RE: FW: EPON MIB comments (eponDeviceObjectPowerDown)

[LK] O.K. I see what you mean and that is not my intention. I want to
refer to a general power down mode without referring to a specific
implementation. So I will remove the reference for receiving data from
link.
eponDeviceObjectPowerDown OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX  TruthValue
    MAX-ACCESS  read-write
    STATUS  current
    DESCRIPTION
            "Setting this variable to True(1) will cause Device to be
             entered into Power down mode. Setting this variable to
             False(0) will cause the device to go out of power down
             mode. When getting True(1) the device is in power down.
             when getting False(0) the device is not in power down.
             Writing can be done all the time. 
             This attribute is relevant for an OLT and an ONU."
    DEFVAL { false }
    ::= { eponDeviceControlEntry 5 }



-----Original Message-----
From: Glen Kramer [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 2:34 AM
To: 'Lior khermosh'; 'Romascanu, Dan (Dan)'; [email protected]
Subject: RE: [Hubmib] FW: EPON MIB comments (eponDeviceObjectPowerDown)


[GK] eponDeviceObjectPowerDown - "Setting this variable to True(1) will
cause Device to be entered into Power down mode where no registration is
allowed and only receiving data from the link.". This object does not
make sense. Setting it to True will cause the device lose the link
(because no transmission is allowed leading to MPCP timeout) and never
register again (because registration is not allowed).

[LK] I guess the question is what is the meaning of power down. I
thought of a condition where the device is in minimal power mode where
it is not transmitting and it is in listening mode so it can be enabled
by activation according to MAC address. Keeping it registered can be
done easily by reducing its SLA to minimal BW but I don't think it is a
power down mode. Keeping it in listening mode will really make it
possible for the system to reduce power (notice I do not define what is
exactly this mode as it can be implemented as the vendor wishes) yet
have the minimal capability to wake up.

[GK] This is very suspiciously seems like fitting of MIB spec to a
specific proprietary implementation. Even if device is not transmitting
any user data, it should periodically transmit MPCP and OAM messages. 
You are trying to define some kind of standby mode without clear
explanation what this mode is or how it can be implemented. I argue that
because MPCP relies on periodic messages, this mode is not possible
without breaking IEEE 802.3ah standard. "Keeping it registered can be
done easily by reducing its SLA to minimal BW..." This is a particular
implementation. Device registration has nothing to do with the
provisioned SLA. There is a very formal state machine that explains
steps of EPON device registration.