CCAMP Working Group                                        G. Bernstein
Internet Draft                                        Grotto Networking
Updates: RFC 3946                                           D. Caviglia
Proposed Category: Standards Track                             Ericsson
Expires: December 2006                                        R. Rabbat
                                                                Fujitsu
                                                        H. van Helvoort
                                                                 Huawei
                                                          June 25, 2006



       Operating Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) and the Link Capacity
     Adjustment Scheme with Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching
                                  (GMPLS)
               draft-bernstein-ccamp-gmpls-vcat-lcas-03.txt


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Abstract

   This document describes requirements for, and use of, the Generalized
   Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) control plane in conjunction
   with the Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) layer 1 inverse multiplexing
   mechanism and its companion Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme (LCAS)
   which can be used for hitless dynamic resizing of the inverse
   multiplex group.  These techniques apply to the Optical Transport
   Network (OTN), Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), Synchronous
   Digital Hierarchy (SDH), and Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH)
   signals.

Conventions used in this document

   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].

Table of Contents


   1. Introduction...................................................3
   2. Changes from draft-bernstein-ccamp-gmpls-vcat-lcas-02..........3
   3. VCAT/LCAS Scenarios and Specific Requirements..................4
      3.1. Multiple VCAT Groups per GMPLS Endpoint...................4
      3.2. Component Signal Configuration Requirements...............4
      3.3. VCAT Operation With or Without LCAS.......................5
   4. GMPLS Mechanisms for Signaling VCAT/LCAS.......................5
      4.1. Co-Routed Signals.........................................5
         4.1.1. One-shot Setup of Co-Routed Signal...................6
         4.1.2. Incremental Setup of Co-Routed Signal................6
         4.1.3. Removing a Component Signal..........................7
         4.1.4. Removing Multiple Component Signals in One Shot......7
         4.1.5. Use of multiple LSPs for Co-Routed Signals...........7
         4.1.6. Teardown of Whole VCG................................7
      4.2. Diversely Routed Signals..................................8
         4.2.1. Associating Diversely Routed Signals.................8
            4.2.1.1. Format..........................................9
         4.2.2. Recap of Setup Using Diversely Routed Components.....9
         4.2.3. Recap of Reduction/Teardown Using Diversely Routed
         Components.................................................10
         4.2.4. Update and Upgrade of Existing VCAT Groups..........10
         4.2.5. One LSP per Circuit.................................10
   5. IANA Considerations...........................................10
   6. Security Considerations.......................................10
   7. Contributors..................................................11
   8. Acknowledgments...............................................11


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   APPENDIX A: An Overview of VCAT and LCAS.........................12
      A.1. VCAT Signals and Components..............................12
      A.2. VCAT Capabilities and Limitations........................12
      A.3. The LCAS Protocol........................................13
   APPENDIX B: Carrier Perspective on VCAT/LCAS Application Areas...14
      B.1. VCAT Advantages..........................................14
         B.1.1. Right Sizing Bandwidth..............................14
         B.1.2. Bandwidth Efficiencies in a Mesh Network............14
         B.1.3. Minimizing Restoration Impact.......................14
         B.1.4. Modify Component Routing............................15
      B.2. LCAS Advantages..........................................15
         B.2.1. Graceful Degradation................................15
         B.2.2. Dynamic Adjustment..................................15
         B.2.3. Painless Re-Grooming................................15
   9. References....................................................17
      9.1. Normative References.....................................17
      9.2. Informative References...................................17
   Author's Addresses...............................................18
   Intellectual Property Statement..................................19
   Disclaimer of Validity...........................................19
   Copyright Statement..............................................19
   Acknowledgment...................................................20

1. Introduction

   This document describes requirements for, and use of, the Generalized
   Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) control plane in conjunction
   with the Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) layer 1 inverse multiplexing
   mechanism and its companion Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme (LCAS)
   which can be used for hitless dynamic resizing of the inverse
   multiplex group.  The reader is directed to Appendix A that presents
   an overview of the capabilities of VCAT and LCAS in transport
   networks.  Further, Appendix B describes a carrier perspective on the
   application areas for these technologies.  We develop a set of
   scenarios and specific requirements to support these scenarios in
   GMPLS-enabled networks.  We then describe the RSVP-TE mechanisms
   needed to set up co-routed as well as diversely routed circuits that
   are members of the same VCAT group and to resize those using LCAS.

