One document matched: draft-nguyen-bgp-ipv6-vpn-01.txt

Differences from draft-nguyen-bgp-ipv6-vpn-00.txt







INTERNET DRAFT                                             Tri T. Nguyen
<draft-nguyen-bgp-ipv6-vpn-01.txt>                        Gerard Gastaud
                                                               Dirk Ooms
                                                        Jeremy De Clercq
                                                                 Alcatel

                                                           February 2001
                                                    Expires August, 2001

    BGP-MPLS VPN extension for IPv6 VPN over an IPv4 infrastructure



Status of this Memo

   This document is an Internet-Draft and is in  full  conformance  with
   all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents  of  the  Internet  Engineering
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other
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   ftp.ietf.org (US East Coast), or ftp.isi.edu (US West Coast).

   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This document describes a method by which a Service Provider may  use
   an MPLS enabled IPv4 backbone to provide VPNs for its IPv6 customers.
   This proposal makes use of the method to  build  network  based  VPNs
   described  in  the  RFC2547-Bis Internet draft [2547Bis]. In BGP/MPLS
   VPN, MPLS is used for forwarding packets over the backbone,  and  BGP
   is  used  for  distributing  VPN  routes  over  the  service provider
   backbone. This document proposes to use one of the defined  encodings
   for the Route Distinguisher to support an IPv6 VPN address family. It
   defines an encoding for the SAFI-field in the case  of  labeled  VPN-
   IPv6 routes.



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   This document assumes that the reader  is  familiar  with  [2547Bis].
   Unless explicitly documented herein, [2547Bis] applies.


1. Introduction

   This  document  adopts  the  definitions,  acronyms  and   mechanisms
   described  in  [2547bis].  Unless otherwise stated, the mechanisms of
   [2547bis] apply and will not be re-described here.

   A VPN is said to be an IPv6 VPN, when each site of this VPN  is  IPv6
   capable  and is natively connected over an interface or sub-interface
   to the ISP backbone via a PE. A site belonging to  an  IPv6  VPN  may
   have  access  to the 6Internet, but this is outside the scope of this
   document.

   A site may be both IPv4 and IPv6, but the logical interface on  which
   the   packet   arrives   determines   the  version  (without  looking
   necessarily inside a received packet).

   The PE being dual stack has full IPv4  capabilities,  must   maintain
   IPv6  VRFs  for  its  IPv6 sites and must be able to encapsulate IPv6
   datagrams in MPLS frames to be sent into the MPLS core  network.  The
   other  backbone  Network  Elements  are  assumed  to be IPv4 only. In
   principle the backbone network could be IPv6-capable, but this is not
   within the scope of this document.

   BGP is used to cause routes from IPv6 VPN  sites  to  be  distributed
   over  the backbone to each other PE router connected to a site of the
   same IPv6 VPN.

   As it is done for IPv4 VPNs [2547bis], we allow each IPv6 VPN to have
   its  own  IPv6  address  space,  which means that a given address may
   denote different systems in different  VPNs  (site-local  addresses).
   This  requires  the  definition of a new address family, the VPN-IPv6
   Address Family, in a fashion similar to the VPN-IPv4  address  family
   definition given by [2547bis].

2. The VPN Address Family

   The BGP Multiprotocol Extensions [BGP-MP] allow BGP to  carry  routes
   from  multiple  "address  families".   We introduce the notion of the
   "VPN-IPv6 address family", that is similar to  the  VPN-IPv4  address
   family in [2547bis].

2.1 The VPN-IPv6 Address Family

   A VPN-IPv6 address is a 24-byte quantity, beginning  with  an  8-byte



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   "Route Distinguisher(RD)" and ending with a 16-byte IPv6 address.  If
   two VPNs use the  same  IPv6  address  prefix  (effectively  denoting
   different  physical  systems),  the  PEs  translate these into unique
   VPN-IPv6 address prefixes using different RDs. This ensures  that  if
   the  same  address  is  used in two different VPNs, it is possible to
   install two completely different routes to that address, one for each
   VPN.

   The purpose of the RD is solely  to  allow  one  to  create  distinct
   routes  to  a common IPv6 address prefix, similarly to the RD defined
   in [2547bis]. As it is possible per [2547bis], the  RD  can  also  be
   used  to  create  multiple  different routes to the very same system.
   This can be achieved by creating two different VPN-IPv6  routes  that
   have  the  same  IPv6  part,  but  different  RDs. This allows BGP to
   install multiple different routes to  the  same  system,  and  allows
   policy to be used to decide which packets use which route.

   Note that VPN-IPv6 addresses and IPv6 addresses are always considered
   by BGP to be incomparable.

   A VRF may have multiple equal-cost VPN-IPv6 routes for a single  IPv6
   address  prefix.   When  a  packet's  destination  address is matched
   against a VPN-IPv6 route, only the IPv6 part is actually matched.

   When a site is IPv4- and IPv6-capable, the same RD can  be  used  for
   the advertisement of IPv6 addresses or IPv4 addresses.

2.2. Encoding of Route Distinguishers

   The RDs are encoded as per [2547bis]:

   - Type Field: 2 bytes

   - Value Field: 6 bytes

   The interpretation of the Value field depends on  the  value  of  the
   Type  field.  At  the present time, [2547bis] defines 2 values of the
   type field. Type 0 is recommended for use with IPv6.

   - Type 0: The Value field consists of two subfields:

      * Administrator subfield: 2 bytes, it contains an ASN

      * Assigned Number subfield: 4 bytes


3. VPN-IPv6 route distribution




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3.1. Route Distribution Among PEs by BGP

   If two sites of a VPN attach to PEs which are in the same  Autonomous
   System,  the  PEs can distribute VPN routes to each other by means of
   an IBGP connection between them.  Alternatively,  each  can  have  an
   IBGP  connection  to a route reflector. For an IPv6 VPN, this is done
   as mandated by [2547bis].

