BGP Extension for 5G Edge Service Metadata
draft-ietf-idr-5g-edge-service-metadata-10
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| Authors | Linda Dunbar , Kausik Majumdar , Haibo Wang , Gyan Mishra , Zongpeng Du | ||
| Last updated | 2023-10-19 (Latest revision 2023-09-07) | ||
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draft-ietf-idr-5g-edge-service-metadata-10
Network Working Group L. Dunbar
Internet-Draft Futurewei
Intended status: Standards Track K. Majumdar
Expires: 21 April 2024 Microsoft Azure
H. Wang
Huawei
G. Mishra
Verizon
Z. Du
China Mobile
19 October 2023
BGP Extension for 5G Edge Service Metadata
draft-ietf-idr-5g-edge-service-metadata-10
Abstract
This draft describes a new Metadata Path Attribute and some Sub-TLVs
for egress routers to advertise the Metadata about the attached edge
services (ES). The Edge Service Metadata can be used by the ingress
routers in the 5G Local Data Network to make path selections not only
based on the routing cost but also the running environment of the
edge services. The goal is to improve latency and performance for 5G
edge services.
The extension enables an edge service at one specific location to be
more preferred than the others with the same IP address (ANYCAST) to
receive data flow from a specific source, like a specific User
Equipment (UE).
Requirements Language
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] [RFC8174]
when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted 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 https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
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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 21 April 2024.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2023 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 (https://trustee.ietf.org/
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Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Conventions used in this document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Metadata Influenced Ingress Node Behavior . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. Metadata Influenced BGP Path Selection . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2. Ingress Router Forwarding Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3. Forwarding Behavior when UEs Move . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Edge Service Metadata Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.1. Metadata Path Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.1.1. Metadata Path Attribute Handling Procedure . . . . . 6
4.1.2. TLV Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.1.3. Error Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.2. The Site Preference Index Sub-TLV . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.3. Capacity Availability Index Metadata . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.3.1. Site Index Associated to Routes . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3.2. BGP UPDATE with standalone Site Availability Index . 10
4.4. Service Delay Prediction Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.4.1. Service Delay Prediction Sub-TLV . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.4.2. Service Delay Prediction Based on Load Measurement . 12
4.4.3. Raw Load Measurement Sub-TLV . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5. Service Metadata Influenced Decision Process . . . . . . . . 14
5.1. Integrating Network Delay with the Service Metrics . . . 14
5.2. Integrating with BGP decision process . . . . . . . . . . 15
6. Service Metadata Propagation Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
7. Minimum Interval for Metrics Change Advertisement . . . . . . 17
8. Validation and Error Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
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9. Manageability Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
11. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
11.1. Metadata Path Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
11.2. Metadata Path Attribute Sub-Types . . . . . . . . . . . 18
12. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
12.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
12.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1. Introduction
[CATS-Edge-Service] describes the 5G Edge Computing background and
how BGP can be used to advertise the running status and environment
of the directly attached 5G edge services. Besides the Radio Access,
5G [TS.23.501-3GPP] is characterized by having edge services closer
to the Cell Towers reachable by Local Data Networks (LDN) . From IP
network perspective, the 5G LDN is a limited domain [RFC8799] with
edge services a few hops away from the ingress nodes. Only selective
UE services are considered as 5G low latency Edge Services.
This document describes a new Metadata Path Attribute added to a BGP
UPDATE message [RFC4271] for egress routers to advertise the Metadata
about the directly attached edge services. The Edge Service Metadata
in this document includes the site availability index, the site
preference, and the service delay prediction index, which are further
explained in Section 4.
Note: The proposed Edge Service Metadata are not intended for the
best-effort services reachable via the public internet. The Edge
Service Metadata can be used by the ingress routers to make path
selections for selective low latency services based on not only the
network distance but also the running environment of the edge cloud
sites. The goal is to improve latency and performance for 5G ultra-
low latency services.
The extension is targeted for a single domain with RR controlling the
propagation of the BGP UPDATE. The Edge Service Metadata is only
attached to the services (routes) hosted in the 5G edge cloud sites,
which are only a small subset of services initiated from UEs. E.g.,
not for UEs accessing many internet sites.
