MPLS-TP Next-Hop Ethernet Addressing
draft-ietf-mpls-tp-ethernet-addressing-01

MPLS                                                       D. Frost, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                            S. Bryant, Ed.
Intended status: Standards Track                           Cisco Systems
Expires: November 24, 2012                                 M. Bocci, Ed.
                                                          Alcatel-Lucent
                                                            May 23, 2012

                  MPLS-TP Next-Hop Ethernet Addressing
               draft-ietf-mpls-tp-ethernet-addressing-01

Abstract

   The Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Transport Profile (MPLS-TP)
   is the set of MPLS protocol functions applicable to the construction
   and operation of packet-switched transport networks.  This document
   presents considerations for link-layer addressing of Ethernet frames
   carrying MPLS-TP packets.

   This document is a product of a joint Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF) / International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication
   Standardization Sector (ITU-T) effort to include an MPLS Transport
   Profile within the IETF MPLS and PWE3 architectures to support the
   capabilities and functionalities of a packet transport network.

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
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   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on November 24, 2012.

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

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   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
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   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.

1.  Introduction

   The MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) [RFC5921] is the set of protocol
   functions that meet the requirements [RFC5654] for the application of
   MPLS to the construction and operation of packet-switched transport
   networks.  The MPLS-TP data plane consists of those MPLS-TP functions
   concerned with the encapsulation and forwarding of MPLS-TP packets
   and is described in [RFC5960].

   This document presents considerations for link-layer addressing of
   Ethernet frames carrying MPLS-TP packets.  Since MPLS-TP packets are
   MPLS packets, existing procedures ([RFC3032], [RFC5332]) for the
   encapsulation of MPLS packets over Ethernet apply.  Because IP
   functionality is optional in an MPLS-TP network, however, IP-based
   protocols for Media Access Control (MAC) address learning, such as
   the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) [RFC0826] and IP version 6
   Neighbor Discovery [RFC4861], may not be available.  This document
   specifies the options for determination and selection of next-hop
   Ethernet MAC addressing under these circumstances.

   This document is a product of a joint Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF) / International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication
   Standardization Sector (ITU-T) effort to include an MPLS Transport
   Profile within the IETF MPLS and PWE3 architectures to support the
   capabilities and functionalities of a packet transport network.

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1.1.  Terminology

   Term    Definition
   ------- -------------------------------------------
   ARP     Address Resolution Protocol
   G-ACh   Generic Associated Channel
   GAL     G-ACh Label
   LSP     Label Switched Path
   LSR     Label Switching Router
   MAC     Media Access Control
   MPLS-TP MPLS Transport Profile
   OAM     Operations, Administration, and Maintenance

   Additional definitions and terminology can be found in [RFC5960] and
   [RFC5654].

1.2.  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].

2.  Point-to-Point Link Addressing

   When two MPLS-TP nodes are connected by a point-to-point Ethernet
   link, the question arises as to what destination Ethernet Media
   Access Control (MAC) address should be specified in Ethernet frames
   transmitted to the peer node over the link.  The problem of
   determining this address does not arise in IP/MPLS networks because
   of the presence of the Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
   [RFC0826] or IP version 6 Neighbor Discovery protocol [RFC4861],
   which allow the unicast MAC address of the peer device to be learned
   dynamically.

   If existing mechanisms are available in an MPLS-TP network to
   determine the destination unicast MAC addresses of peer nodes -- for
   example, if the network also happens to be an IP/MPLS network, or if
   it implements the procedures in Section 4 of this document -- such
   mechanisms SHOULD be used.  The remainder of this section discusses
   the available options when this is not the case.

   Each node MAY be statically configured with the MAC address of its
   peer.  Note however that static MAC address configuration can present
   an administrative burden and lead to operational problems.  For
   example, replacement of an Ethernet interface to resolve a hardware
   fault when this approach is used requires that the peer node be
   manually reconfigured with the new MAC address.  This is especially

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   problematic if the peer is operated by another provider.

   The Ethernet broadcast address FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF MAY be used as the
   destination MAC address in frames carrying MPLS-TP packets over a
   link that is known to be point-to-point.  This may, however, lead to
   excessive frame distribution and processing at the Ethernet layer.
   Broadcast traffic may also be treated specially by some devices and
   this may not be desirable for MPLS-TP data frames.

   The approach which SHOULD be used, in view of these considerations,
   is therefore to use as the destination MAC address an Ethernet
   multicast address reserved for MPLS-TP for use over point-to-point
   links.  The address allocated for this purpose by the Internet
   Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is 01-00-5E-90-00-00.  An MPLS-TP
   implementation MUST process Ethernet frames received over a point-to-
   point link with this destination MAC address by default.

   The use of broadcast or multicast addressing for the purpose
   described in this section, i.e. as a placeholder for the unknown
   unicast MAC address of the destination, is applicable only when the
   attached Ethernet link is known to be point-to-point.  If a link is
   not known to be point-to-point, these forms of addressing MUST NOT be
   used.  Thus the implementation MUST provide a means for the operator
   to declare that a link is point-to-point if it supports these
   addressing modes.  Moreover, the operator is cautioned that it is not
   always clear whether a given link is, or will remain, strictly point-
   to-point, particularly when the link is supplied by an external
   provider; point-to-point declarations must therefore be used with
   care.  Because of these caveats it is RECOMMENDED that
   implementations support the procedures in Section 4 so that unicast
   addressing can be used.

3.  Multipoint Link Addressing

   When a multipoint Ethernet link serves as a section [RFC5960] for a
   point-to-multipoint MPLS-TP LSP, and multicast destination MAC
   addressing at the Ethernet layer is used for the LSP, the addressing
   and encapsulation procedures specified in [RFC5332] SHALL be used.

