Internet Draft                                         Lou Berger (LabN)
Obsoletes: 2370                                      Igor Bryskin (Adva)
Category: Standards Track                           Alex Zinin (Alcatel)
Expiration Date: September 10, 2008                     Original Author:
                                       Rob Coltun (Acoustra Productions)

                                                          March 10, 2008

                       The OSPF Opaque LSA Option

                   draft-ietf-ospf-rfc2370bis-02.txt

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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008).

Abstract

   This document defines enhancements to the OSPF protocol to support a
   new class of link-state advertisements (LSA) called Opaque LSAs.
   Opaque LSAs provide a generalized mechanism to allow for the future
   extensibility of OSPF. Opaque LSAs consist of a standard LSA header
   followed by application-specific information.  The information field
   may be used directly by OSPF or by other applications.  Standard OSPF
   link-state database flooding mechanisms are used to distribute Opaque
   LSAs to all or some limited portion of the OSPF topology.

   This document replaces RFC 2370 and adds to it a mechanism to enable



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   an OSPF router to validate AS-scope opaque LSAs originated outside of
   the router's OSPF area.


Table of Contents

 1      Conventions used in this document  .........................   3
 2      Introduction  ..............................................   3
 2.1    Organization Of This Document  .............................   3
 2.2    Acknowledgments  ...........................................   4
 3      The Opaque LSA  ............................................   4
 3.1    Flooding Opaque LSAs  ......................................   5
 3.2    Modifications To The Neighbor State Machine  ...............   6
 4      Protocol Data Structures  ..................................   7
 4.1    Additions To The OSPF Neighbor Structure  ..................   8
 5      Inter-Area Considerations  .................................   8
 6      Management Considerations  .................................   9
 7      Backward Compatibility  ....................................   9
 8      Security Considerations  ...................................  10
 9      IANA Considerations  .......................................  11
10      References  ................................................  11
10.1    Normative References  ......................................  11
10.2    Informative References  ....................................  12
11      Author's Addresses  ........................................  12
12      Appendix A: OSPF Data formats  .............................  13
12.1    The Options Field  .........................................  13
12.2    The Opaque LSA  ............................................  14
13      Full Copyright Statement  ..................................  16
14      Intellectual Property  .....................................  16




















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1. 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 [RFC2119].


2. Introduction

   Over the last several years the OSPF routing protocol [OSPF] has been
   widely deployed throughout the Internet.  As a result of this
   deployment and the evolution of networking technology, OSPF has been
   extended to support many options; this evolution will obviously
   continue.

   This document defines enhancements to the OSPF protocol to support a
   new class of link-state advertisements (LSA) called Opaque LSAs.
   Opaque LSAs provide a generalized mechanism to allow for the future
   extensibility of OSPF. The information contained in Opaque LSAs may
   be used directly by OSPF or indirectly by some application wishing to
   distribute information throughout the OSPF domain.  The exact use of
   Opaque LSAs is beyond the scope of this document.

   Opaque LSAs consist of a standard LSA header followed by a 32-bit
   aligned application-specific information field.  Like any other LSA,
   the Opaque LSA uses the link-state database distribution mechanism
   for flooding this information throughout the topology.  The link-
   state type field of the Opaque LSA identifies the LSA's range of
   topological distribution. This range is referred to as the Flooding
   Scope.

   It is envisioned that an implementation of the Opaque option provides
   an application interface for 1) encapsulating application-specific
   information in a specific Opaque type, 2) sending and receiving
   application-specific information, and 3) if required, informing the
   application of the change in validity of previously received
   information when topological changes are detected.


2.1. Organization Of This Document

   This document first defines the three types of Opaque LSAs followed
   by a description of OSPF packet processing. The packet processing
   sections include modifications to the flooding procedure and to the
   neighbor state machine. Appendix A then gives the packet formats.






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2.2. Acknowledgments

   We would like to thank Acee Lindem for his detailed review and useful
   feedback.  The handling of AS-scope opaque LSAs described in this
   document is taken from draft-bryskin-ospf-lsa-
   type11-validation-00.txt.


3. The Opaque LSA

   Opaque LSAs are types 9, 10, and 11 link-state advertisements.
   Opaque LSAs consist of a standard LSA header followed by a 32-bit
   aligned application-specific information field.  Standard link-state
   database flooding mechanisms are used for distribution of Opaque
   LSAs.  The range of topological distribution (i.e., the flooding
   scope) of an Opaque LSA is identified by its link-state type.  This
   section documents the flooding of Opaque LSAs.

