One document matched: draft-bryskin-pce-policy-enabled-path-comp-00.txt


  
      
      
        Network Working Group                                   Igor Bryskin 
        Internet Draft                                        Movaz Networks 
        Category: Informational                        Dimitri Papadimitriou 
        Expires: March 2006                                          Alcatel 
                                                                  Lou Berger 
                                                              Movaz Networks 
                                                                             
                                                                October 2005 
         
         

             Policy-Enabled Path Computation Communication Requirements 
                                           
                 draft-bryskin-pce-policy-enabled-path-comp-00.txt  
         

         
     Status of this Memo 
         
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     Copyright Notice 
         
        Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). All Rights Reserved. 
      
      
     Abstract 
         
        Traditionally, path computation entity used to be an intrinsic part 
        of an LSR's control plane always co-located with the LSRs signaling 
      
      
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        and routing subsystems. With introduction of non co-located PCE 
        capability things in this respect became more complicated. In order 
        to take advantage of the PCEs new capabilities, it is highly 
        desirable to introduce new path computation capabilities that 
        require modifying neither the discovery/communication protocols nor 
        PCC software. 
         
        This document details the requirements to be addressed while 
        designing and developing mechanisms and protocols enabling policy-
        based control over path computation request/decision. 
      
     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 [RFC2119]. 
      
     1. Terminology and Acronyms 
                        
        CSPF:    Constraint-based Shortest Path First. 
        LSP:     Label Switched Path. 
        LSR:     Label Switching Router. 
        PCC:     Path Computation Client  
        PCE:     Path Computation Element:  
        TE LSP:  Traffic Engineering MPLS Label Switched Path. 
        CIM:     Core Information Model  
        PCIM:    Policy Core Information Model 
        PCCIM:   Path Computation Core Information Model   
        QPIM:    QoS Policy Information Model 
        PBM:     Policy-based Management 
        PEP:     Policy Enforcement Points   
        PDP:     Policy Decision Points  
        COPS:    Common Open Policy Service  
        COPS-PR: COPS Usage for Policy Provisioning 
            
     2. Motivation 
      
        Traditionally, path computation entity used to be an intrinsic part 
        of an LSR's control plane always co-located with the LSRs signaling 
        and routing subsystems. Such architectural approach allowed for 
        unlimited flexibility in providing various path computation 
        enhancements û adding new types of constraints, diversities and 
        their relaxation strategies, adopting new objection functions and 
        optimization criterions, etc. All what had to be done was to upgrade 
        the control plane software of only this particular LSR (and no other 
        LSRs or any other network elements).  
         
        With introduction of non co-located PCE capability things in this 
        respect became more complicated: with the TLV-style PCE discovery 
      
      
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        and PCC-PCE communication protocols that are currently discussed 
        within PCE WG, it won't be enough for a PCE to upgrade its own 
        software. In order to take advantage of the PCEs new capabilities, 
        new TLVs for both protocols need to be standardized, all PCCs need 
        to be upgraded with new software, new interoperability problems need 
        to be resolved, etc. It would be highly desirable to find a way of 
        introducing new path computation capabilities that requires 
        modifying neither the discovery/communication protocols nor PCC 
        software. 
         
     3. Overview 
         
        Policy-based Management (PBM) enables network administrators to 
        operate in a high-level manner through rule-based policies; the 
        latter are translated automatically into individual device 
        configuration directives, aiming at controlling a network as a 
        whole. Two IETF Working Groups have in the past considered policy 
        networking: The Resource Allocation Protocol working group and the 
        Policy Framework working group.  
         
        A framework for policy-based admission control [RFC2753] was defined 
        and a protocol for use between Policy Enforcement Points (PEP) and 
        Policy Decision Points (PDP) was specified: Common Open Policy 
        Service (COPS) [RFC2748]. This document uses the terms PEP and PDP 
        to refer to the functions defined in the COPS context. This document 
        makes no assumptions nor requires that the actual COPS protocol be 
        used. 
         
