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Simple Virtual Aggregation (S-VA)
draft-ietf-grow-simple-va-10

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 6769.
Authors Robert Raszuk , Jakob Heitz , Alton Lo , Lixia Zhang , Xiaohu Xu
Last updated 2012-07-05
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Send notices to grow-chairs@tools.ietf.org, draft-ietf-grow-simple-va@tools.ietf.org
draft-ietf-grow-simple-va-10
GROW Working Group                                             R. Raszuk
Internet-Draft                                                   NTT MCL
Intended status: Informational                                  J. Heitz
Expires: January 6, 2013                                        Ericsson
                                                                   A. Lo
                                                                  Arista
                                                                L. Zhang
                                                                    UCLA
                                                                   X. Xu
                                                                  Huawei
                                                            July 5, 2012

                   Simple Virtual Aggregation (S-VA)
                    draft-ietf-grow-simple-va-10.txt

Abstract

   All BGP routers in the Default Free Zone (DFZ) are required to carry
   all the routes in the Default Free Routing Table (DFRT).  A technique
   is described that allows some BGP routers not to install all of those
   routes into the Forwarding Information Base (FIB).

   Some routers in an Autonomous System (AS) announce an aggregate (the
   VA prefix) in addition to the routes they already announce.  This
   enables other routers not to install the routes covered by the VA
   prefix into the FIB as long as those routes have the same next-hop as
   the VA prefix.

   The VA prefixes that are announced within an AS are not announced to
   any other AS.

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).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on January 6, 2013.

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Copyright 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
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   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  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     1.1.  Scope of this Document  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     1.2.  Requirements notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     1.3.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   2.  Operation of S-VA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
   3.  Deployment considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   6.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

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1.  Introduction

   A technique called Simple Virtual Aggregation (S-VA) is described.
   It allows some routers not to have to store some routes in the
   Forwarding Information Base (FIB) while still advertising and
   receiving the full Default Free Routing Table (DFRT) in BGP.

   A typical scenario is as follows.  Core routers in the ISP maintain
   the full DFRT in the FIB and RIB.  Edge routers maintain the full
   DFRT in the BGP Loc-RIB, but do not install certain routes in the RIB
   and FIB.  Edge routers may install a default route to core routers,
   to Area Border Routers (ABR) which are installed on the Point of
   Presence (POP), to core boundary routers or to Autonomous System
   Border Routers (ASBR).

   S-VA must be enabled on an edge router that needs to save its RIB and
   FIB space.  The core routers must announce a new prefix called
   virtual aggregate (VA-prefix).

1.1.  Scope of this Document

   The VA-prefix is not intended to be announced from one AS into
   another, only between routers of the same AS.

   S-VA can be used for IPv4 and IPv6 both unicast and multicast address
   families.

   S-VA need not operate on every router in an AS.

1.2.  Requirements notation

   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 [RFC2119].

1.3.  Terminology

   RIB/FIB-Installing Router (FIR):  A router that does not suppress any
      routes and announces the VA-prefix.  Typically a core router, a
      POP to core boundary router or an ASBR would be configured as an
      FIR.
   RIB/FIB-Suppressing Router (FSR):  An S-VA router that installs the
      VA-prefix, and does not install into its FIB routes that are
      covered by and have the same next-hop as the VA-prefix.  Typically
      an edge router would be configured as an FSR.

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   Suppress:  Not to install a route that is covered by the VA-prefix
      into the global RIB or FIB
   Legacy Router:  A router that does not run S-VA, and has no knowledge
      of S-VA.
   Global Routing Information Base (RIB):  All the routing protocols in
      a router install their selected routes into the RIB.  The routes
      in the RIB are used to resolve next-hops for other routes, to be
      redistributed to other routing protocols and to be installed into
      the FIB.
   Local/Protocol Routing Information Base (loc-RIB):  The Loc-RIB
      contains the routes that have been selected by the local BGP
      speaker's Decision Process as in [RFC4271].
   NLRI:  Network Layer Reachability Information [RFC4271]

2.  Operation of S-VA

   There are three types of routers in S-VA, FIB-Installing routers
   (FIR), FIB-Suppressing routers (FSR) and optionally, legacy routers.
   While any router can be an FIR or an FSR, the simplest form of
   deployment is for AS border routers to be configured as FIRs and for
   customer facing edge routers to be configured as FSRs.

