Network Working Group                                           D. Katz
Internet Draft                                         Juniper Networks
                                                                D. Ward
                                                          Cisco Systems
Expires: January, 2006                                       July, 2005


                   Bidirectional Forwarding Detection
                       draft-ietf-bfd-base-03.txt


Status of this Memo

   By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
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   have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).  All Rights Reserved.


Abstract

   This document describes a protocol intended to detect faults in the
   bidirectional path between two forwarding engines, including
   interfaces, data link(s), and to the extent possible the forwarding
   engines themselves, with potentially very low latency.  It operates
   independently of media, data protocols, and routing protocols.
   Comments on this draft should be directed to rtg-bfd@ietf.org.



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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 [KEYWORDS].


Table of Contents

    1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
    2. Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
    3. Protocol Overview  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
       3.1 Addressing and Session Establishment . . . . . . . . . . . 5
       3.2 Operating Modes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
    4. BFD Control Packet Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
       4.1 Generic BFD Control Packet Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
       4.2 Simple Password Authentication Section Format  . . . . .  11
       4.3 Keyed MD5 and Meticulous Keyed MD5 Authentication
           Section Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
       4.4 Keyed SHA1 and Meticulous Keyed SHA1 Authentication
           Section Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
    5. BFD Echo Packet Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
    6. Elements of Procedure  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
       6.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
       6.2 BFD State Machine  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
       6.3 Demultiplexing and the Discriminator Fields  . . . . . .  18
       6.4 The Echo Function and Asymmetry  . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
       6.5 Demand Mode  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
       6.6 Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
           6.6.1 Enabling and Disabling Authentication  . . . . . .  20
           6.6.2 Simple Password Authentication . . . . . . . . . .  21
           6.6.3 Keyed MD5 and Meticulous Keyed MD5 Authentication   22
           6.6.4 Keyed SHA1 and Meticulous Keyed SHA1 Authentication 23
       6.7 Functional Specifics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
           6.7.1 State Variables  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
           6.7.2 Timer Negotiation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
           6.7.3 Timer Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
           6.7.4 Calculating the Detection Time . . . . . . . . . .  30
           6.7.5 Detecting Failures with the Echo Function  . . . .  31
           6.7.6 Reception of BFD Control Packets . . . . . . . . .  31
           6.7.7 Transmitting BFD Control Packets . . . . . . . . .  33
           6.7.8 Initiation of a Poll Sequence  . . . . . . . . . .  36
           6.7.9 Reception of BFD Echo Packets  . . . . . . . . . .  36
           6.7.10 Transmission of BFD Echo Packets  . . . . . . . .  37
           6.7.11 Min Rx Interval Change  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
           6.7.12 Min Tx Interval Change  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
           6.7.13 Detect Multiplier Change  . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
           6.7.14 Enabling or Disabling the Echo Function . . . . .  38



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           6.7.15 Enabling or Disabling Demand Mode . . . . . . . .  38
           6.7.16 Forwarding Plane Reset  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
           6.7.17 Administrative Control  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
           6.7.18 Concatenated Paths  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
    Backward Compatibility (Non-Normative)  . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
    Contributors  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
    Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
    Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
    IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  42
    Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  42
    Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  42
    Changes from the previous draft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43
    IPR Notice  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43



1. Introduction

   An increasingly important feature of networking equipment is the
   rapid detection of communication failures between adjacent systems,
   in order to more quickly establish alternative paths.  Currently,
   detection can come fairly quickly in certain circumstances when data
   link hardware comes into play (such as SONET alarms.)  However, there
   are media that do not provide this kind of signaling (such as
   Ethernet), and some media may not detect certain kinds of failures in
   the path, for example, failing interfaces or forwarding engine
   components.

   Networks use relatively slow "Hello" mechanisms, usually in routing
   protocols, to detect failures when there is no hardware signaling to
   help out.  The time to detect failures ("detection times") available
   in the existing protocols are no better than a second, which is far
   too long for some applications and represents a great deal of lost
   data at gigabit rates.  Furthermore, routing protocol Hellos are of
   no help when those routing protocols are not in use, and the
   semantics of detection are subtly different--they detect a failure in
   the path between the two routing protocol engines.

   The goal of BFD is to provide low-overhead, short-duration detection
   of failures in the path between adjacent forwarding engines,
   including the interfaces, data link(s), and to the extent possible
   the forwarding engines themselves.

   An additional goal is to provide a single mechanism that can be used
   for liveness detection over any media, at any protocol layer, with a
   wide range of detection times and overhead, to avoid a proliferation
   of different methods.




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   This document specifies the details of the base protocol.  The use of
   some mechanisms are application dependent, and will be specified in a
   separate series of application documents.  These issues are so noted.

   Note that many of the exact mechanisms are implementation dependent
   and will not affect interoperability, and are thus outside the scope
   of this specification.  Those issues are so noted.



2. Design

   BFD is designed to detect failures in communication with a forwarding
   plane next hop.  It is intended to be implemented in some component
   of the forwarding engine of a system, in cases where the forwarding
   and control engines are separated.  This not only binds the protocol
   more to the forwarding plane, but decouples the protocol from the
   fate of the routing protocol engine (making it useful in concert with
   various "graceful restart" mechanisms for those protocols.)  BFD may
   also be implemented in the control engine, though doing so may
   preclude the detection of some kinds of failures.

   BFD operates on top of any data protocol being forwarded between two
   systems.  It is always run in a unicast, point-to-point mode.  BFD
   packets are carried as the payload of whatever encapsulating protocol
   is appropriate for the medium and network.  BFD may be running at
   multiple layers in a system.  The context of the operation of any
   particular BFD session is bound to its encapsulation.

   BFD can provide failure detection on any kind of path between
   systems, including direct physical links, virtual circuits, tunnels,
   MPLS LSPs, multihop routed paths, and unidirectional links (so long
   as there is some return path, of course.)  Multiple BFD sessions can
   be established between the same pair of systems when multiple paths
   between them are present in at least one direction, even if a lesser
   number of paths are available in the other direction (multiple
   parallel unidirectional links or MPLS LSPs, for example.)

   The BFD state machine implements a three-way handshake, both when
   establishing a BFD session and when tearing it down for any reason,
   to ensure that both systems are aware of the state change.

   BFD can be abstracted as a simple service.  The service primitives
   provided by BFD are to create, destroy, and modify a session, given
   the destination address and other parameters.  BFD in return provides
   a signal to its clients indicating when the BFD session goes up or
   down.




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3. Protocol Overview

   BFD is a simple hello protocol that in many respects is similar to
   the detection components of well-known routing protocols.  A pair of
   systems transmit BFD packets periodically over each path between the
   two systems, and if a system stops receiving BFD packets for long
   enough, some component in that particular bidirectional path to the
   neighboring system is assumed to have failed.  Under some conditions,
   systems may negotiate to not send periodic BFD packets in order to
   reduce overhead.

   A path is only declared to be operational when two-way communication
   has been established between systems (though this does not preclude
   the use of unidirectional links.)

   A separate BFD session is created for each communications path and
   data protocol in use between two systems.

   Each system estimates how quickly it can send and receive BFD packets
   in order to come to an agreement with its neighbor about how rapidly
   detection of failure will take place.  These estimates can be
   modified in real time in order to adapt to unusual situations.  This
   design also allows for fast systems on a shared medium with a slow
   system to be able to more rapidly detect failures between the fast
   systems while allowing the slow system to participate to the best of
   its ability.


3.1. Addressing and Session Establishment

   A BFD session is established based on the needs of the application
   that will be making use of it.  It is up to the application to
   determine the need for BFD, and the addresses to use--there is no
   discovery mechanism in BFD.  For example, an OSPF [OSPF]
   implementation may request a BFD session to be established to a
   neighbor discovered using the OSPF Hello protocol.


3.2. Operating Modes

   BFD has two operating modes which may be selected, as well as an
   additional function that can be used in combination with the two
   modes.

   The primary mode is known as Asynchronous mode.  In this mode, the
   systems periodically send BFD Control packets to one another, and if
   a number of those packets in a row are not received by the other
   system, the session is declared to be down.



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   The second mode is known as Demand mode.  In this mode, it is assumed
   that each system has an independent way of verifying that it has
   connectivity to the other system, so once a BFD session is
   established, the systems stop sending BFD Control packets, except
   when either system feels the need to verify connectivity explicitly,
   in which case a short sequence of BFD Control packets is sent, and
   then the protocol quiesces.