        The IETF has also produced a general framework for representing, 
        managing, sharing, and reusing policies in a vendor independent, 
        interoperable, and scalable manner. It has also defined an 
        extensible information model for representing policies, called the 
        Policy Core Information Model (PCIM) [RFC3060], and an extension to 
        this model to address the need for QoS management, called the QoS 
        Policy Information Model (QPIM) [RFC3644]. However, additional 
        mechanisms are needed in order to specify policies related to the 
        path computation logic as well as its control. 
         
        One way to achieve this objective is to consider constraints, their 
        relaxations and objection functions as path computation request 
        specific policies that on one hand could be configured and managed 
        by an operator, and on the other hand could be interpreted in real 
        time by both PCCs and PCEs. 
         
     4. Rationale 
         
        There is a number of advantages and useful by-products of such 
        approach: 

      
      
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        - New path computation capabilities could be introduced with 
        changing neither PCE-PCC communication and discovery protocols nor 
        PCC software. Only software of a PCE supporting new capabilities 
        needs to be updated 
        - Existing constraints, objection functions and their relaxations 
        could be aggregated and otherwise associated together, thus, 
        producing new more complex ones that do not require change of code 
        even on PCEs supporting them 
        - Different elements such as conditions, actions, variables, etc. 
        could be re-used by multiple constraints/diversities/optimizations 
        - Both PCCs and PCEs need to handle other (that is, not request 
        specific) policies (see below). Such policies could be placed within 
        the same policy repositories, could be managed by the same policy 
        management tools and could be interpreted using the same mechanisms 
        as request-specific policies.   
         
        The last bullet requires some more explanations. A PCE should be 
        capable to apply client- and/or domain-specific policies, and, in 
        some cases, service-specific policies, to decide on which algorithms 
        to use while performing path computations requested from a 
        particular PCC or for a particular domain; whether to seek for 
        cooperation of other PCEs to satisfy a particular request or handle 
        it on its own (possibly responding with non ûexplicit paths), etc. 
         
        Likewise, a PCC should be capable to handle service-specific 
        policies to decide which optimizations, constraints, diversities and 
        their relaxation strategies to request while computing path(s) for a 
        particular service. Depending on SLAs, TE and price-performance 
        goals path computation requests could be built differently for 
        different services. Service A, for instance, may require two SRLG-
        disjoint paths for building end-to-end recovery scheme, while for 
        service B link-disjoint paths may be sufficient. Service A may need 
        paths with minimal end-to-end delay, while service B may be looking 
        for shortest (minimal-cost) paths. Different constraint relaxation 
        strategies could be applied while computing paths for service A and 
        for service B, and so forth. Another, simpler example is that 
        Service A may use one PCE while Service B uses another. 
         
        Finally, additional policies need to be supported by a PCE. 
        Consider, for example, the case when a group of PCEs cooperate 
        together in satisfying a particular path computation request. A PCE 
        needs to decide how the request should be modified (perhaps, using 
        identity of the original PCC and/or domain specific information) 
        before being sent to other PCE(s) in the group. 
         
        Note that in the context of this document "service-specific" means 
        "user service ûspecific", that is, specific to a user service for 
        which path computation needs to be performed and LSPs set up. This 
        should not be confused with "request specific", that is, specific to 
      
      
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        a particular path computation request. Service-specific policies are 
        applied by policy-capable PCCs or conveyed to and applied by PCEs in 
        case the latter deal with policy incapable PCCs.  
         
        The described (non-request specific) policies need to be supported 
        by PCCs and PCEs independently from the style of PCC-PCE 
        communication protocols. Thus, introducing a new (request specific) 
        type of policies describing constraints and other elements of a path 
        computation request seems to be a natural and relatively inexpensive 
        addition to the policy enabled path computation architecture. 
          
     5. Goals and Requirements 
         
        The following requirements need to be addressed while designing and 
        developing mechanisms and protocols enabling policy-based control 
        over path computation request/decision. 
         
        - Policies vs Mechanisms: this document only outlines the 
        communication elements and mechanisms needed to allow a wide variety 
        of possible policies to be applied for path computation control but 
        it does not include any discussion of any specific policy behavior 
        or does not require use of specific policies  
      
        - GMPLS path computation-specific: the mechanisms must be designed 
        to meet the policy-based control requirements specific to the 
        problem of path computation using RSVP-TE as the signaling protocol 
        on MPLS LSR, GMPLS LSR, but not limited to this as the mechanisms 
        should work just as well for other types of PCCs such as NMS, 
        network planner, etc. 
         
