Network Working Group                           O. Gonzalez de Dios, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                Telefonica Investigacion y
Intended status: Standards Track                              Desarrollo
Expires: April 18, 2011                                      R. Casellas
                                             CTTC - Centre Tecnologic de
                                          Telecomunicacions de Catalunya
                                                        F. Jimenez Chico
                                              Telefonica Investigacion y
                                                              Desarrollo
                                                        October 15, 2010


PCEP Extensions for Temporary Reservation of Computed Path Resources and
                Support for Limited Context State in PCE
             draft-gonzalezdedios-pce-reservation-state-00

Abstract

   The Path Computation Element (PCE) provides path computation
   functions in support of traffic engineering in Multi-Protocol Label
   Switching (MPLS) and Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) networks.

   A limited form of statefulness is useful to improve PCE functionality
   in situations in which the local TED might not be up to date, or in
   the case of concurrent requests where most of the LSPs are computed
   before the end of the set-up of the LSPs when the TED is updated.
   The PCE can retain some context from the resources assigned to Path
   Requests during a certain period of time, so that it avoids
   suggesting the use of the same resources for subsequent TE LSPs.

   This document proposes an extension to the PCEP protocol to allow the
   PCC to request the PCE to block or reserve the resources computed in
   a path request of a TE LSP for subsequent requests for a certain
   time.

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



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   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on April 18, 2011.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2010 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
   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.

































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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2.  PCEP Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   3.  PCEP Extensions (Encoding) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     3.1.  Requesting a Reservation of Resources  . . . . . . . . . .  7
     3.2.  Replying a reservation status  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     3.3.  Cancelling a Reservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     3.4.  RESERVATION object format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     3.5.  RESERVATION_CONF object format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
     3.6.  RESERVATION_ID TLV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   4.  Protocol procedures  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   5.  Use cases  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     5.1.  Multiple LSP restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     5.2.  Domain path selection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
     5.3.  Multidomain path computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   6.  Manageability Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
     6.1.  Control of Function and Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
     6.2.  Information and Data Models  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     6.3.  Liveness Detection and Monitoring  . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     6.4.  Verifying Correct Operation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     6.5.  Requirements for Other Protocols and Functional
           Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     6.6.  Impact on Network Operation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   7.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   8.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
     8.1.  RESERVATION object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
     8.2.  RESERVATION_CONF object  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
     8.3.  RESERVATION_ID TLV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
     8.4.  PCEP Errors  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   9.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   10. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17


















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1.  Introduction

   According to [RFC4655], a PCE can be either stateful or stateless.
   In the former case, there is a strict synchronization between the PCE
   and not only the network states (in term of topology and resource
   information), but also the set of computed paths and reserved
   resources in use in the network.

   In other words, the PCE utilizes information from the TED as well as
   information about existing paths (for example, TE LSPs) in the
   network when processing new requests.  However, the maintenance and
   synchronization of a stateful database can be non-trivial, not only
   because it should verify the actual establishment of the computed
   paths, but also because it might not be the unique element to compute
   paths.  Moreover, maintaining such a stateful database is not a
   function of the PCE, but rather of an NMS.

   On the other hand, a stateless PCE does not keep track of any
   computed path, and each set of request(s) is processed independently
   of each other, typically using a local copy of the TED.  Since a
   stateless PCE typically operates on a graph with computation
   constraints without tracking the state or history of path
   computations, independent requests will be processed on the same TED
   graph, until the graph is updated.

   With a stateless PCE, there is a 'potential window of TED
   inaccuracy', where a stateless PCEs may compute paths based on
   current TED information, which could be out of sync with actual or
   potential network state changes given other recent PCE-computed
   paths.

   For example, some sources for this potential TED inaccuracy are:

   o  Control Plane link latencies, increasing: a) the time required for
      a PCC to obtain the paths after a successful computation,
      requiring several Round-Trip-Times (RTT) as per TCP; b) the setup
      delay and c) the time it takes for the PCE to update the local TED
      given IGP update times.

   o  IGP (i.e. OSPF-TE) may operate with timers for LSA updates, to
      avoid excessive control plane overhead.

   o  Concurrent requests that arrive during the time window, between a
      response is sent and the LSP is setup and the topology changes
      flooded.  Even for very fast networks with low latency, there may
      be 'batched' requests: several path computation requests within a
      PCReq message or, in dynamic restoration without pre-planning,
      several LSPs need to be rerouted avoiding a failed link.



