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diff --git a/doc/rfc/rfc6790.txt b/doc/rfc/rfc6790.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b333bd --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/rfc/rfc6790.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1403 @@ + + + + + + +Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) K. Kompella +Request for Comments: 6790 J. Drake +Updates: 3031, 3107, 3209, 5036 Juniper Networks +Category: Standards Track S. Amante +ISSN: 2070-1721 Level 3 Communications, Inc. + W. Henderickx + Alcatel-Lucent + L. Yong + Huawei USA + November 2012 + + + The Use of Entropy Labels in MPLS Forwarding + +Abstract + + Load balancing is a powerful tool for engineering traffic across a + network. This memo suggests ways of improving load balancing across + MPLS networks using the concept of "entropy labels". It defines the + concept, describes why entropy labels are useful, enumerates + properties of entropy labels that allow maximal benefit, and shows + how they can be signaled and used for various applications. This + document updates RFCs 3031, 3107, 3209, and 5036. + +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 5741. + + Information about the current status of this document, any errata, + and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at + http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6790. + +Copyright Notice + + Copyright (c) 2012 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 + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 1] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + 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. Conventions Used ...........................................4 + 1.2. Motivation .................................................6 + 2. Approaches ......................................................7 + 3. Entropy Labels and Their Structure ..............................8 + 4. Data Plane Processing of Entropy Labels .........................9 + 4.1. Egress LSR .................................................9 + 4.2. Ingress LSR ...............................................10 + 4.3. Transit LSR ...............................................11 + 4.4. Penultimate Hop LSR .......................................12 + 5. Signaling for Entropy Labels ...................................12 + 5.1. LDP Signaling .............................................12 + 5.1.1. Processing the ELC TLV .............................13 + 5.2. BGP Signaling .............................................13 + 5.3. RSVP-TE Signaling .........................................14 + 5.4. Multicast LSPs and Entropy Labels .........................15 + 6. Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) and + Entropy Labels .................................................15 + 7. MPLS-TP and Entropy Labels .....................................16 + 8. Entropy Labels in Various Scenarios ............................16 + 8.1. LDP Tunnel ................................................17 + 8.2. LDP over RSVP-TE ..........................................20 + 8.3. MPLS Applications .........................................20 + 9. Security Considerations ........................................20 + 10. IANA Considerations ...........................................21 + 10.1. Reserved Label for ELI ...................................21 + 10.2. LDP Entropy Label Capability TLV .........................21 + 10.3. BGP Entropy Label Capability Attribute ...................21 + 10.4. RSVP-TE Entropy Label Capability Flag ....................22 + 11. Acknowledgments ...............................................22 + 12. References ....................................................22 + 12.1. Normative References .....................................22 + 12.2. Informative References ...................................23 + Appendix A. Applicability of LDP Entropy Label Capability TLV .....24 + + + + + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 2] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + +1. Introduction + + Load balancing, or multi-pathing, is an attempt to balance traffic + across a network by allowing the traffic to use multiple paths. Load + balancing has several benefits: it eases capacity planning, it can + help absorb traffic surges by spreading them across multiple paths, + and it allows better resilience by offering alternate paths in the + event of a link or node failure. + + As providers scale their networks, they use several techniques to + achieve greater bandwidth between nodes. Two widely used techniques + are: Link Aggregation Group (LAG) and Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP). + LAG is used to bond together several physical circuits between two + adjacent nodes so they appear to higher-layer protocols as a single, + higher-bandwidth "virtual" pipe. ECMP is used between two nodes + separated by one or more hops, to allow load balancing over several + shortest paths in the network. This is typically obtained by + arranging IGP metrics such that there are several equal cost paths + between source-destination pairs. Both of these techniques may, and + often do, coexist in differing parts of a given provider's network, + depending on various choices made by the provider. + + A very important requirement when load balancing is that packets + belonging to a given "flow" must be mapped to the same path, i.e., + the same exact sequence of links across the network. This is to + avoid jitter, latency, and reordering issues for the flow. What + constitutes a flow varies considerably. A common example of a flow + is a TCP session. Other examples are a Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol + (L2TP) session corresponding to a given broadband user or traffic + within an ATM virtual circuit. + + To meet this requirement, a node uses certain fields, termed "keys", + within a packet's header as input to a load-balancing function + (typically a hash function) that selects the path for all packets in + a given flow. The keys chosen for the load-balancing function depend + on the packet type; a typical set (for IP packets) is the IP source + and destination addresses, the protocol type, and (for TCP and UDP + traffic) the source and destination port numbers. An overly + conservative choice of fields may lead to many flows mapping to the + same hash value (and consequently poorer load balancing); an overly + aggressive choice may map a flow to multiple values, potentially + violating the above requirement. + + For MPLS networks, most of the same principles (and benefits) apply. + However, finding useful keys in a packet for the purpose of load + balancing can be more of a challenge. In many cases, MPLS + encapsulation may require fairly deep inspection of packets to find + these keys at transit Label Switching Routers (LSRs). + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 3] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + One way to eliminate the need for this deep inspection is to have the + ingress LSR of an MPLS Label Switched Path extract the appropriate + keys from a given packet, input them to its load-balancing function, + and place the result in an additional label, termed the "entropy + label", as part of the MPLS label stack it pushes onto that packet. + + The entire label stack of the MPLS packet can then be used by transit + LSRs to perform load balancing, as the entropy label introduces the + right level of "entropy" into the label stack. + + There are five key reasons why this is beneficial: + + 1. At the ingress LSR, MPLS encapsulation hasn't yet occurred, so + deep inspection is not necessary. + + 2. The ingress LSR has more context and information about incoming + packets than transit LSRs. + + 3. Ingress LSRs usually operate at lower bandwidths than transit + LSRs, allowing them to do more work per packet. + + 4. Transit LSRs do not need to perform deep packet inspection and + can load balance effectively using only a packet's MPLS label + stack. + + 5. Transit LSRs, not having the full context that an ingress LSR + does, have the hard choice between potentially misinterpreting + fields in a packet as valid keys for load balancing (causing + packet-ordering problems) or adopting a conservative approach + (giving rise to sub-optimal load balancing). Entropy labels + relieve them of making this choice. + + This memo describes why entropy labels are needed and defines the + properties of entropy labels, in particular, how they are generated + and received and the expected behavior of transit LSRs. Finally, it + describes in general how signaling works and what needs to be + signaled as well as specifics for the signaling of entropy labels for + LDP [RFC5036], BGP [RFC4271], and RSVP - Traffic Engineering + (RSVP-TE) [RFC3209]. + +1.1. Conventions Used + + 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 [RFC2119]. + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 4] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + The following acronyms/initialisms are used: + + BoS: Bottom of Stack + + CE: Customer Edge + + ECMP: Equal Cost Multi-Path + + EL: Entropy Label + + ELC: Entropy Label Capability + + ELI: Entropy Label Indicator + + FEC: Forwarding Equivalence Class + + LAG: Link Aggregation Group + + LER: Label Edge Router + + LSP: Label Switched Path + + LSR: Label Switching Router + + PE: Provider Edge + + PW: Pseudowire + + PHP: Penultimate Hop Popping + + TC: Traffic Class + + TTL: Time to Live + + UHP: Ultimate Hop Popping + + VPLS: Virtual Private LAN (Local Area Network) Service + + VPN: Virtual Private Network + + The term "ingress LSR" (or "egress LSR") is used interchangeably with + "ingress LER" (or "egress LER"). The term "application" throughout + the text refers to an MPLS application (such as a VPN or VPLS). + + A label stack (say of three labels) is denoted by <L1, L2, L3>, where + L1 is the "outermost" label and L3 the "innermost" (closest to the + payload). Packet flows are depicted left to right, and signaling is + shown right to left (unless otherwise indicated). + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 5] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + The term "label" is used both for the entire 32-bit label stack entry + and the 20-bit label field within a label stack entry. It should be + clear from the context which is meant. + +1.2. Motivation + + MPLS is a very successful generic forwarding substrate that + transports several dozen types of protocols, most notably: IP, PWs, + VPLS, and IP VPNs. Within each type of protocol, there typically + exist several variants, each with a different set of load-balancing + keys, e.g., IPv4, IPv6, IPv6 in IPv4, etc. for IP and Ethernet; ATM, + Frame-Relay, etc. for PWs. There are also several different types of + Ethernet over PW encapsulation, ATM over PW encapsulation, etc. + Finally, given the popularity of MPLS, it is likely that it will + continue to be extended to transport new protocols. + + Currently, each transit LSR along the path of a given LSP has to try + to infer the underlying protocol within an MPLS packet in order to + extract appropriate keys for load balancing. Unfortunately, if the + transit LSR is unable to infer the MPLS packet's protocol (as is + often the case), it will typically use the topmost (or all) MPLS + labels in the label stack as keys for the load-balancing function. + The result may be an extremely inequitable distribution of traffic + across equal cost paths exiting that LSR. This is because MPLS + labels are generally fairly coarse-grained forwarding labels that + typically describe a next hop, or provide some demultiplexing and/or + forwarding function, and do not describe the packet's underlying + protocol. + + On the other hand, an ingress LSR (e.g., a PE router) has detailed + knowledge of a packet's contents, typically through a priori + configuration of the encapsulations that are expected at a given + PE-CE interface, (e.g., IPv4, IPv6, VPLS, etc.). They may also have + more flexible forwarding hardware, depending on implementation + details. PE routers need this information and these capabilities to: + + a. apply the required services for the CE; + + b. discern the packet's Class of Service (CoS) forwarding treatment; + + c. apply filters to forward or block traffic to/from the CE; + + d. forward routing/control traffic to an onboard management + processor; and, + + e. load balance the traffic on its uplinks to transit LSRs (e.g., P + routers). + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 6] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + By knowing the expected encapsulation types, an ingress LSR router + can apply a more specific set of payload parsing routines to extract + the keys appropriate for a given protocol. This allows for + significantly improved accuracy in determining the appropriate load- + balancing behavior for each protocol. + + If the ingress LSR were to capture the flow information so gathered + in a convenient form for downstream transit LSRs, transit LSRs could + remain completely oblivious to the contents of each MPLS packet and + use only the captured flow information to perform load balancing. In + particular, there will be no reason to duplicate an ingress LSR's + complex packet/payload parsing functionality in a transit LSR. This + will result in less complex transit LSRs, enabling them to more + easily scale to higher forwarding rates, larger port density, lower + power consumption, etc. The idea in this memo is to capture this + flow information as a label, the so-called "entropy label". + + Ingress LSRs can also adapt more readily to new protocols and extract + the appropriate keys to use for load-balancing packets of those + protocols. This means that deploying new protocols or services in + edge devices requires fewer concomitant changes in the core, + resulting in higher edge-service velocity and, at the same time, more + stable core networks. + +2. Approaches + + There are two main approaches to encoding load-balancing information + in the label stack. The first allocates multiple labels for a + particular Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC). These labels are + equivalent in terms of forwarding semantics, but having multiple + labels allows flexibility in assigning labels to flows belonging to + the same FEC. This approach has the advantage that the label stack + has the same depth whether or not one uses label-based load + balancing; consequently, there is no change to forwarding operations + on transit and egress LSRs. However, it has a major drawback in that + there is a significant increase in both signaling and forwarding + state. + + The other approach encodes the load-balancing information as an + additional label in the label stack, thus increasing the depth of the + label stack by one. With this approach, there is minimal change to + signaling state for a FEC; also, there is no change in forwarding + operations in transit LSRs and no increase of forwarding state in any + LSR. The only purpose of the additional label is to increase the + entropy in the label stack, so this is called an "entropy label". + This memo focuses solely on this approach. + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 7] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + This latter approach uses upstream-generated entropy labels, which + may conflict with downstream-allocated application labels. There are + a few approaches to deal with this: 1) allocate a pair of labels for + each FEC, one that must have an entropy label below it and one that + must not; 2) use a label (the "Entropy Label Indicator") to indicate + that the next label is an entropy label; and 3) allow entropy labels + only where there is no possible confusion. The first doubles control + and data plane state in the network; the last is too restrictive. + The approach taken here is the second. In making both the above + choices, the trade-off is to increase label stack depth rather than + control and data plane state in the network. + + Finally, one may choose to associate ELs with MPLS tunnels (LSPs) or + with MPLS applications (e.g., VPNs). (What this entails is described + in later sections.) We take the former approach, for the following + reasons: + + 1. There are a small number of tunneling protocols for MPLS, but a + large and growing number of applications. Defining ELs on a + tunnel basis means simpler standards, lower development, + interoperability, and testing efforts. + + 2. As a consequence, there will be much less churn in the network as + new applications (services) are defined and deployed. + + 3. Processing application labels in the data plane is more complex + than processing tunnel labels. Thus, it is preferable to burden + the latter rather than the former with EL processing. + + 4. Associating ELs with tunnels makes it simpler to deal with + hierarchy, be it LDP-over-RSVP-TE or Carrier's Carrier VPNs. + Each layer in the hierarchy can choose independently whether or + not they want ELs. + + The cost of this approach is that ELIs will be mandatory; again, the + trade-off is the size of the label stack. To summarize, the net + increase in the label stack to use entropy labels is two: one + reserved label for the ELI and the entropy label itself. + +3. Entropy Labels and Their Structure + + An entropy label (as used here) is a label: + + 1. that is not used for forwarding; + + 2. that is not signaled; and + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 8] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + 3. whose only purpose in the label stack is to provide "entropy" to + improve load balancing. + + Entropy labels are generated by an ingress LSR, based entirely on + load-balancing information. However, they MUST NOT have values in + the reserved