        - Support for many policies: the mechanisms designed must include 
        support for many policies and policy configurations. In general, the 
        determination and configuration of viable policies are the 
        responsibility of the service provider. 
         
        - Provision for Monitoring and Accounting Information: The 
        mechanisms must include support for monitoring policy state, and 
        provide access information. In particular, mechanisms must be 
        included to provide usage and access information that may be used 
        for accounting purposes. 
         
        - Fault tolerance and recovery: The mechanisms designed on the basis 
        of this framework must include provisions for fault tolerance and 
        recovery from failure cases such as failure of PCC/PCE PDPs, 
        disruption in communication that separate a PCC/PCE PDP from its 
        associated PCC/PCE PEPs. 
         
        - Support for policy-ignorant nodes: Support for the mechanisms 
        described in this document should not be mandatory for every node in 
      
      
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        a network. Policy based path computation control could be enforced 
        at a subset of nodes, for example the boundary nodes within an 
        administrative domain. These capable nodes would function as trusted 
        nodes from the point of view of the policy-ignorant nodes in that 
        administrative domain.  Alternatively, policy may be applied solely 
        on PCEs with all PCCs being policy-ignorant nodes. 
         
        - Scalability: One of the important requirements for the mechanisms 
        designed for policy control is scalability. The mechanisms must 
        scale at least to the same extent that RSVP-TE signaling scales in 
        terms of accommodating multiple LSPs and network nodes in the path 
        of an LSP. There are several sensitive areas in terms of scalability 
        policy based path computation control. First, not every policy aware 
        node in an infrastructure should be expected to contact a remote 
        PDP. This would cause potentially long delays in verifying requests. 
        Then, the policy control architecture must scale at least as well as 
        RSVP-TE based on factors such as the size of RSVP-TE messages, the 
        time required for the network to service an RSVP-TE request, local 
        processing time required per node, and local memory consumed per 
        node. These scaling considerations are of particular importance 
        during re-routing of a set of LSPs. 
         
        - Security and denial of service considerations: The policy control 
        architecture must be secure as far as the following aspects are 
        concerned. First, the mechanisms proposed must minimize theft and 
        denial of service threats. Second, it must be ensured that the 
        entities (such as PEPs and PDPs) involved in policy control can 
        verify each other's identity and establish necessary trust before 
        communicating. 
         
     6.   Path Computation Core Information Model (PCCIM) 
         
        The Policy Core Information Model (PCIM) introduced in RFC3060 and 
        expanded in RFC 3460 presents the object-oriented information model 
        for representing general policy information.  
         
        This model defines two hierarchies of object classes: 
        - structural classes representing policy information and control of   
          policies 
        - association classes that indicate how instances of the structural  
          classes are related to each other. 
         
        These classes could be mapped to various concrete implementations, 
        for example, to a directory that uses LDAPv3 as its access protocol.   
         
        Figure 1 shows an abstract from the class inheritance hierarchy for 
        PCIM. 
         
           ManagedElement (abstract) 
      
      
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              | 
              +--Policy (abstract) 
              |  | 
              |  +---PolicySet (abstract) 
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---PolicyGroup  
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---PolicyRule  
              |  | 
              |  +---PolicyCondition (abstract) 
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---PolicyTimePeriodCondition 
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---VendorPolicyCondition 
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---SimplePolicyCondition 
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---CompoundPolicyCondition 
              |  |       | 
              |  |       +---CompoundFilterCondition  
              |  | 
              |  +---PolicyAction (abstract) 
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---VendorPolicyAction 
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---SimplePolicyAction  
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---CompoundPolicyAction  
              |  | 
              |  +---PolicyVariable (abstract) 
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---PolicyExplicitVariable  
              |  |   | 
              |  |   +---PolicyImplicitVariable  
              |  |       | 
              |  |       +---(subtree of more specific classes) 
              |  | 
              |  +---PolicyValue (abstract) 
              |      | 
              |      +---(subtree of more specific classes) 
              | 
         
                          Figure 1: PCIM Class Inheritance 
         
        The policy classes and associations defined in PCIM are sufficiently 
        generic to allow them to represent policies related to anything.  
         