2. Conventions used in this document
The following conventions are used in this document.
Edge DC: Edge Data Center, which provides the hosting environment
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for the edge services. An Edge DC might host 5G core functions in
addition to the frequently used edge services.
gNB: next generation Node B [TS.23.501-3GPP]
RTT: Round-trip Time
PSA: PDU Session Anchor (UPF) [TS.23.501-3GPP]
UE: User Equipment
UPF: User Plane Function [TS.23.501-3GPP]
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 [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as
shown here.
3. Metadata Influenced Ingress Node Behavior
The goal of this Edge Service Metadata Path Attribute is for egress
routers to propagate the metrics about their running environment to
ingress routers so that the ingress routers can make path selections
based on not only the routing cost but also the running environment
of the edge services. Many factors can impact the service delay in
an edge data center, such as computing service capability
information, computing service states, and computing resource states
of the corresponding edge site. Computing service capability
information can be used to record information of the computing power
node or initialization deployment information for computing service
initialization. Computing service states can include one of the
service connection numbers, service duration, and so on. Computing
resource states can be detailed information on computing resources
such as CPU/GPU. They can also be an abstract metric from these
detailed parameters to indicate the resource status of the edge site.
Many more metrics about the running environment are being discussed
at CATS WG [draft-ldbc-cats-framework]. This document illustrates a
few examples of Sub-TLVs of the metrics under the Edge Service
Metadata Path Attribute:
- the site capacity availability index
- the site preference index
- the service delay predication index x, and
- the raw load measurement.
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This section specifies how those Metadata impact the ingress node's
path selections.
3.1. Metadata Influenced BGP Path Selection
When an ingress router receives BGP updates for the same IP prefix
from multiple egress routers, all these egress routers' loopback
addresses are considered as the next hops for the IP prefix. For the
selected low latency edge services, the ingress router BGP engine
would call an Edge Service Management function that can select paths
based on the Edge Service Metadata received. [CATS-Edge-Service] has
an exemplary algorithm to compute the weighted path cost based on the
Edge Service Metadata carried by the Sub-TLV(s) specified in this
document.
Section 5 has the detailed description of the Edge Service Metadata
influenced optimal path selection.
3.2. Ingress Router Forwarding Behavior
When the ingress router receives a packet and does a lookup on the
route in the FIB, it gets the destination prefix's whole path. It
encapsulates the packet destined towards the optimal egress node.
For subsequent packets belonging to the same flow, the ingress router
needs to forward them to the same egress router unless the selected
egress router is no longer reachable. Keeping packets from one flow
to the same egress router, a.k.a. Flow Affinity, is supported by
many commercial routers. Most registered EC services have relatively
short flows.
How Flow Affinity is implemented is out of the scope for this
document. Appendix A has one example illustrating achieving flow
affinity.
3.3. Forwarding Behavior when UEs Move
When a UE moves to a new 5G gNB which is anchored to the same UPF,
the packets from the UE traverse to the same ingress router. Path
selection and forwarding behavior are same as before.
If the UE maintains the same IP address when anchored to a new UPF,
the directly connected ingress router might use the information
passed from a neighboring router to derive the optimal Next Hop for
this route. The detailed algorithm is out of the scope of this
document.
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4. Edge Service Metadata Encoding
4.1. Metadata Path Attribute
The Metadata Path Attribute is an optional transitive BGP Path
attribute to carry metrics and metadata about the edge services
attached to the egress router. The Metadata Path Attribute, to be
assigned by IANA [RFC2042], consists of a set of Sub-TLVs, and each
Sub-TLV contains information for specific metrics of the edge
services.
4.1.1. Metadata Path Attribute Handling Procedure
Most BGP UPDATE messages don't include the Metadata Path Attribute.
For the limited edge services that need to advertise the metadata
about the services, the Metadata Path Attribute can be included in a
BGP UPDATE message [RFC4271] together with other BGP Path Attributes
[IANA-BGP-PARAMS], such as Communities [RFC4360], NEXT_HOP, Tunnel
Encapsulation Path Attribute [RFC9012], etc.