2. Changes from draft-bernstein-ccamp-gmpls-vcat-lcas-02

   o  Added one more author (Huub)







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   o  Dropped section 3.3 about advertising VCAT and LCAS capability.
      This change is due to the amount of information that would need to
      be advertised.  VCAT capability at the interface comprises a lot
      of information, which make advertising not very scalable.  For
      example, a node could perform an adaptation using two interfaces
      lying on different line cards but that's not necessarily always
      the case.  This update to the draft expects the use of the NMS in
      selecting the right destinations.

   o  Removed references to OSPF-TE

3. VCAT/LCAS Scenarios and Specific Requirements

   From the carrier application areas discussed in Appendix B, we can
   derive a number of specific requirements for the support of VCAT/LCAS
   in GMPLS.  A number of requirements can additionally be derived from
   the flexible nature of VCAT/LCAS.

3.1. Multiple VCAT Groups per GMPLS Endpoint

   In general, an LSR can be ingress/egress of one or more VCAT groups.
   VCAT and LCAS are interface capabilities.  An LSR may have, for
   example, VCAT-capable interfaces that are not LCAS-capable.  It may
   at the same time have interfaces that are neither VCAT nor LCAS-
   capable.

3.2. Component Signal Configuration Requirements

   We list in this section the different scenarios that SHOULD be
   supported.  Here we use the term "VCG" to refer to the entire VCAT
   group and the terminology "set" and "subset" to refer to the
   collection of potential VCAT group member signals.

   o  Fixed, co-routed: A fixed bandwidth VCG, transported over a co-
      routed set of member signals.  This is the case where the intended
      bandwidth of the VCG does not change and all member signals follow
      the same route and minimize differential delay.  The intent here
      is the capability to allocate an amount of bandwidth close to that
      required at the client layer.

   o  Fixed, diversely routed: A fixed bandwidth VCG, transported over
      at least two diversely routed subsets of member signals.  In this
      case, the subsets are link-disjoint over at least one link of the
      route.  The intent here is more efficient use of network resources
      (no unique route has the required bandwidth), and additional
      resilience and graceful degradation in the case of failure (note
      that differential delay may be a limiting factor).


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   o  Dynamic, co-routed: A dynamic VCG (bandwidth can be increased or
      decreased via the addition or removal of member signals),
      transported over a co-routed set of members.  Intent here is
      dynamic sizing of bandwidth.

   o  Dynamic, diversely routed: A dynamic VCAT group, transported over
      at least two diversely routed subsets of member signals.  The
      intent here is dynamic resizing and resilience (but differential
      delay may be a limiting factor).

3.3. VCAT Operation With or Without LCAS

   VCAT capabilities may be present with or without the presence of
   LCAS.  The use of LCAS is beneficial to the provision of services,
   but in the absence of LCAS, VCAT is still a valid technique.
   Therefore GMPLS mechanisms for the operation of VCAT are REQUIRED for
   both the case where LCAS is available and the case where it is not
   available.  The GMPLS procedures for the two cases SHOULD be
   identical.

4. GMPLS Mechanisms for Signaling VCAT/LCAS

   We describe in this section the signaling mechanisms that already
   exist in GMPLS using RSVP-TE [RFC3473] and the extensions needed, for
   diversely routed paths and in support of the LCAS procedure.

   Section 4.1 is included for informational purposes only.  It
   describes existing procedures and makes not changes.

   Section 4.2 describes new procedures proposed to support diversely
   routed VCAT groups.  Where possible it reuses applicable existing
   procedures from section 4.1.

4.1. Co-Routed Signals

   Note that this section is for informational purposes only.

   The existing signaling protocols support co-routed signal setup using
   the NVC field as explained in section 2.1 of RFC 3946 [RFC3946bis].
   In this case, one single LSP is set up in support of the VCAT group.

   There are two options for setting up the VCAT group, depending on
   hardware capability, or management preferences: one-shot setup and
   incremental setup.