   An adjunct to both modes is the Echo function.  When the Echo
   function is active, a stream of BFD Echo packets is transmitted in
   such a way as to have the other system loop them back through its
   forwarding path.  If a number of packets in a row of the echoed data
   stream are not received, the session is declared to be down.  The
   Echo function may be used with either Asynchronous or Demand modes.
   Since the Echo function is handling the task of detection, the rate
   of periodic transmission of Control packets may be reduced (in the
   case of Asynchronous mode) or eliminated completely (in the case of
   Demand mode.)

   Pure asynchronous mode is advantageous in that it requires half as
   many packets to achieve a particular detection time as does the Echo
   function.  It is also used when the Echo function cannot be supported
   for some reason.

   The Echo function has the advantage of truly testing only the
   forwarding path on the remote system, which may reduce round-trip
   jitter and thus allow more aggressive detection times, as well as
   potentially detecting some classes of failure that might not
   otherwise be detected.

   The Echo function may be enabled individually in each direction.  It
   is enabled in a particular direction only when the system that loops
   the Echo packets back signals that it will allow it, and when the
   system that sends the Echo packets decides it wishes to.

   Demand mode is useful in situations where the overhead of a periodic
   protocol might prove onerous, such as a system with a very large
   number of BFD sessions.  It is also useful when the Echo function is
   being used symmetrically.  Demand mode has the disadvantage that
   detection times are essentially driven by the heuristics of the
   system implementation and are not known to the BFD protocol.  Demand
   mode also may not be used when the path round trip time is greater
   than the desired detection time.  See section 6.5 for more details.








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4. BFD Control Packet Format

4.1. Generic BFD Control Packet Format

   BFD Control packets are sent in an encapsulation appropriate to the
   environment, which is outside of the scope of this document.  See the
   appropriate application document for encapsulation details.

   The BFD Control packet has a Mandatory Section and an optional
   Authentication Section.  The format of the Authentication Section, if
   present, is dependent on the type of authentication in use.

   The Mandatory Section of a BFD Control packet has the following
   format:

     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
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |Vers |  Diag   |Sta|P|F|C|A|D|R|  Detect Mult  |    Length     |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                       My Discriminator                        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                      Your Discriminator                       |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                    Desired Min TX Interval                    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                   Required Min RX Interval                    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                 Required Min Echo RX Interval                 |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


   An optional Authentication Section may be present:

     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
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |   Auth Type   |   Auth Len    |    Authentication Data...     |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


   Version (Vers)

      The version number of the protocol.  This document defines
      protocol version 1.






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   Diagnostic (Diag)

      A diagnostic code specifying the local system's reason for the
      last session state change.  Values are:

        0 -- No Diagnostic
        1 -- Control Detection Time Expired
        2 -- Echo Function Failed
        3 -- Neighbor Signaled Session Down
        4 -- Forwarding Plane Reset
        5 -- Path Down
        6 -- Concatenated Path Down
        7 -- Administratively Down
        8 -- Reverse Concatenated Path Down
        9-31 -- Reserved for future use

      This field allows remote systems to determine the reason that the
      previous session failed, for example.


   State (Sta)

      The current BFD session state as seen by the transmitting system.
      Values are:

        0 -- AdminDown
        1 -- Down
        2 -- Init
        3 -- Up


   Poll (P)

      If set, the transmitting system is requesting verification of
      connectivity, or of a parameter change.  If clear, the
      transmitting system is not requesting verification.


   Final (F)

      If set, the transmitting system is responding to a received BFD
      Control packet that had the Poll (P) bit set.  If clear, the
      transmitting system is not responding to a Poll.








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   Control Plane Independent (C)

      If set, the transmitting system's BFD implementation does not
      share fate with its control plane (in other words, BFD is
      implemented in the forwarding plane and can continue to function
      through disruptions in the control plane.)  If clear, the
      transmitting system's BFD implementation shares fate with its
      control plane.

      The use of this bit is application dependent and is outside the
      scope of this specification.  See specific application
      specifications for details.


   Authentication Present (A)

      If set, the Authentication Section is present and the session is
      to be authenticated.


   Demand (D)

      If set, the transmitting system wishes to operate in Demand Mode.
      If clear, the transmitting system does not wish to or is not
      capable of operating in Demand Mode.


   Reserved (R)

      This bit must be zero on transmit, and ignored on receipt.


   Detect Mult

      Detect time multiplier.  The negotiated transmit interval,
      multiplied by this value, provides the detection time for the
      transmitting system in Asynchronous mode.


   Length

      Length of the BFD Control packet, in bytes.


   My Discriminator

      A unique, nonzero discriminator value generated by the
      transmitting system, used to demultiplex multiple BFD sessions



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      between the same pair of systems.


   Your Discriminator

      The discriminator received from the corresponding remote system.
      This field reflects back the received value of My Discriminator,
      or is zero if that value is unknown.


   Desired Min TX Interval

      This is the minimum interval, in microseconds, that the local
      system would like to use when transmitting BFD Control packets.


   Required Min RX Interval

      This is the minimum interval, in microseconds, between received
      BFD Control packets that this system is capable of supporting.


   Required Min Echo RX Interval

      This is the minimum interval, in microseconds, between received
      BFD Echo packets that this system is capable of supporting.  If
      this value is zero, the transmitting system does not support the
      receipt of BFD Echo packets.


   Auth Type

      The authentication type in use, if the Authentication Present (A)
      bit is set.

        0 - Reserved
        1 - Simple Password
        2 - Keyed MD5
        3 - Meticulous Keyed MD5
        4 - Keyed SHA1
        5 - Meticulous Keyed SHA1
        6-255 - Reserved for future use


   Auth Len

      The length, in bytes, of the authentication section, including the
      Auth Type and Auth Len fields.



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4.2. Simple Password Authentication Section Format

   If the Autentication Present (A) bit is set in the header, and the
   Authentication Type field contains 1 (Simple Password), the
   Authentication Section has the following format:


     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
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |   Auth Type   |   Auth Len    |  Auth Key ID  |  Password...  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                              ...                              |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


   Auth Type

      The Authentication Type, which in this case is 1 (Simple
      Password.)


   Auth Len

      The length of the Authentication Section, in bytes.  For Simple
      Password authentication, the length is equal to the password
      length plus three.


   Auth Key ID

      The authentication key ID in use for this packet.  This allows
      multiple keys to be active simultaneously.


   Password

      The simple password in use on this session.  The password MUST be
      from 1 to 16 bytes in length.












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4.3. Keyed MD5 and Meticulous Keyed MD5 Authentication Section Format

   If the Authentication Present (A) bit is set in the header, and the
   Authentication Type field contains 2 (Keyed MD5) or 3 (Meticulous
   Keyed MD5), the Authentication Section has the following format:

     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
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |   Auth Type   |   Auth Len    |  Auth Key ID  |   Reserved    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                        Sequence Number                        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                     Auth Key/Checksum...                      |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                              ...                              |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


   Auth Type

      The Authentication Type, which in this case is 2 (Keyed MD5) or 3
      (Meticulous Keyed MD5).


   Auth Len

      The length of the Authentication Section, in bytes.  For Keyed MD5
      and Meticulous Keyed MD5 authentication, the length is 24.


   Auth Key ID

      The authentication key ID in use for this packet.  This allows
      multiple keys to be active simultaneously.


   Reserved

      This byte must be set to zero on transmit, and ignored on receipt.


   Sequence Number

      The Sequence Number for this packet.  For Keyed MD5
      Authentication, this value is incremented occasionally.  For
      Meticulous Keyed MD5 Authentication, this value is incremented for
      each successive packet transmitted for a session.  This provides



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      protection against replay attacks.


   Auth Key/Checksum

      This field carries the 16 byte MD5 checksum for the packet.  When
      the checksum is calculated, the shared MD5 key is stored in this
      field.  (See section 6.6.3 for details.)


4.4. Keyed SHA1 and Meticulous Keyed SHA1 Authentication Section Format

   If the Authentication Present (A) bit is set in the header, and the
   Authentication Type field contains 4 (Keyed SHA1) or 5 (Meticulous
   Keyed SHA1), the Authentication Section has the following format:

     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
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |   Auth Type   |   Auth Len    |  Auth Key ID  |   Reserved    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                        Sequence Number                        |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                     Auth Key/Checksum...                      |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                              ...                              |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


   Auth Type

      The Authentication Type, which in this case is 4 (Keyed SHA1) or 5
      (Meticulous Keyed SHA1).


