BMP Statistics Information TLV
draft-msri-grow-bmp-stats-informational-tlv-00
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| Document | Type | Active Internet-Draft (individual) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Mukul Srivastava , Santosh Kolenchery | ||
| Last updated | 2026-01-16 | ||
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draft-msri-grow-bmp-stats-informational-tlv-00
Network Working Group M. Srivastava
Internet-Draft S. Kolenchery
Intended status: Standards Track Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Expires: 20 July 2026 16 January 2026
BMP Statistics Information TLV
draft-msri-grow-bmp-stats-informational-tlv-00
Abstract
The BGP Monitoring Protocol (BMP) defines statistics reports that
provide periodic snapshots of various BGP-related metrics. When
statistics are reported periodically, the snapshot values may not
reflect the variations that occurred between reporting intervals.
This document defines a Statistics Information TLV that can be used
to convey additional statistical information about BMP gauge-type
statistics during the reporting period. This TLV reports the minimum
and maximum values observed (with timestamps indicating when they
occurred), along with additional statistical measures such as
average, median, or snapshot values. This enables BMP collectors to
better understand the dynamics of monitored statistics even when the
reported snapshot values appear constant.
Status of This Memo
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provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 20 July 2026.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://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
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Motivation and Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Statistics Information TLV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2. Semantics and Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.3. Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4. Implementation Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.1. BMP Statistics Information Entry Types Registry . . . . . 10
5.2. BMP Statistics Information TLV Types Registry . . . . . . 11
5.3. Addition to BMP Statistics Types Registry . . . . . . . . 12
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1. Introduction
The BGP Monitoring Protocol (BMP) [RFC7854] provides a mechanism for
monitoring BGP sessions. BMP defines Statistics Reports (SR)
messages that routers can send to monitoring stations to report
various statistics related to BGP operations. These statistics are
categorized as either counters (monotonically increasing values) or
gauges (values that may increase or decrease within a defined range).
Statistics Reports are typically transmitted on a periodic basis
(e.g., every 15 minutes) or triggered by specific events or
thresholds. When transmitted periodically, each SR message contains
snapshot values of the statistics at the time of collection. This
snapshot approach has a limitation: it does not capture the
variations that may have occurred during the reporting period, which
can be important for capacity planning, anomaly detection, and
understanding system dynamics.
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This document defines a Statistics Information TLV that can accompany
BMP statistics to report additional distributional information about
a statistic's behavior during the reporting period. The TLV conveys
the minimum and maximum values observed (with timestamps indicating
when they occurred), along with additional statistical measures such
as average, median, or snapshot values.
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] and
RFC 8174 [RFC8174].
2. Motivation and Use Cases
Currently, BMP statistics reports stream only the snapshot value of
each metric at each reporting interval. This approach has a
significant limitation: it does not capture the variations that may
have occurred during the reporting period. Any analytic task that
requires insight into the statistical distribution of these metrics
is limited by the granularity of the reporting interval.
Furthermore, there are competing operational requirements in
statistics collection. Analytics services require high temporal
resolution data, which necessitates shorter reporting intervals
(higher reporting frequency). Conversely, operational constraints
favor longer reporting intervals (lower reporting frequency) to
reduce the volume of statistics messages transmitted across the
network and minimize the processing overhead on collection
infrastructure. By augmenting statistics reports with distributional
information (minimum, maximum, and other statistical measures) over
the reporting interval, this specification enables longer reporting
intervals while preserving the statistical insights required by
analytics applications, thereby reducing network overhead without
sacrificing data fidelity.
To illustrate this problem more concretely, consider the following
scenario: A router is configured to report BMP statistics every 15
minutes. Suppose Stat Type 7 (Number of routes in Adj-RIB-In) has a
value of 10,000 at time T0, T15, T30, and T45 minutes. The BMP
collector receives a constant value of 10,000 at each reporting
interval. Based on this data, the collector might conclude that the
Adj-RIB-In size remained stable throughout this period.
However, the reality could be quite different. Between T0 and T15,
the route count might have fluctuated significantly - perhaps
reaching a peak of 15,000 routes and a minimum of 8,000 routes before
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settling back to 10,000. This variation could be important for any
analysis task for understanding the dynamics of the BGP system. With
only snapshot values, the collector has no visibility into these
fluctuations.
