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BGP ACCEPT_OWN Community Attribute
draft-ietf-l3vpn-acceptown-community-10

The information below is for an old version of the document that is already published as an RFC.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 7611.
Authors Jim Uttaro , Prodosh Mohapatra , David Smith , Robert Raszuk , John Scudder
Last updated 2015-10-14 (Latest revision 2015-06-24)
Replaces draft-pmohapat-l3vpn-acceptown-community
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Intended RFC status Proposed Standard
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Additional resources Mailing list discussion
Stream WG state Submitted to IESG for Publication
Document shepherd Thomas Morin
Shepherd write-up Show Last changed 2014-11-23
IESG IESG state Became RFC 7611 (Proposed Standard)
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Consensus boilerplate Yes
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD Alvaro Retana
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IANA IANA review state Version Changed - Review Needed
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draft-ietf-l3vpn-acceptown-community-10
Network Working Group                                          J. Uttaro
Internet-Draft                                                       ATT
Intended status: Standards Track                            P. Mohapatra
Expires: December 26, 2015                              Sproute Networks
                                                                D. Smith
                                                           Cisco Systems
                                                               R. Raszuk
                                                           Mirantis Inc.
                                                              J. Scudder
                                                        Juniper Networks
                                                           June 24, 2015

                   BGP ACCEPT_OWN Community Attribute
              draft-ietf-l3vpn-acceptown-community-10.txt

Abstract

   Under certain conditions it is desirable for a Border Gateway
   Protocol (BGP) route reflector to be able to modify the Route Target
   (RT) list of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) route that the route
   reflector distributes, enabling the route reflector to control how a
   route originated within one Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) is
   imported into other VRFs.  This technique works effectively as long
   as the VRF that exports the route is not on the same Provider Edge
   (PE) router than the VRF(s) that import the route.  However, due to
   the constraints of the BGP protocol, it does not work if the two are
   on the same PE.  This document describes a modification to the BGP
   protocol allowing this technique to work when the VRFs are on the
   same PE, and to be used in a standard manner throughout an autonomous
   system.

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 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 December 26, 2015.

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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2015 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  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  ACCEPT_OWN Community  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  Route Acceptance  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.2.  Propagating ACCEPT_OWN Between Address Families . . . . .   4
     2.3.  Configuration Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Decision Process  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Deployment Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  Other Applications  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   6.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   8.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   9.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Appendix A.  Local Extranet Application (non-normative) . . . . .   6
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7

1.  Introduction

   In certain scenarios, a BGP speaker may maintain multiple VRFs
   [RFC4364].  Under certain conditions, it is desirable for a route
   reflector to be able to modify the RT list of a VPN route that the
   route reflector distributes, enabling the route reflector to control
   how a route originated within one VRF is imported into other VRFs.
   Though it is possible to perform such policy control directly on the
   originator, it may be operationally cumbersome in an autonomous
   system with a large number of border routers having complex BGP
   policies.

   The technique of the route reflector modifying the RT list works
   effectively as long as the VRF that exports the route is not on the
   same PE as the VRF(s) that import the route.  However, due to the

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   constraints of the BGP protocol, it does not work if the two are on
   the same PE.  This is because per the BGP specification [RFC4271], a
   BGP speaker rejects prefix advertisements received that were
   originated by itself.  In an autonomous system with route reflectors,
   the route reflector attaches the ORIGINATOR_ID attribute to the
   UPDATE messages so that if such prefix advertisements reach the
   originator, the originator can reject them by simply checking the
   ORIGINATOR_ID attribute.  The BGP specification also mandates that a
   route should not be accepted from a peer when the NEXT_HOP attribute
   matches the receiver's own "IP address".

   This document proposes a modification to BGP's behavior by defining a
   new community [RFC1997] value, in order to allow the technique of RT
   list modification by the route reflector to be used in a standard
   manner throughout an autonomous system, irrespective of whether the
   VRFs are on the same, or different PEs.

