octets)                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +               AAL-5 CPCS-PDU Trailer (8 octets)               +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

(The convention in the documentation of Internet Protocols [RFC1700] is to express numbers in decimal. Numbers in hexadecimal format are specified by prefacing them with the characters "0x". Data is pictured in "big-endian" order. That is, fields are described left to right, with the most significant octet on the left and the least significant octet on the right. Whenever a diagram shows a group of octets, the order of transmission of those octets is the normal order in which they are read in English. Whenever an octet represents a numeric quantity the left most bit in the diagram is the high order or most significant bit. That is, the bit labeled 0 is the most significant bit. Similarly, whenever a multi-octet field represents a numeric quantity the left most bit of the whole field is the most significant bit. When a multi-octet quantity is transmitted, the most significant octet is transmitted first. This is the same coding convention as is used in the ATM layer [I.361] and AAL-5 [I.363].)

The LLC/SNAP header contains the octets: 0xAA 0xAA 0x03 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x88 0x0C. (0x880C is the assigned Ethertype for GSMP.)

The maximum transmission unit (MTU) of the GSMP Message field is 1492 octets.

The virtual channel over which a GSMP session is established between a controller and the switch it is controlling is called the GSMP control channel. The default VPI and VCI of the GSMP control channel for LLC/SNAP encapsulated GSMP messages on an ATM data link layer is:

      VPI = 0
      VCI = 15.


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2.2 Ethernet Encapsulation

GSMP packets may be encapsulated on an Ethernet data link as illustrated:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      Destination Address                      |
   |                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                               |                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               |
   |                         Source Address                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Ethertype (0x88-0C)       |                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               |
   |                                                               |
   ~                         GSMP Message                          ~
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                        Sender Instance                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       Receiver Instance                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                              Pad                              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       Frame Check Sequence                    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Destination Address
For the SYN message of the adjacency protocol the Destination Address is the broadcast address
0xFFFFFFFFFFFF. (Alternatively, it is also valid to configure the node with the unicast 48-bit IEEE MAC address of the destination. In this case the configured unicast Destination Address is used in the SYN message.) For all other messages the Destination Address is the unicast 48- bit IEEE MAC address of the destination. This address may be discovered from the Source Address field of messages received during synchronization of the adjacency protocol.

Source Address
For all messages the Source Address is the 48-bit IEEE MAC address of the sender.

Ethertype
The assigned Ethertype for GSMP is 0x880C.


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GSMP Message
The maximum transmission unit (MTU) of the GSMP Message field is 1492 octets.

Sender Instance
The Sender Instance number for the link obtained from the adjacency protocol. This field is already present in the adjacency protocol message. It is appended to all non- adjacency GSMP messages in the Ethernet encapsulation to offer additional protection against the introduction of corrupt state.

Receiver Instance
The Receiver Instance number is what the sender believes is the current instance number for the link, allocated by the entity at the far end of the link. This field is already present in the adjacency protocol message. It is appended to all non-adjacency GSMP messages in the Ethernet encapsulation to offer additional protection against the introduction of corrupt state.

Pad
The minimum length of the data field of an Ethernet packet is 46 octets. If necessary, padding should be added such that it meets the minimum Ethernet frame size. This padding should be octets of zero and it is not considered to be part of the GSMP message.

After the adjacency protocol has achieved synchronization, for every GSMP message received with an Ethernet encapsulation, the receiver must check the Source Address from the Ethernet MAC header, the Sender Instance, and the Receiver Instance. The incoming GSMP message must be discarded if the Sender Instance and the Source Address do not match the values of Sender Instance and Sender Name stored by the "Update Peer Verifier" operation of the GSMP adjacency protocol. The incoming GSMP message must also be discarded if it arrives over any port other than the port over which the adjacency protocol has achieved synchronization. In addition, the incoming message must also be discarded if the Receiver Instance field does not match the current value for the Sender Instance of the GSMP adjacency protocol.

3 Common Definitions and Procedures

GSMP is a master-slave protocol. The controller issues request messages to the switch. Each request message indicates whether a response is required from the switch and contains a transaction


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identifier to enable the response to be associated with the request. The switch replies with a response message indicating either a successful result or a failure. There are five classes of GSMP request-response message: Connection Management, Port Management, State and Statistics, Configuration, and Quality of Service. The switch may also generate asynchronous Event messages to inform the controller of asynchronous events. Event messages are not acknowledged by the controller. There is also an adjacency protocol message used to establish synchronization across the link and maintain a handshake.

For the request-response messages, each message type has a format for the request message and a format for the success response. Unless otherwise specified a failure response message is identical to the request message that caused the failure, with the Code field indicating the nature of the failure. Event messages have only a single format defined as they are not acknowledged by the controller.

Switch ports are described by a 32-bit port number. The switch assigns port numbers and it may typically choose to structure the 32 bits into subfields that have meaning to the physical structure of the switch (e.g. slot, port). In general, a port in the same physical location on the switch will always have the same port number, even across power cycles. The internal structure of the port number is opaque to the GSMP protocol. However, for the purposes of network management such as logging, port naming, and graphical
representation, a switch may declare the physical location (physical slot and port) of each port. Alternatively, this information may be obtained by looking up the product identity in a database.

Each switch port also maintains a port session number assigned by the switch. A message, with an incorrect port session number must be rejected. This allows the controller to detect a link failure and to keep state synchronized.

Except for the adjacency protocol message, no GSMP messages may be sent across the link until the adjacency protocol has achieved synchronization, and all GSMP messages received on a link that does not currently have state synchronization must be discarded.

3.1 GSMP Packet Format

All GSMP messages, except the adjacency protocol message, have the following format:


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    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   ~                          Message Body                         ~
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Version
The version number of the GSMP protocol being used in this session. It should be set by the sender of the message to the GSMP protocol version negotiated by the adjacency protocol.

Message Type
The GSMP message type. GSMP messages fall into six classes: Connection Management, Port Management, State and Statistics, Configuration, Quality of Service, and Events. Each class has a number of different message types. In addition, one Message Type is allocated to the adjacency protocol.

Result
Field in a Connection Management request message, a Port Management request message, or a Quality of Service request message is used to indicate whether a response is required to the request message if the outcome is successful. A value of "NoSuccessAck" indicates that the request message does not expect a response if the outcome is successful, and a value of "AckAll" indicates that a response is expected if the outcome is successful. In both cases a failure response must be generated if the request fails. For Sate and Statistics, and Configuration request messages, a value of "NoSuccessAck" in the request message is ignored and the request message is handled as if the field were set to "AckAll". (This facility was added to reduce the control traffic in the case where the controller periodically checks that the state in the switch is correct. If the controller does not use this capability, all request messages should be sent with a value of "AckAll.")


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In a response message the result field can have three values: "Success," "More," and "Failure". The "Success" and "More" results both indicate a success response. The "More" result indicates that the success response exceeds the maximum transmission unit of the data link and that one or more further messages will be sent to complete the success response. All messages that belong to the same success response will have the same Transaction Identifier. The "Success" result indicates a success response that may be contained in a single message or the final message of a success response spanning multiple messages.

The encoding of the result field is:

                  NoSuccessAck:  Result = 1
                  AckAll:        Result = 2
                  Success:       Result = 3
                  Failure:       Result = 4
                  More:          Result = 5.

The Result field is not used in an adjacency protocol message.

Code
Field gives further information concerning the result in a response message. It is mostly used to pass an error code in a failure response but can also be used to give further information in a success response message or an event message. In a request message the code field is not used and is set to zero. In an adjacency protocol message the Code field is used to determine the function of the message.

Transaction Identifier
Used to associate a request message with its response message. For request messages the controller may select any transaction identifier. For response messages the transaction identifier is set to the value of the transaction identifier from the message to which it is a response. For event messages the transaction identifier should be set to zero. The Transaction Identifier is not used, and the field is not present, in the adjacency protocol.