        Policy models for application-specific areas such as the Path 
        Computation Service may extend the PCIM in several ways. The 
      
      
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        preferred way is to use the PolicyGroup, PolicyRule, and 
        PolicyTimePeriodCondition classes directly as a foundation for 
        representing and communicating policy information. Then, specific 
        subclasses derived from PolicyCondition and PolicyAction can capture 
        application-specific definitions of conditions and actions of 
        policies. Two subclasses, VendorPolicyCondition and 
        VendorPolicyAction, are also defined to provide a standard extension 
        mechanism for vendor-specific extensions to the Policy Core 
        Information Model.  
         
        Thus, Path Computation Core Information model could be built with 
        the PCConstraint, PCDiversity, PCConstraintRelaxation, 
        PCDiversityRelaxation, PCObjectionFunction, etc. as examples of the 
        PCCIM basic objects. 
         
     7. Policy Enabled Path Computation Framework 
         
     7.1 PCC-PCE Configurations 
         
        Path Computation Policies are instantiated using the PCCIM objects 
        created using the PCIM class library as a foundation. PC Policies 
        are configured and managed within the PC Policy Repository by the PC 
        Policy Management Tool.  
         
        There could be configurations with: 
         
        o) Single Policy Repository 
         
        In this configuration there is a single policy repository shared 
        between PCCs and PCEs. 
         


















      
      
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                              ........................ 
                              .                      . 
                              . PC Policy Management . 
                              .                      . 
                              ........................ 
                                          . 
                                          . 
         ---------  Policy a   ----------------------  Policy b  --------- 
        | PCC-PDP |<--------- | PC Policy Repository | -------->| PCE-PDP | 
         ---------             ----------------------            --------- 
             ^                                                       ^  
             | e.g., COPS                                 e.g., COPS | 
             v                                                       v 
         ---------                                               --------- 
        | PCC-PEP |<------------------------------------------->| PCE-PEP | 
         ---------         PCC-PCE Communication Protocol        --------- 
         
                     Figure 2: Single PCC/PCE Policy Repository 
         
               
        o) Multiple Policy Repositories  
         
        The repositories in this case could be fully or partially 
        synchronized by some discovery/ synchronization management protocol 
        or could be completely independent. Note when PC Policy Repository A 
        = B the result is the single policy repository. 
         
         
                  --------------                   -------------- 
                 |  PC Policy   |                 |  PC Policy   | 
              ---| Repository A |                 | Repository B |--- 
             |    --------------                   --------------    | 
             |                                                       | 
             | Policy a                                     Policy b |  
             |                                                       | 
             v                                                       v 
         ---------                                               --------- 
        | PCC-PDP |                                             | PCE-PDP | 
         ---------                                               --------- 
             ^                                                       ^ 
             | e.g., COPS                                 e.g., COPS | 
             v                                                       v 
         ---------                                               --------- 
        | PCC-PEP |<------------------------------------------->| PCE-PEP | 
         ---------         PCC-PCE Communication Protocol        --------- 
         
                   Figure 3: Multiple PCE/PCC Policy Repositories 
      

      
      
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        A PCC is logically split into two parts: PCC-PDP (Policy Decision 
        Point) and PCC-PEP (Policy Enforcement Point). When present, a PCC-
        PEP is co-located with a Path Computation Service User û entity that 
        requires remote path computation (for example, the GMPLS control 
        plane of an LSR). The PCC-PEP and PCC-PDP could be physically co-
        located (as per [RFC2748]) or separated. In the later case they talk 
        to each other via such protocols as COPS and/or COPS-PR [RFC3084].  
         
        Likewise, a PCE is logically split into two parts: PCE-PEP and PCE-
        PDP. When present, PCE-PEP is co-located with a Path Computation 
        Engineû entity that actually provides the actual Path Computation 
        Service (that is, runs path computation algorithms). PCE-PEP and 
        PCE-PDP could be physically co-located or separated. In the later 
        case they communicate using such protocols as COPS and/or COPS-PR.  
         
