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INTERNET DRAFT IP Fast Reroute Using Not-via Addresses      July 2007 
 

 
                                                                        
Network Working Group                                         S. Bryant 
Internet Draft                                                 M. Shand 
Expiration Date: Jan 2008                                    S. Previdi 
                                                          Cisco Systems 
                                                                        
                                                              July 2007 
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                IP Fast Reroute Using Not-via Addresses 
           <draft-ietf-rtgwg-ipfrr-notvia-addresses-01.txt> 
  
Status of this Memo  

   By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any 
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Copyright Notice 

   Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).  All rights reserved. 

Abstract 
  
   This draft describes a mechanism that provides fast reroute in an IP 
   network through encapsulation to "not-via" addresses. A single level 
   of encapsulation is used. The mechanism protects unicast, multicast 
   and LDP traffic against link, router and shared risk group failure, 
   regardless of network topology and metrics. 

 
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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]. 

Table of Contents 
1. Overview of Not-via Repairs.........................................3 
 1.1 Use of Equal Cost Multi-Path.....................................5 
 1.2 Use of LFA repairs...............................................5 
2. Not-via Repair Path Computation.....................................5 

3. Operation of Repairs................................................6 
 3.1 Node Failure.....................................................7 
 3.2 Link Failure.....................................................7 
 3.3 Multi-homed Prefix...............................................8 
 3.4 Installation of Repair Paths.....................................9 
4. Compound failures..................................................10 
 4.1 Shared Risk Link Groups.........................................10 
   4.1.1 Use of LFAs with SRLGs......................................14 
 4.2 Local Area Networks.............................................14 
   4.2.1 Simple LAN Repair...........................................15 
   4.2.2 LAN Component Repair........................................16 
   4.2.3 LAN Repair Using Diagnostics................................17 
5. Multiple Simultaneous Failures.....................................17 

6. Optimizing not-via computations using LFAs.........................18 

7. Multicast..........................................................18 

8. Fast Reroute in an MPLS LDP Network................................19 

9. Encapsulation......................................................19 

10. Routing Extensions................................................19 

11. Incremental Deployment............................................20 

12. IANA considerations...............................................20 

13. Security Considerations...........................................20 
 

 
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Introduction 

   When a link or a router fails, only the neighbors of the failure are 
   initially aware that the failure has occurred. In a network 
   operating IP fast reroute [IPFRR], the routers that are the 
   neighbors of the failure repair the failure. These repairing routers 
   have to steer packets to their destinations despite the fact that 
   most other routers in the network are unaware of the nature and 
   location of the failure.  

   A common limitation in most IPFRR mechanisms is an inability to 
   indicate the identity of the failure and to explicitly steer the 
   repaired packet round the failure. The extent to which this 
   limitation affects the repair coverage is topology dependent. The 
   mechanism proposed here is to encapsulate the packet to an address 
   that explicitly identifies the network component that the repair 
   must avoid. This produces a repair mechanism, which, provided the 
   network is not partitioned by the failure, will always achieve a 
   repair. 

1.   Overview of Not-via Repairs 

   The purpose of a repair is to deliver packets to their destination 
   without traversing a known failure in the network, i.e. to deliver 
   the packet not via the failure. A special address is assigned to 
   each protected component. This address is called the not-via 
   address. The semantics of a not-via address are that a packet 
   addressed to a not-via address must be delivered to the router 
   advertising that address, not via (i.e. without traversing or 
   attempting to traverse) the protected component (link, node, SRLG 
   etc.) with which that address is associated. 

   A simple example would be node repair in which an additional address 
   is assigned to each interface in the network. To repair a failure, 
   the repairing router encapsulates the packet to the not-via address 
   of the router interface on the far side of the failure. The routers 
   on the repair path then know to which router they must deliver the 
   packet, and which network component they must avoid. The network 
   fragment shown in Figure 1 illustrates a not-via repair for the case 
   of a router failure. 










 
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              A  
              |                Bp is the address to use to get  
              |                  a packet to B not-via P 
              | 
   S----------P----------B. . . . . . . . . .D 
    \         |        Bp^    
     \        |          |  
      \       |          | 
       \      C          | 
        \                | 
         ----------------+ 
           Repair to Bp  

      Figure 1: Not-via repair of router failure 
 
   Assume that S has a packet for some destination D that it would 
   normally send via P and B, and that S suspects that P has failed. S 
   encapsulates the packet to Bp. The path from S to Bp is the shortest 
   path from S to B not going via P. If the network contains a path 
   from S to B that does not transit router P, i.e. the network is not 
   partitioned by the failure of P, then the packet will be 
   successfully delivered to B. When the packet addressed to Bp arrives 
   at B, B removes the encapsulation and forwards the repaired packet 
   towards its final destination.  

