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Extensions to BGP-Signaled Pseudowires to Support Flow-Aware Transport Labels
draft-ietf-bess-fat-pw-bgp-04

The information below is for an old version of the document that is already published as an RFC.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 8395.
Authors Keyur Patel , Sami Boutros , Jose Liste , Bin Wen , Jorge Rabadan
Last updated 2018-06-26 (Latest revision 2018-03-02)
Replaces draft-keyupate-bess-fat-pw-bgp
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Intended RFC status Proposed Standard
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Stream WG state Submitted to IESG for Publication
Document shepherd Martin Vigoureux
Shepherd write-up Show Last changed 2017-08-24
IESG IESG state Became RFC 8395 (Proposed Standard)
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Consensus boilerplate Yes
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD Alvaro Retana
Send notices to aretana.ietf@gmail.com
IANA IANA review state IANA OK - Actions Needed
IANA action state RFC-Ed-Ack
draft-ietf-bess-fat-pw-bgp-04
INTERNET-DRAFT                                                  K. Patel
Intended Status: Standard Track                                   Arrcus
Updates: 4761                                                 S. Boutros
                                                                  VMware
                                                                J. Liste
                                                                   Cisco
                                                                  B. Wen
                                                                 Comcast
                                                              J. Rabadan
                                                                   Nokia

Expires: September 3, 2018                                 March 2, 2018

 Extensions to BGP Signaled Pseudowires to support Flow-Aware Transport
                                 Labels
                   draft-ietf-bess-fat-pw-bgp-04

Abstract

   This draft defines protocol extensions required to synchronize flow
   label states among Provider Edges PE(s) when using the BGP-based
   signaling procedures. These protocol extensions are equally
   applicable to point-to-point Layer2 Virtual Private Networks
   (L2VPNs). This draft updates RFC 4761 by defining new flags in the
   Control Flags field of the Layer2 Info Extended Community.

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
   other groups may also distribute working documents as
   Internet-Drafts.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/1id-abstracts.html

   The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html
 

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Copyright and License Notice

   Copyright (c) 2018 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors. All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document. Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.1  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2. Modifications to Layer2 Info Extended Community . . . . . . . .  5
   3.  Signaling the Presence of the Flow Label . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   4 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   5 Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   6.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   7.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   8.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     8.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     8.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9

 

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1  Introduction

   The mechanism described in [RFC6391] uses an additional label (Flow
   Label) in the MPLS label stack to allow Label Switch Routers to
   balance flows within Pseudowires at a finer granularity than the
   individual Pseudowires across the Equal Cost Multiple Paths (ECMPs)
   that exists within the Packet Switched Network (PSN).

   Furthermore, [RFC6391] defines the LDP protocol extensions required
   to synchronize the flow label states between the ingress and egress
   PEs when using the signaling procedures defined in the [RFC8077].

   A pseudowire (PW) [RFC3985] is transported over one single network
   path, even if Equal Cost Multiple Paths (ECMPs) exist between the
   ingress and egress PW provider edge (PE) equipment. This is required
   to preserve the characteristics of the emulated service.

   This draft introduces an optional mode of operation allowing to
   transport a PW over ECMPs, for example when the use of these is known
   to be beneficial to the operation of the PW.  This specification uses
   the principles defined in [RFC6391], and augments the BGP-signaling
   procedures of [RFC4761] and [RFC6624].  The use of a single path to
   preserve the packet delivery order remains the default mode of
   operation of a PW, and is described in [RFC4385] and [RFC4928].

   High bandwidth Ethernet-based services are a prime example that
   benefits from the ability to load-balance flows in a PW over multiple
   PSN paths. In general, load-balancing is applicable when the PW
   attachment circuit bandwidth and PSN core link bandwidth are of same
   order of magnitude.

   To achieve the load-balancing goal, [RFC6391] introduces the notion
   of an additional Label Stack Entry (LSE) (Flow label) located at the
   bottom of the stack (right after PW LSE).  Label Switching Routers
   (LSRs) commonly generate a hash of the label stack in order to
   discriminate and distribute flows over available ECMPs.  The presence
   of the Flow label (closely associated to a flow determined by the
   ingress PE) will normally provide the greatest entropy.

   Furthermore, following the procedures for Inter-AS scenarios
   described in [RFC4761] section 3.4, the Flow label should never be
   handled by the ASBRs, only the terminating PEs on each AS will be
   responsible for popping or pushing this label.  This is equally
   applicable to Method B [RFC4761] section 3.4.2 where ASBRs are
   responsible for swapping the PW label as traffic traverses from ASBR
   to PE and ASBR to ASBR directions.  Therefore, the Flow label will
   remain untouched across AS boundaries.