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   The following sections explain the procedure based on an example of
   setting up a VC4-7v SDH VCAT group (corresponding to an STS-3c-7v
   SONET VCAT group).

4.1.1. One-shot Setup of Co-Routed Signal

   An RSVP-TE Path message is used with the following parameters.

   With regards to the traffic parameters, the elementary signal is
   chosen (6 for VC-4/STS-3c_SPE).  The value of NVC is then set to 7.

   A Multiplier Transform greater than 1 (say N>1) is used if the
   operator wants to set up N VCAT groups that will belong to and be
   assigned to one LSP.

   SDH or SONET labels in turn have to be assigned for each member of
   the VCG and concatenated to form a single Generalized Label
   constructed as an ordered list of 32-bit timeslot identifiers of the
   same format as TDM labels.  RFC 3946 requires that the order of the
   labels reflect the order of the payloads to concatenate and not the
   physical order of time-slots.

   When the MT field is larger than 1, the list includes labels for the
   components of each of the group.

4.1.2. Incremental Setup of Co-Routed Signal

   In some cases, it may be necessary or desirable to set up the VCG
   members individually, or to add group members to an existing group.

   One example of this need is when the hardware that supports VCAT can
   only add VCAT elements one at a time or cannot automatically match
   the elements at the ingress and egress for the purposes of inverse
   multiplexing.  Serial or incremental setup solves this problem.

   In order to accomplish incremental setup an iterative process is used
   to add group members.  For each iteration, NVC is incremented up to
   the final value required.  The iteration consists of the successful
   completion of a Path and Resv signaling.  At first, NVC = 1 and the
   label includes just one timeslot identifier

   At each of the next iterations, NVC is set to (NVC +1), one more
   timeslot identifier is added to the ordered list in the Generalized
   Label (in the Path or Resv message).  A node that receives a Path
   message that contains changed fields will process the full Path
   message and, based on the new value of NVC, it will add a component



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   signal to the VCAT group, and switch the new timeslot based on the
   new label information.

   Following the addition of the new label to the LSP, LCAS may be used
   in-band to add the new label into the existing VCAT group.  LCAS
   signaling for this function is described in [ITU-T-G.7042].

4.1.3. Removing a Component Signal

   The procedure to remove a component signal is similar to that used to
   add components as described in Section 4.1.2.  The LCAS in-band
   signaling step is taken first to take the component out of the group.
   LCAS signaling is described in [ITU-T-G.7042].

   In this case, the NVC value is decremented by 1 and the timeslot
   identifier for the dropped component is removed from the ordered list
   in the Generalized Label.  This function is not supported without
   management intervention for VCAT-only interfaces as removing one
   component of the VCG will result in errors in the inverse-
   multiplexing procedure of VCAT and result in the teardown of the
   whole group.  So, this is a feature that only LCAS-capable VCAT
   interfaces can support without management intervention at the end
   points.

4.1.4. Removing Multiple Component Signals in One Shot

   The procedure is similar to 4.1.3.  In this case, the NVC value is
   changed to the new value and all relevant timeslot identifiers for
   the components to be torn down are removed from the ordered list in
   the Generalized Label.  This is also not supported for VCAT-only
   interfaces without management intervention as removing one component
   of the VCG will tear down the whole group.

4.1.5. Use of multiple LSPs for Co-Routed Signals

   Co-routed signals may also be supported by distinct LSPs signaled
   separately using exactly the techniques described for diversely
   routed signals in Section 4.2.

4.1.6. Teardown of Whole VCG

   The entire LSP is deleted in a single step (i.e., all components are
   removed in one go) using deletion procedures of [RFC 3473].






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4.2. Diversely Routed Signals

   The initial GMPLS specification did not support diversely routed
   signals using the NVC construct.  In fact, RFC 3946 says:

         [...] The standard definition for virtual concatenation allows
         each virtual concatenation components to travel over diverse
         paths.  Within GMPLS, virtual concatenation components must
         travel over the same (component) link if they are part of the
         same LSP.  This is due to the way that labels are bound to a
         (component) link.  Note however, that the routing of components
         on different paths is indeed equivalent to establishing
         different LSPs, each one having its own route.  Several LSPs
         can be initiated and terminated between the same nodes and
         their corresponding components can then be associated together
         (i.e., virtually concatenated).

