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EVPN Route Types and Procedures for EVN6
draft-xie-bess-evpn-extension-evn6-00

Document Type Active Internet-Draft (individual)
Authors Chongfeng Xie , Jibin Sun , Xing Li , Guoliang Han
Last updated 2024-07-25
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draft-xie-bess-evpn-extension-evn6-00
Network Working Group                                             C. Xie
Internet-Draft                                                    J. Sun
Intended status: Standards Track                           China Telecom
Expires: 26 January 2025                                           X. Li
                                       CERNET Center/Tsinghua University
                                                                  G. Han
                                                Indirection Network Inc.
                                                            25 July 2024

                EVPN Route Types and Procedures for EVN6
                 draft-xie-bess-evpn-extension-evn6-00

Abstract

   EVN6 is a mechanism designed to carry Ethernet virtual networks,
   providing Ethernet connectivity to customer sites dispersed on public
   IPv6 networks.  At the data layer, EVN6 directly places the Ethernet
   frames in the payload of IPv6 packet, and dynamically generates the
   IPv6 addresses of the IPv6 header using host MAC addresses and other
   information, then sends them into IPv6 network for transmission.
   This document proposes extensions to EVPN for EVN6, including two new
   route types and related procedures.

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 https://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 26 January 2025.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2024 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
   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
   described in 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.  Specification of Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Advantages of Using EVPN to Dynamically Create EVN6 . . . . .   3
   5.  Route Types for EVN6  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     5.1.  EVPN Type 12 Route  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     5.2.  EVPN Type 13 Route  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   6.  Procedures  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.1.  EVN6 Tunnel Setup for BUM Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.2.  Host Entry Generation in MMD/MAC-VRF  . . . . . . . . . .   9
     6.3.  Ethernet Frame Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13

1.  Introduction

   EVN6 [I-D.xls-intarea-evn6]is a mechanism designed to carry Ethernet
   virtual networks, providing Ethernet connectivity between customer
   sites dispersed on public IPv6 networks.  When receiving Ethernet
   frame to be transmitted by host of local site, ingress PE of IPv6
   network will map the host MAC addresses, virtual network identity
   (VEI), and IPv6 mapping prefixes to their appropriate positions of
   the source and destination IPv6 address, so the address is unique for
   each host.  After the outer source and destination IPv6 addresses are
   ready, the data frame is directly encapsulated in IPv6 packet and
   transmitted to the correct destination site through the IPv6 network.
   Since the outer address contains the MAC address of the host, tunnel
   in EVN6 is specifically for the communication between two hosts
   located at different sites, rather than the same tunnel being shared
   by multiple host pairs, furthermore, tunnel generated in this way is
   non-explicit since network managers does not need to pre configure
   tunnels between any customer sites.

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   Dynamic generation of EVN6 virtual network instances over IPv6
   network needs the support of control layer.  For the encapsulation of
   Ethernet frame, the data in MAC-VRF should be available, so the
   ingress PE device can find out the mapping prefix, VEI of the host
   identified by the MAC address from the local MAC-VRF.  In small-scale
   networks, exchanging MAC/Ref6 mapping of each host between PE nodes
   can be achieved through manual configuration.  But in large-scale
   networks, this procedure should be automatic, which requires support
   from the control layer.  For dynamic creation of EVN6 network
   instances, this document introduces the extensions of EVPN [RFC7432],
   including two newly defined route types and the related processes.
   This is a companion document of EVN6[I-D.xls-intarea-evn6].

2.  Specification of Requirements

   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].

3.  Terminology

   Broadcast Domain: In a bridged network, the broadcast domain
   corresponds to a Virtual LAN (VLAN), where a VLAN is typically
   represented by a single VLAN ID (VID) but can be represented by
   several VIDs where Shared VLAN Learning (SVL) is used per 802.1Q.

   EVN6: Ethernet Virtual Network over IPv6.

   MAC-VRF: A Virtual Routing and Forwarding table for Media Access
   Control (MAC) addresses on a PE.

   VEI: Virtual Ethernet Identifier, it is 32-bits in length to identify
   each EVN6 instance.

