Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for facilitating the implementation of an operations, administration, and management (OAM) protocol in a network overlay environment. In particular, aspects of the technology facilitating the transport of OAM communications across overlay environments of different types. Aspects of the technology can include steps for receiving a packet comprising an OAM payload, and encapsulating the packet with an OAM transport header, wherein the transport header is configured to be read by transit nodes of different overlay types.