Abstract:
The present invention provides the capability to manage NEs with a large number of units of equipment and facilities, by providing functions such profiling, auto-creation, link aggregation and scoping. This makes it easier for to manage GPON data, voice and video services and to support traffic protection. A method for managing an optical network comprises automatically provisioning a unit of the optical network, automatically creating a unit of the optical network, and arranging link aggregation in a unit of the optical network.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of provisional application 60/749,577, filed De. 13, 2005, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to a method and system for providing the capability to manage network elements with a large number of units of equipment and facilities, by providing functions such profiling, auto-creation, link aggregation and scoping.  
         [0004]     2. Background of the Prior Art  
         [0005]     A Passive Optical Network (PON) is a point-to-multipoint, fiber to the premises network architecture in which unpowered optical splitters are used to enable a single optical fiber to serve multiple premises, typically 32. A PON includes network elements, such as an Optical Line Termination (OLT) at the service provider&#39;s central office, one or more Optical Network Terminations (ONTs), and a number of Optical Network Units (ONUs) near end users. There are a number of standard types of PON that have been implemented. ATM Passive Optical Network (APON) was the first Passive optical network standard. It was used primarily for business applications, and was based on ATM. Broadband PON (BPON) is a standard based on APON. It adds support for WDM, dynamic and higher upstream bandwidth allocation, and survivability. Gigabit PON (GPON) is an evolution of BPON. It supports higher rates, enhanced security, and choice of Layer 2 protocol (ATM, GEM, Ethernet).  
         [0006]     The network elements (NEs) in such synchronous and passive optical networks include MCUs that control the operation of the element. Existing NEs only support a limited number of equipment and facilities. A GPON ONT will need to support more than  200  times the equipment and facilities than existing NEs can support. A need arises for a technique by which NEs with such a large number of units of equipment and facilities may be managed.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     The present invention provides the capability to manage NEs with a large number of units of equipment and facilities, by providing functions such profiling, auto-creation, link aggregation and scoping. This makes it easier for to manage GPON data, voice and video services and to support traffic protection.  
         [0008]     A method for managing an optical network comprises automatically provisioning a unit of the optical network, automatically creating a unit of the optical network, and arranging link aggregation in a unit of the optical network. The provisioning step comprises automatically provisioning a unit of the optical network using a defined profile for the unit. The defined profile comprises information defining operational parameters of the unit of the optical network. The information defining operational parameters of the unit of the optical network comprises at least one of a type of a port of the unit of the optical network, a speed of a port of the unit of the optical network, a protection of a port of the unit of the optical network, and a format of a port of the unit of the optical network. The creating step comprises automatically creating a unit of the optical network using information defining operational parameters of the optical network in communicating with the created unit. The information defining operational parameters of the unit of the optical network comprises at least one of a network address of the unit of the optical network, a type of the unit of the optical network, a network function of the unit of the optical network, a protection of the unit of the optical network, and a port of the unit of the optical network. The link aggregation arranging step comprises automatically arranging link aggregation in a unit of the optical network using information defining operational parameters of the link aggregation. The information defining operational parameters of the link aggregation comprises at least one of ports included in the link aggregation, a speed of the link aggregation, a format of the link aggregation, and a protection of the link aggregation. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]      FIG. 1  is an exemplary block diagram of a system in which the present invention may be implemented.  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is an exemplary data flow diagram of a GPON Equipment/Facility and Traffic Flow in such a facility.  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is an exemplary format of a Frame Switch Equipment Naming Convention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is an exemplary format of a GPON Equipment Naming Convention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 5  is an exemplary format of an ONT Equipment Naming Convention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 6  is an exemplary format of an FSW and GPONSU Equipment Provision.  
         [0015]      FIG. 7  is an exemplary format of an ONT Equipment Provision.  
         [0016]      FIG. 8  is an exemplary format of an FSW GEPORT Facility.  
         [0017]      FIG. 9  is an exemplary format of an FSW FOEPORT Facility.  
         [0018]      FIG. 10  is an exemplary format of a Link Aggregation Facility.  
         [0019]      FIG. 11  is an exemplary format of an FSW FOEPORT Provision.  
         [0020]      FIG. 12  is an exemplary format of an FSW GEPORT Protection.  
         [0021]      FIG. 13  is an exemplary format of a GPON OLT Interface (OLTIF) Facility.  
         [0022]      FIG. 14  is an exemplary format of a GPON ONT Interface (ONTIF) Facility.  
         [0023]      FIG. 15  is an exemplary format of a GPON ONT EPORT Facility.  