The following fields are frequently found in GSMP messages. They are defined here to avoid repetition.


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Port
Gives the port number of the switch port to which the message applies.

Port Session Number
Each switch port maintains a Port Session Number assigned by the switch. The port session number of a port remains unchanged while the port is continuously in the Available state and the link status is continuously Up. When a port returns to the Available state after it has been Unavailable or in any of the Loopback states, or when the line status returns to the Up state after it has been Down or in Test, or after a power cycle, a new Port Session Number must be generated. Port session numbers should be assigned using some form of random number.

If the Port Session Number in a request message does not match the current Port Session Number for the specified port, a failure response message must be returned with the Code field indicating, "Invalid port session number." The current port session number for a port may be obtained using a Port Configuration or an All Ports Configuration message.

Any field in a GSMP message that is unused or defined as "reserved" must be set to zero by the sender and ignored by the receiver.

It is not an error for a GSMP message to contain additional data after the end of the Message Body. This is to support development and experimental purposes. However, the maximum transmission unit of the GSMP message, as defined by the data link layer encapsulation, must not be exceeded.

A success response message must not be sent until the requested operation has been successfully completed.

3.2 Failure Response Messages

A failure response message is formed by returning the request message that caused the failure with the Result field in the header

   indicating failure (Result = 4) and the Code field giving the failure
   code. The failure code specifies the reason for the switch being
   unable to satisfy the request message.

If the switch issues a failure response in reply to a request message, no change should be made to the state of the switch as a result of the message causing the failure. (For request messages that contain multiple requests, such as the Delete Branches message, the


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failure response message will specify which requests were successful and which failed. The successful requests may result in changed state.)

If the switch issues a failure response it must choose the most specific failure code according to the following precedence:

Invalid Message

Failure specific to the particular message type (failure code 16). (The meaning of this failure is dependent upon the particular message type and is specified in the text defining the message.)

A failure response specified in the text defining the message type.

Connection Failures

Virtual Path Connection Failures

Multicast Failures

QoS Failures (QoS failures are specified in Section 9.7.)

General Failures

If multiple failures match in any of the following categories, the one that is listed first should be returned. The following failure response messages and failure codes are defined:

Invalid Message

3: The specified request is not implemented on this switch. The Message Type field specifies a message that is not implemented on the switch or contains a value that is not defined in the version of the protocol running in this session of GSMP.

5: One or more of the specified ports does not exist. At least one of the ports specified in the message is invalid. A port is invalid if it does not exist or if it has been removed from the switch.

4: Invalid Port Session Number.
The value given in the Port Session Number field does not match the current Port Session Number for the specified port.


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Connection Failures

8: The specified connection does not exist.
An operation that expects a connection to be specified, either a virtual channel or a virtual path connection, cannot locate the specified connection. A virtual channel connection is specified by the input port, input VPI, and input VCI on which it arrives. A virtual path connection is specified by the input port and input VPI on which it arrives.

9: The specified branch does not exist.
An operation that expects a branch of an existing connection to be specified, either a virtual channel or a virtual path connection, cannot locate the specified branch. A branch of a virtual channel connection is specified by the virtual channel connection it belongs to and the output port, output VPI, and output VCI on which it departs. A branch of a virtual path connection is specified by the virtual path connection it belongs to and the output port and output VPI on which it departs.

18: One or more of the specified input VPIs is invalid.

19: One or more of the specified input VCIs is invalid.

20: One or more of the specified output VPIs is invalid.

21: One or more of the specified output VCIs is invalid.

22: Invalid Class of Service field in a Connection Management message.
The value of the Class of Service field is invalid.

23: Insufficient resources for QoS Profile.
The resources requested by the QoS Profile in the Class of service field are not available.

Virtual Path Connections

24: Virtual path switching is not supported on this input port.

25: Point-to-multipoint virtual path connections are not supported on either the requested input port or the requested output port.
One or both of the requested input and output ports is unable to support point-to-multipoint virtual path connections.


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26: Attempt to add a virtual path connection branch to an existing virtual channel connection.
It is invalid to mix branches switched as virtual channel connections with branches switched as virtual path connections on the same point-to-multipoint connection.

27: Attempt to add a virtual channel connection branch to an existing virtual path connection.
It is invalid to mix branches switched as virtual channel connections with branches switched as virtual path connections on the same point-to-multipoint connection.

Multicast Failures

10: A branch belonging to the specified point-to-multipoint connection is already established on the specified output port and the switch cannot support more than a single branch of any point-to-multipoint connection on the same output port.

11: The limit on the maximum number of point-to-multipoint connections that the switch can support has been reached.

12: The limit on the maximum number of branches that the specified point-to-multipoint connection can support has been reached.

17: Cannot label each output branch of a point-to-multipoint tree with a different label.
Some early designs, and some low-cost ATM switch designs, require all output branches of a multicast connection to use the same value of VPI/VCI.

28: Only point-to-point bidirectional connections may be established.
It is an error to attempt to add an additional output branch to an existing connection with the bidirectional flag set.

13: Unable to assign the requested VPI/VCI value to the requested branch on the specified point-to-multipoint connection. Although the requested VPI and VCI are valid, the switch is unable to support the request using the specified values of VPI and VCI for some reason not covered by the above failure responses. This message implies that a valid value of VPI or VCI exists that the switch could


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support. For example, some switch designs restrict the number of distinct VPI/VCI values available to a point- to-multipoint connection. (Most switch designs will not require this message.)

14: General problem related to the manner in which point-to- multipoint is supported by the switch.
Use this message if none of the more specific multicast failure messages apply. (Most switch designs will not require this message.)

General Failures

2: Invalid request message.
There is an error in one of the fields of the message not covered by a more specific failure message.

6: One or more of the specified ports is down.
A port is down if its Port Status is Unavailable. Connection Management, Connection State, Port Management, and Configuration operations are permitted on a port that is Unavailable. Connection Activity and Statistics operations are not permitted on a port that is Unavailable and will generate this failure response. A Port Management message specifying a Take Down function on a port already in the Unavailable state will also generate this failure response.

15: Out of resources.
The switch has exhausted a resource not covered by a more specific failure message, for example, running out of memory.

1: Unspecified reason not covered by other failure codes. The failure message of last resort.

The following failure response messages are only used by the Label Range message.

29: Cannot support requested VPI range.

30: Cannot support requested VCI range on all requested VPIs.

The following failure response messages are only used by the Set Transmit Cell Rate function of the Port Management message.

31: The transmit cell rate of this output port cannot be changed.


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32: Requested transmit cell rate out of range for this output port.

4 Connection Management Messages

Connection management messages are used by the controller to establish, delete, modify and verify virtual channel connections and virtual path connections across the switch. The Add Branch, Delete Tree, and Delete All connection management messages have the following format for both request and response messages:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      Port Session Number                      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Input Port                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |M|Q|B|C|      Input VPI        |          Input VCI            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Output Port                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |x x x x|      Output VPI       |          Output VCI           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      Number of Branches       |       Class of Service        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Input Port
Identifies a switch input port.

Flags

        M: Multicast
             The Multicast flag is used as a hint for point-to-
             multipoint connections in the Add Branch message. It is not
             used in any other connection management messages and in
             these messages it should be set to zero. If set, it
             indicates that the virtual channel connection or the
             virtual path connection is very likely to be a point-to-
             multipoint connection. If zero, it indicates that this
             connection is very likely to be a point-to-point connection
             or is unknown.


