In-Place Bandwidth Update for MPLS RSVP-TE LSPs
draft-alibee-teas-rsvp-inplace-lsp-bw-update-02
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| Document | Type | Active Internet-Draft (individual) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Zafar Ali , Vishnu Pavan Beeram , Peter Schoenmaker | ||
| Last updated | 2025-10-19 | ||
| RFC stream | (None) | ||
| Intended RFC status | (None) | ||
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draft-alibee-teas-rsvp-inplace-lsp-bw-update-02
TEAS Working Group Z. Ali
Internet-Draft Cisco Systems, Inc
Intended status: Standards Track V. Beeram
Expires: 22 April 2026 Juniper Networks
P. Schoenmaker
Meta
19 October 2025
In-Place Bandwidth Update for MPLS RSVP-TE LSPs
draft-alibee-teas-rsvp-inplace-lsp-bw-update-02
Abstract
This document describes the procedure for updating the bandwidth of
an MPLS RSVP-TE Label Switched Path (LSP) tunnel in-place without
employing make-before-break (MBB).
Status of This Memo
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provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 22 April 2026.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2025 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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Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Signaling In-Place LSP Bandwidth Update . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. Procedure at the Ingress LER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2. Procedure at the Transit LSR / Egress LER . . . . . . . . 6
2.3. Backward Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1. Introduction
Sections 2.5 and 4.6.4 of [RFC3209] describe the RSVP signaling
procedure for increasing the bandwidth of an MPLS TE tunnel using a
make-before-break (MBB) operation. A bandwidth-update-triggered MBB
operation for an MPLS RSVP-TE tunnel involves establishing a new LSP
with a new LSP_ID and transferring traffic from the old LSP onto it
before tearing down the old LSP. Establishing the new LSP involves
programming the forwarding plane with new tunnel labels along its
path, even in scenarios where both the old and new LSPs traverse the
same path. Such MBB events can occur frequently in networks that
deploy the 'auto-bandwidth' feature on RSVP-TE tunnels to monitor
bandwidth utilization and periodically adjust tunnel bandwidth,
causing a considerable amount of signaling and label programming
churn in the network.
[RFC3209] does not explicitly discuss the procedure for handling a
decrease in the bandwidth of an MPLS RSVP-TE tunnel, allowing an
ingress LER implementation to have the option to update the LSP
bandwidth "in-place" without employing MBB. The in-place LSP
bandwidth update mechanism reduces signaling churn. It eliminates
the need to reprogram labels at each transit Label Switch Router
(LSR) along the path of the LSP and shift traffic at the ingress
Label Edge Router (LER) from one LSP to another. However, the
signaling procedure for handling any failures that the RSVP transit
node may encounter while processing an in-place LSP bandwidth update
request is unspecified. This document clarifies this procedure. It
describes how an implementation can leverage the in-place LSP
bandwidth update mechanism in both scenarios where the bandwidth of
the TE tunnel needs to be decreased or increased.
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This document does not cover the application of the in-place LSP
bandwidth update procedure to anything other than point-to-point MPLS
RSVP-TE tunnels.
1.1. Requirements Language
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
2. Signaling In-Place LSP Bandwidth Update
Figure 1 illustrates an example RSVP signaling sequence for a
scenario where the bandwidth of an LSP is successfully updated in-
place. In the signaling sequence used for initial setup, the LSP is
signaled with a bandwidth of 60 Mbps. This bandwidth value is
encoded in the SENDER_TSPEC object of the PATH message sent hop-by-
hop from the ingress LER to the egress LER , and upon successful
admission control at each hop is encoded in the FLOWSPEC object of
the RESV message sent in the reverse direction. In the in-place
update signaling sequence, the same LSP instance, with no change to
the LSP_ID in the SENDER_TEMPLATE object, is signaled with a
bandwidth of 40 Mbps. When the ingress LER receives a RESV message
with 40Mbps encoded in the FLOWSPEC object, the in-place LSP
bandwidth update signaling sequence is deemed successful.
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+----+ +----+ +----+ +----+ +----+
| R1 |---------| R2 |---------| R3 |---------| R4 |---------| R5 |
+----+ +----+ +----+ +----+ +----+
Initial Setup:
PATH msg PATH msg PATH msg PATH msg
LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X
TSpecRate:60 TSpecRate:60 TSpecRate:60 TSpecRate:60
------------> ------------> ------------> ------------>
RESV msg RESV msg RESV msg RESV msg
LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X
FSpecRate:60 FSpecRate:60 FSpecRate:60 FSpecRate:60
<------------ <------------ <------------ <------------
In-Pace LSP BW Update:
PATH msg PATH msg PATH msg PATH msg
LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X
TSpecRate:40 TSpecRate:40 TSpecRate:40 TSpecRate:40
------------> ------------> ------------> ------------>
RESV msg RESV msg RESV msg RESV msg
LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X
FSpecRate:40 FSpecRate:40 FSpecRate:40 FSpecRate:40
<------------ <------------ <------------ <------------
Figure 1: In-Place LSP BW Update - Success
Figure 2 illustrates an example RSVP signaling sequence for a
scenario where the bandwidth of an LSP is not successfully updated
in-place. In the initial setup signaling sequence, the LSP is
signaled with a bandwidth of 60 Mbps. In the in-place update
signaling sequence, the same LSP instance, with no change to the
LSP_ID in the SENDER_TEMPLATE object, is signaled with a bandwidth of
80 Mbps. However, node R3 fails admission control and sends a
PathErr with an error code of 'Admission Control Failure (1)' and
error value of 'Requested bandwidth unavailable (2)'. When the
ingress LER receives a PathErr message in response to an in-place LSP
bandwidth update request, the in-place LSP bandwidth update signaling
sequence is deemed a failure. A consequence of this failed attempt
is that the bandwidth reservation in the path segment of the LSP
upstream of R3 is inconsistent with the path segment downstream of
R3. Another scenario in which the in-place LSP update signaling
sequence is deemed a failure is when the ingress does not receive
either a RESV message or a PATHErr message within a reasonable
interval (bandwidth update request timed out). In such failed
scenarios, the onus is on the ingress LER to reroute the path using
MBB.
