Definition for BMP Multiple Peer Header
draft-liu-grow-bmp-multiple-peer-header-00
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| Document | Type | Active Internet-Draft (individual) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Yisong Liu , Changwang Lin , Narasimha Prasad , Mukul Srivastava | ||
| Last updated | 2025-10-20 | ||
| RFC stream | (None) | ||
| Intended RFC status | (None) | ||
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| Stream | Stream state | (No stream defined) | |
| Consensus boilerplate | Unknown | ||
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draft-liu-grow-bmp-multiple-peer-header-00
Network Working Group Y. Liu
Internet Draft China Mobile
Intended status: Standards Track C. Lin
Expires: April 20, 2026 New H3C Technologies
P. Narasimha
Cisco Systems, Inc.
M. Srivastava
Juniper Networks
October 20, 2025
Definition for BMP Multiple Peer Header
draft-liu-grow-bmp-multiple-peer-header-00
Abstract
This document proposes a format of multiple peer header for
aggregating BMP messages. It can be used to compress multiple BMP
messages with per-peer header into one aggregated BMP message, which
could reduce the amount of reported BMP messages and reduce network
overhead.
Status of this Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on April 20, 2026.
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Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without
warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction...................................................2
2. Requirements Language..........................................3
3. Multi-Peer Header Definition...................................3
4. Multi-Peer Header Message Format...............................3
5. Common Multi-Peer Header Format................................4
6. Use Cases......................................................5
7. Security Considerations........................................6
8. IANA Considerations............................................6
9. Normative References...........................................6
Authors' Addresses................................................7
1. Introduction
[RFC7854] defines the format of BMP messages including Initiation
Message, Termination Message, Route Monitoring Message, Route
Mirroring Message, Stats Reports Message, and Peer Down/Up
Notification Message. Except Initiation and Termination Message, all
other BMP messages contain a Per-Peer Header. For BMP messages that
include a Per-Peer Header, referred to as BMP Per-Peer Message, a
common format is defined as shown in Figure 1.
+------------------------------+
| Common Header |
+------------------------------+
| Per-Peer Header |
+------------------------------+
| BMP TLV |
+------------------------------+
Figure 1: Common Format of BMP Per-Peer Message
Depending on the BMP message type in Common Header, the BMP TLV
represents the corresponding BMP information.
For multiple BMP Per-Peer Messages, their BMP TLV may have both
identical and differing parts. When transmitting BMP Per-Peer
messages of the same type, these messages can be consolidated into a
single message, retaining only one copy of the identical parts to
reduce the message size, network overhead and improve overall
network performance.
This document defines a new BMP message type, referred to as Multi-
Peer Header Message. It can be used to compress multiple BMP
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messages of same type, each with a per-peer header, into a single
aggregated BMP message, which could reduce the amount of reported
BMP messages and reduce network overhead.
2. Requirements Language
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 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
3. Multi-Peer Header Definition
This section adds a new BMP message type for Multi-Peer Header,
which is populated in the message type field of the Common Header.
Message Type = TBD: Multi-Peer Header, Recommended value 7.
4. Multi-Peer Header Message Format
This section defines the BMP Multi-Peer header message format, as
shown in Figure 2.
+-------------------------------------+
| Common Header (Type = TBD) |
+-------------------------------------+
| Common Multi-Peer Header |
~ ~
+-------------------------------------+
| Common Information |
~ ~
+-------------------------------------+
Figure 2: BMP Multi-Peer Header Message Format
In the BMP Multi-Peer header message format, the Common Header is
the same as that defined in Section 4.1 of [RFC7854], the Common
Multi-Peer Header carries the distinct Per-Peer Information of the
corresponding BMP Per-Peer Message, and the Common Information
comprises the identical part of the corresponding BMP Per-Peer
Message.
The Common Multi-Peer Header format is defined in Section 5. The
Common Information format is defined differently based on various
Message Types in the Common Multi-Peer Header.