The BGP Metadata Path attribute MAY be attached to BGP IPv4/IPv6
Unicast prefixes, BGP Labeled IPv4/IPv6 prefixes [RFC8277], and IPv4/
IPv6 Anycast prefixes [RFC4786]. In order to prevent distribution of
the BGP Metadata Path Attribute beyond its intended scope of
applicability, attribute filtering SHOULD be deployed to remove the
BGP Metadata Path attribute at the administrative boundary.
A BGP speaker that advertises a path received from one of its
neighbors SHOULD advertise the BGP Metadata Path attribute received
with the path without modification as long as the BGP Metadata Path
attribute was acceptable. If the path did not come with a BGP
Metadata Path attribute, the speaker MAY attach a BGP Metadata
Attribute to the path if configured to do so.
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The Metadata Path Attribute MUST contain at least one metadata Sub-
TLV. Multiple Metadata Sub-TLVs can be included in a Metadata Path
Attribute in one BGP UPDATE message. The content of the Sub-TLVs
present in the BGP Metadata Path attribute is determined by the
configuration. When a BGP Speaker does not recognize some of the
Sub-TLVs within one Metadata Path Attribute in a BGP UPDATE message,
the BGP Speaker should forward the received BGP UPDATE message
without any change if the BGP UPDATE message is marked as transitive.
The domain ingress nodes SHOULD process the recognized Sub-TLVs
carried by the Metadata Path Attribute and ignore the unrecognized
Sub-TLVs. By default, a BGP speaker does not report any unrecognized
Sub-TLVs within a Metadata Path Attribute unless configured to send a
notification to its management system. The ingress node should be
configured with an algorithm to combine the recognized metrics
carried by the Sub-TLVs within a Metadata Path Attribute of the
received BGP UPDATE message.
The metrics Sub-TLVs included in the Metadata Path Attribute apply to
all the address families carried in the NLRI field of the BGP UPDATE
message [RFC4271]. For a multi-protocol BGP UPDATE message [RFC4760]
[RFC7606], the metrics Sub-TLVs included in the Metadata Path
Attribute apply to all the AFIs/SAFIs address families carried by the
MP_REACH_NLRI.
4.1.2. TLV Format
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Attr. Flags |MetaDataPathAtt| Length (2 Octets) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Value (multiple Metadata Sub-TLVs) |
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 1: Metadata Path Attribute
Attr.Flags: Attribute flags, defined as:
- The high-order bit (bit 0): set to 1.
- The second high-order bit (bit 1): set to 0 to indicate that the
service-metadata is not transitive. Only intended for the
receiving router.
- The third high-order bit (bit 2): same as specified by RFC4721.
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- The fourth high-order bit (bit 3): set to 1 to indicate there are
two octets for the Length field.
MetaDataPathAtt: Metadata Path Attribute: TBD1 (assigned by IANA.
Length: the total number of octets of the value field.
All values in the Sub-TLVs are unsigned 32 bits integers.
4.1.3. Error Handling
This section specifies a set of metadata Sub-TLVs for the 5G edge
services. A BGP speaker MUST NOT include multiple instances with the
same type for the Sub-TLVs specified in this document in one Metadata
Path Attribute. A BGP speaker SHOULD NOT include more than one
Metadata Path Attribute in one BGP Update message.
A BGP UPDATE message that includes the Metadata Path Attribute
doesn't change the BGP Error Handling procedure specified in the
[RFC7606]. Where more than one sub-TLVs specified in this document
are present in a Metadata Path Attribute, they are processed
independently. If one of the Sub-TLVs has an invalid value, e.g.,
out of its specified ranges, the Sub-TLV with the invalid value is
ignored by the BGP receiver. By default, no notification is required
unless configured to send a notification to its management system.
All other Sub-TLVs within the Metadata Path Attribute with the valid
values MUST be processed.
4.2. The Site Preference Index Sub-TLV
Different services might have different preference index values
configured for the same site. For example, Service-A requires high
computing power, Service-B requires high bandwidth among its
microservices, and Service-C requires high volume storage capacity.
