EVPN performance and fault management


Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) plays a critical role in daily network monitoring. ITU-T Y.1731 provides comprehensive guidelines for performance and fault management in Ethernet-based networks. In our testing, we specifically focused on performance management metrics, including frame loss ratio and frame delay.

We set up an EVPN-VPWS service between two DUTs and used Calnex SNE Ignite to introduce controlled packet drops and delays. First, we sent end-to-end unicast traffic with no impairment; the DUT Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) output showed no packet loss and minimal delay. Next, we introduced a 30% bidirectional packet drop and a 30ms bidirectional delay. The measured CFM latency matched the impairment tool’s configuration. For frame loss, although the impairment tool was set to drop 30% of packets in each direction, the cumulative effect resulted in about 49% total frame loss (If we send 100 requests in one direction, the destination will receive only 70 (30% drop). Then the destination will send 70 responses to the source, and the source will receive only 49 (30% drop). So it's 49% in math). The DUT CFM reported a loss ratio consistent with this calculation, around 50%, as expected.

Figure 25

Figure 25: EVPN performance management

Next, we addressed fault management by simulating a fault: we shut down the link between the PE and CE. The CFM output on the DUT confirmed that the EVPN-VPWS service was down. After restoring the link, the EVPN-VPWS was up again. The following is the topology we used in the test.

Figure 26

Figure 26: EVPN fault management

The following table shows the DUT combination in our test.

CombinationPE1PE2
1Cisco 8711-48Z-MHPE MX304
2Ciena 5164Nokia 7750SR-1
3Ciena 8192Cisco 8711-48Z-M
4Ciena 8192HPE MX304
5Ciena 5164Ericsson RAN Connect 6682

Table 2: EVPN fault management participants list

Interested in our testing services?

If you are interested and would like to receive more information, please send us an email and sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date.