Network Functional Planes

Communication networks are usually modeled the following way:




User Plane
This plane supports the transport function i.e. the forwarding of traffic-units to end-point(s). The User-plane provides transport for the Control and Management planes.

Control Plane
This plane supports the control of the User-Plane with regards to the following aspects:

• Topology  ( virtual )
  
• Resources ( access etc.)

Of course the control-plane manages the virtual topology of networks unless one includes also "commands to humans to go dig-up streets and change patch-cords" i.e. humans are the only ones who control the fundamental physical topology (e.g. where cables are laid etc.).

Management Plane
This plane supports the management of the User and Control planes. The management functionality includes (see also FCAPS):

• Fault
• Configuration
• Accounting
• Provisioning
• Security

Network Protocol Stack Overview

The following diagram serves as reference.  One communication path is illustrated between the end-point E1 and E2. The communication traffic enters intermediate system A, is physically transmitted over to System B.

Interface "P"

This interface handles the "peer-to-peer" relationship between systems. In a communication system, the high-level semantic for this interface follows:

forward( traffic unit )

Where traffic unit (TU) represents the unit to forward to the end-point(s). On a packet network layer, the usual traffic unit is the packet (of course :-) whilst on an optical network layer the traffic unit will be an octet.

Interface "C"

This interface handles the "client-server" relationship between network protocol layers in a system. In a communication system, the high-level semantic for this interface follows:

forward( traffic unit, destination address, QOS )

The parameter destination address can either be explicit or implicit: this depends on the network layer in question. The parameter QOS (Quality Of Service) too can either be explicit or implicit depending the network layer technology.

Peer-To-Peer relationship

 The peer-to-peer relationship exists between separate (distinct) instantiations belonging to the same network protocol layer e.g. protocol sub-system N of system A and protocol sub-system N of system B. Physical proximity between sub-systems does not change the role of this interface.

Systems exchanging traffic through peer-to-peer relationships do so through a common address space. E.g. Internet Protocol. 

Client-Server relationship

The client-server relationship exists between a pair of network protocol layers. This relationship is characterize by a fundamental premise: the server-side of the relationship does not expose client-specific state i.e. the server must be designed to be "client-agnostic".

The client-side "adapts" the traffic it must send by mapping the desired destination address to the address space semantics of the server-side. The same logic is applied to the QOS parameter.