The Statistics Information TLV addresses this limitation by providing
a flexible format that can convey the minimum and maximum values
observed (with timestamps indicating when they occurred), along with
additional statistical measures such as the arithmetic mean
(average), median, or current snapshot value. This approach enables
enhanced temporal characterization of metric behavior within the
reporting interval and decouples the analytical utility of the
reported data from the reporting interval duration and the underlying
temporal distribution characteristics of the metric.
Here it is important to distinguish between the sampling interval and
the reporting interval. The sampling interval refers to the
frequency at which the implementation collects metric samples
internally, while the reporting interval refers to the frequency at
which Statistics Report messages are transmitted to the BMP
collector. The sampling interval is typically significantly shorter
than the reporting interval, enabling the implementation to collect
multiple samples during each reporting period. These samples are
then aggregated to compute the distributional statistics (minimum,
maximum, median, average) conveyed in the Statistics Information TLV.
The Statistics Information TLV mechanism allows the reporting
interval to be made substantially longer, thereby reducing the volume
of Statistics Report messages transmitted across the network and
minimizing processing overhead on collection infrastructure, while
maintaining the internal sampling rate necessary to capture metric
variations. In fact, it is preferred that the reporting interval be
selected such that distributional statistics computed from numerous
samples provide meaningful insights into metric behavior.
3. Statistics Information TLV
The Statistics Information TLV is a new type of statistic that can be
included in BMP Statistics Reports messages. It provides
distributional information about a referenced statistic during the
reporting period.
The Statistics Information TLV follows the counter encoding format
defined for statistics in Section 4.8 of [RFC7854]. This TLV is
counted in the Stats Count field and MAY appear multiple times in a
single Statistics Report message - once for each statistic type for
which supplementary information is being reported.
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3.1. Format
The Statistics Information TLV follows the standard BMP statistics
TLV structure:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Stat Type | Stat Len |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Stat Data |
~ ~
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Where:
* Stat Type (2 bytes): Set to TBD1 (to be assigned by IANA from the
new "BMP Statistics Information TLV Types" registry). This
identifies the TLV as a Statistics Information TLV.
* Stat Len (2 bytes): The length of the Stat Data field in bytes.
This value is variable and depends on the number of entries
included (4 bytes for the header + variable length for each
entry).
* Stat Data (variable): Contains the information payload, structured
as described below.
The Stat Data field is structured as follows:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Reference Stat Type | Num Entries | Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
~ Entry List (variable) ~
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
* Reference Stat Type (2 bytes): The BMP Stat Type for which this
information is being provided. This value MUST correspond to a
valid Stat Type from the "BMP Statistics Types" registry defined
in [RFC7854].
* Num Entries (1 byte): The number of statistical entries that
follow in the Entry List. This value MUST be at least 1 and
SHOULD typically be 3 (minimum, maximum, and one additional
metric).
* Reserved (1 byte): Reserved for future use. MUST be set to zero
on transmission and MUST be ignored on receipt.
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* Entry List (variable): A sequence of statistical entries, each
providing information about the referenced statistic. The number
of entries is specified by the Num Entries field. Each entry is
structured as described below.
Each entry in the Entry List has the following format:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Entry Type | Reserved | |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
| |
+ Value (64 bits) +
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Timestamp (32 bits) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
* Entry Type (1 byte): Identifies the type of statistical value
reported in this entry. Valid values are defined in the "BMP
Statistics Information Entry Types" registry (see Section 5). The
following entry types are initially defined:
- 1: Minimum - The minimum value observed during the reporting
period. This entry type REQUIRES the Timestamp field to be
present.
- 2: Maximum - The maximum value observed during the reporting
period. This entry type REQUIRES the Timestamp field to be
present.
- 3: Snapshot - The current value at the time of report
generation. This entry type MUST NOT include the Timestamp
field. When implementations send both the regular statistic
TLV and the Statistics Information TLV, the snapshot value is
redundant and may be omitted from the Information TLV.