   When a multipoint Ethernet link -- that is, a link which is not known
   to be point-to-point -- serves as a section for a point-to-point
   MPLS-TP LSP, unicast destination MAC addresses MUST be used for
   Ethernet frames carrying packets of the LSP.  According to the
   discussion in the previous section, this implies the use of either
   static MAC address configuration or a protocol that enables peer MAC
   address discovery.

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4.  MAC Address Discovery via the G-ACh Advertisement Protocol

   The G-ACh Advertisement Protocol (GAP) [I-D.ietf-mpls-gach-adv]
   provides a simple means of informing listeners on a link of the
   sender's capabilities and configuration.  When used for this purpose
   on an Ethernet link, GAP messages are multicast to the address 01-00-
   5e-80-00-0d.  If these messages contain the unicast MAC address of
   the sender, then listeners can learn this address and use it in the
   future when transmitting frames containing MPLS-TP packets.  Since
   the GAP does not rely on IP, this provides a means of unicast MAC
   discovery for MPLS-TP nodes without IP support.

   This document defines a new GAP application, "Ethernet Interface
   Parameters", to support the advertisement of Ethernet-specific
   parameters associated with the sending interface.  The following
   Type-Length-Value (TLV) objects are defined for this application:

      Source MAC Address: The Value of this object is a 48-bit Ethernet
      unicast MAC address in canonical form [RFC2469] assigned to one of
      the interfaces of the sender that is connected to this data link.

      MTU: The Value of this object is a 32-bit unsigned integer encoded
      in network byte order that specifies the maximum transmission unit
      size of the sending interface, in octets.

5.  Security Considerations

   The use of broadcast or multicast Ethernet destination MAC addresses
   for frames carrying MPLS-TP data packets can potentially result in
   such frames being distributed to devices other than the intended
   destination node or nodes when the Ethernet link is not point-to-
   point.  The operator SHOULD take care to ensure that MPLS-TP nodes
   are aware of the Ethernet link type (point-to-point or multipoint).
   In the case of multipoint links, the operator SHOULD either ensure
   that no devices are attached to the link that are not authorized to
   receive the frames, or take steps to mitigate the possibility of
   excessive frame distribution, for example by configuring the Ethernet
   switch to appropriately restrict the delivery of multicast frames to
   authorized ports.

6.  IANA Considerations

6.1.  Ethernet Multicast Address Allocation

   IANA has allocated an Ethernet multicast address from the IANA
   Multicast 48-bit MAC Addresses table in the ethernet-numbers registry

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   for use by MPLS-TP LSRs over point-to-point links as described in
   Section 2.  The allocated address is 01-00-5E-90-00-00.

6.2.  G-ACh Advertisement Protocol Allocation

   IANA is requested to allocate a new Application ID in the "G-ACh
   Advertisement Protocol Applications" registry
   [I-D.ietf-mpls-gach-adv], as follows:

   Application ID Description                   Reference
   -------------- ----------------------------- ------------
   0x0001         Ethernet Interface Parameters (this draft)

6.3.  Creation of Ethernet Interface Parameters Registry

   IANA is requested to create a new registry, "G-ACh Advertisement
   Protocol: Ethernet Interface Parameters", with fields and initial
   allocations as follows:

   Type Name          Type ID Reference
   ------------------ ------- ------------
   Source MAC Address 0       (this draft)
   MTU                1       (this draft)

   The range of the Type ID field is 0 - 255.

   The allocation policy for this registry is Specification Required.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [I-D.ietf-mpls-gach-adv]
              Frost, D., Bocci, M., and S. Bryant, "MPLS Generic
              Associated Channel (G-ACh) Advertisement Protocol",
              draft-ietf-mpls-gach-adv-00 (work in progress),
              January 2012.

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

   [RFC2469]  Narten, T. and C. Burton, "A Caution On The Canonical
              Ordering Of Link-Layer Addresses", RFC 2469,
              December 1998.

   [RFC3032]  Rosen, E., Tappan, D., Fedorkow, G., Rekhter, Y.,
              Farinacci, D., Li, T., and A. Conta, "MPLS Label Stack

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              Encoding", RFC 3032, January 2001.

   [RFC5332]  Eckert, T., Rosen, E., Aggarwal, R., and Y. Rekhter, "MPLS
              Multicast Encapsulations", RFC 5332, August 2008.

   [RFC5654]  Niven-Jenkins, B., Brungard, D., Betts, M., Sprecher, N.,
              and S. Ueno, "Requirements of an MPLS Transport Profile",
              RFC 5654, September 2009.

   [RFC5960]  Frost, D., Bryant, S., and M. Bocci, "MPLS Transport
              Profile Data Plane Architecture", RFC 5960, August 2010.

7.2.  Informative References

   [RFC0826]  Plummer, D., "Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol: Or
              converting network protocol addresses to 48.bit Ethernet
              address for transmission on Ethernet hardware", STD 37,
              RFC 826, November 1982.

   [RFC4861]  Narten, T., Nordmark, E., Simpson, W., and H. Soliman,
              "Neighbor Discovery for IP version 6 (IPv6)", RFC 4861,
              September 2007.

   [RFC5921]  Bocci, M., Bryant, S., Frost, D., Levrau, L., and L.
              Berger, "A Framework for MPLS in Transport Networks",
              RFC 5921, July 2010.

Authors' Addresses

   Dan Frost (editor)
   Cisco Systems

   Email: danfrost@cisco.com

   Stewart Bryant (editor)
   Cisco Systems

   Email: stbryant@cisco.com

   Matthew Bocci (editor)
   Alcatel-Lucent

   Email: matthew.bocci@alcatel-lucent.com

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