   Note that if the path from B to the final destination includes one 
   or more nodes that are included in the repair path, a packet may 
   back track after the encapsulation is removed. However, because the 
   decapsulating router is always closer to the packet destination than 
   the encapsulating router, the packet will not loop. 

   For complete protection, all of P's neighbors will require a not-via 
   address that allows traffic to be directed to them without 
   traversing P. This is shown in Figure 2. 
    
              A  
              |Ap  
              | 
    Sp      Pa|Pb 
   S----------P----------B 
            Ps|Pc      Bp    
              | 
            Cp| 
              C 

      Figure 2: The set of Not-via P Addresses  
    

 
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1.1    Use of Equal Cost Multi-Path 

   A router can use an equal cost multi-path (ECMP) repair in place of 
   a not-via repair. 

   A router computing a not-via repair path MAY subject the repair to 
   ECMP. 

1.2    Use of LFA repairs 

   The not-via approach provides complete repair coverage and therefore 
   may be used as the sole repair mechanism. There are, however, 
   advantages in using not-via in combination with loop free alternates 
   (LFA) and or downstream paths as documented in [LFA].  

   LFAs are computed on a per destination basis and in general, only a 
   subset of the destinations requiring repair will have a suitable LFA 
   repair. In this case, those destinations which are repairable by 
   LFAs are so repaired and the remainder of the destinations are 
   repaired using the not-via encapsulation. This has the advantage of 
   reducing the volume of traffic that requires encapsulation. On the 
   other hand, the path taken by an LFA repair may be less optimal than 
   that of the equivalent not-via repair for traffic destined to nodes 
   close to the far end of the failure, but may be more optimal for 
   some other traffic. The description in this document assumes that 
   LFAs will be used where available, but the distribution of repairs 
   between the two mechanisms is a local implementation choice. 

2.   Not-via Repair Path Computation 

   The not-via repair mechanism requires that all routers on the path 
   from S to B (Figure 1) have a route to Bp. They can calculate this 
   by failing node P, running an SPF, and finding the shortest route to 
   B. 

   A router has no simple way of knowing whether it is on the shortest 
   path for any particular repair. It is therefore necessary for every 
   router to calculate the path it would use in the event of any 
   possible router failure. Each router therefore "fails" every router 
   in the network, one at a time, and calculates its own best route to 
   each of the neighbors of that router. In other words, with reference 
   to Figure 2, some router X will consider each router in turn to be 
   P, fail P, and then calculate its own route to each of the not-via P 
   addresses advertised by the neighbors of P. i.e. X calculates its 
   route to Sp, Ap, Bp, and Cp, in each case, not via P. 

   To calculate the repair paths a router has to calculate n-1 SPFs 
   where n is the number of routers in the network. This is expensive 
   to compute. However, the problem is amenable to a solution in which 
   each router (X) proceeds as follows. X first calculates the base 
 
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   topology with all routers functional and determines its normal path 
   to all not-via addresses. This can be performed as part of the 
   normal SPF computation. For each router P in the topology, X then 
   performs the following actions:- 

     1. Removes router P from the topology. 

     2. Performs an incremental SPF [ISPF] on the modified topology. 
        The iSPF process involves detaching the sub-tree affected by 
        the removal of router P, and then re-attaching the detached 
        nodes. However, it is not necessary to run the iSPF to 
        completion. It is sufficient to run the iSPF up to the point 
        where all of the nodes advertising not-via P addresses have 
        been re-attached to the SPT, and then terminate it. 

     3. Reverts to the base topology. 

   This algorithm is significantly less expensive than a set of full 
   SPFs. Thus, although a router has to calculate the repair paths for 
   n-1 failures, the computational effort is much less than n-1 SPFs. 

   Experiments on a selection of real world network topologies with 
   between 40 and 400 nodes suggest that the worst-case computational 
   complexity using the above optimizations is equivalent to performing 
   between 5 and 13 full SPFs. Further optimizations are described in 
   section 6. 

2.1    Computing not-via repairs in routing vector protocols 

   While this document focuses on link state routing protocols, it is 
   equally possible to compute not-via repairs in distance vector (e.g. 
   RIP) or path vector (e.g. BGP) routing protocols. This can be 
   achieved with very little protocol modification by advertising the 
   not-via address in the normal way, but ensuring that the information 
   about a not-via address Ps is not propagated through the node S. In 
   the case of link protection this simply means that the advertisement 
   from P to S is suppressed, with the result that S and all other 
   nodes compute a route to Ps which doesn't traverse S, as required. 

   In the case of node protection, where P is the protected node, and N 
   is some neighbor, the advertisement of Np must be suppressed not 
   only across the link N->P, but also across any link to P. The 
   simplest way of achieving this is for P itself to perform the 
   suppression of any address of the form Xp. 

3.   Operation of Repairs 

   This section explains the basic operation of the not-via repair of 
   node and link failure. 

