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Connecting Disparate Data Center/PBB/Campus TRILL sites using BGP
draft-balaji-trill-over-ip-multi-level-02

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Expired".
Authors Bhargav Bhikkaji, Balaji Venkat Venkataswami , Narayana Perumal Swamy
Last updated 2012-02-28
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draft-balaji-trill-over-ip-multi-level-02
TRILL Working Group                                     Bhargav Bhikkaji
Internet-draft                                Balaji Venkat Venkataswami
Intended Status: Proposed Standard                Narayana Perumal Swamy
Expires: August 2012                                        DELL-Force10
                                                       February 25, 2012

   Connecting Disparate Data Center/PBB/Campus TRILL sites using BGP 
               draft-balaji-trill-over-ip-multi-level-02

Abstract

   There is a need to connect (a) TRILL based data centers or (b) TRILL
   based networks which provide Provider Backbone like functionalities
   or (c) Campus TRILL based networks over the WAN using one or more
   ISPs that provide regular IP+GRE or IP+MPLS transport. A few
   solutions have been proposed as in [1] in the recent past that have
   not looked at the PB-like functionality. These solutions have not
   dealt with the details as to how these services could be provided
   such that multiple TRILL sites can be inter-connected with issues
   like nick-name collisons for unicast (multicast is still TBD) being
   taken care of. It has been found that with extensions to BGP the
   problem statement which we will define below can be handled. Both
   control plane and data plane operations can be driven into the
   solution to make it seamlessly look at the entire set of TRILL sites
   as a single entity which then can be viewed as one single Layer 2
   cloud. MAC moves across TRILL sites and within TRILL sites can be
   realized. This document / proposal envisions the use of BGP-MAC-VPN
   vrfs both at the IP cloud PE devices and at the peripheral PEs within
   a TRILL site providing Provider Backbone like functionality. We deal
   in depth with the control plane and data plane particulars for
   unicast (multicast is still TBD) with nick-name election being taken
   care of as part of the solution.

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
   other groups may also distribute working documents as
   Internet-Drafts.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
 

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   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
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Copyright and License Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors. All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     1.1 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     1.2  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     1.2 Problem Statement  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       1.2.1 TRILL Data Centers requiring connectivity over WAN . . .  5
       1.2.2 Provider Backbone remote TRILL cloud requirements  . . .  6
       1.2.3 Campus TRILL network requirements  . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   2.  Architecture where the solution applies  . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     2.1 Proposed Solution  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       2.1.1 Control Plane  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
         2.1.1.1 Nickname Collision Solution  . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
         2.1.1.2 U-PE BGP-MAC-VPN VRFs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
         2.1.1.3 Control Plane explained in detail. . . . . . . . . . 11
       2.1.2 Corresponding Data plane for the above control plane
             example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
         2.1.2.1 Control plane for regular Campus and Data center
                 sites  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
         2.1.2.2 Other Data plane particulars.  . . . . . . . . . . . 13
       2.1.3 Encapsulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
 

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         2.1.3.1 IP + GRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
         2.1.3.2 IP + MPLS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     2.2 Other use cases  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     2.3 Novelty  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     2.4 Uniqueness and advantages  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
     2.5 Comparison with OTV and VPN4DC and other schemes . . . . . . 21
     2.6 Multi-pathing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
     2.7 TRILL extensions for BGP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
       2.7.0 Multi-level IS-IS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
       2.7.1 Format of the MAC-VPN NLRI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
       2.7.2. BGP MAC-VPN MAC Address Advertisement . . . . . . . . . 22
         2.7.2.1 Next hop field in MP_REACH_NLRI  . . . . . . . . . . 23
         2.7.2.2 Route Reflectors for scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
       2.7.3 Multicast related ideas  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   3  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
   4  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
   5  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
     5.1  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
     5.2  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
     A.1 Appendix I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

 

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1  Introduction

   There is a need to connect (a) TRILL based data centers or (b) TRILL
   based networks which provide Provider Backbone like functionalities
   or (c) Campus TRILL based networks over the WAN using one or more
   ISPs that provide regular IP+GRE or IP+MPLS transport. A few
   solutions have been proposed as in [1] in the recent past that have
   not looked at the Provider Backbone-like functionality. These
   solutions have not dealt with the details as to how these services
   could be provided such that multiple TRILL sites can be inter-
   connected with issues like nick-name collisions for unicast
   (multicast is still TBD) being taken care of. It has been found that
   with extensions to BGP the problem statement which we will define
   below can be well handled. Both control plane and data plane
   operations can be driven into the solution to make it seamlessly look
   at the entire set of TRILL sites as a single entity which then can be
   viewed as one single Layer 2 cloud. MAC moves across TRILL sites and
   within TRILL sites can be realized. This document / proposal
   envisions the use of BGP-MAC-VPN vrfs both at the IP cloud PE devices
   and at the peripheral PEs within a TRILL site providing Provider
   Backbone like functionality. We deal in depth with the control plane
   and data plane particulars for unicast (multicast is still TBD) with
   nick-name election being taken care of as part of the solution.

1.1 Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Janardhanan Pathangi, Anoop Ghanwani
   for their inputs for this proposal.

1.2  Terminology

   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].

   Legend :

   U-PE : User-near PE device. U-PEs are edge devices in the Customer
   site or tier-2 site. This is a Rbridge with BGP capabilities. It has
   VRF instances for each tenant it is connected to in the case of
   Provider-Backbone functionality use-case.

   U-Ps : core devices in the Customer site that do not directly
   interact with the Customer's Customer.

   N-PE : Network Transport PE device. This is a device with RBridge
   capabilities in the non-core facing side. On the core facing side it
   is a Layer 3 device supporting IP+GRE and/or IP+MPLS. On the non-core
 

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   facing side it has support for VRFs one for each TRILL site that it
   connects to. It runs BGP to convey the BGP-MAC-VPN VRF routes to its
   peer N-PEs. It also supports IGP on the core facing side like OSPF or
   IS-IS for Layer 3 and supports IP+GRE and/or IP+MPLS if need be.  A
   pseudo-interface representing the N-PE's connection to the Pseudo
   Level 2 area is provided at each N-PE and a forwarding adjacency is
   maintained between the near-end N-PE to its remote participating N-
   PEs pseudo-interface in the common Pseudo Level 2 area.

   N-P  : Network Transport core device. This device is IP and/or
   IP+MPLS core device that is part of the ISP / ISPs that provide the
   transport network that connect the disparate TRILL networks together.