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The Multicast flag is only used in the Add Branch message when establishing the first branch of a new connection. It is not required to be set when establishing subsequent branches of a point-to-multipoint connection and on such connections it should be ignored by the receiver. (On receipt of the second and subsequent Add Branch messages the receiver knows that this is a point-to-multipoint connection.) If it is known that this is the first branch of a point-to-multipoint connection this flag should be set. If it is unknown, or if it is known that the connection is point-to-point this flag should be zero. The use of this flag is not mandatory. It may be ignored by the switch. If unused the flag should be set to zero. Some switches use a different data structure for point-to- multipoint connections than for point-to-point connections. This flag avoids the switch setting up a point-to-point structure for the first branch of a point-to-multipoint connection which must immediately be deleted and reconfigured as point-to-multipoint when the second branch is established.

        Q: QoS Profile
             The QoS Profile flag, if set, indicates that the Class of
             Service field contains a QoS Profile Identifier.  If this
             flag is zero, it indicates that the Class of Service field
             contains a Priority or a Scheduler Identifier.

        B: Bidirectional
             The Bidirectional flag applies only to the Add Branch
             message. In all other Connection Management messages it is
             not used. It may only be used when establishing a point-
             to-point connection.  The Bidirectional flag in an Add
             Branch message, if set, requests that two unidirectional
             virtual channels or virtual paths be established, one in
             the forward direction, and one in the reverse direction. It
             is equivalent to two Add Branch messages, one specifying
             the forward direction, and one specifying the reverse
             direction. The forward direction uses the values of Input
             Port, Input VPI, Input VCI, Output Port, Output VPI, and
             Output VCI as specified in the Add Branch message. The
             reverse direction is derived by exchanging the values
             specified in the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI
             fields, with those of the Output Port, Output VPI, and
             Output VCI fields respectively. Thus, a virtual connection
             in the reverse direction arrives at the input port
             specified by the Output Port field, on the VPI/VCI
             specified by the Output VPI and Output VCI fields. It
             departs from the output port specified by the Input Port


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field, on the VPI/VCI specified by the Input VPI and Input VCI fields.

The Bidirectional flag is simply a convenience to establish two unidirectional virtual connections in opposite directions between the same two ports, with identical VPI/VCIs, using a single Add Branch message. In all future messages the two unidirectional virtual connections must be handled separately. There is no bidirectional delete message. However, a single Delete Branches message with two Delete Branch Elements, one for the forward connection and one for the reverse, may be used.

        C: Congestion Indication
             The Congestion Indication flag, if set, requests that cells
             on this connection be marked if congestion is experienced.
             If this connection passes through a queue that the switch
             considers to be congested, the Congestion Experienced bit
             will be set in the Payload Type field of the cell header of
             all cells on the connection. GSMP does not specify the
             algorithm or any threshold by which the switch decides when
             a queue is congested.

Input VPI
Identifies an ATM virtual path arriving at the switch input port indicated by the Input Port field.

Input VCI
Identifies an ATM virtual channel arriving on the virtual path indicated by the Input VPI field at the switch input port indicated by the Input Port field. For virtual path connections the Input VCI field is not used.

Output Port
Identifies a switch output port.

x: Unused

Output VPI
Identifies an outgoing virtual path departing from the switch output port indicated in the Output Port field.

Output VCI
Identifies an outgoing virtual channel departing on the virtual path indicated by the Output VPI field from the switch output port indicated in the Output Port field. For virtual path connections the Output VCI field is not used.


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Number of Branches
In a success response message and a failure response message, gives the number of output branches on a virtual channel connection or a virtual path connection after completion of the requested operation. (A point-to-point connection will have one branch, a point-to-multipoint connection will have two or more branches.) If the switch is unable to keep track of the number of branches on a virtual path connection or a virtual channel connection it must respond with the value 0xFFFF meaning: "number of branches unknown". This field is not used in the request message.

Class of Service
This field can contain either a QoS Profile Identifier, a Priority, or a Scheduler Identifier. If the QoS Profile flag in the Flags field is set, the Class of Service field contains a QoS Profile. If the QoS Profile flag in the Flags field is zero, and the value of the Class of Service field is greater than or equal to 0x100, the Class of Service field contains a Scheduler Identifier. If the QoS Profile flag in the Flags field is zero, and the value of the Class of Service field is less than 0x100, the Class of Service field contains a Priority. (Values of Scheduler Identifier less than 0x100 are interpreted as priorities.) The Class of Service field is only used in the Add Branch and Move Branch messages.

A QoS Profile Identifier is an opaque 16-bit value. It is used to identify a QoS profile in the switch which specifies the Quality of Service required by the connection. QoS profiles are established by a mechanism external to GSMP.

A Scheduler Identifier is an alternative method of communicating the QoS requirements of a connection. The Scheduler Identifier is defined in Section 9, "Quality of Service Messages."

A Priority specifies the priority of the connection for Add Branch and Move Branch messages that choose not to use a QoS profile, or the QoS capabilities defined in Section 9, "Quality of Service Messages." The highest priority is numbered zero and the lowest priority is numbered "Q-1" where "Q" is the number of priorities that the output port can support. The ability to offer different qualities of service to different connections based upon their priority is assumed to be a property of the output port of the


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switch. It is assumed that for virtual path connections or virtual channel connections that share the same output port, an ATM cell on a connection with a higher priority is much more likely to exit the switch before an ATM cell on a connection with a lower priority, if they are both in the switch at the same time. The number of priorities that each output port can support is given in the Port Configuration message.

For all connection management messages, except the Delete Branches message, the success response message is a copy of the request message returned with the Result field indicating success and the Number of Branches field indicating the number of branches on the connection after completion of the operation. The Code field is not used in a connection management success response message.

The failure response message is a copy of the request message returned with a Result field indicating failure and the Number of Branches field indicating the number of branches on the connection.

Fundamentally, no distinction is made between point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connections. By default, the first Add Branch message for a particular Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI will establish a point-to-point virtual connection. The second Add Branch message with the same Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields will convert the connection to a point-to-multipoint virtual connection with two branches. (For virtual path connections the Input VCI is not required.) However, to avoid possible inefficiency with some switch designs, the Multicast Flag is provided. If the controller knows that a new connection is point-to-multipoint when establishing the first branch, it may indicate this in the Multicast Flag. Subsequent Add Branch messages with the same Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields will add further branches to the point-to- multipoint connection. Use of the Delete Branch message on a point- to-multipoint connection with two branches will result in a point- to-point connection. However, the switch may structure this connection as a point-to-multipoint connection with a single output branch if it chooses. (For some switch designs this structure may be more convenient.) Use of the Delete Branch message on a point-to- point connection will delete the point-to-point connection. There is no concept of a connection with zero output branches. All connections are unidirectional, one input virtual path or virtual channel to one or more output virtual paths or virtual channels.

GSMP supports point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connections. A multipoint-to-point connection is specified by establishing multiple point-to-point connections each of them specifying the same output branch. (An output branch is specified by an output port and output


Page 21

VPI for a virtual path connection and by an output port, output VPI, and output VCI for a virtual channel connection.) A multipoint-to- multipoint connection is specified by establishing multiple point- to-multipoint trees each of them specifying the same output branches.

The connection management messages apply both to virtual channel connections and virtual path connections. The Add Branch and Move Branch connection management messages have two Message Types. One Message Type indicates that a virtual channel connection is required, and the other Message Type indicates that a virtual path connection is required. The Delete Branches, Delete Tree, and Delete All connection management messages have only a single Message Type because they do not need to distinguish between virtual channel connections and virtual path connections. For virtual path connections, neither Input VCI fields nor Output VCI fields are required. They should be set to zero by the sender and ignored by the receiver. Virtual channel branches may not be added to an existing virtual path connection. Conversely, virtual path branches may not be added to an existing virtual channel connection. In the Port Configuration message each switch input port may declare whether it is capable of supporting virtual path switching (i.e. accepting connection management messages requesting virtual path connections).

The connection management messages may be issued regardless of the Port Status of the switch port. Connections may be established or deleted when a switch port is in the Available, Unavailable, or any of the Loopback states. However, all connection state on an input port will be deleted when the port returns to the Available state from any other state, i.e. when a Port Management message is received for that port with the Function field indicating either Bring Up, or Reset Input Port.