         [0024]      FIG. 16  is an exemplary format of a GPON ONT MPORT Facility.  
         [0025]      FIG. 17  is an exemplary format of a GPON ONT GEM Port Facility.  
         [0026]      FIG. 18  is an exemplary format of a GPON ONT Voice Port (VPORT) Facility.  
         [0027]      FIG. 19  is an exemplary format of a GPON ONT Radio Frequency (RFPORT) Facility.  
         [0028]      FIG. 20  is an exemplary format of a GPON ONT Radio DS1 Facility.  
         [0029]      FIG. 21  is an exemplary format of a GPON ONT Virtual Tributary (VT) Facility.  
         [0030]      FIG. 22  is an exemplary format of supported GPON ONT Binding Facilities.  
         [0031]      FIG. 23  is an exemplary format of a GPON ONT FACLINK Facility.  
         [0032]      FIG. 24  is an exemplary format of a FACLINK Facility Configuration.  
         [0033]      FIG. 25  is block diagram of GPON ONT FACLINK Binding for EPORT.  
         [0034]      FIG. 26  is an exemplary format of a GPON ONT VT/VTXcon Facility.  
         [0035]      FIG. 27  is block diagram of GPON ONT VT Cross Connect for T1.  
         [0036]      FIG. 28  is an exemplary format of Existing Equipment and Facility&#39;s AID Changes for GPON Service.  
         [0037]      FIG. 29  is an exemplary format of an ONT Facilities Profile.  
         [0038]      FIG. 30  is an exemplary format of an ONTPRFL Behavior.  
         [0039]      FIG. 31  is an exemplary format of a user ONT Profile used for ONT Equipment Creation.  
         [0040]      FIG. 32  is an exemplary flow diagram of GPON ONT VPORT Flow.  
         [0041]      FIG. 33  is an exemplary flow diagram of GPON ONT IPTV Flow.  
         [0042]      FIG. 34  is an exemplary flow diagram of an EPORT Service Provision sequence.  
         [0043]      FIG. 35  is an exemplary flow diagram of a VPORT Service Provision sequence (without DHCP).  
         [0044]      FIG. 36  is an exemplary flow diagram of a Multicast (IPTV) Service Provision sequence (with DHCP).  
         [0045]      FIG. 37  is an exemplary flow diagram of a T1 Service Provision sequence. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0046]     An example of a system in which the present invention may be implemented is shown in  FIG. 1 . In this example, equipment used to implement a GPON includes frame switch equipment  102 , GPON service unit equipment  104 , ONT equipment  106 , Line Units (LUs)  108 , and Master Control Unit  110 . Frame Switch (SW) Equipment  102  includes up to two units per Network Element (NE). Each Frame Switch Equipment  102  can support four 1 Gbps Gigabit Ethernet Ports (GEPORT) or two 10 Gbps GEPORTs and one 1 Gbps GEPORT. Each GEPORT supports SFP equipment. GPONSU Equipment  104  includes up to ten units per NE. Each GPONSU Equipment  104  can support two or four OLTIF Ports. GPONSU Equipment  104  Speeds include 1.2 Gbps/2.4 Gbps. ONT Equipment  106  (Residental: RONT) include up to 640 or 2560 units per NE. Each ONT Equipment  106  supports the following facilities: one to twelve Ethernet (EPORT) Facilities, one MoCa (MPORT) Facility, one to twenty-four Voice (VPORT) Facilities, one Video Frequency (RFPORT) Facility and one to four DS1 (T1) Facilities. RONT Equipment Speeds include 1.2 Gbps/2.4 Gbps.  
         [0047]     An example of a GPON Equipment/Facility  200  and Traffic Flow in such a facility is shown in  FIG. 2 . Facility  200  includes one or more units of Frame Switching Equipment  202 , one or more GPON Service Units (GPONSU)  204 , and one or more Optical Network Termination Service Units (ONTSUs)  206 . Data traffic  208  is routed via FSW  202 , the FACLINK OLTIF of GPONSU  204 , the data GEM port of ONTSU  206 , and the EPORT and/or MPORT of ONTSU  206 . Voice traffic  210  is routed via FSW  202 , the VGWAY OLTIF of GPONSU  204 , the voice GEM port of ONTSU  206 , and the VPORTs of ONTSU  206 . Radio traffic  212  is routed via FSW  202 , the VGWAY OLTIF of GPONSU  204 , the voice GEM port of ONTSU  206 , and the RFPORT of ONTSU  206 .  
