MBONED Working Group                               Dorian Kim
Internet Draft                                     Verio
                                                   David Meyer
                                                   Cisco Systems
                                                   Henry Kilmer
                                                   Dino Farinacci
                                                   Procket Networks

Category                                           Informational
                                                   November, 1999




                Anycast RP mechanism using PIM and MSDP
                 <draft-ietf-mboned-anycast-rp-02.txt>




1. Status of this Memo

   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
   other groups may also distribute working documents as
   Internet-Drafts.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.

   The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.












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2. Abstract

   This document describes a mechanism to allow for an arbitrary number
   of RPs per group in a single shared-tree PIM-SM domain.

   This memo is a product of the MBONE Deployment Working Group (MBONED)
   in the Operations and Management Area of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force. Submit comments to <mboned@ns.uoregon.edu> or the
   authors.


3. Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  All Rights Reserved.


4. Introduction

   PIM-SM as defined in RFC 2352 allows for only a single active RP per
   group, and as such the decision of optimal RP placement can become
   problematic for a multi-regional network deploying PIM-SM.

   Anycast RP relaxes an important constraint in PIM-SM, namely, that
   there can be only one group to RP mapping active at any time. The
   single mapping property has several implications, including traffic
   concentration, lack of scalable register decapsulation (when using
   the shared tree), slow convergence when an active RP fails, possible
   sub-optimal forwarding of multicast packets, and distant RP
   dependencies. These properties of PIM-SM have been demonstrated in
   native continental or inter-continental scale multicast deployments.
   As a result, it is clear that ISP backbones require a mechanism that
   allows definition of multiple active RPs per group in single PIM-SM
   domain. Further, any such mechanism should also address the issues
   addressed above.

   The mechanism described here is intended to address the need for
   better fail-over (convergence time) and sharing of the register
   decapsulation load (again, when using the shared-tree) among RPs in a
   domain. It is primarily intended for applications within those
   networks which are using MBGP, Multicast Source Discovery Protocol
   [MSDP] and PIM-SM protocols for native multicast deployment, although
   it not limited to those protocols. In particular, Anycast RP is
   applicable in any PIM-SM network that also supports MSDP (MSDP is
   required so that the various RPs in the domain maintain a consistent
   view of the sources that are active). Note however, a domain
   deploying Anycast RP is not required to run MBGP.





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5. Problem Definition

   The anycast RP solution provides a solution for both fast fail-over
   and shared-tree load balancing among any number of active RPs in a
   domain.


5.1. Traffic Concentration and Distributing Decapsulation Load Among RPs

   While PIM-SM allows for multiple RPs to be defined for a given group,
   only one group to RP mapping can active at a given time. A
   traditional deployment mechanism for balancing register decapsulation
   load between multiple RPs covering the multicast group space is to
   split up the 224.0.0.0/4 space between multiple defined RPs. This is
   an acceptable solution as long as multicast traffic remains low, but
   has problems as multicast traffic increases, especially because the
   network operator defining group space split between RPs does not
   alway have a priori knowledge of traffic distribution between groups.
   This can be overcome via periodic reconfigurations, but operational
   considerations cause this type of solution to scale poorly.


5.2. Sub-optimal Forwarding of Multicast Packets

   When a single RP serves a given multicast group, all joins to that
   group will be sent to that RP regardless of the topological distance
   between the RP and the sources and receivers. Initial data will be
   sent towards the RP also until configured shortest path tree switch
   threshold is reached, or the data will always be sent towards the RP
   if the network is configured to always use RP rooted shared tree.
   This holds true even if all the sources and the receivers are in any
   given single region, and RP is topologically distant from the sources
   and the receivers. This is an artifact of the dynamic nature of
   multicast group members, and of the fact that operators may not
   always have a priori knowledge of the topological placement of the
   group members.

   Taken together, these effects can mean that (for example) although
   all the sources and receivers of a given group are in Europe, they
   are joining towards the RP in USA and the data will be traversing
   relatively expensive pipe(s) twice, once to get to RP, and back down
   the RP rooted tree again, creating inefficient use of expensive
   resources.








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5.3. Distant RP Dependencies

   As outlined above, a single active RP per group may cause local
   sources and receivers to become dependent on a topologically distant
   RP. In case of a scenario where there are backup RPs configured,
   distant RP dependence can be created due to the failure of the
   primary RP, which is topologically closer, and may become exacerbated
   by switching to the backup RP, which may be even more distant
   topologically, which may lead to inferior performance, if not
   outright loss of connectivity to an RP serving the group, depending
   on the network condition at the given moment.


6. Solution

   Given the problem set outlined above, a good solution would allow an
   operator to configure multiple RPs per group, and distribute those
   RPs in a topologically significant manner to the sources and
   receivers.


6.1. Mechanisms

   All the RPs serving a given group or set of groups are configured
   with identical unicast address, using a numbered interface on the RPs
   (frequently a logical interface such as a loopback is used). RPs then
   advertise group to RP mappings using this interface address. This
   will cause group members (senders) to join (register) towards the
   topologically closest RP. RPs MSDP peer with each other using an
   address unique to each RP. Note that if the router implementation
   chooses the anycast address as the router ID, then peerings and/or
   adjacencies may not be established.