4.1 Add Branch Message

The Add Branch message is a connection management message used to establish a virtual channel connection or a virtual path connection or to add an additional branch to an existing virtual channel connection or virtual path connection. It may also be used to check the connection state stored in the switch. The connection is specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields. The output branch is specified by the Output Port, Output VPI, and Output VCI fields. The quality of service requirements of the connection are specified by the Class of Service field. To request a virtual channel connection the Virtual Channel Connection (VCC) Add Branch message is:

      Message Type = 16


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To request a virtual path connection the Virtual Path Connection (VPC) Add Branch message is:

      Message Type = 26

If a VPC Add Branch message is received and the switch input port specified by the Input Port field does not support virtual path switching, a failure response message must be returned indicating, "Virtual path switching is not supported on this input port."

If the virtual channel connection specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields; or the virtual path connection specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields; does not already exist, it must be established with the single output branch specified in the request message. If the Bidirectional Flag in the Flags field is set, the reverse connection must also be established. The output branch should have the QoS attributes specified by the Class of Service field.

For the VCC Add Branch message, if a virtual path connection already exists on the virtual path specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields, a failure response message must be returned indicating, "Attempt to add a virtual channel connection branch to an existing virtual path connection." For the VPC Add Branch message, if a virtual channel connection already exists on any of the virtual channels within the virtual path specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields, a failure response message must be returned indicating, "Attempt to add a virtual path connection branch to an existing virtual channel connection."

If the virtual channel connection specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields; or the virtual path connection specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields; already exists, but the specified output branch does not, the new output branch must be added. The new output branch should have the QoS attributes specified by the Class of Service field.

If the virtual channel connection specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields; or the virtual path connection specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields; already exists and the specified output branch also already exists, the QoS attributes of the connection, specified by the Class of Service field, if different from the request message, should be changed to that in the request message. A success response message must be sent if the Result field of the request message is "AckAll". This allows the controller to periodically reassert the state of a connection or to change its priority. If the result field of the request message is
"NoSuccessAck" a success response message should not be returned.


Page 23

This may be used to reduce the traffic on the control link for messages that are reasserting previously established state. For messages that are reasserting previously established state, the switch must always check that this state is correctly established in the switch hardware (i.e. the actual connection tables used to forward cells).

If the output branch specified by the Output Port, Output VPI, and Output VCI fields for a virtual channel connection; or the output branch specified by the Output Port and Output VPI fields for a virtual path connection; is already in use by any connection other than that specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields, then the resulting output branch will have multiple input branches. If multiple point-to-point connections share the same output branch the result will be a multipoint-to-point connection. If multiple point-to-multipoint trees share the same output branches the result will be a multipoint-to-multipoint connection.

If the virtual channel connection specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields, or the virtual path connection specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields, already exists, and the Bidirectional Flag in the Flags field is set, a failure response must be returned indicating: "Only point-to-point bidirectional connections may be established."

It should be noted that different switches support multicast in different ways. There will be a limit to the total number of point- to-multipoint connections any switch can support, and possibly a limit on the maximum number of branches that a point-to-multipoint connection may specify. Some switches also impose a limit on the number of different VPI/VCI values that may be assigned to the output branches of a point-to-multipoint connection. Many switches are incapable of supporting more than a single branch of any particular point-to-multipoint connection on the same output port. Specific failure codes are defined for some of these conditions.

4.2 Delete Tree Message

The Delete Tree message is a connection management message used to delete an entire virtual channel connection or an entire virtual path connection. All remaining branches of the connection are deleted. A virtual channel connection is specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields. A virtual path connection is specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields. The Output Port, Output VPI, and Output VCI fields are not used in this message. The Delete Tree message is:

      Message Type = 18


Page 24

If the Result field of the request message is "AckAll" a success response message must be sent upon successful deletion of the specified connection. The success message must not be sent until the delete operation has been completed and if possible, not until all data on the connection, queued for transmission, has been transmitted. The Number of Branches field is not used in either the request or response messages of the Delete Tree message.

4.3 Verify Tree Message

The Verify Tree message has been removed from this version of GSMP. Its function has been replaced by the Number of Branches field in the success response to the Add Branch message which contains the number of branches on a virtual channel connection after successful completion of an add branch operation.

      Message Type = 19 is reserved.

   If a request message is received with Message Type = 19 a failure
   response must be returned with the Code field indicating: "The
   specified request is not implemented in this version of the
   protocol."

4.4 Delete All Message

The Delete All message is a connection management message used to delete all connections on a switch input port. All connections that arrive at the specified input port must be deleted. On completion of the operation all dynamically assigned VPI/VCI values for the specified port must be unassigned, i.e. there must be no virtual connections established in the VPI/VCI space that GSMP controls on this port. The Input VPI, Input VCI, Output Port, Output VPI, and Output VCI fields are not used in this message. The Delete All message is:

      Message Type = 20

If the Result field of the request message is "AckAll" a success response message must be sent upon completion of the operation. The Number of Branches field is not used in either the request or response messages of the Delete All message. The success response message must not be sent until the operation has been completed.

The following failure response messages may be returned to a Delete All request.

The specified request is not implemented on this switch.


Page 25

One or more of the specified ports does not exist.

Invalid Port Session Number.

If any field in a Delete All message not covered by the above failure codes is invalid, a failure response must be returned indicating: "Invalid request message." Else, the delete all operation must be completed successfully and a success message returned. No other failure messages are permitted.

4.5 Delete Branches Message

The Delete Branches message is a connection management message used to request one or more delete branch operations. Each delete branch operation deletes a branch of a virtual channel connection or a virtual path connection, or in the case of the last branch of a connection, it deletes the connection. The Delete Branches message is:

      Message Type = 17

The request message has the following format:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |           Reserved            |      Number of Elements       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   ~                    Delete Branch Elements                     ~
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Number of Elements
Specifies the number of Delete Branch Elements to follow in the message. The number of Delete Branch Elements in a Delete Branches message must not cause the packet length to exceed the maximum transmission unit defined by the encapsulation.

Each Delete Branch Element specifies an output branch to be deleted and has the following structure:


Page 26

   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      Port Session Number                      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Input Port                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Error |      Input VPI        |          Input VCI            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Output Port                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |x x x x|      Output VPI       |          Output VCI           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Error
Is used to return a failure code indicating the reason for the failure of a specific Delete Branch Element in a Delete Branches failure response message. The Error field is not used in the request message and must be set to zero. A value of zero is used to indicate that the delete operation specified by this Delete Branch Element was successful. Values for the other failure codes are specified in Section 3.2, "Failure Response Messages."

All other fields of the Delete Branch Element have the same definition as specified for the other connection management messages.

In each Delete Branch Element, either a virtual channel connection is specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields; or a virtual path connection is specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields. The specific branch to be deleted is indicated by the Output Port, Output VPI, and Output VCI fields for virtual channel connections and by the Output Port and Output VPI for virtual path connections.

If the Result field of the Delete Branches request message is "AckAll" a success response message must be sent upon successful deletion of the branches specified by all of the Delete Branch Elements. The success response message must not be sent until all of the delete branch operations have been completed. The success response message is only sent if all of the requested delete branch operations were successful. No Delete Branch Elements are returned in a Delete Branches success response message and the Number of Elements field must be set to zero.

If there is a failure in any of the Delete Branch Elements a Delete Branches failure response message must be returned. The Delete Branches failure response message is a copy of the request message with the Code field of the entire message set to, "Failure specific


Page 27

to the particular message type," and the Error field of each Delete Branch Element indicating the result of each requested delete operation. A failure in any of the Delete Branch Elements must not interfere with the processing of any other Delete Branch Elements.