1.2 Problem Statement

1.2.1 TRILL Data Centers requiring connectivity over WAN

        ____[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
       (              )     (            )     (              )
      (   TRILL Based  )   ( IP Core with )   (   TRILL Based  )
     (  Data Center Site) (  IP+GRE Encap  ) (  Data Center Site)
   [U-PEs]   (A)      [N-PE] or IP+MPLS  [N-PE]      (B)     [U-PE]
     (                  ) (  Encap Tunnels ) (                  )
      (                )   ( between N-PEs)   (                )
       (___[U-PE]_____)     (____________)     (____[U-PE]____)

   Figure 1.0 : TRILL based Data Center sites inter-connectivity.

   o Providing Layer 2 extension capabilities amongst different
   disparate data centers running TRILL.

   o Recognizing MAC Moves across data centers and within data centers
   to enjoin disparate sites to look and feel as one big Layer 2 cloud.

   o Provide a solution agnostic to the technology used in the service
   provider network

   o Provide a cost effective and simple solution to the above.

   o Provide auto-configured tunnels instead of pre-configured ones in
   the transport network.

   o Provide additional facilities as part of the transport network for
   eg., TE, QoS etc

   o Routing and forwarding state is to be maintained at the network
   edges and not within the site or the core of the transport network.
 

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   This requires minimization of the state explosion required to provide
   this solution.

   o So connectivity for end-customers is through U-PE onto N-PE onto
   remote-N-PE and onto remote U-PE.

1.2.2 Provider Backbone remote TRILL cloud requirements

        ____[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
       (              )     (            )     (              )
      (    Provider    )   ( IP Core with )   (   Provider     )
     ( Backbone TRILL   ) (  IP+GRE Encap  ) (  Backbone TRILL  )
   [U-PEs] Site (A)   [N-PE] or IP+MPLS  [N-PE]   Site (B)   [U-PE]
     (                  ) (  Encap Tunnels ) (                  )
      (                )   ( Between N-PEs)   (                )
       (___[U-PE]_____)     (____________)     (____[U-PE]____)

   Figure 2.0 : TRILL based Provider backbone sites inter-connectivity

   o Providing Layer 2 extension capabilities amongst different Provider
   Backbone Layer 2 clouds that need connectivity with each other.

   o Recognizing MAC Moves across Provider Backbone Layer 2 Clouds and
   within a single site Layer 2 Cloud to enjoin disparate sites to look
   and feel as one big Layer 2 Cloud.

   o Provide a solution agnostic to the technology used in the service
   provider network

   o Provide a cost effective and simple solution to the above.

   o Provide auto-configured tunnels instead of pre-configured ones in
   the transport network.

   o Provide additional facilities as part of the transport network for
   eg., TE, QoS etc

   o Routing and forwarding state is to be maintained at the network
   edges and not within the site or the core of the transport network.
   This requires minimization of the state explosion required to provide
   this solution.

   o These clouds could be part of the same provider but be far away
   from each other. The customers of these clouds could demand
   connectivity to their sites through these TRILL clouds. These TRILL
   clouds could offer Provider Layer 2 VLAN transport for each of their
   customers. Hence Provide a seamless connectivity wherever these sites
   are placed.
 

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   o So connectivity for end-customers is through U-PE onto N-PE onto
   remote-N-PE and onto remote U-PE.

1.2.3 Campus TRILL network requirements

        ____[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
       (              )     (            )     (              )
      (    Campus      )   ( IP Core with )   (     Campus     )
     (  TRILL Based     ) (  IP+GRE Encap  ) (    TRILL Based   )
   [U-PEs] Site (A)   [N-PE] or IP+MPLS  [N-PE]     Site (B) [U-PE]
     (                  ) (  Encap Tunnels ) (                  )
      (                )   ( between N-PEs)   (                )
       (___[U-PE]_____)     (____________)     (____[U-PE]____)

   Figure 3.0 : TRILL based Campus inter-connectivity

   o Providing Layer 2 extension capabilities amongst different
   disparate distantly located Campus Layer 2 clouds that need
   connectivity with each other.

   o Recognizing MAC Moves across these Campus Layer 2 clouds and within
   a single site Campus cloud to enjoin disparate sites to look and feel
   as one Big Layer 2 Cloud.

   o Provide a solution agnostic to the technology used in the service
   provider network.

   o Provide a cost effective and simple solution to the above.

   o Provide auto-configured tunnels instead of pre-configured ones in
   the transport network.

   o Provide additional facilities as part of the transport network for
   eg., TE, QoS etc.

   o Routing and Forwarding state optimizations as in 1.2.1 and 1.2.2.

   o So connectivity for end-customers is through U-PE onto N-PE onto
   remote-N-PE and onto remote U-PE.

2.  Architecture where the solution applies

2.1 Proposed Solution

   The following section outlines (a) Campus TRILL topology or (b) TRILL
   Data Center topology  or (c) Provider backbone Network topology for
   which solution is intended.
 

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        ____[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
       (              )     (            )     (              )
      (   TRILL Based  )   ( IP Core with )   (   TRILL Based  )
     ( RBridges as U-PEs) (  IP+GRE Encap  ) ( RBridges as U-PEs)
   [U-PEs]RBridges as [N-PE] or IP+MPLS  [N-PE] RBridges as  [U-PE]
     (       U-Ps       ) (  Encap Tunnels ) (       U-Ps       )
      (                )   ( between N-PEs)   (                )
       (___[U-PE]_____)     (____________)     (____[U-PE]____)

   Figure 4.0 : Proposed Architecture

2.1.1 Control Plane

   o Site network U-PEs still adopt learning function for source MACs
   bridged through their PE-CE links. For Campus TRILL networks (non-
   Provider-Backbone networks) the PE-CE links connect the regular hosts
   / servers. In the case of a data center the PE-CE links connect the
   servers in a rack to the U-PEs / Top of Rack Switches.

   o End customer MACs are placed in BGP-MAC-VPN VRFs in the U-PE to
   customer PE-CE links. (at tier 2). 

