From: "Jon \\lnes" <jon@ifi.uio.no>
Subject: Re: What is Q3?
        1993 07:58:43 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
        <1993Jan26.075848.28882W@lumina.edb.tih.no>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 09:42:29 GMT
Originator: jon@gode.ifi.uio.no

In article <1993Jan26.075848.28882W@lumina.edb.tih.no> ketil@edb.tih.no (Ketil Albertsen,TIH) writes:

> In article <C1ED3n.7yv@hpwin052.uksr.hp.com>, danielh@hpber199.swiss.hp.com 
> (Daniel Huber) writes:
> 
> >As I know, Q3 is a CCITT standart for network management of
> >telecommunications environments.
> >
> >Is there somwhere more info to find about this topic? Is there an RFC?
> >Is Q3 somehow related to CMIP or CMOT?
> 
> I suspect that the Q3 you are referring to is the *reference point* Q3, it
> is not a standard itself, but defined by Q.941 or thereabouts (Q.94?).
> There is also a Q1 and Q2 reference point. There is no connection between
> the Q in Q3 and the Q in Q.941, that is purely coincidal. (The I series
> recommendations define similar R, S and T reference points.)
> 
> I do not have Q.941 available right now, but as far as I remember, Q3
> defines the lowest level functionality between a switch and an "MD" (Mediation
> Device, something like a concentrator), on the way to the management system,
> while Q1 is the functionality available at the user level system management.
> 
> If you are not accustomed to reading CCITT recommendations, Q.94? is
> NOT the place to start!

Wrong, although not entirely wrong. The base document to ce
is CCITT's TMN (Telecommunications Management Network) architecture,
described in the M.3010 document (formerly M.30). Roughly speaking, this
builds a management architecture on top of ISO's network management
standards. The TMN architecture consists of several functional elements:
NEF (Network Element Function): Functions related to management of pieces
  of telecommunications equipment, with a standardized management interface.
QAF (Q-Adapter Function): A functional block to integrate equipment with
  non-standard management interfaces, like a proxy-agent in SNMP.
MF (Mediation Function): Adapts, filters and condenses information from
  NEFs/QAFs before further processing by the management system.
OSF (Operations Systems Function): Runs the management applications.
WSF (WorkStation Function): Runs the user interface.

Between the different functional blocks, reference points are defined:
'g' from a WSF to a user, 'f' from a WSF and some other functional block
(usually an OSF), 'q3' between OSFs and from an OSF to MF/NEF/QAF (the
MF is optional, allowing direct interactions from NEF/QAF to MF), 'qx'
between NEF/QAF and MF or between MFs.
If two functional blocks are realized within one piece of equipment, the
reference point between them is an internal interface, and its implementation
is not standardized. If the blocks are in different pieces of equipment,
the reference point must be realized as a standardized communication inter-
face, denoted by a capitalization of the letter, e.g. 'Q3'.

The Q3 interface is described somewhere. I don't have the reference at hand,
but the one given above may be correct. It consists of a protocol part,
basically CMIS/CMIP, but sometimes FTAM may be included as well (other
protocols for further study), and an information part, i.e. the Shared
Management Knowledge (SMK) between the two sides of the interface - know-
ledge about manged object classes and managed object instances. Some propose
to add a security part, or more generally a quality of service part, to the
interface specification as well.
As can be read form this, there isn't _one_ Q3 interface. All Q3 interfaces
will differ in their SMK, possibly also in choice of protocols. In all cases,
communication across the interface is standardized, however.

Well, TMN is a bit more complicated than this - enough for now!

Jon Olnes, Norwegian Computing Centre, Oslo, Norway
E-mail: Jon.Olnes@nr.no   or   jon@ifi.uio.no