Setting Up a PAA Configuration Job

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The PAA (Protocol Analysis Application) is a hardware-assisted active-measurement function that computes Layer-2 or Layer 3 (IPv4 UDP and IPv6 UDP) network delay (latency), delay variation (jitter), packet loss and continuity checks.

Two units with matching settings communicate with each other using measurement samples to collect data and measure system performance. A measurement sample is a packet containing timing and sequence information. When such a packet arrives at its destination, measurements (delay, delay variation and packet loss) can be taken. The PAA operates continuously.

To set up a PAA job

  1. Access the page Commission â–¶ Jobs.

  2. Set all common configuration job settings, as described in "Creating Configuration Jobs in GUI Mode" and in "Creating Configuration Jobs Using Data Sets".

  3. Select PAA in the left pane. The PAA tab is displayed.

PAA tab
Setting Up a PAA Configuration Job.png

  1. Complete all fields in the PAA tab as required. For more information on specific parameters, see the table below.

  2. Use the Add PLUS BUTTON.png button or Duplicate DUPLICATE BUTTON.png button to add PAA settings as required.


Note: When duplicating a row, always select the row to duplicate before clicking the Duplicate DUPLICATE BUTTON.png button.

  1. Click Apply, then click Close.

  2. Click the Refresh REFRESH BUTTON.png button to refresh the user interface.

PAA tab (Commission â–¶ Jobs)

Parameter Description
Enable Activates this PAA probe for use.
Name The name assigned to the PAA probe.
Update name Change the name assigned to the PAA probe.
Type The type of probe:
  • Layer-2: The probe operates at Layer 2.
  • UDP: The probe operates using UDP over IPv4.
  • UDP_IPv6: The probe operates using UDP over IPv6.
Operation mode Specifies whether a probe generates (Source) PAA samples, collects PAA samples (Sink) or does both operations (Bi-Dir).
Packet size The size of PAA samples to take.

Note: The size value indicated here does not include protocol headers (VLAN tags, UDP, IP or Ethernet) or the four FCS bytes.

Sampling period The time period to elapse between each issuing of PAA samples.

Range: 50–600,000 (steps of one millisecond).

Local index The probe's local identifier.

Note: To automatically allocate the next sequentially- available local identifier to the PAA instance, enter "0" for the local identifier or simply leave the field blank.

Peer Index Allows the device to obtain routing information from the DHCP server.

The remote peer identifier.

When 0 is specified, the remote peer identifier is discovered dynamically based on the probe name in the association phase.

L2

Parameter Description
Destination MAC The peer MAC address.

When set to FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF, the unit is in auto- discovery mode and will automatically determine the peer MAC address based on the PAA name (provided the PAA name is the same on both units).

Allows the device to obtain routing information from the DHCP server.

Port Name The outgoing port used by this probe.
Enable VLAN 1 Check box to encapsulate Layer-2 PAA frames into a VLAN.
VLAN 1 ID The first VLAN ID.

When enabled, Layer-2 PAA frames are encapsulated into the specified VLAN.

Ethertype The Ethertype of the first VLAN: C-VLAN, T-VLAN or S- VLAN.
Priority The first VLAN's priority bits.

Note: Only applies when VLAN 1 encapsulation is enabled.

Enable VLAN 2 Check box to encapsulate Layer-2 PAA frames into a VLAN-in-VLAN. VLAN2 represents the inner VLAN.

Note: Only applies when VLAN 1 encapsulation is enabled.

VLAN 2 ID The second VLAN ID. When enabled, Layer-2 PAA frames are encapsulated into a second VLAN.

Note: Only applies when VLAN 1 encapsulation is enabled.

Ethertype The second VLAN Ethertype: C-VLAN, T-VLAN or S- VLAN.

Note: Only applies when VLAN 2 encapsulation is enabled.

Priority The second VLAN's priority bits.

Note: Only applies when VLAN 2 encapsulation is enabled.

EVC Fault Propagation

Parameter Description
Enable Use this PAA probe's status in fault propagation.