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5. Common Multi-Peer Header Format
This section defines the format of the Common Multi-Peer Header in
BMP Multi-Peer header message, as shown in Figure 3. The Multi-Peer
Message Type maps to existing BMP message types that include a Per-
Peer Header, as defined in [RFC7854] (such as Route Monitoring, Peer
Down Notification and Peer Up Notification).
The Common Multi-Peer Header can be used to construct a BMP Multi-
Peer Header message with various Multi-Peer Message Type. The Wild
Card Per-Peer Header is defined below and is similar to the Per-Peer
Header defined in Section 4.2 of [RFC7854]. The Per-Peer Information
is the different part of the corresponding BMP Per-Peer Message.
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Multi-Peer Message Type (1 byte) |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Multi-Peer Message Length (2 byte) |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Wild Card Per-Peer Header 1 |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Per-Peer Information Length 1 (2 bytes) |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Per-Peer Information 1 |
~ ~
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Wild Card Per-Peer Header N |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Per-Peer Information Length N (2 bytes) |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Per-Peer Information N |
~ ~
+--------------------------------------------------------+
Figure 3: Common Multi-Peer Header Format
In the Common Multi-Peer Header format, The Multi-Peer Message Type
definition is not included in this document, and it needs to be
defined according to the specific application of BMP message type.
The Multi-Peer Message Length is the length of Common Multi-Peer
Header in bytes (including all Wild Card Per-Peer Headers, Per-Peer
Information Lengths, and Per-Peer Information).
The Per-Peer Information format can vary based on the various Multi-
Peer Message Types. Each Wild Card Per-Peer Header could be followed
by its unique/distinct Per-Peer Information corresponding the BMP
Per-Peer Message. If no Per-Peer Information follows the Wild Card
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Per-Peer Header, the corresponding Per-Peer Information Length MUST
be set to 0.
This document defines an Wild Card Per-Peer Header, that could be
used to apply to multiple peers, if desired. It is defined according
to Per-Peer Header of [RFC7854], as shown in Figure 4.
0 1 2 3
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
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Peer Type | Peer Flags |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Peer Distinguisher (present based on peer type) |
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Peer Address (16 bytes) |
~ ~
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Peer Mask (16 bytes) |
~ ~
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Peer AS |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Peer BGP ID |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Timestamp (seconds) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Timestamp (microseconds) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 4: Wild Card Per-Peer Header Format
Compared with Per-Peer Header define in Section 4.2 of [RFC7854],
the Peer Mask is added to indicate the mask of Peer Address.
* When Peer Mask is 32 for IPv4 and 128 for IPv6 - the Peer Address
is used to indicate a specific peer (like the Peer Address of Per-
Peer Header in RFC 7854).
* When Peer Mask is 0 and Peer Address is 0 - the Wild Card Peer
Header applies to for all peers.
* Other non-zero values of Peer Mask - the Wild Card peer header
applies to multiple peers matching 'peer address' AND 'peer mask'
criteria.
6. Use Cases
TBD
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7. Security Considerations
TBD.
8. IANA Considerations
This document requests that IANA assign a following new message type
in BMP Message Types of the BMP parameters name space
(https://www.iana.org/assignments/bmp-parameters/bmp-
parameters.xhtml).
* Type = TBD: Multi-Peer Header
9. 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/rfc/rfc2119>.
[RFC7854] Scudder, J., Ed., Fernando, R., and S. Stuart, "BGP
Monitoring Protocol (BMP)", RFC 7854, DOI
10.17487/RFC7854, June 2016, <https://www.rfc-
editor.org/info/rfc7854>.
[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>.
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Authors' Addresses
Yisong Liu
China Mobile
China
Email: liuyisong@chinamobile.com
Changwang Lin
New H3C Technologies
China
Email: linchangwang.04414@h3c.com
Prasad S. Narasimha
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Email: snprasad@cisco.com
Mukul Srivastava
Juniper Networks
10 Technology Park Dr
Westford, MA 01886
United States of America
Email: msri@juniper.net
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