 
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3.1    Node Failure 

   When router P fails (Figure 2) S encapsulates any packet that it 
   would send to B via P to Bp, and then sends the encapsulated packet 
   on the shortest path to Bp. S follows the same procedure for routers 
   A and C in Figure 2. The packet is decapsulated at the repair target 
   (A, B or C) and then forwarded normally to its destination. The 
   repair target can be determined as part of the normal SPF by 
   recording the "next-next-hop" for each destination in addition to 
   the normal next-hop. 

   Notice that with this technique only one level of encapsulation is 
   needed, and that it is possible to repair ANY failure regardless of 
   link metrics and any asymmetry that may be present in the network. 
   The only exception to this is where the failure was a single point 
   of failure that partitioned the network, in which case ANY repair is 
   clearly impossible. 

3.2    Link Failure 

   The normal mode of operation of the network would be to assume 
   router failure. However, where some destinations are only reachable 
   through the failed router, it is desirable that an attempt be made 
   to repair to those destinations by assuming that only a link failure 
   has occurred. 

   To perform a link repair, S encapsulates to Ps (i.e. it instructs 
   the network to deliver the packet to P not-via S). All of the 
   neighbors of S will have calculated a path to Ps in case S itself 
   had failed. S could therefore give the packet to any of its 
   neighbors (except, of course, P). However, S should preferably send 
   the encapsulated packet on the shortest available path to P. This 
   path is calculated by running an SPF with the link SP failed. Note 
   that this may again be an incremental calculation, which can 
   terminate when address Ps has been reattached. 

   It is necessary to consider the behavior of IPFRR solutions when a 
   link repair is attempted in the presence of node failure. In its 
   simplest form the not-via IPFRR solution prevents the formation of 
   loops forming as a result of mutual repair, by never providing a 
   repair path for a not-via address. Referring to Figure 2, if A was 
   the neighbor of P that was on the link repair path from S to P, and 
   P itself had failed, the repaired packet from S would arrive at A 
   encapsulated to Ps. A would have detected that the AP link had 
   failed and would normally attempt to repair the packet. However, no 
   repair path is provided for any not-via address, and so A would be 
   forced to drop the packet, thus preventing the formation of loop. 



 
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3.3    Multi-homed Prefix 

   A multi-homed Prefix (MHP) is a prefix that is reachable via more 
   than one router in the network. Some of these may be repairable 
   using LFAs as described in [LFA]. Only those without such a repair 
   need be considered here. 

   When IPFRR router S (Figure 3) discovers that P has failed, it needs 
   to send packets addressed to the MHP X, which is normally reachable 
   through P, to an alternate router, which is still able to reach X. 

   X                          X                          X 
   |                          |                          | 
   |                          |                          | 
   |                Sp        |Pb                        | 
   Z...............S----------P----------B...............Y 
                            Ps|Pc      Bp    
                              | 
                            Cp| 
                              C 

                Figure 3: Multi-homed Prefixes 
    

   S should choose the closest router that can reach X during the 
   failure as the alternate router. S determines which router to use as 
   the alternate while running the SPF with P failed. This is 
   accomplished by the normal process of re-attaching a leaf node to 
   the core topology (this is sometimes known as a "partial SPF"). 

   First, consider the case where the shortest alternate path to X is 
   via Z. S can reach Z without using the failed router P. However, S 
   cannot just send the packet towards Z, because the other routers in 
   the network will not be aware of the failure of P, and may loop the 
   packet back to S. S therefore encapsulates the packet to Z (using a 
   normal address for Z). When Z receives the encapsulated packet it 
   removes the encapsulation and forwards the packet to X.  

   Now consider the case where the shortest alternate path to X is via 
   Y, which S reaches via P and B. To reach Y, S must first repair the 
   packet to B using the normal not-via repair mechanism. To do this S 
   encapsulates the packet for X to Bp. When B receives the packet it 
   removes the encapsulation and discovers that the packet is intended 
   for MHP X. The situation now reverts to the previous case, in which 
   the shortest alternate path does not require traversal of the 
   failure. B therefore follows the algorithm above and encapsulates 
   the packet to Y (using a normal address for Y). Y removes the 
   encapsulation and forwards the packet to X. 

 
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   It may be that the cost of reaching X using local delivery from the 
   alternate router (i.e. Z or Y) is greater than the cost of reaching 
   X via P. Under those circumstances, the alternate router would 
   normally forward to X via P, which would cause the IPFRR repair to 
   loop. To prevent the repair from looping the alternate router must 
   locally deliver a packet received via a repair encapsulation. This 
   may be specified by using a special address with the above 
   semantics. Note that only one such address is required per node. 

   Notice that using the not-via approach, only one level of 
   encapsulation was needed to repair MHPs to the alternate router. 