   Auth Len

      The length of the Authentication Section, in bytes.  For Keyed
      SHA1 and Meticulous Keyed SHA1 authentication, the length is 28.


   Auth Key ID

      The authentication key ID in use for this packet.  This allows
      multiple keys to be active simultaneously.






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   Reserved

      This byte must be set to zero on transmit, and ignored on receipt.


   Sequence Number

      The Sequence Number for this packet.  For Keyed SHA1
      Authentication, this value is incremented occasionally.  For
      Meticulous Keyed SHA1 Authentication, this value is incremented
      for each successive packet transmitted for a session.  This
      provides protection against replay attacks.


   Auth Key/Checksum

      This field carries the 20 byte SHA1 checksum for the packet.  When
      the checksum is calculated, the shared SHA1 key is stored in this
      field.  (See section 6.6.4 for details.)



5. BFD Echo Packet Format

   BFD Echo packets are sent in an encapsulation appropriate to the
   environment.  See the appropriate application document for the
   specifics of particular environments.

   The payload of a BFD Echo packet is a local matter, since only the
   sending system ever processes the content.  The only requirement is
   that sufficient information is included to demultiplex the received
   packet to the correct BFD session after it is looped back to the
   sender.  The contents are otherwise outside the scope of this
   specification.

















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6. Elements of Procedure

   This section discusses the normative requirements of the protocol in
   order to achieve interoperability.  It is important for implementors
   to enforce only the requirements specified in this section, as
   misguided pedantry has been proven by experience to adversely affect
   interoperability.

   Remember that all references of the form "bfd.Xx" refer to internal
   state variables (defined in section 6.7.1), whereas all references to
   "the Xxx field" refer to fields in the protocol packets themselves
   (defined in section 4).


6.1. Overview

   A system may take either an Active role or a Passive role in session
   initialization.  A system taking the Active role MUST send BFD
   Control packets for a particular session, regardless of whether it
   has received any BFD packets for that session.  A system taking the
   Passive role MUST NOT begin sending BFD packets for a particular
   session until it has received a BFD packet for that session, and thus
   has learned the remote system's discriminator value.  At least one
   system MUST take the Active role (possibly both.)  The role that a
   system takes is specific to the application of BFD, and is outside
   the scope of this specification.

   A session begins with the periodic, slow transmission of BFD Control
   packets.  When bidirectional communication is achieved, the BFD
   session comes up.

   Once the BFD session is Up, a system can choose to start the Echo
   function if it desires to and the other system signals that it will
   allow it.  The rate of transmission of Control packets is typically
   kept low when the Echo function is active.

   If the Echo function is not active, the transmission rate of Control
   packets may be increased to a level necessary to achieve the
   detection time requirements for the session.

   If both systems signal that they want to use Demand mode, the
   transmission of BFD Control packets ceases once the session is Up.
   Other means of implying connectivity are used to keep the session
   alive.  If one of the systems wishes to verify connectivity, it can
   initiate a short exchange (a "Poll Sequence") of BFD Control packets
   to verify this.

   If Demand mode is not active, and no Control packets are received in



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   the calculated detection time (see section 6.7.4), the session is
   declared down, and signalled to the remote end via the State (Sta)
   field in outgoing packets.

   If sufficient Echo packets are lost, the session is declared down in
   the same manner.

   If Demand mode is active and no appropriate Control packets are
   received in response to a Poll Sequence, the session is declared down
   in the same manner.

   If the session goes down, the transmission of Echo packets (if any)
   ceases, and the transmission of Control packets goes back to the slow
   rate.

   Once a session has been declared down, it cannot come back up until
   the remote end first signals that it is down (by leaving the Up
   state), thus implementing a three-way handshake.

   A session may be kept administratively down by entering the AdminDown
   state and sending an explanatory diagnostic code in the Diagnostic
   field.


6.2. BFD State Machine

   The BFD state machine is quite straightforward.  There are three
   states through which a session normally proceeds, two for
   establishing a session (Init and Up) and one for tearing down a
   session (Down.)  This allows a three-way handshake for both session
   establishment and session teardown (assuring that both systems are
   aware of all session state changes.)  A fourth state (AdminDown)
   exists so that a session can be administratively put down
   indefinitely.

   Each system communicates its session state in the State (Sta) field
   in the BFD Control packet, and that received state in combination
   with the local session state drives the state machine.

   Down state means that the session is down (or has just been created.)
   A session remains in Down state until the remote system indicates
   that it agrees that the session is down by sending a BFD Control
   packet with the State field set to anything other than Up.  If that
   packet signals Down state, the session advances to Init state;  if
   that packet signals Init state, the session advances to Up state.

   Init state means that the remote system is communicating, and the
   local system desires to bring the session up, but the remote system



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   does not yet realize it.  A session will remain in Init state until
   either a BFD Control Packet is received that is signalling Init or Up
   state (in which case the session advances to Up state) or until the
   detection time expires, meaning that communication with the remote
   system has been lost (in which case the session advances to Down
   state.)

   Up state means that the BFD session has successfully been
   established, and implies that connectivity between the systems is
   working.  The session will remain in the Up state until either
   connectivity fails, or the session is taken down administratively.
   If either the remote system signals Down state, or the detection time
   expires, the session advances to Down state.

   AdminDown state means that the session is being held administratively
   down.  This causes the remote system to enter Down state, and remain
   there until the local system exits AdminDown state.

   The following diagram provides an overview of the state machine.
   Transitions involving AdminDown state are deleted for clarity (but
   are fully specified in section 6.7.6.)  The notation on each arc
   represents the state of the remote system (as received in the State
   field in the BFD Control packet) or indicates the expiration of the
   Detection Time.


                                  +--+
                                  |  | UP
                                  |  V
                          DOWN  +------+  INIT
                   +------------|      |------------+
                   |            | DOWN |            |
                   |  +-------->|      |<--------+  |
                   |  |         +------+         |  |
                   |  |                          |  |
                   |  |                          |  |
                   |  |                     DOWN,|  |
                   |  |TIMER                TIMER|  |
                   V  |                          |  V
                 +------+                      +------+
            +----|      |                      |      |----+
        DOWN|    | INIT |--------------------->|  UP  |    |INIT, UP
            +--->|      | INIT, UP             |      |<---+
                 +------+                      +------+







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6.3. Demultiplexing and the Discriminator Fields

   Since multiple BFD sessions may be running between two systems, there
   needs to be a mechanism for demultiplexing received BFD packets to
   the proper session.

   Each system MUST choose an opaque discriminator value that identifies
   each session, and which MUST be unique among all BFD sessions on the
   system.  The local discriminator is sent in the My Discriminator
   field in the BFD Control packet, and is echoed back in the Your
   Discriminator field of packets sent from the remote end.

   Once the remote end echoes back the local discriminator, all further
   received packets are demultiplexed based on the Your Discriminator
   field only (which means that, among other things, the source address
   field can change or the interface over which the packets are received
   can change, but the packets will still be associated with the proper
   session.)

   The method of demultiplexing the initial packets (in which Your
   Discriminator is zero) is application-dependent, and is thus outside
   the scope of this specification.

   Note that it is permissible for a system to change its discriminator
   during a session (without affecting the session state), since only
   that system uses its discriminator for demultiplexing purposes (by
   having the other system reflect it back.)  The implications on an
   implementation for changing the discriminator value is outside the
   scope of this specification.


6.4. The Echo Function and Asymmetry

   The Echo function can be run independently in each direction between
   a pair of systems.  For whatever reason, a system may advertise that
   it is willing to receive (and loop back) Echo packets, but may not
   wish to ever send any.  The fact that a system is sending Echo
   packets is not directly signalled to the system looping them back.

   When a system is using the Echo function, it is advantageous to
   choose a sedate transmission rate for Control packets, since liveness
   detection is being handled by the Echo packets.  This can be
   controlled by manipulating the Desired Min TX Interval field (see
   section 6.7.3.)

   If the Echo function is only being run in one direction, the system
   not running the Echo function will more likely wish to send fairly
   rapid Control packets in order to achieve its desired detection time.