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+----+ +----+ +----+ +----+ +----+
| R1 |---------| R2 |---------| R3 |---------| R4 |---------| R5 |
+----+ +----+ +----+ +----+ +----+
Initial Setup:
PATH msg PATH msg PATH msg PATH msg
LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X
TSpecRate:60 TSpecRate:60 TSpecRate:60 TSpecRate:60
------------> ------------> ------------> ------------>
RESV msg RESV msg RESV msg RESV msg
LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X
FSpecRate:60 FSpecRate:60 FSpecRate:60 FSpecRate:60
<------------ <------------ <------------ <------------
In-Pace LSP BW Update:
PATH msg PATH msg
LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X
TSpecRate:80 TSpecRate:80
------------> ------------>
PATHErr msg PATHErr msg
LSP-ID:X LSP-ID:X
ErrSpec:1,2 ErrSpec:1,2
<------------ <------------
Figure 2: In-Place LSP BW Update - Failure
2.1. Procedure at the Ingress LER
An ingress LER implementation that supports in-place LSP bandwidth
update MAY use local policy to determine whether to trigger the "in-
place LSP bandwidth update" functionality or the "MBB" procedure to
update LSP bandwidth. If the ingress LER is mandated by local policy
to use in-place LSP bandwidth update, it SHOULD do the following when
there is a need to update the bandwidth of the TE tunnel:
- Compute and check if the current signaled TE path can accommodate
the new bandwidth:
* If it is determined that the current TE path cannot accommodate
the new bandwidth, compute a TE path that accommodates the new
bandwidth and initiate MBB signaling procedure.
* If it is determined that the current TE path can accommodate
the new bandwidth, initiate in-place LSP bandwidth update
signaling.
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~ If in-place LSP bandwidth update signaling succeeds (a RESV
message with updated FLOWSPEC is received), consider the
bandwidth update procedure to be complete.
~ If in-place LSP bandwidth update signaling fails (non-
destructive PATHErr message is received or bandwidth update
request timed out), compute a TE path that accommodates the
desired bandwidth and initiate MBB signaling procedure.
~ If a destructive PATHErr message (with Path_State_Removed
flag set) or a ResvTear message is received, initiate break-
before-make signaling procedure.
2.2. Procedure at the Transit LSR / Egress LER
A transit LSR / egress LER implementation that supports in-place LSP
bandwidth update SHOULD perform an admission control procedure when
it receives an in-place LSP bandwidth update request. If the
admission control succeeds, the transit LSR / egress LER SHOULD allow
the in-place LSP bandwidth signaling sequence to complete. If the
admission control fails, the transit LSR / egress LER:
- SHOULD generate a non-destructive PATHErr message (without
Path_State_Removed flag set) and let the ingress LER take
appropriate action.
- SHOULD NOT initiate the teardown of the LSP instance.
2.3. Backward Compatibility
Since the procedure for handling an in-place LSP bandwidth update
request at a transit/egress node is not specified in RFC3209, a
transit/egress implementation that does not support this
functionality may exhibit one of the following behaviors:
[A] Teardown the signaling state associated with the LSP instance
and generate appropriate destructive error and tear messages.
[B] Retain the signaling state associated with the LSP instance and
send an appropriate PathErr to the ingress.
[C] Silently ignore the in-place LSP bandwidth update request, which
will result in the bandwidth update request getting timed out at
the ingress.
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The in-place LSP bandwidth update functionality SHOULD NOT be enabled
at the ingress LERs in a network with non-compliant transit/egress
nodes that exhibit behavior [A]. The functionality MAY be enabled at
the ingress LERs in a network with non-compliant nodes that exhibit
behavior [B] or [C].
3. Security Considerations
This document does not introduce new security issues. The security
considerations pertaining to the original RSVP protocol [RFC2205] and
RSVP-TE [RFC3209], and those that are described in [RFC5920], remain
relevant.
4. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA actions.
5. Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Colby Barth, Stephane Litkowski and
Robert Sawaya for their review and suggestions.
6. Contributors
The following people have contributed to this document:
Chandra Ramachandran
Juniper Networks
Email: csekar@juniper.net
Jon Parker
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Email: jdparker@cisco.com
7. References
7.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
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[RFC2205] Braden, R., Ed., Zhang, L., Berson, S., Herzog, S., and S.
Jamin, "Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) -- Version 1
Functional Specification", RFC 2205, DOI 10.17487/RFC2205,
September 1997, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2205>.
[RFC3209] Awduche, D., Berger, L., Gan, D., Li, T., Srinivasan, V.,
and G. Swallow, "RSVP-TE: Extensions to RSVP for LSP
Tunnels", RFC 3209, DOI 10.17487/RFC3209, December 2001,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3209>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
7.2. Informative References
[RFC5920] Fang, L., Ed., "Security Framework for MPLS and GMPLS
Networks", RFC 5920, DOI 10.17487/RFC5920, July 2010,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5920>.
Authors' Addresses
Zafar Ali
Cisco Systems, Inc
Email: zali@cisco.com
Vishnu Pavan Beeram
Juniper Networks
Email: vbeeram@juniper.net
Peter Schoenmaker
Meta
Email: psch@meta.com
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