   Diverse routing of signals can be a useful capability but requires
   the extensions identified in this document.

4.2.1. Associating Diversely Routed Signals

   The feature that needs to be added is the functionality to associate
   the components of the same VCG.  For this purpose, we use the
   Association Object that was defined in [E2E-RECOVERY] to associate
   working and recovery LSPs.

   A diversely routed VCG uses a number of routes R <= VCG size, as some
   routes may be the same for several components.  A number of LSPs, L
   (L >= R) are used with each LSP establishing at least one component
   of the VCG, and at most all of the co-routed members of the group.
   For a set of c components using the same route, we set up the LSP
   with NVC = c exactly as explained in section 4.1.1.  Therefore, the
   association of group members or of sub-groups to form the VCG
   requires the association of the LSPs used to establish the group
   members.

   To be able to associate the LSPs, the Session object MUST be the same
   for all LSPs (this also indicates that the same Tunnel ID is used for
   all the LSPs).  The LSP ID, however, MUST be different for each LSP
   to distinguish between the LSPs.  However, since there are
   potentially many reasons for multiple LSPs within a single session
   (for example, end-to-end protection, make-before-break, etc.) a
   mechanism to identify the association of a subset LSPs is needed.





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   The Association ID in the Association object is a 16-bit value, so we
   can have for one SESSION up to 2^16 associations, meaning up to 2^16
   diversely routed VCAT groups and any number of co-routed LSPs.

   Since we are not using this Association ID to indicate protection,
   the value for the Association ID should be decided by an outside
   entity.  This may be the management plane.  The assignment of the
   Association ID is outside the scope of GMPLS but MUST be unique for
   the same Session.

   Note that this does not preclude the use of another Association ID to
   indicate the recovery, as the standard allows the use of multiple
   Association objects.  We need to differentiate between the
   association objects used for the VCAT group and the association
   objects used for recovery.

   In this draft, we define a new association type to indicate that this
   is a VCG association.

4.2.1.1. Format

   Association Type: 16 bits

               Value       Type
               -----       ----

                 3         VCAT group

   See [E2E-RECOVERY] for the definition of other fields and values
   while noting again that the Association ID should be unique per
   session.

4.2.2. Recap of Setup Using Diversely Routed Components

   For every route R, use procedure outlined in 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 depending
   on the capability of the equipment or general preference.  The Path
   message MUST include the Association object with type set to 3.

   For example, we use two routes: one to carry 3 VC-4 circuits and the
   other to carry 4 VC-4 circuits.  This results in two associated LSPs.

   Following the addition of the new LSP (i.e., RESV message is received
   by the endpoint adding bandwidth), LCAS signaling is used in-band to
   hitlessly add the new label into the existing group [ITU-T-G.7042].





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4.2.3. Recap of Reduction/Teardown Using Diversely Routed Components

   For every route R, to remove component circuits on that route, first,
   LCAS signaling is used in-band to remove the labels associated with
   the LSP from the group.  LCAS signaling is defined in [ITU-T-G.7042].

   Then, use procedures outlined in 4.1.3 or 4.1.4.

   This again can only be done on LCAS-capable interfaces.  If the
   procedure is attempted on VCAT-only interfaces, then the whole VCG is
   torn down (this is not a graceful teardown so ingress/egress initiate
   a Path Tear/Resv Tear) on all routes R.

4.2.4. Update and Upgrade of Existing VCAT Groups

   For existing VCAT groups, in order to allow them to participate in
   diversely routed VCGs, we use the same method of changing the message
   ID for the Path message of an existing LSP and adding the Association
   object that will be interpreted at all intermediate and edge nodes
   and that Association object will be added to the LSP information.

4.2.5. One LSP per Circuit

   Similarly to in 3.2.4, one may wish to use as many LSPs as circuits.
   This is supported and each LSP will be used to set up one element of
   the VCG.  The Association object is used to indicate the VCG
   association type.

5. IANA Considerations

   This document requests from IANA the assignment of a new Association
   Type within the Association object.  This object was defined in [E2E-
   RECOVERY].