4.  Advantages of Using EVPN to Dynamically Create EVN6

   The EVN6 tunnel can be dynamically created using BGP EVPN as the
   Control Plane.  EVPN is a universal Control Plane protocol that can
   be combined with various Data Plane technologies (including MPLS,
   SRv6, VxLAN, etc.) to achieve a complete forwarding and control
   separation SDN solution.  So far EVPN has five route types based on
   MP-BGP NLRI extension, as follows:

       Type1.  Ethernet Auto-Discovery Route

       Type2.  MAC/IP Advertisement Route

       Type3.  Inclusive Multicast Ethernet Tag Rout

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       Type4.  Ethernet Segment Route

       Type5.  IP Prefix Route

   As the control layer of EVN6, EVPN has the following advantages:

       (1) EVPN can automatically establish EVN6 Tunnel, thereby
       reducing the complexity of network operation and improving
       network scalability.

       (2) EVPN can automatically announce IP, MAC, VEI, and host
       routing information, effectively reducing BUM flooding traffic.

   To support the operation of EVN6, the following new route types, i.e.
   Type 12 route and Type 13 route are defined,

       (1) Type12.  EVN6 Auto-Discovery Route (tentative name)

       (2) Type13.  MAC/IPv6 Advertisement Route (tentative name)

5.  Route Types for EVN6

5.1.  EVPN Type 12 Route

   EVPN Type 12 Route is used to advertise VEI and IPv6 mapping prefix
   allocated by PE for virtual network between PEs, to establish a head
   end replication list, which is used for automatic discovery of PE and
   dynamic establishment of EVN6 tunnel.  If the peer PE is reachable by
   IPv6 Mapping prefix routing, an EVN6 tunnel is established to the
   peer.  Meanwhile, if the VEI of the other end is the same as that of
   the local end, a head end replication table is created for subsequent
   BUM message forwarding.

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          +--------+----------------------------------------------+---------+
          |        |                                              |  Value  |
          |        |                  Field name                  |(Example)|
          +--------+----------------------------------------------+---------+
          |        | Route Type                                   |  12     |
          +        +----------------------------------------------+---------+
          |        | Route Distinguisher (8 Bytes)                |  1:10   |
          +  EVPN  +----------------------------------------------+---------+
          |  NLRI  | Virtual Ethernet Identification (4 Bytes)    |  100    |
          +        +----------------------------------------------+---------+
          |        | IPv6 Mapping Prefix length (1 Bytes)         |  64     |
          +        +----------------------------------------------+---------+
          |        | IPv6 Mapping Prefix (16 Bytes)               | 3010::  |
          +--------+----------------------------------------------+---------+

         Figure 1: Type 12 Route NLRI Format Definition

   The fields of Type 12 Route NLRI are illustrated as follows:

       Route Distinguisher: This field is the RD (Route Distinguisher)
       value set under the EVPN instance.

       Virtual Ethernet Identification: This field represents the
       layer-2 VEI of the EVN6 tunnel carried by this route, which is
       the identifier of the virtual Ethernet private network.

       IPv6 Mapping prefix length: This field represents the length of
       the IPv6 address mapping prefix for the local Site carried by
       this route.

       IPv6 Mapping prefix: This field represents the IPv6 address
       mapping prefix of the local Site carried by this route.

5.2.  EVPN Type 13 Route

   EVPN Type 13 route is used to advertise the MAC address and IPv6
   address of the host between PE peers, and to dynamically establish
   control plane entries at both ends of the tunnel.

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          +-------+---------------------------------------------+---------+
          |       |                                             |  Value  |
          |       |                  Field name                 |(Example)|
          +-------+---------------------------------------------+---------+
          |       | Route Type                                  |   13    |
          +       +---------------------------------------------+---------+
          |       | Route Distinguisher (8 Bytes)               |  1:10   |
          +       +---------------------------------------------+---------+
          |       | Ethernet Segment Identifier (10 Bytes)      |   0     |
          +       +---------------------------------------------+---------+
          | EVPN  | MAC Address Length (1 Bytes)                |   48    |
          + NLRI  +---------------------------------------------+---------+
          |       | MAC Address (6 Bytes)                       |  MAC1   |
          +       +---------------------------------------------+---------+
          |       | IPv6 Address Length (1 Bytes)               |   64    |
          +       +---------------------------------------------+---------+
          |       | IPv6 Address (16 Bytes)                     | 1::1:A  |
          +       +---------------------------------------------+---------+
          |       | Virtual Ethernet Identification (4 Bytes)   |   100   |
          +-------+---------------------------------------------+---------+

