GSMP Working Group Tom Worster, Ennovate Networks
INTERNET DRAFT Avri Doria, Nortel Networks
Standards Track Expires January 2001
July 2000
GSMP Packet Encapsulations for ATM, Ethernet and TCP
<draft-ietf-gsmp-encaps-02.txt>
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
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Abstract
This memo specifies the encapsulation of GSMP packets in ATM,
Ethernet and TCP.
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1. Introduction
GSMP packets are defined in [1] and may be encapsulated in several
different protocols for transport. This memo specifies their
encapsulation in ATM AAL-5, in Ethernet or in TCP. Other
encapsulations may be defined in future version of this document
or in other documents.
2. ATM Encapsulation
GSMP packets are variable length and for an ATM data link layer
they are encapsulated directly in an AAL-5 CPCS-PDU [3] with an
LLC/SNAP header as illustrated:
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
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| LLC (0xAA-AA-03) | |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
| SNAP (0x00-00-00-88-0C) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
~ GSMP Message ~
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Pad (0 - 47 octets) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
+ AAL-5 CPCS-PDU Trailer (8 octets) +
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
(The convention in the documentation of Internet Protocols Error!
Reference source not found. is to express numbers in decimal.
Numbers in hexadecimal format are specified by prefacing them with
the characters "0x". Numbers in binary format are specified by
prefacing them with the characters "0b". Data is pictured in "big-
endian" order. That is, fields are described left to right, with
the most significant octet on the left and the least significant
octet on the right. Whenever a diagram shows a group of octets,
the order of transmission of those octets is the normal order in
which they are read in English. Whenever an octet represents a
numeric quantity the left most bit in the diagram is the high
order or most significant bit. That is, the bit labelled 0 is the
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most significant bit. Similarly, whenever a multi-octet field
represents a numeric quantity the left most bit of the whole field
is the most significant bit. When a multi-octet quantity is
transmitted, the most significant octet is transmitted first. This
is the same coding convention as is used in the ATM layer [1] and
AAL-5 [3].)
The LLC/SNAP header contains the octets: 0xAA 0xAA 0x03 0x00 0x00
0x00 0x88 0x0C. (0x880C is the assigned Ethertype for GSMP.)
The maximum transmission unit (MTU) of the GSMP Message field is
1492 octets.
The virtual channel over which a GSMP session is established
between a controller and the switch it is controlling is called
the GSMP control channel. The default VPI and VCI of the GSMP
control channel for LLC/SNAP encapsulated GSMP messages on an ATM
data link layer is:
VPI = 0
VCI = 15.
3. Ethernet Encapsulation
GSMP packets may be encapsulated on an Ethernet data link as
illustrated:
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0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Destination Address |
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| | |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ |
| Source Address |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Ethertype (0x88-0C) | |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ |
| |
~ GSMP Message ~
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Sender Instance |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Receiver Instance |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Pad |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Frame Check Sequence |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Destination Address
For the SYN message of the adjacency protocol the
Destination Address is the broadcast address
0xFFFFFFFFFFFF. (Alternatively, it is also valid to
configure the node with the unicast 48-bit IEEE MAC
address of the destination. In this case the configured
unicast Destination Address is used in the SYN message.)
For all other messages the Destination Address is the
unicast 48- bit IEEE MAC address of the destination.
This address may be discovered from the Source Address
field of messages received during synchronisation of the
adjacency protocol.
Source Address
For all messages the Source Address is the 48-bit IEEE
MAC address of the sender.
Ethertype
The assigned Ethertype for GSMP is 0x880C.
GSMP Message
The maximum transmission unit (MTU) of the GSMP Message
field is 1492 octets.
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Sender Instance
The Sender Instance number for the link obtained from
the adjacency protocol. This field is already present in
the adjacency protocol message. It is appended to all
non- adjacency GSMP messages in the Ethernet
encapsulation to offer additional protection against the
introduction of corrupt state.
