Managed Leased Line Network

Introduction
Leased Line & MLLN
A leased line is a telecommunications path between two points that is available for 24
hours a day for use by a designated user (Individual or company).

In the traditional leased line which can be a physical path owned by the user or rented
from BSNL there is no active monitoring of the faults and downtime.

MLLN is able to provide round–the- clock network monitoring by the introduction of the
following network elements.

 Network Termination Unit NTU) : These are customer premises equipment.

 Versatile MUX : These equipments multiplexes all ports coming from other devices.
 Digital Cross Connect: Equipment that cross connects similar capacity of ports
specified by the network operator.
 Network Management System: Management functions of the network.

These elements are explained in the subsequent chapters.

Functional Requirement of MLLN:

1. Speedy end-to-end service provisioning
2. Round the clock performance monitoring
3. Auto re-routing in the case of failure in the circuit
4. Automated alarm/fault management
5. Accounting and security management
6. On-demand bandwidth availability up to 2 Mbps
7. Centrally manage all elements of the network
8. Network Partitioning
9. Auto Recovery
10. Virtual private Networking.

Advantages of MLLN:
1. Voice, Data & Video transmission over the same media
2. Fast and simple implementation of new application by adding /plugging the units
3. Transparent, protocol-independent connections
4. Modular system
5. Optimization of transmission bandwidth with grooming and compression
6. Centralized control and network management
7. SDH & PDH solution
MLLN Structure of BSNL
MLLN is planned as 3 tier structure consisting of aggregation and connectivity at
different levels.
1. Central Node: is responsible for the operation of NMS, Connectivity to second stage
and aggregation of leased lines.
2. 2nd Stage : Located in major cities where demand for leased line is high , connectivity
to 3rd stages and Aggregation of leased lines.
3. 3rd Stage: Located at smaller cities, where demand for leased line is low and
aggregation of leased line.

Solutions Provided By MLLN

Features of BSNL MLLN Network:
The following features of BSNL MLLN make it possible to provide powerful solutions to
telecommunication requirements.

1. Mesh connectivity between SR DXCs of the same region.

2. All SR-DXCs connected to RDXCs.
3. Major SSAs have been provided with SS DXCs.
4. Remote Operator Terminal (ROT) planned for every station having more than 30
leased circuits.

Business Service Solution:

Business Organizations that want to change and upgrade the way they function by
implementing Wide Area Network (WAN) in their organization can use MLLN to achieve
the same. The following features of MLLN facilitate the same.

1. MLLN integrates all transmission protocol to support voice, data & video
2. LAN of one City can be connected to LAN of another City.
3. PABX of one city can be connected to PABX of another city.
4. 64 kbps DTE can be managed from any of the DTE in the network.
5. All networks are manageable from NMS.

Mobile Transport Solution:

MLLN can provide mobile transport solutions, which are compatible with radio base
stations of all sizes.
1. Radio station can be connected using ring, star or chain network architectures,
according to capacity.
2. Voice compression, grooming and consolidation is possible to use available band
width.
3. At the Mobile Switching Center (MSC), the use of switch ports is optimized using
high-capacity, non-blocking cross connection nodes.
 Key Elements of MLLN

Digital Cross Connect (DXC):

A DXC or DACC device is equipped with several trunk interfaces. This equipment cross
connects similar capacity of ports specified by the network operator. Setting up and
releasing a connection is provided by the operator and not by the subscriber.

Features of Digital Cross Connects (DXC)

 DXC Capacity:
o DXC (64 ports up gradable to 128 ports)
o DXC (96 ports up gradable to 128 ports)
o DXC (128 ports up gradable to 256 ports)
o DXC (256 ports)
 1/0 cross-connect capability.
 Non-Blocking architecture
 Redundancy
 Power supply
o Switch Matrix
o Cross connect memory
 Expansion to be made possible by addition of cards only.
 Fully managed from centralized NMS.