6. Security Considerations

   This document introduces a new use of the Association object for GMLS
   signaling [RFC3473] to associate diversely routed VCAT group members.
   It does not introduce any new signaling messages, nor change the
   relationship between LSRs that are adjacent in the control plane.
   This association information in the event of an interception may
   indicate that there members of the same VCAT group that take a
   different route and may indicate to an interceptor that the network
   may be more robust.

   Otherwise, this document does not introduce any additional security
   considerations.


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7. Contributors

   Wataru Imajuku (NTT)
   1-1 Hikari-no-oka Yokosuka Kanagawa 239-0847
   Japan

   Phone +81-46-859-4315
   Email: imajuku.wataru@lab.ntt.co.jp

   Julien Meuric
   France Telecom
   2, avenue Pierre Marzin
   22307 Lannion Cedex
   France

   Phone: + 33 2 96 05 28 28
   Email: julien.meuric@francetelecom.com

   Lyndon Ong (Ciena)
   PO Box 308
   Cupertino, CA 95015
   United States of America

   Phone: +1 408 705 2978
   Email: lyong@ciena.com


8. Acknowledgments

   The authors would like to thank Maarten Vissers and Adrian Farrel for
   extensive reviews and contributions to this draft.


















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APPENDIX A: An Overview of VCAT and LCAS

   Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) is a standardized layer 1 inverse
   multiplexing technique that can be applied to OTN [ITU-T-G.709],
   SONET [ANSI-T1.105], SDH [ITU-T-G.707], and PDH [ITU-T-G.7043]
   component signals.  By inverse multiplexing we mean a method that
   combines multiple links at a particular layer into an aggregate link
   to achieve a commensurate increase in available bandwidth on that
   aggregate link.  More formally, VCAT essentially combines the payload
   bandwidth of multiple path layer network signals (or trails) to
   support a single client (e.g. Ethernet) layer link.  For a more
   detailed introduction, see [BCRH06], [BRS04] and [Hel05].

A.1. VCAT Signals and Components

   In the following we will use SDH terminology rather than both SONET
   and SDH terminology.  In SDH Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) can be
   applied to the following component time division multiplex (TDM)
   signals referred to as Virtual Containers (VCs): VC-11, VC-12, VC-2,
   VC-3, and VC-4.

   Only like component signals can be aggregated into a VCAT group.
   These groups are respectively known as: VC-11-Xv, VC-12-Xv, VC-2-Xv
   (X= 1... 64), VC-3-Xv and VC-4-Xv (X=1... 256).

   VCAT can be applied to the following PDH signals as specified in
   reference [ITU-T-G.7043]: DS1, E1, E3, DS3.  Similar to the SONET/SDH
   case these component signals can only be combined with like signals
   to produce aggregates.  For some reason the virtual concatenation
   groups of the PDH signals were not given unique designations in [ITU-
   T-G.7043] so we shall adopt a similar notation to the SDH VCAT
   signals for the permitted PDH VCAT signals that follow: DS1-Xv, E1-Xv
   (X=1... 16), E3-Xv, DS3-Xv (X= 1... 8).

   Concatenation in the optical transport network (OTN) is realized by
   means of virtual concatenation of Optical Channel Payload Unit (OPU)
   signals.  OPUk signals (k= 1, 2, 3) can be concatenated into OPUk-Xv
   aggregates (X= 1... 256).  See reference [ITU-T-G.709] for details.

A.2. VCAT Capabilities and Limitations

   VCAT performs inverse multiplexing by octet/byte de-interleaving of
   the encapsulated client bit stream.  The main limitation of any VCAT
   standard or implementation is the amount of differential delay that
   can be accommodated between the component signals when they are
   diversely routed.  These are summarized for the different signal



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   types in reference [BCRH06] and [Hel05] with details given in the
   respective standards documents.

A.3. The LCAS Protocol

   The Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme for VCAT signals is a protocol
   for dynamically and hitlessly changing (i.e., increasing and
   decreasing) the capacity of a VCAT group.  LCAS also provides
   survivability capabilities, automatically decreasing the capacity if
   a member of the VCAT group experiences a failure in the network, and
   increasing the capacity when the network fault is repaired.  LCAS,
   itself, provides a mechanism for interworking between LCAS and non-
   LCAS VCAT end points.  VCAT does not require LCAS for its operation.