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   o  Local PCE contention, where the PCE needs to concurrently serve
      path computation requests and update the LSA (e.g. parsing OSPF-TE
      LSA updates). A PCE implementation may need to find a trade-off,
      when synchronizing access to the local TED: favor OSPF-TE parsing
      which means that some path computations are slightly delayed to
      allow an 'update' to be processed, or give strict priority to
      computation requests.

   In consequence, a stateless PCE may assign the same (or a subset of
   the same) resources to several requests, which may result in
   contention and degraded network performance.  The effects are
   detected late, typically during path signaling, causing path blocking
   and excessive crank-backs and retries.

   Note that a PCC may include a set of previously computed paths in its
   request, in order to take them into account, for instance, to avoid
   double bandwidth accounting or to try to minimize changes (minimum
   perturbation problem).

   Section 6.8 of RFC 4655 [RFC4655] suggests that a limited form of
   statefulness might be applied within an otherwise stateless PCE.  The
   PCE may retain some context from paths it has recently computed so
   that it avoids suggesting the use of the same resources for other TE
   LSPs, using heuristics / forecasting for improved resource (i.e.
   wavelength) allocation.

   This document proposes a set of extensions to the PCEP protocol to
   allow the PCC to request the PCE to block or reserve the resources
   associated to a path computation for a given path request.  By
   reservation, it is implied that a set of resources which have been
   associated to such computation are excluded for subsequent path
   computations for a given time period.

   Associated resources include (but not limit to): the bandwidth
   computed for the path in PSC or L2SC layers, a specific time slot
   (SDH) or tributary slot (OTN ODU-k) in TDM networks or a given
   wavelength or regenerator (WSON or OTN OCh).

   This document also presents some illustrative use cases where the PCC
   would want the PCE to retain some context or state, like multiple LSP
   restoration, and counterexamples where the PCC does not have the
   intention to immediately set up the LSP, i.e., multidomain cases
   where the PCE is probing different paths to decide the sequence of
   domains.







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2.  PCEP Requirements

   This section provides the set of requirements, both for PCCs and
   PCEs, to support context awareness.

   When requesting a path computation (PCReq) to a PCE, the PCC should
   be able to indicate:

   o  Whether the resources computed in the request should be blocked
      for further requests.

   o  The amount of time the resources should be blocked, i.e. not used
      for subsequent requests.

   o  The type and granularity of the resources to be blocked in the
      request.  The type refers to the actual resources blocked such as
      path bandwidth or timeslot, wavelength, fiber...  The granularity
      refers to the possibility of not only reserving the resource
      computed for the path but whether the associated links/nodes/SRLGs
      may need to be reserved too.

   The PCE should be able to:

   o  Apply policies whether a reservation request can be applied or
      not.

   o  Compute one or more paths according to the request parameters and,
      based on the PCC indications, prevent that (part of) the resources
      involved in the computed route be used in subsequent computations
      for a given period.

   o  If the request is allowed, the given reservation period SHOULD be
      no less than the requested period by the PCC (e.g. for the cases
      where the PCE is only able to reserve for multiples of a given
      value).  This does not preclude the fact that, if configured by
      policy, a PCE MAY limit the period to a lower period.
      Alternatively, a PCE MAY be configured to reply with a PCEP_ERROR
      stating the cause of the failed computation/reservation.

   o  The PCE MAY decide to apply a different granularity for the
      reservation request (e.g. block a given Time Slot or wavelength
      but not the TE links).  In this case, the PCE MUST reply with the
      actual reservation.

   Note that, the means by which a PCE can perform this are out of the
   scope of the present document but could include, for example, marking
   the resources as 'reserved', applying internal exclude objects etc.




