One document matched: draft-ietf-pwe3-cw-01.txt

Differences from draft-ietf-pwe3-cw-00.txt


 
                                                                        
Network Working Group                                         S. Bryant 
Internet Draft                                               G. Swallow 
Expiration Date: June 2005                                Cisco Systems 
                                                           D. McPherson 
                                                         Arbor Networks 
                                                                        
                                                          December 2004 
                                                                        
                                                                        
                PWE3 Control Word for use over an MPLS PSN 

                         draft-ietf-pwe3-cw-01.txt 

  
  
    
Status of this Memo  

   By submitting this Internet-Draft, we certify that any applicable 
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Abstract  
 
   This document describes the preferred designs of the PWE3 Control 
   Word, and the PW Associated Channel Header. The design of these 
   fields is chosen so that an MPLS LSR performing deep packet 
   inspection will not confuse a PWE3 payload with an IP payload. 

Conventions used in this document  
     




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   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.   Introduction 

   The standard MPLS encapsulations have no explicit protocol 
   identifier. In order for a pseudo wire (PW) [ARCH] to operate 
   correctly over an MPLS packet switched network (PSN) that performs 
   deep packet inspection, a PW packet must not appear to the LSR as if 
   it were an IP packet [BCP]. An example of an LSR that performs deep 
   packet inspection is one that is performing equal-cost multiple-path 
   load-balancing (ECMP) [RFC2992]. If ECMP were performed on PWE3 
   packets, the packets in the PW may not all follow the same path 
   though the PSN. This may result in misordered packet deliver to the 
   egress PE. The inability to ensure that all packets belonging to a 
   PW follow the same path may also prevent the PW OAM [VCCV] mechanism 
   from correctly monitoring the PW.  

   This draft specifies how a PW header distinguishes a PW payload from 
   an IP payload carried over an MPLS PSN. 

2.   PWE3 Packet Identification 

   All IP packets [RFC791][RFC1883] start with a version number that is 
   checked by LSRs performing deep packet inspection. To prevent the 
   incorrect inspection of packets, PW packets carried over an MPLS PSN 
   SHOULD NOT start with the value 4 (IPv4) or the value 6 (IPv6) in 
   the first nibble [BCP]. 

   This document defines a PW header and two general formats of that 
   header. These two formats are the PW Control Word (PW-CW) used for 
   data passing across the PW, and a PW Associated Channel Header (PW-
   ACH) that can be used for functions such as OAM. 

   If the first nibble of a PWE3 packet carried over an MPLS PSN has a 
   value of 0, it starts with a PW-CW. If the first nibble of a packet 
   carried over an MPLS PSN has a value of 1, it starts with a PW-ACH. 
   The use of any other first nibble value for a PWE3 packet carried 
   over an MPLS PSN is deprecated. 

   A PW carried over an MPLS PSN that uses the contents of the MPLS 
   payload to select the ECMP path SHOULD employ the PW Control Word 
   described in Section 3 for data, and the PW Associated Channel 
   Header described in Section 4 for channel associated traffic. These 
   fields MUST immediately follow the bottom of the MPLS label stack. 







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3.   Generic PW Control Word 

   The PW MPLS Control Word is shown in Figure 1.  

 
    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 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ 
   |0 0 0 0|          Specified by PW Encapsulation                | 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ 
    
         Figure 1: PW Control Word 
 
 
   The PW set-up protocol or configuration mechanism determines whether 
   a PW uses a PW Control Word (PW-CW). Bits 0..3 differ from the first 
   four bits of an IP packet [BCP] and hence provide the necessary MPLS 
   payload discrimination. 

   When a PW-CW is used, it SHOULD have the following preferred form: 

 
    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 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ 
   |0 0 0 0| Flags |FRG|  Length   | Sequence Number               | 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ 

        Figure 2: PWE3 Preferred Control Word 

   The meaning of the fields of the PWE3 Preferred Control Word (Figure 
   2) are as follows: 

   Flags (bits 4 to 7): 

          These bits are available for per payload signalling.  Their 
          definition is encapsulation specific. 

   FRG (bits 8 and 9): 

          These bits are used when fragmenting a PW payload. Their use 
          is defined in [FRAG] which is currently work in progress. 
          When the PW is of a type that will never need payload 
          fragmentation, these bits may be used as general purpose 
          flags. 

   Length (bits 10 to 15): 

          The length field is used to determine the size of a PW 
          payload that might have been padded to the minimum Ethernet 
          MAC frame size during its transit across the PSN. If the MPLS 



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          payload (defined as the PW-CW + the PW payload + any 
          additional PW headers) is less than 46 bytes, the length MUST 
          be set to the length of the MPLS payload.  If the MPLS 
          payload is between 46 bytes and 63 bytes the implementation 
          MAY either set to the length of the MPLS payload, or it MAY 
          set it to 0.  If the length of the MPLS payload is greater 
          than 63 bytes the length MUST be set to 0. 

          Note to the reader: In the definition above, both the MUSTs 
          are needed to make the mechanism work, the MAY provides 
          backwards compatibility with deployed systems. 

   Sequence number (Bit 16 to 31): 

          If the sequence number is not used, it is set to zero by the 
          sender and ignored by the receiver.  Otherwise it specifies 
          the sequence number of a packet.  A circular list of sequence 
          numbers is used.  A sequence number takes a value from 1 to 
          65535 (2**16-1). The sequence number window size for packet 
          acceptance is dependent on the parameters of the PSN, and 
          SHOULD be configurable. The mechanism used by the 
          decapsulating PE to (re)acquire the correct sequence number 
          is implementation dependent. 