4.6 Move Branch Message

The Move Branch message is used to move a branch of an existing connection from its current output port VPI/VCI to a new output port VPI/VCI in a single atomic transaction. This operation occurs frequently in IP switching, every time a flow is switched from hop- by-hop forwarding to a dedicated virtual channel. The Move Branch connection management message has the following format for both request and response messages:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      Port Session Number                      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                           Input Port                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Flags |        Input VPI      |           Input VCI           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                        Old Output Port                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |x x x x|    Old Output VPI     |        Old Output VCI         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                        New Output Port                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |x x x x|    New Output VPI     |        New Output VCI         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |       Number of Branches      |       Class of Service        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

The VCC Move Branch message is a connection management message used to move a single output branch of a virtual channel connection from its current output port, output VPI, and output VCI, to a new output port, output VPI, and output VCI on the same virtual channel connection. None of the other output branches are modified. When the operation is complete the original output VPI/VCI on the original output port will be deleted from the connection. The VCC Move Branch message is:


Page 28

      Message Type = 22

For the VCC Move Branch message, if the virtual channel connection specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields already exists, and the output branch specified by the Old Output Port, Old Output VPI, and Old Output VCI fields exists as a branch on that connection, the output branch specified by the New Output Port, New Output VPI, and New Output VCI fields is added to the connection and the branch specified by the Old Output Port, Old Output VPI, and Old Output VCI fields is deleted. If the Result field of the request message is "AckAll" a success response message must be sent upon successful completion of the operation. The success response message must not be sent until the Move Branch operation has been completed.

For the VCC Move Branch message, if the virtual channel connection specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields already exists, but the output branch specified by the Old Output Port, Old Output VPI, and Old Output VCI fields does not exist as a branch on that connection, a failure response must be returned with the Code field indicating, "The specified branch does not exist."

The VPC Move Branch message is a connection management message used to move a single output branch of a virtual path connection from its current output port and output VPI, to a new output port and output VPI on the same virtual channel connection. None of the other output branches are modified. When the operation is complete the original output VPI on the original output port will be deleted from the connection. The VPC Move Branch message is:

      Message Type = 27

For the VPC Move Branch message, if the virtual path connection specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields already exists, and the output branch specified by the Old Output Port and Old Output VPI fields exists as a branch on that connection, the output branch specified by the New Output Port and New Output VPI fields is added to the connection and the branch specified by the Old Output Port and Old Output VPI fields is deleted. If the Result field of the request message is "AckAll" a success response message must be sent upon successful completion of the operation. The success response message must not be sent until the Move Branch operation has been completed.

For the VPC Move Branch message, if the virtual path connection specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields already exists, but the output branch specified by the Old Output Port and Old Output VPI fields does not exist as a branch on that connection, a failure response must be returned with the Code field indicating, "The specified branch does not exist."


Page 29

If the virtual channel connection specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields; or the virtual path connection specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields; does not exist, a failure response must be returned with the Code field indicating, "The specified connection does not exist."

If the output branch specified by the New Output Port, New Output VPI, and New Output VCI fields for a virtual channel connection; or the output branch specified by the New Output Port and New Output VPI fields for a virtual path connection; is already in use by any connection other than that specified by the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields then the resulting output branch will have multiple input branches. If multiple point-to-point connections share the same output branch the result will be a multipoint-to-point connection. If multiple point-to-multipoint trees share the same output branches the result will be a multipoint-to-multipoint connection.

5 Port Management Messages

5.1 Port Management Message

The Port Management message allows a port to be brought into service, taken out of service, looped back, reset, or the transmit cell rate changed. Only the Bring Up and the Reset Input Port functions change the connection state (established connections) on the input port. Only the Bring Up function changes the value of the Port Session Number. If the Result field of the request message is "AckAll" a success response message must be sent upon successful completion of the operation. The success response message must not be sent until the operation has been completed. The Port Management Message is:

      Message Type = 32

The Port Management message has the following format for the request and success response messages:


Page 30

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                             Port                              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      Port Session Number                      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                     Event Sequence Number                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Event Flags  |   Duration    |          Function             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      Transmit Cell Rate                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Event Sequence Number
In the success response message gives the current value of the Event Sequence Number of the switch port indicated by the Port field. The Event Sequence Number is set to zero when the port is initialized. It is incremented by one each time the port detects an asynchronous event that the switch would normally report via an Event message. If the Event Sequence Number in the success response differs from the Event Sequence Number of the most recent Event message received for that port, events have occurred that were not reported via an Event message. This is most likely to be due to the flow control that restricts the rate at which a switch can send Event messages for each port. In the request message this field is not used.

Event Flags
Field in the request message is used to reset the Event Flags in the switch port indicated by the Port field. Each Event Flag in a switch port corresponds to a type of Event message. When a switch port sends an Event message it sets the corresponding Event Flag on that port. The port is not permitted to send another Event message of the same type until the Event Flag has been reset. If the Function field in the request message is set to "Reset Event Flags," for each bit that is set in the Event Flags field, the corresponding Event Flag in the switch port is reset.

The Event Flags field is only used in a request message with the Function field set to "Reset Event Flags." For all other values of the Function field, the Event Flags field


Page 31

is not used. In the success response message the Event Flags field must be set to the current value of the Event Flags for the port, after the completion of the operation specified by the request message, for all values of the Function field. Setting the Event Flags field to all zeros in a "Reset Event Flags" request message allows the controller to obtain the current state of the Event Flags and the current Event Sequence Number of the port without changing the state of the Event Flags.

The correspondence between the types of Event message and the bits of the Event Flags field is as follows:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

                +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                |U|D|I|N|Z|x x x|
                +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                U: Port Up          Bit 0, (most significant bit)
                D: Port Down        Bit 1,
                I: Invalid VPI/VCI  Bit 2,
                N: New Port         Bit 3,
                Z: Dead Port        Bit 4,
                x: Unused           Bits 5--7.

Duration
Is the length of time, in seconds, that any of the loopback states remain in operation. When the duration has expired the port will automatically be returned to service. If another Port Management message is received for the same port before the duration has expired, the loopback will continue to remain in operation for the length of time specified by the Duration field in the new message. The Duration field is only used in request messages with the Function field set to Internal Loopback, External Loopback, or Bothway Loopback.

Function
Specifies the action to be taken. The specified action will be taken regardless of the current status of the port (Available, Unavailable, or any Loopback state). If the specified function requires a new Port Session Number to be generated, the new Port Session Number must be returned in the success response message. The defined values of the Function field are:

Bring Up:

                  Function = 1. Bring the port into service. All


Page 32

connections that arrive at the specified input port must be deleted and a new Port Session Number must be selected using some form of random number. On completion of the operation all dynamically assigned VPI/VCI values for the specified input port must be unassigned, i.e. no virtual connections will be established in the VPI/VCI space that GSMP controls on this input port. The Port Status of the port afterwards will be Available.

Take Down:

                  Function = 2. Take the port out of service. Any cells
                  received at this port will be discarded. No cells will
                  be transmitted from this port. The Port Status of the
                  port afterwards will be Unavailable.

The behavior is undefined if the port is taken down over which the GSMP session that controls the switch is running. (In this case the most probable behavior would be for the switch either to ignore the message or to terminate the current GSMP session and to initiate another session, possibly with the backup controller, if any.) The correct method to reset the link over which GSMP is running is to issue an RSTACK message in the adjacency protocol.

Internal Loopback:

                  Function = 3. Cells arriving at the output port from
                  the switch fabric are looped through to the input port
                  to return to the switch fabric. All of the ATM
                  functions of the input port above the physical layer,
                  e.g. header translation, are performed upon the looped
                  back cells. The Port Status of the port afterwards
                  will be Internal Loopback.