However, when only the Statistics Information TLV is sent, this
entry type provides the current snapshot value alongside the
distributional statistics.
- 4: Average - The arithmetic mean of all sampled values during
the reporting period. This entry type MUST NOT include the
Timestamp field.
- 5: Median (P50) - The median value (50th percentile) of all
sampled values during the reporting period. This entry type
MUST NOT include the Timestamp field.
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* Reserved (1 byte): Reserved for future use. MUST be set to zero
on transmission and MUST be ignored on receipt.
* Value (8 bytes): A 64-bit unsigned integer representing the
statistical gauge value. The semantics correspond to the
semantics of the referenced Stat Type, which MUST be a gauge-type
statistic.
* Timestamp (4 bytes): A 32-bit unsigned integer representing the
time when this value was observed, expressed in seconds since
midnight (zero hour), January 1, 1970 (UTC). This field is
REQUIRED for Entry Types 1 (Minimum) and 2 (Maximum), and MUST NOT
be present for Entry Types 3 (Snapshot), 4 (Average), and 5
(Median). The presence or absence of this field affects the total
length of the entry:
- Entries with timestamps (Types 1-2): 14 bytes (1 + 1 + 8 + 4)
- Entries without timestamps (Types 3-5): 10 bytes (1 + 1 + 8)
3.2. Semantics and Usage
The Statistics Information TLV is OPTIONAL. Implementations that do
not support this TLV or choose not to send it for a particular
statistic simply omit it from the Statistics Report message.
The Statistics Information TLV can be used with any existing or
future gauge-type BMP Stat Type. The values reflect the gauge's
value at different sample points during the reporting period. This
TLV is not applicable to counter-type statistics, which are
monotonically increasing and do not exhibit the temporal variations
that distributional statistics are designed to capture.
A single Statistics Report message MAY contain multiple Statistics
Information TLVs, each referring to a different BMP Stat Type. Each
Statistics Information TLV is counted independently in the Stats
Count field.
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Implementations MAY choose to send either the regular statistic TLV,
the Statistics Information TLV, or both for a given Stat Type in the
same Statistics Report message. When both are present, the value in
the regular statistic TLV represents the snapshot value at the time
of report generation and SHOULD be consistent with being within the
range [Minimum Value, Maximum Value] reported in the Statistics
Information TLV. When only the Statistics Information TLV is sent,
implementations SHOULD include the Snapshot entry (Entry Type 3) to
provide the current value alongside the distributional statistics.
Implementations MUST NOT reject or ignore a Statistics Information
TLV solely because the corresponding regular statistic TLV is absent,
or vice versa.
The time period over which the distributional statistics are computed
is implementation-dependent. Typically, it corresponds to the
interval since the last Statistics Report message was sent for this
peer, but implementations MAY use different windowing strategies.
When a BMP session is first established or after a peer transitions
to Established state, the first Statistics Report for that peer MAY
omit Statistics Information TLVs or MAY report values based on
whatever partial data is available.
3.3. Example
Consider a router configured to send Statistics Reports every 15
minutes for a particular BGP peer. The router tracks the number of
routes in Adj-RIB-In (Stat Type 7) and samples this value every 60
seconds.
During a particular 15-minute period:
* The minimum observed value is 95,000 routes, observed at timestamp
1704067200 (January 1, 2024, 00:00:00 UTC)
* The maximum observed value is 105,000 routes, observed at
timestamp 1704067680 (January 1, 2024, 00:08:00 UTC)
* The average of all 15 samples (15 minutes / 60 seconds) is 100,250
routes
* The value at the end of the 15-minute period (snapshot value) is
100,000 routes
The Statistics Report message would include (among possibly other
statistics):
1. A regular Stat Type 7 TLV with value 100,000
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2. A Statistics Information TLV (Stat Type TBD1) with:
* Reference Stat Type = 7
* Num Entries = 3
* Entry 1: Entry Type = 1 (Minimum), Value = 95,000, Timestamp =
1704067200
* Entry 2: Entry Type = 2 (Maximum), Value = 105,000, Timestamp
= 1704067680
* Entry 3: Entry Type = 4 (Average), Value = 100,250 (no
timestamp)
Total Stat Data length: 4 (header) + 14 (min with timestamp) + 14
(max with timestamp) + 10 (average) = 42 bytes
This allows the BMP collector to understand that while the snapshot
value was 100,000, the actual route count varied between 95,000 and
105,000 during the reporting period, with an average of 100,250. The
timestamps indicate when the minimum and maximum values were
observed, providing temporal context for these extremes.