        PCC-PDP/PCE-PDP could be co-located with or separated from the 
        associated PC Policy Repository. In the latter case the PDPs use 
        some access protocol (for example, LDAPv3 or SNMP). The task of PDPs 
        is to retrieve policies from the repository(ies) and convey them to 
        respective PEPs either in unsolicited way or upon the PEP requests. 
         
        The task of the PCC-PEP is to select the PCE and build path 
        computation requests applying service specific policies provided by 
        the PCC-PDP. The task of the PCE-PEP is to control path computations 
        by applying requests-specific policies found in the requests as well 
        as client- and domain-specific policies supplied by the PCE-PDP.  
        Note that a PCC request may include service specific information, 
        for which the PCE-PEP must apply service specific policies in order 
        to define actual path computation parameters. Figure 4 shows an 
        example where PCCs are policy ignorant and the PCE/PCC request would 
        always include service specific information. Another example would 
        use the components shown in ether Figure 2 or 3, but the policy 
        applied at the PCC would be limited to selecting a PCE. In this case 
        the path computation request should contain service specific 
        information, so that the chosen PCE could identify actual path 
        computation parameters (applying local service specific policies).  













      
      
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                              ........................ 
                              .                      . 
                              . PC Policy Management . 
                              .                      . 
                              ........................ 
                                          . 
                                          . 
                               ----------------------  Policy    --------- 
                              | PC Policy Repository | -------->| PCE-PDP | 
                               ----------------------            --------- 
                                                                     ^  
                                                          e.g., COPS | 
                                                                     v 
         ---------                                               --------- 
        |   PCC   |<------------------------------------------->| PCE-PEP | 
         ---------         PCC-PCE Communication Protocol        --------- 
         
              Figure 4: PCE Policy Repository with Policy Ignorant PCC 
         
        On the other hand, it is also possible for policy to only be applied 
        at the PCC. In this case the applied policy would be embodied in any 
        requests to the PCE, e.g., in the form of constraints. 
        This configuration is shown in Figure 5. 
         
                              ........................ 
                              .                      . 
                              . PC Policy Management . 
                              .                      . 
                              ........................ 
                                          . 
                                          . 
         ---------  Policy     ----------------------  
        | PCC-PDP |<--------- | PC Policy Repository | 
         ---------             ----------------------  
             ^                                         
             | e.g., COPS                              
             v                                         
         ---------                                               --------- 
        | PCC-PEP |<------------------------------------------->|   PCE   | 
         ---------         PCC-PCE Communication Protocol        --------- 
         
              Figure 5: PCC Policy Repository with Policy Ignorant PCE 
         
      
     7.2 Cooperating PCE Configurations 
         
        The previous section shows the relationship between PCCs and PCEs.   

      
      
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        A parallel relationship exists between cooperating PCEs, and in fact 
        this relationship can be viewed as the same as the relationship 
        between PCCs and PCEs. The one notable difference is that there will 
        be cases where having a shared Policy Repository will not be 
        desirable, for example when the PCEs are managed by different 
        entities. Although, to identify a usable path it remains necessary 
        for there to be consistent policies across domains. 
      
        The following are example configurations. These examples do not 
        represent an exhaustive list and other configurations are expected. 
         
        o) Single Policy Repository 
         
        In this configuration there is a single policy repository shared 
        between PCEs. This configuration is likely to be useful within a 
        single administrative domain where multiple PCEs are provided for 
        redundancy or load distribution purposes. This configuration is also 
        applicable for administrative domains with single PCE.  
         
                              ........................ 
                              .                      . 
                              . PC Policy Management . 
                              .                      . 
                              ........................ 
                                          . 
                                          . 
         ---------  Policy a   ----------------------  Policy b  --------- 
        | PCE-PDP |<--------- | PC Policy Repository | -------->| PCE-PDP | 
         ---------             ----------------------            --------- 
             ^                                                       ^  
             | e.g., COPS                                 e.g., COPS | 
             v                                                       v 
         ---------                                               --------- 
        | PCE-PEP |<------------------------------------------->| PCE-PEP | 
         ---------         PCE-PCE Communication Protocol        --------- 
         
                       Figure 6: Single PCC Policy Repository 
         
                
        o) Multiple Policy Repositories 
         
        The repositories in this case could be fully or partially 
        synchronized by some discovery/synchronization management protocol 
        or could be completely independent. In the multi-domain case, it is 
        expected that these repositories would be distinct, but provide 
        consistent policies.   
         