   LCAS functionality does not overlap or conflict with GMPLS' routing
   or signaling functionality for the establishment of component links
   or entire VCAT groups.  LCAS instead is used to control whether a
   particular component signal is actually put into service carrying
   traffic for the VCAT group.

   LCAS provides for graceful degradation of failed links by having the
   sink end report back the receive status of all member components.  In
   the case of a reported member failure, the source end will stop using
   the component and the source end will send an LCAS message to the
   sink end that it is not transmitting data on that component.  The
   worst case notification times are summarized in [BCRH06] and [Hel05].























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APPENDIX B: Carrier Perspective on VCAT/LCAS Application Areas

   We present in this appendix a number of application areas of VCAT and
   LCAS that make them valuable in the transport network.

B.1. VCAT Advantages

   When used as a transport layer, SONET/SDH networks may require that
   containers be grouped together to offer services with higher
   bandwidth than the base elementary transport entities.  While
   contiguous concatenation imposes stringent constraints on the
   placement of component signals and restricts sizing to specific
   combinations (X= 1, 4, 16 ...), virtual concatenation offers much
   more flexibility (X= 1, 2, 3 ...) in sizing and no placement
   restrictions.

B.1.1. Right Sizing Bandwidth

   Virtual concatenation allows the customization of the number of
   components in a group, thus offering a bandwidth closer to the client
   layer needs.  A common example is the STS-3c-7v/VC-4-7v often used in
   data transport since well fit to 1 Gbit/s traffic, whereas an STS-
   48c/VC-4-16c (imposed by contiguous concatenation) would be too big
   and lead to wasting bandwidth.

B.1.2. Bandwidth Efficiencies in a Mesh Network

   Given an end-to-end bandwidth demand between a source and a sink and
   a mesh network topology, there may be enough total bandwidth across
   the network to meet the demand, but not along a single route.  VCAT
   has the ability to transport components of a Virtually Concatenated
   Group (VCG) over different paths which can be diversely routed in the
   network.  In this way, a carrier increases the efficiency of the
   transport network by making better use of the mesh topology of that
   network.

B.1.3. Minimizing Restoration Impact

   The diverse routing enabled by VCAT is a useful capability since, in
   case of single failure, only a subset of the members of the VCG needs
   to be recovered, which allows a higher availability than the single
   route case.  This means that a failure does not require recovery for
   the whole VCG but only for the failed path, and a sub-part of the
   total bandwidth will be easier to restore than the full pipe.  This
   becomes more beneficial when combined with LCAS (see below).  As a
   matter of fact, this is a key driver for using VCAT in a carrier's
   network.


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B.1.4. Modify Component Routing

   In order to migrate from singly-routed transport services and
   distribute circuits over multiple routes, it is also useful to
   segregate a single VCG into several LSPs.  Indeed, while resources
   may be provisioned using a single LSP at day one, there should be a
   migration path to allow the members of the VCG to be carried over
   diverse routes as allowed by VCAT.

B.2. LCAS Advantages

   When VCAT is used in a carrier network, enabling LCAS brings a number
   of additional advantages to network operations.

B.2.1. Graceful Degradation

   When a member of an LCAS-enabled VCG is faulty, the other members
   keep carrying their portion (interleaved bytes) of traffic, i.e., the
   portion of the traffic on the faulty member does not reach the
   destination.  Hence, the entire VCG is delivering errored data until
   the faulty member is removed from the VCG.  With LCAS the process of
   removing the faulty member is automated and very fast.  Note that
   removing the member from carrying traffic for the group is different
   from setting up or removing the member circuit.  This functionality
   is particularly useful when the VCG is diversely routed because some
   bandwidth remains available during restoration and can be used by the
   client layer with no interruption to traffic, albeit at a decreased
   bit-rate.