   Operationally, the following steps are required:


6.1.1. Create the set of group-to-anycast-RP-address mappings

   The first step is to create the set of group-to-anycast-RP-address
   mappings to be used in the domain. Each RP participating in a anycast
   RP set must be configured with a consistent set of group to RP
   address mappings. This mapping will be used by the non-RP routers in
   the domain.







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6.1.2. Configure each RP for the group range with the anycast RP address

   The next step is to configure each RP for the group range with the
   anycast RP address. If a dynamic mechanism such as auto-RP or the
   PIMv2 bootstrap mechanism is being used to advertise group to RP
   mappings, the anycast IP address should be used for the RP address.


6.1.3. Configure MSDP peerings between each of the anycast RPs in the
   set

   Unlike the group to RP mapping advertisements, MSDP peerings must use
   an IP address that is unique to the endpoints. A general guideline is
   to follow the addressing of the BGP peerings, e.g., loopbacks for
   iBGP peering, physical interface addresses for eBGP peering.


6.1.4. Configure the non-RP's with the group-to-anycast-RP-address
   mappings

   Finally, each non-RP router must learn the set of group to RP
   mappings. This could be done via static configuration, auto-RP, or by
   PIMv2 bootstrap mechanism.


6.1.5. Ensure that the anycast IP address is reachable by all routers in
   the domain

   This is typically accomplished by injecting the /32 into the domain's
   IGP.


6.2. Interaction with MSDP Peer-RPF check

   Each MSDP peer receives and forwards the message away from the RP
   address in a "peer-RPF flooding" fashion.  The notion of peer-RPF
   flooding is with respect to forwarding SA messages [MSDP]. The BGP
   routing tables are examined to determine which peer is the next hop
   towards the originating RP of the SA message.  Such a peer is called
   an "RPF peer".  See [MSDP] for details of the Peer-RPF check.


6.3. State Implications

   It should be noted that using MSDP in this way forces the creation of
   (S,G) state along the path from the receiver to the source. This
   state may not be present if a single RP was used and receivers were
   forced to stay on the shared tree.



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6.4. Further Applications of Anycast RP mechanism

   The solution described above can also be applied to external MSDP
   peers that are used to join two PIM-SM domains together.  This can
   provide redundancy to the MSDP peering session, ease operational
   complexity as well as simplify configuration management.  A side
   effect to be aware of with this design is that which of the
   configured MSDP sessions comes up will be determined via the unicast
   topology between two providers, and can be somewhat unpredictable. If
   any of the backup peering sessions resets, the active session will
   also reset.


7. Security considerations

   Since the solution described here makes heavy use of anycast
   addressing, care must be taken to avoid spoofing. In particular
   unicast routing and PIM RPs must be protected.


7.1. Unicast Routing

   Both internal and external unicast routing can be weakly protected
   with keyed MD5 [RFC1828], as implemented in an internal protocol such
   as OSPF [RFC2382] or in BGP [RFC2385]. More generally,  IPSEC
   [RFC1825] could be used to provide protocol integrity for the unicast
   routing system.


7.1.1. Effects of Unicast Routing Instability

   While not a security issue, it is worth noting that if unicast
   routing is unstable, then the actual RP that source or receiver is
   using will be subject to the same instability.



7.2. Multicast Protocol Integrity

   The mechanisms described in [PIMAUTH] should be used to provide
   protocol message integrity protection and group-wise message origin
   authentication.









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7.3. MSDP Peer Integrity

   As is the the case for BGP, MSDP peers can be protected using keyed
   MD5 [RFC1828].


8. Acknowledgments

   John Meylor, Dave Thaler and Tom Pusateri provided insightful
   comments on earlier versions for this idea.


9. References


    [MSDP]     D. Farinacci, et. al., "Multicast Source Discovery
               Protocol (MSDP)", draft-ietf-msdp-spec-02.txt,
               November, 1999.


    [PIMAUTH]  L. Wei, et al., "Authenticating PIM version 2 messages",
               draft-ietf-pim-v2-auth-00.txt, November, 1998.

    [RFC1825]  Atkinson, R., "IP Security Architecture", August 1995.

    [RFC1828]  P. Metzger and W. Simpson, "IP Authentication using Keyed
               MD5", RFC 1828, August, 1995.

    [RFC2362]  D. Estrin, et. al., "Protocol Independent Multicast-
               Sparse Mode (PIM-SM): Protocol Specification", RFC
               2362, June, 1998.

    [RFC2382]  Moy, J., "OSPF Version 2", RFC 2382, April 1998.

    [RFC2385]  Herrernan, A., "Protection of BGP Sessions via the TCP
               MD5 Signature Option", RFC 2385, August, 1998.

    [RFC2403]  C. Madson and R. Glenn, "The Use of HMAC-MD5-96 within
               ESP and AH", RFC 2403, November, 1998.












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10. Author's Address

   Dorian Kim
   Verio, Inc.
   2361 Lancashire Dr. #2A
   Ann Arbor, MI 48015
   Email: dorian@blackrose.org

   Hank Kilmer
   Email: hank@rem.com

   Dino Farinacci
   Procket Networks
   Email: dino@procket.com

   David Meyer
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   170 Tasman Drive
   San Jose, CA, 95134
   Email: dmm@cisco.com































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