The port configuration's Fault Propagation value must be Enabled and set to One-Way EVC mode for the fault to be propagated to the opposite port.

Propagate On Port The EVC client port to which the MEP status should be propagated.

Note: This parameter is ignored if the port you select has not been set up to perform EVC fault propagation.

UDP

Parameter Description
Destination IP The peer IPv4 Destination address.
Source UDP Port The source UDP port. The default value is 8793.
Destination UDP Port The destination UDP port. The default value is 8793.
DSCP The DSCP class selector. The expected length is 6 bits.
ECN The ECN value. You can associate an ECN value with the PAA packets, thereby simulating ECN in the customer network.

The ECN bits are the last two bits of the IP ToS field.

Range: 0-3

VLAN 1 Priority First VLAN priority bits. This can be used to associate a priority value for the first VLAN.

Range: 0-7

Continuity

Parameter Description
Packet Loss Ref. Period The reference period, expressed in seconds, for the continuity measurements.

This value must be at least 10 times the value of the Sampling Period.

Packet Loss Threshold The threshold, expressed as a percentage, at which an
Excessive Packet Loss (EPL) alarm is triggered.
Continuity Check Threshold The number of consecutive sampling periods without receiving any peer samples that must occur before declaring a Continuity Loss alarm.

Minimum value: 4

Maximum value: 50% of the total number of samples in the reference period.

Default value: 4

One-Way

Parameter Description
Reference Period The reference period, expressed in milliseconds, for one- way measurements.

This value must be at least 10 times the value of the Sampling Period.

Maximum Delay The one-way delay allowed for each sample in the Reference Period.

This value is used in conjunction with the Delay Threshold (samples) value to trigger the alarm PAA_OW_DELAY_ALERT.

Delay Thresh The number of consecutive samples exceeding the Maximum Delay that are allowed before declaring the one-way delay alarm for this Reference Period.
Avg. Delay Thresh The average one-way delay is calculated for the samples during the reference period. For example, for a reference period of 10 seconds, the average is calculated from samples taken during the last 10 seconds.

Exceeding the threshold triggers the alarm PAA_OW_ AVG_DELAY_ALERT.

Maximum Delay Variation The maximum one-way delay variation threshold to monitor during a test period.

This value is used in conjunction with the Delay Variation Threshold (samples) value to trigger the alarm PAA_OW_DV_ALERT.

Delay Variation Thresh The number of consecutive samples exceeding the Maximum Delay Variation that are allowed before triggering the one-way delay variation alarm for this Reference Period.
Avg. Delay Variation Thresh The average one-way delay variation is calculated for the samples during the reference period.

Exceeding the threshold triggers the alarm PAA_OW_ AVG_DV_ALERT.

Two-Way

Parameter Description
Reference Period The reference period, expressed in milliseconds, for two- way measurements.

This value must be at least 10 times the value of the Sampling Period.

Maximum Delay The two-way delay allowed for each sample in the Reference Period.

This value is used in conjunction with the Delay Threshold to trigger the alarm PAA_TW_DELAY_ ALERT.

Delay Thresh The number of consecutive samples exceeding the Maximum Delay that are allowed before triggering the two-way delay alarm for this Reference Period.
Avg. Delay Thresh The average two-way delay is calculated from samples during the reference period.

Exceeding the threshold triggers the alarm PAA_TW_AVG_DELAY_ALERT.

Maximum Delay Variation The maximum two-way delay variation threshold to monitor during a test period.

This value is used in conjunction with the Delay Variation Threshold to trigger the alarm PAA_TW_ DV_ALERT.

Delay Variation Thresh The number of consecutive samples exceeding the Maximum Delay Variation that are allowed before triggering the two-way delay variation alarm for this Reference Period.
Avg. Delay Variation Thresh The average two-way delay variation is calculated from samples during the reference period.

Exceeding the threshold triggers the alarm PAA_TW_ AVG_DV_ALERT.