2.1.1.1 Nickname Collision Solution

   o The near-end N-PE for a site has a forwarding adjacency for the
   Pseudo Level 2 area Pseudo-Interface to obtain trill nicknames of the
   next hop far-end N-PE's Level 2  Pseudo-Interface.  This forwarding
   adjacency is built up during the course of BGP-MAC-VPN exchanges
   between the N-PEs. This forwarding adjacency is a kind of targeted
   IS-IS adjacency through the IP+GRE or IP+MPLS core. This forwarding
   adjacency exchange is accomplished through tweaking BGP to connect
   the near-end N-PE with the far-end N-PEs. Nickname election is done
   with N-PE Rbridge Pseudo-Interfaces participating in nickname
   election in Level 2 Area and their non-core facing interfaces which
   are Level 1 interfaces in the sites in the site considered to be a
   Level 1 area.

   o The Nicknames of each site are made distinct within the site since
   the nickname election process PDUs for Level 1 area are NOT tunneled
   across the transport network to make sure that each U-P or U-PE or N-
   PE's Rbridge interface have knowledge of the nickname election
   process only in their respective sites /  domains. If a new domain is
   connected as a site to an already existing network then the election
   process NEED NOT be repeated in the newly added site in order to make
   sure the nicknames are distinct as Multi-Level IS-IS takes care of
   forwarding from one site / domain to another. It is only the Pseudo-
   interface of the N-PE of the newly added site that will have to
   partake in an election to generate a new Pseudo Level 2 area Nickname
 

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   for itself.

2.1.1.2 U-PE BGP-MAC-VPN VRFs

   o The Customer MACs are placed as routes in the MAC-VPN VRFs with
   Nexthops being the area number Nicknames of the U-PEs to which these
   customer MAC addresses are connected to. For MAC routes within the
   Level 1 area the Nicknames are those of the local U-PE itself while
   the MAC routes learnt from other sites have the area number of the
   site to which the remote U-PE belongs to. When the source learning
   happens the BGP-MAC-VPN-NLRI are communicated to the participating U-
   PEs in all the sites of the said customer. Refer to section A.1.1 in
   Appendix A.1 for more details on how forwarding takes place between
   the sites through the multi-level IS-IS mechanism orchestrated over
   the IP core network.

         Format of the BGP-MAC-VPN VRF on a U-PE
         +---------------------+------------------------+
         | MAC address         |        U-PE Nickname   |
         +---------------------+------------------------+
         | 00:be:ab:ce:fg:9f   | <16-bit U-PE Nickname> |
         | (local)             |                        |
         +---------------------+------------------------+
         | 00:ce:cb:fe:fc:0f   | <16-bit U-PE Area Num> |
         | (Non-local)         |                        |
         +---------------------+------------------------+
           ....
           ....

   o A VRF is allocated for each customer  who in turn may have multiple
   VLANs in their end customer sites. So in theory a total of 4K VLANs
   can be supported per customer. The P-VLAN or the provider VLAN in the
   case of a Provider Backbone category can also be 4K VLANs. So in
   effect in this scheme upto 4K customers could be supported if P-VLAN
   encapsulation is to be used to differentiate between multiple
   customers.

   o ISIS for Layer 2 is run atop the Rbridges in the site / Tier-2
   network

   o ISIS for Layer 2 disseminates MACs reachable via the TRILL nexthop
   nicknames of site / Tier-2 network Rbridges amongst the Rbridges in
   the network site.

   o N-PEs have VRFs for each tier-2 access network that gain
   connectivity through the IP+GRE or IP+MPLS core.

 

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        ____[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
       (              )     (            )     (              )
      (   TRILL Based  )   ( IP Core with )   (   TRILL Based  )
     ( RBridges as U-PEs) (  IP+GRE Encap  ) ( RBridges as U-PEs)
   [U-PEB]RBridges as [N-PE] or IP+MPLS  [N-PE] RBridges as  [U-PEA]
    .(       U-Ps    /  ).(  Encap Tunnels ).( \    U-Ps       ) .
    . (            (X) ) . ( between N-PEs) . ( (Y)            )  .
    .  (___[U-PE]_____)  .  (____________)  .  (____[U-PE]____)   .
    .                    .                  .         Other remote 
   Other remote U-PEs    ... (BGP-MAC-VPN)...         U-PEs known
   known through TRILL     MP-iBGP session            through TRILL
                       installing site MAC routes 
            with NextHop as suitable RBridge Nicknames

   Legend :
   (X) - Customer A Site 1 MAC-VPN-VRF 
   (Y) - Customer A Site 2 MAC-VPN-VRF

   U-PEs are edge devices
   U-Ps are core devices that interconnect U-PEs.

   Figure 5.0 : BGP-MAC-VPN VRFs amongst N-PEs

   o N-PEs re-distribute the MAC routes in their respective VRFs into
   the IS-IS Level 1 area after export / import amongst the N-PEs is
   done. The reverse re-distribution from IS-IS to BGP is also done at
   each N-PE for its tier-2 customer site.

   o N-PEs exchange BGP information through route-targets for various
   customer sites with other N-PEs. The MAC routes for the various
   customer sites are placed in the BGP-MAC-VPN VRF of each N-PE for
   each customer site it connects to on the same lines as U-PE MAC-VPN-
   VRFs. The MAC routes placed in the VRFs of the N-PEs indicate the MAC
   addresses for the various Rbridges of the remote tier-2 customer
   sites with the respective next-hops being the Nicknames of the Level
   2 pseudo-interface of the far-end N-PE through which these MAC routes
   are reachable.

   o U-PE and U-P Rbridges MACs and TRILL nicknames are placed in BGP-
   MAC-VPN vrf on the N-PEs.

   o Routes to various end customer MACs within a tier-2 customer's
   sites are exchanged through BGP MAC-VPN sessions between U-PEs. IP
   connectivity is provided through IP addresses on same subnet for
   participating U-PEs.

 

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   (VRF-CCA)[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
    .  (              )     (            )     (            (VRF-CCA)
    . (                )   ( IP Core      )   (                )  .
    .( PBB-CustA-Site 1 ) (                ) ( PBB-CustA-Site 2 ) .
   [U-PEA]   A1      [N1-PE]             [N2-PE]      A2     [U-PEB]
    .(               /  ) (                ) ( \                ) .
    . (            (X) )   (              )   ( (Y)            )  .
    .  (___[U-PE-B1]__)     (____________)     (____[U-PE-B2]_)   .
    .        |                                          |         .
    .        H1                                         H2        .
    .                                                 Customer's  . 
   Customer's............... (BGP-MAC-VPN)............Customer CCA.
   Customer CCA             MP-iBGP session           Site 1       
   Site 2     installing Customer's Customer site MAC routes 
               with NextHop as suitable RBridge Area Nicknames

   Legend :
   A1, A2 - Area Nicknames of the customer sites in TRILL
   N1, N2 - These are the N-PEs connecting A1 and A2 running BGP
   sessions
   B1, B2 - U-PEs in A1 and A2 respectively running BGP sessions
   H1, H2 - Hosts connected to B1 and B2 U-PEs.
   Figure 6.0 : BGP-MAC-VPN VRFs between U-PE amongst various sites

2.1.1.3 Control Plane explained in detail.

   1) B1 and B2 exchange that MACs of H1 and H2 are reachable via BGP.
   Example., H2-MAC is reachable via B2-MAC through area Nickname A2.