 

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1.1  Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

 

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2. Modifications to Layer2 Info Extended Community

   The Layer2 Info Extended Community is used to signal control
   information about the pseudowires to be setup. The extended community
   format is described in [RFC4761]. The format of this extended
   community is described as:

            +------------------------------------+
            | Extended community type (2 octets) |
            +------------------------------------+
            |  Encaps Type (1 octet)             |
            +------------------------------------+
            |  Control Flags (1 octet)           |
            +------------------------------------+
            |  Layer-2 MTU (2 octet)             |
            +------------------------------------+
            |  Reserved (2 octets)               |
            +------------------------------------+

            Figure 1: Layer2 Info Extended Community

   Control Flags:

   This field contains bit flags relating to the control information
   about pseudowires. This field is augmented with a definition of 2 new
   flags field.

             0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |Z|Z|Z|Z|T|R|C|S|      (Z = MUST Be Zero)
            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

            Figure 2: Control Flags Bit Vector

   With reference to the Control Flags Bit Vector, the following bits in
   the Control Flags are defined; the remaining bits, designated Z, MUST
   be set to zero when sending and MUST be ignored when receiving this
   Extended Community.

         T   When the bit value is 1, the PE announce the ability
             to send a Pseudowire packet that includes a flow label.
             When the bit value is 0, the PE is indicating that it will
 

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             not send a Pseudowire packet containing a flow label.

         R   When the bit value is 1, the PE is able to receive a 
             Pseudowire packet with a flow label present. When the bit
             value is 0, the PE is unable to receive a Pseudowire packet
             with the flow label present.

         C   Defined in [RFC4761].

         S   Defined in [RFC4761].

3.  Signaling the Presence of the Flow Label

   As part of the Pseudowire signaling procedures described in
   [RFC4761], a Layer2 Info Extended Community is advertised in the VPLS
   BGP NLRI. 

   A PE that wishes to send a flow label in a Pseudowire packet MUST
   include in its VPLS BGP NLRI a Layer2 Info Extended Community using
   Control Flags field with T = 1.

   A PE that is willing to receive a flow label in a Pseudowire packet
   MUST include in its VPLS BGP NLRI a Layer2 Info Extended Community
   using Control Flags field with R = 1.

   A PE that receives a VPLS BGP NLRI containing a Layer2 Info Extended
   Community with R = 0 MUST NOT include a flow label in the Pseudowire
   packet.

   Therefore, a PE sending a Control Flags field with T = 1 and
   receiving a Control Flags field with R = 1 MUST include a flow label
   in the Pseudowire packet.  Under all other combinations, a PE MUST
   NOT include a flow label in the Pseudowire packet.

   A PE MAY support the configuration of the flow label (T and R bits)
   on a per-service (e.g., VPLS VFI) basis.  Furthermore, it is also
   possible that on a given service, PEs may not share the same flow
   label settings. The presence of a flow label is therefore determined
   on a per-peer basis and according to the local and remote T and R bit
   values.  For example, a PE part of a VPLS and with a local T = 1,
   must only transmit traffic with a flow label to those peers that
   signaled R = 1.  And if the same PE has local R = 1, it must only
   expect to receive traffic with a flow label from peers with T = 1.
   Any other traffic must not have a flow label. A PE expecting to
   receive traffic from a remote peer with a flow label MAY drop traffic
   that has no flow label. A PE expecting to receive traffic from a
   remote peer with no flow label MAY drop traffic that has flow label.
 

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   Modification of flow label settings may impact traffic over a PW as
   these could trigger changes in the PEs data-plane programming (i.e.
   imposition / disposition of flow label).  This is an implementation
   specific behavior and outside the scope of this draft.

   The signaling procedures in [RFC4761] state that the unspecified bits
   in the Control Flags field (bits 0-5) MUST be set to zero when
   sending and MUST be ignored when receiving.  The signaling procedure
   described here is therefore backwards compatible with existing
   implementations.  A PE not supporting the extensions described in
   this draft will always advertise a value of ZERO in the position
   assigned by this draft to the R bit and therefore a flow label will
   never be included in a packet sent to it by one of its peers.
   Similarly, it will always advertise a value of ZERO in the position
   assigned by this draft to the T bit and therefore a peer will know
   that a flow label will never be included in a packet sent by it.

