Patent ID: 8614958

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a connectivity fault management message at a first maintenance end point from a second maintenance end point, wherein the first and second maintenance end points are Service Operation, Administration, and Management (“SOAM”) maintenance end points; determining from the connectivity fault management message if the second maintenance end point is of a higher SOAM maintenance level than the first maintenance end point; determining from the connectivity fault management message if the second maintenance end point is of a lower SOAM maintenance level than a presently stored snoop level variable, the presently stored snoop level variable indicative of a SOAM maintenance level of the lowest SOAM maintenance level maintenance end point from which the first management end point has received a previous connectivity fault management message; in response to determining that the second maintenance end point is of a higher SOAM maintenance level than the first maintenance end point and determining that the second maintenance end point is of a lower SOAM maintenance level than a presently stored snoop level variable: storing the SOAM maintenance level of the second maintenance end point as the snoop level variable; and storing configuration information for transmission of alarm indication suppression messages from the first maintenance end point to a destination maintenance end point of the connectivity fault management message.