      
      
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                  --------------                   -------------- 
                 |  PC Policy   |                 |  PC Policy   | 
              ---| Repository A |                 | Repository B |--- 
             |    --------------                   --------------    | 
             |                                                       | 
             | Policy a                                     Policy b |  
             |                                                       | 
             v                                                       v 
         ---------                                               --------- 
        | PCE-PDP |                                             | PCE-PDP | 
         ---------                                               --------- 
             ^                                                       ^ 
             | e.g., COPS                                 e.g., COPS | 
             v                                                       v 
         ---------                                               --------- 
        | PCE-PEP |<------------------------------------------->| PCE-PEP | 
         ---------         PCC-PCE Communication Protocol        --------- 
         
                     Figure 7: Multiple PCC Policy Repositories 
         
         
     7.3 Inter-Component Communication 
         
        PCC-PEP and PCE-PEP, and PCE-PEPs communicate via a PCC-PCE 
        (request-response) Communication Protocol. This document makes no 
        assumptions as to what protocol is used to support this protocol. 
        This document does assume that the semantics of a Path computation 
        requests are very abstract and general, and supports both PCE-PCC 
        and PCE-PCE communication].  
         
        The Path computation request includes: 
        . One or several source addresses; 
        . One or several destination addresses; 
        . Computation type (P2P, P2MP, MP2P, etc.); 
        . Number of required paths; 
        . Zero or more policy descriptors in the following format: 
           <policy name>,  
           <policy variable1 name>, <param11>, <param12>,...,<param1N>  
           <policy variable2 name>, <param21>, <param12>,...,<param2N>  
           ... 
           <policy variableM name>, <paramM1>, <paramM2>,...,<paramMN>  
         
        The Path computation response would include the list of computed 
        path using the same format  
         
        The PCC-PCE Communication Protocol should not understand nor makes 
        any assumptions about the semantics of policies specified in the 
        path computation requests. 
         
      
      
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        Note: This document explicitly allows for the PCC-PDP to decide that 
        all necessary constraints, objection functions, etc. pertinent for 
        the computation of paths for the service in question are to be 
        determined by the PCE performing the computation. In this case the 
        PCC-PDP will use a set of policies describing the above mentioned 
        service specific information. These policies could be placed within 
        the path computation request and delivered to the PCE via PCC-PCE 
        Communication Protocol. The PCE (more precisely, PCE-PEP) is 
        expected to understand this information and use it to determine the 
        constraints and optimization functions applying local policies (that 
        is, policies locally configured or provided by the PCE-PDP). 
         
     8. Sequence of events happening during path computation 
         
        This section presents representative scenarios; other scenarios are 
        also possible. 
         
     8.1 Policy-enabled PCC, Policy-enabled PCE 
      
        Let us consider what happens after a service has been provisioned to 
        originate from a GMPLS LSR (or the LSR has received a Setup (RSVP 
        Path) message from an upstream LSR), and the LSR decides to use a 
        non co-located Path Computation Entity. 
         
           - A PCC-PEP co-located with the LSR applies the service specific 
           policies to select a PCE for the service path computation as well 
           as to build the path computation request (that is, to select a 
           list of policies, their variables and parameters expressing 
           constraints, diversities, objection functions and relaxation 
           strategies appropriate for the service path computation). The 
           policies could be: 
               a)   Statically configured on the PCC-PEP; 
               b)   Communicated to the PCC-PEP by a remote or local PCC-PDP 
                    via protocol such as COPS either pro-actively (most of 
                    the cases) or upon an explicit request by the PCC-PEP 
                    (in case when some specifics of the new service have not 
                    been covered yet by the policies so far known to the 
                    PCC-PEP) 
           The input for the decision process on the PCC-PEP is the 
           information found in the signaling/provisioning message as well 
           as any other service specific information such as port ID 
           over which the message was received, associated VPN ID, the 
           reference point type (UNI, E-NNI, etc.) and so forth. After the 
           path computation request is built it is sent directly to the PCE-
           PEP using the PCC-PCE Communication Protocol. 
      