         [0048]     An exemplary format  300  of a Frame Switch Equipment Naming Convention is shown in  FIG. 3 . Format  300  includes fields for speed, field pluggability, and version.  
         [0049]     An exemplary format  400  of a GPON Equipment Naming Convention is shown in  FIG. 4 . Format  400  includes fields for speed, a number of ports, field pluggability, and version.  
         [0050]     An exemplary format  500  of an ONT Equipment Naming Convention is shown in  FIG. 5 . Format  500  includes fields for speed, facilities supported, field pluggability, and version.  
         [0051]     An exemplary format  600  of an FSW and GPONSU Equipment Provision is shown in  FIG. 6 . Format  600  includes fields for specifying provisioning or auto-provisioning for FSW and GPONSU Equipment.  
         [0052]     An exemplary format  700  of an ONT Equipment Provision is shown in  FIG. 7 . Format  700  includes fields for specifying provisioning or auto-provisioning for ONT Equipment.  
         [0053]     An exemplary format  800  of an FSW GEPORT Facility is shown in  FIG. 8 . Format  800  includes fields for specifying supported GEPORTs and for provisioning the GEPORTs.  
         [0054]     An exemplary format  900  of an FSW FOEPORT Facility is shown in  FIG. 9 . Format  900  includes fields for specifying supported FOEPORTs and for provisioning the FOEPORTs.  
         [0055]     An exemplary format  1000  of a Link Aggregation Facility is shown in  FIG. 10 . Format  1000  includes fields for specifying the ports to be aggregated and for provisioning the Link Aggregation.  
         [0056]     An exemplary format  1100  of an FSW FOEPORT Provision is shown in  FIG. 11 . Format  1100  includes fields for specifying, for Link-Aggregated and Non-Link Aggregated ports, the ports to be provisioned and the provisioned parameters for the ports.  
         [0057]     An exemplary format  1200  of an FSW GEPORT Protection is shown in  FIG. 12 . Format  1200  includes fields for specifying GEPORT Facility Protection and for provisioning the GEPORT Protection.  
         [0058]     An exemplary format  1300  of a GPON OLT Interface (OLTIF) Facility is shown in  FIG. 13 . Format  1300  includes fields for specifying the GPON OLTIF Facility and for provisioning the the GPON OLTIF Facility.  
         [0059]     An exemplary format  1400  of a GPON ONT Interface (ONTIF) Facility is shown in  FIG. 14 . Format  1400  includes fields for specifying the GPON ONTIF Facility and for provisioning the the GPON ONTIF Facility.  
         [0060]     An exemplary format  1500  of a GPON ONT EPORT Facility is shown in  FIG. 15 . Format  1500  includes fields for specifying supported GPON ONT EPORTs and for provisioning the GPON ONT EPORTs.  
         [0061]     An exemplary format  1600  of a GPON ONT MPORT Facility is shown in  FIG. 16 . Format  1600  includes fields for specifying supported GPON ONT MPORTs and for provisioning the GPON ONT MPORTs.  
         [0062]     An exemplary format  1700  of a GPON ONT GEM Port Facility is shown in  FIG. 17 . Format  1700  includes fields for specifying supported GPON ONT GEM Ports and for provisioning the GPON ONT GEM Ports.  
         [0063]     An exemplary format  1800  of a GPON ONT Voice Port (VPORT) Facility is shown in  FIG. 18 . Format  1800  includes fields for specifying supported GPON ONT VPORTs and for provisioning the GPON ONT VPORTs.  
         [0064]     An exemplary format  1900  of a GPON ONT Radio Frequency (RFPORT) Facility is shown in  FIG. 19 . Format  1900  includes fields for specifying supported GPON ONT RFPORTs and for provisioning the GPON ONT RFPORTs.  
         [0065]     An exemplary format  2000  of a GPON ONT Radio DS1 Facility is shown in  FIG. 20 . Format  2000  includes fields for specifying supported GPON ONT DS1 ports and for provisioning the GPON ONT DS1 ports.  
         [0066]     An exemplary format  2100  of a GPON ONT Virtual Tributary (VT) Facility is shown in  FIG. 21 . Format  2100  includes fields for specifying supported GPON ONT VTs and for provisioning the GPON ONT VTs.  
         [0067]     An exemplary format  2200  of supported GPON ONT Binding Facilities is shown in  FIG. 22 . Format  2200  includes fields for specifying supported FACLINK Facilities and VT Cross Connect Facilities.  
         [0068]     An exemplary format  2300  of a GPON ONT FACLINK Facility is shown in  FIG. 23 . Format  2300  includes fields for specifying the GPON ONT FACLINK Facility.  
