Ballot for draft-ietf-lsr-ospf-ls-link-infinity

Discuss

Ketan Talaulikar

Yes

Gunter Van de Velde
Mohamed Boucadair

No Objection

Andy Newton
Deb Cooley
Erik Kline
Gorry Fairhurst
Jim Guichard
Mahesh Jethanandani
Mike Bishop
Orie Steele
Paul Wouters
Roman Danyliw

No Record

Éric Vyncke

Summary: Has a DISCUSS. Has enough positions to pass once DISCUSS positions are resolved.

Ketan Talaulikar
Discuss
Discuss (2026-03-03 for -23) Sent
Thanks to the authors and the WG for their work on this document.

This document attempts to bring in a feature to the OSPF protocol that has been there in IS-IS and I believe this to be useful. However, I have some points that I would like to discuss about the proposal in the document.

<discuss-1> I am trying to understand if there is such a thing as an unreachable
link. Isn't reachability evaluated for nodes and prefixes advertised by those 
nodes? I was trying to find RFCs in either IGPs that cover unreachability for
links. What we do have is for a link to be not used/considered in the SPF 
computation. That makes the link unusable for SPF, but not unreachable, right?
This is important since the document talks about reachability/unreachability of
links throughout the text, while that notion applies to nodes & prefixes.

<discuss-2> I would like to discuss if the authors/WG considered using an 
approach similar to RFC8379 to signal un-usability of links in SPF rather 
than disturbing all the link metric constants and calculations that are widely
implemented. This feature requires a new capability anyway, and so using
a TLV for this indication would have been just fine? One argument in favor of
this approach that I would like the WG to consider is that it does not change
the semantics of existing MaxLinkMetric and its treatment. This means that in
a partial deployment where this feature is being introduced gradually, the
nodes don't link to update their Router LSAs in response to change in the
area-wide capability. I understand that the current approach is taken from
IS-IS, however, that was a day 1 feature in that protocol while in OSPF one
needs to factor in existing implementations that perhaps warrant a different
approach?

<discuss-3> Doesn't the MaxLinkMetric value remain 0xffff if not all routers in
an area support this new capability? The value changes to 0xfffe only when
all routers in an area support this new capability. This means the values
change based on area-wide capability and hence are no longer constant.So, 
why is there a need to introduce two new "constants" (keeping aside for now the 
'reachability' in their names), when this document could have simply changed
the value of MaxLinkMetric to 0xfffe when this capability is turned on across 
the area. This way, the document only needs to update RFC6987.

<discuss-4> When IS-IS introduced this concept via RFC5305 it covered both the 
IGP as well as TE metric. Should OSPF also not consider covering both?

230	   *  The OSPFv2 Extended Link TLV of OSPFv2 Extended Link Opaque LSA
231	      [RFC7684]

<discuss-5> I don't see how it applies to OSPFv2 Extended Link Opaque LSA. Which
specific TLV/sub-TLV is going to carry this metric?

235	3.2.  Unreachable Link Backward Compatibility

<discuss-6> Can the authors/WG please consider if this section should be updated
along the lines of https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8770#section-5 as that is 
quite good and thorough. The current text is missing some important aspects such 
as LSA scope.

330	4.1.  Configuration Parameters

332	   Support of the Unreachable Link capability SHOULD be configurable.

<discuss-7> Why not MUST? Isn't this a very operator driven thing and therefore
there MUST be a config option? Also, I don't seem to find the knob in the YANG
module to mark the link usable/unusable. Am I missing something? These knobs 
(default OFF) are needed for both the router level capability and the per-link 
setting.
Comment (2026-03-03 for -23) Sent
Please also find below some comments provided inline in the idnits o/p of v23 of this document. Look for the tag <EoRv23> at the end to ensure that you have received the full review.

16	Abstract

<minor> Could the abstract convey that all these changes are contingent on
the presence of a new capability?

107	   In order to advertise these links as unreachable, the metric
108	   LSLinkInfinity (0xffff) is used to specify that the link is
109	   unreachable and OSPF routers supporting this specification will
110	   exclude the link from SPF calculations (subject to backward-
111	   compatibility constraints, refer to Section 3.2).