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   Since BFD allows independent transmission rates in each direction,
   this is easily accomplished.

   A system SHOULD always advertise the lowest value of Required Min RX
   Interval and Required Min Echo RX Interval that it can under the
   circumstances, to give the other system more freedom in choosing its
   transmission rate.  Note that a system is committing to be able to
   receive both streams of packets at the rate it advertises, so this
   should be taken into account when choosing the values to advertise.


6.5. Demand Mode

   Demand mode is negotiated by virtue of both systems setting the
   Demand (D) bit in its BFD Control packets.  Both systems must request
   Demand mode for it to become active.

   Demand mode requires that some other mechanism is used to imply
   continuing connectivity between the two systems.  The mechanism used
   does not have to be the same in both directions, and is outside of
   the scope of this specification.  One possible mechanism is the
   receipt of traffic from the remote system; another is the use of the
   Echo function.

   Once a BFD session comes up, if Demand mode is active, both systems
   stop sending periodic BFD Control packets, and depend on the
   alternative mechanism for maintaining ongoing connectivity.

   When a system wishes to verify connectivity, it initiates a Poll
   Sequence.  It starts periodically sending BFD Control packets with
   the Poll (P) bit set, at the negotiated transmission rate.  When a
   system receives such a packet, it immediately replies with a BFD
   Control packet of its own, with the Poll (P) bit clear, and the Final
   (F) bit set.  The receipt of a reply to a Poll terminates the Poll
   Sequence.  If no response is received to a Poll, the Poll is repeated
   until the detection time expires, at which point the session is
   declared to be down.

   The detection time in Demand mode is calculated differently than in
   Asynchronous mode;  it is based on the transmit rate of the local
   system, rather than the transmit rate of the remote system.  This
   ensures that the Poll Sequence mechanism works properly.  See section
   6.7.8 for more details.

   Note that this mechanism requires that the detection time negotiated
   is greater than the round trip time between the two systems, or the
   Poll mechanism will always fail.  Enforcement of this requirement is
   outside the scope of this specification.



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   Demand mode MAY be enabled or disabled at any time by setting or
   clearing the Demand (D) bit in the BFD Control packet, without
   affecting the BFD session state.

   Because the underlying detection mechanism is unspecified, and may
   differ between the two systems, the overall detection time
   characteristics of the path will not be fully known to either system.
   The total detection time for a particular system is the sum of the
   time prior to the initiation of the Poll Sequence, plus the
   calculated detection time.


6.6. Authentication

   An optional Authentication Section may be present in the BFD Control
   packet.  In its generic form, the purpose of the Authentication
   Section is to carry all necessary information, based on the
   authentication type in use, to allow the receiving system to
   determine the validity of the received packet.  The exact mechanism
   depends on the authentication type in use, but in general the
   transmitting system will put information in the Authentication
   Section that vouches for the packet's validity, and the receiving
   system will examine the Authentication Section and either accept the
   packet for further processing, or discard it.

   Note that in the subsections below, to "accept" a packet means only
   that the packet has passed authentication;  it may in fact be
   discarded for other reasons as described in the general packet
   reception rules described in section 6.7.6.

   Implementations supporting authentication MUST support SHA1
   authentication.  Other forms of authentication are optional.


6.6.1. Enabling and Disabling Authentication

   It may be desirable to enable or disable authentication on a session
   without disturbing the session state.  The exact mechanism for doing
   so is outside the scope of this specification.  However, it is useful
   to point out some issues in supporting this mechanism.

   In a simple implementation, a BFD session will fail when
   authentication is either turned on or turned off, because the packet
   acceptance rules essentially require the local and remote machines to
   do so in a more or less synchronized fashion (within the detect
   time)--a packet with authentication will only be accepted if
   authentication is "in use" (and likewise packets without
   authentication.



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   One possible approach is to build an implementation such that
   authentication is configured, but not considered "in use" until the
   first packet containing a matching authentication section is received
   (providing the necessary synchronization.)  Likewise, authentication
   could be configured off, but still considered "in use" until the
   receipt of the first packet without the authentication section.

   In order to avoid security risks, implementations using this method
   should only allow the authentication state to be changed once without
   some form of intervention (so that authentication cannot be turned on
   and off repeatedly simply based on the receipt of BFD Control packets
   from remote systems.)


6.6.2. Simple Password Authentication

   The most straightforward (and weakest) form of authentication is
   Simple Password Authentication.  In this method of authentication,
   one or more Passwords (with corresponding Key IDs) are configured in
   each system and one of these Password/ID pairs is carried in each BFD
   Control packet.  The receiving system accepts the packet if the
   Password and Key ID matches one of the Password/ID pairs configured
   in that system.


   Transmission Using Simple Password Authentication

      The currently selected password and Key ID for the session MUST be
      stored in the Authentication Section of each outgoing BFD Control
      packet.  The Auth Type field MUST be set to 1 (Simple Password.)
      The Auth Len field MUST be set to the proper length (4 to 19
      bytes.)


   Reception Using Simple Password Authentication

      If the received BFD Control packet does not contain an
      Authentication Section, or the Auth Type is not 1 (Simple
      Password), then the received packet MUST be discarded.

      If the Auth Key ID field does not match the ID of a configured
      password, the received packet MUST be discarded.

      If the Auth Len field is not equal to the length of the password
      selected by the Key ID, plus three, the packet MUST be discarded.

      If the Password field does not match the password selected by the
      Key ID, the packet MUST be discarded.



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      Otherwise, the packet MUST be accepted.


6.6.3. Keyed MD5 and Meticulous Keyed MD5 Authentication

   The Keyed MD5 and Meticulous Keyed MD5 Authentication mechanisms are
   very similar to those used in other protocols.  In these methods of
   authentication, one or more secret keys (with corresponding Key IDs)
   are configured in each system.  One of the Keys is included in an MD5
   [MD5] checksum calculated over the outgoing BFD Control packet, but
   the Key itself is not carried in the packet.  To help avoid replay
   attacks, a sequence number is also carried in each packet.  For Keyed
   MD5, the sequence number is occasionally incremented.  For Meticulous
   Keyed MD5, the sequence number is incremented on every packet.

   The receiving system accepts the packet if the Key ID matches one of
   the configured Keys, an MD5 checksum including the selected key
   matches that carried in the packet, and if the sequence number is
   greater than or equal to the last sequence number received (for Keyed
   MD5), or strictly greater than the last sequence number received (for
   Meticulous Keyed MD5.)


   Transmission Using Keyed MD5 and Meticulous Keyed MD5 Authentication

      The Auth Type field MUST be set to 2 (Keyed MD5) or 3 (Meticulous
      Keyed MD5.)  The Auth Len field MUST be set to 24.  The Auth Key
      ID field MUST be set to the ID of the current authentication key.
      The Sequence Number field MUST be set to bfd.XmitAuthSeq.

      The current authentication key value MUST be placed into the Auth
      Key/Checksum field.  An MD5 checksum MUST be calculated over the
      entire BFD control packet.  The resulting checksum MUST be stored
      in the Auth Key/Checksum field prior to transmission (replacing
      the secret key, which MUST NOT be carried in the packet.)

      For Keyed MD5, bfd.XmitAuthSeq MAY be incremented in a circular
      fashion (when treated as an unsigned 32 bit value.)
      bfd.XmitAuthSeq SHOULD be incremented when the session state
      changes, or when the transmitted BFD Control packet carries
      different contents than the previously transmitted packet.  The
      decision as to when to increment bfd.XmitAuthSeq is outside the
      scope of this specification.  See the section entitled "Security
      Considerations" below for a discussion.

      For Meticulous Keyed MD5, bfd.XmitAuthSeq MUST be incremented in a
      circular fashion (when treated as an unsigned 32 bit value.)




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   Receipt Using Keyed MD5 and Meticulous Keyed MD5 Authentication

      If the received BFD Control packet does not contain an
      Authentication Section, or the Auth Type is not correct (2 for
      Keyed MD5, or 3 for Meticulous Keyed MD5), then the received
      packet MUST be discarded.

      If the Auth Key ID field does not match the ID of a configured
      authentication key, the received packet MUST be discarded.

      If the Auth Len field is not equal to 24, the packet MUST be
      discarded.