         [0069]     An exemplary format  2400  of a FACLINK Facility Configuration is shown in  FIG. 24 . Format  2400  includes fields for specifying the major attributes, system objects, management operations, and TL1 AIDs for the FACLINK Facility Configuration.  
         [0070]     An exemplary block diagram of GPON ONT FACLINK Binding for EPORT is shown in  FIG. 25 . As shown, FSW Equipment  2502 , GPON Equipment  2504 , and ONT Equipment  2506  are bound using commands such as:  
         [0071]     ENT-FOEPORT::100:C:: :GEPORT=7-1&amp;8-1,PROT=Y;  
         [0072]     ENT-FACLINK::3-1-64-1-1-  
         [0073]     1; :C:::FOEPORT=100,SCLASS=C,INPRI=3,SVID=5,CIR=35,EEIR=50;  
         [0074]     An exemplary format  2600  of a GPON ONT VT/VTXcon Facility is shown in  FIG. 26 . Format  2600  includes fields for specifying the parameters associated with the GPON ONT VT/VTXconFacility.  
         [0075]     An exemplary block diagram of GPON ONT VT Cross Connect for T1 is shown in  FIG. 27 . As shown, Line Unit  2702  participates in the cross-connect for T1 between GPON Equipment  2704  and ONT Equipment  2706 .  
         [0076]     An exemplary format  2800  of Existing Equipment and Facility&#39;s AID Changes for GPON Service is shown in  FIG. 28 . Format  2800  includes fields for specifying the parameters associated with the ONT Equipment AID, EPORT AID, DS1 (T1) AID, FACLINK AID, and VT XCON AID.  
         [0077]     An exemplary format  2900  of an ONT Facilities Profile is shown in  FIG. 29 . When a user provisions ONT Equipment, the facilities under the ONT Equipment can be auto-provisioned. There are default ONT facilities profile defined in the system and user can also define their own profile. Format  2900  is an example of a format used for the PROFILE keyword for ONT profile provisioning. ONT profile AID is set to “ONTabcd” of “b” of facilities supported.  
         [0078]     A default PROFILE may be provided for which the system automatically create all the facilities with default keyword value if ONTAUTOP=Y (under ED-SYS). The user may be allowed to modify default PROFILE.Other parameters in the default profile include:  
         [0079]     For ONTF1N1: AID=100 (Reserved AID)  
         [0080]     Default ONTPRFL 100 will set PRFL=E1-V2-R1;  
         [0081]     Create 1 EPORT, 2 VPORT, and 1 RFPORT.  
         [0082]     For ONTF9N1: AID=900 (Reserved AID)  
         [0083]     Default ONTPRFL 900 will set PRFL=E12-T4-V24-S12;  
         [0084]     Create 12 EPORT, 24 VPORT, 4 T1 and 12 VDSL.  
         [0000]     There is one default ONT facilities profile per ONT equipment type and there are up to 16 user ONT facilities profile per ONT equipment type.  
         [0085]     In order to perform ONT Facilities Profile Configuration, a number of major attributes must be set. These include:  
         [0086]     EPORT/MPORT/T1/VPORT/RFPORT are positional keyword.  
         [0087]     EPORT attributes: 
        SPEED, MTU, DUPLEX, AUTONEG, FRCCOLL, MCST, STATUS        
 
         [0089]     MPORT attributes: STATUS  
         [0090]     T1 attributes: 
        LINECDE, FMT, LBO, IBLPBK, FEPM, STATUS        
 
         [0092]     VPORT attributes: 
        STATUS, VGWAY        
 
         [0094]     RFPORT attributes: 
        STATUS        
 
         [0096]     System objects, such as ONTPRFL, and Management Operations, such as ONTPRFL: ENT/DLT/RTRV/ED, are supported. Likewise, TL1 AID may have a format such as &lt;ONT Profile #&gt; (AID=n) and may include most significant bit(s) is tied to “ONTabcd” of value “b”, “n”=100-116 for ONTF1N1/ONTF1N1 ( 100  is default,  101 - 116  are user PROFILE), and “n”=200-216 for ONTF2N1 ( 200  is default,  201 - 116  are user PROFILE).  
         [0097]     An exemplary format  3000  of an ONTPRFL Behavior is shown in  FIG. 30 . Format  3000  includes fields for specifying the parameters associated with the ONTPRFL Behavior, such as speed, duplex function, auto-negotiation function, etc., of the EPORT, as well as MPORT, VPORT, and RFPORT parameters.  