   The flooding scope associated with each Opaque link-state type is
   defined as follows.

     o Link-state type-9 denotes a link-local scope. Type-9 Opaque
       LSAs are not flooded beyond the local (sub)network.

     o Link-state type-10 denotes an area-local scope. Type-10 Opaque
       LSAs are not flooded beyond the borders of their associated area.

     o Link-state type-11 denotes that the LSA is flooded throughout
       the Autonomous System (AS). The flooding scope of type-11
       LSAs are equivalent to the flooding scope of AS-external (type-5)
       LSAs.  Specifically, type-11 Opaque LSAs are 1) flooded
       throughout all transit areas, 2) not flooded into stub areas or
       NSSAs from the backbone and 3) not originated by routers into
       their connected stub areas or NSSAs.  As with type-5 LSAs, if a
       type-11 Opaque LSA is received in a stub area or NSSA from a
       neighboring router within the stub area or NSSA the LSA is
       rejected.

   The link-state ID of the Opaque LSA is divided into an Opaque type
   field (the first 8 bits) and a type-specific ID (the remaining 24
   bits).  The packet format of the Opaque LSA is given in Appendix A.
   Section 7 describes Opaque type allocation and assignment.

   The responsibility for proper handling of the Opaque LSA's flooding
   scope is placed on both the sender and receiver of the LSA.  The
   receiver must always store a valid received Opaque LSA in its link-
   state database.  The receiver must not accept Opaque LSAs that
   violate the flooding scope (e.g., a type-11 (domain-wide) Opaque LSA



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   is not accepted in a stub area or NSSA).  The flooding scope effects
   both the synchronization of the link-state database and the flooding
   procedure.

   The following describes the modifications to these procedures that
   are necessary to insure conformance to the Opaque LSA's Scoping
   Rules.


3.1. Flooding Opaque LSAs

   The flooding of Opaque LSAs MUST follow the rules of Flooding Scope
   as specified in this section.  Section 13 of [OSPF] describes the
   OSPF flooding procedure.  Those procedures MUST be followed as
   defined except where modified in this section.  The following
   describes the Opaque LSA's type-specific flooding restrictions.

     o If the Opaque LSA is type-9 (the flooding scope is link-local)
       and the interface that the LSA was received on is not the same
       as the target interface (e.g., the interface associated with a
       particular target neighbor), the Opaque LSA MUST be discarded
       and not acknowledged. An implementation SHOULD keep track of
       the IP interface associated with each Opaque LSA having a
       link-local flooding scope.

     o If the Opaque LSA is type-10 (the flooding scope is area-local)
       and the area associated with Opaque LSA (as identified during
       origination or from a received LSA's associated OSPF packet
       header) is not the same as the area associated with the target
       interface, the Opaque LSA MUST be discarded and not
       acknowledged.  An implementation SHOULD keep track of the OSPF
       area associated with each Opaque LSA having an area-local
       flooding scope.

     o If the Opaque LSA is type-11 (the LSA is flooded throughout the
       AS) and the target interface is associated with a stub area or
       NSSA, the Opaque LSA MUST NOT be flooded out the interface.  A
       type-11 Opaque LSA that is received on an interface associated
       with a stub area or NSSA MUST be discarded and not acknowledged
       (the neighboring router has flooded the LSA in error).

   When opaque-capable routers and non-opaque-capable OSPF routers are
   mixed together in a routing domain, the Opaque LSAs are typically not
   flooded to the non-opaque-capable routers. As a general design
   principle, optional OSPF advertisements are only flooded to those
   routers that understand them.

   An opaque-capable router learns of its neighbor's opaque capability



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   at the beginning of the "Database Exchange Process" (see Section 10.6
   of [OSPF], receiving Database Description packets from a neighbor in
   state ExStart). A neighbor is opaque-capable if and only if it sets
   the O-bit in the Options field of its Database Description packets;
   the O-bit SHOULD NOT be set and SHOULD be ignored when received in
   packets other than Database Description packets.  Then, in the next
   step of the Database Exchange process, Opaque LSAs are included in
   the Database summary list that is sent to the neighbor (see Sections
   3.2 below and 10.3 of [OSPF]) when the neighbor is opaque capable.

   When flooding Opaque-LSAs to adjacent neighbors, an opaque-capable
   router looks at the neighbor's opaque capability.  Opaque LSAs are
   only flooded to opaque-capable neighbors. To be more precise, in
   Section 13.3 of [OSPF], Opaque LSAs MUST be placed on the link-state
   retransmission lists of opaque-capable neighbors and MUST NOT be
   placed on the link-state retransmission lists of non-opaque-capable
   neighbors.  However, when sending Link State Update packets as
   multicasts, a non-opaque-capable neighbor may (inadvertently) receive
   Opaque LSAs. The non-opaque-capable router will then simply discard
   the LSA (see Section 13 of [OSPF], receiving LSAs having unknown LS
   types).

