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PIM Message Type Space Extension and Reserved Bits
RFC 9436

Document Type RFC - Proposed Standard (August 2023)
Obsoletes RFC 8736
Authors Stig Venaas , Alvaro Retana
Last updated 2023-08-31
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
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IESG Responsible AD Jim Guichard
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RFC 9436


Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                         S. Venaas
Request for Comments: 9436                           Cisco Systems, Inc.
Obsoletes: 8736                                                A. Retana
Updates: 3973, 5015, 5059, 6754, 7761,      Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
         8364                                                August 2023
Category: Standards Track                                               
ISSN: 2070-1721

           PIM Message Type Space Extension and Reserved Bits

Abstract

   The PIM version 2 messages share a common message header format.  The
   common header definition contains eight reserved bits.  This document
   specifies how these bits may be used by individual message types and
   extends the PIM type space.

   This document updates RFCs 7761 and 3973 by defining the use of the
   Reserved field in the PIM common header.  This document further
   updates RFCs 7761 and 3973, along with RFCs 5015, 5059, 6754, and
   8364, by specifying the use of the bits for each PIM message.

   This document obsoletes RFC 8736.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9436.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2023 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
   (https://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 Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the
   Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described
   in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction
   2.  Conventions Used in This Document
   3.  PIM Header Common Format
   4.  Flag Bit Definitions
     4.1.  Flag Bits for Type 4 (Bootstrap)
     4.2.  Flag Bits for Type 10 (DF Election)
     4.3.  Flag Bits for Type 12 (PIM Flooding Mechanism)
     4.4.  Flag Bits for Types 13, 14, and 15 (Type Space Extension)
   5.  PIM Type Space Extension
   6.  Security Considerations
   7.  IANA Considerations
   8.  References
     8.1.  Normative References
     8.2.  Informative References
   Authors' Addresses

1.  Introduction

   The PIM version 2 messages share a common message header format
   defined in the PIM Sparse Mode specification [RFC7761].  The common
   header definition contains eight reserved bits.  While all message
   types use this common header, there is no document formally
   specifying that these bits are to be used per message type.

   This document updates the definition of the Reserved field and refers
   to it as the "Flag Bits field".  It specifies that the flag bits are
   to be separately used on a per-message-type basis.  It updates the
   "PIM Message Types" registry to indicate the per-message-type usage.

   This document updates [RFC7761] and [RFC3973] by defining the use of
   the Reserved field in the PIM common header.  This document further
   updates [RFC7761] and [RFC3973], along with [RFC5015], [RFC5059],
   [RFC6754], and [RFC8364], by specifying the use of the bits for each
   PIM message.

   The originally defined PIM message types were in the range from 0 to
   15.  Message type 15 had been reserved by [RFC6166] for type space
   extension.  In Section 5, this document specifies the use of the Flag
   Bits field for message types 13, 14, and 15 in order to extend the
   PIM type space.  The type space extension in [RFC6166] was made
   obsolete by [RFC8736].  This document obsoletes [RFC8736].

2.  Conventions Used in This Document

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

3.  PIM Header Common Format

   The common PIM header is defined in Section 4.9 of [RFC7761].  This
   document updates the definition of the Reserved field and refers to
   it as the "Flag Bits field".  The updated common header format is as
   below.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |PIM Ver| Type  |   Flag Bits   |           Checksum            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 1: Updated Common Header

   The Flag Bits field is defined in Section 4.  All other fields remain
   unchanged.

4.  Flag Bit Definitions

   Unless otherwise specified, all the flag bits for each PIM type are
   Unassigned [RFC8126].  They MUST be set to zero on transmission, and
   they MUST be ignored upon receipt.  The specification of a new PIM
   type MUST indicate whether the bits should be treated differently.

   When defining flag bits, it is helpful to have a well-defined way of
   referring to a particular bit.  The most significant of the flag
   bits, the bit immediately following the Type field, is referred to as
   bit 7.  The least significant, the bit right in front of the Checksum
   field, is referred to as bit 0.  This is shown in the diagram below.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |PIM Ver| Type  |7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0|           Checksum            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                            Figure 2: Flag Bits

4.1.  Flag Bits for Type 4 (Bootstrap)

   PIM message type 4 (Bootstrap) [RFC5059] defines flag bit 7 as No-
   Forward.  The usage of the bit is defined in that document.  The
   remaining flag bits are unassigned.

4.2.  Flag Bits for Type 10 (DF Election)

   PIM message type 10 (DF Election) [RFC5015] specifies that the four
   most significant flag bits (bits 4-7) are to be used as a subtype.
   The usage of those bits is defined in that document.  The remaining
   flag bits are unassigned.

4.3.  Flag Bits for Type 12 (PIM Flooding Mechanism)

   PIM message type 12 (PIM Flooding Mechanism) [RFC8364] defines flag
   bit 7 as No-Forward.  The usage of the bit is defined in that
   document.  The remaining flag bits are unassigned.

4.4.  Flag Bits for Types 13, 14, and 15 (Type Space Extension)

   These types and the corresponding flag bits are defined in Section 5.

5.  PIM Type Space Extension

   This document extends types 13, 14, and 15 such that each becomes 16
   new types, resulting in 48 types available for future PIM extensions.
   This extension is achieved by defining a Subtype field (see Figure 3)
   using the four most significant flag bits (bits 4-7).  The notation
   type.subtype is used to reference the new extended types.  The
   remaining four flag bits (bits 0-3, abbreviated as FB below) are to
   be defined by each extended type.