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   The PCE should be able to respond (PCRep) to the PCC the following:

   o  If the resources have been effectively blocked, and the final
      allocated reservation period, which may be different from the
      requested one.

   o  The granularity of the reservation, which may be different from
      the requested one.

   o  Provide a means to allow a PCC to request the cancellation of an
      active reservation (for example an identification of the
      reservation to allow its cancellation).

   The PCC should be able to request the cancellation of an active
   resource reservation.


3.  PCEP Extensions (Encoding)

3.1.  Requesting a Reservation of Resources

   A PCC that wants to request a PCE to temporarily reserve or block
   resources does so by including a RESERVATION object along with a
   client PCC_ID_REQ in the PCReq message.

   Analogously to [RFC5886] the PCC-ID-REQ object is used to specify the
   IP address of the requesting PCC.  The PCC-ID-REQ MUST be inserted
   within a PCReq message to specify the IP address of the requesting
   PCC.  In [RFC5886] two PCC-ID-REQ objects (for IPv4 and IPv6) are
   defined.

   A PCE that receives a PCReq message with a RESERVATION object MUST
   act according to the P-bit in the object header: if the P-bit is set,
   the object MUST be treated as mandatory and the request must either
   be processed using the contents of the object or rejected as defined
   in [RFC5440].  If the P-bit is clear, the object MAY be used by the
   PCE or MAY be ignored.

   The RESERVATION object is optional in a PCReq message.  Multiple
   instances of the object MUST NOT be used on a single PCReq message
   and if a PCE finds multiple instances of the object it MUST use the
   first one and discard the rest (Editors note: alternatively, it could
   send a PCErr).  The RESERVATION object may appear either at an
   individual request level or within a SVEC.  The latter means that the
   RESERVATION object applies to all requests involved in the SVEC
   object.

   The PCReq ([RFC5440][RFC5541][RFC5557]) message is



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             <PCReq Message> ::= <Common Header>

                               [svec_list]

                               <request-list>

   where

               <svec-list> ::= <SVEC>

                               [<OF>]

                               [<GC>]

                               [<XRO>]

                               [<metric-list>]

                              [<PCC-REQ-ID> <RESERVATION>]

                               [<svec-list>]

               <metric-list> ::= <METRIC>

                                [<metric-list>]

               <request-list>::= <request>

                                 [<request-list>]

               <request>::= <RP>

                            <END-POINTS>

                            [<LSPA>]

                            [<BANDWIDTH>]

                            [<metric-list>]

                            [<OF>]

                            [<PCC_REQ_ID> <RESERVATION>]

                            [<RRO> [<BANDWIDTH>]]

                            [<IRO>]




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                            [<LOAD-BALANCING>]

3.2.  Replying a reservation status

   If the PCE that receives the request applies the reservation, it
   indicates so using a RESERVATION_CONF object in the PCRep message.

   The PCRep message is extended with regard to the one defined in
   [RFC5440] as follows:


   <attribute-list>::=[<LSPA>]

                             [<BANDWIDTH>]

                             [<metric-list>]

                             [<IRO>]

                             [<RESERVATION_CONF>]

   Note that the reservation applies at PATH level, and a
   RESERVATION_CONF object is included for all paths in a given
   response.  This means distinct reservations for each path, which can
   be cancelled independently (Editor's Note: TDB, the PCC could
   indicate whether to have a single reservation or multiple
   reservation).

   It is RECOMMENDED that the RESERVATION_CONF object appears the last
   attribute for a Path (or as an optional object in the attribute-list
   associated to a NO_PATH object.

3.3.  Cancelling a Reservation

   A PCC that wishes to cancel a reservation may send an unsolicited
   notification to the PCE, including the identifier of the reservation.

   The PCNtf message used for one or more cancellations has no RP
   object.  As with [RFC5440], the PCNtf message MUST carry at least one
   NOTIFICATION object and MAY contain several NOTIFICATION objects
   should the PCE or the PCC intend to notify of multiple events:










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   <PCNtf Message>::=<Common Header>

                        <notify-list>

         <notify-list>::=<notify> [<notify-list>]

         <notify>::= <notification-list>

         <notification-list>::=<NOTIFICATION>[<notification-list>]

   NOTIFICATION objects used for the purposes of cancelling an active
   reservation MUST include the RESERVATION_ID TLV.  It is RECOMMENDED
   to use dedicated PCNtf messages for the purposes of cancelling
   reservations.

