Information Systems Engineering
Department of Computing and
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Shing Ka Tat
IntroductionWhat is TMN?Principal of TMNHow TMN gets started in EuropeSummaryReference
Since the early 1980s, the standards bodies have been specifying the Telecommunications Management Network (TMN) principles. Millions of dollars have been spent. The TMN principles aim at being applicable across telecommunications technologies. They recommend the use of independent management networks to manage telecommunications networks, elements in the telecommunications networks (managed networks), and managing systems (in managing networks), communicating via well defined, standardised interfaces.
The Telecommunications Management Network (TMN) provides a host of management functions and communications for Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OA&M) of telecommunications network and its services in multi-vendor environments. TMN functions are to implement service management, network restoration, customer control/ reconfiguration, bandwidth management. TMN function fall into configuration management, fault management, performance management, accounting management and security management categories.
A TMN provides management functions for telecommunication networks and services and offers communications between itself and the telecommunication networks and services. Telecommunication network is assumed to consist of both digital and analogue telecommunications equipment and associated support equipment. A telecommunication service consists of a range of capabilities provided to customers. TMN also provides an organised architecture to achieve the interconnection between various types of Operations Systems (OSs) and/or telecommunications equipment for the exchange of management information using an agreed architecture with standardised interfaces including protocols and messages. In defining the concept, it is recognised that many Administrations have a large infrastructure of OSs, networks and telecommunications equipment already in place, and which must be accommodated within the architecture. Provision is also made for access to, and display of, management information contained within the TMN via workstations.
The TMN architectural framework considers four aspects of a management network. The first three aspects are as follows: the functionality it contains specified in terms of a functional architecture; the physical nodes it contains specified in terms of a physical architecture; and the management information which is communicated between pairs of function blocks or pairs of physical blocks (nodes) of the TMN, which is called the information architecture. The functional and physical architectures specify how TMNs can be constructed from TMN building blocks with interfaces between them. These concepts (TMN building blocks and interfaces) have different names in the two management information is to be modelled and specified. The fourth aspect is a hierarchical structuring of management responsibility known as the Logical layered Architecture (LLA). The LLA is a generic principle which in M.3010 is exemplified in combination with the functional architecture, based on the concepts of business, service, network, and element management layers.
The functional architecture describes the appropriate distribution of functionality within the TMN to allow for the creation of function blocks from which a TMN of any complexity can be implemented. The elements of the functional architecture are function blocks and reference points. Function blocks are conceptual entities that can be implemented in a variety of physical configurations. Reference points represent the exchange of information between pairs of function blocks. Functions generally needed in the context of communicating management systems and applications have been defined as a set of "generic" function blocks.
The elements of the physical architecture are building blocks and interfaces. Building blocks are the different types of physical node in the TMN, whereas interfaces define the information exchange between them. The physical architecture describes realisable interfaces and generic examples of physical components that make up a TMN. Generic physical building blocks and interfaces are defined in M.3010. These building blocks generally reflect a one-to-one mapping (or implementation) of one function block to one physical building block. For example, an operations system (OS) physical building block contains one (or more) OSFs. This does not prevent an actual TMN implementation from containing multiple different function blocks in one or more physical blocks, nor does it prevent the distribution of one function block over several physical nodes. Interfaces are the implementation of reference points from the functional architecture. In particular, a Q interface implements a (set of) q reference point(s), whereas an X interface implements a (set of) x reference point(s), as depicted in Figure below.
The information architecture describes an object-oriented approach for transaction-oriented information exchange within a TMN. This comprises a management information modelling aspect and a management information exchange aspect, both of which are adopted from the OSI standards. The TMN in its current state is based on the management information communications principles defined in the context of the OSI Systems Management standards which are being standardised jointly by ITU and ISO/IEC. ITU recommendations Management Framework for OSI and Systems Management Overview define an architecture for the exchange of management information between open systems.
The fourth TMN architectural principle is the Logical Layered Architecture (LLA). The LLA is a concept for structuring management functionality into a grouping called "logical layers" and describes the relationship between layers. A logical layer reflects particular aspects of management. Even though the LLA principle is very generic, it is most often identified with the example grouping of telecommunications management into the four hierarchical layers of business management is concerned with overall enterprise management, service management is concerned with managing customer services, network management is concerned with managing individual networks, and network element management is concerned with managing individual components of a network. This LLA principle is often combined with the functional architecture to form principle architectures of " real TMNs".
Large centralised Network Management systems exist in the US already for several years while in Europe nothing comparable was available. Despite from some small applications in the military or special network area there seemed to be no need for Network Management. This situation changed dramatically in the last two years :
What made the situation change so rapidly? At least, there are several major reasons for introducing TMN in Europe can be stated and two are suggested here :
Telecommunications carriers today are faced with the task of rapidly introducing and managing new competitive service offerings. This means they must quickly integrate state-of-the-art communications equipment from multiple vendors. In response to the challenge of successfully integrating huge numbers of new network elements into the existing network, the carriers and international standards bodies have defined a solution called the "Telecommunications Management Network" or "TMN". TMN consists of a series of interrelated national and international standards and agreements which provider networks on a worldwide scale. TMN also has applicability in wireless communications, cable television networks, private overlay networks, and a host of other large scale, high bandwidth communications networks. TMN provides distinct advantages for integrating new multi-vendor equipment with legacy systems within a common network management structure. The TMN architecture integrates management, service, and accounting functions into an environment which is both powerful and flexible. The result is the ability to achieve higher service quality, reduced costs, and faster product integration. TMN eliminates competitive barriers by demanding that manufacturers open up their equipment by supporting a common management architecture. With the worldwide TMN acceptance by telecommunications and wireless carriers, equipment manufacturers must support TMN in order to remain competitive.
M.3000 ------ Overview Of TMN Recommendation
M.3010 ------ Principles For A TMN
M.3020 ------ TMN Interface Specification Methodology
M.3100 ------ Generic Network Information Model
M.3180 ------ Catalogue Network Information Model
M.3300 ------ TMN Management Capabilities Presented At F Interface
M.3400 ------ TMN Management Funcations
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