METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING A PROXY CONNECTION ENDPOINT FOR OPERATION ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT (OAM) ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE (ATM) CELLS

摘要

Methods and apparatus are provided for handling asynchronoustransfer mode (ATM) cells sent from first user equipment through aplurality of ATM nodes and destined for second equipment, when thesecond equipment does not support ATM operations and maintenance(OAM) functionality. In particular, an ATM node connected to thesecond equipment is configured as an OAM proxy connection end-pointfor the second equipment such that ATM data cells which aredestined for the second equipment are sent in a usual fashion, butATM OAM cells destined for the second equipment are terminated andacted upon by the ATM node and are not forwarded to the secondequipment. The proxy connection end-point functionality ispreferably obtained by providing a user-friendly managementinformation database (MIB) which stores configuration informationfor the ATM node. The configuration information is used by amanagement processor of the node for deciding when an incoming OAMcell intended for the second equipment is to be terminated by theATM node.