   2) N1 and N2 exchange that A1 and A2 are reachable through N1
   Nickname and N2 Nickname respectively via BGP.

   3) N1 and N2 also exchange the MACs of U-PEs B1 and B2.

   4) The routes in the N1 and N2 are re-distributed into IS-IS to end
   up with the following correlated routing state.

   Now the correlated route in B1 is that H2 -> reachable via -> B2 ->
   reachable via A2 -> reachable via N1 Nickname.

   And the correlated route in B2 is that H1 -> reachable via -> B1 ->
   reachable via A1 -> reachable via N2 Nickname.

   And the correlated route in N1 is that B2 -> reachable via -> A2 ->
   reachable via Nickname N2

   And the correlated route in N2 is that B1 -> reachable via -> A1 ->
 

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   reachable via Nickname N1

2.1.2 Corresponding Data plane for the above control plane example.

   (VRF-CCA)[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
    .  (              )     (            )     (            (VRF-CCA)
    . (                )   ( IP Core      )   (                )  .
    .( PBB-CustA-Site 1 ) (                ) ( PBB-CustA-Site 2 ) .
   [U-PEA]   A1      [N1-PE]             [N2-PE]      A2     [U-PEB]
    .(               /  ) (                ) ( \                ) .
    . (            (X) )   (              )   ( (Y)            )  .
    .  (___[U-PE-B1]__)     (____________)     (____[U-PE-B2]_)   .
    .        |                                          |         .
    .        H1                                         H2        .
    .                                                 Customer's  . 
   Customer's............... (BGP-MAC-VPN)............Customer CCA.
   Customer CCA             MP-iBGP session           Site 1       
   Site 2     installing Customer's Customer site MAC routes 
               with NextHop as suitable RBridge Area Nicknames

   Legend :
   A1, A2 - Area Nicknames of the customer sites in TRILL
   N1, N2 - These are the N-PEs connecting A1 and A2 running BGP
   sessions
   B1, B2 - U-PEs in A1 and A2 respectively running BGP sessions
   H1, H2 - Hosts connected to B1 and B2 U-PEs.
   Figure 6.0 : BGP-MAC-VPN VRFs between U-PE amongst various sites

   1) H1 sends a packet to B1 with SourceMac as H1-MAC and DestMac as
   H2-MAC and C-VLAN as C1. This frame is named F1.

   2) B1 encapsulates this packet in a P-VLAN (Provider VLAN) packet
   with outer SourceMac as B1-MAC and DestMac as B2-MAC with P-VLAN PV1.
   This frame is named F2.

   3) B1 being and Rbridge encapsulates a TRILL header on top of F2,
   with Ingress Rbridge as B1 and Egress Rbridge as A2.

   4) This reaches N1 where N1 decapsulates the TRILL header and sends
   frame F2 inside a IP+GRE header with GRE key as Cust-A's VRF id.

   5) Packet reaches N2 where N2 looks up the GRE key to identify which
   customer / VRF to be looked into.

   6) In that VRF table N2 looks up B2 and encapsulates F2 with TRILL
   header with Ingress Rbridge as A1 and Egress Rbridge being B2.

   7) Finally the packet reaches B2 and is decapsulated and sends F1 to
 

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   the host.

2.1.2.1 Control plane for regular Campus and Data center sites

   For non-PBB like environments one could choose the same capabilities
   as a PBB like environment with all TORs for e.g in a data center
   having BGP sessions through BGP Route Reflectors with other TORs. By
   manipulating the Route Targets specific TORs could be tied in
   together in the topology within a site or even across sites. The
   easier way to go about the initial phase of deployment would be to
   restrict the MP-BGP sessions between N-PEs alone within Campus
   networks and Data centers and let IS-IS do the job of re-distributing
   into BGP. Flexibility however can be achieved by letting the U-PEs in
   the Campus or data center networks too to have MP-BGP sessions.
   Different logical topologies could be achieved as the result of the
   U-PE BGP sessions.

2.1.2.2 Other Data plane particulars.

   Default Dtree which is spanning all sites is setup for P-VLAN for
   Customer's Customer CCA supported on all Tier-2 sites. Denoted by
   ===, //.
   (VRF-CCA)[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
    .  (              )     (            )     (            (VRF-CCA)
    . (   TRILL Based  )   ( IP Core with )   (   TRILL Based  )  .
    .( Customer A Site 1) (  IP+GRE Encap  ) ( Customer A Site 2) .
   [U-PEA]============[N-PE]=============[N-PE]==============[U-PEB]
    .(               /  ) (  Encap Tunnels ) ( \           //   ) .
    . (            (X) )   ( between N-PEs)   ( (Y)       //   )  .
    .  (___[U-PE]_____)     (____________)     (____[U-PEC]....(VRF-CCA)
    .                                                 Customer's  . 
   Customer's............... (BGP-MAC-VPN)............Customer CCA.
   Customer CCA             MP-iBGP session           Site 1       
   Site 2     installing Customer's Customer site MAC routes 
               with NextHop as suitable RBridge Area Nicknames

   Legend :
   (X) - Customer A Site 1 MAC-VPN-VRF 
   (Y) - Customer A Site 2 MAC-VPN-VRF
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 1
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 2
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 3

   Figure 8.0 : Dtree spanning all U-PEs for unknown floods.

   (1) When a packet comes into a U-PE from the near-end the source MAC
   is learned and placed in the near-end U-PE BGP-MAC-VPN VRF. This is
   done in a sub-table depending on which VLAN they belong to in the
 

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   end-customer's VLANs. The destination MAC if unknown is flooded
   through a default Spanning tree (could be a dtree) constructed for
   that provider VLAN which is mapped to carry traffic for the end-
   customer VLAN in the customer's network sites involved.

   Default Dtree which is spanning all sites is setup for P-VLAN for
   Customer's Customer CCA supported on all Tier-2 sites. 