IGMP

Parameter Description
Reference Period The reference period for IGMP measurements. This period must be a multiple of the One-Way Reference Period value.

This parameter is valid only if the One-Way Join Period is not 0.

Possible values, expressed in milliseconds:

  • 0 (default): No IGMP measurements
  • Minimum: One-way reference period x 10
  • Maximum: One-way reference period x 9000
One-Way Join Period If this parameter is not set to 0, IGMP join and leave delay measurements are performed for this period (during which one-way and packet loss samples are collected).

This value should represent how long measurements are to be collected before issuing an IGMP Leave for each period.

Possible values, expressed in milliseconds:

  • 0 (default): Constant, no join and leave measurements
  • Minimum: 10 x sampling period
  • Maximum: One-way reference period – (5 x sampling period)
Max Join Delay The maximum join delay objective. Possible values, expressed in milliseconds:
  • Minimum: 100 milliseconds
  • Maximum: One-way join period
Join Delay Thresh This value is the maximum number of consecutive join delay samples allowed, over and above the maximum join delay.

Once this value is exceeded, the Join Delay Nbr Threshold value is incremented.

Possible values, expressed in number of samples:

  • Minimum: 1
  • Maximum: (One-way join period) / (Sampling period)
Join Average Delay Thresh The maximum join average delay.

Possible values, expressed in milliseconds:

  • Minimum: 100 milliseconds
  • Maximum: One-way join period
Maximum Leave Delay The maximum leave delay objective.

Possible values, expressed in milliseconds:

  • 0 (default): No IGMP measurements
  • Minimum: 100 milliseconds
  • Maximum: (One-way reference period) – (One-way join period)
Leave Delay Thresh This value is the maximum number of consecutive leave delay samples allowed, over and above the maximum leave delay.

Once this value is exceeded, the Leave Delay Nbr Threshold value is incremented.

Possible values, expressed in number of samples:

  • Minimum: 1
  • Maximum: (One-way reference period – One-way join period)/(Sampling period)
Leave Avg. Delay Thresh The maximum leave average delay.

Possible values, expressed in milliseconds:

  • Minimum: 100 milliseconds
  • Maximum: (One-way reference period) – (One-way join period)

L2 VLAN 1 Validation

Parameter Description
Tx/Rx VLAN 1 ID

Rx VLAN 1 ID

Validate Tx/Rx VLAN 1 ID enables validating the transmitted VLAN 1 ID with the ID value that was received.

If you expect a different received value, enter the value in the Rx VLAN 1 ID field.

Range: 0-4,095

Tx/Rx VLAN 1 Priority

Rx VLAN 1 Priority

Validate Tx/Rx VLAN 1 priority enables validating the transmitted VLAN 1 priority with the priority that was received.

If you expect a different received value, enter the value in the Rx VLAN 1 priority field.

Range: 0-7

L2 VLAN 2 Validation

Parameter Description
Tx/Rx VLAN 2 ID

Rx VLAN 2 ID

Validate Tx/Rx VLAN 2 ID enables validating the transmitted VLAN 2 ID with the ID that was received.

If you expect a different received value, enter the value in the Rx VLAN 2 ID field.

Range: 0-4,095

Tx/Rx VLAN 2 Priority

Rx VLAN 2 Priority

Validate Tx/Rx VLAN 2 priority enables validating the transmitted VLAN 2 priority with the priority that was received.

If you expect a different received value, enter the value in the Rx VLAN 2 priority field.

Range: 0–7

UDP Validation

Parameter Description
Tx/Rx DSCP

Expected Rx DSCP

Validate Tx/Rx DSCP enables validating the transmitted DSCP value with the value that was received.

If you expect a different received value, enter this value in the Expected RX DSCP field.

Range: 0–63

Tx/Rx VLAN 1 Priority

Rx VLAN 1 Priority

Validate Tx/Rx VLAN 1 Priority enables validating the transmitted VLAN 1 priority with the priority that was received.

If you expect a different received value, enter the value in the Rx VLAN 1 Priority field.

Range: 0-7

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