         [0098]     ONT Equipment auto-provisioning may be implemented using a new new keyword “ONTAUTOP”, which will be added in the system configuration. The default will be set to N. The whole NE&#39;s ONT facilities auto-creation will use the same ONTAUTOP. If keyword ONTAUTOP=Y, OLTIF and ONT equipment will perform Serial Number/Password auto-discovery and ONT equipment will be auto-created when a valid ONT equipment is inserted with default PROFILE. As ONT Equipment does not have physical position with OLTIF, GPONSU will need to assign the ONT Interface # when the ONT Equipment is auto-created. If keyword ONTAUTOP=N, OLTIF and ONT Equipment will also perform Serial Number/Password auto-discovery. User will manually provision the ONT Equipment. If ONT equipment Serial Number(SN) is not recognized, manual provision of the ONT Equipment should be rejected, and auto-provision of the ONT Equipment should be performed with equipment type=UNKNOWN and raise UNKONT alarm.  
         [0099]     ONT Equipment Creation may be performed using a user ONT Profile. If ONTAUTOP=Y, ONT Equipment will be auto-created, ONTPRFL will be set to default PROFILE when ONT Equipment is created. The default PROFILE can be system default or user changed default.  
         [0100]     An exemplary format of a user ONT Profile  3100  used for ONT Equipment Creation is shown in  FIG. 31 . For example, for ONTF1N1:  
         [0101]     ENT-ONTPRFL::110:C:::PRFL=E1-V2-R1;  
         [0102]     Create 1 EPORT, 2 VPORT, and 1 RFPORT.  
         [0103]     ED-ONTPRFL::110:C:::EPORT:MTU=1522;  
         [0104]     ENT-ONTEQPT::IFA1-3-1-  
         [0105]     32:C::ONTF1 N 1:SERIALNO=456xx,ONTPRFL=110:IS; while for ONTF5N1:  
         [0106]     ENT-ONTPRFL::515:C:::PROFILE=E2-V20-T2-R1;  
         [0107]     Create 2 EPORT, 20 VPORT, 2 T1 and 1 RFPORT  
         [0108]     ED-ONTPRFL::515:C:::T1:LINECDE=AMI;  
         [0109]     ENT-ONTEQPT::IFA1-3-1-  
         [0110]     16:C::ONTF5N1:SERIALNO=123xx,ONTPRFL=515:IS;  
         [0111]     For ONT Equipment using profile behavior, the system should reject the provision of ONT Equipment if any of the PROFILE facilities specified can not be created, for example, if a limit is reached. Such limitations include BONT/RONT facilities supported limitation for each ONT or T1 maximum limitation per GPONSU (84). Also, an EPORT/MPORT/VPORT/RFPORT maximum limitation per NE. (4094/2560/10240/2560)  
         [0112]     Each auto-provision facility from the ONT profile option starts from a lower numbered Port. The user may manually create ONT facilities after ONT equipment is created. ED/RTRV/DLT ONT facilities for those auto-provisioned facilities are allowed. The service provider may activate (UNLOCK) facilities which default to deactivate (LOCK). When facilities are deactivated, PM monitoring and Fault monitoring will be masked. (No PM/Alarm).  
         [0113]     In order to provision the VPORT, the ONT Source IPADDR must be calculated. The user needs to set the IP Subnet Address or the ONT may use the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to get the IPADDR for the Voice Gateway (VGWAY). For example:  
         [0114]     ENT-VGWAY::1:C:::IPADDR=192.168.0.0; or  
         [0115]     ENT-VGWAY::1:C:::DHCPADDR=192.169.1.2;  
         [0116]     IPMASK value support only 255.255.0.0 (retrieval only).  
         [0117]     IP Subnet Address and DHCPADDR are mutually excluded  
         [0118]     The IP Address for each ONT will be using the IP Subnet plus the last 16 bits.  
