Protocol for Access Node Control Mechanism in Broadband Networks

Abstract

This document describes the Access Node Control Protocol (ANCP). ANCP operates between a Network Access Server (NAS) and an Access Node (e.g., a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM)) in a multi-service reference architecture in order to perform operations related to Quality of Service, service, and subscribers. Use cases for ANCP are documented in RFC 5851. As well as describing the base ANCP protocol, this document specifies capabilities for Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) topology discovery, line configuration, and remote line connectivity testing. The design of ANCP allows for protocol extensions in other documents if they are needed to support other use cases and other access technologies.

Multicast Control Extensions for the Access Node Control Protocol (ANCP)

“…Section 4.1 of [RFC6320] defines the Provisioning message that is sent by the NAS to the AN to provision information in the AN.…”

“…As indicated in [RFC6320], the AN MUST NOT reply to the Provisioning message if it processed it successfully. If an error prevents successful processing of the message content, the AN MUST return a Generic Response message as defined in [RFC6320], containing a Status-Info TLV with the appropriate content describing the error.…”

“…If an error prevents successful processing of the message content, the AN MUST return a Generic Response message as defined in [RFC6320], containing a Status-Info TLV with the appropriate content describing the error. For this purpose, the presence of a list type in a Multicast-ServiceProfile TLV, which was ignored because it was not supported by the negotiated set of capabilities, is not considered to be an error.…”

“…As specified in [RFC6320], the NAS may send DSL line configuration information to the AN (ANCP-based DSL line configuration use case) using ANCP Port Management messages. See Section 7.3 of [RFC6320] for the format of the Port Management message in that usage.…”

“…[RFC6320] specifies a protocol for Access Node Control in broadband networks in line with this framework.…”