Operation, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning (OAM&P) is a group of management functions that provide system or network fault indication, performance monitoring, security management, diagnostic functions, configuration and user provisioning. It is a popular framework among service providers for their network management systems, typically called OSS (Operations Support System) and BSS (Business Support System). The two systems together are often abbreviated BSS/OSS or simply B/OSS.
A brief summary of the OAM&P functions are listed below:
- Operations: coordinates actions between administration, maintenance, and provisioning.
- Administration: designing the network, processing orders, assigning addresses, tracking usage, and accounting.
- Maintenance: diagnose and repair things which do not work as planned.
- Provisioning: installing equipment, setting parameters, verifying that the service is operational, updating, and de-installation.
Some systems require only Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OA&M) functions without extensive provisioning features. So the term OA&M is also popularly used for the management systems.
The standard OAM&P architecture definitions were done by the ITU-T in its TMN (Telecommunication Management Network) model, which established a 4-layer model of TMN applicable within an OAM&P system:
- Business Management Level (BML)
- Service Management Level (SML)
- Network Management Level (NML)
- Element Management Level (EML)
A more popular model to describe the management functions is called FCAPS: Fault, Configuration, accounting, performance and security management. FCAPS is defined by ISO.
OAM&P: Operation, Administration, Maintenance and Provisioning
Related protocols: OAM&P, OA&M, Operation Support System, OSS, BSS, FCAPS, TMN, fault management, security management, configuration management, performance management, accounting management, network management
Reference Links:
http://www.itu.int: Specification documents for TMN and FCAPS (M.3000, M.3100, M.3200, M.3400)
http://www.tmforum.org: Specification documents for TOM and eTOM