3.4    Installation of Repair Paths 

   The following algorithm is used by node S (Figure 3) to pre-
   calculate and install repair paths in the FIB, ready for immediate 
   use in the event of a failure. It is assumed that the not-via repair 
   paths have already been calculated as described above. 

   For each neighbor P, consider all destinations which are reachable 
   via P in the current topology:- 

     1. For all destinations with an ECMP or LFA repair (as described 
        in [LFA] ) install that repair. 

     2. For each destination (DR) that remains, identify in the current 
        topology the next-next-hop (H) (i.e. the neighbor of P that P 
        will use to send the packet to DR). This can be determined 
        during the normal SPF run by recording the additional 
        information. If S has a path to the not-via address Hp (H not 
        via P), install a not-via repair to Hp for the destination DR. 

     3. Identify all remaining destinations (M) which can still be 
        reached when node P fails. These will be multi-homed prefixes 
        that are not repairable by LFA, for which the normal attachment 
        node is P, or a router for which P is a single point of 
        failure, and have an alternative attachment point that is 
        reachable after P has failed. One way of determining these 
        destinations would be to run an SPF rooted at S with node P 
        removed, but an implementation may record alternative 
        attachment points during the normal SPF run. In either case, 
        the next best point of attachment can also be determined for 
        use in step (4) below. 

     4. For each multi-homed prefix (M) identified in step (3):- 

          a. Identify the new attachment node (as shown in Figure 3). 
             This may be:- 

              i. Y, where the next hop towards Y is P, or  
 
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             ii. Z, where the next hop towards Z is not P.  

          b. If the attachment node is Z, install the repair for M as a 
             tunnel to Z' (where Z' is the address of Z that is used to 
             force local forwarding). 

          c. For the subset of prefixes (M) that remain (having 
             attachment point Y), install the repair path previously 
             installed for destination Y. 

     5. For each destination (DS) that remains, install a not-via 
        repair to Ps (P not via S). Note, these are destinations for 
        which node P is a single point of failure, and can only be 
        repaired by assuming that the apparent failure of node P was 
        simply a failure of the S-P link. Note that, if available, a 
        downstream path to P may be used for such a repair. This cannot 
        generate a persistent loop in the event of the failure of node 
        P, but if one neighbor of P uses a not-via repair and another 
        uses a downstream path, it is possible for a packet sent on the 
        downstream path to be returned to the sending node inside a 
        not-via encapsulation. Since packets destined to not-via 
        addresses are not repaired, the packet will be dropped after 
        executing a single turn loop.  

4.   Compound failures 

4.1    Shared Risk Link Groups 

   A Shared Risk Link Group (SRLG) is a set of links whose failure can 
   be caused by a single action such as a conduit cut or line card 
   failure. When repairing the failure of a link that is a member of an 
   SRLG, it must be assumed that all the other links that are also 
   members of the SRLG have also failed. Consequently, any repair path 
   must be computed to avoid not just the adjacent link, but also all 
   the links which are members of the same SRLG. 

   In Figure 4 below, the links S-P and A-B are both members of 
   SRLG "a". The semantics of the not-via address Ps changes from 
   simply "P not-via the link S-P" to be "P not-via the link S-P or any 
   other link with which S-P shares an SRLG" In Figure 4 this is the 
   links that are members of SRLG "a". I.e. links S-P and A-B. Since 
   the information about SRLG membership of all links is available in 
   the Link State Database, all nodes computing routes to the not-via 
   address Ps can infer these semantics, and perform the computation by 
   failing all the links in the SRLG when running the iSPF. 

   Note that it is not necessary for S to consider repairs to any other 
   nodes attached to members of the SRLG (such as B). It is sufficient 
   for S to repair to the other end of the adjacent link (P in this 
   case). 
 
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                a   Ps  
           S----------P---------D 
           |          | 
           |    a     | 
           A----------B 
           |          | 
           |          | 
           C----------E 
             

          Figure 4: Shared Risk Link Group 
 
   In some cases, it may be that the links comprising the SRLG occur in 
   series on the path from S to the destination D, as shown in Figure 
   5. In this case, multiple consecutive repairs may be necessary. S 
   will first repair to Ps, then P will repair to Dp. In both cases, 
   because the links concerned are members of SRLG "a" the paths are 
   computed to avoid all members of SRLG "a". 

 
                a   Ps    a   Dp  
           S----------P---------D 
           |          |         | 
           |    a     |         | 
           A----------B         | 
           |          |         | 
           |          |         | 
           C----------E---------F 
             

           Figure 5: Shared Risk Link Group members in series 
 
   While the use of multiple repairs in series introduces some 
   additional overhead, these semantics avoid the potential 
   combinatorial explosion of not-via addresses that could otherwise 
   occur. 