   Note that what is signaled is the desire to include the flow LSE in
   the label stack.  The value of the flow label is a local matter for
   the ingress PE, and the label value itself is not signaled.

4 Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Bertrand Duvivier and John Drake for
   their review and comments.

5 Contributors

   In addition to the authors listed above, the following individuals
   also contributed to this document:

      Eric Lent

      John Brzozowski

      Steven Cotter

6.  IANA Considerations

   Although [RFC4761] defined a Control Flags Bit Vector as part of the
   Layer2 Info Extended Community, it did not ask for the creation of a
   registry.

   This document requests that IANA creates a registry for this bit
   vector and that it be called the "Layer2 Info Extended Community
   Control Flags Bit Vector" registry.

 

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   This registry should be created here:

   https://www.iana.org/assignments/bgp-extended-communities/bgp-
   extended-communities.xhtml.

   Considering [RFC4761] and this document, the initial registry is as
   follows:

      Value   Name                               Reference
      -----   --------------------------------   --------------
       S       Sequenced delivery of frames       RFC4761
       C       Presence of a Control Word         RFC4761
       T       Request to send a flow label       This document
       R       Ability to receive a flow label    This document

   As per [RFC4761] and this document, the remaining bits are
   unassigned, and MUST be set to zero when sending and MUST be ignored
   when receiving the Layer2 Info Extended Community.

7.  Security Considerations

   This extension to BGP does not change the underlying security issues
   inherent in the existing [RFC4271] and [RFC4761].

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
   Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March
   1997, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC4271]  Rekhter, Y., Ed., Li, T., Ed., and S. Hares, Ed., "A
   Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271, DOI 10.17487/RFC4271,
   January 2006, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4271>.

   [RFC4761]  Kompella, K., Ed. and Y. Rekhter, Ed., "Virtual Private
   LAN Service (VPLS) Using BGP for Auto-Discovery and Signaling", RFC
   4761, DOI 10.17487/RFC4761, January 2007, <http://www.rfc-
   editor.org/info/rfc4761>.

   [RFC6391]  Bryant, S., Ed., Filsfils, C., Drafz, U., Kompella, V.,
   Regan, J., and S. Amante, "Flow-Aware Transport of Pseudowires over
   an MPLS Packet Switched Network", RFC 6391, DOI 10.17487/RFC6391,
   November 2011, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6391>.

   [RFC8126] M. Cotton, et al., "Guidelines for Writing an IANA
 

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   Considerations Section in RFCs", RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC6391, June
   2017, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>. 

8.2.  Informative References

   [RFC3985]  Bryant, S., Ed. and P. Pate, Ed., "Pseudo Wire Emulation
   Edge-to-Edge (PWE3) Architecture", RFC 3985, DOI 10.17487/RFC3985,
   March 2005, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3985>.

   [RFC4385]  Bryant, S., Swallow, G., Martini, L., and D. McPherson,
   "Pseudowire Emulation Edge-to-Edge (PWE3) Control Word for Use over
   an MPLS PSN", RFC 4385, DOI 10.17487/RFC4385, February 2006,
   <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4385>.

   [RFC8077]  Martini, L., and G. Heron, "Pseudowire Setup and
   Maintenance Using the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP)", RFC 8077,
   DOI 10.17487/RFC8077, February 2017, <http://www.rfc-
   editor.org/info/rfc8077>.

   [RFC4928]  Swallow, G., Bryant, S., and L. Andersson, "Avoiding Equal
   Cost Multipath Treatment in MPLS Networks", BCP 128, RFC 4928, DOI
   10.17487/RFC4928, June 2007, <http://www.rfc-
   editor.org/info/rfc4928>.

   [RFC6624]  Kompella, K., Kothari, B., and R. Cherukuri, "Layer 2
   Virtual Private Networks Using BGP for Auto-Discovery and Signaling",
   RFC 6624, DOI 10.17487/RFC6624, May 2012, <http://www.rfc-
   editor.org/info/rfc6624>.

Authors' Addresses

   Keyur Patel
   Arrcus
   Email: keyur@arrcus.com

   Sami Boutros
   VMware 
   Email: sboutros@vmware.com

   Jose Liste
   Cisco
   Email: jliste@cisco.com

   Bin Wen
   Comcast
 

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   Email: bin_wen@cable.comcast.com

   Jorge Rabadan
   Nokia
   Email: jorge.rabadan@nokia.com

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