         [0119]     11111111 11111111  
         [0120]     Bits  15 - 12  are for GPONSU Slot  3 - 6  &amp;  9 - 14   
         [0121]     Bits  11 - 8  are for OLTIF number  1 - 4   
         [0122]     Bits  7 - 0  are for ONTIF number  1 - 64   
         [0123]     The source IP Address calculation for each ONT:  
         [0124]     For VPORT=3-1-1-1&amp;&amp;3-1-1-24, IPADDR=192.168.49.1  
         [0125]     For VPORT=7-2-32-1&amp;&amp;7-2-32-24, IPADDR=192.168.114.32  
         [0126]     For VPORT=14-4-64-1&amp;&amp;14-4-64-24, IPPADDR=192.168.196.64  
         [0127]     For VGWAY System Configuration, the ONT MACADDR is a factory configured MAC address on the ONT Inventory EPROM for source ONT MACADDR. The address may be computed as ENT-VGWAY::1:C:::IPADDR=x.x.x.x,VIPADDR=y.y.y.y,FOEPORT=100,SVID=4093, PRTCL=H248,RSVDBW=500:IS;  
         [0128]     For VPORT upstream traffic frame includes source ONT IPADDR, destination VGWAY IPADDR, source ONT MACADDR, learned destination router MACADDR and system SVID. The SE defines the OLT side BW=130K for each VPORT in order for software to perform CAC against OLTIF. The VPORT service default is always off (VGWAY=NULL) until service provider assign a valid VGWAY to VPORT.  
         [0129]     For VGWAY System Configuration Provisioning, the address may be computed as: ENT-VGWAY::1:C:::IPADDR=192.168.0.0,VIPADDR=x.x.x.x, FOEPORT=100,SVID=4093,PRTCL=H248,RSVDBW=500.  
         [0130]     The Major Attributes include Mandatory keywords, such as IPADDR or DHCPADDR, VIPADDR, FOEPORT, SVID, PRTCL(protocol), and RSVDBW, an IPMASK default of 255.255.0.0 (retrieval only), and an allowed IPADDR value of x.x.0.0. The SVID has to be unique as per NE. The IPADDR, VIPADDR, DHCPADDR, and FOEPORT can not be edited. RSVDBW can only be edited if STATE=OOS. System Objects include VGWAY and the Management Operations include VGWAY: ENT/DLT/RTRV/ED (system level). VGWAY can not be deleted if VGWAY is linked to any VPORT. The TL1 AIDs include AID=n &lt;VGWAY #&gt;.  
         [0131]     An example of GPON ONT VPORT Flow is shown in  FIG. 32 . Data traffic is routed via FSW  3202 , GPON Equipment  3204 , and ONT Equipment  3206 . For example, the source IP Address may be calculated from user provisioned IPAddr Subnet or DHCPIPAddr (ENT-VGWAY), the source MAC Address may be ONT box&#39;s MAC Address, the destination IP Address may be user provisioned system IPAddr (ENT-VGWAY), and the destination MAC Address may be the learned destination router MAC Address.  
         [0132]     For Multicast (MCST for IPTV) Configuration, the addresses are computed as ENT-MCST::1:C:::IPADDR=x.x.x.x; or ENT-MCST::1:C::: DHCPADDR=192.168.3.123. If the user does not specify the IPADDR,  192 . 168 . 255 . 255  will be used as default if DHCP(Dynamic HostConfig. Protocol) IP address is not defined. MCST IPADDR and DHCPADDR are mutually excluded, as in ENT-MCST::1:C:::FOEPORT=101,SVID=4092,RSVDBW=1000:C. The FOEPORT  101  non-link aggregated 1 GE/10 GE MACADDR is used for source MAC for IGMP message and the address computed as ENT-MCST-CH::1&amp;&amp;512:C:::CHBW=2; (CHBW=1..16), ENT-MCST-CH::513&amp;&amp;1024:C:::CHBW=8; (HDTV). For IPTV(IGMP) upstream traffic frame includes source IGMP IPADDR, source IGMP MACADDR, IGMP destination MACADDR &amp; IPADDR per IGMP standard, channel BW and system SVID.  
         [0133]     For Multicast System Configuration Provisioning, the address is computed as ENT-MCST::1:C:::DHCPADDR=x.x.x.x,IPADDR=y.y.y.y, FOEPORT=101, SVID=4092,RSVDBW=700. The major attributes include mandatory keywords, such as IPADDR or DHCPADDR, FOEPORT, SVID, RSVDBW. The SVID has to be unique as per NE. The IPADDR, DHCPADDR, and FOEPORT can not be edited. RSVDBW can only be edited if STATE=OOS. The system objects include MCST and the management operations include MCST: ENT/DLT/RTRV/ED (system level). The MCST can not be deleted if the MCST is assigned to any IPTV (under EPORT). The TL1 AIDs include AID=m &lt;MCST #&gt;, where “m”: 1.  
         [0134]     For Multicast Channel System Configuration Provisioning, the address is computed as ENT-MCST-CH::1&amp;&amp;1024:C:::CHBW=2. The major attributes include mandatory keywords, such as CHBW (Channel Bandwidth): 1..16. The system objects include MCST-CH, the management operations include MCST: ENT/DLT/RTRV/ED, and the TL1 AIDs include AID=M &lt;MCST Channel #&gt;, where “m”: 1-1024.  