<minor> perhaps s/backward-compatibility constraints/capability negotiation ?

113	   Stub Router Advertisement [RFC6987] defines MaxLinkMetric (0xffff) to
114	   indicate a router-LSA link should not be used for transit IP traffic.

<major> Isn't this is a wrong characterization of RFC6987? RFC6987 is setting
this highest level of metric in the hope that the link gets used only as a last
resort. The "should not be used" is incorrect.


121	   Similarly, Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) IGP Synchronization
122	   [RFC5443] specifies OSPF advertisement of MaxLinkMetric (0xffff) to
123	   indicate that while the OSPF adjacency is in FULL state, LDP has not
124	   been synchronized between the two neighbors and transit traffic is
125	   discouraged.  This document updates [RFC5443] with respect to the
126	   advertisement of MaxReachableLinkMetric rather than MaxLinkMetric.

<major> You are missing implications on RFC8379 ?

218	   While the interpretation of LSLinkInfinity is only required in the
219	   base topology as other topologies are optional [RFC4915], OSPF

<major> I am not sure that I understand why MT is being brought in here. Can you
please elaborate the implications on MT?

222	   This applies to both the Flex-Algorithm SPF [RFC9350] and the base
223	   SPF as long as LSLinkInfinity is specified for the OSPF metric.

<major> Perhaps what you mean to say is that it applies to Flex-Algo where the
metric type used for computation is IGP Metric. Please clarify. I believe it
also applies to Algo 1 - https://www.iana.org/assignments/igp-parameters/igp-parameters.xhtml#igp-algorithm-types

307	   An OSPFv3 router can simply advertise R-bit in its router-LSA options
308	   [RFC5340] to prevent usage stub router links for transit traffic.
309	   Similarly, OSPFv2 routers supporting [RFC8770] can advertise the
310	   H-bit in the router-LSA options.

<major> Please consider removing the above paragraph. It is not relevant to this
feature and may only cause readers to ponder if they are missing any relation
between these two separate procedures.


334	   In some networks, the operator may still want links with maximum
335	   metric (0xffff) to be treated as reachable.  For example, when the
336	   cost of links is automatically computed based on the inverse of the
337	   link's bandwidth and there is a mix of low-speed and high-speed
338	   links, the computation may result in the maximum metric.  In this
339	   case, OSPF routers supporting this specification can disable the
340	   Unreachable Link capability and still treat links with maximum metric
341	   as reachable.

343	   It is also RECOMMENDED that implementations supporting this document
344	   and auto-costing limit the maximum computed cost to
345	   MaxReachableLinkMetric (0xfffe).  An example of auto-costing would be
346	   to automatically set the link metric to be inversely proportional to
347	   the link bandwidth (refer to the auto-cost feature in the ietf-
348	   ospf.yang [RFC9129]).

<major> What is meant by "OSPF routers supporting ... can disable"? Would this
not cause churn and instability as capability is turned on/off based on link
bandwidth changes (e.g., in the case of a bundle?). Why not change RECOMMENDED to
MUST to fix this issue in a proper way?

862	5.  Security Considerations

864	   A compromised OSPF router could advertise changes to its Unreachable
865	   Link capability rapidly resulting in repeated route recalculations on
866	   routers in the area supporting this specification (Section 3.2).
867	   Hence, it is RECOMMENDED that routers supporting this specification
868	   also support the SPF back-off delay algorithm described in [RFC8405].

<major> It is not just about a compromised router. It could be an older router
or one that does not support this feature becoming connected/disconnected to
the rest of the routers in the area. This is enough to cause the area wide
capability to flip back/forth. This isn't for the security considerations but
perhaps should be there in the operational considerations - i.e., recommend
that care be taken when this capability is enabled and some router(s) in the
network does not support it?

1018	9.1.  Normative References

1020	   [IANA-OSPF-FC-Bits]
1021	              IANA, "OSPF Router Functional Capability Bits",
1022	              <https://www.iana.org/assignments/ospf-parameters>.