   When a FIR announces a VA-prefix, it sets the path attributes as
   follows: The ORIGIN MUST be set to INCOMPLETE (value 2).  The
   NEXT_HOP MUST be set to the same as that of the routes which are
   intended to be covered by the VA-prefix.  The ATOMIC_AGGREGATE and
   AGGREGATOR attributes SHOULD NOT be included.  The FIR MUST attach a
   NO_EXPORT Community Attribute [RFC1997].  The NLRI SHOULD be 0/0.

   A FIR SHOULD NOT FIB-suppress any routes.

   An FSR must detect the VA-prefix or prefixes (including 0/0) and
   install them in all of Loc-RIB, RIB and FIB.  The FSR MAY suppress
   any more specific routes that carry the same next-hop as the VA-
   prefix.

   Generally, any more specific route which carries the same next-hop as
   the VA-prefix is eligible for suppression.  However, provided that
   there is at least one less specific prefix with different next-hop
   between the VA-prefix and the suppressed prefixes then those
   suppressed prefixes must be reinstalled.

   For example, consider 3 prefixes.  VA-prefix is the least specific
   and covers prefix2. prefix2 is less specific than prefix3 and covers
   it.  Like Russian dolls.  If they all have the same next-hop, then
   you can just send the biggest one with all the others inside.
   However, if the middle one, prefix2 has a different next-hop, then

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   you have to take it out and send it separately.  However, you must
   remember to take out the smallest doll, prefix3 and also send it
   separately.

   Similarly, when IBGP multipath is enabled and when multiple VA
   prefixes form a multipath, only those more specific prefixes of which
   the set of next-hops are identical to the set of next-hops of the VA-
   prefix multipath are subject to suppression.

   The expected behavior is illustrated in Figure 1.  This figure shows
   an autonomous system with a FIR FIR1 and an FSR FSR1.  FSR1 is an
   ASBR and is connected to two external ASBRs, EP1 and EP2.

        +------------------------------------------+
        |      Autonomous System                   |   +----+
        |                                          |   |EP1 |
        |                                      /---+---|    |
        |   To   ----\ +----+          +----+ /    |   +----+
        | Other       \|FIR1|----------|FSR1|/     |
        |Routers      /|    |          |    |\     |
        |        ----/ +----+          +----+ \    |   +----+
        |                                      \---+---|EP2 |
        |                                          |   |    |
        |                                          |   +----+
        +------------------------------------------+
                             Figure 1

   Suppose that FSR1 has been enabled to perform S-VA.  Originally it
   receives all routes from FIR1 (doing next-hop-self) as well as from
   EP1 and EP2.  FIR1 now will advertise a VA prefix 0/0 with next-hop
   set to itself.  That will cause FSR1 to suppress all routes with the
   same next-hop as the VA-prefix.  However, FSR1 will not suppress any
   routes received from EP1 and EP2, because their next-hops are
   different from that of the VA-prefix.

   Several FIRs may announce different S-VA prefixes.  For example, in a
   POP, each edge router can announce into the POP an S-VA prefix that
   covers the addresses of the customers it services.

   Several FIRs may announce the same S-VA prefix.  In this case an FSR
   must choose to install only one of them.  For example, two redundant
   ASBRs, both of which announce the complete DFRT may each also
   announce the default route as an S-VA prefix into the AS.

   S-VA may be used to split traffic among redundant exit routers.  For
   example, referring to Figure 1, suppose EP1 and EP2 are two redundant
   ASBRs that announce the complete DFRT.  Each may also announce two
   S-VA prefixes into the AS: 0/1 and 128/1.  EP1 might announce 0/1

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   with higher preference and EP2 might announce 128/1 with higher
   preference.  FIR1 will now install into is FIB 0/1 pointing to EP1
   and 128/1 pointing to EP2.  If either one of EP1 or EP2 were to fail,
   then FSR1 would switch the traffic to the other exit router with a
   single FIB installation of one S-VA prefix.