      Replace the contents of the Auth Key/Checksum field with the
      authentication key selected by the received Auth Key ID field.  If
      the MD5 checksum of the entire BFD Control packet is not equal to
      the received value of the Auth Key/Checksum field, the received
      packet MUST be discarded.

      If bfd.AuthSeqKnown is 1, examine the Sequence Number field.  For
      Keyed MD5, if the Sequence Number lies outside of the range of
      bfd.RcvAuthSeq to bfd.RcvAuthSeq+(3*Detect Mult) inclusive (when
      treated as an unsigned 32 bit circular number space), the received
      packet MUST be discarded.  For Meticulous Keyed MD5, if the
      Sequence Number lies outside of the range of bfd.RcvAuthSeq+1 to
      bfd.RcvAuthSeq+(3*Detect Mult) inclusive (when treated as an
      unsigned 32 bit circular number space, the received packet MUST be
      discarded.

      Otherwise (bfd.AuthSeqKnown is 0), bfd.AuthSeqKnown MUST be set to
      1, bfd.RcvAuthSeq MUST be set to the value of the received
      Sequence Number field, and the received packet MUST be accepted.


6.6.4. Keyed SHA1 and Meticulous Keyed SHA1 Authentication

   The Keyed SHA1 and Meticulous Keyed SHA1 Authentication mechanisms
   are very similar to those used in other protocols.  In these methods
   of authentication, one or more secret keys (with corresponding Key
   IDs) are configured in each system.  One of the Keys is included in a
   SHA1 [SHA1] checksum calculated over the outgoing BFD Control packet,
   but the Key itself is not carried in the packet.  To help avoid
   replay attacks, a sequence number is also carried in each packet.
   For Keyed SHA1, the sequence number is occasionally incremented.  For
   Meticulous Keyed SHA1, the sequence number is incremented on every
   packet.

   The receiving system accepts the packet if the Key ID matches one of



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   the configured Keys, a SHA1 checksum including the selected key
   matches that carried in the packet, and if the sequence number is
   greater than or equal to the last sequence number received (for Keyed
   SHA1), or strictly greater than the last sequence number received
   (for Meticulous Keyed SHA1.)


   Transmission Using Keyed SHA1 and Meticulous Keyed SHA1
   Authentication

      The Auth Type field MUST be set to 4 (Keyed SHA1) or 5 (Meticulous
      Keyed SHA1.)  The Auth Len field MUST be set to 28.  The Auth Key
      ID field MUST be set to the ID of the current authentication key.
      The Sequence Number field MUST be set to bfd.XmitAuthSeq.

      The current authentication key value MUST be placed into the Auth
      Key/Checksum field.  A SHA1 checksum MUST be calculated over the
      entire BFD control packet.  The resulting checksum MUST be stored
      in the Auth Key/Checksum field prior to transmission (replacing
      the secret key, which MUST NOT be carried in the packet.)

      For Keyed SHA1, bfd.XmitAuthSeq MAY be incremented in a circular
      fashion (when treated as an unsigned 32 bit value.)
      bfd.XmitAuthSeq SHOULD be incremented when the session state
      changes, or when the transmitted BFD Control packet carries
      different contents than the previously transmitted packet.  The
      decision as to when to increment bfd.XmitAuthSeq is outside the
      scope of this specification.  See the section entitled "Security
      Considerations" below for a discussion.

      For Meticulous Keyed SHA1, bfd.XmitAuthSeq MUST be incremented in
      a circular fashion (when treated as an unsigned 32 bit value.)


   Receipt Using Keyed SHA1 and Meticulous Keyed SHA1 Authentication

      If the received BFD Control packet does not contain an
      Authentication Section, or the Auth Type is not correct (4 for
      Keyed SHA1, or 5 for Meticulous Keyed SHA1), then the received
      packet MUST be discarded.

      If the Auth Key ID field does not match the ID of a configured
      authentication key, the received packet MUST be discarded.

      If the Auth Len field is not equal to 28, the packet MUST be
      discarded.

      Replace the contents of the Auth Key/Checksum field with the



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      authentication key selected by the received Auth Key ID field.  If
      the SHA1 checksum of the entire BFD Control packet is not equal to
      the received value of the Auth Key/Checksum field, the received
      packet MUST be discarded.

      If bfd.AuthSeqKnown is 1, examine the Sequence Number field.  For
      Keyed SHA1, if the Sequence Number lies outside of the range of
      bfd.RcvAuthSeq to bfd.RcvAuthSeq+(3*Detect Mult) inclusive (when
      treated as an unsigned 32 bit circular number space), the received
      packet MUST be discarded.  For Meticulous Keyed SHA1, if the
      Sequence Number lies outside of the range of bfd.RcvAuthSeq+1 to
      bfd.RcvAuthSeq+(3*Detect Mult) inclusive (when treated as an
      unsigned 32 bit circular number space, the received packet MUST be
      discarded.

      Otherwise (bfd.AuthSeqKnown is 0), bfd.AuthSeqKnown MUST be set to
      1, bfd.RcvAuthSeq MUST be set to the value of the received
      Sequence Number field, and the received packet MUST be accepted.


6.7. Functional Specifics

   The following section of this specification is normative.  The means
   by which this specification is achieved is outside the scope of this
   specification.

   When a system is said to have "the Echo function active," it means
   that the system is sending BFD Echo packets, implying that the
   session is Up and the other system has signalled its willingness to
   loop back Echo packets.

   When a system is said to have "Demand mode active," it means that
   bfd.DemandModeDesired is 1 in the local system (see State Variables
   below), the remote system is signalling with the Demand (D) bit set,
   and that the session is Up.


6.7.1. State Variables

   A minimum amount of information about a session needs to be tracked
   in order to achieve the elements of procedure described here.  The
   following is a set of state variables that are helpful in describing
   the mechanisms of BFD.  Any means of tracking this state may be used
   so long as the protocol behaves as described.

   When the text refers to initializing a state variable, this takes
   place only at the time that the session (and the corresponding state
   variables) is created.  The state variables are subsequently



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   manipulated by the state machine and are never reinitialized, even if
   the session fails and is reestablished.

   All state variables in this specification are of the form "bfd.Xx"
   and should not be confused with fields carried in the protocol
   packets, which are always spelled out to match the names in section
   4.


      bfd.SessionState

         The perceived state of the session (Init, Up, Down, or
         AdminDown.)  The exact action taken when the session state
         changes is outside the scope of this specification, though it
         is expected that this state change (particularly to and from Up
         state) is reported to other components of the system.  This
         variable MUST be initialized to Down.


      bfd.LocalDiscr

         The local discriminator for this BFD session, used to uniquely
         identify it.  It MUST be unique across all BFD sessions on this
         system, and nonzero.  It SHOULD be set to a random (but still
         unique) value to improve security.  The value is otherwise
         outside the scope of this specification.


      bfd.RemoteDiscr

         The remote discriminator for this BFD session.  This is the
         discriminator chosen by the remote system, and is totally
         opaque to the local system.  This MUST be initialized to zero.


      bfd.LocalDiag

         The diagnostic code specifying the reason for the most recent
         local session state chage.  This MUST be initialized to zero
         (No Diagnostic.)


      bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval

         The minimum interval, in microseconds, between transmitted BFD
         Control packets that this system would like to use at the
         current time.  The actual interval is negotiated between the
         two systems.  This MUST be initialized to a value of at least



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         one second (1,000,000 microseconds) according to the rules
         described in section 6.7.3.  The setting of this variable is
         otherwise outside the scope of this specification.


      bfd.RequiredMinRxInterval

         The minimum interval, in microseconds, between received BFD
         Control packets that this system requires.  The setting of this
         variable is outside the scope of this specification.


      bfd.DemandModeDesired

         Set to 1 if the local system wishes to use Demand mode, or 0 if
         not.


      bfd.DetectMult

         The desired detect time multiplier for BFD Control packets.
         The negotiated Control packet transmission interval, multiplied
         by this variable, will be the detection time for this session
         (as seen by the remote system.)  This variable MUST be a
         nonzero integer, and is otherwise outside the scope of this
         specification.  See section 6.7.4 for further information.


      bfd.AuthType

         The authentication type in use for this session, as defined in
         section 4.1, or zero if no authentication is in use.


      bfd.RcvAuthSeq

         A 32 bit unsigned integer containing the next sequence number
         for keyed MD5 or SHA1 authentication expected to be received.
         The initial value is unimportant.


      bfd.XmitAuthSeq

         A 32 bit unsigned integer containing the next sequence number
         for keyed MD5 or SHA1 authentication to be transmitted.  This
         variable MUST be initialized to a random 32 bit value.