   Denoted by ===, //. 

   Forwarding for unknown frames using the default Dtree spanning all
   customer sites and their respective U-PEs and onto their customers.

   (VRF-CCA)[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
    .  (              )     (            )     (            (VRF-CCA)
    . (   TRILL Based  )   ( IP Core with )   (   TRILL Based  )  .
    .( Customer A Site 1) (  IP+GRE Encap  ) ( Customer A Site 2) .
     (    ............ ) (  .............  ) ( ..............   ) .
   [U-PEA]============[N-PE]=============[N-PE]==============[U-PEB]
    .(               /  ) (  Encap Tunnels ) ( \           //   ) .
    . (            (X) )   ( between N-PEs)   ( (Y)       //   )  .
    .  (___[U-PE]_____)     (____________)     (____[U-PEC]....(VRF-CCA)
    .                                                 Customer's  . 
   Customer's............... (BGP-MAC-VPN)............Customer CCA.
   Customer CCA             MP-iBGP session           Site 1       
   Site 2     installing Customer's Customer site MAC routes 
               with NextHop as suitable RBridge Area Nicknames

   Legend :
   (X) - Customer A Site 1 MAC-VPN-VRF 
   (Y) - Customer A Site 2 MAC-VPN-VRF
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 1
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 2
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 3

   Figure 9.0 : Unknown floods through Dtree spanning for that P-VLAN

   (2) The Spanning tree (which could be a dtree for that VLAN) carries
   that packet through site network switches all the way to N-PEs
   bordering that network site. U-PEs can drop the packet if there exist
   no ports for that customer VLAN on that U-PE. The Spanning tree
   includes auto-configured IP-GRE tunnels or MPLS LSPs across the
   IP+GRE and/or IP+MPLS cloud which are constituent parts of that tree
   and hence the unknown flood is carried over to the remote N-PEs
   participating in the said dtree. The packet then heads to that
   remote-end (leaf) U-PEs and on to the end customer sites. For
   purposes of connecting multiple N-PE devices for a Dtree that is
   being used for unknown floods, a mechanism such as PIM-Bidir in the
 

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   core of the IP network can be used.

   (3) BGP-MAC-VPN VRF exchanges between N-PEs carry the routes for MACs
   of the near-end Rbridges in the near-end site network to the remote-
   end site network. At the remote end U-PE a correlation between near-
   end U-PE and the customer MAC is made after BGP-MAC-VPN VRF exchanges
   between near-end and far-end U-PEs. The MPLS inner label or the GRE
   key indicates which VRF to consult for an incoming encapsulated
   packet across the core and the far-end N-PE's Level 1 Area Nickname
   of the far-end N-PE is inserted as the Egress Rbridge Nickname in the
   TRILL header of the packet traversing the core from the near-end N-
   PE.

   (4) From thereon the source MAC so learnt at the far end is reachable
   just like a Hierarchical VPN case in MPLS Carrier Supporting Carrier.
   The only difference is that the nicknames of the far-end U-PEs/U-Ps
   may be the same as the nicknames of the near-end U-PEs/U-Ps. In order
   to overcome this, the MAC-routes exchanged between the U-PEs have the
   next-hops as Area nicknames of the far-end U-PE and then the Area
   number nickname is resolved to the near-end N-PE/N-PEs in the local
   site that provide connectivity to the far-end U-PE in question.

 

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   <srcMac, DstMac> srcMac is known at U-PEA, so advertize to other U-
   PEs through BGP in the other customer sites for Customer A that
   srcMAC is reachable via U-PEA. This is received at the BGP-MAC-VPN
   VRFs in U-PEB and U-PEC.

   (VRF-CCA)[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
    .  (              )     (            )     (            (VRF-CCA)
    . (   TRILL Based  )   ( IP Core with )   (   TRILL Based  )  .
    .( Customer A Site 1) (  IP+GRE Encap  ) ( Customer A Site 2) .
     (    ............ ) (  .............  ) ( ..............   ) .
   [U-PEA]============[N-PE]=============[N-PE]==============[U-PEB]
    .(               /  ) (  Encap Tunnels ) ( \           //   ) .
    . (            (X) )   ( between N-PEs)   ( (Y)       //   )  .
    .  (___[U-PE]_____)     (____________)     (____[U-PEC]....(VRF-CCA)
    .                                                 Customer's  . 
   Customer's............... (BGP-MAC-VPN)............Customer CCA.
   Customer CCA             MP-iBGP session           Site 1       
   Site 2     installing Customer's Customer site MAC routes 
               with NextHop as suitable RBridge Area Nicknames

   Legend :
   (X) - Customer A Site 1 MAC-VPN-VRF 
   (Y) - Customer A Site 2 MAC-VPN-VRF
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 1
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 2
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 3

   Figure 10.0 : Distributing MAC routes through BGP-MAC-VPN

 

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   <srcMac, DstMac>

   Flooding when DstMAC is unknown. The flooding reaches all U-PEs and
   is forwarded to the customer devices (Customer's customer devices).

   (VRF-CCA)[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
    .  (              )     (            )     (            (VRF-CCA)
    . (   TRILL Based  )   ( IP Core with )   (   TRILL Based  )  .
    .( Customer A Site 1) (  IP+GRE Encap  ) ( Customer A Site 2) .
     (    ............ ) (  .............  ) ( ..............   ) .
   [U-PEA]============[N-PE]=============[N-PE]==============[U-PEB]
    .(               /  ) (  Encap Tunnels ) ( \           //.  ) .
    . (            (X) )   ( between N-PEs)   ( (Y)       //.  )  .
    .  (___[U-PE]_____)     (____________)     (____[U-PEC]....(VRF-CCA)
    .                                                 Customer's  . 
   Customer's............... (BGP-MAC-VPN)............Customer CCA.
   Customer CCA             MP-iBGP session           Site 1       
   Site 2     installing Customer's Customer site MAC routes 
               with NextHop as suitable RBridge Area Nicknames

   Legend :
   (X) - Customer A Site 1 MAC-VPN-VRF 
   (Y) - Customer A Site 2 MAC-VPN-VRF
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 1
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 2
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 3

   Figure 11.0 : Forwarding when DstMAC is unknown.

 

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   <srcMac, DstMac>
   When DstMAC is known. Payload is carried in the following fashion in
   the IP core.

   (<Outer Ethernet Header, IP+GRE,VRF in GRE key>,
   In PBB like environments / sites interconnected, the payload is P-
   VLAN headers encapsulating actual payload.