   Both the Notification-type and Notification-value are TBD by IANA

   The following Notification-type and Notification-value values are
   currently defined:

   o  Notification-type=TBD: Pending Reservation cancelled

   o  Notification-value=TBD (sug 1): PCC cancels a set of reservation
      requests.

3.4.  RESERVATION object format

   RESERVATION Object-Class is to be assigned by IANA.

   RESERVATION Object-Type is to be assigned by IANA (recommended
   value=1)

   The RESERVATION object indicates the intention of the PCC to set up
   the requested path and request the PCE to reserve the resources of
   the computed path to avoid being used by other requests.

        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
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                            Timer                              |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |S N L|                  Resource Type                          |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                       Optional TLVs                           |
       ...
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+





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   o  Timer is the value in ms of the time that the resources should be
      blocked, encoded as a 32 bit unsigned integer.

   o  Resource Type indicates the type of resource to be reserved.  A
      value of 0 means the default resource type:

      *  Bandwidth (PSC, L2SC, ...)

      *  Time Slot (Sonet/SDH TDM)

      *  Tributary Slot (G709 OTN ODU-k TDM)

      *  Wavelength (G709 OTN OCh or WSON LSC)

   o  Bit L: if set, TE Links should be part of the reservation, and
      excluded from subsequent request.

   o  Bit N: if set, Nodes should be part of the reservation.

   o  Bit S: if set, the set of SRLG (Shared Risk Link Group) deduced
      from the associated resources (i.e., the union of SRLGs of the
      links) should be part of the reservation.

   Currently no TLVs are defined.

3.5.  RESERVATION_CONF object format

   The RESERVATION_CONF object is optional.  The RESERVATION_CONF object
   indicates that the PCE has reserved the resources of computed path to
   avoid being used by other requests.  The RESERVATION_CONF object is
   sent in the PCRep.

   The RESERVATION_CONF Object-Class is to be assigned by IANA.

   The RESERVATION_CONF Object-Type is to be assigned by IANA
   (recommended value=1)

   The format of the RESERVATION_CONF object body is:

        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
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     Reservation ID                            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                     Reservation timer                         |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |S N L|             Reservation Type                            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+



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   Timer is the value in ms of the time that the resources are blocked.
   The PCE May decide to apply a different value that the one requested
   by the PCC.

   A PCC MUST NOT send a RESERVE_RESPONSE object if the client has not
   requested a RESERVATION in the PCReq message.  A PCE MAY apply
   reservations as a means of internal policy and/or operation.

3.6.  RESERVATION_ID TLV

   The TLV indicates the reservation ID (Type TBA by IANA).

       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
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                       Reservation ID                          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+



4.  Protocol procedures

   A client that wishes to request a path computation with reservation
   shall:

   o  Include a PCC_REQ_ID and RESERVATION objects in the involved
      Request within the PCReq message.

   o  Specify what level of reservation to apply after the request.

   Upon receiving a PCReq with a Resource Reservation object, the PCE
   will:

   o  Perform the Path Computation using the local Traffic Engineering
      Database which has been extended to account for resources that
      have been marked reserved or blocked and which SHOULD not be used
      while blocked.  This includes both synchronized / dependent path
      computations via SVEC or individual Path Computations requested in
      the request_list.

   o  For the successful path computations, and for all paths
      corresponding to a given Request, determine the type of resources
      to be blocked (marked as reserved) with the granularity requested
      by the client once mapped to PCE policies.

   o  It will start a local timer associated with this blocking action.





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   o  Send the Responses (successful or not) using PCRep message(s) and,
      where appropriate, indicate the level of reservation and
      associated period.

   o  For subsequent requests, perform path computation as detailed
      above, updating the local TED with potential new reservations.

   Whenever a timer expires, the PCE will:

   o  Remove the reservation status / blocking that affected the
      reservation (e.g. add the previously substracted unreserved
      bandwidth, mark the label, wavelength or time slot as available,
      etc).

   o  Delete any data related with this blocking action.