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      bfd.AuthSeqKnown

         Set to 1 if the next sequence number for keyed MD5 or SHA1
         authentication expected to be received is known, or 0 if it is
         not known.  This variable MUST be initialized to zero.

         This variable MUST be set to zero after no packets have been
         received on this session for at least twice the Detection Time.
         This ensures that the sequence number can be resynchronized if
         the remote system restarts.


6.7.2. Timer Negotiation

   The time values used to determine BFD packet transmission intervals
   and the session detection time are continuously negotiated, and thus
   may be changed at any time.  The negotiation and time values are
   independent in each direction for each session.  Packets are always
   periodically transmitted in Asynchronous mode, and are periodically
   transmitted during Poll Sequences when in Demand mode.

   Each system reports in the BFD Control packet how rapidly it would
   like to transmit BFD packets, as well as how rapidly it is prepared
   to receive them.  With the exceptions listed in the remainder of this
   section, a system MUST NOT transmit BFD Control packets with an
   interval less than the larger of bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval and the
   received Required Min RX Interval field.  In other words, the system
   reporting the slower rate determines the transmission rate.

   The periodic transmission of BFD Control packets SHOULD be jittered
   by up to 25%, that is, the interval SHOULD be reduced by a random
   value of 0 to 25%, in order to avoid self-synchronization.  Thus, the
   average interval between packets may be up to 12.5% less than that
   negotiated.

   If bfd.DetectMult is equal to 1, the interval between transmitted BFD
   Control packets MUST be no more than 90% of the negotiated
   transmission interval, and MUST be no less than 75% of the negotiated
   transmission interval.  This is to ensure that, on the remote system,
   the calculated DetectTime does not pass prior to the receipt of the
   next BFD Control packet.

   A BFD Control packet SHOULD be transmitted during the interval
   between periodic Control packet transmissions when the contents of
   that packet would differ from that in the previously transmitted
   packet (other than the Poll and Final bits) in order to more rapidly
   communicate a change in state.




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   If a BFD Control packet is received with the Poll (P) bit set to 1,
   the receiving system MUST transmit a BFD Control packet with the Poll
   (P) bit clear and the Final (F) bit set as soon as practicable,
   without respect to the transmission timer or any other transmission
   limitations, without respect to the session state, and without
   respect to whether Demand mode is active.


6.7.3. Timer Manipulation

   The time values used to determine BFD packet transmission intervals
   and the session detection time may be modified at any time without
   affecting the state of the session.  When the timer parameters are
   changed for any reason, the requirements of this section apply.

   If Demand mode is active, and either bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval is
   changed or bfd.RequiredMinRxInterval is changed, a Poll Sequence MUST
   be initiated (see section 6.7.8).

   If Demand mode is not active, bfd.SessionState is Up, and either
   bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval is changed or bfd.RequiredMinRxInterval is
   changed, all subsequent transmitted Control packets MUST be sent with
   the Poll (P) bit set until a packet is received with the Final (F)
   bit set (except for those packets sent in response to received
   Polls.)

   If bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval is increased and bfd.SessionState is Up,
   the actual transmission interval used MUST NOT change until a Control
   packet is received with the Final (F) bit set.  This is to ensure
   that the remote system updates its Detect Time before the
   transmission interval increases.

   If bfd.RequiredMinRxInterval is reduced and bfd.SessionState is Up,
   the calculated detection time for the remote system MUST NOT change
   until a Control packet is received with the Final (F) bit set.  This
   is to ensure that the remote system is transmitting packets at the
   higher rate (and those packets are being received) prior to the
   detection time being reduced.

   When bfd.SessionState is not Up, the system MUST set
   bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval to a value of not less than one second
   (1,000,000 microseconds.)  This is intended to ensure that the
   bandwidth consumed by BFD sessions that are not Up is negligible,
   particularly in the case where a neighbor may not be running BFD.

   When the Echo function is active, a system SHOULD set
   bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval to a value of not less than one second
   (1,000,000 microseconds.)  This is intended to keep BFD Control



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   traffic at a negligible level, since the actual detection function is
   being performed using BFD Echo packets.


6.7.4. Calculating the Detection Time

   The Detection Time (the period of time without receiving BFD packets
   after which the session is determined to have failed) is not carried
   explicitly in the protocol.  Rather, it is calculated independently
   in each direction by the receiving system based on the negotiated
   transmit interval and the detection multiplier.  Note that, in
   Asynchronous mode, there may be different detection times in each
   direction.

   The calculation of the Detection Time is slightly different when in
   Demand mode versus Asynchronous mode.

   In Asynchronous mode, the Detection Time calculated in the local
   system is equal to the value of Detect Mult received from the remote
   system, multiplied by the agreed transmit interval of the remote
   system (the greater of bfd.RequiredMinRxInterval and the last
   received Desired Min TX Interval.)  The Detect Mult value is (roughly
   speaking, due to jitter) the number of packets that have to be missed
   in a row to declare the session to be down.

   If Demand mode is not active, and a period of time equal to the
   Detection Time passes without receiving a BFD Control packet from the
   remote system, and bfd.SessionState is Init or Up, the session has
   gone down--the local system MUST set bfd.SessionState to Down and
   bfd.LocalDiag to 1 (Control Detection Time Expired.)

   In Demand mode, the Detection Time calculated in the local system is
   equal to bfd.DetectMult, multiplied by the agreed transmit interval
   of the local system (the greater of bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval and the
   last received Required Min RX Interval.)  bfd.DetectMult is (roughly
   speaking, due to jitter) the number of packets that have to be missed
   in a row to declare the session to be down.

   If Demand mode is active, and a period of time equal to the Detection
   Time passes after the initiation of a Poll Sequence (the transmission
   of the first BFD Control packet with the Poll bit set), the session
   has gone down--the local system MUST set bfd.SessionState to Down,
   and bfd.LocalDiag to 1 (Control Detection Time Expired.)

   (Note that a packet is considered to have been received, for the
   purposes of Detection Time expiration, only if it has not been
   "discarded" according to the rules of section 6.7.6.)




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6.7.5. Detecting Failures with the Echo Function

   When the Echo function is active and a sufficient number of Echo
   packets have not arrived as they should, the session has gone
   down--the local system MUST set bfd.SessionState to Down, and
   bfd.LocalDiag to 2 (Echo Function Failed.)

   The means by which the Echo function failures are detected is outside
   of the scope of this specification.  Any means which will detect a
   communication failure is acceptable.


6.7.6. Reception of BFD Control Packets

   When a BFD Control packet is received, the following procedure MUST
   be followed, in the order specified.  If the packet is discarded
   according to these rules, processing of the packet MUST cease at that
   point.

      If the version number is not correct (1), the packet MUST be
      discarded.

      If the Length field is less than the minimum correct value (24 if
      the A bit is clear, or 26 if the A bit is set), the packet MUST be
      discarded.

      If the Length field is greater than the payload of the
      encapsulating protocol, the packet MUST be discarded.

      If the Detect Mult field is zero, the packet MUST be discarded.

      If the My Discriminator field is zero, the packet MUST be
      discarded.

      If the Your Discriminator field is nonzero, it MUST be used to
      select the session with which this BFD packet is associated.  If
      no session is found, the packet MUST be discarded.

      If the Your Discriminator field is zero and the State field is not
      Down or AdminDown, the packet MUST be discarded.

      If the Your Discriminator field is zero, the session MUST be
      selected based on some combination of other fields, possibly
      including source addressing information, the My Discriminator
      field, and the interface over which the packet was received.  The
      exact method of selection is application-specific and is thus
      outside the scope of this specification.  If a matching session is
      not found, a new session may be created, or the packet may be



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      discarded.  This choice is outside the scope of this
      specification.

      If the A bit is set and no authentication is in use (bfd.AuthType
      is zero), the packet MUST be discarded.

      If the A bit is clear and authentication is in use (bfd.AuthType
      is nonzero), the packet MUST be discarded.

      If the A bit is set, the packet MUST be authenticated under the
      rules of section 6.6, based on the authentication type in use
      (bfd.AuthType.)  This may cause the packet to be discarded.