1024	   [IANA-YANG-Parameters]
1025	              IANA, "YANG Module Names",
1026	              <https://www.iana.org/assignments/yang-parameters>.

<major> The above two references seem informative to me.

1127	   [RFC5340]  Coltun, R., Ferguson, D., Moy, J., and A. Lindem, "OSPF
1128	              for IPv6", RFC 5340, DOI 10.17487/RFC5340, July 2008,
1129	              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5340>.

<major> Should RFC5340 not be normative?

<EoRv23>
Gunter Van de Velde
Yes
Mohamed Boucadair
(was Discuss) Yes
Comment (2026-02-25 for -21) Sent
Hi Liyan, Weiqiang, Changwang, Acee, and Ran,

Thank you for the discussion and the changes. The changes made in [1] address ALL my points. Much appreciated.

Special thanks to Acee for closing the LC issue [3].

Cheers,
Med

[1] https://author-tools.ietf.org/iddiff?url1=draft-ietf-lsr-ospf-ls-link-infinity-19&url2=draft-ietf-lsr-ospf-ls-link-infinity-21&difftype=--html

[2] https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/lsr/DZ-I9cz0aWiNQ5BoNxydZscaONY/

[3] https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/lsr/txbL9tHOr5SkxFFHNQlGXs2V8l0/
Andy Newton
No Objection
Deb Cooley
No Objection
Comment (2026-03-01 for -21) Sent
Thanks to Carl Wallace for their secdir review. 

Section 5, para 3:  Consider changing the reference from RFC 8446 to draft-ietf-tls-8446bis which is currently in Auth48 (so it should be completed before this draft).
Erik Kline
No Objection
Gorry Fairhurst
No Objection
Jim Guichard
No Objection
Mahesh Jethanandani
No Objection
Comment (2026-03-03 for -23) Sent
Section 2.2, paragraph 7
>    The "Red" links that are used by Flex-Algorithm 128 calculation.
>    However, these "Red" links are also included in the default algorithm
>    calculation [RFC9350] since they are reachable.  Note that links used
>    by the default algorithm are omitted from Figure 3 for clarity.

The first sentence seems to be a fragment. I think you meant to say:

"The "Red" links are used by Flex-Algorithm 128 calculation."

Section 3.2, paragraph 6
>    OSPF Routers MUST NOT treat links with an advertised metric of
>    LSLinkInfinity as unreachable unless all routers in the OSPF area,
>    i.e., all routers with Router-LSAs in the area Link State Database
>    (LSDB), have advertised this capability.  If all OSPF Routers in the
>    area have advertised this capability, then links with an advertised
>    metric of LSLinkInfinity MUST be treated as unreachable.  Upon
>    detection of a change in the number of routers in the area not
>    supporting the Unreachable Link capability changes to 0 or from 0 to
>    greater than 0, all OSPF routers in the area MUST recalculate their
>    routes.

The last sentence in the paragraph is hard to parse. Could it be reworded to say:

"When the number of routers in the area that do not support the Unreachable Link 
capability changes to 0 or from 0 to a value greater than 0, all OSPF routers
in the area MUST recalculate their routes."

Section 3.3, paragraph 3
>    When an OSPF router supports [RFC6987] and the Unreachable Link
>    capability defined in this document, it MUST also support
>    advertisement all its non-stub links with a link cost of
>    MaxReachableLinkMetric (0xfffe).  Since MaxLinkMetric will not be
>    used to indicate a link is unreachable unless all OSPF routers in the
>    area support this specification as specified in Section 3.2, all
>    routers in the area will also support the usage of
>    MaxReachableLinkMetric to discourage the usage of stub router links
>    for transit traffic.  If there are any OSPF routers in the area that
>    do not support the Unreachable Link capability, then all OSPF routers
>    in the area will treat links advertised with a cost MaxLinkMetric as
>    reachable (Section 3.2).

Similarly, the first sentence should be reworded to say:

"... it MUST support the advertisement of all its non-stub links."