         Figure 2: Type 13 Route NLRI Format Definition

   The fields of Type 13 Route NLRI are illustrated as follows:

       Route Distinguisher: This field is the RD (Route Distinguisher)
       value set under the EVPN instance.

       Ethernet Segment Identifier (field to be determined): This field
       is the unique identifier defined for the connection between the
       PE and a certain CE.  ESI manual configuration, two PE
       configurations with the same ESI in CE multi attribution
       scenarios.  ESI of 0 indicates that CE to PE is a single return.

       MAC Address Length: This field represents the length of the host
       MAC address carried by this route.

       MAC Address: This field is the host MAC address carried by this
       route.

       IPv6 Address Length: This field represents the mask length of the
       host's IPv6 address carried by this route.

       IPv6 Address: This field is the host IPv6 address carried by this
       route.

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       Virtual Ethernet Identification: This field represents the
       layer-2 VEI of the EVN6 tunnel carried by this route, which is
       the identifier of the virtual Ethernet private network.

6.  Procedures

   To dynamically create EVN6 instance, EVPN utilizes extended Type12
   and Type13 routes to convey control plane information.  This approach
   requires configuring BGP EVPN neighbors on PE devices and associating
   them with the configuration information of EVN6 instances.

   The following scenario is used to explain the procedure: H1 and H2
   are located in different sites belonging to the same virtual network,
   with each site connected to PE1 and PE2 respectively.  Communication
   between H1 and H2 is carried out through an EVN6 instance built over
   the IPv6 network.  Creation of EVN6 instance using EVPN involves the
   following three processes.

6.1.  EVN6 Tunnel Setup for BUM Traffic

   Broadcast, unknown-unicast and multicast (BUM) traffic refers to that
   kind of network traffic that will be forwarded to multiple
   destinations or that cannot be addressed to the intended destination
   only.  The MAC addresses of BUM traffic have the following
   characteristics:

       Broadcast traffic - MAC address all FF;

       Multicast traffic - the lowest bit of the first byte of the MAC
       address is 1;

       Unknown Unicast - Unicast MAC address.

       The EVN6 tunnel for BUM traffic is established by using Type 12
       route.

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           +-----------+   +---------+   +---------+     +-----------+
           |   Host1   |   |   PE1   |   |   PE2   |     |   Host2   |
           +-----------+   +---------+   +---------+     +-----------+
                 |               |            |                |
                 |               |     (1)    |                |
                 |               |<---------->|                |
                 |               |            |                |
                 |               |--+         |--+             |
                 |               |   |(2)     |  |(2)          |
                 |               |<-+         |<-+             |
                 |               |            |                |
                 |               |     (3)    |                |
                 |               |<---------->|                |
                 |               |            |                |
                 |               |--+         |--+             |
                 |               |  |(4)      |  |(4)          |
                 |               |<-+         |<-+             |
                 |               |            |                |
                 |               |EVN6 Tunnel |                |
                 |               |only for BUM|                |
                 |               |<==========>|                |
                 |               |            |                |

          Figure 3:  Process of establishing EVN6 tunnel for BUM traffic

   The process is described as follows:

       (1) Firstly, BGP EVPN peer is established between PE1 and PE2.

       (2) L2 broadcast domain (i.e.BD)is created on PE1 and PE2
       respectively, and configure associated layer 2 VEIs under the
       broadcast domain.  An EVPN instance is created in the L2
       broadcast domain and configure the RD(Route Distinguisher),
       Export Route Target (ERT), and import Route Target (IRT) of the
       local EVPN instance.

       (3) After configuring the local EVN6, PE1 and PE2 will generate
       BGP EVPN routes and send them to the other end, which carry the
       Export Route Target of the local EVPN instance and the Type 12
       route.