External Loopback:

                  Function = 4. Cells arriving at the input port from
                  the external communications link are immediately
                  looped back to the communications link at the physical
                  layer without entering the input port. None of the ATM
                  functions of the input port above the physical layer
                  are performed upon the looped back cells. The Port
                  Status of the port afterwards will be External
                  Loopback.

Bothway Loopback:

                  Function = 5. Both internal and external loopback are


Page 33

performed. The Port Status of the port afterwards will be Bothway Loopback.

Reset Input Port:

                  Function = 6. All connections that arrive at the
                  specified input port must be deleted and the input and
                  output port hardware re-initialized. On completion of
                  the operation all dynamically assigned VPI/VCI values
                  for the specified input port must be unassigned, i.e.
                  no virtual connections will be established in the
                  VPI/VCI space that GSMP controls on this input port.
                  The range of VPIs and VCIs that may be controlled by
                  GSMP on this port will be set to the default values
                  specified in the Port Configuration message.  The
                  transmit cell rate of the output port must be set to
                  its default value. The Port Session Number is not
                  changed by the Reset Input Port function.  The Port
                  Status of the port afterwards will be Unavailable.

Reset Event Flags:

                  Function = 7. For each bit that is set in the Event
                  Flags field, the corresponding Event Flag in the
                  switch port must be reset. The Port Status of the port
                  is not changed by this function.

Set Transmit Cell Rate:

                  Function = 8. Sets the transmit cell rate of the
                  output port as close as possible to the rate specified
                  in the Transmit Cell Rate field. In the success
                  response message the Transmit Cell Rate must indicate
                  the actual transmit cell rate of the output port.  If
                  the transmit cell rate of the requested output port
                  cannot be changed, a failure response must be returned
                  with the Code field indicating: "The transmit cell
                  rate of this output port cannot be changed." If the
                  transmit cell rate of the requested output port can be
                  changed, but the value of the Transmit Cell Rate field
                  is beyond the range of acceptable values, a failure
                  response must be returned with the Code field
                  indicating: "Requested transmit cell rate out of range
                  for this output port." In the failure response message
                  the Transmit Cell Rate must contain the same value as
                  contained in the request message that caused the
                  failure. The transmit cell rate of the output port is
                  not changed by the Bring Up, Take Down, or any of the
                  Loopback functions. It is returned to the default
                  value by the Reset Input Port function.


Page 34

Transmit Cell Rate
This field is only used in request and success response messages with the Function field set to "Set Transmit Cell Rate." It is used to set the output cell rate of the output port. It is specified in cells/s. If the Transmit Cell Rate field contains the value 0xFFFFFFFF the transmit cell rate of the output port should be set to the highest valid value.

5.2 Label Range Message

The default label range, Min VPI to Max VPI and Min VCI to Max VCI, is specified for each port by the Port Configuration or the All Ports Configuration messages. When the protocol is initialized, before the transmission of any Label Range messages, the label range of each port will be set to the default label range. (The default label range is dependent upon the switch design and configuration and is not specified by the GSMP protocol.) The Label Range message allows the range of VPIs supported by a specified port, or the range of VCIs supported by a specified VPI on a specified port, to be changed. Each switch port must declare whether it supports the Label Range message in the Port Configuration or the All Ports Configuration messages. The Label Range message is:

      Message Type = 33

The Label Range message has the following format for the request and success response messages:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                             Port                              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      Port Session Number                      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |Q|V|x x|      Min VPI          |x x x x|       Max VPI         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |            Min VCI            |           Max VCI             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |        Remaining VPIs         |        Remaining VCIs         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


Page 35

Flags

        Q: Query
             If the Query flag is set in a request message, the switch
             must respond with the current range of valid VPIs, or the
             current range of valid VCIs on a specified VPI, according
             to the VPI/VCI flag. The current label range is not changed
             by a request message with the Query flag set. If the Query
             flag is zero, the message is requesting a label change
             operation.

        V: VPI/VCI
             If the VPI/VCI flag is set, the message refers to a range
             of VPIs only. The Min VCI and Max VCI fields are unused. If
             the VPI/VCI flag is zero the message refers to a range of
             VCIs on either one VPI or on a range of VPIs.

x: Unused

Min VPI
Max VPI
Specify a range of VPI values, Min VPI to Max VPI inclusive. A single VPI may be specified with a Min VPI and a Max VPI having the same value. In a request message, if the value of the Max VPI field is less than or equal to the value of the Min VPI field, the requested range is a single VPI with a value equal to the Min VPI field. Zero is a valid value. In a request message, if the Query flag is set, and the VPI/VCI flag is zero, the Max VPI field specifies a single VPI and the Min VPI field is not used. The maximum valid value of these fields for both request and response messages is 0xFFF.

Min VCI
Max VCI
Specify a range of VCI values, Min VCI to Max VCI inclusive. A single VCI may be specified with a Min VCI and a Max VCI having the same value. In a request message, if the value of the Max VCI field is less than or equal to the value of the Min VCI field, the requested range is a single VCI with a value equal to the Min VCI field. Zero is a valid value. (However, VPI=0, VCI=0 is not available as a virtual channel connection as it is used as a special value in ATM to indicate an unassigned cell.)

Remaining VPIs
Remaining VCIs
These fields are unused in the request message. In the


Page 36

success response message and in the failure response message these fields give the maximum number of remaining VPIs and VCIs that could be requested for allocation on the specified port (after completion of the requested operation in the case of the success response). It gives the switch controller an idea of how many VPIs and VCIs it could request. The number given is the maximum possible given the constraints of the switch hardware. There is no implication that this number of VPIs and VCIs is available to every switch port.

If the Query flag and the VPI/VCI flag are set in the request message, the switch must reply with a success response message containing the current range of valid VPIs that are supported by the port. The Min VPI and Max VPI fields are not used in the request message.

If the Query flag is set and the VPI/VCI flag is zero in the request message, the switch must reply with a success response message containing the current range of valid VCIs that are supported by the VPI specified by the Max VPI field. If the requested VPI is invalid, a failure response must be returned indicating: "One or more of the specified input VPIs is invalid." The Min VPI field is not used in either the request or success response messages.

If the Query flag is zero and the VPI/VCI flag is set in the request message, the Min VPI and Max VPI fields specify the new range of VPIs to be allocated to the input port specified by the Port field. Whatever the range of VPIs previously allocated to this port it should be increased or decreased to the specified value.

If the Query flag and the VPI/VCI flag are zero in the request message, the Min VCI and Max VCI fields specify the range of VCIs to be allocated to each of the VPIs specified by the VPI range. Whatever the range of VCIs previously allocated to each of the VPIs within the specified VPI range on this port, it should be increased or decreased to the specified value. The allocated VCI range must be the same on each of the VPIs within the specified VPI range.

The success response to a Label Range message requesting a change of label range is a copy of the request message with the Remaining VPIs and Remaining VCIs fields updated to the new values after the Label Range operation.

If the switch is unable to satisfy a request to change the VPI range, it must return a failure response message with the Code field set to "Cannot support requested VPI range." In this failure response


Page 37

message the switch must use the Min VPI and Max VPI fields to suggest a VPI range that it would be able to satisfy.

If the switch is unable to satisfy a request to change the VCI range on all VPIs within the requested VPI range, it must return a failure response message with the Code field set to "Cannot support requested VCI range on all requested VPIs." In this failure response message the switch must use the Min VPI, Max VPI, Min VCI, and Max VCI fields to suggest a VPI and VCI range that it would be able to satisfy.

In all other failure response messages for the label range operation the switch must return the values of Min VPI, Max VPI, Min VCI, and Max VCI from the request message.

While switches can typically support all 256 or 4096 VPIs the VCI range that can be supported is often more constrained. Often the Min VCI must be 0 or 32. Typically all VCIs within a particular VPI must be contiguous. The hint in the failure response message allows the switch to suggest a label range that it could satisfy in view of its particular architecture.