   Note that although multiple repairs are used, only a single level of 
   encapsulation is required. This is because the first repair packet 
   is de-capsulated before the packet is re-encapsulated using the not-
   via address corresponding to the far side of the next link which is 
   a member of the same SRLG. In some cases the de-capsulation and re-
   encapsulation takes place (at least notionally) at a single node, 
   while in other cases, these functions may be performed by different 
   nodes. This scenario is illustrated in Figure 6 below. 




 
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                a   Ps              a  Dg  
           S----------P---------G--------D 
           |          |         |        | 
           |    a     |         |        | 
           A----------B         |        | 
           |          |         |        | 
           |          |         |        | 
           C----------E---------F--------H 
             

           Figure 6: Shared Risk Link Group members in series 
 
   In this case, S first encapsulates to Ps, and node P decapsulates 
   the packet and forwards it "native" to G using its normal FIB entry 
   for destination D. G then repairs the packet to Dg. 

   It can be shown that such multiple repairs can never form a loop 
   because each repair causes the packet to move closer to its 
   destination. 

   It is often the case that a single link may be a member of multiple 
   SRLGs, and those SRLG may not be isomorphic. This is illustrated in 
   Figure 7 below. 

                ab  Ps              a  Dg  
           S----------P---------G--------D 
           |          |         |        | 
           |    a     |         |        | 
           A----------B         |        | 
           |          |         |        | 
           |    b     |         |   b    | 
           C----------E---------F--------H 
           |          | 
           |          | 
           J----------K 
             

           Figure 7: Multiple Shared Risk Link Groups 
    

   The link SP is a member of SRLGs "a" and "b". When a failure of the 
   link SP is detected, it must be assumed that BOTH SRLGs have failed. 
   Therefore the not-via path to Ps must be computed by failing all 
   links which are members of SRLG "a" or SRLG "b". I.e. the semantics 
   of Ps is now "P not-via any links which are members of any of the 
   SRLGs of which link SP is a member". This is illustrated in Figure 8 
   below. 


 
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                ab  Ps              a  Dg  
           S----/-----P---------G---/----D 
           |          |         |        | 
           |    a     |         |        | 
           A----/-----B         |        | 
           |          |         |        | 
           |    b     |         |   b    | 
           C----/-----E---------F---/----H 
           |          | 
           |          | 
           J----------K 
             

   Figure 8: Topology used for repair computation for link S-P 
    

   In this case, the repair path to Ps will be S-A-C-J-K-E-B-P. It may 
   appear that there is no path to D because GD is a member of SRLG "a" 
   and FH is a member of SRLG "b". This is true if BOTH SRLGs "a" and 
   "b" have in fact failed. But that would be an instance of multiple 
   uncorrelated failures which are out of scope for this design. In 
   practice it is likely that there is only a single failure, i.e. 
   either SRLG "a" or SRLG "b" has failed, but not both. These two 
   possibilities are indistinguishable from the point of view of the 
   repairing router S and so it must repair on the assumption that both 
   are unavailable. However, each link repair is considered 
   independently. The repair to Ps delivers the packet to P which then 
   forwards the packet to G. When the packet arrives at G, if SRLG "a" 
   has failed it will be repaired around the path G-F-H-D. This is 
   illustrated in Figure 9 below. If, on the other hand, SRLG "b" has 
   failed, link GD will still be available. In this case the packet 
   will be delivered as normal across the link GD.  

                ab  Ps              a  Dg  
           S----/-----P---------G---/----D 
           |          |         |        | 
           |    a     |         |        | 
           A----/-----B         |        | 
           |          |         |        | 
           |    b     |         |   b    | 
           C----------E---------F--------H 
           |          | 
           |          | 
           J----------K 
             

   Figure 9: Topology used for repair computation for link G-D 
    

 
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   A repair strategy that assumes the worst-case failure for each link 
   can often result in longer repair paths than necessary. In cases 
   where only a single link fails, rather than the full SRLG, this 
   strategy may occasionally fail to identify a repair even though a 
   viable repair path exists in the network. The use of sub-optimal 
   repair paths is an inevitable consequence of this compromise 
   approach. The failure to identify any repair is a serious 
   deficiency, but is a rare occurrence in a robustly designed network. 
   This problem can be addressed by:- 

     1. Reporting that the link in question is irreparable, so that the 
        network designer can take appropriate action. 

     2. Modifying the design of the network to avoid this possibility. 

     3. Using some form of SRLG diagnostic (for example, by running BFD 
        over alternate repair paths) to determine which SRLG member(s) 
        has actually failed and using this information to select an 
        appropriate pre-computed repair path. However, aside from the 
        complexity of performing the diagnostics, this requires 
        multiple not-via addresses per interface, which has poor 
        scaling properties. 

4.1.1      Use of LFAs with SRLGs 

   Section 4.1 above describes the repair of links which are members of 
   one or more SRLGs. LFAs can be used for the repair of such links 
   provided that any other link with which S-P shares an SRLG is 
   avoided when computing the LFA. This is described for the simple 
   case of "local-SRLGs" in [LFA]. 

