Maintenance Point

A maintenance point is a demarcation point on an interface (port) that participates in CFM within a maintenance domain. Maintenance points on device ports act as filters that confine CFM frames within the bounds of a domain by dropping frames that do not belong to the correct level. A Maintenance Point is either MEP or MHF.

An MEP and MHF each have two principal SAPs. CFM Protocol Data Units (PDUs) are exchanged through the Active SAP. Unprocessed data frames and CFM PDUs are passed through a Passive SAP.

A Maintenance Point is UP if the Active SAP is below Passive SAP. Otherwise, the Maintenance Point is DOWN if Active SAP is above Passive SAP.

Maintenance Point in ECFM

An MEP is created on the Bridge Port and is associated with exactly one MA. An MEP is identified by its MEPID (Range 1 - 8191) that is unique in an MA. It inherits the MD Level from the Maintenance Domain and the Primary VID from the Maintenance Association.