While the Label Range message is defined to specify both a range of VPIs and a range of VCIs within each VPI, the most likely use is to change either the VPI range or the range of VCIs within a single VPI. It is possible for a VPI to be valid but to be allocated no valid VCIs. Such a VPI could be used for a virtual path connection but to support virtual channel connections it would need to be allocated a range of VCIs.

A Label Range request message may be issued regardless of the Port Status or the Line Status of the target switch port. If the Port field of the request message contains an invalid port (a port that does not exist or a port that has been removed from the switch) a failure response message must be returned with the Code field set to, "One or more of the specified ports does not exist."

6 State and Statistics Messages

The state and statistics messages permit the controller to request the values of various hardware counters associated with the switch input and output ports, virtual path connections, virtual channel connections, and QoS Classes. They also permit the controller to request the connection state of a switch input port. The Connection Activity message is used to determine whether one or more specific virtual channel connections or virtual path connections have recently been carrying traffic. The Statistics message is used to query the various port, connection, and QoS class traffic and error counters.


Page 38

The Report Connection State message is used to request an input port to report the connection state for a single virtual channel connection, a single virtual path connection, or for the entire input port.

6.1 Connection Activity Message

The Connection Activity message is used to determine whether one or more specific virtual channel connections or virtual path connections have recently been carrying traffic. The Connection Activity message contains one or more Activity Records. Each Activity Record is used to request and return activity information concerning a single virtual channel connection or virtual path connection. Each virtual channel connection is specified by its input port, input VPI, and input VCI. Each virtual path connection is specified by its input port and input VPI. These are specified in the Input Port, Input VPI, and Input VCI fields of each Activity Record. Two forms of activity detection are supported. If the switch supports per connection traffic accounting, the current value of the traffic counter for each specified virtual channel connection or virtual path connection must be returned. The units of traffic counted are not specified but will typically be either cells or frames. The controller must compare the traffic counts returned in the message with previous values for each of the specified connections to determine whether each connection has been active in the intervening period. If the switch does not support per connection traffic accounting, but is capable of detecting per connection activity by some other unspecified means, the result may be indicated for each connection using the Flags field. The Connection Activity message is:

      Message Type = 48

The Connection Activity request and success response messages have the following format:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |       Number of Records       |           Reserved            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   ~                       Activity Records                        ~
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


Page 39

Number of Records
Field specifies the number of Activity Records to follow. The number of Connection Activity records in a single Connection Activity message must not cause the packet length to exceed the maximum transmission unit defined by the encapsulation.

Each Activity Record has the following format:

   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Input Port                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |V|C|A|x|      Input VPI        |          Input VCI            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                         Traffic Count                         +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Input Port
Identifies the port number of the input port on which the connection of interest arrives in order to identify the connection (regardless of whether the traffic count for the connection is maintained on the input port or the output port).

Input VPI
Input VCI
Fields identify the specific virtual path connection or virtual channel connection for which statistics are being requested. For a virtual path connection the Input VCI field is not used.

Flags

        V: Valid Record
             In the success response message the Valid Record flag is
             used to indicate an invalid Activity Record. The flag must
             be zero if any of the fields in this Activity Record are
             invalid, if the input port specified by the Input Port
             field does not exist, or if the specified connection does
             not exist. If the Valid Record flag is zero in a success
             response message, the Counter flag, the Activity flag, and
             the VC Traffic Count field are undefined. If the Valid
             Record flag is set, the Activity Record is valid, and the
             Counter and Activity flags are valid. The Valid Record flag
             is not used in the request message.


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        C: Counter
             In a success response message, if the Valid Record flag is
             set, the Counter flag, if zero, indicates that the value in
             the VC Traffic Count field is valid.  If set, it indicates
             that the value in the Activity flag is valid. The Counter
             flag is not used in the request message.

        A: Activity
             In a success response message, if the Valid Record and
             Counter flags are set, the Activity flag, if set, indicates
             that there has been some activity on this connection since
             the last Connection Activity message for this connection.
             If zero, it indicates that there has been no activity on
             this connection since the last Connection Activity message
             for this connection. The Activity flag is not used in the
             request message.

x: Unused

Traffic Count
Field is not used in the request message. In the success response message, if the switch supports per connection traffic counting, the Traffic Count field must be set to the value of a free running, connection specific, 64-bit traffic counter counting traffic flowing across the specified connection. The value of the traffic counter is not modified by reading it. If per connection traffic counting is supported, the switch must report the Connection Activity result using the traffic count rather than using the Activity flag.

The format of the failure response is the same as the request message with the Number of Records field set to zero and no VC Activity records returned in the message. If the switch is incapable of detecting per connection activity, a failure response must be returned indicating, "The specified request is not implemented on this switch."

6.2 Statistics Messages

The Statistics messages are used to query the various port, connection, and QoS class traffic and error counters.

The Statistics request messages have the following format:


Page 41

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                             Port                              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | zero  |          VPI          |              VCI              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      QoS Class Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

VPI
VCI
Fields identify the specific virtual path connection or virtual channel connection for which statistics are being requested. For a virtual path connection the Input VCI field is not used. For requests that do not require a virtual path connection or virtual channel connection to be specified, the VPI and VCI fields are not used.

QoS Class Identifier
Field identifies the QoS class for which statistics are being requested. This field is only used if the QoS Class Establishment message defined in section 9.4 is implemented.

The success response for the Statistics message has the following format:


Page 42

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                             Port                              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | zero  |          VPI          |              VCI              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      QoS Class Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                       Input Cell Count                        +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                       Input Frame Count                       +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                    Input Cell Discard Count                   +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                   Input Frame Discard Count                   +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                     Input HEC Error Count                     +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                  Input Invalid VPI/VCI Count                  +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                       Output Cell Count                       +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                      Output Frame Count                       +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                   Output Cell Discard Count                   +
   |                                                               |


Page 43

   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                  Output Frame Discard Count                   +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Port
VPI/VCI
QoS Class Identifier
Fields are the same as those of the request message.

Input Cell Count
Output Cell Count
Give the value of a free running 64-bit counter counting cells arriving at the input or departing from the output respectively.

Input Frame Count
Output Frame Count
Give the value of a free running 64-bit counter counting frames (packets) arriving at the input or departing from the output respectively.

Input Cell Discard Count
Output Cell Discard Count
Give the value of a free running 64-bit counter counting cells discarded due to queue overflow on an input port or on an output port respectively.

Input Frame Discard Count
Output Frame Discard Count
Give the value of a free running 64-bit counter counting frames discarded due to congestion on an input port or on an output port respectively.

HEC Error Count
Gives the value of a free running 64-bit counter counting cells discarded due to header checksum errors on arrival at an input port.

Invalid VPI/VCI Count
Gives the value of a free running 64-bit counter counting cells discarded because their VPI/VCI is invalid on arrival at an input port. For a virtual channel connection an incoming VPI/VCI is invalid if no connection is currently established having that value of VPI/VCI. For a virtual path connection an incoming VPI is invalid if no connection is currently established having that value of VPI.