label space (0-15) [RFC3032]. + + Since entropy labels are generated by an ingress LSR, an egress LSR + MUST be able to distinguish unambiguously between entropy labels and + application labels. To accomplish this, it is REQUIRED that the + label immediately preceding an Entropy Label (EL) in the MPLS label + stack be an Entropy Label Indicator (ELI), where preceding means + closer to the top of the label stack (farther from bottom of stack + indication). The ELI is a reserved label with value 7. How to set + values of the TTL, TC, and "Bottom of Stack" (BoS) fields [RFC3032] + for the ELI and for ELs is discussed in Section 4.2. + + Entropy labels are useful for pseudowires [RFC4447]. [RFC6391] + explains how entropy labels can be used for pseudowires that are of + the RFC 4447 style and is therefore complementary to this memo, which + focuses on how entropy labels can be used for tunnels and thus for + all other MPLS applications. + +4. Data Plane Processing of Entropy Labels + +4.1. Egress LSR + + Suppose egress LSR Y is capable of processing entropy labels for a + tunnel. Y indicates this to all ingresses via signaling (see + Section 5). Y MUST be prepared to deal both with packets with an + imposed EL and those without; the ELI will distinguish these cases. + If a particular ingress chooses not to impose an EL, Y's processing + of the received label stack (which might be empty) is as if Y chose + not to accept ELs. + + If an ingress LSR X chooses to impose an EL, then Y will receive a + tunnel termination packet with label stack <TL, ELI, EL> <remaining + packet header>. Y recognizes TL as the label it distributed to its + upstreams for the tunnel and pops it. (Note that TL may be the + implicit null label, in which case it doesn't appear in the label + stack.) Y then recognizes the ELI and pops two labels: the ELI and + the EL. Y then processes the remaining packet header as normal; this + may require further processing of tunnel termination, perhaps with + further ELI+EL pairs. When processing the final tunnel termination, + Y MAY enqueue the packet based on that tunnel TL's or ELI's TC value + and MAY use the tunnel TL's or ELI's TTL to compute the TTL of the + remaining packet header. The EL's TTL MUST be ignored. + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 9] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + If any ELI processed by Y has the BoS bit set, Y MUST discard the + packet and MAY log an error. The EL's BoS bit will indicate whether + or not there are more labels in the stack. + +4.2. Ingress LSR + + If an egress LSR Y indicates via signaling that it can process ELs on + a particular tunnel, an ingress LSR X can choose whether or not to + insert ELs for packets going into that tunnel. Y MUST handle both + cases. + + The steps that X performs to insert ELs are as follows: + + 1. On an incoming packet, identify the application to which the + packet belongs; based on this, pick appropriate fields as input + to the load-balancing function; apply the load-balancing function + to these input fields and let LB be the output. + + 2. Determine the application label AL (if any). Push <AL> onto the + packet. + + 3. Based on the application, the load-balancing output LB and other + factors, determine the egress LSR Y, the tunnel to Y, the + specific interface to the next hop, and thus the tunnel label TL. + Use LB to generate the entropy label EL. + + 4. If, for the chosen tunnel, Y has not indicated that it can + process ELs, push <TL> onto the packet. If Y has indicated that + it can process ELs for the tunnel, push <TL, ELI, EL> onto the + packet. X SHOULD put the same TTL and TC fields for the ELI as + it does for TL. X MAY choose different values for the TTL and TC + fields if it is known that the ELI will not be exposed as the top + label at any point along the LSP (as may happen in cases where + PHP is used and the ELI and EL are not stripped at the + penultimate hop (see Section 4.4). The BoS bit for the ELI MUST + be zero (i.e., BoS is not set). The TTL for the EL MUST be zero + to ensure that it is not used inadvertently for forwarding. The + TC for the EL may be any value. The BoS bit for the EL depends + on whether or not there are more labels in the label stack. + + 5. X then determines whether further tunnel hierarchy is needed; if + so, X goes back to step 3, possibly with a new egress Y for the + new tunnel. Otherwise, X is done and sends out the packet. + + + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 10] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + Notes: + + a. X computes load-balancing information and generates the EL based + on the incoming application packet, even though the signaling of + EL capability is associated with tunnels. + + b. X MAY insert several entropy labels in the stack (each, of + course, preceded by an ELI), potentially one for each + hierarchical tunnel, provided that the egress for that tunnel has + indicated that it can process ELs for that tunnel. + + c. X MUST NOT include an entropy label for a given tunnel unless the + egress LSR Y has indicated that it can process entropy labels for + that tunnel. + + d. The signaling and use of entropy labels in one direction + (signaling from Y to X and data path from X to Y) is completely + independent of the signaling and use of entropy labels in the + reverse direction (signaling from X to Y and data path from Y to + X). + +4.3. Transit LSR + + Transit LSRs MAY operate with no change in forwarding behavior. The + following are suggestions for optimizations that improve load + balancing, reduce the amount of packet data processed, and/or enhance + backward compatibility. + + If a transit LSR recognizes the ELI, it MAY choose to load balance + solely on the following label (the EL); otherwise, it SHOULD use as + much of the whole label stack as feasible as keys for the load- + balancing function. In any case, reserved labels MUST NOT be used as + keys