         [0135]     An example of GPON ONT IPTV Flow is shown in  FIG. 33 . Data traffic is routed via FSW  3302 , GPON Equipment  3304 , and ONT Equipment  3306 . For example, the Source IP Address may be user provisioned as IPAddr or DHCPIPAddr (ENT-MCST), the source MAC Address may be FOEPORT  101  FSW MAC Address (associated IGE/lOGE), the destination IP Address may be IGMP Destination IPAddr per IGMP standard, the destination MAC Address may be IGMP Destination MAC Address per IGMP standard, the multicast Channel BW may be user provisioned channel bandwidth (ENT-MCST-CH).  
         [0136]     For GPON ONT Configuration Management, each NE supports up to 2560 ONT equipments. Support List, Range and ALL with all the ONT equipment become impossible and unreadable. GPON ONT Configuration Retrieval supports command for ONT EQPT as per GR-831 retrieval such as RTRV-EQPT#OLTIF::&lt;OLTIF AID&gt;:C, and RTRV-EQPT#EQPT::&lt;GPONSU Equipment AID&gt;:C. Commands supported for ONT FAC as per GR-831 retrieval such as RTRV-xxxx#EQPT::&lt;GPONSU Equipment AID&gt;:C, RTRV-xxxx#OLTIF::&lt;OLTIF AID&gt;:C, and RTRV-xxxx#EQPT::&lt;ONT Equipment AID&gt;:C, where “xxxx” includes facilities ONTIF/EPORT/MPORT and T 1l /VT/VPORT/RFPORT/GEM/FACLINK. For ONT VT XCON as per GR- 831 retrieval, supported commands include RTRV-CRS-VT1#EQPT::&lt;GPONSU Equipment AID&gt;:C, RTRV-CRS-VT1#OLTIF::&lt;OLTIF AID&gt;:C, and RTRV-CRS-VT1#EQPT::&lt;ONT Equipment AID&gt;:C.  
         [0137]     For GPON ONT Performance Management, each NE supports up to 2560 ONT units. With existing Performance Management, the PM responding, PM reporting, and TCA reporting traffic between MCU and all GPONSU will be increased exponentially. For ONT Facilities (ONTIF/EPORT/VPORT/T1/VT/GEM/FACLINK) PM retrieval can only be supported when the corresponding GPONSU equipment and at least one FSW is in the system. List, Range and All for Timed/Cumulative ONT facilities PM are supported per Slot basis for GPONSU. Commands supported for ONT FAC PM as per GR- 83   1  retrieval include INIT-REG-ALL#EQPT::&lt;GPONSU Equipment AID&gt;:C, INIT-REG-ALL#EQPT::&lt;ONT Equipment AID&gt;:C, RTRV-PM-xxxx#EQPT::&lt;GPONSU Equipment AID&gt;:C, RTRV-PM-xxxx#OLTIF::&lt;OLTIF AID&gt;:C, and RTRV-PM-xxxx#EQPT::&lt;ONT Equipment AID&gt;:C, where “xxxx” includes facilities ONTIF/EPORT/VPORT/T 1 /VT/GEM/FACLINK. Where the PM is responding, RTRV-TH/SET-TH/ALW-PMREPT/INH-PMREPT/RTRV-MSG for facilities ONTIF, EPORT, VPORT, GEM, T1 and VT are not supported. For the PM reporting/TCA Threshold Crossing, ONT facility (ONTIF, EPORT, VPORT, T1, VT, GEM) does not need to support PM reporting and TCA Threshold Crossing. ONT facility (FACLINK) only support cumulative PM.  
         [0138]     For GPON ONT Fault Management, each NE supports up to 2560 ONT equipments. With existing Fault Management, the alarm/event reporting traffic between MCU and all GPONSU will be increased exponentially. Alarm Responding ONT Facilities (ONTIF/EPORT/MPORT/VPORT/RFPORT/T1/VT and GEM) alarm retrieval can only be supported when the corresponding GPONSU equipment and at least one FSW is in the system. List, Range and All ONT facilities Alarm are supported per Slot basis for GPONSU. Support for commands for ONT Equipment alarms and ONT Facility (ONTIF/EPORT/MPORT/T1/VT/VPORT/RFPORT/GEM) alarms as per GR-831 retrieval include RTRV-ALM-ALL#EQPT::&lt;GPONSU or ONT Equipment AID&gt;:C, RTRV-COND-ALL#EQPT::&lt;GPONSU or ONT Equipment AID&gt;:C, RTRV-ALM-xxxx#EQPT::&lt;GPONSU Equipment AID&gt;:C, RTRV-ALM-xxxx#OLTIF::&lt;OLTIF AID&gt;:C, RTRV-ATTR-xxxx#EQPT::&lt;GPONSU Equipment AID&gt;:C, SET-ATTR-xxxx#EQPT::&lt;GPONSU Equipment AID&gt;:C.  