       (4) After receiving the BGP EVPN route from the other end, PE1
       and PE2 first check the Export Route Target of the EVPN instance
       carried by the route.  If it is equal to the Import Route Target
       of the local EVPN instance, they receive the route.  Otherwise,
       they discard the route.  After receiving the route, PE1 and PE2
       will obtain the IPv6 Mapping Address and Layer 2 VEI carried in
       it.  If the IPv6 Mapping Address of the other end is reachable by

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       the Layer 3 route, an EVN6 tunnel will be established to the
       other end.  Meanwhile, the local end will create a VEI based
       header replication table entry (refer to the static EVN6 creation
       table) for subsequent BUM packet forwarding.

   BUM frames are forwarded using head end replication.  When the BUM
   frame enters the EVN6 tunnel, the ingress end will encapsulate the
   frame in EVN6 according to the head end replication list and send the
   packet to all the egress ends in the head end replication list.  This
   method ensures that the BUM frame can be correctly forwarded to the
   destination device through IPv6 network.

6.2.  Host Entry Generation in MMD/MAC-VRF

   The general EVN6 tunnel is designed for unicast Ethernet frame
   forwarding.  The prerequisite for establishing a universal EVN6
   tunnel is to generate Host MAC mapping entry in MMD/MAC-VRF table,
   which is achieved by dynamically exchanging Type 13 route.

          +-----------+   +---------+   +---------+     +-----------+
          |   Host1   |   |   PE1   |   |   PE2   |     |   Host2   |
          +-----------+   +---------+   +---------+     +-----------+
                |               |            |                |
                |               |            |                |
                |     (1)       |            |                |
                |-------------->|            |                |
                |               |--+         |                |
                |               |  |(2)      |                |
                |               |<-+         |                |
                |               |    (3)     |                |
                |               |----------->|                |
                |               |            |--+             |
                |               |            |  |(4)          |
                |               |            |<-+             |
                |               | EVN6 Tunnel|                |
                |               |<==========>|                |
                |               |            |                |

         Figure 4:  Process of PE2 learning the host MAC address of Host1

   The process of PE2 learning the host MAC address of Host1 is
   described as follows:

       (1) Host1 initiates communicates with PE1 for the first time.

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       (2) PE1 learns the corresponding relationship between the MAC
       address, BD (L2 Broadcast Domain) Identifier, and packet input
       interface of Host1 through the IPv6 ND protocol, and generates a
       MAC entry for Host1 in the local MAC table.

       (3) Meanwhile, PE1 generates a BGP EVPN route based on Host1's
       IPv6 ND information and sends it to peer PE2, which carries the
       outbound direction VPN Target of the local EVPN instance, the
       next hop attribute of the route, and the newly defined Type13
       route.

       (4) After receiving the BGP EVPN route sent by PE1, PE2 first
       checks the outgoing direction VPN Target of the EVPN instance
       carried by the route.  If it is equal to the incoming direction
       VPN Target of the local EVPN instance, it receives the route.
       Otherwise, it discards the route.  After receiving the route, PE2
       obtains the corresponding relationship between Host1's MAC
       address, VEI, and IPv6 Mapping address on PE1, and generates a
       MAC entry for Host1 in the local MMD/MAC-VRF table.

   The process of PE1 learning the host MAC of Host2 is the same as the
   above process, and will not be repeated here.

6.3.  Ethernet Frame Transmission

   This process is about hosts sending Ethernet frames to each other,
   EVN6 will be used when the frames pass though IPv6 network.  When
   Host2 and Host1 are located at different sites, they first need to
   learn each other's MAC addresses, and then they can transmit unicast
   Ethernet frame to each other through the EVN6 virtual network.

