Plug and Go Application

Plug & Go enables you to quickly install a factory-reset Skylight performance element unit on the network and remotely manage it without requiring further unit configuration. The unit discovers and configures its own service ports, automatically configures its management settings, and then adds itself to a centralized inventory-tracking database (the inventory-tracking unit). The purpose of the inventory-tracking unit is to view a network inventory of all Accedian units that have advertisement settings enabled.
Plug & Go is supported on both Layer-2 and Layer-3 networks.
This section explains the general steps required to enable the automatic configuration of factory-reset units on the network. These steps are as follows:

• Enable the beaconer and set its ACP level.
• Configure an inventory-tracking unit.

Plug & Go Concepts

This section explains a few concepts that will help you understand how Plug & Go works.

Beacon and Advertisement Frames

Plug & Go uses multicast frames with the Accedian Ethertype (0x88fc), referred to as beacons. You need to configure one unit to be the “beaconer” to send the beacons to all remote units that are used by the auto interface for auto-provisioning. You only need to configure one beaconer on your network. The beacon frame needs to reach the final destination: the remote unit. The remote unit responds by sending an advertisement―a frame of the same type as the beacon―back to the beaconer. Both beacons and advertisements must be transmitted in each direction. If there are any Accedian units in the path of the beacon on its way to the remote unit, you must configure each unit to be able to forward beacon and advertisement frames.

ACP Level

Complying with Service OAM standards, Plug & Go is based on a common multi-domain network model. This model accommodates services delivered by multiple providers at different levels. It is used to ensure that networks using ACP (Accedian Control Protocol) are maintained within defined maintenance levels.

The ACP level is used in transmitting beacon and advertisement frames. A unit receiving a beacon will automatically set its system ACP level to the one included in the beacon frame.

The ACP level defines how far the ACP frames can go. A unit requires a higher level to be able to transmit frames through a unit with a lower level. For example, a unit using ACP frames level 3 will be able to reach another unit if each unit in between has an ACP frame level of 2 or lower.

Configuration Examples

Example Plug & Go in your own Network

In this example, the skylight performance element acts as both the beaconer and the inventory-tracking unit.

The beaconer’s management port is connected to the NOC (Network Operations Center). You must set up a management bridge to connect the out-of-band management of the beaconer to the SFP-1-1 VLAN 4001 interface. An auto-interface is enabled on the remote unit. The auto-interface will automatically configure the remote unit with the proper media selection, based on the port being connected along with the management VLAN channel and IP address. The remote units are managed in-band (VLAN 4001). You must set the auto-interface of any intermediate units to forward beacon and advertisement frames.

The beaconer can be set up in many different ways to assign the IP address to the remote units. For this procedure, if you are not familiar with the IP configuration modes of the beaconer, you should refer to the unit’s user manual.

The following figure illustrates an example of Plug & Go in your own network.

Configure the Beaconer
For the example illustrated above, you must activate the beacon feature, then configure the beaconer for transmission of beacon frames and set its ACP level.

To activate and configure the beaconer for the first time, power on the unit and access its management interface settings. It is important to modify the IP address in the Management interface setting page to be different from the factory default of 192.168.1.254. This prevents conflicts with the default IP address for the management port on the remote unit. In the example shown below, we have selected an IP address 10.50.1.20 with a network mask of 255.255.255.0.

▶ To configure a logical interface for sending beacon frames at Layer 2

1. Access the page System ▶ Configuration ▶ Interface.
2. Click Management under Interface Name to edit it.
3. Complete the required fields in the Beacon Settings section, then click Apply.

▶ To set up the interfaces

1. Access the page System ▶ Configuration ▶ Interface and click Auto *.

2. Clear the State box.

3. In the Forwarding settings, set the ACP Level to the required value. This sets the ACP level for the system. All beacon and advertisement frames transmitted by the system will use this value.