1.1.  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 RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

2.  ACCEPT_OWN Community

   This memo defines a new well-known BGP community from the First Come
   First Served range, ACCEPT_OWN, whose value as assigned by IANA is
   0xFFFF0001.  Processing of the ACCEPT_OWN community SHOULD be
   controlled by configuration.  The functionality SHOULD default to
   being disabled, as further specified in Section 2.3.

2.1.  Route Acceptance

   A router MAY accept a route whose ORIGINATOR_ID or NEXT_HOP value
   matches that of the receiving speaker if all of the following are
   true:

   o  Processing of the ACCEPT_OWN community is enabled by
      configuration.

   o  The route in question carries the ACCEPT_OWN community.

   o  The route in question was originated from a source VRF on the
      router.  The source VRF is a VRF on the router whose configured
      Route Distinguisher is equal to the Route Distinguisher carried in
      the route.

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   o  The route in question is targeted to one or more destination VRFs
      on the router (as determined by inspecting the Route Target(s)).

   o  At least one destination VRF is different from the source VRF.

   A route MUST NOT ever be accepted back into its source VRF, even if
   it carries one or more RTs which match that VRF.

2.2.  Propagating ACCEPT_OWN Between Address Families

   The ACCEPT_OWN community controls propagation of routes which can be
   associated with a source VRF by inspection of their Route
   Distinguisher and with a target VRF by inspection of their Route
   Target list (for example VPN routes with a SAFI of 128).  As such, it
   SHOULD NOT be attached to any routes which cannot be associated with
   a source VRF.  This implies that when propagating routes into a VRF,
   the ACCEPT_OWN community SHOULD NOT be propagated.  Likewise, if a
   route carrying the ACCEPT_OWN community is received in an address
   family which does not allow the source VRF to be looked up, the
   ACCEPT_OWN community MUST be discarded.  An OPTIONAL message may be
   logged in this case.

2.3.  Configuration Control

   ACCEPT_OWN handling SHOULD be controlled by configuration, and if
   controlled by configuration, it MUST default to being disabled.  When
   ACCEPT_OWN is disabled by configuration (either explicitly or by
   default), the router MUST NOT apply the special route acceptance
   rules detailed in Section 2.1.  The router SHOULD still apply the
   propagation rules detailed in Section 2.2.

3.  Decision Process

   If a BGP speaker supports ACCEPT_OWN and is configured for the
   extensions defined in this document, the following step is inserted
   after the LOCAL_PREF comparison step in BGP decision process:

      When comparing a pair of routes for a BGP destination, the route
      attached with ACCEPT_OWN community is preferred over the route
      that does not have the community.

   In all other respects, the decision process remains unchanged.  This
   extra step MUST only be invoked during the best path selection
   process of VPN-IP routes [RFC4364] (i.e., it MUST NOT be invoked for
   the best path selection of "imported" IP routes in a VRF).  The
   purpose of the extra step is to allow the paths advertised by the
   route reflector with ACCEPT_OWN community to be selected as best over

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   other paths that the BGP speaker may have received, hence enabling
   the applications ACCEPT_OWN is designed for.

4.  Deployment Considerations

   The ACCEPT_OWN community as described in this document is useful
   within a single autonomous system which uses a single layer of route
   reflectors.  Its use with hierarchical route reflectors would require
   further specification and is out of scope for this document.
   Likewise, its use across multiple autonomous systems is out of scope
   for this document.

5.  Other Applications

   This approach may also be relevant to other scenarios where a BGP
   speaker maintains multiple routing contexts using an approach
   different from that of [RFC4364], as long as the specific approach in
   use has the property that the BGP speaker originates and receives
   routes within a particular context.  In such a case, "VRF" in this
   document should be understood to mean whatever construct provides a
   routing context in the specific technology under consideration.
   Likewise, "Route Distinguisher" should be understood to mean whatever
   construct allows a route's originator to associate that route with
   its source context, and "Route Target" should be understood to mean
   whatever construct allows a route to be targeted for import into a
   context other than its source.