for the load-balancing function. + + Some transit LSRs look beyond the label stack for better load- + balancing information. This is a simple, backward-compatible + approach in networks where some ingress LSRs impose ELs and others + don't. However, this is of limited incremental value if an EL is + indeed present and requires more packet processing from the LSR. A + transit LSR MAY choose to parse the label stack for the presence of + the ELI and look beyond the label stack only if it does not find it, + thus retaining the old behavior when needed, yet avoiding unnecessary + work if not needed. + + + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 11] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + As stated in Sections 4.1 and 5, an egress LSR that signals both ELC + and implicit null MUST pop the ELI and the next label (which should + be the EL), if it encounters a packet with the ELI as the topmost + label. Any other LSR (including PHP LSRs) MUST drop such packets, as + per Section 3.18 of [RFC3031]. + +4.4. Penultimate Hop LSR + + No change is needed at penultimate hop LSRs. However, a PHP LSR that + recognizes the ELI MAY choose to pop the ELI and following label + (which should be an entropy label) in addition to popping the tunnel + label, provided that doing so doesn't diminish its ability to load + balance on the next hop. + +5. Signaling for Entropy Labels + + An egress LSR Y can signal to ingress LSR(s) its ability to process + entropy labels (henceforth called "Entropy Label Capability" or ELC) + on a given tunnel. In particular, even if Y signals an implicit null + label, indicating that PHP is to be performed, Y MUST be prepared to + pop the ELI and EL. + + Note that Entropy Label Capability may be asymmetric: if LSRs X and Y + are at opposite ends of a tunnel, X may be able to process entropy + labels, whereas Y may not. The signaling extensions below allow for + this asymmetry. + + For an illustration of signaling and forwarding with entropy labels, + see Section 8. + +5.1. LDP Signaling + + A new LDP TLV [RFC5036] is defined to signal an egress's ability to + process entropy labels. This is called the ELC TLV and may appear as + an Optional Parameter of the Label Mapping Message TLV. + + The presence of the ELC TLV in a Label Mapping Message indicates to + ingress LSRs that the egress LSR can process entropy labels for the + associated LDP tunnel. The ELC TLV has Type 0x0206 and Length 0. + + The structure of the ELC TLV is shown below. + + + + + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 12] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + 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 + +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ + |U|F| Type 0x0206 | Length (0) | + +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ + + Figure 1: Entropy Label Capability TLV + + where: + + U: Unknown bit. This bit MUST be set to 1. If the ELC TLV is not + understood by the receiver, then it MUST be ignored. + + F: Forward bit. This bit MUST be set be set to 1. Since the ELC + TLV is going to be propagated hop-by-hop, it should be forwarded + even by nodes that may not understand it. + + Type: Type field (0x0206) + + Length: Length field. This field specifies the total length in + octets of the ELC TLV and is currently defined to be 0. + +5.1.1. Processing the ELC TLV + + An LSR that receives a Label Mapping with the ELC TLV but does not + understand it MUST propagate it intact to its neighbors and MUST NOT + send a notification to the sender (following the meaning of the U- + and F-bits). + + An LSR X may receive multiple Label Mappings for a given FEC F from + its neighbors. In its turn, X may advertise a Label Mapping for F to + its neighbors. If X understands the ELC TLV, and if any of the + advertisements it received for FEC F does not include the ELC TLV, X + MUST NOT include the ELC TLV in its own advertisements of F. If all + the advertised Mappings for F include the ELC TLV, then X MUST + advertise its Mapping for F with the ELC TLV. If any of X's + neighbors resends its Mapping, sends a new Mapping or sends a Label + Withdraw for a previously advertised Mapping for F, X MUST re- + evaluate the status of ELC for FEC F, and, if there is a change, X + MUST re-advertise its Mapping for F with the updated status of ELC. + +5.2. BGP Signaling + + When BGP [RFC4271] is used for distributing Network Layer + Reachability Information (NLRI) as described in, for example, + [RFC3107], the BGP UPDATE message may include the ELC attribute as + part of the Path Attributes. This is an optional, transitive BGP + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 13] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + attribute of value 28. The inclusion of this attribute with an NLRI + indicates that the advertising BGP router can process entropy labels + as an egress LSR for all routes in that NLRI. + + A BGP speaker S that originates an UPDATE should include the ELC + attribute only if both of the following are true: + + A1: S sets the BGP NEXT_HOP attribute to itself AND + + A2: S can process entropy labels. + + Suppose a BGP speaker T receives an UPDATE U with the ELC attribute. + T has two choices. T can simply re-advertise U with the ELC + attribute if either of the following is true: + + B1: T does not change the NEXT_HOP attribute OR + + B2: T simply swaps labels without popping the entire label stack and + processing the payload below. + + An example of the use of B1 is Route Reflectors. + + However, if T changes the NEXT_HOP attribute for U and in the data + plane pops the entire label stack to process the payload, T MAY + include an ELC attribute for UPDATE U' if both of the following are + true: + + C1: T sets the NEXT_HOP attribute of U' to itself AND + + C2: T can process entropy labels. + + Otherwise, T MUST remove the ELC attribute. + +5.3. RSVP-TE Signaling + + Entropy label support is signaled in RSVP-TE [RFC3209] using the + Entropy Label Capability (ELC) flag in the Attribute Flags TLV of the + LSP_ATTRIBUTES object [RFC5420]. The presence of the ELC flag in a + Path message indicates that the ingress can process entropy labels in + the upstream direction; this only makes sense for a bidirectional LSP + and MUST be ignored otherwise. The presence of the ELC flag in a + Resv message indicates that the egress can process entropy labels in + the downstream direction. + + The bit number for the ELC flag is 9. + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 14] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + +5.4. Multicast LSPs and Entropy Labels + + Multicast LSPs [RFC4875] [RFC6388] typically do not use ECMP for load + balancing, as the combination of replication and multi-pathing can + lead to duplicate traffic delivery. However, these LSPs can traverse + bundled links [RFC4201] and LAGs. In both these cases, load + balancing is useful, and hence entropy labels can be of value for + multicast LSPs. + + The methodology defined for entropy labels here will be used for + multicast LSPs; however, the details of signaling and processing ELs + for multicast LSPs will be specified in a future document. + +6. Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) and Entropy Labels + + Generally, OAM comprises a set of functions operating in the data + plane to allow a network operator to monitor its network + infrastructure and to implement mechanisms in order to enhance the + general behavior and the level of performance of its network, e.g., + the efficient and automatic detection, localization, diagnosis, and + handling of defects. + + Currently defined OAM mechanisms for MPLS include LSP ping/traceroute + [RFC4379] and Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) for MPLS + [RFC5884]. The latter provides connectivity verification between the + endpoints of an LSP, and recommends establishing a separate BFD + session for every path between the endpoints. + + The LSP traceroute procedures of [RFC4379] allow an ingress LSR to + obtain label ranges that can be used to send packets on every path to + the egress LSR. It works by having the ingress LSR sequentially ask + the transit LSRs along a particular path to a given egress LSR to + return a label range such that the inclusion of a label in that range + in a packet will cause the replying transit LSR to send that packet + out the egress interface for that path. The ingress provides the + label range returned by transit LSR N to transit LSR N + 1, which + returns a label range that is less than or equal in span to the range + provided to it. This process iterates until the penultimate transit + LSR replies to the ingress LSR with a label range that is acceptable + to it and to all LSRs along path preceding it for forwarding a packet + along the path. + + However, the LSP traceroute procedures do not specify where in the + label stack the value from the label range is to be placed, whether + deep packet inspection is allowed, and if so, which keys and key + values are to be used. + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 15] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + This memo updates LSP traceroute by specifying that the value from + the label range is to be placed in the entropy label. Deep packet + inspection is thus not necessary, although an LSR may use it, + provided it does so consistently, i.e., if the label range to go to a + given downstream LSR is computed with deep packet inspection, then + the data path should use the same approach and the same keys. + + In order to have a BFD session on a given path, a value from the + label range for that path should be used as the EL value for BFD + packets sent on that path. + +7. MPLS-TP and Entropy Labels + + Since the MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) does not use ECMP, entropy + labels are not applicable to an MPLS-TP deployment. + +8. Entropy Labels in Various Scenarios + + This section describes the use of entropy labels in various + scenarios. The material in this section is illustrative and offers + guidance to implementations, but it does not form a normative part of + this specification. + + In the figures below, the following conventions are used to depict + processing between X and Y. Note that control plane signaling goes + right to left, whereas data plane processing goes left to right. + + Protocols + Y: <--- [L, E] Y signals L to X + X ------------- Y + Data Plane: + X-Y: <L, ELI, EL> Label Stack from X -> Y + Label Stack Operations: + X: +<L, ELI, EL> X pushes <L, ELI, EL> + Y: -<L, ELI, EL> Y pops <L, ELI, EL> + + This means that Y signals to X label L for an LDP tunnel. E can be + one of: + + 0: meaning egress is NOT entropy label capable or + + 1: meaning egress is entropy label capable + + The line with LS: shows the label stack on the wire. Below that is + the operation that each LSR does in the data plane, where + means + push the following label stack, - means pop the following label + stack, L~L' means swap L with L'. + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 16] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + +8.1. LDP Tunnel + + The following figures illustrate several simple intra-AS LDP tunnels. + The first diagram shows ultimate hop popping (UHP) with the ingress + inserting an EL, the second UHP with no ELs, the third PHP with ELs, + and finally, PHP with no ELs, but also with an application label AL + (which could, for example, be a VPN label). + + Note that, in all the cases below, the MPLS application does not + matter; it may be that X pushes some more labels (perhaps for a VPN + or VPLS) below the ones shown, and Y pops them. + + A: <--- [TL4, 1] + B: <-- [TL3, 1] + W: <-- [TL2, 1] + Y: <-- [TL0, 1] + X --------------- A --------- B --- W ---------- Y + Data Plane: + X-A: <TL4, ELI, EL> + A-B: <TL3,ELI,EL> + B-W: <TL2,ELI,EL> + W-Y: <TL0,ELI,EL> + Label Stack Operations: + X: +<TL4, ELI, EL> + A: TL4~TL3 + B: TL3~TL2 + W: TL2~TL0 + Y: -<TL0, ELI, EL> + + Figure 2: LDP with UHP; Ingress Inserts ELs + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 17] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + A: <--- [TL4, 1] + B: <-- [TL3, 1] + W: <-- [TL2, 1] + Y: <-- [TL0, 1] + X --------------- A --------- B --- W ---------- Y + Data Plane: + X-A: <TL4> + A-B: <TL3> + B-W: <TL2> + W-Y: <TL0> + Label Stack Operations: + X: +<TL4> + A: TL4~TL3 + B: TL3~TL2 + W: TL2~TL0 + Y: -<TL0> + + Figure 3: LDP with UHP; Ingress Does Not Insert ELs + + Note that in Figure 3, above, the Egress Y is signaling it is EL- + capable, but the Ingress X has chosen not to insert ELs. + + A: <--- [TL4, 1] + B: <-- [TL3, 1] + W: <-- [TL2, 1] + Y: <-- [3, 1] + X --------------- A --------- B --- W ---------- Y + Data Plane: + X-A: <TL4, ELI, EL> + A-B: <TL3,ELI,EL> + B-W: <TL2,ELI,EL> + W-Y: <ELI,EL> + Label Stack Operations: + X: +<TL4, ELI, EL> + A: TL4~TL3 + B: TL3~TL2 + W: -TL2 + Y: -<ELI, EL> + + Figure 4: LDP with PHP; Ingress Inserts ELs + + + + + + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 18] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + A: <--- [TL4, 1] + B: <-- [TL3, 1] + W: <-- [TL2, 1] + Y: <-- [3, 1] + VPN: <------------------------------------------ [AL] + X --------------- A --------- B --- W ---------- Y + Data Plane: + X-A: <TL4, AL> + A-B: <TL3, AL> + B-W: <TL2, AL> + W-Y: <AL> + Label Stack Operations: + X: +<TL4, AL> + A: TL4~TL3 + B: TL3~TL2 + W: -TL2 + Y: -<AL> + + Figure 5: LDP with PHP + VPN; Ingress Does Not Insert ELs + + Note that in Figure 5, above, the Egress Y is signaling it is EL- + capable, but the Ingress X has chosen not to insert ELs. + + A: <--- [TL4, 1] + B: <-- [TL3, 1] + W: <-- [TL2, 1] + Y: <-- [3, 1] + VPN: <--------------------------------------------- [AL] + X --------------- A ------------ B --- W ---------- Y + Data Plane: + X-A: <TL4,ELI,EL,AL> + A-B: <TL3,ELI,EL,AL> + B-W: <TL2,ELI,EL,AL> + W-Y: <ELI,EL,AL> + Label Stack Operations: + X: +<TL4,ELI,EL,AL> + A: TL4~TL3 + B: TL3~TL2 + W: -TL2 + Y: -<ELI,EL,AL> + + Figure 6: LDP with PHP + VPN; Ingress Inserts ELs + + + + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 19] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + +8.2. LDP over RSVP-TE + + Figure 7 illustrates "LDP over RSVP-TE" tunnels. X and Y are the + ingress and egress (respectively) of the LDP tunnel; A and W are the + ingress and egress of the RSVP-TE tunnel. It is assumed that both + the LDP and RSVP-TE tunnels have PHP. + + LDP: <--- [L4, 1] <------- [L3, 1] <--- [3, 1] + RSVP-TE: <-- [Rn, 0] + <-- [3, 0] + X --------------- A --------- B --- W ---------- Y + Data Plane: + X-A: <L4, ELI, EL> + A-B: <Rn,L3,ELI,EL> + B-W: <L3,ELI,EL> + W-Y: <ELI,EL> + Label Stack Operations: + X: +<L4, ELI, EL> + A: <L4~L3>+Rn + B: -Rn + W: -L3 + Y: -<ELI, EL> + + Figure 7: LDP with ELs over RSVP-TE Tunnels without ELs + +8.3. MPLS Applications + + For each unicast tunnel starting at an ingress LSR X, X must remember + whether the egress for that tunnel can process entropy labels. X + does not have to keep state per application running over that tunnel. + However, an ingress PE can choose on a per-application basis whether + or not to insert ELs. For example, X may have an application for + which it does not wish to use ECMP (e.g., circuit emulation) or for + which it does not know which keys to use for load balancing (e.g., + Appletalk over a pseudowire). In either of those cases, X may choose + not to insert entropy labels but may choose to insert entropy labels + for an IP VPN over the same tunnel. + +9. Security Considerations + + This document describes advertisement of the capability to support + receipt of entropy labels that an ingress LSR may insert in MPLS + packets in order to allow transit LSRs to attain better load + balancing across LAG and/or ECMP paths in the network. + + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 20] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + This document does not introduce new security vulnerabilities to LDP, + BGP or RSVP-TE. Please refer to the Security Considerations sections + of these protocols ([RFC5036], [RFC4271], and [RFC3209]) for security + mechanisms applicable to each. + + Given that there is no end-user control over the values used for + entropy labels, there is little risk of entropy label forgery, which + could cause uneven load balancing in the network. Note that if the + EL value is calculated only based on packet headers, then a + relatively efficient wiretapping interface could be added depending + on the function used to generate the EL value. An implementation may + protect against this by adding some other input to the generation of + the EL values that would make it harder to build a table of EL values + to tap given knowledge of the keys from the packet. For example, the + ingress LSR could generate a random input to the EL generation + process. In practice, many ECMP hashing algorithms contain a random + factor in any case so as to avoid polarization issues. + + If Entropy Label Capability is not signaled from an egress PE to an + ingress PE, due to, for example, malicious configuration activity on + the egress PE, then the PE will fall back to not using entropy labels + for load balancing traffic over LAG or ECMP paths, which is, in + general, no worse than the behavior observed in current production + networks. That said, it is recommended that operators monitor + changes to PE configurations and, more importantly, the fairness of + load distribution over LAG or ECMP paths. If the fairness of load + distribution over a set of paths changes that could indicate a + misconfiguration, bug, or other non-optimal behavior on their PEs, + and they should take corrective action. + +10. IANA Considerations + +10.1. Reserved Label for ELI + + IANA has allocated a reserved label for the Entropy Label Indicator + (ELI) from the "Multiprotocol Label Switching Architecture (MPLS) + Label Values" registry. + +10.2. LDP Entropy Label Capability TLV + + IANA has allocated the value of 0x0206 from the IETF Consensus range + (0x0001-0x07FF) in the "TLV Type Name Space" registry as the "Entropy + Label Capability TLV". + +10.3. BGP Entropy Label Capability Attribute + + IANA has allocated the Path Attribute Type Code 28 from the "BGP Path + Attributes" registry as the "BGP Entropy Label Capability Attribute". + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 21] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + +10.4. RSVP-TE Entropy Label Capability Flag + + IANA has allocated a new bit from the "Attribute Flags" sub-registry + of the "Resource Reservation Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) + Parameters" registry. + + + Bit | Name | Attribute | Attribute | RRO + No | | Flags Path | Flags Resv | + ----+--------------------------+------------+------------+----- + 9 Entropy Label Capability Yes Yes No + +11. Acknowledgments + + We wish to thank Ulrich Drafz for his contributions, as well as the + entire "hash label" team for their valuable comments and discussion. + + Sincere thanks to Nischal Sheth for his many suggestions and comments + and for his careful reading of the document, especially with regard + to data plane processing of entropy labels. + + Most of the work Kireeti Kompella did on this document was done while + he was at Juniper Networks. He has since moved to Contrail Systems. + +12. References + +12.1. Normative References + + [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate + Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. + + [RFC3031] Rosen, E., Viswanathan, A., and R. Callon, "Multiprotocol + Label Switching Architecture", RFC 3031, January 2001. + + [RFC3032] Rosen, E., Tappan, D., Fedorkow, G., Rekhter, Y., + Farinacci, D., Li, T., and A. Conta, "MPLS Label Stack + Encoding", RFC 3032, January 2001. + + [RFC3107] Rekhter, Y. and E. Rosen, "Carrying Label Information in + BGP-4", RFC 3107, May 2001. + + [RFC3209] Awduche, D., Berger, L., Gan, D., Li, T., Srinivasan, V., + and G. Swallow, "RSVP-TE: Extensions to RSVP for LSP + Tunnels", RFC 3209, December 2001. + + [RFC5036] Andersson, L., Minei, I., and B. Thomas, "LDP + Specification", RFC 5036, October 2007. + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 22] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + + [RFC5420] Farrel, A., Papadimitriou, D., Vasseur, JP., and A. + Ayyangarps, "Encoding of Attributes for MPLS LSP + Establishment Using Resource Reservation Protocol Traffic + Engineering (RSVP-TE)", RFC 5420, February 2009. + +12.2. Informative References + + [RFC4201] Kompella, K., Rekhter, Y., and L. Berger, "Link Bundling + in MPLS Traffic Engineering (TE)", RFC 4201, October 2005. + + [RFC4271] Rekhter, Y., Li, T., and S. Hares, "A Border Gateway + Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271, January 2006. + + [RFC4379] Kompella, K. and G. Swallow, "Detecting Multi-Protocol + Label Switched (MPLS) Data Plane Failures", RFC 4379, + February 2006. + + [RFC4447] Martini, L., Rosen, E., El-Aawar, N., Smith, T., and G. + Heron, "Pseudowire Setup and Maintenance Using the Label + Distribution Protocol (LDP)", RFC 4447, April 2006. + + [RFC4875] Aggarwal, R., Papadimitriou, D., and S. Yasukawa, + "Extensions to Resource Reservation Protocol - Traffic + Engineering (RSVP-TE) for Point-to-Multipoint TE Label + Switched Paths (LSPs)", RFC 4875, May 2007. + + [RFC5884] Aggarwal, R., Kompella, K., Nadeau, T., and G. Swallow, + "Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) for MPLS Label + Switched Paths (LSPs)", RFC 5884, June 2010. + + [RFC6388] Wijnands, IJ., Minei, I., Kompella, K., and B. Thomas, + "Label Distribution Protocol Extensions for Point-to- + Multipoint and Multipoint-to-Multipoint Label Switched + Paths", RFC 6388, November 2011. + + [RFC6391] Bryant, S., Filsfils, C., Drafz, U., Kompella, V., Regan, + J., and S. Amante, "Flow-Aware Transport of Pseudowires + over an MPLS Packet Switched Network", RFC 6391, + November 2011. + + + + + + + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 23] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + +Appendix A. Applicability of LDP Entropy Label Capability TLV + + In the case of unlabeled IPv4 (Internet) traffic, the best practice + is for an egress LSR to propagate eBGP learned routes within a + Service Provider's Autonomous System after resetting the BGP next-hop + attribute to one of its loopback IP addresses. That loopback IP + address is injected into the Service Provider's IGP and, + concurrently, a label assigned to it via LDP. Thus, when an ingress + LSR is performing a forwarding lookup for a BGP destination, it + recursively resolves the associated next hop to a loopback IP address + and associated LDP label of the egress LSR. + + Thus, in the context of unlabeled IPv4 traffic, the LDP Entropy Label + Capability TLV will typically be applied only to the FEC for the + loopback IP address of the egress LSR, and the egress LSR need not + announce an Entropy Label Capability for the eBGP learned route. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 24] + +RFC 6790 MPLS Entropy Labels November 2012 + + +Authors' Addresses + + Kireeti Kompella + Contrail Systems + 2350 Mission College Blvd. + Santa Clara, CA 95054 + US + + EMail: kireeti.kompella@gmail.com + + + John Drake + Juniper Networks + 1194 N. Mathilda Ave. + Sunnyvale, CA 94089 + US + + EMail: jdrake@juniper.net + + + Shane Amante + Level 3 Communications, Inc. + 1025 Eldorado Blvd + Broomfield, CO 80021 + US + + EMail: shane@level3.net + + + Wim Henderickx + Alcatel-Lucent + Copernicuslaan 50 + 2018 Antwerp + Belgium + + EMail: wim.henderickx@alcatel-lucent.com + + + Lucy Yong + Huawei USA + 5340 Legacy Dr. + Plano, TX 75024 + US + + EMail: lucy.yong@huawei.com + + + + + + +Kompella, et al. Standards Track [Page 25] + |