 
4.2    Local Area Networks 

   LANs are a special type of SRLG and are solved using the SRLG 
   mechanisms outlined above. With all SRLGs there is a trade-off 
   between the sophistication of the fault detection and the size of 
   the SRLG. Protecting against link failure of the LAN link(s) is 
   relatively straightforward, but as with all fast reroute mechanisms, 
   the problem becomes more complex when it is desired to protect 
   against the possibility of failure of the nodes attached to the LAN 
   as well as the LAN itself.  

                                                       






 
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                        +--------------Q------C 
                        |                          
                        | 
                        | 
      A--------S-------(N)-------------P------B 
                        |                            
                        |       
                        |                             
                        +--------------R------D 
                                                     
            Figure 10: Local Area Networks 
    

   Consider the LAN shown in Figure 10. For connectivity purposes, we 
   consider that the LAN is represented by the pseudonode (N). To 
   provide IPFRR protection, S must run a connectivity check to each of 
   its protected LAN adjacencies P, Q, and R, using, for example BFD 
   [BFD]. 

   When S discovers that it has lost connectivity to P, it is unsure 
   whether the failure is: 

     . its own interface to the LAN, 

     . the LAN itself,  

     . the LAN interface of P,  

     . the node P. 

4.2.1      Simple LAN Repair 

   A simple approach to LAN repair is to consider the LAN and all of 
   its connected routers as a single SRLG. Thus, the address P not via 
   the LAN (Pl) would require P to be reached not-via any router 
   connected to the LAN. This is shown in Figure 11. 













 
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                                    Ql       Cl 
                        +-------------Q--------C 
                        |              Qc 
                        | 
       As       Sl      |           Pl       Bl 
      A--------S-------(N)------------P--------B 
             Sa         |              Pb      
                        |       
                        |           Rl       Dl  
                        +-------------R--------D 
                                       Rd   
    
    
            Figure 11: Local Area Networks - LAN SRLG 
    

   In this case, when S detected that P had failed it would send 
   traffic reached via P and B to B not-via the LAN or any router 
   attached to the LAN (i.e. to Bl). Any destination only reachable 
   through P would be addressed to P not-via the LAN or any router 
   attached to the LAN (except of course P). 

   Whilst this approach is simple, it assumes that a large portion of 
   the network adjacent to the failure has also failed. This will 
   result in the use of sub-optimal repair paths and in some cases the 
   inability to identify a viable repair. 

4.2.2      LAN Component Repair 

   In this approach, possible failures are considered at a finer 
   granularity, but without the use of diagnostics to identify the 
   specific component that has failed. Because S is unable to diagnose 
   the failure it must repair traffic sent through P and B, to B not-
   via P,N (i.e. not via P and not via N), on the conservative 
   assumption that both the entire LAN and P have failed. Destinations 
   for which P is a single point of failure must as usual be sent to P 
   using an address that avoids the interface by which P is reached 
   from S, i.e. to P not-via N. Similarly for routers Q and R. 

   Notice that each router that is connected to a LAN must, as usual, 
   advertise one not-via address for each neighbor. In addition, each 
   router on the LAN must advertise an extra address not via the 
   pseudonode (N).  

   Notice also that each neighbor of a router connected to a LAN must 
   advertise two not-via addresses, the usual one not via the neighbor 
   and an additional one, not via either the neighbor or the 
   pseudonode. The required set of LAN address assignments is shown in 
   Figure 12 below. Each router on the LAN, and each of its neighbors, 
 
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   is advertising exactly one address more than it would otherwise have 
   advertised if this degree of connectivity had been achieved using 
   point-to-point links. 

                                  Qs Qp Qc    Cqn 
                        +--------------Q---------C 
                        |         Qr Qn        Cq  
                        | 
       Asn   Sa Sp Sq   |         Ps Pq Pb    Bpn 
      A--------S-------(N)-------------P---------B        
       As       Sr Sn   |         Pr Pn        Bp 
                        |       
                        |         Rs Rp Pd    Drn   
                        +--------------R---------D 
                                  Rq Rn        Dr 
    
    
            Figure 12: Local Area Networks 
    

4.2.3      LAN Repair Using Diagnostics 

   A more specific LAN repair can be undertaken by using diagnostics. 
   In order to explicitly diagnose the failed network component, S 
   correlates the connectivity reports from P and one or more of the 
   other routers on the LAN, in this case, Q and R. If it lost 
   connectivity to P alone, it could deduce that the LAN was still 
   functioning and that the fault lay with either P, or the interface 
   connecting P to the LAN. It would then repair to B not via P (and P 
   not-via N for destinations for which P is a single point of failure) 
   in the usual way. If S lost connectivity to more than one router on 
   the LAN, it could conclude that the fault lay only with the LAN, and 
   could repair to P, Q and R not-via N, again in the usual way. 