Port capacity of different systems:

Elements Capacity
Micro Node (DXC) Small capacity cross-connection devices.
Mini Node (DXC) Access multiplexers or small capacity cross connection
equipment (slot limited)
Midi Node (DXC) Flexible Mul

Digital Multiplexer (Versatile MUX):

This network element multiplexes that all tributaries (ports ) coming from other devices
and forms a higher hierarchy level output at the specified port.
The basic node of the MartisDXX is offered to meet the VMUX requirements.
 Expansion to be made possible on the same chassis by the addition of cards.
 3 Types of VMUX
o Type I
o Type II
o Type III
 Hotline circuits can be extended from VMUX
 Point to Point & Point to Multipoint circuit possible.
 HDSL driving distance:
o 3.5 km at 2Mbps
 o 5 km at 1 Mbps
o 7 km for 64/128 kbps (at 0.5 mm dia copper cable)
 Key Requirement of VMUX
VMUx Type -1., Type – 2, Type – 3 with the configurations given below.

Type Initial Requirements Expansion Requirement (Incremental)

64 kbps Nx 64Hotline E1 64 kbps Nx 64Hotline E1
kbs kbs
VMUX 32 8 10 16 4 6
Type 1
VMUX 16 4 4 16 4 6
Type 2
VMUX 8 4 4 4 8 4 4 4
Type 3

Network Termination Unit (NTU)

o Base band modems (Network Terminating Units = NTUs) are usually customer
premises equipment (CPE)
o NTUs can also be used for standalone point-to-point connections without the Tellabs
8100 point to point network.
o NTUs also allow use of the existing copper cables (twisted pair) to carry digital
traffic over medium distances (~5km) and high speeds capacity. Different type of
NTU are
64/128 kbps NTU with V.35
64/128 kbps NTU with G.703
Nx64 kbps NTU with V.35
Nx64 kbps NTU with G.703
Nx64 kbps NTU with 10/100 Ethernet Interface.
o Base Band NTUs (SDSL Modems) are CPE of the networks
o Allows use of existing telecom copper cables for digital traffic.
o STU-160 & STU-2304 base band table top modems are used in our network.
o STU-160, 64 Kbps NTU can be connected up to the distance of 8.5 kms
o STU-2304, N*64 Kbps NTU can be connected up to the distance of kms
o CTU-S,CTU-R modems with V.35/G.703/etherne interfaces available.
o NTUs are configured from ROT
o NTUs are working on 230 V , 50 Hz-AC power supply.
Architecture of MLLN:

Connection Diagram:

NTU

NTU

VMUX VMUX

NTU

DXC

NMS NMS

ROT
ROT DXC

VMUX VMUX

NTU NTU NTU

 Description:

The figure shows the network configuration of the MLLN network.

The Network Terminating Unit (NTU) is the subscriber premises equipment of the
MLLN. The NTU supports G.703/ V.35/Ethernet interfaces.

The NTU can be configured to have any bandwidth from 64kbps to N x 64 kbps fashion.

The NTU is connected to the Versatile MUX (V-MUX) that provides concentration of the
data coming from several NTUs placed at different customer premises.

Digital Cross Connect (DXC) is the highest level equipment that provides circuit
switching of the data between different stations. The V-MUXs are connected to the DXC.
The DXCs are also connected to one another. The DXC is in a 3 Layer Architecture with

R-DXC : Regional DXC are connected in Mesh architecture

SR-DXC : Sub Regional DXC
SS-DXC : Secondary Switching Area DXC

The Network Management System (NMS), is located at Bangalore with backup at Pune
for disaster management.

The Remote Operating Terminal (ROT) can be connected to any VMUX in the system
and is used to fault monitoring, configuration and service provisioning.

Network Elements:
A node can be described as a digital multiplexer equipped with several trunk interfaces
and a digital cross-connect device equipped with several channel interfaces.

The following are different types of nodes

Node Application
Cluster Node High Capacity Cross Connect
Basic Node Access to the Network requires lot of tributary port capacity. Can also used
as as a cross connect device.
Midi Node Access multiplexer or low capacity cross-connect equipment.
Micro Node Very small capacity cross-connection especially in mobile networks.
NTU Customer premises equipment
Mini Node Can be used as a separate cross connect device controlled and supervised
locally.
Accelerator Operated with network manager.
Node
Switch Node It is an NE with ADM , LTM & SDXC
Network Management:
General:
Tellabs 8100 Network Management System (NMS) is a tool for a network operator to
build up and maintain a Tellabs_8100 managed access system network.

