The Broadband Forum will develop a new specification for ONU authentication in virtualized services.
Conventionally, ONU authentication is carried out solely by the operator’s Optical Line Terminals (OLTs), however, as more network functions become disaggregated from physical equipment, it can also be carried out by functions on the network management plane.
ONU authentication also determines whether the ONU is managed by an ONU Management Control Interface (OMCI) function embedded in the OLT (eOMCI) or virtualized in the Management Plane (vOMCI). But if both the OLT and Management Plane engage management with the same ONU, it can have unpredictable results.
TR-489 defines the global architecture and requirements and identifies the interfaces (including YANG modules) necessary to perform ONU authentication including the selection of whether the OMCI function is performed by the OLT or by a management entity in the operator’s network. Whichever is selected controls, configures, and monitors the ONU to identify potential faults, collect and analyze performance data, and encrypt data.
A variety of credentials and procedures can be used to authenticate an ONU, including matching serial number, registration ID or LOID. Which ONU authentication procedure that needs to be considered depends on operational procedures at the discretion of the operator.
“If the authentication process – and which part of the network is responsible for it – is not defined, it can result in inconsistent or even faulty network behavior,” said Ken Ko, Managing Director at Broadband Forum. “TR-489 will benefit all Broadband Forum Work Areas concerned with ONU authentication and management selection and continue to help the industry transition to open, virtualized networks.”