For a DC with relatively low storage capacity but high bisectional
bandwidth, its preference index value for Service-B is higher and
lower for Service-C. Site Preference Index can also be used to
achieve stickiness for some services.
It is out of the scope of this document how the preference index is
determined or configured.
The Preference Index Sub-TLV has the following format:
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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|Site-Preference-Index Sub-Type | Length |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Preference Index value |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 2: Preference Index Sub-TLV
- Site-Preference-Index Sub-Type =1 (specified in this document).
- Preference Index value: 1-100, with 1 being the least preferred,
and 100 being the most preferred.
When the Preference Index value is outside the range of 1-100, the
value carried in this Sub-TLV is ignored.
4.3. Capacity Availability Index Metadata
Capacity Availability Index indicates if an edge site, which can be a
building, a floor, a pod, a row of server racks, etc., has full
capacity, reduced capacity, or is completely out of service.
Therefore, the value is 0-100, with 100% indicating the site is fully
functional, 0% indicating the site is entirely out of service, and
50% indicating the site is 50% degraded.
Cloud Site/Pod failures and degradation include but are not limited
to, a site capacity degradation or an entire site going down caused
by a variety of reasons, such as fiber cut connecting to the site or
among pods, cooling failures, insufficient backup power, cyber
threats attacks, too many changes outside of the maintenance window,
etc. Fiber-cut is not uncommon within a Cloud site or between sites.
When those failure events happen, the edge (egress) router is running
fine. Therefore, the ingress routers with paths to the egress router
can't use BFD to detect the failures.
When there is a failure occurring at an edge site (or a pod), many
instances can be impacted. In addition, the routes (i.e., the IP
addresses) in the site might not be aggregated nicely. Instead of
many BGP UPDATE messages to the ingress routers for all the instances
impacted, the egress router can send one single BGP UPDATE indicating
the capacity availability of the site. The ingress routers can
switch all or a portion of the instances that are associated with the
site depending on how much the site is degraded.
The Capacity Availability Index Sub-TLV:
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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| CapAvailIdx Sub-Type | Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Site-ID (2 octets) | Site Availability Percentage |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 3: Capacity Availability Index Sub-TLV
- CapAvailIdx: Capability-Availability-Index Sub-Type=2 (Specified
in this document).
- Site ID: identifier for a site, which can be a pod, a row of
server racks, a floor, or an entire DC. There could be multiple
sites connected to the egress router (a.k.a. Edge DC GW)
Site Availability Percentage: represent the percentage of the site
availability, e.g., 100%, 50%, or 0%. When a site goes dark, the
Index is set to 0. 50 means 50% capacity functioning. When the
value is outside the 0-100% range, the value carried in this Sub-
TLV is ignored.
4.3.1. Site Index Associated to Routes
An egress router must append the Site Capacity Availability Index
Sub-TLV with a BGP ROUTE UPDATE message for the registered low
latency edge services so that the ingress routers can associate the
Site reference Identifier to the route in the Routing table.
However, it is unnecessary to include the Site Capacity Availability
Index for every BGP Update message if there is no change to the site-
reference identifier or the Capacity Availability value for the
service instances.
4.3.2. BGP UPDATE with standalone Site Availability Index
When an ingress router receives a BGP update message from Router-X
with a prefix of the loopback for Router-X and the Metadata Path
Attribute with the Capability Availability Index Sub-TLV, the new
capability availability index value is applied to all route that have
the following two constraints: a) have router-X as their next hop,
and b) associated with site-ID. When there are failures or
degradation to a site, the corresponding egress router can send one
BGP UPDATE with the Capacity Availability Site Index with the egress
router's loopback address.
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4.4. Service Delay Prediction Index
It is desirable for an ingress router to select a site with the
shortest processing time for an ultra-low latency service. But it is
not easy to predict which site has "the fastest processing time" or
"the shortest processing delay" for an incoming service request
because:
- The given service instance shares the same physical infrastructure
with many other applications and service instances. Service
requests by other applications, UEs, or applications running
behavior can impact the processing time for the given service
instance.
