Configuring the Attributes of Ethernet Interfaces

The attributes of Ethernet interfaces need to be configured when Ethernet boards are configured with services or used for tests.

Prerequisites

The Ethernet board must be created.

Tag Attribute Description of Ethernet Ports

Ethernet packets are classified into tagged and untagged packets in 802.1Q. A four-byte field is added to the Ethernet frame header of a tagged packet. The 802.1Q-compliant field is used to identify the VLAN ID. An untagged packet does not have such a field.

Ethernet ports are classified into three types: UNI, C-Aware, and S-Aware. The tag attributes of the Ethernet port are classified into Tag aware, Access, and Hybrid.

See Table 1 for details on how an Ethernet board processes tagged and untagged packets at the ingress.

**Table 1** Processing policy at ingress
Port Type	Tagged Packet	Untagged Packet
Tag aware	Transparently transmitted	Discarded
Access	Discarded	Added with the default VLAN tag
Hybrid	Transparently transmitted	Added with the default VLAN tag

As shown in Table 1, at the egress, the Ethernet packets are tagged packets. Table 2 shows how the Ethernet board processes the packets.

**Table 2** Processing policy at egress
Port Type	Tagged Packet
Tag aware	Transparently transmitted
Access	The VLAN tag is removed
Hybrid	The VLAN tag is removed if it is the same as the default tag for the port Transparently transmitted if the VLAN tag is different from the default tag for the port

As shown in Table 1 and Table 2, in an actual network, you need to set the port type for the Ethernet board of an NE according to the Tag attribute of the messages sent from the user-side equipment. If the user-side equipment sends the untagged message, set the external port to Access and set the internal port to Tag aware. If the user-side equipment sends the Tag message, set the external port to Tag aware and set the internal port to Tag aware.

For example, if the source equipment of a service does not support Tag messages but the sink equipment supports Tag messages, you need to set the external port of the Ethernet board that reside on the NE connected to the source to Access, and set the external port of the Ethernet board that resides on the NE connected to the sink to Tag aware. Set the internal ports of the Ethernet boards that resides on the NEs connected to the source and the sink to Tag aware.

Background Information

NOTICE:

To ensure the availability of an end-to-end Ethernet service, make sure that the port attributes of the Ethernet boards at the two ends of the services are the same.

NOTE:

Currently, the Ethernet board includes the 11LEX4, 11LEM24, L4G and TBE boards. This section considers the L4G as an example.

For the description of the network management interface of each board, refer to the Hardware Description.

Precaution

NOTE:

Setting the parameters of a port affect the service of the board. Before setting the parameters of a port, configure State of the port as OOS at the Ethernet Interface. After setting the parameters, restore State of the port to IS.

Procedure

Select the desired L4G on the NE Explorer, and choose Configuration > Ethernet Interface Management > Ethernet Interface from the Function Tree.
Select External Port in the right interface. Select Basic Attributes tab. Double-click each parameter field and set the basic attributes of each interface, such as Port Enabled, Working Mode, and Maximum Frame Length.

NOTE:
Port Enabled: When you configure or test Ethernet services at a port, the port must be enabled.

Confirm that the Working Mode of the receive port is the same as that of the transmit port. Otherwise, services are unavailable.
Click Apply to confirm the settings.
Select Flow Control tab. Based on the port attributes, double-click Non-Autonegotiation Flow Control Mode or Autonegotiation Flow Control Mode. Select Enable Symmetric Flow Control from the drop-down list.
NOTE:
Pay attention to the following parameters:
- Non-Autonegotiation Flow Control Mode: This flow control mode is selected when the working mode of the port is not Autonegotiation. Enable Symmetric Flow Control means that PAUSE frames can be transmitted and received. Send Only means that PAUSE frames can be transmitted only. Receive Only means that PAUSE frames can be received only.
- Autonegotiation Flow Control Mode: This flow control mode is selected when the working mode of the port is Autonegotiation. Enable Dissymmetric Flow Control means that flow control frames are transmitted but not received; Enable Symmetric Flow Control means that PAUSE frames can be transmitted and received; Enable Symmetric/Dissymmetric Flow Control means that the auto-negotiation will determine whether to adopt the symmetric or dissymmetric flow control.
Click Apply to confirm the settings.
Click TAG Attributes tab. Set the TAG of the port based on the network planning, and VLAN Priority of the port if its TAG is Access or Hybrid.
Click Apply to confirm the settings.
Click Network Attributes tab. Double-click the Port Type field of the corresponding port and select attributes from the drop-down list.
Click Apply to confirm the settings.
Select Internal Port. Set the internal ports according to the network planning. Click Apply to apply the configuration.