5.  Use cases

   This section aims to show the use cases of the proposed possibility
   to activate the limited context awareness.

5.1.  Multiple LSP restoration

   One of the most challenging scenarios for a PCE-based architecture is
   the one of PCE-based dynamic multiple LSP restoration without pre-
   planning.  In the event of a network failure affecting a high number
   of LSPs (e.g. a fibre cut), a PCE could potentially receive a
   significant amount of restoration requests in a short period of time
   from different PCCs.

   One of the various challenges in this scenario is the fact that the
   PCE needs to sequentially perform multiple independent path
   computations.  In this scenario, a stateless PCE would rely on TED
   information, which could potentially be up-to-date before the first
   incoming request (e.g. in case the routing algorithm has disseminated
   the failure event), but will definitely be outdated for subsequent
   requests.

   It might be expected that the paths calculated for different
   connections would rely on the same nodes, TE links or even labels.
   It might occur at the signaling phase that multiple connection
   requests are contending for the same resources.  After the eventual
   failure in the establishment of some of the connections, subsequent
   requests to the PCE would be triggered.  After a number of loops, the
   PCE-based restoration would be eventually solved, but the potential
   number of retries could be significantly high.




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   The main issue is that the stateless PCE relied on an outdated TED to
   perform path computation.  As the subsequent connection request is
   expected to be computed immediately, there is either no time for the
   routing algorithm to update the TED after a successful signaling or
   for the signaling process to successfully finish.

   In this context, the availability of a limited context aware PCE
   could potentially solve the issue in a graceful fashion.  Each of the
   restoration path requests will have an associated Resource
   Reservation object, which will state the kind of resources and the
   amount of time they should be blocked.

   The PCE will then temporarily 'mark' the resources as blocked, so as
   not to consider them in subsequent connection requests, and thus
   avoiding the contention at the signaling phase.  The timer should be
   in line with the LSP set up time and TED time to update.

5.2.  Domain path selection

   When selecting the set of domains of a multidomain path, a PCE may
   request paths to several PCEs of different domains.  Thus, the
   intention of the request is not to establish a LSP, but to obtain a
   hint on the domain path.  Thus, in this case, no Reservation Object
   would be sent.

5.3.  Multidomain path computation

   Once the domain path is known, when computing the actual path, the
   reservation object can be used.  Note that multidomain paths may take
   a long time to be established, as it involves several AS or domains
   with different behavior and policies.  Thus, it is a way to guarantee
   the availability of resources.


6.  Manageability Considerations

   Standard PCEP [RFC5440] describes various manageability
   considerations in PCEP, and most of the manageability requirements
   are already covered there.  Specific aspects are detailed in this
   section.

6.1.  Control of Function and Policy

   In addition to PCE configuration parameters listed in [RFC5440], the
   following additional parameters might be required:

   o  The ability to enable or disable reservations on the PCE.




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   o  The ability to retrieve a list of reservations currently active in
      the PCE.

   o  The ability to configure which PCCs are allowed to perform
      reservations and the ability to configure limits on the timer
      periods requested.  This includes, for example, the configuration
      of IP based access lists for PCCs.

   o  The ability to configure which PCCs are allowed to perform
      reservations for single-domain and multi-domain scenarios,
      typically according to pre-defined agreements.

   o  The ability to configure which reservation granularity a given PCC
      group is able to request, and the associated action (error or
      downgrade).

   o  TDB: Advertisements of capabilities via IGP and configurability

6.2.  Information and Data Models

   A number of MIB objects have been defined for general PCEP control
   and monitoring of P2P computations in [PCEP-MIB].  For the time
   being, no extra models are considered although it could be possible
   that current means to retrieve information from the PCE be extended
   to include eventual resource reservations.

6.3.  Liveness Detection and Monitoring

   Other than the considerations expressed in [RFC5440], a PCE could
   provide extensions to [MONITORING] to verify reservation status, and
   to obtain statistics on the system.