The operator can create and test connections , monitor faults, monitor performance
statistics and manage customer accounting.

There are also automatic fault recovery for faulty connections in the Tellabs 8100 system
network. A large network can be divided into small regional sub networks to make
managing easier.

The tellabs 8100 manager applications are implemented as a set of interactive and non
interactive application components using client-server architecture.

The interactive components (clients) make up the graphical user interface of the network
management system. The non-interactive components (servers) perform background tasks
and provide services to the interactive components. The management data is stored in a
relational database.

Network Editor:

Network Editor is a database tool providing facilities to define the topology and
configuration of the network. It also allows the user to run other network management
tools which provides facilities for editing the individual nodes, interface binding and
editing the control network.

Network editor displays network objects graphically and it has text-based dialogs to set
and change parameters of the objects.

The network configuration is determined by placing nodes and modems to the network,
equipping nodes with units, equipping units with interface modules and adding trunks to
connect nodes.

Navigator consists of three view windows, toolbar, window menu and a number of utility
dialogs. View windows are:
 Tree View window for easy navigation in the network.
 List view window for reporting all or selected elements of the network
 List View window for displaying the elements graphically.
The network editor is shown in the next tab.
Network Editor (Views) :

Node Manager:

Node Manager is a tool that provides facilities to manage the network elements: nodes,
units, interfaces & NTUs . The element management facilities include parameter setting,
fault and error monitoring, testing and performance monitoring.

Node Manager is the only application that can also be used in service computer.

In node manager it is also possible to make preplanning before real hardware exists. It
means that the network configuration and parameter values read from the database and
the changed parameters are updated to database only.
 Functioning of MLLN:

Functional Areas & Tools:

Functional Area Tellabs 8100 Manager Tool or Server

Performance Management Performance Management
Node Management
DXX Server
Web Server
Fault Management Fault Management
Trouble Ticket
Recovery Management
Recovery Simulator (with simulation DB)
Circuit loop Tests
Node Management
Fault Simulator (with simulator DB)
Circuit Fault Monitoring
DXX Server
Recovery Server
Communication Server
Fault Server
Web Reporter
Configuration Management Network Editor
Router
Circuit Loop Tests
Node Management
VLAN Manager
Unit Software Manager
Network Capacity Calculator
Circuit Simulator (with simulation DB)
Security Management
DXX server
Communication Server
Accounting Manager Security Management
Router
Recovery Manager
Accounting Management
VPN Trunk Accounting
Circuit Lop Tests
Recovery Server
DXX Server
Communication Server
Security Management Security Management
VPN Authentication.

Fault Management:
General:
The Fault Management Systems (FMS) of the Telllabs 8100 manager is used for
monitoring and reporting faults in the Tellabs 8100 system elements. The network
element faults are mapped into the respective trunks and circuits so that the operator can
easily see how the services are affected by the faults. The Fault Management System
offers an operator a real-time view, since the fault monitoring is based on continuous
network polling.. In the normal state, the network does not have any faults. However
when a fault occurs, it has to be acknowledged
The following points are noteworthy in fault management
 The status of the network element is faulty until the reason for the fault is removed or
the fault is removed.
 The severity of a fault is indicated with color coding.
 All the faults are network element specific.
 Faults are read from the network elements and stored to the database.
 The workstations having FMS check the database once every 6 seconds for faults.
 There are two numbers assigned to each fault
o General Problem Type (GPT) : assigns a fault to one of the general problem
classes
o Specific Problem Type (SPT) : is unit specific and identifies the fault in
detail.
Fault Status:
Every Fault has two fault status fields:
1. Fault Maintenance Status
o PMA = Prompt Maintenance Alarm Red
o DMA = Deferred Maintenance Alarm Yellow
o MEI = Maintenance Event Information Green
2. Service Status of a fault (S-Alarm, nonS-Aalarm)
o S-alarm = service affecting fault (starts for example recovering)
o Non S-alarm = non-service affecting fault (starts for example recovering)

Prompt Maintenance alarms are often caused by faulty Tellabs 8100 elements,
parameters, cables or connectors. Replacing the faulty object at the site can solve PMAs.
PMA faults are colored red by default and they should be taken care of as soon as
possible.