4. Access the page System ▶ Configuration ▶ Interface and click Add to set up a new VLAN interface on port SFP-1-1. For this example, set the VLAN ID to 4001 and the Beacon settings to the values shown in the figure below.

5. Create a management bridge between the out-of-band management interface and the in- band VLAN interface for the SFP-1-1 port. For more information on configuring management bridges, see AN116.

Configure the Intermediate Units
In this example, you would configure the units between the beaconer and the remote units in the following way:

• Allow forwarding of beacon and advertisement frames in both directions.
• Disable the discovery settings
• Disable the advertisement state

▶ To configure each intermediate unit

1. Power on the unit and set its initial configuration. Modify the IP configuration for the management interface and ensure the IP configuration you select matches your network design.

2. Access the page System ▶ Configuration ▶ Interface and select Auto *.

3. Set the auto interface settings as shown in the figure above in order to transmit beacon and advertisement frames through the unit.

4. In Forwarding settings, set the level to All or to a value lower than the one set in the beaconer. This allows beacon and advertisement frames to pass through this unit.

Configure the Inventory-Tracking Unit

▶ To configure the inventory-tracking unit

1. Access the page Plug & Go ▶ Inventory, enable inventory tracking, as shown in the following figure, and click Apply. This will then display information for the remote unit after a minute or so.

2. To view more information on a remote unit, click its serial number. To open a management session, click its IP address in the Remote NID IP column.

You may choose to modify the Domain ID in order to avoid other units belonging to a different carrier within the same network and also for added security. ID matching should be enabled only after the Domain ID has been modified. Otherwise communication to the remote units will be lost. Enable Forwarding ports on match to transmit beacons when the Domain ID matches on the highlighted ports. Enable Forwarding ports on mismatch to transmit beacons when the Domain ID does not match.

Example Plug & Go AAV Network

In this example, a service provider’s network involves an Alternative Access Vendors’ (AAV) network. We use the same configuration as in "Example: Plug & Go in Your Own Network" on page 4, but the in-band management uses a VLAN in the service provider’s network and VLAN-in-VLAN in the AAV network. You need to configure the AAV units between the beaconer and the remote unit to forward beacon and advertisement frames. In one direction (client port to network port), the unit must push the VLAN (4001) into another VLAN (99). In the other direction (network port to client port) the VLAN (4001) is popped out of the VLAN- in-VLAN (99).

For this procedure, if you are not familiar with the IP configuration of the beaconer or with traffic filters or with traffic policies, you should refer to the unit’s user manual.
The following figure illustrates this example of Plug & Go in a network connected to an AAV network.

Configure the Beaconer
To configure the beaconer, follow the instructions given in the User Manual.

Configure the Intermediate Units
In this example, the units located in the path between the beaconer and the remote units belong to the AAV and must be configured in the following way:

• Filter on VLAN 4001
• Filter on VLAN-in-VLAN (99/4001)
• A traffic policy that pushes VLAN 99 onto VLAN 4001 A traffic policy that pops VLAN 99

▶ To configure the units in the path

1. Power on the unit and set its initial configuration.

2. Access the page Traffic ▶ Filters ▶ L2 Filters and click Add to set up a new filter for VLAN 4001.
   Once set up, click Add once more and then click Apply.

3. Access the page Traffic ▶ Filters ▶ L2 filters and click Add to set up a new filter for VLAN-in- VLAN 99/4001.
   Once set up, click Add once more and then click Apply.

4. Access the page Traffic ▶ Policies and click an Index number to set up a new policy as shown in the image below. This permits the L2 filter to filter VLAN 4001 traffic and to push it onto VLAN 99.
   Once set up, click Apply.

5. Access the page Traffic ▶ Policies and click an Index number to set up a new policy as shown in the image below. This permits the L2 filter to filter VLAN-in-VLAN 99 traffic and to pop it to extract VLAN 4001.
   Once set up, click Apply.

Configure the Inventory-Tracking Unit
To configure the inventory-tracking unit, follow the instructions given in Example: Plug & Go in Your Own Network.