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GRE Tunnel Level Fragmentation
draft-templin-intarea-grefrag-03

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Expired".
Author Fred Templin
Last updated 2016-07-29
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draft-templin-intarea-grefrag-03
Network Working Group                                    F. Templin, Ed.
Internet-Draft                              Boeing Research & Technology
Updates: RFC1701, RFC2784, RFC2890 (if                     July 29, 2016
         approved)
Intended status: Informational
Expires: January 30, 2017

                     GRE Tunnel Level Fragmentation
                  draft-templin-intarea-grefrag-03.txt

Abstract

   GRE tunnels use IP fragmentation for delivery packets that exceed the
   path MTU.  However, IP fragmentation has been shown to be susceptible
   to reassembly errors at high data rates, and IP fragments may be
   unconditionally dropped by some middleboxes.  This document therefore
   introduces GRE tunnel level fragmentation, which overcomes these
   issues.

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 January 30, 2017.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 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

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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.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  GRE Fragmentation Header  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  GRE Tunnel Level Fragmentation and Reassembly . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6

1.  Introduction

   GRE is specified in the following RFCs:
   [RFC1701][RFC2784][RFC2890][RFC7676].  GRE fragmentation
   considerations are further discussed in [RFC7588].  In its current
   manifestation, GRE allows for fragmentation of the payload packet
   only if it is an IPv4 packet with the Don't Fragment (DF) bit set to
   0.  GRE also allows for IP fragmentation of the delivery packet, but
   IP fragmentation has been shown to be susceptible to reassembly
   errors at high data rates [RFC4963] and IP fragments may be
   unconditionally dropped by some middleboxes [I-D.taylor-v6ops-
   fragdrop].

   A third option (introduced here) is for the GRE tunnel to perform
   "tunnel level" fragmentation and reassembly on the payload packet at
   the GRE layer.  In this way, the ingress can fragment the payload
   packet (while treating the payload packet's headers as ordinary data)
   and encapsulate each fragment in a separate delivery header.  The GRE
   header requires a new fragment header field to support this.

   This tunnel level fragmentation method was first suggested in
   Section 3.1.7 of [RFC2764], and also appears in more recent works
   [I-D.templin-aerolink] [I-D.herbert-gue-fragmentation].
   [I-D.ietf-intarea-tunnels] provides the architectural background for
   tunnel fragemntation and reassembly.

2.  GRE Fragmentation Header

   Figure 1 shows the GRE header as specified in [RFC1701] but with a
   new optional "Fragment Header" and a new control bit "F":

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       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
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |C|R|K|S|s|Recur|F| Flags | Ver |         Protocol Type         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |      Checksum (optional)      |       Offset (optional)       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Key (optional)                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    Sequence Number (optional)                 |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                 Fragment Header (Optional)                    |
      |                                                               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Routing (optional)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                 Figure 1: GRE Header with Fragment Header

   In this format, when the "F" bit (i.e., bit 8) is set to 1 the GRE
   header includes a Fragment header formatted as follows:

        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
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |       Fragment offset   |Res|M|  Reserved(2)  |               |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+               +
       |                        Identification                         |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 2: GRE Fragemnt Header Format

   The fields of the option are:

   o  Fragment offset: This field indicates where in the datagram this
      fragment belongs.  The fragment offset is measured in units of 8
      octets (64 bits).  The first fragment has offset zero.

   o  Res: Two bit reserved field.  Must be set to zero for
      transmission.  If set to non-zero in a received packet then the
      packet MUST be dropped.

   o  M: More fragments bit.  Set to 1 when there are more fragments
      following in the datagram, set to 0 for the last fragment.

   o  Reserved(2): Eight bit reserved field.  Must be set to zero for
      transmission.  If set to non-zero in a received packet then the
      packet MUST be dropped.

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   o  Identification: 40 bits.  Identifies fragments of a fragmented
      packet.

   Note that these formats are the same as specified in
   [I-D.herbert-gue-fragmentation] with the exception that the
   Reserved(2) field replaces the "Original Type" field since the GRE
   header already includes a Protocl Type.

