Metro Ethernet

Link Management Protocol

Future networks may consist of optical switches, data switches that are managed by GMPLS. Thousands of fibers may connect a pair of nodes, and hundreds of wavelengths may exist on each fiber. Multiple fibers and wavelengths can be bundled to form TE links. These links need a control channel to manage routing, signaling, and link connectivity and management. LMP is a link-control protocol that runs between neighboring nodes to manage TE links.

LMP was created to address the issues of link provisioning and fault isolation to improve and scale network manageability. With GMPLS, the control channel between two adjacent nodes is no longer required to use the same physical medium as the data channels between those nodes. A ...