4. Implementation Considerations
Implementations that support the Statistics Information TLV should
provide configuration options to:
* Enable or disable the generation of Statistics Information TLVs
globally or on a per-peer basis
* Select which Stat Types should have accompanying Statistics
Information TLVs
* Configure the sampling rate for computing the distributional
statistics
The computation and reporting of Statistics Information TLVs adds
some processing and memory overhead to the monitored router, as it
must track additional state for each monitored statistic.
Implementations SHOULD be mindful of these resource implications and
MAY choose to support Statistics Information TLVs only for a subset
of statistics or only when explicitly configured.
While this TLV does enable us to make the data independent of the
choice of reporting interval and thereby enable scalability of
collection, the analytics tasks relying on this data will have to
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consider the latency introduced by such aggregation over the
reporting interval. The temporal resolution of anomaly detection and
trend analysis will be limited by the reporting interval, as the
aggregated statistics only provide visibility into what happened
during that interval without precise timing information (except for
the timestamps associated with entry types that require them, such as
minimum and maximum values).
BMP collectors that receive Statistics Information TLVs MUST be
prepared to handle Statistics Report messages that may contain the
Statistics Information TLV with or without the corresponding regular
statistic TLV. When a Statistics Information TLV (Stat Type TBD1) is
encountered, the collector MUST examine the Reference Stat Type field
within the TLV's data to determine which statistic the distributional
information pertains to. A BMP collector that does not recognize or
does not wish to process Statistics Information TLVs MUST ignore
them, as specified in [RFC7854] for unrecognized statistic types.
For statistics with per-AFI/SAFI granularity (such as Stat Type 9 and
10), the Statistics Information TLV's Reference Stat Type field
identifies the base Stat Type (9 or 10). The regular Stat Type 9 or
10 TLV includes the AFI/SAFI information in its Stat Data field. For
these per-AFI/SAFI statistics, implementations MUST include the
corresponding regular statistic TLV with the same AFI/SAFI in the
same Statistics Report message when sending a Statistics Information
TLV. Without the regular statistic TLV, the collector cannot
determine which AFI/SAFI the distributional information applies to,
rendering the Statistics Information TLV unusable.
5. IANA Considerations
5.1. BMP Statistics Information Entry Types Registry
IANA is requested to create a new registry called "BMP Statistics
Information Entry Types" within the "BGP Monitoring Protocol (BMP)
Parameters" registry group.
This registry contains values for the Entry Type field used within
Statistics Information TLVs to identify the type of statistical value
being reported (minimum, maximum, snapshot, average, median, etc.).
Registration procedures for this registry are:
* Values 0-127: Standards Action
* Values 128-254: First Come First Served
* Value 255: Reserved
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Initial values for this registry are:
+=========+====================+====================+===============+
| Value | Description | Timestamp Required | Reference |
+=========+====================+====================+===============+
| 0 | Reserved | N/A | This |
| | | | document |
+---------+--------------------+--------------------+---------------+
| 1 | Minimum | Yes | This |
| | | | document |
+---------+--------------------+--------------------+---------------+
| 2 | Maximum | Yes | This |
| | | | document |
+---------+--------------------+--------------------+---------------+
| 3 | Snapshot | No | This |
| | | | document |
+---------+--------------------+--------------------+---------------+
| 4 | Average | No | This |
| | | | document |
+---------+--------------------+--------------------+---------------+
| 5 | Median (P50) | No | This |
| | | | document |
+---------+--------------------+--------------------+---------------+
| 6-127 | Unassigned | | |
| | (Standards Action) | | |
+---------+--------------------+--------------------+---------------+
| 128-254 | Unassigned (First | | |
| | Come First Served) | | |
+---------+--------------------+--------------------+---------------+
| 255 | Reserved | N/A | This |
| | | | document |
+---------+--------------------+--------------------+---------------+
Table 1
5.2. BMP Statistics Information TLV Types Registry
IANA is requested to create a new registry called "BMP Statistics
Information TLV Types" within the "BGP Monitoring Protocol (BMP)
Parameters" registry group.
