GSMP Working Group Tom Worster
INTERNET DRAFT Ennovate Networks
Standards Track Avri Doria
Joachim Buerkle
August 2001 Nortel Networks
Expires February 2002
GSMP Packet Encapsulations for ATM, Ethernet and TCP
<draft-ietf-gsmp-encaps-04.txt>
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that
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in progress."
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http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt
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Specification of Requirements
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL
NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
RFC2119 [7].
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Abstract
This memo specifies the encapsulation of GSMP packets in ATM,
Ethernet and TCP.
1. Introduction
GSMP messages 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 specifications.
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][4] 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 bytes) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
+ AAL-5 CPCS-PDU Trailer (8 bytes) +
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
(The convention in the documentation of Internet Protocols [5] 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 byte on the
left and the least significant byte on the right. Whenever a
diagram shows a group of bytes, the order of transmission of those
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bytes is the normal order in which they are read in English.
Whenever an byte 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 most significant bit. Similarly,
whenever a multi-byte field represents a numeric quantity the left
most bit of the whole field is the most significant bit. When a
multi-byte quantity is transmitted, the most significant byte is
transmitted first. This is the same coding convention as is used
in the ATM layer [2] and AAL-5 [3][4].)
The LLC/SNAP header contains the bytes: 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 bytes.
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.
The GSMP control channel MAY be changed using the GSMP MIB.
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 bytes.
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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
After adjacency has been established the minimum length
of the data field of an Ethernet packet is 46 bytes. If
necessary, padding should be added such that it meets
the minimum Ethernet frame size. This padding should be
bytes of zero and it is not considered to be part of the
GSMP message.
Frame Check Sequence
The Frame Check Sequence (FCS) is defined in IEEE 802.3
[6] as follows:
Note: This section is included for informational
and historical purposes only. The normative
reference can be found in IEEE 802.3 Standard [6]
"A cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is used by the
transmit and receive algorithms to generate a CRC
value for the FCS field.
The frame check sequence (FCS) field contains a 4-
byte (32-bit) cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value.
This value is computed as a function of the
contents of the source address, destination
address, length, LLC data and pad (that is, all
fields except the preamble, SFD, FCS and
extension).
The encoding is defined by the following generating
polynomial.
G(x)=x^32+x^26+x^23+x^22+x^16+x^12+x^11+x^10+x^8+x^
7+x^5+x^4+x^2+x^1."
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The procedure for the CRC calculation can be found
in [6].
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
When GSMP messages are transported over an IP network, they MUST
be transported 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.
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 TCP port number:
6068. The controller establishes a TCP connection with each switch
it manages. The switch under control MUST be a multi-connection
server (PORT 6068) to allow creation of multiple control sessions
from N GSMP controller instances. 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 MUST NOT be sent until after the
adjacency protocol has achieved synchronisation. The actual GSMP
message flow will occur on other ports.
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.
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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
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Type (0x88-0C) | Length |
|-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
~ GSMP Message ~
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Type
This 2-byte field indicates the type code of the
following message. The type code for GSMP messages is
0x88-0C (i.e. the same as GSMP's Ethertype).
Length: This 2-byte 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
When GSMPv3 is implemented for use in IP networks, provisions for
security between the controller and client MUST be available and
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.
5. Security Considerations
The security of GSMP's TCP/IP control channel has been addressed
in Section 4.2. For all uses of GSMP over an IP network it is
REQUIRED that GSMP be run over TCP/IP using the security
considerations discussed in Section 4.2. Security using ATM and
Ethernet encapsulations MAY be provided at the link layer.
Discussion of these methods is beyond the scope of this
specification.
References
[1] A. Doria, "General Switch Management Protocol," Internet-
Draft draft-ietf-gsmp-07, November 2000. Work in Progress
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[2] "B-ISDN ATM Layer Specification," International
Telecommunication Union, ITU-T Recommendation I.361, Feb.
1999.
[3] "B-ISDN ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL) Specification,"
International Telecommunication Union, ITU-T
Recommendation I.363, Mar. 1993.
[4] "B-ISDN ATM Adaptation Layer specification: Type 5 AAL",
International Telecommunication Union, ITU-T
Recommendation I.363.5, Aug. 1996.
[5] Reynolds, J., and J. Postal, "Assigned Numbers", STD 2, RFC
1700, October 1994. For the current numbers refer to
http://www.iana.org/in-notes/assignments/port-numbers
[6] IEEE Std 802.3, 1998 Edition
"Information technology-Telecommunications and information
exchange between systems - Local and metropolitan area
networks - Specific requirements - Part 3: Carrier sense
multiple access with collision detection
(CSMA/CD) access method and physical layer specifications"
[7] S. Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", RFC 2119. BCP 14, March 1997.
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 Networks
600 Technology Park Drive
Billerica MA 01821 USA
Tel: +1 401 663 5024
avri@nortelnetworks.com
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Joachim Buerkle
Nortel Networks Germany GmbH & Co. KG
Hahnstr. 37-39
60528 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Joachim.Buerkle@nortelnetworks.com
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