           - PCE-PEP validates and otherwise processes the request applying 
           the policies found in the request as well as client and domain 
           specific polices. The latter, again, could be either statically 
      
      
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           configured on the PCE-PEP or provided by the associated local or 
           remote PCE-PDP via a protocol such as COPS. The outcome of the 
           decision process is the following information: 
               a)   Whether the request should be satisfied, rejected or 
                    dismissed 
               b)   The sets of sources and destinations for which paths 
                    should be locally computed 
               c)   The set of constraints, diversities, optimization 
                    functions and relaxations to be considered in each of 
                    locally performed path computation 
               d)   The address of the next-in-chain PCE; 
               e)   The path computation request to be sent to the next-in-
                    chain PCE 
           The PCE-PEP instructs a co-located path computation engine to 
           perform the local path computation(s) and, if necessary, sends 
           the path computation request to the next-in-chain PCE using the 
           PCC-PCE Communication Protocol. Then it waits for the responses 
           from the local path computation engine and the remote PCE, 
           combines the resulting paths and sends them back to the PCC-PEP 
           using the PCC-PCE Communication Protocol. The response contains 
           policies describing the resulting paths as well as some 
           additional information (for example, which of constraints were 
           honored, which were dismissed and which were relaxed and in what 
           way) 
            
           - PCC-PEP instructs the signaling sub-system of the GMPLS LSR to 
           encode the received path(s) into the outgoing Setup message(s) 
      
     8.2 Policy-ignorant PCC, Policy-enabled PCE 
      
        This case parallels the previous example, but the service level 
        policy must be applied at the PCE as the PCC is policy ignorant. 
        Again, we consider what happens after a service has been provisioned 
        to originate from a GMPLS LSR (or the LSR has received a Setup (RSVP 
        Path) message from an upstream LSR), and the LSR decides to use a 
        non co-located Path Computation Entity. 
         
           - The PCC constructs a PCE request using information found in the 
           signaling/provisioning message as well as any other service 
           specific information such as port ID over which the message was 
           received, associated VPN ID, the reference point type (UNI, E-
           NNI, etc.) and so forth. After the path computation request is 
           built it is sent directly to the PCE-PEP using the PCC-PCE 
           Communication Protocol. 
            
           - PCE-PEP validates and otherwise processes the request applying 
           the policies found in the request as well as client and domain 
           specific polices. The PCE-PEP applies the service specific 
           policies to select a PCE for the service path computation as well 
      
      
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           as to build the path computation request (that is, to select a 
           list of policies, their variables and parameters expressing 
           constraints, diversities, objection functions and relaxation 
           strategies appropriate for the service path computation). The 
           policies, again, could be either statically configured on the 
           PCE-PEP or provided by the associated local or remote PCE-PDP via 
           a protocol such as COPS. The outcome of the decision process is 
           the following information: 
                 a) Whether the request should be satisfied, rejected or 
                    dismissed 
                 b) The sets of sources and destinations for which paths 
                    should be locally computed 
                 c) The set of constraints, diversities, optimization 
                    functions and relaxations to be considered in each of 
                    locally performed path computation 
                 d) The address of the next-in-chain PCE; 
                 e) The path computation request to be sent to the next-in-
                    chain PCE 
           The PCE-PEP instructs a co-located path computation engine to 
           perform the local path computation(s) and, if necessary, sends 
           the path computation request to the next-in-chain PCE using the 
           PCC-PCE Communication Protocol. Then it waits for the responses 
           from the local path computation engine and the remote PCE, 
           combines the resulting paths and sends them back to the PCC-PEP 
           using the PCC-PCE Communication Protocol. The response contains 
           policies describing the resulting paths as well as some 
           additional information (for example, which of constraints were 
           honored, which were dismissed and which were relaxed and in what 
           way) 
            