   Information contained in received opaque LSAs SHOULD only be used
   when the router originating the LSA is reachable.  As mentioned in
   [OSPFv3], reachability validation MAY be done less frequently than
   every SPF calculation. Additionally, routers processing received
   opaque LSAs MAY choose to give priority to processing base OSPF LSA
   types over opaque LSA types.


3.2. Modifications To The Neighbor State Machine

   The state machine as it exists in section 10.3 of [OSPF] remains
   unchanged except for the action associated with State: ExStart,
   Event: NegotiationDone which is where the Database summary list is
   built.  To incorporate the Opaque LSA in OSPF this action is changed
   to the following.

     State(s):  ExStart

       Event:  NegotiationDone

     New state:  Exchange

       Action:  The router MUST list the contents of its entire area
                link-state database in the neighbor Database summary
                list.  The area link-state database consists of the
                Router LSAs, Network LSAs, Summary LSAs, type-9 opaque



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                LSAs, and type-10 opaque LSAs contained in the area
                structure, along with AS External and type-11 Opaque
                LSAs contained in the global structure. AS External
                and type-11 Opaque LSAs MUST be omitted from a
                virtual neighbor's Database summary list. AS External
                LSAs and type-11 Opaque LSAs MUST be omitted from the
                Database summary list if the area has been configured
                as a stub area or NSSA (see Section 3.6 of [OSPF]).

                Type-9 Opaque LSAs MUST be omitted from the Database
                summary list if the interface associated with the
                neighbor is not the interface associated with the Opaque
                LSA (as noted upon reception).

                Any advertisement whose age is equal to MaxAge MUST be
                omitted from the Database summary list. It MUST instead
                be added to the neighbor's link-state retransmission
                list. A summary of the Database summary list will be
                sent to the neighbor in Database Description packets.
                Only one Database Description Packet is allowed to be
                outstanding at any one time. For more detail on the
                sending and receiving of Database Description packets,
                see Sections 10.6 and 10.8 of [OSPF].


4. Protocol Data Structures

   The Opaque option is described herein in terms of its operation on
   various protocol data structures. These data structures are included
   for explanatory uses only. They are not intended to constrain an
   implementation. In addition to the data structures listed below, this
   specification references the various data structures (e.g., OSPF
   neighbors) defined in [OSPF].

   In an OSPF router, the following item is added to the list of global
   OSPF data structures described in Section 5 of [OSPF]:

     o Opaque capability. Indicates whether the router is running the
       Opaque option (i.e., capable of storing Opaque LSAs).  Such a
       router will continue to inter-operate with non-opaque-capable
       OSPF routers.










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4.1. Additions To The OSPF Neighbor Structure

   The OSPF neighbor structure is defined in Section 10 of [OSPF].  In
   an opaque-capable router, the following items are added to the OSPF
   neighbor structure:

     o Neighbor Options. This field was already defined in the OSPF
       specification. However, in opaque-capable routers there is a new
       option which indicates the neighbor's Opaque capability. This new
       option is learned in the Database Exchange process through
       reception of the neighbor's Database Description packets and
       determines whether Opaque LSAs are flooded to the neighbor. For a
       more detailed explanation of the flooding of the Opaque LSA see
       section 3 of this document.


5. Inter-Area Considerations

   As defined above, link-state type-11 opaque LSAs are flooded
   throughout the Autonomous System (AS). One issue related to such AS
   scoped Opaque LSAs is that there must be a way for OSPF routers in
   remote areas to check availability of the LSA originator.
   Specifically, if an OSPF router originates a type-11 LSA and, after
   that, goes out of service, OSPF routers located outside of the
   originator's OSPF area have no way of detecting this fact and may use
   the stale information for a considerable period of time (up to 60
   minutes). This could prove to be suboptimal for some applications and
   may result in others not functioning.

   Type-9 opaque LSAs and type-10 opaque LSAs do not have this problem
   as a receiving router can detect if the advertising router is
   reachable within the LSA's respective flooding scope.  In the case of
   type-9 LSAs, the originating router must be an OSPF neighbor in
   Exchange state or greater. In the case of type-10 Opaque LSAs, the
   intra-area SPF calculation will determine the advertising router's
   reachability.

