GSMP, General Switch Management Protocol

Protocol suite:	ATM, TCP/IP.
Protocol type:	ATM switch control protocol.
Ethertype:	0x880C.
Ports:	6068 (TCP).
SNMP MIBs:	iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib-2.gsmpMIB (1.3.6.1.2.1.98)
Working groups:	gsmp, General Switch Management Protocol.

GSMP is a general purpose protocol designed to control a label switch. This protocol allows a controller to:

Establish and release connections across the switch.
Add and delete leaves on a multicast connection.
Manage switch ports.
Request configuration information.
Request and delete reservation of switch resources.
Request statistics.

It also allows the switch to inform the controller of asynchronous events such as a link going down. The protocol is asymmetric, the controller being the master and the switch being the slave. Multiple switches may be controlled by a single controller using multiple instantiations of the protocol over separate control connections. A switch may be controlled by more than one controller by using the technique of partitioning.

ATM

LLC

SNAP

GSMP message

Pad

AAL-5 CPCS-PDU Trailer

Ethernet

MAC header

IP header

TCP header

GSMP message

GSMP message:

00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Version								Type								Result								Code
Data :::

Version. 8 bits.
Protocol version number.

Type. 8 bits.
GSMP message type. GSMP messages fall into five classes: Connection Management, Port Management, Statistics, Configuration, and Events. Each class, except for port management, has a number of different message types. In addition, one Type is allocated to the adjacency protocol.

Result. 8 bits.
In a connection management request message or a port management request message, this field is used to indicate whether a response is required to the request message if the outcome is successful.

Result	Description
1	NoSuccessAck.The request message does not expect a response if the outcome is successful.
2	AckAll.A response is expected if the outcome is successful.
3	Success.
4	Failure.

Code. 8 bits.
Provides additional information about the result in a response message. It is mostly used to pass an error code in a failure response but can also be used to give further information in a success response message or an event message. In a request message the code field is not used and is set to zero. In an adjacency protocol message the Code field is used to determine the function of the message.

Data. Variable length.

Glossary:

RFCs:

[RFC 1987] Ipsilon's General Switch Management Protocol Specification Version 1.1.

Updated by: RFC 2297.

[RFC 2297] Ipsilon's General Switch Management Protocol Specification Version 2.0.

Updates: RFC 1987.

[RFC 3292] General Switch Management Protocol (GSMP) V3.

[RFC 3293] General Switch Management Protocol (GSMP) Packet Encapsulations for Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Ethernet and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

[RFC 3294] General Switch Management Protocol (GSMP) Applicability.

[RFC 3295] Definitions of Managed Objects for the General Switch Management Protocol (GSMP).

[RFC 3604] Requirements for Adding Optical Support to the General Switch Management Protocol version 3 (GSMPv3).

Publications:

Obsolete RFCs: