Network Working Group Rahul Aggarwal Internet Draft Kireeti Kompella Expiration Date: April 2004 Juniper Networks BFD For MPLS LSPs draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026. 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/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. Abstract One desirable application of BFD is to detect a MPLS LSP data plane failure. LSP-Ping [LSP-Ping] is an existing mechanism for detecting MPLS data plane failures and for verifying the MPLS LSP data plane against the control plane. BFD can be used for the former, but not for the latter. However a combination of LSP-Ping and BFD can be used to provide faster data plane failure detection and/or make it possible to provide such detection on a greater number of LSPs. This document describes the applicability of BFD in relation to LSP-Ping for this application. It also describes procedures for using BFD in this environment. draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt [Page 1] Internet Draft draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt October 2003 Conventions used in this document 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 [KEYWORDS]. 1. Introduction One desirable application of BFD is to track the liveliness of a Multi Protocol Label Switched (MPLS) Label Switched Path (LSP). In particular BFD can be used to detect a data plane failure in the forwarding path of a MPLS LSP. LSP-Ping [LSP-PING] is an existing mechanism for detecting MPLS LSP data plane failures and for verifying the MPLS LSP data plane against the control plane. This document describes the applicability of BFD in relation to LSP-Ping for detecting MPLS LSP data plane failures. It also describes procedures for using BFD in this environment. 2. Applicability In the event of a MPLS LSP failing to deliver user traffic, it may not always be possible to detect the failure using the MPLS control plane. Hence there is a need for a mechanism to detect a data plane failure in the MPLS LSP path. 2.1. BFD for MPLS LSPs: Motivation LSP-Ping described in [LSP-Ping] is an existing mechanism for detecting a MPLS LSP data plane failure. In addition LSP-Ping also provides a mechanism for verifying the MPLS control plane against the data plane. This is done by ensuring that the LSP is mapped to the same Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC) as the ingress. BFD cannot be used for verifying the MPLS control plane against the data plane. However BFD can be used to detect a data plane failure in the forwarding path of a MPLS LSP. The LSP may be associated with any of the following FECs: a) RSVP IPv4/IPv6 Session [RSVP-TE] b) LDP IPv4/IPv6 prefix [LDP] c) VPN IPv4/IPv6 prefix [2547] d) Layer 2 VPN [L2-VPN] e) Layer 2 Circuit ID [LDP-PW] LSP-Ping is a more computationally expensive mechanism than BFD for detecting MPLS LSP data plane faults. The control plane processing draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt [Page 2] Internet Draft draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt October 2003 required at the egress/ingress LSRs for processing LSP-Ping echo request/reply messages is greater than the processing required for BFD control packets. Thus the use of BFD for detecting MPLS LSP data plane faults has the following advantages: a) Support for fault detection for greater number of LSPs. Since BFD is a more lightweight mechanism than LSP-Ping it may be possible to provide data plane fault detection for a greater number of LSPs. b) Fast detection. Detection with sub-second granularity is considered as fast detection. LSP-Ping is intended to be used in an environment where fault detection messages are exchanged in the order of seconds. Hence its not appropriate for fast detection. BFD on the other hand is designed for sub-second fault detection intervals. Following are some potential cases when fast detection may be desirable for MPLS LSPs: 1. In the case of a bypass LSP used for facility based node protection [LSP-FR]. In this case the bypass LSP is essentially being used as an alternate link. It represents an aggregate and is used to carry a set of other LSPs. Hence fast failure detection of the bypass LSP may be desirable. 2. MPLS Pseudo Wires (PW). Fast detection may be desired for MPLS PWs depending on i) the model used to layer the MPLS network with the layer 2 network. and ii) the service that the PW is emulating. For a non-overlay model between the layer 2 network and the MPLS network the provider may rely on PW fault detection to provide service status to the end-systems. Also in that case interworking scenarios such as ATM/Frame Relay interworking may force periodic PW fault detection messages. Depending on the requirements of the service that the MPLS PW is emulating, fast failure detection may be desirable We would like to point that the applicability of fast detection to MPLS LSPs needs more study and operational input. 2.2. Using BFD in Conjunction with LSP-Ping BFD can be used for MPLS LSP data plane fault detection. However it does not have all the funcitonality of LSP-Ping. In paticular it cannot be used for verifying the control plane against the data plane. LSP Ping performs the following functions that are outside the scope of BFD: a) Association of a LSP-Ping echo request message with a FEC. In the case of Penultimate Hop Popping (PHP), for a single label stack LSP, the only way to associate a fault detection message with a FEC is by carrying the FEC in the message. LSP-Ping provides this draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt [Page 3] Internet Draft draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt October 2003 functionality. Next-hop label allocation also makes it necessary to carry the FEC in the fault detection message as the label alone is not sufficient to identify the LSP being verified. In addition to this presence of the FEC in the echo request message makes is possible to verify the control plane against the data plane at the egress LSR. b) ECMP considerations. LSP-Ping makes it possible to exercise multiple alternate paths for a given LSP. c) Traceroute. LSP-Ping supports traceroute for a FEC and it can be used for fault isolation. Hence BFD is used in conjunction with LSP-Ping for MPLS LSP fault detection: i) LSP-Ping is used for boot-strapping the BFD session as described later in this document. ii) BFD is used to exchange fault detection (i.e. BFD session) packets at the required detection interval. iii) LSP-Ping is used to periodically verify the control plane against the data plane by re-synchronizing the MPLS LSP and FEC mappings. 