IEEE 802.1AB

Description / Abstract: The scope of this standard is to define a protocol and management elements, suitable for advertising information to stations attached to the same IEEE 802 LAN, for the purpose of populating physical topology and device discovery management information databases. The protocol facilitates the identification of stations connected by IEEE 802 LANs/MANs, their points of interconnection, and access points for management protocols.

This standard defines a protocol that

a) Advertises connectivity and management information about the local station to adjacent stations on the same IEEE 802 LAN.

b) Receives network management information from adjacent stations on the same IEEE 802 LAN.

c) Operates with all IEEE 802 access protocols and network media.

d) Establishes a network management information schema and object definitions that are suitable for storing connection information about adjacent stations.

e) Provides compatibility with the IETF PTOPO MIB (IETF RFC 2922 [B9]).¹

Purpose

An IETF MIB (IETF RFC 2922 [B9]) and a number of vendor specific MIBs have been created to describe a network’s physical topology and associated systems within that topology.

This standard specifies the necessary protocol and management elements to

a) Facilitate multi-vendor inter-operability and the use of standard management tools to discover and make available physical topology information for network management.

b) Make it possible for network management to discover certain configuration inconsistencies or malfunctions that can result in impaired communication at higher layers.

c) Provide information to assist network management in making resource changes and/or reconfigurations that correct configuration inconsistencies or malfunctions identified in

b) above.

¹The numbers in brackets correspond to those in the bibliography in Annex D.