- The given service instance can be served by a cluster of servers
behind a Load Balancer. To the network, the service is identified
by one service ID.
- The service complexity is different. One service may call many
microservices, need to access multiple backend databases, and need
to go through sophisticated security scrubbing functions, etc.
Another service can be processed by a few simple steps. Without
the application internal logic, it is not easy to estimate the
processing time for future service requests.
Even though utilization measurements, like those below, are collected
by most data centers, they cannot indicate which site has the
shortest processing time. A service request might be processed
faster on Site-A even if Site-A is overutilized.
o Server utilization for the server where the instance is
instantiated.
o The network utilization for the links to the server where the
instance is instantiated.
o The number of databases that the service instance will access.
o The memory utilization of the databases
The remaining available resource at a site is a more reasonable
indication of process delay for future service requests.
o The remaining available Server resources.
o The remaining available network utilization for the links to the
server where the instance is instantiated.
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o The number of databases that the service instance will access.
o The remaining storage available for the databases.
The Service Delay Prediction Index is a value that predicts
processing delays at the site for future service requests. The
higher the value, the longer of the delay.
4.4.1. Service Delay Prediction Sub-TLV
While out of scope, we assume there is an algorithm that can derive
the Service Delay Prediction Index that can be assigned to the egress
router. When the Service Delay Prediction value is updated, which
can be triggered by the available resources change, etc., the egress
router can attach the updated Service Delay Predication value in a
Sub-TLV under the Metadata Path Attribute of the BGP Route UPDATE
message to the ingress routers.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| ServiceDelayPredict Sub-Type | Length |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Service Delay Predication Value |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 4: Service Delay Prediction Index Sub-TLV
- ServiceDelayPredict: Service Delay Predication) Sub-type=3
(specified in this document).
- Service Delay Predication Value: an integer in the range of 0-100,
with 0 indicating that the service delay is negligible and 100
indicating that the site has the most significant delay compared
to all other sites for the same service. When the value is
outside the 0-100 range, the value carried in this Sub-TLV is
ignored.
4.4.2. Service Delay Prediction Based on Load Measurement
When data centers detailed running status are not exposed to the
network operator, historic traffic patterns through the egress nodes
can be utilized to predict the load to a specific service. For
example, when traffic volume to one service at one data center
suddenly increases a huge percentage compared with the past 24 hours
average, it is likely caused by a larger than normal demand for the
service. When this happens, another data center with lower-than-
average traffic volume for the same service might have a shorter
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processing time for the same service.
Here are some measurements that can be utilized to derive the Service
Delay Predication for a service ID:
- Total number of packets to the attached service instance
(ToPackets);
- Total number of packets from the attached service instance
(FromPackets);
- Total number of Bytes to the attached service instance (ToBytes);
- Total number of bytes from the attached service instance
(FromBytes);
- The actual load measurement to the service instance attached to a
CATS-ER can be based on one of the metrics above or including all
four metrics with different weights applied to each, such as:
LoadIndex = w1*ToPackets+w2*FromPackes+w3*ToBytes+w4*FromBytes
Where w1/w2/w3/w4 are between 0-1. w1+ w2+ w3+ w4 = 1;
The weights of each metric contributing to the index of the
service instance attached to a CATS-ER can be configured or
learned by self-adjusting based on user feedbacks.
The Service Delay Prediction Index can be derived from
LoadIndex/24Hour-Average. A higher value means a longer delay
prediction. The egress router can use the ServiceDelayPred sub-TLV
to indicate to the ingress routers of the delay prediction derived
from the traffic pattern.
Note: The proposed IP layer load measurement is only an estimate
based on the amount of traffic through the egress router, which might
not truly reflect the load of the servers attached to the egress
routers. They are listed here only for some special deployments
where those metrics are helpful to the ingress routers in selecting
the optimal paths.
4.4.3. Raw Load Measurement Sub-TLV
When ingress routers have embedded analytics tool relying on the raw
measurements, it is useful for the egress router to send the raw
measurement.