           - PCC-PEP instructs the signaling sub-system of the GMPLS LSR to 
           encode the received path(s) into the outgoing Setup message(s) 
      
     9. Introducing a new constraint supported by a PCE 
         
        Let us assume that a PCE has been upgraded with software supporting, 
        optical physical impairment constraint such as Polarization Mode 
        Dispersion (PMD) that previously has not been supported in the 
        domain. In this case one or more new policies will be installed in 
        the PC Policy Repository (associated with the PCE) defining the 
        constraint (rules that determine application criteria, set of 
        variables and valid parameters, etc.) and its relaxation 
        strategy(ies). The new policies will be also propagated into other 
        PC Policy Repositories within the domain via discovery/ 
        synchronization protocols or via local configuration. PCE and PCC 
        PDPs will then retrieve the corresponding policies from the 
        repository(ies). From then on PCC-PDPs will instruct associated PCC-
        PEPs to add the new policies into path computation requests for 

      
      
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        services with certain parameters (for example, for services 
        provisioned in the OCh layer).   
         
        It is important to note that policy enabled path computation model 
        naturally solves the PCE capability discovery issues. Suppose a  
        PCE working in a single PC Policy Repository configuration starts to 
        support a new constraint. Once a corresponding policy installed in 
        the repository, it automatically becomes available for all 
        repository users, that is, PCCs. In the multi-repository case some 
        policy synchronization must be provided, however, this problem is 
        one of the management plane, it is solved already and in a much 
        scalable way than using IGP-TE. 
         
     10. Acknowledgements 
      
        We would like to thank Bela Berde for fruitful discussions on PBM 
        and Policy-driven path computation. 
         
     11. IANA Considerations 
         
        None. 
         
     12. Reference 
      
     12.1 Normative Reference 
      
        [RFC2205]  Braden, R., et al., "Resource ReSerVation Protocol 
                   (RSVP) - Version 1, Functional Specification", RFC 2205,
                   September 1997.  
         
        [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate  
                   Requirement Levels," BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. 
         
        [RFC2753]  R. Yavatkar, D. Pendarakis, R. Guerin, A Framework for 
                   Policy Based Admission Control, RFC 2753, January 2000. 
         
        [RFC2748]  D. Durham, et al., The COPS (Common Open Policy Service) 
                    protocol, RFC 2748, IETF, January 2000. 
         
        [RFC3060]  B. Moore, et al., Policy Information Model Version1 
                   Specification, RFC 3060, February 2001. 
      
        [RFC3209]  Awduche, D., et al., "Extensions to RSVP for LSP       
                   Tunnels", RFC 3209, December 2001. 
         
        [RFC3471]  Berger, L., et al., Generalized Multi-Protocol Label   
                   Switching (GMPLS) Signaling Functional Description, RFC 
                   3471, January 2003. 
         
      
      
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        [RFC3473]  Berger, L., et al., "Generalized Multi-Protocol Label  
                   Switching (GMPLS) Signaling Resource ReserVation       
                   Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) Extensions", RFC 
                   3473, January 2003.  
         
        [RFC3644]  Y. Snir, et al., Policy Quality of Service (QoS) 
                   Information Model, RFC 3644, November 2003. 
         
        [RFC3667]  Bradner, S., "IETF Rights in Contributions", BCP 78, RFC 
                   3667, February 2004. 
                      
        [RFC3668]  Bradner, S., Ed., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF 
                   Technology", BCP 79, RFC 3668, February 2004.    
      
     12.2 Informative Reference 
         
     13. Author's Addresses 
      
        Igor Bryskin 
        Movaz Networks, Inc 
        Phone: +1 703-847-4208 
        Email: ibryskin@movaz.com 
         
        Dimitri Papadimitriou (Alcatel) 
        Fr. Wellesplein 1, 
        B-2018 Antwerpen, Belgium 
        Phone: +32 3 240-8491 
        Email: dimitri.papadimitriou@alcatel.be 
         
        Lou Berger 
        Movaz Networks, Inc 
        Phone: +1 703-847-1801 
        Email: lberger@movaz.com 
         
      
      
         











      
      
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PAFTECH AB 2003-20262026-04-23 03:42:32