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author | Thomas Voss <mail@thomasvoss.com> | 2024-11-27 20:54:24 +0100 |
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committer | Thomas Voss <mail@thomasvoss.com> | 2024-11-27 20:54:24 +0100 |
commit | 4bfd864f10b68b71482b35c818559068ef8d5797 (patch) | |
tree | e3989f47a7994642eb325063d46e8f08ffa681dc /doc/rfc/rfc3277.txt | |
parent | ea76e11061bda059ae9f9ad130a9895cc85607db (diff) |
doc: Add RFC documents
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diff --git a/doc/rfc/rfc3277.txt b/doc/rfc/rfc3277.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..212d6bf --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/rfc/rfc3277.txt @@ -0,0 +1,339 @@ + + + + + + +Network Working Group D. McPherson +Request for Comments: 3277 TCB +Category: Informational April 2002 + + + Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) + Transient Blackhole Avoidance + +Status of this Memo + + This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does + not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this + memo is unlimited. + +Copyright Notice + + Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved. + +Abstract + + This document describes a simple, interoperable mechanism that can be + employed in Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) + networks in order to decrease the data loss associated with + deterministic blackholing of packets during transient network + conditions. The mechanism proposed here requires no IS-IS protocol + changes and is completely interoperable with the existing IS-IS + specification. + +1. Introduction + + When an IS-IS router that was previously a transit router becomes + unavailable as a result of some transient condition such as a reboot, + other routers within the routing domain must select an alternative + path to reach destinations which have previously transited the failed + router. Presumably, the newly selected router(s) comprising the path + have been available for some time and, as a result, have complete + forwarding information bases (FIBs) which contain a full set of + reachability information for both internal and external (e.g., BGP) + destination networks. + + When the previously failed router becomes available again, it is only + seconds before the paths that had previously transited the router are + again selected as the optimal path by the IGP. As a result, + forwarding tables are updated and packets are once again forwarded + along the path. Unfortunately, external destination reachability + information (e.g., learned via BGP) is not yet available to the + router, and as a result, packets bound for destinations not learned + via the IGP are unnecessarily discarded. + + + +McPherson Informational [Page 1] + +RFC 3277 IS-IS Transient Blackhole Avoidance April 2002 + + + A simple interoperable mechanism to alleviate the offshoot associated + with this deterministic behavior is discussed below. + +2. Discussion + + This document describes a simple, interoperable mechanism that can be + employed in IS-IS [1, 2] networks in order to avoid transition to a + newly available path until other associated routing protocols such as + BGP have had sufficient time to converge. + + The benefits of such a mechanism can be realized when considering the + following scenario depicted in Figure 1. + + D.1 + | + +-------+ + | RtrD | + +-------+ + / \ + / \ + +-------+ +-------+ + | RtrB | | RtrC | + +-------+ +-------+ + \ / + \ / + +-------+ + | RtrA | + +-------+ + | + S.1 + + Figure 1: Example Network Topology + + Host S.1 is transmitting data to destination D.1 via a primary path + of RtrA->RtrB->RtrD. Routers A, B and C learn of reachability to + destination D.1 via BGP from RtrD. RtrA's primary path to D.1 is + selected because when calculating the path to BGP NEXT_HOP of RtrD, + the sum of the IS-IS link metrics on the RtrA-RtrB-RtrD path is less + than the sum of the metrics of the RtrA-RtrC-RtrD path. + + Assume RtrB becomes unavailable and as a result the RtrC path to RtrD + is used. Once RtrA's FIB is updated and it begins forwarding packets + to RtrC, everything should behave properly as RtrC has existing + forwarding information regarding destination D.1's availability via + BGP NEXT_HOP RtrD. + + + + + + +McPherson Informational [Page 2] + +RFC 3277 IS-IS Transient Blackhole Avoidance April 2002 + + + Assume now that RtrB comes back online. In only a few seconds, IS-IS + neighbor state has been established with RtrA and RtrD and database + synchronization has occurred. RtrA now realizes that the best path + to destination D.1 is via RtrB, and therefore updates it FIB + appropriately. RtrA begins to forward packets destined to D.1 to + RtrB. Though, because RtrB has yet to establish and synchronize its + BGP neighbor relationship and routing information with RtrD, RtrB has + no knowledge regarding reachability of destination D.1, and therefore + discards the packets received from RtrA destined to D.1. + + If RtrB were to temporarily set its LSP Overload bit while + synchronizing BGP tables with its neighbors, RtrA would continue to + use the working RtrA->RtrC->RtrD path, and the LSP should only be + used to obtain reachability to locally connected networks (rather + than for calculating transit paths through the router, as defined in + [1]). + + However, it should be noted that when RtrB goes away, its LSP is + still present in the IS-IS databases of all other routers in the + routing domain. When RtrB comes back it establishes adjacencies. As + soon as its neighbors have an adjacency with RtrB, they will + advertise their new adjacency in their new LSP. The result is that + all the other routers will receive new LSPs from RtrA and RtrD + containing the RtrB adjacency, even though RtrB is still completing + its synchronization and therefore has not yet sent its new LSP. + + At this time SPF is computed and everyone will include RtrB in their + tree since they will use the old version of RtrB LSP (the new one has + not yet arrived). Once RtrB has finished establishing all its + adjacencies, it will then regenerate its LSP and flood it. Then all + other routers within the domain will finally compute SPF with the + correct information. Only at that time will the