3. Theory of Operation To use BFD for fault detection on a MPLS LSP a BFD session is established for that particular MPLS LSP. BFD control packets are sent along the same data path as the LSP being verified and are processed by the control plane of the egress LSR. If the LSP is associated with multiple FECs, a BFD session is established for each FEC. For instance this may happen in the case of next-hop label allocation. Hence the operation is conceptually similar to the data plane fault detection procedures of LSP-Ping. draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt [Page 4] Internet Draft draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt October 2003 4. Initialization and Demultiplexing A BFD session is established for each FEC associated with a MPLS LSP. As desribed above in the case of PHP and next-hop label allocation the BFD control packet received by the egress LSR does not contain sufficient information to associate it with a BFD session. Hence the demultiplexing has to be done using the remote discriminator field in the received BFD control packet. The exchange of BFD discriminators for this purpose is described in the next section. 5. Session Establishment A BFD session is boot-strapped using LSP-Ping. The initiation of fault detection for a particular combination results in the exchange of LSP-Ping echo request and echo reply packets, in the ping mode, between the ingress and egress LSRs. To establish a BFD session a LSP-Ping echo request message carries the local discriminator assigned by the ingress LSR for the BFD session. This is subsequently used as the My Discriminator field in the BFD session packets sent by the ingress LSR. The egress LSR responds with a echo reply message that carries the local discriminator assigned by it for the BFD session. This is subsequently used as the My Discriminator field in the BFD session packets sent by the egress LSR. Once the ingress LSR learns the local discriminator assigned by the egress LSR for a given BFD session, it sends a BFD control packet to the egress LSR with the Your Discriminator set to the local discriminator of the egress LSR. The egress LSR demultiplexes the BFD session based on the received Your Discriminator field. It sends control packets to the ingress LSR with the Your Discriminator field set to the local discriminator of the ingress LSR. The ingress LSR can use this to demultiplex the BFD session. 5.1. BFD Discriminator TLV in LSP-Ping LSP-Ping echo request and echo reply messages carry a BFD discriminator TLV for the purpose of session establishment as described above. This TLV has a type TBD and a length of 4. The value contains the 4 byte local discriminator that the LSR sending the LSP- Ping message associates with the BFD session. draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt [Page 5] Internet Draft draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt October 2003 6. Encapsulation BFD control packets sent by the ingress LSR are encapsulated in the MPLS label stack that corresponds to the FEC for which fault detection is being performed. If the label stack has a depth greater than one, the TTL of the inner MPLS label maybe set to 1. This may be necessary for certain FECs to enable the egress LSR's control plane to receive the packet [LSP-Ping]. For MPLS PWs, alternatively, the presence of a fault detection message may be indicated by setting a bit in the control word [VCCV]. The BFD control packet sent by the ingress LSR MUST be a UDP packet with a well known destination port TBD and a source port assigned by the sender. The source IP address is a routable address of the sender. The destination IP address is a (randomly chosen) address from 127/8. The IP TTL is set to 1. BFD control packets sent by the egress LSR are UDP packets. The source IP address is a routable address of the replier; the source port is the well-known UDP port TBD. The destination IP address and UDP port are copied from the source IP address and UDP port of the control packet received from the ingress LSR. The IP TTL is set to 255. The BFD control packet sent by the egress LSR to the ingress is routed based on the destination IP address. 7. Security Considerations Security considerations discussed in [BFD] and [LSP-Ping] apply to this document. 8. IANA Considerations This document introduces a BFD discriminator TLV in LSP-Ping. This has to be assigned from the TLV type registry maintained by IANA. draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt [Page 6] Internet Draft draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt October 2003 9. Acknowledgments We would like to thank Yakov Rekhter, Dave Katz and Ina Minei for contributing to the discussions that formed the basis of this document. Thanks also to Yakov Rekhter for his comments on this document. 10. Normative References [BFD] Katz, D., and Ward, D., "Bidirectional Forwarding Detection", draft-katz-ward-bfd-01.txt, August 2003. [LSP-Ping] K. Kompella et. al., "Detecting MPLS Data Plane Failures", draft-ietf-mpls-lsp-ping-03.txt [RFC] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. [VCCV] T. Nadeau, R. Aggarwal, "Pseudo Wire (PW) Virtual Circuit Connection Verification ((VCCV)", draft-ietf-pwe3-vccv-00.txt [RSVP-TE] Awduche, D., et al, "RSVP-TE: Extensions to RSVP for LSP tunnels", RFC 3209, December 2001. [LDP] Andersson, L., et al, "LDP Specification", RFC 3036, January [2547] E. Rosen, Y. Rekhter, "BGP/MPLS IP VPNs", draft-ietf-l3vpn-rfc2547bis-01.txt [L2-VPN] K. Kompella, et. al., "Layer 2 VPNs Over Tunnels", draft-kompella-ppvpn-l2vpn-03.txt [LDP-PW] L. Martini et. al.,"Pseudowire Setup and Maintenance using LDP", draft-ietf-pwe3-control-protocol-03.txt Informative References [BFD-IP] D. Katz, D. Ward, "BFD for IPv4 and IPv6 (Single Hop)", draft-katz-ward-bfd-v4v6-1hop-00.txt draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt [Page 7] Internet Draft draft-raggarwa-mpls-bfd-00.txt October 2003 Author Information Rahul Aggarwal Juniper Networks 1194 North Mathilda Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94089 Email: rahul@juniper.net Kireeti Kompella Juniper Networks 1194 North Mathilda Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94089 Email: kireeti@juniper.net IPR Notice The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it has made any effort to identify any such rights. Information on the IETF's procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and standards-related documentation can be found in BCP-11. 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