Raw Load Measurement Sub-TLV has the following format:
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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Raw-Load-Measurement Sub-Type | Length |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Measurement Period |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| total number of packets to the Edge Service |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| total number of packets from the Edge Service |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| total number of bytes to the Edge Service |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| total number of bytes from the Edge Service |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 5: Service Delay Prediction Index Sub-TLV
- Raw-Load-Measurement Sub-Type =4 (specified in this document): Raw
measurements of packets/bytes to/from the Edge Service address.
- The receiver nodes can compute the Service Delay Prediction for the
Service based on the raw measurements sent from the egress node and
preconfigured algorithms.
- Measurement Period: BGP Update period in Seconds or user-specified
period.
5. Service Metadata Influenced Decision Process
5.1. Integrating Network Delay with the Service Metrics
As the service metrics and network delays are in different units,
here is an exemplary algorithm for an ingress router to compare the
cost to reach the service instances at Site-i or Site-j.
SerD-i * CP-j Pref-j * NetD-i
Cost-i=min(w *(----------------) + (1-w) *(------------------))
ServD-j * CP-i Pref-i * NetD-j
CP-i: Capacity Availability Index at Site-i. A higher value means
higher capacity available.
NetD-i: Network latency measurement (RTT) to the Egress Router at
the site-i.
Pref-i: Preference Index for Site-i, a higher value means higher
preference.
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ServD-i: Service Delay Predication Index at Site-i for the service,
i.e., the ANYCAST address [RFC4786] for the service.
w: Weight is a value between 0 and 1. If smaller than 0.5, Network
latency and the site Preference have more influence; otherwise,
Service Delay and capacity availability have more influence.
When a set of service Metadata is converted to a simple metric, a
decision process is determined by the metric semantics and deployment
situations. The goal is to integrate the conventional network
decision process with the service Metadata into a unified decision-
making process for path selection.
5.2. Integrating with BGP decision process
When an ingress router receives BGP updates for the same IP address
from multiple egress routers, all those egress routers are considered
as the next hops for the IP address. For the selected services
configured to be influenced by the Edge Service Metadata, the ingress
router BGP Decision process [IDR-CUSTOM-DECISION] would trigger the
Edge Service Management function to compute the weight to be applied
to the route's next hop in the forwarding plane. The decision
process is influenced by the Edge Service Metadata associated with
the client routes, such as Capacity Availability Index, Site
Preference, and Service Delay Prediction Index, in addition to the
traditional BGP multipath computation algorithm, such as the Weight,
Local preference, Origin, MED, etc., shown below:
BGP ANYCAST Update
+--------+ with Metadata +---------------+
| BGP |----------------->| EdgeServiceMgn|
|Decision|< - - - - - - - - | |
+---^-|--+ +-------|-------+
| | BGP ANYCAST | Update Anycast
| | Route | Route Nexthops
| | Multi-path NH install | with weight
+---|-V--+ |
| RIB | |
+----+---+ |
| |
+---V------------------------------V-------+
| Forwarding Plane |
| |
+------------------------------------------+
Figure 6: Metadata Influenced Decision
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When any of those metadata value goes to 0, the effect is the same as
the routes becoming ineligible via the egress router who originates
the metadata UPDATE. But when any of those metadata just degrade,
there is possibility, even though smaller, for the egress router to
continue as the optimal next hop.
Suppose a destination address for aa08::4450 can be reached by three
next hops (R1, R2, R3). Further, suppose the local BGP's Decision
Process based on the traditional network layer policies and metrics
identifies the R1 as the optimal next hop for this destination
(aa08::4450). If the Edge Service Metadata results in R2 as the
optimal next hop for the prefix, the Forwarding Plane will have R2 as
the next-hop for the destination address of aa08::4450.
The Edge Service Metadata influencing next hop selection is different
from the metric (or weight) to the next hop. The metric to a next
hop can impact many (sometimes, tens of thousands) routes that have
the node as their next hop. while as the Edge Service Metadata only
impact the optimal next hop selection for a subset of client routes
that are identified as the edge services.
When the BGP custom decision [idr-custom-decision] is used, the Edge
Service Management function would have algorithm to combine the Edge
Service Metadata attributes with the custom decision to derive the
optimal next hop for the Edge service routes.