   <Outer Ethernet header, P-VLAN header>
   <Payload = Ethernet header, Inner VLAN header>, <Actual Payload>) 

   In Campus and Data Center environments only the latter is carried.
   There is no P-VLAN header required.

   (VRF-CCA)[U-PE]____       ____________       ____[U-PE]____
    .  (              )     (            )     (            (VRF-CCA)
    . (   TRILL Based  )   ( IP Core with )   (   TRILL Based  )  .
    .( Customer A Site 1) (  IP+GRE Encap  ) ( Customer A Site 2) .
     (    ............ ) (  .............  ) ( ..............   ) .
   [U-PEA]============[N-PE]=============[N-PE]==============[U-PEB]
    .(               /  ) (  Encap Tunnels ) ( \           //.  ) .
    . (            (X) )   ( between N-PEs)   ( (Y)       //.  )  .
    .  (___[U-PE]_____)     (____________)     (____[U-PEC]....(VRF-CCA)
    .                                                 Customer's  . 
   Customer's............... (BGP-MAC-VPN)............Customer CCA.
   Customer CCA             MP-iBGP session           Site 1       
   Site 2     installing Customer's Customer site MAC routes 
               with NextHop as suitable RBridge Area Nicknames

   Legend :
   (X) - Customer A Site 1 MAC-VPN-VRF 
   (Y) - Customer A Site 2 MAC-VPN-VRF
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 1
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 2
   (VRF-CCA) - MAC-VPN-VRF for Customer's Customer A (CCA) Site 3

   Figure 12.0 : Forwarding when the DstMAC is known.

   (5) The reverse path would do the same for reachability of the
   remote-end from the far-end.

   (6) Connectivity is thus established between end customer-sites
   through site networks and through the IP+GRE and/or IP+MPLS core. One
   could deploy also VPLS for access network connectivity after
   encapsulating the TRILL header and the outer header.

   (7) End customer packets are carried IP+GRE tunnels or IP+MPLS LSPs
 

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   through access network site to near-end N-PE in the near-end. N-PE
   encapsulates this in auto-configured MPLS LSPs or IP+GRE tunnels to
   far-end N-PEs through the IP+GRE and/or IP+MPLS core. The label is
   stripped at the far-end N-PE and the inner frame continues to far-end
   U-PE and onto the customer.

2.1.3 Encapsulations

2.1.3.1 IP + GRE

   (<Outer Ethernet Header, IP+GRE, VRF in GRE key>,

   In PBB like environments...

   <Outer Ethernet header, P-VLAN header>,
   <Payload = Ethernet header, Inner VLAN header>, <Actual Payload>) 

   In non-PBB like environments such as Campus and Data Center the
   Ethernet header with P-VLAN header is not required.

2.1.3.2 IP + MPLS

   (<Outer Ethernet Header, MPLS header, VRF in Inner MPLS label>,

   In PBB like environments...

   <Outer Ethernet header, P-VLAN header>,
   <Payload = Ethernet header, Inner VLAN header>, <Actual Payload>) 

   In non-PBB like environments such as Campus and Data Center the
   Ethernet header with P-VLAN header is not required.

2.2 Other use cases

   o Campus to Campus connectivity can also be achieved using this
   solution. Multi-homing where multiple U-Pes  connect to the same
   customer site can also facilitate load-balancing if a site-id (can
   use ESI for MAC-VPN-NLRI) is incorporated in the BGP-MAC-VPN NLRI.
   Mac Moves can be detected if the site-id of the advertised MAC from
   U-Pes is different from the older ones available.

2.3 Novelty

   o TRILL MAC routes and their associated nexthops which are TRILL
 

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   nicknames Are re-distributed into BGP from IS-IS

   o Thus BGP-MAC-VPNs on N-Pes in the transport network contain MAC
   routes with nexthops as TRILL Area nicknames.

   o The customer edge Rbridges / Provider bridges too contain MAC
   routes with associated nexthops as TRILL nicknames. This proposal is
   an extension of BGP-MAC-VPN I-D to include MAC routes with TRILL Area
   nicknames as Nexthops.

2.4 Uniqueness and advantages

   o Uses existing protocols such as IS-IS for Layer 2 and BGP to
   achieve this. No changes to IS-IS except for redistribution into BGP
   at the transport core edge and vice-versa.

   o Uses BGP-MAC-VPNs for transporting MAC-updates of customer devices
   between edge devices only.

   o Employs a hierarchical MAC-route hiding within the core Rbridges of
   the site. Employs a hierarchical VPN like solution to avoid routing
   state of sites within the transport core.

   o Multi-tenancy within each data center

   o Provider-backbone bridging like customer MAC hiding from the core
   of each site.

   o Multi-homing where multiple U-Pes  connect to the same customer
   site can also facilitate load-balancing if a site-id (can use ESI for
   MAC-VPN-NLRI) is incorporated in the BGP-MAC-VPN NLRI.

   o Mac Moves can be detected if the site-id of the advertised MAC from
   U-Pes is different from the older ones available.

   o PBB like functionality supported where P-VLAN and C-VLAN are
   different spaces.

   o Disparate TRILL networks with or without multi-tenancy.

   o Uses regular BGP supporting MAC-VPN features. Both between
   transport core edge devices and the Tier-2 customer edge devices.

   o When new TRILL sites are added then no re-election in the Level 1
   area is needed. Only the Pseudo-interface of the N-PE has to be added
   to the mix with the transport of the election PDUs being done across
   the transport network core.

 

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2.5 Comparison with OTV and VPN4DC and other schemes

   o OTV requires proprietary changes to IS-IS Doesn't seem to have
   reached the RFC status yet Its encapsulation could be more
   standardized Lot of proprietary changes required compared to this
   scheme with regard to IS-IS.

   o VPN4DC is just a problem statement.

   o [4] deals with Pseudo-wires being setup across the transport core.
   The control plane protocols for TRILL seem to be tunneled through the
   transport core. The scheme in the proposal we make do NOT require
   anything more than Pseudo Level 2 area number exchanges and those for
   the Pseudo-interfaces. BGP takes care of the rest of the routing.
   Also [4] does not take care of nick-name collision detection since
   the control plane TRILL is also tunneled and as a result when a new
   site is sought to be brought up into the inter-connection amongst
   existing TRILL sites, nick-name re-election may be required.

   o [5] does not have a case for TRILL. It was intended for other types
   of networks which exclude TRILL.