5.   Multiple Simultaneous Failures 

   The failure of a node or an SRLG can result in multiple correlated 
   failures, which may be repaired using the mechanisms described in 
   this design. This design will not correctly repair a set of 
   unanticipated multiple failures. Such failures are out of scope of 
   this design and are for further study. 

   It is important that the routers in the network are able to 
   discriminate between these two classes of failure, and take 
   appropriate action.   




 
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6.   Optimizing not-via computations using LFAs 

   If repairing node S has an LFA to the repair endpoint it is not 
   necessary for any router to perform the incremental SPF with the 
   link SP removed in order to compute the route to the not-via address 
   Ps. This is because the correct routes will already have been 
   computed as a result of the SPF on the base topology. Node S can 
   signal this condition to all other routers by including a bit in its 
   LSP or LSA associated with each LFA protected link. Routers 
   computing not-via routes can then omit the running of the iSPF for 
   links with this bit set. 

   When running the iSPF for a particular link AB, the calculating 
   router first checks whether the link AB is present in the existing 
   SPT. If the link is not present in the SPT, no further work is 
   required. This check is a normal part of the iSPF computation. 

   If the link is present in the SPT, this optimization introduces a 
   further check to determine whether the link is marked as protected 
   by an LFA in the direction in which the link appears in the SPT. If 
   so the iSPF need not be performed. For example, if the link appears 
   in the SPT in the direction A->B and A has indicated that the link 
   AB is protected by an LFA no further action is required for this 
   link. 

   If the receipt of this information is delayed, the correct operation 
   of the protocol is not compromised provided that the necessity to 
   perform a not-via computation is re-evaluated whenever new 
   information arrives.  

   This optimization is not particularly beneficial to nodes close to 
   the repair since, as has been observed above, the computation for 
   nodes on the LFA path is trivial. However, for nodes upstream of the 
   link SP for which S-P is in the path to P, there is a significant 
   reduction in the computation required. 

7.   Multicast 

   Multicast traffic can be repaired in a similar way to unicast. The 
   multicast forwarder is able to use the not-via address to which the 
   multicast packet was addressed as an indication of the expected 
   receive interface and hence to correctly run the required RPF check. 

   In some cases, all the destinations, including the repair endpoint, 
   are repairable by an LFA. In this case, all unicast traffic may be 
   repaired without encapsulation. Multicast traffic still requires 
   encapsulation, but for the nodes on the LFA repair path the 
   computation of the not-via forwarding entry is unnecessary since, by 
   definition, their normal path to the repair endpoint is not via the 
   failure. 
 
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   A more complete description of multicast operation will be provided 
   in a future version of this draft. 

8.   Fast Reroute in an MPLS LDP Network. 

   Not-via addresses are IP addresses and LDP [LDP] will distribute 
   labels for them in the usual way. The not-via repair mechanism may 
   therefore be used to provide fast re-route in an MPLS network by 
   first pushing the label which the repair endpoint uses to forward 
   the packet, and then pushing the label corresponding to the not-via 
   address needed to effect the repair. Referring once again to Figure 
   1, if S has a packet destined for D that it must reach via P and B, 
   S first pushes B's label for D. S then pushes the label that its 
   next hop to Bp needs to reach Bp. 

   Note that in an MPLS LDP network it is necessary for S to have the 
   repair endpoint's label for the destination. When S is effecting a 
   link repair it already has this. In the case of a node repair, S 
   either needs to set up a directed LDP session with each of its 
   neighbor's neighbors, or it needs to use the next-next hop label 
   distribution mechanism proposed in [NNHL]. 

9.   Encapsulation 

   Any IETF specified IP in IP encapsulation may be used to carry a 
   not-via repair. IP in IP [IPIP], GRE [GRE] and L2TPv3 [L2TPv3], all 
   have the necessary and sufficient properties. The requirement is 
   that both the encapsulating router and the router to which the 
   encapsulated packet is addressed have a common ability to process 
   the chosen encapsulation type. 

   When an MPLS LDP network is being protected, the encapsulation would 
   normally be an additional MPLS label. In an MPLS enabled IP network 
   an MPLS label may be used in place of an IP in IP encapsulation in 
   the case above. 

10.    Routing Extensions 

   IPFRR requires IGP extensions. Each IPFRR router that is directly 
   connected to a protected network component must advertise a not-via 
   address for that component. This must be advertised in such a way 
   that the association between the protected component (link, router 
   or SRLG) and the not-via address can be determined by the other 
   routers in the network. 

   It is necessary that not-via capable routers advertise in the IGP 
   that they will calculate not-via routes. 

   It is necessary for routers to advertise the type of encapsulation 
   that they support (MPLS, GRE [GRE], L2TPv3 etc). However, the 
 
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   deployment of mixed IP encapsulation types within a network is 
   discouraged. 