6.4.  Verifying Correct Operation

   There are no additional requirements for verifying the correct
   operation of the PCEP sessions.  Future MIB objects could facilitate
   verification of correct operation and reporting of reservations and
   errors.

6.5.  Requirements for Other Protocols and Functional Components

   The method for the PCC to obtain information about a PCE capable of
   reservation may include extensions to IGP protocols.

6.6.  Impact on Network Operation

   It is expected that the use of PCEP extensions specified in this
   document will not significantly increase the level of operational



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   traffic.  However, mis-configured, excessive reservation requests,
   excessive reservation periods, or excessive granularity may increase
   the number of failed requests or cause the PCE to provide sub-optimal
   routes due to existing reservations.  Coarse reservations may also
   limit the resources that are available for a a PCE in order to serve
   requests.

   An excessive number of reservation requests and reservation
   cancellations may degrade server performance.  A PCE SHOULD provide a
   means to control the rate of messages with reservation, extending the
   proposed mechanism of [RFC5440].


7.  Security Considerations

   In the event of an unauthorized path computation request with
   mandatory resource reservation, or in case of a (distributed) denial
   of service attack, the subsequent state/context managed within the
   PCE may be disruptive to the network, resulting in performance
   degradation or sub-optimal computed routes.  Implementations should
   conform to the relevant security requirements of [RFC5440] that
   specifically help to control unauthorized requests.  These mechanisms
   include securing the PCEP session requests and responses using TCP
   security techniques, authenticating the PCEP requests and responses
   to ensure the message is intact and sent from an authorized node,
   providing policy control by explicitly defining which PCCs are
   allowed to perform resource reservations to the PCE and disallowing
   reservation requests that may block an excessive amount of resources.


8.  IANA Considerations

   IANA maintains a registry of PCEP parameters.  A number of IANA
   considerations have been highlighted in previous sections of this
   document.

8.1.  RESERVATION object

8.2.  RESERVATION_CONF object

8.3.  RESERVATION_ID TLV

8.4.  PCEP Errors

   For the RESERVATION object, the default error procedures regarding
   supported unknown objects defined in [RFC5440] apply





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   o  Unsupported Reservation Option

   o  Reservation Forbidden by Policy

   o  Unknown Reservation Request


9.  Acknowledgements

   The authors thank Cyril Margaria for the discussions and suggestions
   in the topic.


10.  Normative References

   [RFC4655]  Farrel, A., Vasseur, J., and J. Ash, "A Path Computation
              Element (PCE)-Based Architecture", RFC 4655, August 2006.

   [RFC5440]  Vasseur, JP. and JL. Le Roux, "Path Computation Element
              (PCE) Communication Protocol (PCEP)", RFC 5440,
              March 2009.

   [RFC5541]  Le Roux, JL., Vasseur, JP., and Y. Lee, "Encoding of
              Objective Functions in the Path Computation Element
              Communication Protocol (PCEP)", RFC 5541, June 2009.

   [RFC5557]  Lee, Y., Le Roux, JL., King, D., and E. Oki, "Path
              Computation Element Communication Protocol (PCEP)
              Requirements and Protocol Extensions in Support of Global
              Concurrent Optimization", RFC 5557, July 2009.

   [RFC5886]  Vasseur, JP., Le Roux, JL., and Y. Ikejiri, "A Set of
              Monitoring Tools for Path Computation Element (PCE)-Based
              Architecture", RFC 5886, June 2010.


Authors' Addresses

   Oscar Gonzalez de Dios (editor)
   Telefonica Investigacion y Desarrollo
   Emilio Vargas 6
   Madrid,   28045
   Spain

   Phone: +34 913374013
   Email: ogondio@tid.es





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   Ramon Casellas
   CTTC - Centre Tecnologic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya
   Av. Carl Friedrich Gauss n7
   Castelldefels, Barcelona  08860
   Spain

   Phone:
   Email: ramon.casellas@cttc.es


   Francisco Javier Jimenez Chico
   Telefonica Investigacion y Desarrollo
   Emilio Vargas 6
   Madrid,   28043
   Spain

   Phone: +34 91 3379037
   Email: fjjc@tid.es

































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