OmniMSS Powerful, high-performance LAN-to-ATM internetworking services LAN emulation (LANE) and Multi-Protocol over ATM (MPOA) are two of the services that make ATM networks valuable in the enterprise. The OmniMSS is a dedicated high-capacity platform that enables these services. Alcatel s OmniSwitch and OmniMSS are integral parts of an organization s migration to ATM. X-Cell provides the full-featured ATM switching fabric that allows a network to migrate from shared bandwidth solutions to high speed ATM through the OmniSwitch. Administrators can reduce costs by connecting their existing legacy LAN media into an OmniSwitch, and gradually migrate users and remote offices to ATM when they are ready. OmniMSS provides LANE services, multiprotocol routing, and bridging functions for ATM networks. The OmniMSS, with its full-featured ATM LAN emulation and classical IP services, will support up to 300 emulated LANs that can provide seamless networking of Ethernet or token ring traffic across an ATM backbone. The OmniMSS also provides MPOA server functions, performing route calculation for shortcuts across IP subnets in an ATM network. d. 57
Features and benefits Complete ATM Forum LAN emulation services ATM Forum LAN emulation using power provided by the OmniMSS s high availability and scalability. Fault tolerance provides automatic recovery of LAN emulation services in the unlikely case of a failure. Layerthree routing services use a secondary server so they continue to function even if the primary server goes down. Intelligent broadcast management reduces IP, IPX and NetBIOS broadcast traffic on the network that enhances performance as well as scalability. Classical IP server forms logical IP subnets (LISs) over ATM with the OmniMSS s ability to route between classical IP subnets and LANE-based subnets. IPX routing provides IPX routing over emulated LANs and multiprotocol encapsulation over ATM (RFC 1483) connections to routers using other protocols. ATM Forum LANE 1.0 and LANE 2.0 solutions Emulated LANs (ELANs) are not based on physical topology, instead they are logical groupings of ATM devices, which may include LAN switches, servers, and end stations. Administrators can assign ATM devices to an ELAN regardless of their geographical location. Through AutoTracker, the devices within an ELAN can be a subset of a larger VLAN that can span any media type, including Ethernet, token ring, FDDI, CDDI, and Fast Ethernet. The OmniMSS uses ATM Forum compliant LAN emulation to communicate with both Ethernet and token ring clients. This also allows legacy LAN end devices to be connected through an ATM backbone, and network devices can gradually migrate to ATM without affecting investments in LAN hardware or applications. LANE 2.0 supports QoS on a per ELAN basis and on a per DD VCC basis. Bridging between emulated LANs provides users with source-route bridging, transparent bridging, source-route transparent bridging, source-route to transparent bridging, and adaptive source-route-transparent bridging between emulated LANs. d. 58
Redundancy Alcatel s ATM LANE is a perfect solution for campus backbones because there is no single point of failure. To ensure redundancy, each LAN emulation server (LES) and broadcast unknown server (BUS) can be independently configured to assume the role of a primary or backup LES/BUS. The robustness of a LAN emulation configuration server is achieved by creating duplicate LAN emulation configuration servers on multiple platforms. These duplicate servers include their ATM addresses in an interim link management interface (ILMI) database. If a LECS failure occurs, LAN emulation clients can then use the ILMI and connect to a backup LAN emulation configuration server. Intelligent broadcast management The OmniMSS performs intelligent broadcast management, which enables organizations to scale their switched networks and control broadcasts of widespread and chatty protocols such as IPX and NetBIOS. OmniMSS reduces the broadcast traffic from IP, IPX, and NetBIOS protocols by transforming their broadcast frames into unicast frames and sending them only to interested LECs and ATM end stations. OmniMSS reduces the network traffic OmniMSS reduces traffic by forwarding broadcasts only to those devices that need to receive them. This improves overall system performance and enables practical deployment of larger ELANs. OmniMSS scans IP ARP requests to learn the IP addresses in a subnet containing an ELAN. Limits the scope of "advertisement" broadcasts which reduces IPX traffic on the network. Associates unique NetBIOS names with MAC addresses and LECs after a unique name is learned, subsequent NetBIOS broadcasts destined for that name are forwarded to a single LEC as a unicast frame. OmniMSS also filters many NetBIOS frames that are repeatedly broadcast. d. 59
Standards-based bridging and routing support The OmniMSS also supports bridging techniques including source-route bridging, source-routing transparent bridging, source-route-to-transparent bridging, and adaptive source-routetransparent bridging. Its extensive IP routing implementation includes OSPF, multicast support, and classless addressing in addition to basic IP support, like ICMP, UDP, TCP, ARP, and RIP. The OmniMSS s IPX routing support also complies with IPX router specifications from Novell. On-line graphical management The OmniMSS has two configuration utilities, a stand-alone configuration program with integrated help and setup guidance, and an HTML web browser interface that also has integrated help, and offers configuration and monitoring capabilities as well. Through the browser-based interface, managers can access the OmniMSS locally over its service port using serial line internet protocol (SLIP), remotely over an external modem connection to the service port, or through a LAN emulation client or classical IP interface running over an ATM adapter. d. 60
Specifications Connections: ATM multimode or single mode SC connector, PCMCIA drive Width: Depth: Height: Weight: 17.3 inches, 440 mm 16 inches, 406 mm 1.7 inches, 43.7 mm 14.7 lb., 6.7 kg Operating temperature: 50 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, 10 to 40 degrees Celsius Relative humidity: 8 to 80% Electrical power: 0.107 kilovoltamperes Noise level: 44 db Safety certifications: EN60950, UL 1950, CSA 950 Electromagnetic compliance certification FCC Class A (USA), VCCI Class1 (Japan), ICES-003 Class A (Canada), European Community Mark of conformity (CE-Mark), EN55022 Class A (CISPR-22B) ATM support for bridging, routing, and LANE based on ATM Forum LANE 1.0, UNI 3.0 and 3.1, ITU-T Q.2110, ITU-T Q.2130, ITU- T 2931, ITU-To I.363 AAL Type 5 common part protocol, ATM Forum LAN Emulation Server (LES) 1.0 Standards support RFC 768, RFC 791, RFC 792, RFC 793, RFC 826, RFC 894, RFC 919, RFC 922, RFC 925, RFC 950, RFC 951, RFC 1009, RFC 1027, RFC 1042, RFC 1058, RFC 1112, RFC 1122, RFC 1155, RFC 1156, RFC 1157, RFC 1191, RFC 12133, RFC 1253, RFC 1256, RFC 1293, RFC 1483, RFC 1493, RFC 1519, RFC 1525, RFC 1541, RFC 1542, RFC 1573, RFC 1577, RFC 1583, RFC 1584, RFC 1626, RFC 1654, RFC 1657, RFC 1695, RFC 1716, RFC 1745, RFC 1755, RFC 1812 Bridging support based on ISO 10038-ANSI/IEEE Std 802.1D: Media access control bridges IPX routing based on IPX router specification, version 1.20- Novell Corporation, Novell IPX and RIP/SAP MIBs d. 61