6.  Security Considerations

   ACCEPT_OWN as described above permits a router's own route prefix to
   be advertised to a different VRF on that router.  In this respect,
   such a route is similar to any other BGP route and shares the same
   set of security vulnerabilities and concerns.  This extension does
   not change the underlying security issues inherent in BGP VPN
   [RFC4364].

7.  IANA Considerations

   IANA has assigned the value 0xFFFF0001 from BGP well-known
   communities registry for ACCEPT_OWN community.  No additional IANA
   action is required.

8.  Acknowledgments

   The authors would like to thank Yakov Rekhter, Jim Guichard, Clarence
   Filsfils, John Mullooly, Jeff Haas, Pranav Mehta, and Tamas Mondal
   for their valuable comments and suggestions.  The decision process

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   changes were suggested by Pranav Mehta to solve the remote extranet
   problem.

9.  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.

   [RFC4271]  Rekhter, Y., Li, T., and S. Hares, "A Border Gateway
              Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271, January 2006.

   [RFC4364]  Rosen, E. and Y. Rekhter, "BGP/MPLS IP Virtual Private
              Networks (VPNs)", RFC 4364, February 2006.

Appendix A.  Local Extranet Application (non-normative)

   One of the applications for this behavior is auto-configuration of
   extranets within MPLS VPN networks.  Consider the following topology:

   CE1 --------+
               |
              (VRF 1, RD 1, RT 1)
                       PE1 ................... RR
              (VRF 2, RD 2, RT 2)
               |
   CE2 --------+

                      Figure 1: Extranet Application

   Within the above topology, PE1 receives a prefix X from CE1.  Prefix
   X is installed in VRF 1 and is advertised to the route reflector with
   route distinguisher (RD) 1 and route target (RT) 1 as configured on
   PE1.  The requirement is to import prefix X into VRF 2 and advertise
   it to CE2 in support of extranet VPN connectivity between CE1/VRF1
   and CE2/VRF2.  Current BGP mechanisms for MPLS VPNs[RFC4364] require
   changing the import RT value and/or import policy for VRF 2 on PE1.
   This is operationally cumbersome in a network with a large number of
   border routers having complex BGP policies.

   Alternatively, using the new ACCEPT_OWN community value, the route
   reflector can simply re-advertise prefix X back to PE1 with RT 2
   appended.  In this way, PE1 will accept prefix X despite its
   ORIGINATOR_ID or NEXT_HOP value, import it into VRF 2 as a result of
   RT 2, and will then determine the correct adjacency rewrite within

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   VRF 1 based on the RD value (1) and the prefix.  Note that the RT 1
   value originally attached to the route will simply be ignored since
   associated with the source VRF 1.  The same operation needs also to
   happen in the reverse direction (VRF 1 learning a route from VRF 2)
   to achieve establishment of an extranet VPN strictly via the route
   reflector without changing the BGP policy of PE1 in any way.

   A router performing such an extranet application can accept a route
   with its own ORIGINATOR_ID or NEXT_HOP value only if the VRF in which
   the router originated the route is different than the VRF in which
   the router accepts the re-advertised route.

Authors' Addresses

   James Uttaro
   ATT
   200 S. Laurel Avenue
   Middletown, NJ  07748
   USA

   Email: uttaro@att.com

   Pradosh Mohapatra
   Sproute Networks

   Email: mpradosh@yahoo.com

   David J. Smith
   Cisco Systems
   111 Wood Avenue South
   Iselin, NJ  08830
   USA

   Email: djsmith@cisco.com

   Robert Raszuk
   Mirantis Inc.
   615 National Ave. #100
   Mt View, CA  94043
   USA

   Email: robert@raszuk.net

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   John Scudder
   Juniper Networks
   1194 N. Mathilda Ave
   Sunnyvale, CA  94089
   USA

   Email: jgs@juniper.net

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