   Each of the extended types is represented by the eight bits resulting
   from the concatenation of the Type and Subtype fields.  No
   relationship is expected or implied between extended type messages
   with a common Type field.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |PIM Ver| Type  |Subtype|  FB   |           Checksum            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                             Figure 3: Subtypes

6.  Security Considerations

   This document clarifies the use of the flag bits in the common PIM
   header, and it extends the PIM type space.  As such, there is no
   impact on security or changes to the considerations in [RFC7761] and
   [RFC3973].

7.  IANA Considerations

   This document updates the "PIM Message Types" registry to indicate
   which flag bits are defined for use by each of the PIM message types
   and changes their registration status to Unassigned except where the
   bits have already been specified, as shown in Table 1.  The
   registration policy remains IETF Review [RFC8126].  Assignments to
   this registry MUST define any non-default usage (see Section 4) of
   the flag bits in addition to the type.

   Extended type 15.15 is Reserved [RFC8126] for future extensions.

   Because this document obsoletes [RFC8736], IANA has changed the
   references to [RFC8736] in the registry to point to this document
   instead.

   The updated "PIM Message Types" registry is shown below.

       +============+===============+=================+===========+
       | Type       | Name          | Flag Bits       | Reference |
       +============+===============+=================+===========+
       | 0          | Hello         | 0-7: Unassigned | [RFC3973] |
       |            |               |                 | [RFC7761] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 1          | Register      | 0-7: Unassigned | [RFC7761] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 2          | Register Stop | 0-7: Unassigned | [RFC7761] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 3          | Join/Prune    | 0-7: Unassigned | [RFC3973] |
       |            |               |                 | [RFC7761] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 4          | Bootstrap     | 0-6: Unassigned | [RFC5059] |
       |            |               |                 | [RFC7761] |
       |            |               +-----------------+-----------+
       |            |               | 7: No-Forward   | [RFC5059] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 5          | Assert        | 0-7: Unassigned | [RFC3973] |
       |            |               |                 | [RFC7761] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 6          | Graft         | 0-7: Unassigned | [RFC3973] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 7          | Graft-Ack     | 0-7: Unassigned | [RFC3973] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 8          | Candidate RP  | 0-7: Unassigned | [RFC7761] |
       |            | Advertisement |                 |           |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 9          | State Refresh | 0-7: Unassigned | [RFC3973] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 10         | DF Election   | 0-3: Unassigned | [RFC5015] |
       |            |               +-----------------+-----------+
       |            |               | 4-7: Subtype    | [RFC5015] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 11         | ECMP Redirect | 0-7: Unassigned | [RFC6754] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 12         | PIM Flooding  | 0-6: Unassigned | [RFC8364] |
       |            | Mechanism     +-----------------+-----------+
       |            |               | 7: No-Forward   | [RFC8364] |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 13.0-15.14 | Unassigned    | 0-3: Unassigned |           |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+
       | 15.15      | Reserved      | 0-3: Reserved   | RFC 9436  |
       +------------+---------------+-----------------+-----------+

               Table 1: Updated PIM Message Types Registry

   The unassigned types above, as explained in Section 5, use the
   extended type notation of type.subtype.  Each extended type only has
   4 flag bits available.  New extended message types should be assigned
   consecutively, starting with 13.0, then 13.1, etc.

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,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC7761]  Fenner, B., Handley, M., Holbrook, H., Kouvelas, I.,
              Parekh, R., Zhang, Z., and L. Zheng, "Protocol Independent
              Multicast - Sparse Mode (PIM-SM): Protocol Specification
              (Revised)", STD 83, RFC 7761, DOI 10.17487/RFC7761, March
              2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7761>.

   [RFC8126]  Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

8.2.  Informative References

   [RFC3973]  Adams, A., Nicholas, J., and W. Siadak, "Protocol
              Independent Multicast - Dense Mode (PIM-DM): Protocol
              Specification (Revised)", RFC 3973, DOI 10.17487/RFC3973,
              January 2005, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3973>.

   [RFC5015]  Handley, M., Kouvelas, I., Speakman, T., and L. Vicisano,
              "Bidirectional Protocol Independent Multicast (BIDIR-
              PIM)", RFC 5015, DOI 10.17487/RFC5015, October 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5015>.

   [RFC5059]  Bhaskar, N., Gall, A., Lingard, J., and S. Venaas,
              "Bootstrap Router (BSR) Mechanism for Protocol Independent
              Multicast (PIM)", RFC 5059, DOI 10.17487/RFC5059, January
              2008, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5059>.

   [RFC6166]  Venaas, S., "A Registry for PIM Message Types", RFC 6166,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6166, April 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6166>.

   [RFC6754]  Cai, Y., Wei, L., Ou, H., Arya, V., and S. Jethwani,
              "Protocol Independent Multicast Equal-Cost Multipath
              (ECMP) Redirect", RFC 6754, DOI 10.17487/RFC6754, October
              2012, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6754>.

   [RFC8364]  Wijnands, IJ., Venaas, S., Brig, M., and A. Jonasson, "PIM
              Flooding Mechanism (PFM) and Source Discovery (SD)",
              RFC 8364, DOI 10.17487/RFC8364, March 2018,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8364>.

   [RFC8736]  Venaas, S. and A. Retana, "PIM Message Type Space
              Extension and Reserved Bits", RFC 8736,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8736, February 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8736>.

Authors' Addresses

   Stig Venaas
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   Tasman Drive
   San Jose, CA 95134
   United States of America
   Email: stig@cisco.com

   Alvaro Retana
   Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
   2330 Central Expressway
   Santa Clara, CA 95050
   United States of America
   Email: alvaro.retana@futurewei.com