Receiver Instance
The Receiver Instance number is what the sender believes
is the current instance number for the link, allocated
by the entity at the far end of the link. This field is
already present in the adjacency protocol message. It is
appended to all non-adjacency GSMP messages in the
Ethernet encapsulation to offer additional protection
against the introduction of corrupt state.
Pad
The minimum length of the data field of an Ethernet
packet is 46 octets. If necessary, padding should be
added such that it meets the minimum Ethernet frame
size. This padding should be octets of zero and it is
not considered to be part of the GSMP message.
After the adjacency protocol has achieved synchronisation, for
every GSMP message received with an Ethernet encapsulation, the
receiver must check the Source Address from the Ethernet MAC
header, the Sender Instance, and the Receiver Instance. The
incoming GSMP message must be discarded if the Sender Instance and
the Source Address do not match the values of Sender Instance and
Sender Name stored by the "Update Peer Verifier" operation of the
GSMP adjacency protocol. The incoming GSMP message must also be
discarded if it arrives over any port other than the port over
which the adjacency protocol has achieved synchronisation. In
addition, the incoming message must also be discarded if the
Receiver Instance field does not match the current value for the
Sender Instance of the GSMP adjacency protocol.
4. TCP/IP Encapsulation
GSMP messages may be transported over an IP network using the TCP
encapsulation. TCP provides reliable transport, network flow
control, and end-system flow control suitable for networks that
may have high loss and variable or unpredictable delay. The GSMP
encapsulation in TCP/IP also provides sender authentication using
an MD5 digest.
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For TCP encapsulations of GSMP messages, the controller runs the
client code and the switch runs the server code. Upon
initialisation, the server is listening on GSMP's TCCP port
number: 6068. The controller establishes a TCP connection with
each switch it manages. Adjacency protocol messages, which are
used to synchronise the controller and switch and maintain
handshakes, are sent by the controller to the switch after the TCP
connection is established. GSMP messages other than adjacency
protocol messages may be sent only after the adjacency protocol
has achieved synchronisation.
4.1 Message Formats
GSMP messages are sent over a TCP connection. A GSMP message is
processed only after it is entirely received. A four-byte TLV
header field is prepended to the GSMP message to provide
delineation of GSMP messages within the TCP stream.
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
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Type (0x60-68) | Length |
|-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
~ GSMP Message ~
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Type
This 2-octet field indicates the type code of the
following message. The type code for GSMP messages is
0x00-0C (i.e. the same as GSMP's Ethertype).
Length: This 2-octet unsigned integer indicates the total length
of the GSMP message only. It does not including the 4-
byte TLV header.
4.2 TCP/IP Security consideration
Security between the controller and client MUST be provided by IP
Security [IPSEC]. In this case, the IPSEC Authentication Header(AH)
SHOULD be used for the validation of the connection; additionally
IPSEC Encapsulation Security Payload (ESP) MAY be used to provide
both validation and secrecy.
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5. Security Considerations
The security of GSMP's TCP/IP control channel has been addressed
in Section 4.2. Security over ATM and Ethernet must be provided at
the link layer.
References
[1] A. Doria, "General Switch Management Protocol," Internet-
Draft draft-ietf-gsmp-06, July 2000. Work in Progress
[2] "B-ISDN ATM Layer Specification," International
Telecommunication Union, ITU-T Recommendation I.361, Mar.
1993.
[3] "B-ISDN ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL) Specification,"
International Telecommunication Union, ITU-T
Recommendation I.363, Mar. 1993.
[4] http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/port-numbers
Authors' Addresses
Tom Worster
Ennovate Networks
60 Codman Hill Rd
Boxboro MA 01719 USA
Tel +1 978-263-2002
fsb@thefsb.org
Avri Doria
Nortel Network
600 Technology Park Drive
Billerica MA 01821
Tel: +1 401 663 5024
avri@nortelnetworks.com
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