3.  Deployment considerations

   BGP routes may be used to resolve next-hops for static routes or
   other BGP routes.  Because the default route does not imply
   reachability of any destination, a router can be configured not to
   resolve next-hops using the default route.  In this case, S-VA should
   not suppress from installation into the RIB a route that may be used
   to resolve a next-hop for another route.  It may still suppress it
   from installation into the FIB

   Selected BGP routes in the RIB may be redistributed to other
   protocols.  If they no longer exist in the RIB, they will not be
   redistributed.  This is especially important when the conditional
   redistribution is taking place based on the length of the prefix,
   community value etc ..  In those cases where redistribution policy is
   in place S-VA code should refrain from suppressing from installation
   into the RIB routes matching such policy.  It may still suppress them
   from installation into the FIB.

   A router may originate a network route or an aggregate route into
   BGP.  Some addresses covered by such a route may not exist.  If this
   router were to receive a packet for an unreachable address within an
   originated route, it must not send that packet to the VA-prefix
   route.  There are several ways to achieve this.  One is to have the
   FIR aggregate the routes instead of the FSR.  Another is to install a
   blackhole route for the nonexistent addresses on the originating
   router.  This issue is not specific to S-VA, but applicable to the
   general use of default routes.

   Like any aggregate, an S-VA prefix may include more address space
   than the sum of the prefixes it covers.  As such, the S-VA prefix may
   provide a route for a packet for which no real destination exists.
   An FSR will forward such a packet to the FIR.

   If an S-VA prefix changes its next-hop or is removed, then many
   routes may need to be downloaded into the FIB to achieve convergence.

4.  IANA Considerations

   There are no IANA considerations.

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5.  Security Considerations

   The authors are not aware of any new security considerations due to
   S-VA.

6.  Acknowledgements

   The concept for Virtual Aggregation comes from Paul Francis.  In this
   document authors only simplified some aspects of its behavior to
   allow simpler adoption by some operators.

   Authors would like to thank Clarence Filsfils, Nick Hilliard, S.
   Moonesamy and Tom Petch for their review and valuable input.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [RFC1997]  Chandrasekeran, R., Traina, P., and T. Li, "BGP
              Communities Attribute", RFC 1997, August 1996.

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

   [RFC5082]  Gill, V., Heasley, J., Meyer, D., Savola, P., and C.
              Pignataro, "The Generalized TTL Security Mechanism
              (GTSM)", RFC 5082, October 2007.

7.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-grow-va]
              Francis, P., Xu, X., Ballani, H., Jen, D., Raszuk, R., and
              L. Zhang, "FIB Suppression with Virtual Aggregation",
              draft-ietf-grow-va-06 (work in progress), December 2011.

Authors' Addresses

   Robert Raszuk
   NTT MCL
   101 S Ellsworth Avenue Suite 350
   San Mateo, CA  94401
   US

   Email: robert@raszuk.net

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   Jakob Heitz
   Ericsson
   300 Holger Way
   San Jose, CA  95135
   USA

   Phone:
   Email: jakob.heitz@ericsson.com

   Alton Lo
   Arista Networks
   5470 Great America Parkway
   Santa Clara, CA  95054
   USA

   Phone:
   Email: altonlo@aristanetworks.com

   Lixia Zhang
   UCLA
   3713 Boelter Hall
   Los Angeles, CA  90095
   US

   Phone:
   Email: lixia@cs.ucla.edu

   Xiaohu Xu
   Huawei Technologies
   No.3 Xinxi Rd., Shang-Di Information Industry Base, Hai-Dian District
   Beijing, Beijing  100085
   P.R.China

   Phone: +86 10 82836073
   Email: xuxh@huawei.com

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