097-58001-02 Revision G – April 2008
TimeProvider User’s Guide
41
Chapter 1 Overview of the TimeProvider
Alarms
Alarms
The TimeProvider uses alarms to notify you when certain conditions are deteriorating
below user-specified levels. These alarms are indicated by shelf and card status
lamps (LEDs) and by TL1 messages reported over the serial/EIA-232 or LAN
communication ports. In addition, the input panel has a connector that provides
contact closures to activate external alarms.
You can provision the alarm level for most alarms to one of the following levels:
non-reportable (NR), non-alarm event (NA), minor (MN), major (MJ), or critical (CR).
Alarms related to the inputs are special cases; you can only provision input alarms
for minor, major, or critical. To help prevent spurious or transient input alarms, a
delay timer (FLTDELAY) allows you to provision a waiting period that starts after the
alarm condition occurs; the alarm is set at the end of the period. A similar timer
(CLRDELAY) clears the alarm after the alarm condition is no longer present.
For more information on connecting alarms, see
Making Alarm Connections
, on
page 70. For information on provisioning alarm levels, see
Provisioning the Alarm
Levels
, on page 126.
Synchronization Status Messages (SSMs)
The TimeProvider supports input and output SSMs. SSMs provide a method for
providing clock quality information to any equipment that uses synchronization
inputs.
Table 1-4
describes the ANSI SSM values and the traceability associated
with each value.
Table 1-5
describes the ITU SSM values and the traceability
associated with each value.
Recommendation:
To prevent Non-Service Affecting LOS
alarms, Symmetricom recommends that you provision unused
inputs to the Disabled state.
Table 1-4. ANSI SSM Quality Level Definitions
Description
Quality Level
Abbreviation
Stratum 1 Traceable
1
PRS
Synchronized – traceability unknown
2
STU | UNK
Stratum 2 traceable
3
ST2 | TYPE II
Transit Node traceable
4
TNC | TYPE V
Stratum 3E traceable
5
ST3E | TYPE III
Stratum 3 traceable
6
ST3 | TYPE IV