2.6 Multi-pathing

   By using different RDs to export the BGP-MAC routes with their
   appropriate Nickname next-hops from more than one N-PE we could
   achieve multi-pathing over the transport IP+GRE and/or IP+MPLS core.

2.7 TRILL extensions for BGP

2.7.0 Multi-level IS-IS

   Akin to TRILL IS-IS multi-level draft where each N-PE can be
   considered as a ABR having one nickname in a customer site which in
   turn is a level-1 area and a Pseudo Interface facing the core of the
   transport network which belongs to a Level 2 Area, the Pseudo
   Interface  would do the TRILL header decapsulation for the incoming
   packet from the Level 1 Area and throw away the TRILL header within
   the Pseudo Level 2 Area and transport the packets across the Layer 3
   core (IP+GRE and/or IP+MPLS) after an encapsulation in IP+GRE or
   IP+MPLS. Thus we should have to follow a scheme with the NP-E core
   facing Pseudo-interface in the Level 2 Pseudo-Area doing the TRILL
   encapsulation and decapsulation for outgoing and incoming packets
   respectively from and to the transport core. The incoming packets
   from the Level 1 area are subject to encapsulation in IP+GRE or
   IP+MPLS by the sending N-PE's Pseudo-Interface and the outgoing
   packets from the transport core are subject to decapsulation from
   their IP+GRE or IP+MPLS headers by the Pseudo-Interface on the
 

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   receiving N-PE.

2.7.1 Format of the MAC-VPN NLRI

                   +-----------------------------------+
                   |    Route Type (1 octet)           |
                   +-----------------------------------+
                   |     Length (1 octet)              |
                   +-----------------------------------+
                   | Route Type specific (variable)    |
                   +-----------------------------------+

   The Route Type field defines encoding of the rest of MAC-VPN NLRI
   (Route Type specific MAC-VPN NLRI).

   The Length field indicates the length in octets of the Route Type
   specific field of MAC-VPN NLRI.

   This document defines the following Route Types:

        + 1 - Ethernet Tag Auto-Discovery (A-D) route
        + 2 - MAC advertisement route
        + 3 - Inclusive Multicast Ethernet Tag Route
        + 4 - Ethernet Segment Route
        + 5 - Selective Multicast Auto-Discovery (A-D) Route
        + 6 - Leaf Auto-Discovery (A-D) Route
        + 7 - MAC Advertisement Route with Nexthop as TRILL Nickname

   Here type 7 is used in this proposal.

2.7.2. BGP MAC-VPN MAC Address Advertisement

   BGP is extended to advertise these MAC addresses using the MAC
   advertisement route type in the MAC-VPN-NLRI.

   A MAC advertisement route type specific MAC-VPN NLRI consists of the
   following:

 

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                   +---------------------------------------+
                   |      RD   (8 octets)                  |
                   +---------------------------------------+
                   |  MAC Address (6 octets)               |
                   +---------------------------------------+
                   |GRE key / MPLS Label rep. VRF(3 octets)|
                   +---------------------------------------+
                   |  Originating Rbridge's IP Address     |
                   +---------------------------------------+
                   |  Originating Rbridge's MAC address    |
                   |     (8 octets)                        |
                   +---------------------------------------+

   The RD MUST be the RD of the MAC-VPN instance that is advertising the
   NLRI. The procedures for setting the RD for a given MAC VPN are
   described in section 8 in [3].

   The encoding of a MAC address is the 6-octet MAC address specified by
   IEEE 802 documents [802.1D-ORIG] [802.1D-REV].

   If using the IP+GRE and/or IP+MPLS core networks the GRE key or MPLS
   label MUST be the downstream assigned MAC-VPN GRE key or MPLS label
   that is used by the N-PE to forward IP+GRE or IP+MPLS encapsulated
   ethernet packets received from remote N-PEs, where the destination
   MAC address in the ethernet packet is the MAC address advertised in
   the above NLRI. The forwarding procedures are specified in previous
   sections of this document. A N-PE may advertise the same MAC-VPN
   label for all MAC addresses in a given MAC-VPN instance. Or a N-PE
   may advertise a unique MAC-VPN label per MAC address.  All of these
   methodologies have their tradeoffs.

   Per MAC-VPN instance label assignment requires the least number of
   MAC-VPN labels, but requires a MAC lookup in addition to a GRE key or
   MPLS lookup on an egress N-PE for forwarding. On the other hand a
   unique label per MAC allows an egress N-PE to forward a packet that
   it receives from another N-PE, to the connected CE, after looking up
   only the GRE key or MPLS labels and not having to do a MAC lookup.

   The Originating Rbridge's IP address MUST be set to an IP address of
   the PE (U-PE or N-PE).  This address SHOULD be common for all the
   MAC-VPN instances on the PE (e.,g., this address may be PE's loopback
   address).

2.7.2.1 Next hop field in MP_REACH_NLRI

   The Next Hop field of the MP_REACH_NLRI attribute of the route MUST
   be set to the Nickname of the N-PE or in the case of the U-PE the
   Area Nickname of the Rbridge one whose MAC address is carried in the
 

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   Originating Rbridge's MAC Address field.

   The BGP advertisement that advertises the MAC advertisement route
   MUST also carry one or more Route Target (RT) attributes. 

   It is to be noted that document [3] does not require N-PEs/U-PEs to
   create forwarding state for remote MACs when they are learned in the
   control plane. When this forwarding state is actually created is a
   local implementation matter. However the proposal in this document
   requires that forwarding state be established when these MAC routes
   are learned in the control plane.

2.7.2.2 Route Reflectors for scaling

   It is recommended that Route Reflectors SHOULD be deployed to mesh
   the U-PEs in the sites with other U-PEs at other sites (belonging to
   the same customer) and the transport network also have RRs to mesh
   the N-PEs. This takes care of the scaling issues that may arise if
   full mesh is deployed amongst U-PEs or the N-PEs.

2.7.3 Multicast related ideas

   For the purpose of multicast it is possible that the IP core can have
   a PIM-bidir tree for each customer that will connect all the N-PEs
   related to a customer and carry the multicast traffic over the
   transport core thus connecting site to site multicast trees. This is
   of course out of the scope of this document. The authors intend to
   address this issue in future versions of this solution extended for
   multicast as well.

 

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3  Security Considerations

   TBD.