Overload bit be + taken into account. + + As such, it is recommended that each time a router establishes an + adjacency, it will update its LSP and flood it immediately, even + before beginning database synchronization. This will allow for the + Overload bit setting to propagate immediately, and remove the + potential for an older version of the reloaded routers LSP to be + used. + + After synchronization of BGP tables with neighboring routers (or + expiry of some other timer or trigger), RtrB would generate a new + LSP, clearing the Overload bit, and RtrA could again begin using the + optimal path via RtrB. + + + + + + +McPherson Informational [Page 3] + +RFC 3277 IS-IS Transient Blackhole Avoidance April 2002 + + + Typically, in service provider networks IBGP connections are done via + peerings with 'loopback' addresses. As such, the newly available + router must advertise its own loopback (or similar) IP address, as + well as associated adjacencies, in order to make the loopbacks + accessible to other routers within the routing domain. It is because + of this that simply flooding an empty LSP is not sufficient. + +3. Deployment Considerations + + Such a mechanism increases overall network availability and allows + network operators to alleviate the deterministic blackholing behavior + introduced in this scenario. Similar mechanisms [3] have been + defined for OSPF, though only after realizing the usefulness obtained + from that of the IS-IS Overload bit technique. + + This mechanism has been deployed in several large IS-IS networks for + a number of years. + + Triggers for setting the Overload bit as described are left to the + implementer. Some potential triggers could perhaps include "N + seconds after booting", or "N number of BGP prefixes in the BGP Loc- + RIB". + + Unlike similar mechanisms employed in [3], if the Overload bit is set + in a router's LSP, NO transit paths are calculated through the + router. As such, if no alternative paths are available to the + destination network, employing such a mechanism may actually have a + negative impact on convergence (i.e., the router maintains the only + available path to reach downstream routers, but the Overload bit + disallows other nodes in the network from calculating paths via the + router, and as such, no feasible path exists to the routers). + + Finally, if all systems within an IS-IS routing domain haven't + implemented the Overload bit correctly, forwarding loops may occur. + +4. Potential Alternatives + + Alternatively, it may be considered more appealing to employ + something more akin to [3] for this purpose. With this model, during + transient conditions a node advertises excessively high link metrics + to serve as an indication, to other nodes in the network that paths + transiting the router are "less desirable" than existing paths. + + The advantage of a metric-based mechanism over the Overload bit + mechanism model proposed here is that transit paths may still be + calculated through the router. Another advantage is that a metric- + based mechanism does not require that all nodes in the IS-IS domain + correctly implement the Overload bit. + + + +McPherson Informational [Page 4] + +RFC 3277 IS-IS Transient Blackhole Avoidance April 2002 + + + However, as currently deployed, IS-IS provides for only 6 bits of + space for link metric allocation, and 10 bits aggregate path metric. + Though extensions proposed in [4] remove this limitation, they have + not yet been widely deployed. As such, there's currently little + flexibility when using link metrics for this purpose. Of course, + both methods proposed in this document are backwards-compatible. + +5. Security Considerations + + The mechanisms specified in this memo introduces no new security + issues to IS-IS. + +6. Acknowledgements + + The author of this document makes no claim to the originality of the + idea. Thanks to Stefano Previdi for valuable feedback on the + mechanism discussed in this document. + +7. References + + [1] ISO, "Intermediate system to Intermediate system routing + information exchange protocol for use in conjunction with the + Protocol for providing the Connectionless-mode Network Service + (ISO 8473)," ISO/IEC 10589:1992. + + [2] Callon, R., "OSI IS-IS for IP and Dual Environment," RFC 1195, + December 1990. + + [3] Retana, A., Nguyen, L., White, R., Zinin, A. and D. McPherson, + "OSPF Stub Router Advertisement", RFC 3137, June 2001. + + [4] Li, T. and H. Smit, "IS-IS extensions for Traffic Engineering", + Work in Progress. + +8. Author's Address + + Danny McPherson + TCB + Phone: 303.470.9257 + EMail: danny@tcb.net + + + + + + + + + + + +McPherson Informational [Page 5] + +RFC 3277 IS-IS Transient Blackhole Avoidance April 2002 + + +9. Full Copyright Statement + + Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved. + + This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to + others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it + or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published + and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any + kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are + included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this + document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing + the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other + Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of + developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for + copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be + followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than + English. + + The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be + revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns. + + This document and the information contained herein is provided on an + "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING + TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING + BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION + HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF + MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Acknowledgement + + Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the + Internet Society. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +McPherson Informational [Page 6] + |