4 BC between 3GPP TS 32-series specifications

32.1543GPPBackward and Forward Compatibility (BFC)Concept and definitionsRelease 17Telecommunication managementTS

4.1 Prerequisite

The words old and new, when qualifying an IRPVersion, refer to a single Interface IRPVersion of the same kind, e.g. Alarm IRP. They also refer to NRM IRPVersion of the same kind, e.g. Core NRM. The ‘new’ refers to a later release compared to the ‘old’.

The words old and new, when qualifying an IRPManager, refer to an entity that is using the old or the new (Interface or NRM) IRPVersion.

The words old and new, when qualifying an IRPAgent, refer to an entity that contains an IRP that is supporting the old or the new (Interface or NRM) IRPVersion.

In majority cases, an IRPAgent instance contains multiple IRPs, each of which is using a particular Interface IRPVersion. In these cases, each Recommendation statement should be repeated to cover all IRPs involved.

The Recommendations do not imply that equipment vendors shall always supply their new IRPAgents in compliance to the solutions satisfying the Recommendations. The Recommendations simply identify the expected behaviours of a new system when it, claiming BC, interacts with an old system. Whether or not an IRPAgent should satisfy the Recommendations is a decision of the equipment vendor/supplier.

The Recommendations do not imply that the next release of 3GPP Interface IRP or NRM IRP specification must be BC (to the older one). Whether or not a new release of an Interface IRP or NRM IRP should be BC to its older version is a decision of the 3GPP specification author, on a case-by-case basis.

4.2 Rules

[REC-1] An old IRPManager inter-operates with an old IRPAgent-A and a new IRPAgent-B.
The interaction shall be successful in that the IRPManager can obtain the network management services (capabilities and features) defined by the old IRPVersion from both IRPAgents.
The IRPManager needs not have knowledge of new network management services defined by the new IRPVersion.

[REC-2] A new IRPManager inter-operates with a new IRPAgent‑A and an old IRPAgent‑B.
The interaction shall be successful in that the IRPManager can obtain the network management services defined by (a) the new IRPVersion from IRPAgent‑A and (b) the old IRPVersion from IRPAgent‑B.

NOTE: If the next minor and/or major release of 3GPP Interface IRP or NRM IRP specification is BC (to the older one), one could reduce or eliminate the difficult coordination task to introduce IRPVersion upgrades in a large management domain containing multiple IRPManagers and IRPAgents.
It can be more cost-effective if IRPVersion upgrades to individual entity (i.e. IRPManager and IRPAgent) are done at different times.