Section 4.2, paragraph 0
>    This section defines three YANG [RFC7950] modules.  Module iana-ospf-
>    functional-cap-bits defines the identities for OSPF Functional
>    Capabilities as per the "OSPF Router Functional Capability Bits" IANA
>    registry [IANA-OSPF-FC-Bits].  Module ietf-ospf-functional-capability
>    and module ietf-ospf-unreachable-links can be used to configure and
>    manage the usage of OSPF LSLinkInfinity for unreachable links as
>    defined in this document, which augments the OSPF YANG data model
>    [RFC9129] and the YANG Data Model for Routing Management [RFC8349].

The description above states that the module ietf-ospf-functional-capability
will be used to configure and manage the usage of OSPF LSLinkInfinity.
However, all the nodes are ro nodes. I assume that the actual configuration
of the capabilities is happening somewhere else, and this module is only 
being used to query those capabilities??

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NIT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All comments below are about very minor potential issues that you may choose to
address in some way - or ignore - as you see fit. Some were flagged by
automated tools (via https://github.com/larseggert/ietf-reviewtool), so there
will likely be some false positives. There is no need to let me know what you
did with these suggestions.

Section 2.2, paragraph 7
>    If the OSPF metrics for all the "Red" links are advertised as
>    unreachable, they will be excluded from the default SPF calculation
>    as shown in Figure 4, This allows the "Red" links from A to B and C
>    to D to be used exclusively by the Flex-Algorithm 128 calculation.

s/Figure 4,/Figure 4./

Section 5, paragraph 5
>    The following data nodes defined in the ietf-ospf-unreachable-links
>    YANG module that are writable/creatable/deletable (i.e., config true,
>    which is the default).  The modification of these data nodes without
>    proper protection can prevent interpretation of the OSPF
>    LSLinkInfinity metric as unreachable.

s/that are/are/
Mike Bishop
No Objection
Comment (2026-03-03 for -23) Sent
# IESG review of draft-ietf-lsr-ospf-ls-link-infinity-23

CC @MikeBishop

## Comments

### Section 6, paragraph 0

Please add links to the relevant registries.

## Nits

All comments below are about very minor potential issues that you may choose to
address in some way - or ignore - as you see fit. Some were flagged by
automated tools (via https://github.com/larseggert/ietf-reviewtool), so there
will likely be some false positives. There is no need to let me know what you
did with these suggestions.

### Typos

#### Section 2.2, paragraph 11
```
- 3.  LSLinkInfinity Based Solution
-                   ^
+ 3.  LSLinkInfinity-Based Solution
+                   ^
```

#### Section 3.2, paragraph 7
```
-    metric of LSLinkInfinity MUST be treated as unreachable.  Upon
-                                                              ^^
-    detection of a change in the number of routers in the area not
+    metric of LSLinkInfinity MUST be treated as unreachable.  When the number of routers in the area not
+                                                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +++++++++++ +++++++++++++
```

#### Section 3.3, paragraph 4
```
-    [RFC5340] to prevent usage stub router links for transit traffic.
+    [RFC5340] to prevent the usage of stub router links for transit traffic.
+                         ++++     +++
```

#### Section 5, paragraph 2
```
-    The security considerations for [RFC2328],[RFC5340], [RFC6987], and
+    The security considerations for [RFC2328], [RFC5340], [RFC6987], and
+                                              +
```

#### Section 5, paragraph 3
```
-    SSH [RFC4252], TLS [I-D.ietf-tls-rfc8446bis], and QUIC [RFC9000]) and
-                                                  ^^^
+    SSH [RFC4252], TLS [I-D.ietf-tls-rfc8446bis], or QUIC [RFC9000]) and
+                                                  ^^
```

### URLs

These URLs in the document did not return content:

 * https://www.iana.org/assignments/iana-ospf-functional-cap-bits/iana-ospf-functional-cap-bits.xhtml

### Grammar/style

#### Section 4.2.5, paragraph 8
```
egistry with all spaces replaced with “-“. The "identity" statement should ha
                                      ^ ^
```
Please do not use "smart-quotes".
Orie Steele
No Objection
Paul Wouters
No Objection
Roman Danyliw
No Objection
Comment (2026-03-04 for -23) Not sent
Thank you to Behcet Sarikaya for the GENART review.
Éric Vyncke
No Record