      Set bfd.RemoteDiscr to the value of My Discriminator.

      If the Required Min Echo RX Interval field is zero, the
      transmission of Echo packets, if any, MUST cease.

      If Demand mode is active, a Poll Sequence is being transmitted by
      the local system, and the Final (F) bit in the received packet is
      set, the Poll Sequence MUST be terminated.

      If Demand mode is not active, the Final (F) bit in the received
      packet is set, and the local system has been transmitting packets
      with the Poll (P) bit set, the Poll (P) bit MUST be set to zero in
      subsequent transmitted packets.

      Update the Detection Time as described in section 6.7.4.

      Update the transmit interval as described in section 6.7.2.

      If bfd.SessionState is AdminDown
          Discard the packet

      If received state is AdminDown
          If bfd.SessionState is not Down
              Set bfd.LocalDiag to 3 (Neighbor signaled session down)
              Set bfd.SessionState to Down

      Else

          If bfd.SessionState is Down
              If received State is Down
                  Set bfd.SessionState to Init
              Else if received State is Init
                  Set bfd.SessionState to Up

          Else if bfd.SessionState is Init



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              If received State is Init or Up
                  Set bfd.SessionState to Up

          Else (bfd.SessionState is Up)
              If received State is Down
                  Set bfd.LocalDiag to 3 (Neighbor signaled session
                                          down)
                  Set bfd.SessionState to Down

      If the Demand (D) bit is set and bfd.DemandModeDesired is 1,
      and bfd.SessionState is Up, Demand mode is active.

      If the Demand (D) bit is clear or bfd.DemandModeDesired is 0,
      or bfd.SessionState is not Up, Demand mode is not
      active.

      If the Poll (P) bit is set, send a BFD Control packet to the
      remote system with the Poll (P) bit clear, and the Final (F) bit
      set.

      If the packet was not discarded, it has been received for purposes
      of the Detection Time expiration rules in section 6.7.4.


6.7.7. Transmitting BFD Control Packets

   BFD Control packets MUST be transmitted periodically at the rate
   determined according to section 6.7.2, except as specified in this
   section.

   The transmit interval MUST be recalculated whenever
   bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval changes, or whenever the received Required
   Min RX Interval changes, and is equal to the greater of those two
   values.  See sections 6.7.2 and 6.7.3 for details on transmit timers.

   A system MUST NOT transmit BFD Control packets if bfd.RemoteDiscr is
   zero and the system is taking the Passive role.

   A system MUST NOT periodically transmit BFD Control packets if Demand
   mode is active and a Poll Sequence is not being transmitted.

   A system MUST send a BFD Control packet in response to a received BFD
   Control Packet with the Poll (P) bit set, regardless of the BFD
   session state.  The packet sent in response MUST NOT have the Poll
   (P) bit set, and MUST have the Final (F) bit set.  A system MAY limit
   the rate at which such packets are transmitted.  If rate limiting is
   in effect, the advertised value of Desired Min TX Interval must be
   greater than or equal to the interval between transmitted packets



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   imposed by the rate limiting function.

   A BFD Control packet SHOULD be transmitted between normally scheduled
   transmissions when the contents of that packet would differ from
   those in the previously transmitted packet (other than the Poll and
   Final bits) in order to more rapidly communicate a change in state.

   The contents of transmitted BFD Control packets MUST be set as
   follows:

   Version

      Set to the current version number (1).


   Diagnostic (Diag)

      Set to bfd.LocalDiag.


   State (Sta)

      Set to the value indicated by bfd.SessionState.


   Poll (P)

      Set to 1 if the local system is sending a Poll Sequence or is
      required to do so according to the requirements of section 6.7.3,
      or 0 if not.


   Final (F)

      Set to 1 if the local system is responding to a Control packet
      received with the Poll (P) bit set, or 0 if not.


   Control Plane Independent (C)

      Set to 1 if the local system's BFD implementation is independent
      of the control plane (it can continue to function through a
      disruption of the control plane.)








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   Authentication Present (A)

      Set to 1 if authentication is in use on this session (bfd.AuthType
      is nonzero), or 0 if not.


   Demand (D)

      Set to bfd.DemandModeDesired.


   Reserved (R)

      Set to 0.


   Detect Mult

      Set to bfd.DetectMult.


   Length

      Set to the appropriate length, based on the fixed header length
      (24) plus any Authentication Section.


   My Discriminator

      Set to bfd.LocalDiscr.


   Your Discriminator

      Set to bfd.RemoteDiscr.


   Desired Min TX Interval

      Set to bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval.


   Required Min RX Interval

      Set to bfd.RequiredMinRxInterval.






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   Required Min Echo RX Interval

      Set to the minimum required Echo packet receive interval for this
      session.  If this field is set to zero, the local system is
      unwilling or unable to loop back BFD Echo packets to the remote
      system, and the remote system will not send Echo packets.


   Authentication Section

      Included and set according to the rules in section 6.6 if
      authentication is in use (bfd.AuthType is nonzero.)  Otherwise
      this section is not present.


6.7.8. Initiation of a Poll Sequence

   If Demand mode is active, a Poll Sequence MUST be initiated whenever
   the contents of the next BFD Control packet to be sent would be
   different than the contents of the previous packet, with the
   exception of the Poll (P) and Final (F) bits.  This ensures that
   parameter changes are transmitted to the remote system.

   If Demand mode is active, a Poll Sequence SHOULD be initiated
   whenever the system feels the need to verify connectivity with the
   remote system.  The conditions under which this is desirable are
   outside the scope of this specification.

   If a Poll Sequence is being sent, and a new Poll Sequence is
   initiated due to one of the above conditions, the detection interval
   MUST be restarted in order to ensure that a full Poll Sequence is
   transmitted under the new conditions.


6.7.9. Reception of BFD Echo Packets

   A received BFD Echo packet MUST be demultiplexed to the appropriate
   session for processing.  A means of detecting missing Echo packets
   MUST be implemented, which most likely involves processing of the
   Echo packets that are received.  The processing of received Echo
   packets is otherwise outside the scope of this specification.










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6.7.10. Transmission of BFD Echo Packets

   BFD Echo packets MUST NOT be transmitted when bfd.SessionState is not
   Up.  BFD Echo packets MUST NOT be transmitted unless the last BFD
   Control packet received from the remote system contains a nonzero
   value in Required Min Echo RX Interval.

   BFD Echo packets MAY be transmitted when bfd.SessionState is Up.  The
   interval between transmitted BFD Echo packets MUST NOT be less than
   the value advertised by the remote system in Required Min Echo RX
   Interval, except as follows:

      A 25% jitter MAY be applied to the rate of transmission, such that
      the actual interval MAY be between 75% and 100% of the advertised
      value.  A single BFD Echo packet MAY be transmitted between
      normally scheduled Echo transmission intervals.

   The transmission of BFD Echo packets is otherwise outside the scope
   of this specification.


6.7.11. Min Rx Interval Change

   When it is desired to change the rate at which BFD Control packets
   arrive from the remote system, bfd.RequiredMinRxInterval can be
   changed at any time to any value.  The new value will be transmitted
   in the next outgoing Control packet, and the remote system will
   adjust accordingly.  See sections 6.7.3 and 6.7.8 for further
   requirements.


6.7.12. Min Tx Interval Change

   When it is desired to change the rate at which BFD Control packets
   are transmitted to the remote system (subject to the requirements of
   the neighboring system), bfd.DesiredMinTxInterval can be changed at
   any time to any value.  The rules in sections 6.7.3 and 6.7.8 apply.


6.7.13. Detect Multiplier Change

   When it is desired to change the detect multiplier, the value of
   bfd.DetectMult can be changed to any nonzero value.  The new value
   will be transmitted with the next BFD Control packet.  See section
   6.7.8 for additional requirements.






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6.7.14. Enabling or Disabling The Echo Function

   If it is desired to start or stop the transmission of BFD Echo
   packets, this MAY be done at any time (subject to the transmission
   requirements detailed in section 6.7.10.)

   If it is desired to enable or disable the looping back of received
   BFD Echo packets, this MAY be done at any time by changing the value
   of Required Min RX Interval to zero or nonzero in outgoing BFD
   Control packets.