Note: For a BGP UPDATE message that includes the Edge Servuce
Metadata Path Attribute with the egress router's loopback prefix, the
Site Capacity Availability Index value is applied to all the NLRIs
with the Site-ID indicated in the Edge Service Metadata Path
Attribute.
6. Service Metadata Propagation Scope
Service Metadata are only distributed to the relevant ingress nodes
interested in the Service, which can be configured or automatically
formed.
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For each registered low-latency Service, BGP RT Constrained
Distribution [RFC4684] can be used to form the Group interested in
the Service. The "Service ID", an IP address prefix, is the Route
Target. When an ingress router receives the first packet of a flow
destined to a Service ID, the ingress router sends a BGP UPDATE that
advertises the Route Target membership NLRI per RFC4684. The ingress
router must assign a Timer for the Service ID, as the UE that uses
the Service ID might move away. Upon receiving a packet destined for
the Service ID, the ingress router must refresh the Timer. The
ingress router must send a BGP Withdraw UPDATE for the Service ID
upon expiration of the Timer.
7. Minimum Interval for Metrics Change Advertisement
As the metrics change can impact the path selection, the Minimum
Interval for Metrics Change Advertisement is configured to control
the update frequency to avoid route oscillations. Default is 30s.
Significant load changes at EC data centers can be triggered by
short-term gatherings of UEs, like conventions, lasting a few hours
or days, which are too short to justify adjusting EC server
capacities among DCs. Therefore, the load metrics change rate can be
in the magnitude of hours or days.
8. Validation and Error Handling
The Metadata Path Attribute contains a sequence of Sub-TLVs. The
Metadata Path Attribute's length determines the total number of
octets for all the Sub-TLVs under the Metadata Path Attribute. The
sum of the lengths from all the Sub-TLVs under the Metadata Path
Attribute should equal the length of the Metadata Path Attribute. If
this is not the case, the TLV should be considered malformed, and the
"Treat-as-withdraw" procedure of [RFC7606] is applied.
If a Metadata Path attribute can be parsed correctly but contains a
Sub-TLV whose type is not recognized by a particular BGP speaker,
that BGP speaker MUST NOT consider the attribute to be malformed.
Rather, it MUST interpret the attribute as if that Sub-TLV had not
been present. If the route carrying the Metadata path attribute is
propagated with the attribute, the unrecognized Sub-TLV remains in
the attribute.
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9. Manageability Considerations
The Edge Service Metadata described in this document are only
intended for propagating between Ingress and egress routers of one
single BGP domain, i.e., the 5G Local Data Networks, which is a
limited domain with edge services a few hops away from the ingress
nodes. Only the selective services by UEs are considered as 5G Edge
Services. The 5G LDN is usually managed by one operator, even though
the routers can be by different vendors.
10. Security Considerations
The proposed Edge Service Metadata are advertised within the trusted
domain of 5G LDN's ingress and egress routers. The ingress routers
should not propagate the Edge Service Metadata to any nodes that are
not within the trusted domain.
11. IANA Considerations
11.1. Metadata Path Attribute
IANA is requested to assign a new path attribute from the "BGP Path
Attributes" registry. The symbolic name of the attribute is
"Metadata", and the reference is [This Document].
+=======+======================================+=================+
| Value | Description | Reference |
+=======+======================================+=================+
| TDB1 | Metadata Path Attribute | [this document] |
+-------+--------------------------------------+-----------------+
11.2. Metadata Path Attribute Sub-Types
IANA is requested to create a new sub-registry under the Metadata
Path Attribute registry as follows:
Name: Sub-TLVs under the "Metadata Path Attribute"
Registration Procedure: Expert Review [RFC8126].
Detailed Expert Review procedure will be added per RFC8126.
