Service Framework

The Carrier Ethernet Service framework has two components:

1. The definition of a set of generic attributes with the complete range of acceptable values for each attribute. This is documented in MEF 10.x.
2. The definition of a set of Carrier Ethernet Service Definitions that includes constraints on the values for the generic attributes to those acceptable for each service type. This is done in MEF 6.x.

Generic Attributes

MEF10.x defines three sets of generic attributes:

UNI attributes

UNI Attributes (MEF 10.2) are characteristics of the UNI itself and are applied to all services on the UNI. An example is the Physical Layer Service Attribute. If the UNI is a 100Mbps Full Duplex Ethernet, then that is what the services see.

EVC per UNI attributes

EVC per UNI Attributes (MEF 10.2 and MEF 10.3) are EVC attributes that are associated with the specific UNI and can be different on other UNIs within the EVC. An example is the Ingress Bandwidth Profile attribute. Each UNI in an EVC can have different policing values.

EVC attributes

EVC Attributes are attributes that describe the EVC itself. They apply to the EVC across the entire carrier network. An example is the EVC Connection Type Attribute. If the EVC is defined as point-to-point, then it must be that way across the whole network.

MEF 6.x defines six Carrier Ethernet Service types, three private service types and three virtual private service types, by constraining the values in each of the three sets of generic attributes to an appropriate set of values. For example, an Ethernet Private Line service must have (note that these are just a sample, there are several other attributes):

• UNI Physical Layer MUST BE 10 or 100 or 1000 or 1000Mbps Ethernet, Full Duplex only
• UNI Service Multiplexing MUST BE "DISABLE"
• UNI All-to-One Bundling MUST BE "ENABLE"
• EVC Connection Type MUST BE "Point-to-Point"
• EVC Maximum Number of UNIs MUST BE "2"