B.2.2. Dynamic Adjustment

   LCAS allows for hitless resizing of VCGs between two endpoints.
   Without LCAS, the bandwidth associated with a transport service
   cannot be modified without traffic disruption: a VCG needs indeed to
   be re-provisioned with the necessary number of components to meet the
   new demand.  LCAS brings the necessary mechanisms to modify a VCG by
   adding and removing some components while allowing the VCG to carry
   traffic uninterrupted.

B.2.3. Painless Re-Grooming

   When connections need to be rerouted due to maintenance or to make
   efficient use of network resources, the process, known as re-
   grooming, generally impacts user traffic.  LCAS enables a hitless
   method for re-grooming by first adding to VCGs additional components
   that have been set up on the new desired path, then removing the old



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   components from the VCG and releasing the unused resources from the
   network.















































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9. References

9.1. Normative References

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

   [RFC2961]      Berger, L. et ali "RSVP Refresh Overhead Reduction
                  Extensions" RFC 2961, April 2001.

   [RFC3473]      Berger, L., "Generalized Multi-Protocol Label
                  Switching (GMPLS) Signaling Resource ReserVation
                  Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) Extensions",
                  RFC 3473, January 2003.

   [RFC3946-bis]  Mannie, E. and D. Papadimitriou, "Generalized Multi-
                  Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) Extensions for
                  Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and Synchronous
                  Digital Hierarchy (SDH) Control ", IETF draft, work in
                  progress, December 2005.

   [RFC4206]      Kompella, K. and Y. Rekhter, "Label Switched Paths
                  (LSP) Hierarchy with Generalized Multi-Protocol Label
                  Switching (GMPLS) Traffic Engineering (TE)" RFC 4206,
                  October 2005.

   [E2E-RECOVERY] Lang, J.P., Rekhter, Y., and D. Papadimitriou (eds.),
                  "RSVP-TE Extensions in support of End-to-End
                  Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS)-
                  based Recovery", IETF draft, work in progress, April
                  2005.

9.2. Informative References

   [ANSI-T1.105]  American National Standards Institute, "Synchronous
                  Optical Network (SONET) - Basic Description including
                  Multiplex Structure, Rates, and Formats", ANSI T1.105-
                  2001, May 2001.

   [BCRH06]       Bernstein, G., Caviglia, D., R. Rabbat and H. van
                  Helvoort, "VCAT/LCAS in a Clamshell", IEEE
                  Communications Magazine, May 2006.

   [BRS04]        Bernstein, G., Rajagopalan, B. and D. Saha, "Optical
                  Network Control: Architecture, Protocols", Addison-
                  Wesley, 2004.



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   [Hel05]        Helvoort, H., "Next Generation SDH/SONET: Evolution or
                  Revolution?" Wiley & Sons, 2005.

   [ITU-T-G.7042] International Telecommunications Union, "Link Capacity
                  Adjustment Scheme (LCAS) for Virtual Concatenated
                  Signals", ITU-T Recommendation G.7042, February 2004.

   [ITU-T-G.7043] International Telecommunications Union, "Virtual
                  Concatenation of Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy
                  (PDH) Signals", ITU-T Recommendation G.7043, July
                  2004.

   [ITU-T-G.707]  International Telecommunications Union, "Network Node
                  Interface for the Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
                  (SDH)", ITU-T Recommendation G.707, December 2003.

   [ITU-T-G.709]  International Telecommunications Union, "Interfaces
                  for the Optical Transport Network (OTN)", ITU-T
                  Recommendation G.709, March 2003.

Author's Addresses

   Greg Bernstein
   Grotto Networking

   Phone: +1-510-573-2237
   Email: gregb@grotto-networking.com


   Diego Caviglia
   Ericsson
   Via A. Negrone 1/A 16153
   Genoa Italy

   Phone: +39 010 600 3736
   Email: diego.caviglia@(marconi.com, ericsson.com)


   Richard Rabbat
   Fujitsu Laboratories of America
   1240 East Arques Ave, MS 345
   Sunnyvale, CA 94085
   United States of America

   Phone: +1 408-530-4537
   Email: richard@us.fujitsu.com



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   Huub van Helvoort
   Huawei
   Kolkgriend 38, 1356 BC Almere
   The Netherlands

   Phone:   +31 36 5315076
   Email:   hhelvoort@chello.nl

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   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
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Acknowledgment

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.









































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