Reference: [this document]
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+========+==========================+=================+
|Sub-Type| Description | Reference |
+========+==========================+=================+
| 0 | reserved | [this document] |
+--------+--------------------------+-----------------+
| 1 | Site Preference Index | [this document] |
+--------+--------------------------+-----------------+
| 2 | Site Availability Index | [this document] |
+--------+--------------------------+-----------------+
| 3 | Service Delay Predication| [this document] |
+--------+--------------------------+-----------------+
| 4 | Raw Load Measurement | [this document] |
+--------+--------------------------+-----------------+
| 5-254 | unassigned | [this document] |
+--------+--------------------------+-----------------+
| 255 | reserved | [this document] |
+--------+--------------------------+-----------------+
12. References
12.1. 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>.
[RFC4271] Rekhter, Y., Ed., Li, T., Ed., and S. Hares, Ed., "A
Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271,
DOI 10.17487/RFC4271, January 2006,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4271>.
[RFC4360] Sangli, S., Tappan, D., and Y. Rekhter, "BGP Extended
Communities Attribute", RFC 4360, DOI 10.17487/RFC4360,
February 2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4360>.
[RFC4760] Bates, T., Chandra, R., Katz, D., and Y. Rekhter,
"Multiprotocol Extensions for BGP-4", RFC 4760,
DOI 10.17487/RFC4760, January 2007,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4760>.
[RFC4786] Abley, J. and K. Lindqvist, "Operation of Anycast
Services", BCP 126, RFC 4786, DOI 10.17487/RFC4786,
December 2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4786>.
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[RFC7606] Chen, E., Ed., Scudder, J., Ed., Mohapatra, P., and K.
Patel, "Revised Error Handling for BGP UPDATE Messages",
RFC 7606, DOI 10.17487/RFC7606, August 2015,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7606>.
[RFC8126] Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.
[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>.
[RFC8277] Rosen, E., "Using BGP to Bind MPLS Labels to Address
Prefixes", RFC 8277, DOI 10.17487/RFC8277, October 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8277>.
[RFC9012] Patel, K., Van de Velde, G., Sangli, S., and J. Scudder,
"The BGP Tunnel Encapsulation Attribute", RFC 9012,
DOI 10.17487/RFC9012, April 2021,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9012>.
12.2. Informative References
[CATS-Edge-Service]
L. Dunbar, K. Majumdar, H. Wang, and G. Mishra, "5G Edge
Service use Cases", July 2023,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-dunbar-cats-edge-
service-metrics/>.
[draft-ldbc-cats-framework]
C. Li, et al, "A Framework for Computing-Aware Traffic
Steering", August 2023, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/
draft-ldbc-cats-framework/>.
[IANA-BGP-PARAMS]
IANA, "BGP Path Attributes", BGP Path Attributes
https://www.iana.org/assignments/bgp-parameters/.
[IDR-CUSTOM-DECISION]
A. Retana, R. White, "BGP Custom Decision Process", August
2017, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-idr-
custom-decision/>.
[RFC2042] Manning, B., "Registering New BGP Attribute Types",
RFC 2042, DOI 10.17487/RFC2042, January 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2042>.
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[RFC4684] Marques, P., Bonica, R., Fang, L., Martini, L., Raszuk,
R., Patel, K., and J. Guichard, "Constrained Route
Distribution for Border Gateway Protocol/MultiProtocol
Label Switching (BGP/MPLS) Internet Protocol (IP) Virtual
Private Networks (VPNs)", RFC 4684, DOI 10.17487/RFC4684,
November 2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4684>.
[RFC8799] Carpenter, B. and B. Liu, "Limited Domains and Internet
Protocols", RFC 8799, DOI 10.17487/RFC8799, July 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8799>.
[TS.23.501-3GPP]
3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), "System
Architecture for 5G System; Stage 2, 3GPP TS 23.501
v2.0.1", December 2017.
Authors' Addresses
Linda Dunbar
Futurewei
Dallas, TX,
United States of America
Email: ldunbar@futurewei.com
Kausik Majumdar
Microsoft Azure
California,
United States of America
Email: kmajumdar@microsoft.com
Haibo Wang
Huawei
Beijing
China
Email: rainsword.wang@huawei.com
Gyan Mishra
Verizon
United States of America
Email: gyan.s.mishra@verizon.com
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Zongpeng Du
China Mobile
Beijing
China
Email: duzongpeng@foxmail.com
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