Deferred Maintenance alarms is a quality alarm detected by the element causing the
alarm. A DMA alarm related to a trunk is often detected as a PMA on the other end if a a
faulty device causes the DMA. In other cases the alarm is caused by a fault in the carrier
network. DMA faults are nor as severe as PMAs.

Most Maintenance Event information alarms are considered as non-service affecting.

However frequency difference for instance might have a major impact on service quality.

Alarms are considered service affecting if they break the circuits or have a major impact
on their quality.

Faults in Hardware:
The faults are stored in units’ volatile flash memories. Every time the unit is reset, the
faults disappear from memory. There is room for 50 faults. Once there are 50 faults, the
next one will erase the first one.
The Faults of a unit from the hardware can be checked in the Unit Fault Window (UFLT).

There are five different report types in the Unit Fault Window.
1. Fault History Report - reports all faults after last fault history reset
2. Active Fault Report - all active faults in the unit
3. All Monitored Faults - all faults that can occur in the unit
4. Changed Fault report - displays all faults that can occur in the unit.
5. Options menu - refresh of fault information

The Customer Circuit Fault Report displays circuit fault monitoring information for a
customer (or all customers). The circuit fault report shows the list of faulty circuits
having selected faults. For each circuit, the following information is played.

Field Description
Nr Row Number
Customer Name Customer Name
Circuit ID Circuit ID
Circuit Name Circuit Name
Mal Stat Maintenance status (PMA, DMA , MEI)
Service Service status : S if the fault is service affecting, in other cases
State Fault State (ON, OFF)
Ack Acknowledgement status (X = fault acknowledgement)

Fault Acknowledgement:

Each fault event must be acknowledged. That means informing the Fault Management
that the operator is aware of the alarm. The fault acknowledging is either performed by
the operator or by the system automatically. When the fault is acknowledged, the alert
indication (blinking stops). Alerting is thus active for an unacknowledged fault even if the
fault itself has disappeared.

The corresponding object turns into normal state only after the fault is fixed and the
acknowledgement is performed. The fault can be turned into the fault history only after
this. The acknowledgement can be made from several windows in the fault report
window in the FMS.

The acknowledgement time of the fault and the user name of the operator who
acknowledged the fault is stored in the database.

Circuit Fault Monitoring:

The circuit fault monitoring in the Tellabs 8100 network manager enables the operator to
get real-time information about the faults of the pre selected groups of circuits called
service categories. It includes the continuous supervision of all the circuits that are
assigned to a certain service category.

In addition to the pre-defined service categories, can select dynamically customers to be

taken under monitoring. All circuits belonging to these customers are supervised
automatically from that point.

CFM means rapid end-customer response. For example, in a trunk failure situation, the
operator will now be able to rapidly identify the customers and services affected by such
a fault.

When the faults are stored in the database, Fault Management processes then in such a
way that detected fault events are attached to the circuits which are affected by the fault
event, If these circuits belong to a circuit category or a customer, the appearance of
corresponding object symbols in the CFM windows directly indicates the severity of the
faults by colors and blinking.

CFM monitors only active and unacknowledged faults. Only circuits that are in IN Use
state are included.

Conclusion
MLLN in BSNL is implemented by Tellabs equipment at the nodes. The nodes are
classified as Cluster, Midi, Mini, Basic Node, Accelerator Node, Switch node depending
on their size.

The important network elements of MLLN are NTU, V-MUX, DXC, NMS & ROT.

With these network elements, the MLLN is able to provide the following functions

F – Fault Management
C – Configuration Mangement
A – Accounting Management
P – Performance Management
S – Security Management