This registry contains values for the Stat Type field when used to
identify Statistics Information TLVs (as opposed to regular
statistics). These TLVs provide meta-information about other BMP
statistics rather than representing standalone statistics themselves.
Registration procedures for this registry are:
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* Values 0-32767: Standards Action
* Values 32768-65534: First Come First Served
* Value 65535: Reserved
Initial values for this registry are:
+=============+=====================================+===============+
| Value | Description | Reference |
+=============+=====================================+===============+
| 0 | Reserved | This document |
+-------------+-------------------------------------+---------------+
| TBD1 | Statistics Information: | This document |
| | Min/Avg/Max | |
+-------------+-------------------------------------+---------------+
| 1-32767 | Unassigned (Standards | |
| | Action) | |
+-------------+-------------------------------------+---------------+
| 32768-65534 | Unassigned (First Come | |
| | First Served) | |
+-------------+-------------------------------------+---------------+
| 65535 | Reserved | This document |
+-------------+-------------------------------------+---------------+
Table 2
5.3. Addition to BMP Statistics Types Registry
IANA is requested to add the following note to the "BMP Statistics
Types" registry defined in [RFC7854]:
"Note: Stat Types from the 'BMP Statistics Information TLV Types'
registry may also appear in Statistics Reports messages. These
special Stat Types contain meta-information about other statistics
and are distinguished by their type values, which are allocated from
a separate registry."
6. Security Considerations
This document defines an extension to the BGP Monitoring Protocol
(BMP) [RFC7854]. The security considerations discussed in that
document apply to this document as well.
The Statistics Information TLV does not introduce any new security
vulnerabilities beyond those inherent in the base BMP specification.
It provides additional statistical information but does not change
the fundamental security model of BMP.
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Implementations should be aware that the Statistics Information TLV
increases the size of Statistics Report messages. An attacker who
has compromised a monitored router could potentially use this to
amplify a denial-of-service attack against the BMP collector by
generating excessive Statistics Report messages with many Statistics
Information TLVs. However, this is not fundamentally different from
the existing ability to send large Statistics Reports with many
regular statistics. BMP implementations SHOULD implement rate
limiting and resource management as discussed in [RFC7854].
The minimum, average, and maximum values reported in the Statistics
Information TLV could potentially reveal information about the
dynamics of BGP operations that is not visible from snapshot values
alone. This information is not considered sensitive in typical
deployment scenarios, as it represents aggregated statistical trends
rather than detailed routing information. However, operators should
be aware that this information will be transmitted to BMP collectors
and should ensure appropriate access controls are in place for those
collectors.
As with all BMP statistics, the accuracy and integrity of Statistics
Information TLVs depends on the trustworthiness of the monitored
router. BMP does not include mechanisms for cryptographic
authentication of the statistics themselves. Deployments that
require strong assurance of data integrity should use transport-layer
security mechanisms such as TLS or IPsec to protect the BMP session,
and should implement appropriate authentication and authorization for
BMP connections.
7. References
7.1. 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>.
[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>.
7.2. Informative References
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[RFC1155] Rose, M. and K. McCloghrie, "Structure and identification
of management information for TCP/IP-based internets",
STD 16, RFC 1155, DOI 10.17487/RFC1155, May 1990,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1155>.
[RFC2856] Bierman, A., McCloghrie, K., and R. Presuhn, "Textual
Conventions for Additional High Capacity Data Types",
RFC 2856, DOI 10.17487/RFC2856, June 2000,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2856>.
[RFC5226] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", RFC 5226,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5226, May 2008,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5226>.
Authors' Addresses
Mukul Srivastava
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
10 Technology Park Dr
Westford, MA 01886
United States of America
Email: mukul.srivastava@hpe.com
Santosh Kolenchery
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
United States of America
Email: santosh.kolenchery@hpe.com
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