3.  GRE Tunnel Level Fragmentation and Reassembly

   GRE tunnel level fragmentation treats the entire GRE payload packet
   (including the payload headers) as opaque data.  The GRE tunnel
   ingress breaks the payload packet into N fragments and encapsulates
   each fragment in a separate GRE header and GRE delivery header.  For
   the first fragment, the ingress writes the IEEE802 protocol number in
   the Protocol Type field the same as for any GRE packet.  For other
   fragments, the ingress instead writes the length of the fragment in
   the Protocol Type field.  This value MUST be no larger than 1500,
   which the egress will interpret as a length instead of a protocol
   type.  (This implies that the maximum size for a non-initial fragment
   is 1500 bytes.)  The GRE tunnel ingress then sends each fragment to
   the GRE tunnel egress.

   When the GRE tunnel egress receives the fragments, it reassembles the
   GRE payload packet by concatenating the data portions of each
   fragment according to their offsets.  In order to support this tunnel
   level fragmentation and reassembly procedure, the GRE tunnel ingress
   must know the maximum sized packet the GRE tunnel egress is capable
   of reassembling, i.e., the Maximum Reassembly Unit (MRU).  In order
   to avoid interactions with Path MTU Discovery, the GRE tunnel egress
   MUST configure a minimum MRU of 1500 bytes plus the GRE delivery
   encapsulation overhead, and MAY configure a larger MRU.

4.  IANA Considerations

   This document introduces no IANA considerations.

5.  Security Considerations

   Security considerations for GRE apply also to this document.

6.  Acknowledgements

   The following are acknowledged for their helpful comments: Tom
   Herbert, Carlos Pignataro, Joe Touch.

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7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [RFC0791]  Postel, J., "Internet Protocol", STD 5, RFC 791,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC0791, September 1981,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc791>.

   [RFC1701]  Hanks, S., Li, T., Farinacci, D., and P. Traina, "Generic
              Routing Encapsulation (GRE)", RFC 1701,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC1701, October 1994,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1701>.

   [RFC2460]  Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6
              (IPv6) Specification", RFC 2460, DOI 10.17487/RFC2460,
              December 1998, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2460>.

   [RFC2764]  Gleeson, B., Lin, A., Heinanen, J., Armitage, G., and A.
              Malis, "A Framework for IP Based Virtual Private
              Networks", RFC 2764, DOI 10.17487/RFC2764, February 2000,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2764>.

   [RFC2784]  Farinacci, D., Li, T., Hanks, S., Meyer, D., and P.
              Traina, "Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)", RFC 2784,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2784, March 2000,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2784>.

   [RFC2890]  Dommety, G., "Key and Sequence Number Extensions to GRE",
              RFC 2890, DOI 10.17487/RFC2890, September 2000,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2890>.

   [RFC7588]  Bonica, R., Pignataro, C., and J. Touch, "A Widely
              Deployed Solution to the Generic Routing Encapsulation
              (GRE) Fragmentation Problem", RFC 7588,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7588, July 2015,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7588>.

   [RFC7676]  Pignataro, C., Bonica, R., and S. Krishnan, "IPv6 Support
              for Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)", RFC 7676,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7676, October 2015,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7676>.

7.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.herbert-gue-fragmentation]
              Herbert, T. and F. Templin, "Fragmentation option for
              Generic UDP Encapsulation", draft-herbert-gue-
              fragmentation-02 (work in progress), October 2015.

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   [I-D.ietf-intarea-tunnels]
              Touch, D. and W. Townsley, "IP Tunnels in the Internet
              Architecture", draft-ietf-intarea-tunnels-03 (work in
              progress), July 2016.

   [I-D.templin-aerolink]
              Templin, F., "Asymmetric Extended Route Optimization
              (AERO)", draft-templin-aerolink-70 (work in progress),
              July 2016.

   [RFC4963]  Heffner, J., Mathis, M., and B. Chandler, "IPv4 Reassembly
              Errors at High Data Rates", RFC 4963,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4963, July 2007,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4963>.

Author's Address

   Fred L. Templin (editor)
   Boeing Research & Technology
   P.O. Box 3707
   Seattle, WA  98124
   USA

   Email: fltemplin@acm.org

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