4.   PW Associated Channel 

   For some features of PWs, such as OAM, an associated channel is 
   required. An associated channel is a channel that is multiplexed 
   over the PW so that it follows exactly the same path through the PSN 
   as the PW. Note that the use of the term "channel" is not a "PWE 
   channel type" as used in subsection 5.1.2 of [ARCH] 

   When MPLS is used as the PSN, the PW Assocated Channel is identified 
   by the following header:  

   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 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ 
   |0 0 0 1| FmtID |   Reserved    |         Channel Type          | 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+  

       Figure 3: PW Associated Channel Header  

   The meaning of the fields in the PW Associated Channel Header 
   (Figure 3) are as follows: 

   FmtID:  

          Format ID for the remaining 3 octets of the header. A FmtID 
          of 0 indicates that the 3 octets are as depicted above.  




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   Reserved: 

          Must be sent as 0, and ignored on receive. 

   Channel Type: 

          The PW Associated Channel Type is defined in the IANA PW 
          Associated Channel Type registry [IANA]. 

   Bits 0..3 MUST be 0x01, and hence differ from the first four bits of 
   an IP packet [BCP]. This provides the necessary MPLS payload 
   discrimination.  

   Note that L2TPv3 has its own mechanisms for providing this 
   associated channel. 

5.   IANA considerations 

   IANA needs to set up a registry of "PW Associated Channel Type".  
   These are 16-bit values. IANA requests for the allocation of values 
   from the PW Associated Channel Type REQUIRE expert review.  

   Initial PW Associated Channel Type value allocations are specified 
   in "IANA Allocations for pseudo Wire Edge to Edge Emulation (PWE3)" 
   [IANA], and should be incorporated by IANA into the registry. 

6.   Security Considerations 

   An application using this mechanism to provide an OAM [VCCV] or 
   other message channel MUST be aware that this can potentially be 
   misused. Any application using the Associated Channel must therefore 
   fully consider the resultant security issues, and provide mechanisms 
   to prevent an attacker using this as a mechanism to disrupt the 
   operation of the PW or the PE, and to stop this channel being used 
   as a conduit to deliver packets elsewhere. 

   If a PW has been configured to operate without a CW, the PW 
   Associated Channel Type mechanism described in the document MUST NOT 
   be used. This is to prevent user payloads being fabricated in such a 
   way that they mimic the PW Associated Channel header, and thereby 
   provide a method of attacking the application that is using the 
   Associated Channel. 

    

7.   Acknowledgements 

   The authors wish to thank David Allan, Luca Martini, Thomas Nadeau 
   and Mark Townsley for their input to this work. 





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8.   Intellectual Property Statement 

 
   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any   
   Intellectual Property Rights 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; nor does it represent that 
   it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  
   Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC 
   documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79. 

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any 
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an   
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use 
   of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this 
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository 
   at http://www.ietf.org/ipr. 

   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any 
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary 
   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement 
   this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-
   ipr@ietf.org. 

 
9.    Full copyright statement 

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). This document is subject 
   to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and 
   except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. 

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on 
   an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE 
   REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE 
   INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR 
   IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF 
   THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED 
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 

    

10.    Normative References 

   Internet-drafts are works in progress available from   
   http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/ 

   [FRAG]     Malis, A., Townsley, M., " PWE3 Fragmentation and 
               Reassembly", Internet Draft, <draft-ietf-pwe3-
               fragmentation-07.txt>, November 2004, Work in 




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               Progress. 

   [RFC791]   RFC-791: DARPA Internet Program, Protocol 
               Specification, ISI, September 1981. 

   [RFC1883]  RFC-1883: Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6), S. 
               Deering, et al, December 1995 

   [RFC2992]  RFC-2992:  Analysis of an Equal-Cost Multi-Path 
               Algorithm, C. Hopps, November 2000 

   [RFC2424]  RFC-2424: Guidelines for Writing an IANA 
               Considerations Section in RFCs, Alvestrand and 
               Narten, October 1998. 

    

11.    Informative References 

 
   Internet-drafts are works in progress available from   
   <http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/> 

   [ARCH] Bryant, S., Pate, P., "PWE3 Architecture", Internet  
           Draft, <draft-ietf-pwe3-arch-07.txt>, October 2003, 
           Work in Progress.  

   [BCP]  Swallow, G. et al, "Avoiding Equal Cost Multipath 
           Treatment in MPLS Networks", Internet Draft         
           <draft-ietf-mpls-ecmp-bcp-00.txt>, September 2004, 
           Work in Progress. 

   [IANA] Martini, L., Townsley M., " IANA Allocations for 
           pseudo Wire Edge to Edge Emulation (PWE3) ", 
           Internet Draft, <draft-ietf-pwe3-iana-allocation-
           07.txt>, October 2004, Work in Progress. 
            
   [VCCV] Nadeau, T., Aggarwal, T., " Pseudo Wire (PW) Virtual 
           Circuit Connection Verification (VCCV)", Internet 
           Draft, <draft-ietf-pwe3-vccv-03.txt>, June 2004, 
           Work in Progress. 

 
 
 
 
 






 
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12.    Authors' Addresses 

    
   Stewart Bryant 
   Cisco Systems, 
   250, Longwater, 
   Green Park, 
   Reading, RG2 6GB, 
   United Kingdom.             Email: stbryant@cisco.com 
    
   Danny McPherson 
   Arbor Networks              Email: danny@arbor.net 
    
   George Swallow 
   Cisco Systems, Inc. 
   1414 Massachusetts Ave 
   Boxborough, MA 01719        Email:  swallow@cisco.com 
    

    


































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