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             +-----------+   +---------+   +---------+     +-----------+
             |   Host1   |   |   PE1   |   |   PE2   |     |   Host2   |
             +-----------+   +---------+   +---------+     +-----------+
                   |               |            |      (1)       |
                   |               |            |<---------------|
                   |               |            |                |
                   |               |            |--+             |
                   |               |            |  |(2)          |
                   |               |            |<-+             |
                   |               |     (3)    |                |
                   |      (4)      |<-----------|                |
                   |<--------------|            |                |
                   |--+            |            |                |
                   |  |(5)         |            |                |
                   |<-+            |            |                |
                   |      (6)      |            |                |
                   |-------------->|     (7)    |                |
                   |               |----------->|       (8)      |
                   |               |            |--------------->|
                   |               |            |                |--+
                   |               |            |                |  |(9)
                   |               |            |                |<-+
                   |               |    (10)    |                |
                   |<--------------|============|--------------->|
                   |               |            |                |

            Figure 5:  Process of Ethernet Frame Transmission

   The process is described as follows:

       (1) When Host2 communicates with Host1 for the first time, it
       first sends an IPv6 NS request message with the destination MAC
       being a multicast address and the destination IP being Host1-IP,
       requesting the MAC address of Host1.

       (2) By default, PE2 will broadcast on this network segment upon
       receiving the request.  In order to reduce broadcast packets, the
       IPv6 ND suppression function can be enabled on PE2 at this time.
       In this way, when PE2 receives the IPv6 NS request packet, it
       first checks whether there is a local MAC address of Host1 based
       on the destination IPv6 address.  If there is one match, it
       replaces the destination MAC with the MAC address of Host1,
       converts the multicast packet of the IPv6 NS request into a
       unicast packet.

       (3) Then PE encapsulates it through the EVN6 tunnel and sends it
       to PE1.

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       (4) After receiving the packet sent from PE2, PE1 removes the
       packet header and forwards the frame to Host1.

       (5) After receiving the IPv6 NS request contained in the frame,
       Host1 learns the MAC address of Host2 and responds with IPv6 NA
       in unicast form.

       (6-7-8-9) After receiving the response message, Host2 learned the
       MAC address of Host1.  At this point, Host1 and Host2 learn each
       other's MAC addresses,

       (10) Host1 and host2 use unicast communication within EVN6
       instance.

7.  Security Considerations

   TBD.

8.  IANA Considerations

   With this document IANA is requested to allocate codes for the "EVN6
   Auto-Discovery Route" and "MAC/IPv6 Advertisement Route" in "EVPN
   Route Types" registry.

   The two codes above use this document as the reference.

9.  References

9.1.  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>.

   [RFC4760]  Bates, T., Chandra, R., Katz, D., and Y. Rekhter,
              "Multiprotocol Extensions for BGP-4", RFC 4760,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4760, January 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4760>.

   [RFC7153]  Rosen, E. and Y. Rekhter, "IANA Registries for BGP
              Extended Communities", RFC 7153, DOI 10.17487/RFC7153,
              March 2014, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7153>.

   [RFC7432]  Sajassi, A., Ed., Aggarwal, R., Bitar, N., Isaac, A.,
              Uttaro, J., Drake, J., and W. Henderickx, "BGP MPLS-Based
              Ethernet VPN", RFC 7432, DOI 10.17487/RFC7432, February
              2015, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7432>.

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9.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.xls-intarea-evn6]
              Xie, C., Li, X., Bao, C., Smith, M., and J. Sun, "EVN6: A
              Framework of Mapping of Ethernet Virtual Network to IPv6
              Underlay", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-xls-
              intarea-evn6-00, 22 July 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-xls-intarea-
              evn6-00>.

   [IANA-EVPN-Route-Types]
              IANA, "EVPN Route Types",
              <https://www.iana.org/assignments/evpn/evpn.xhtml>.

Authors' Addresses

   Chongfeng Xie
   China Telecom
   Beiqijia Town, Changping District
   Beijing
   102209
   China
   Email: xiechf@chinatelecom.cn

   Jibin Sun
   China Telecom
   Beiqijia Town, Changping District
   Beijing
   102209
   China
   Email: sunjb@chinatelecom.cn

   Xing Li
   CERNET Center/Tsinghua University
   Shuangqing Road No.30, Haidian District
   Beijing
   100084
   China
   Email: xing@cernet.edu.cn

   Guoliang Han
   Indirection Network Inc.
   Email: guoliang.han@indirectionnet.com

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