6.7.15. Enabling or Disabling Demand Mode

   If it is desired to start or stop Demand mode, this MAY be done at
   any time by setting bfd.DemandModeDesired to the proper value.  If
   Demand mode is no longer active, the system MUST begin transmitting
   periodic BFD Control packets as described in section 6.7.7.


6.7.16. Forwarding Plane Reset

   When the forwarding plane in the local system is reset for some
   reason, such that the remote system can no longer rely on the local
   forwarding state, the local system MUST set bfd.LocalDiag to 4
   (Forwarding Plane Reset), and set bfd.SessionState to Down.


6.7.17. Administrative Control

   There may be circumstances where it is desirable to administratively
   enable or disable a BFD session.  When this is desired, the following
   procedure MUST be followed:

      If enabling session
         Set bfd.SessionState to Down

      Else
         Set bfd.SessionState to AdminDown
         Set bfd.LocalDiag to an appropriate value
         Cease the transmission of BFD Echo packets

      If signalling is received from outside BFD that the underlying
      path has failed, an implementation MAY adminstratively disable
      the session with the diagnostic Path Down.

      Other scenarios MAY use the diagnostic Administratively Down.




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6.7.18. Concatenated Paths

   If the path being monitored by BFD is concatenated with other paths,
   it may be desirable to propagate the indication of a failure of one
   of those paths across the BFD session (providing an interworking
   function for liveness monitoring between BFD and other technologies.)

   Two diagnostic codes are defined for this purpose:  Concatenated Path
   Down and Reverse Concatenated Path Down.  The first propagates
   forward path failures (in which the concatenated path fails in the
   direction toward the interworking system), and the second propagates
   reverse path failures (in which the concatenated path fails in the
   direction away from the interworking system, assuming a bidirectional
   link.)

   A system MAY signal one of these failure states by simply setting
   bfd.LocalDiag to the appropriate diagnostic code.  Note that the BFD
   session is not taken down.  If Demand Mode is not active, no other
   action is necessary, as the diagnostic code will be carried via the
   periodic transmission of BFD Control packets.  If Demand Mode is
   active, a Poll Sequence MUST be initiated to ensure that the
   diagnostic code is transmitted.  Note that if the BFD session
   subsequently fails, the diagnostic code will be overwritten with a
   code detailing the cause of the failure.  It is up to the
   interworking agent to perform the above procedure again, once the BFD
   session reaches Up state, if the propagation of the concatenated path
   failure is to resume.



Backward Compatibility (Non-Normative)

   Although Version 0 of this document is unlikely to have been deployed
   widely, some implementors may wish to have a backward compatibility
   mechanism.  Note that any mechanism may be potentially used that does
   not alter the protocol definition, so interoperability should not be
   an issue.

   The suggested mechanism described here has the property that it will
   converge on version 1 if both systems implement it, even if one
   system is upgraded from version 0 within a detection time.  It will
   interoperate with a system that implements only one version (or is
   configured to support only one version.)  A system should obviously
   not perform this function if it is configured to or is only capable
   of using a single version.

   A BFD session will enter a "negotiation holddown" if it is configured
   for automatic versioning and either has just started up, or the



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   session has been manually cleared.  The session is set to AdminDown
   state and Version 1.  During the holddown period, which lasts for one
   detection time, the system sends BFD Control packets as usual, but
   ignores received packets.  After the holddown time is complete, the
   state transitions to Down and normal operation resumes.

   When a system is not in holddown, if it doing automatic versioning
   and is currently using Version 1, if any Version 0 packet is received
   for the session, it switches immediately to Version 0.  If it is
   currently using Version 0 and a Version 1 packet is received that
   indicates that the neighbor is in state AdminDown, it switches to
   Version 1.  If using Version 0 and a Version 1 packet is received
   indicating a state other than AdminDown, the packet is ignored (per
   spec.)

   If the version being used is changed, the session goes down as
   appropriate for the new version (Down state for Version 1 or Failing
   state for Version 0.)



Contributors

   Kireeti Kompella and Yakov Rekhter of Juniper Networks were also
   significant contributors to this document.



Acknowledgments

   This document was inspired by (and is intended to replace) the
   Protocol Liveness Protocol draft, written by Kireeti Kompella.

   Demand Mode was inspired by draft-ietf-ipsec-dpd-03.txt, by G. Huang
   et al.

   The authors would also like to thank Mike Shand, John Scudder,
   Stewart Bryant, Pekka Savola, and Richard Spencer for their
   substantive input.












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Security Considerations

   As BFD may be tied into the stability of the network infrastructure
   (such as routing protocols), the effects of an attack on a BFD
   session may be very serious.  This ultimately has denial-of-service
   effects, as links may be declared to be down (or falsely declared to
   be up.)

   When BFD is run over network layer protocols, a significant denial-
   of-service risk is created, as BFD packets may be trivial to spoof.
   When the session is directly connected across a single link
   (physical, or a secure tunnel such as IPsec), the TTL or Hop Count
   MUST be set to the maximum on transmit, and checked to be equal to
   the maximum value on reception (and the packet dropped if this is not
   the case.)  See [GTSM] for more information on this technique.  If
   BFD is run across multiple hops or an insecure tunnel (such as GRE),
   the Authentication Section SHOULD be utilized.

   The level of security provided by the Authentication Section varies
   based on the authentication type used.  Simple Password
   authentication is obviously only as secure as the secrecy of the
   passwords used, and should be considered only if the BFD session is
   guaranteed to be run over an infrastructure not subject to packet
   interception.  Its chief advantage is that it minimizes the
   computational effort required for authentication.

   Keyed MD5 authentication is much stronger than Simple Password
   authentication since the keys cannot be discerned by intercepting
   packets.  It is vulnerable to replay attacks in between increments of
   the sequence number.  The sequence number can be incremented as
   seldom (or as often) as desired, trading off resistance to replay
   attacks with the computational effort required for authentication.

   Meticulous Keyed MD5 authentication is stronger yet, as it requires
   the sequence number to be incremented for every packet.  Replay
   attack vulnerability is reduced due to the requirement that the
   sequence number must be incremented on every packet, the window size
   of acceptable packets is small, and the initial sequence number is
   randomized.  There is still a window of attack at the beginning of
   the session while the sequence number is being determined.  This
   authentication scheme requires an MD5 calculation on every packet
   transmitted and received.

   Using SHA1 rather than MD5 is believed to have stronger security
   properties.  All comments about MD5 in this section also apply to
   SHA1.

   If both systems randomize their Local Discriminator values at the



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   beginning of a session, replay attacks may be further mitigated,
   regardless of the authentication type in use.  Since the Local
   Discriminator may be changed at any time during a session, this
   mechanism may also help mitigate attacks.



IANA Considerations

   This document has no actions for IANA.



Normative References

   [GTSM] Gill, V., et al, "The Generalized TTL Security Mechanism
       (GTSM)", RFC 3682, February 2004.

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

   [MD5] Rivest, R., "The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm", RFC 1321, April
       1992.

   [OSPF] Moy, J., "OSPF Version 2", RFC 2328, April 1998.

   [SHA1] "Secure Hash Standard", United States of America, National
       Institute of Science and Technology, Federal Information
       Processing Standard (FIPS) 180-1, April 1993.




Authors' Addresses

    Dave Katz
    Juniper Networks
    1194 N. Mathilda Ave.
    Sunnyvale, California 94089-1206 USA
    Phone: +1-408-745-2000
    Email: dkatz@juniper.net

    Dave Ward
    Cisco Systems
    170 W. Tasman Dr.
    San Jose, CA 95134 USA
    Phone: +1-408-526-4000
    Email: dward@cisco.com



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Changes from the previous draft

   The primary technical change was the addition of a suggested (non-
   normative) backward compatibility mechanism with version 0 of BFD.  A
   minor tweak to the state machine to more explicitly spell out the
   action to be taken in AdminDown state was done.

   Otherwise, the changes in this draft from the previous version are
   cosmetic and/or editorial.



IPR Notice

   The IETF has been notified of intellectual property rights claimed in
   regard to some or all of the specification contained in this
   document. For more information consult the online list of claimed
   rights.

   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
   made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  Information
   on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
   found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
   this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-
   ipr@ietf.org.











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Full Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
   contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
   retain all their rights.

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
   INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
   INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.


Acknowledgement

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


   This document expires in January, 2006.



























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