   A PE  being dual stack has at least one IPv6 and one IPv4 address. It
   may have more, and in particular it must have an IPv4-compatible IPv6
   address (that address is based on its existing IPv4 address)  as  one
   of  its  IPv6 addresses. When a PE router distributes a VPN route via
   BGP, it must use its IPv4-compatible IPv6 address as  the  "BGP  next
   hop".   This  address  is  encoded  as  a VPN address with a RD of 0.
   ([BGP-MP] requires that the next hop address be in the  same  address
   family as the NLRI.)

   It also assigns and distributes an  MPLS  label  with  the  IPv6  VPN
   route.  (Essentially,  PE  routers  distribute  not  VPN  routes, but
   Labeled VPN routes [MPLS-BGP]).  When the  PE  processes  a  received
   MPLS  frame  that has this label at the top of the stack, the PE will
   pop the stack, and process the  packet  appropriately  (i.e.  in  the
   corresponding VPN context).

   Note that the use of BGP-distributed MPLS labels is only possible  if
   there  is  a  label switched path between the PE router that installs
   the BGP-distributed route and the PE router which is the BGP next hop
   of that route.

   An MPLS label-switched path can carry IPv4 and IPv6 packets. The  top
   LSP  terminates  at the PE and the bottom label directs the packet to
   the proper forwarding table or outgoing customer interface.

3.2. Route Target

   The use of route target is specified in  [2547bis]. Encoding  of  the
   extended    community  attribute  is  defined  in  [BGP-EXTCOM].  The
   encoding recommended for IPv6 VPN is:

   Type : 0x0002, administrator field  =  2-byte  ASN,  assigned  number
   field is 4 octets.

4. How VPN NLRI is carried in BGP

   The BGP Multiprotocol Extensions [BGP-MP]  are  used  to  encode  the
   NLRI.  The AFI and SAFI fields are set as follows:

   - AFI: 2; for IPv6



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   - SAFI: 129; for MPLS labeled VPN-IPv6

   In order for two BGP speakers to exchange labeled VPN NLRI, they must
   use BGP Capabilities Negotiation to ensure that they both are capable
   of properly processing such NLRI.   This  is  done  as  specified  in
   [BGP-MP],  by  using  capability code 1 (multiprotocol BGP), with AFI
   and SAFI fields according to above.

   The labeled VPN-IPv6 NLRI itself is encoded as  specified  in  [MPLS-
   BGP],  but  where  the prefix consists of an 8-byte RD followed by an
   IPv6 prefix.

5. Inter-Provider Backbones

   The same mechanisms described in [2547bis] can be used and  have  the
   same scalability properties.

6. Accessing the Internet from a VPN

   The methods proposed by [2547bis] to access the global  Internet  can
   be  used  in  the  context of IPv6 VPNs and the global IPv6 Internet.
   Note however that if the IPv6 packets destined for  the  global  IPv6
   Internet  need  to  traverse  the  SP's  IPv4  backbone, they must be
   tunnelled through the IPv4 backbone.

7. Security

   The same security concerns as in [2547bis] are applicable.

8. Quality of Service

   [2547bis] is applicable.

9. References

   [2547Bis] Rosen et al., draft-rosen-rfc2547bis-02.txt, July 2000

   [BGP-MP] Bates, Chandra, Katz, and Rekhter, "Multiprotocol Extensions
   for BGP4", February 1998, RFC 2283

   [BGP-EXTCOMM]  Ramachandra,   Tappan,   "BGP   Extended   Communities
   Attribute", February 2000, work in progress

   [BGP-ORF] Chen, Rekhter, "Cooperative Route Filtering Capability  for
   BGP-4", March 2000, work in progress

   [BGP-RFSH] Chen, "Route Refresh Capability for  BGP-4",  March  2000,
   work in progress



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   [BGP-RR]  Bates  and  Chandrasekaran,  "BGP  Route   Reflection:   An
   alternative to full mesh IBGP", RFC 2796, April 2000

   [IPSEC] Kent and Atkinson, "Security Architecture  for  the  Internet
   Protocol", November 1998, RFC 2401

   [MPLS-ARCH] Rosen,  Viswanathan,  and  Callon,  "Multiprotocol  Label
   Switching Architecture", August 1999, work in progress

   [MPLS-BGP] Rekhter and Rosen, "Carrying Label Information  in  BGP4",
   January 2000, work in progress

   [MPLS-LDP]  Andersson,  Doolan,  Feldman,  Fredette,   Thomas,   "LDP
   Specification", October 1999, work in progress

   [MPLS-ENCAPS] Rosen, Rekhter, Tappan, Farinacci,  Fedorkow,  Li,  and
   Conta, "MPLS Label Stack Encoding", October 1999, work in progress

10. Authors' Addresses

   Tri T. Nguyen
   Alcatel
   Level 20 North Point Tower, 100 Miller Street,
   North Sydney NSW 2060, Australia
   E-mail: tri.t.nguyen@alcatel.com

   Gerard Gastaud
   Alcatel
   10 rue Latecoere, BP 57, 78141 Velizy Cedex, France
   E-mail: gerard.gastaud@alcatel.fr

   Dirk Ooms
   Alcatel
   Fr. Wellesplein 1, 2018 Antwerpen, Belgium
   E-mail: dirk.ooms@alcatel.be

   Jeremy De Clercq
   Alcatel
   Fr. Wellesplein 1, 2018 Antwerpen, Belgium
   E-mail: jeremy.de_clercq@alcatel.be











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