Page 44

6.2.1 Port Statistics Message

The Port Statistics message requests the statistics for the switch port specified in the Port field. The contents of the VPI/VCI and the QoS Class Identifier fields in the Port Statistics request message are ignored. All of the count fields in the success response message refer to per-port counts regardless of the connection or QoS class to which the cells belong. Any of the count fields in the success response message not supported by the port must be set to zero. The Port Statistics message is:

      Message Type = 49

6.2.2 Connection Statistics Message

The Connection Statistics message requests the statistics for the virtual channel connection specified in the VPI/VCI field, or the virtual path connection specified in the VPI field, that arrives on the switch input port specified in the Port field, regardless of the QoS class to which the cells belong. All of the count fields in the success response message refer only to the specified connection. The HEC Error Count and Invalid VPI/VCI Count fields are not connection specific and must be set to zero. Any of the other count fields not supported on a per connection basis must be set to zero in the success response message. The Connection Statistics message is:

      Message Type = 50

6.2.3 QoS Class Statistics Message

The QoS Class Statistics message requests the statistics for the QoS class specified by the QoS Class Identifier field that arrives on the switch input port specified in the Port field, regardless of the connection to which the cells belong. The QoS Statistics message is only used if the QoS Class Establishment message defined in section 9.4 is implemented. The contents of the VPI/VCI fields in the QoS Class Statistics request message are ignored. All of the count fields in the success response message refer only to the specified QoS class. The HEC Error Count and Invalid VPI/VCI Count fields are not specific to a QoS class and must be set to zero. Any of the other count fields not supported on a per QoS class basis must be set to zero in the success response message. The QoS Class Statistics message is:

      Message Type = 51


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6.3 Report Connection State Message

The Report Connection State message is used to request an input port to report the connection state for a single virtual channel connection, a single virtual path connection, or for the entire input port. The Report Connection State message is:

      Message Type = 52

The Report Connection State request message has the following format:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Input Port                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |A|V|x x|       Input VPI       |          Input VCI            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Input Port
Identifies the port number of the input port for which the connection state is being requested.

Flags

        A: All Connections
             If the All Connections flag is set, the message requests
             the connection state for all virtual path connections and
             virtual channel connections that arrive at the input port
             specified by the Input Port field. In this case the Input
             VPI and Input VCI fields and the VPI/VCI flag are unused.

        V: VPI/VCI
             If the All Connections flag is zero and the VPI/VCI flag is
             set, the message requests the connection state for the
             virtual path connection that arrives at the input port
             specified by the Input Port and Input VPI fields.  If the
             specified Input VPI identifies a virtual path connection
             (i.e. a single switched virtual path) the state for that
             connection is requested.  If the specified Input VPI
             identifies a virtual path containing virtual channel
             connections, the message requests the connection state for
             all virtual channel connections that belong to the
             specified virtual path. The Input VCI field is not used.


Page 46

If the All Connections flag is zero and the VPI/VCI flag is also zero, the message requests the connection state for the virtual channel connection that arrives at the input port specified by the Port, Input VPI and Input VCI fields.

x: Unused.

Input VPI
Input VCI
Fields identify the specific virtual path connection, the specific virtual path, or the specific virtual channel connection for which connection state is being requested. For a virtual path connection (switched as a single virtual path connection) or a virtual path (switched as one or more virtual channel connections within the virtual path) the Input VCI field is not used. For requests that do not require a virtual path connection or virtual channel connection to be specified, the Input VPI and Input VCI fields are not used.

The Report Connection State success response message has the following format:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Input Port                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       Sequence Number                         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   ~                       Connection Records                      ~
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Input Port
Is the same as the Input Port field in the request message. It identifies the port number of the input port for which the connection state is being reported.

Sequence Number
In the case that the requested connection state cannot be reported in a single success response message, each successive success response message in reply to the same


Page 47

request message must increment the Sequence Number. The Sequence Number of the first success response message, in response to a new request message, must be zero.

Connection Records
Each success response message must contain one or more Connection Records. Each Connection Record specifies a single point-to-point or point-to-multipoint virtual path connection or virtual channel connection. The number of Connection Records in a single Report Connection State success response must not cause the packet length to exceed the maximum transmission unit defined by the encapsulation. If the requested connection state cannot be reported in a single success response message, multiple success response messages must be sent. All success response messages that are sent in response to the same request message must have the same Input Port and Transaction Identifier fields as the request message. A single Connection Record must not be split across multiple success response messages. The More flag of the last Connection Record in a success response message indicates whether the response to the request has been completed or whether one or more further success response messages should be expected in response to the same request message.

Each Connection Record has the following format:

   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |A|V|P|M|       Input VPI       |          Input VCI            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   ~                      Output Branch Records                    ~
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Flags

        A: All Connections
        V: VPI/VCI
             For the first Connection Record in each success response
             message the All Connections and the VPI/VCI flags must be
             the same as those of the request message. For successive
             Connection Records in the same success response message
             these flags are not used.

        P: VPC
             The VPC flag, if set, indicates that the Connection Record
             refers to a virtual path connection.  If zero, it indicates


Page 48

that the Connection Record refers to a virtual channel connection.

        M: More
             If the More flag is set, it indicates that another
             Connection Record, in response to the same request message,
             will follow either in the same success response message or
             in a successive success response message. If the More flag
             is zero it indicates that this is the last Connection
             record in this success response message and that no further
             success response messages will be sent in response to the
             current request message. It indicates that the response to
             the request message is now complete.

Input VPI
Input VCI
The input VPI and VCI of the connection specified in this Connection Record. If this Connection Record specifies a virtual path connection (the VPC flag is set) the Input VCI field is unused.

Output Branch Records
Each Connection Record must contain one or more Output Branch Records. Each Output Branch Record specifies a single output branch belonging to the connection identified by the Input VPI and Input VCI fields of the Connection Record. A point-to-point connection will require only a single Output Branch Record. A point-to-multipoint connection will require multiple Output Branch Records. The last Output Branch Record of each Connection Record is indicated by the Last Branch flag of the Output Branch Record. If a point-to-multipoint connection has more output branches than can fit in a single Connection Record contained within a single success response message, that connection may be reported using multiple Connection Records in multiple success response messages.

Each Output Branch Record has the following format:

   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Output Port                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |L|x x x|       Output VPI      |          Output VCI           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Output Port
The output port of the switch to which this output branch is routed.


Page 49

Flags

        L: Last Branch
             The Last Branch flag, if set, indicates that this is the
             last Output Branch Record of this Connection Record. If
             zero, it indicates that one or more further Output Branch
             Records are to follow. If this is the last Output Branch
             Record in the message and the Last Branch flag is zero,
             further output branches belonging to the same connection
             will be given in another Connection Record. This Connection
             Record will be the first Connection Record in the next
             success response message. This Connection Record must have
             the same Input VPI and Input VCI values as the current
             Connection Record.

x: Unused.

Output VPI
Output VCI
The output VPI and VCI of the output branch specified in this Output Branch Record. If this Output Branch Record is part of a Connection Record that specifies a virtual path connection (the VPC flag is set) the Output VCI field is unused.

A Report Connection State request message may be issued regardless of the Port Status or the Line Status of the target switch port.

If the Input Port of the request message is valid, and the All Connections flag is set, but there are no connections established on that port, a failure response message must be returned with the code field set to, "Failure specific to the particular message type." For the Report Connection State message, this failure code indicates that no connections matching the request message were found. This failure message should also be returned if the Input Port of the request message is valid, the All Connections flag is zero, and no connections are found on that port matching the specified virtual path connection, virtual path, or virtual channel connection.

7 Configuration Messages

The configuration messages permit the controller to discover the capabilities of the switch. Three configuration request messages have been defined: Switch, Port, and All Ports.

All configuration request messages have the following format:


Page 50

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                             Port                              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

7.1 Switch Configuration Message

The Switch Configuration message requests the global (non port- specific) configuration for the switch. The Switch Configuration message is:

      Message Type = 64

The Port field is not used in the request message.

The Switch Configuration success response message has the following format:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Version    | Message Type  |    Result     |     Code      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Transaction Identifier                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Firmware Version Number    |          Window Size          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |          Switch Type          |                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               +
   |                          Switch Name                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Firmware Version Number
The version number of the switch control firmware installed.

Window Size
The maximum number of unacknowledged request messages that may be transmitted by the controller without the possibility of loss. This field is used to prevent request messages being lost in the switch because of overflow in the receive buffer. The field is a hint to the controller. If desired, the controller may experiment with higher and


Page 51

lower window sizes to determine heuristically the best window size.

Switch T