4  IANA Considerations

   A few IANA considerations need to be considered at this point. A
   proper AFI-SAFI indicator would have to be provided to carry MAC
   addresses as NLRI with Next-hops as Rbridbge Nicknames. This one AFI-
   SAFI indicator could be used for both U-PE MP-iBGP sessions and N-PE
   MP-iBGP sessions.

5  References

5.1  Normative References

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

   [RFC1776]  Crocker, S., "The Address is the Message", RFC 1776, April
              1 1995.

   [TRUTHS]   Callon, R., "The Twelve Networking Truths", RFC 1925,
              April 1 1996.

5.2  Informative References

              [1]  draft-xl-trill-over-wan-00.txt, XiaoLan. Wan et.al
              December 11th ,2011 Work in Progress

              [2]  draft-perlman-trill-rbridge-multilevel-03.txt, Radia
              Perlman et.al October 31, 2011 Work in Progress

              [3]  draft-raggarwa-mac-vpn-01.txt, Rahul Aggarwal et.al,
              June 2010, Work in Progress.

              [4]  draft-yong-trill-trill-o-mpls, Yong et.al, October
              2011, Work in Progress.

              [5]  draft-raggarwa-sajassi-l2vpn-evpn Rahul Aggarwal
              et.al, September 2011, Work in Progress.

   [EVILBIT]  Bellovin, S., "The Security Flag in the IPv4 Header",
 

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              RFC 3514, April 1 2003.

   [RFC5513]  Farrel, A., "IANA Considerations for Three Letter
              Acronyms", RFC 5513, April 1 2009.

   [RFC5514]  Vyncke, E., "IPv6 over Social Networks", RFC 5514, April 1
              2009.

Authors' Addresses

   Bhargav Bhikkaji,
   Dell-Force10,
   350 Holger Way,
   San Jose, CA
   U.S.A

   Email: Bhargav_Bhikkaji@dell.com

   Balaji Venkat Venkataswami,
   Dell-Force10,
   Olympia Technology Park,
   Fortius block, 7th & 8th Floor,
   Plot No. 1, SIDCO Industrial Estate,
   Guindy, Chennai - 600032.
   TamilNadu, India.
   Tel: +91 (0) 44 4220 8400
   Fax: +91 (0) 44 2836 2446

   EMail: BALAJI_VENKAT_VENKAT@dell.com

   Narayana Perumal Swamy,
   Dell-Force10,
   Olympia Technology Park,
   Fortius block, 7th & 8th Floor,
   Plot No. 1, SIDCO Industrial Estate,
   Guindy, Chennai - 600032.
   TamilNadu, India.
   Tel: +91 (0) 44 4220 8400
   Fax: +91 (0) 44 2836 2446

 

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   Email: Narayana_Perumal@dell.com

A.1 Appendix I

   A.1.1 Extract from Multi-level IS-IS draft made applicable to scheme 

   In the following picture, RB2 and RB3 are area border RBridges.  A
   source S is attached to RB1.  The two areas have nicknames 15961 and
   15918, respectively.  RB1 has a nickname, say 27, and RB4 has a
   nickname, say 44 (and in fact, they could even have the same
   nickname, since the RBridge nickname will not be visible outside the
   area).

                                       Pseudo
               Area 15961              level 2             Area 15918   
   +-------------------+     +-----------------+     +--------------+   
   |                   |     | IP Core network |     |              |   
   |  S--RB1---Rx--Rz----RB2---              ----RB3---Rk--RB4---D  |   
   |     27            |     | .             . |     |     44       |   
   |                   |     |Pseudo-Interface |     |              |   
   +-------------------+     +-----------------+     +--------------+

   Here RB2 and RB3 are N-PEs. RB4 and RB1 are U-PEs.

   This sample topology could apply to Campus and data-center
   topologies. For Provider Backbone topologies S would fall outside the
   Area 15961 and RB1 would be the U-PE carrying the C-VLANs inside a P-
   VLAN for a specific customer.

   Let's say that S transmits a frame to destination D, which is
   connected to RB4, and let's say that D's location is learned by the
   relevant RBridges already.  The relevant RBridges have learned the
   following:

      1) RB1 has learned that D is connected to nickname 15918
      2) RB3 has learned that D is attached to nickname 44.

   The following sequence of events will occur:

   -  S transmits an Ethernet frame with source MAC = S and destination
   MAC = D.

   -  RB1 encapsulates with a TRILL header with ingress RBridge = 27,
   and egress = 15918.

 

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   -  RB2 has announced in the Level 1 IS-IS instance in area 15961,
   that it is attached to all the area nicknames, including 15918.
   Therefore, IS-IS routes the frame to RB2. (Alternatively, if a
   distinguished range of nicknames is used for Level 2, Level 1
   RBridges seeing such an egress nickname will know to route to the
   nearest border router, which can be indicated by the IS-IS attached
   bit.)

   In the original draft on multi-level IS-IS the following happens and 

   QUOTE...

   -  RB2, when transitioning the frame from Level 1 to Level 2,
   replaces the ingress RBridge nickname with the area nickname, so
   replaces 27 with 15961. Within Level 2, the ingress RBridge field in
   the TRILL header will therefore be 15961, and the egress RBridge
   field will be 15918. Also RB2 learns that S is attached to nickname
   27 in area 15961 to accommodate return traffic.

   -  The frame is forwarded through Level 2, to RB3, which has
   advertised, in Level 2, reachability to the nickname 15918.

   -  RB3, when forwarding into area 15918, replaces the egress nickname
   in the TRILL header with RB4's nickname (44).  So, within the
   destination area, the ingress nickname will be 15961 and the egress
   nickname will be 44.

   -  RB4, when decapsulating, learns that S is attached to nickname
   15961, which is the area nickname of the ingress.

   Now suppose that D's location has not been learned by RB1 and/or RB3.
   What will happen, as it would in TRILL today, is that RB1 will
   forward the frame as a multi-destination frame, choosing a tree.  As
   the multi-destination frame transitions into Level 2, RB2 replaces
   the ingress nickname with the area nickname. If RB1 does not know the
   location of D, the frame must be flooded, subject to possible
   pruning, in Level 2 and, subject to possible pruning, from Level 2
   into every Level 1 area that it reaches on the Level 2 distribution
   tree.

   UNQUOTE...

   In the current proposal that we outline in this document, the TRILL
   header is done away with completely in the IP+GRE or IP+MPLS core. A
   re-look into the inner headers after decapsulation gives the
   appropriate information to carry the frame from the N-PE towards the
   destination U-PE.

 

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