11.    Incremental Deployment 

   Incremental deployment is supported by excluding routers that are 
   not calculating not-via routes (as indicated by their capability 
   information flooded with their link state information) from the base 
   topology used for the computation of repair paths. In that way 
   repairs may be steered around islands of routers that are not IPFRR 
   capable. 

   Routers that are protecting a network component need to have the 
   capability to encapsulate and de-capsulate packets. However, routers 
   that are on the repair path only need to be capable of calculating 
   not-via paths and including the not-via addresses in their FIB i.e. 
   these routers do not need any changes to their forwarding mechanism.  

12.    IANA considerations 

   There are no IANA considerations that arise from this draft. 

13.    Security Considerations 

   The repair endpoints present vulnerability in that they might be 
   used as a method of disguising the delivery of a packet to a point 
   in the network. The primary method of protection should be through 
   the use of a private address space for the not-via addresses. These 
   addresses MUST NOT be advertised outside the area, and SHOULD be 
   filtered at the network entry points. In addition, a mechanism might 
   be developed that allowed the use of the mild security available 
   through the use of a key [GRE] [L2TPv3]. With the deployment of such 
   mechanisms, the repair endpoints would not increase the security 
   risk beyond that of existing IP tunnel mechanisms. 

   An attacker may attempt to overload a router by addressing an 
   excessive traffic load to the de-capsulation endpoint. Typically, 
   routers take a 50% performance penalty in decapsulating a packet. 
   The attacker could not be certain that the router would be impacted, 
   and the extremely high volume of traffic needed, would easily be 
   detected as an anomaly. 

   If an attacker were able to influence the availability of a link, 
   they could cause the network to invoke the not-via repair mechanism. 
   A network protected by not-via IPFRR is less vulnerable to such an 
   attack than a network that undertook a full convergence in response 
   to a link up/down event. 

Intellectual Property Statement 
 
 
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   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. 

Disclaimer of Validity 
 
   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, THE 
   IETF TRUST 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. 

Copyright statement 
 
   Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007). 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. 

Normative References 
 
   There are no normative references. 

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

   [BFD]         Katz, D., Ward, D., "Bidirectional Forwarding 
                 Detection", < draft-ietf-bfd-base-06.txt>, 
 
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                 March 2007, (work in progress). 

   [GRE]         S. Hanks, T. Li, D. Farinacci, P. Traina. 
                 "Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)", 
                 RFC 1701,. October 1994. 

   [IPFRR]       Shand, M., Bryant, S., "IP Fast-reroute 
                 Framework", 
                 <draft-ietf-rtgwg-ipfrr-framework-07.txt>, 
                 June 2007, (work in progress). 

   [IPIP]        Perkins, C., "IP encapsulation within IP", RFC 
                 2003, October 1996 

   [ISPF]        McQuillan, J., I. Richer and E. Rosen, "ARPANET 
                 Routing Algorithm Improvements", BBN Technical 
                 Report 3803, April 1978. 

   [L2TPv3]      J. Lau, Ed., et al., "Layer Two Tunneling 
                 Protocol - Version 3 (L2TPv3)", RFC 3931, 
                 March 2005. 

   [LDP]         Andersson, L., Doolan, P., Feldman, N., 
                 Fredette, A. and B. Thomas, 
                 "LDP Specification", RFC 3036, January 2001. 

   [LFA]         A. Atlas, Ed, A. Zinin, Ed, "Basic 
                 Specification for IP Fast-Reroute: Loop-free 
                 Alternates", 
                 <draft-ietf-rtgwg-ipfrr-spec-base-06.txt>, 
                 March 2007, (work in progress). 

   [NNHL]        Shen, N., et al "Discovering LDP Next-Nexthop 
                 Labels", 
                 <draft-shen-mpls-ldp-nnhop-label-02.txt>, 
                 May 2005, (work in progress) 

   [RFC2119]     Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to 
                 Indicate Requirement Levels", RFC 2119 
                 (BCP 14), March 1997 

 
Acknowledgements 
 
   The authors acknowledge the contributions of the following people to 
   this work:- Alia Atlas, John Harper.  

Authors' Addresses 
 

 
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   Stewart Bryant 
   Cisco Systems, 
   250, Longwater Avenue, 
   Green Park, 
   Reading, RG2 6GB, 
   United Kingdom.             Email: stbryant@cisco.com 

   Stefano Previdi 
   Cisco Systems 
   Via Del Serafico, 200 
   00142 Rome, 
   Italy                      Email: sprevidi@cisco.com 

   Mike Shand 
   Cisco Systems, 
   250, Longwater Avenue, 
   Green Park, 
   Reading, RG2 6GB, 
   United Kingdom.             Email: mshand@cisco.com 































 
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