         [0139]     In order to support GPON, some changes to the system behaviour must be implemented. For example, GPON supports a distributed architecture in which all GPON databases except GPONSU/FSW equipment will be stored in the FSW instead of the MCU. Therefore, the FSW will act like the MCU for GPON services such as shelf facilities, including OLTIF, GEPORT, and FOEPORT, ONT equipment, and ONT facilities, including EPORT, MPORT, T1, VPORT, RFPORT, GEM, FACLINK, and VT Cross Connect. The behaviors will be changed, such as static retrieval for shelf facilities, ONT equipment and ONT facilities configuration will not be allowed if FSW is not present in the shelf, static retrieval for FSW Cumulative/History PM and alarm will not be allowed if FSW is not presented in the shelf, static retrieval for GPONSU Cumulative/History PM and alarm will not be allowed if FSW and GPONSU are not presented in the shelf, ONT Equipment and ONT facilities alarm will not be automatically reported but a summary alarm will be raised against OLTIF.  
         [0140]     An example of an EPORT Service Provision sequence  3400  with AUTOP=Y/ONTAUTOP=Y is shown in  FIG. 34 . For ENT-EQPT::IFA1-7:C::FSW4X, where SFP Equipment (IFA1-7-1&amp;&amp;IFA1-7-4) are auto-created and GEPORT (7-1&amp;&amp;7-4) are auto-created. For ENT-EQPT::IFA1-8:C::FSW4X, SFP Equipment (IFA1-8-1&amp;&amp;IFA1-8-4) are auto-created and GEPORT (8-1&amp;&amp;8-4) are auto-created. For ENT-EQPT::IFA1-3:C::GPONF2N1::IS, OLTIFs (3-1&amp;&amp;3-2) are auto created. For ENT-ONTEQPT::IFA1-3-1-16:C::ONTFINI:SERIALNO=123xx:IS, this is not a user initiated command but is automatically created, ONT Interface (# 16 ) is automatically assigned by the OLTIF, and the ONT Default Profile AID  100  is used to created ONTIF (3-1-16-1), EPORT(3-1-16-1), RFPORT (3-1-16-1), and VPORT (3-1-16-1&amp;&amp;3-1-16-2) are auto-created with STATUS=LOCK. Additional commands include ENT-FOEPORT::100:C:::GEPORT=7-1, ED-EPORT::3-1-16-1:C:::STATUS=UNLOCK, and ENT-FACLINK::3-1-16-1-1:C:::FOEPORT=100,SCLASS=A,PRI=3,CIR=35, SVID=5. This command binds GEM port (autocreated3-1-16-1) and FOEPORT ( 100 ).  
         [0141]     An example of a VPORT Service Provision sequence  3500  (without DHCP) is shown in  FIG. 35 .  
         [0142]     An example of a Multicast (IPTV) Service Provision sequence  3600  (with DHCP) is shown in  FIG. 36 .  
         [0143]     An example of a T1 Service Provision sequence  3700  is shown in  FIG. 37 .  
         [0144]     The FSW/GPONSU SWDL involves the DCC downloading both GPONSU and ONT (one PGM for all ONTs) PGM files when the user issues CPY-FILE/CPY-MEM. The GPONSU takes care of downloading from OLT to each ONT using G984 protocol messages. When the user issues INIT-SYS for NE to upgrade, each specific GPONSU and all underline ONT Equipments will be downloaded to the new PGM. The FVM (Database Version Mismatch) alarm will only report against GPONSU/FSW. The Alarm ONTFWDL against GPONSU will be raised if one or more ONT FWDL for this specific GPONSU is still in progress. INIT-EQPT is issued to perform the GPONSU download:  
         [0145]     If FORCE=Y, allow to download and activate the new PGM.  
         [0146]     If FORCE=N, allow to download and activate the new PGM only, where the GPONSU is in OOS state and the GPONSU does not have outstanding ONTFWDL alarm.  
         [0147]     Although specific embodiments of the present invention have been described, it will be understood by those of skill in the art that there are other embodiments that are equivalent to the described embodiments. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the specific illustrated embodiments, but only by the scope of the appended claims.