   There is a parallel issue in OSPF for the AS scoped AS-external-LSAs
   (type-5 LSAs).  OSPF addresses this by using AS border information
   advertised in ASBR-summary-LSAs (type-4 LSAs), see [OSPF] Section
   16.4. This same mechanism is reused by this document for type-11
   opaque LSAs.

   To enable OSPF routers in remote areas to check availability of the
   originator of link-state type-11 opaque LSAs, the originators
   advertise themselves as ASBRs. This will enable routers to track the
   reachability of the LSA originator either directly via the SPF
   calculation (for routers in the same area) or indirectly via type-4



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   LSAs originated by ABRs (for routers in other areas). It is important
   to note that per [OSPF] this solution does not apply to OSPF stub
   areas or NSSAs as AS scoped opaque LSAs are not flooded into these
   area types.

   The procedures related to inter-area opaque LSAs are as follows:

   (1) An OSPF router that is configured to originate AS-scope opaque
       LSAs will advertise itself as an ASBR and MUST follow the
       requirements related to setting of the Options field E-bit in
       OSPF LSA headers as specified in [OSPF].

   (2) When processing a received type-11 Opaque LSA, the router MUST
       lookup the routing table entries (potentially one per attached
       area) for the AS boundary router (ASBR) that originated the LSA.
       If no entries exist for router ASBR (i.e., the ASBR is
       unreachable),  the router MUST do nothing with this LSA. It also
       MUST discontinue using all Opaque LSAs injected into the network
       by the same originator whenever it is detected that the
       originator is unreachable.


6. Management Considerations

   The updated OSPF MIB, [RFC4750], provides explicit support for opaque
   LSAs and SHOULD be used to support implementations of this document.
   See Section 12.3 of [RFC4750] for details.  In addition to that
   section, implementations supporting [RFC4750] will also include
   opaque LSAs in all appropriate generic LSA objects, e.g.,
   ospfOriginateNewLsas, and ospfLsdbTable.


7. Backward Compatibility

   The solution proposed in this document introduces no interoperability
   issues. In the case that a non-opaque-capable neighbor receives
   Opaque LSAs, per [OSPF], the non-opaque-capable router will simply
   discard the LSA.

   Note that OSPF routers that implement [RFC2370] will continue using
   stale type-11 LSAs even when the LSA originator implements the Inter-
   area procedures described in Section 6 of this document.









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8. Security Considerations

   There are two types of issues that need be addressed when looking at
   protecting routing protocols from misconfigurations and malicious
   attacks.  The first is authentication and certification of routing
   protocol information.  The second is denial of service attacks
   resulting from repetitive origination of the same router
   advertisement or origination a large number of distinct
   advertisements resulting in database overflow.  Note that both of
   these concerns exist independently of a router's support for the
   Opaque option.

   To address the authentication concerns, OSPF protocol exchanges are
   authenticated.  OSPF supports multiple types of authentication; the
   type of authentication in use can be configured on a per network
   segment basis. One of OSPF's authentication types, namely the
   Cryptographic authentication option, is believed to be secure against
   passive attacks and provide significant protection against active
   attacks. When using the Cryptographic authentication option, each
   router appends a "message digest" to its transmitted OSPF packets.
   Receivers then use the shared secret key and received digest to
   verify that each received OSPF packet is authentic.

   The quality of the security provided by the Cryptographic
   authentication option depends completely on the strength of the
   message digest algorithm (MD5 is currently the only message digest
   algorithm specified), the strength of the key being used, and the
   correct implementation of the security mechanism in all communicating
   OSPF implementations. It also requires that all parties maintain the
   secrecy of the shared secret key.  None of the standard OSPF
   authentication types provide confidentiality. Nor do they protect
   against traffic analysis.  For more information on the standard OSPF
   security mechanisms, see Sections 8.1, 8.2, and Appendix D of [OSPF].

   Repetitive origination of advertisements are addressed by OSPF by
   mandating a limit on the frequency that new instances of any
   particular LSA can be originated and accepted during the flooding
   procedure.  The frequency at which new LSA instances may be
   originated is set equal to once every MinLSInterval seconds, whose
   value is 5 seconds (see Section 12.4 of [OSPF]).  The frequency at
   which new LSA instances are accepted during flooding is once every
   MinLSArrival seconds, whose value is set to 1 (see Section 13,
   Appendix B and G.5 of [OSPF]).

   Proper operation of the OSPF protocol requires that all OSPF routers
   maintain an identical copy of the OSPF link-state database.  However,
   when the size of the link-state database becomes very large, some
   routers may be unable to keep the entire database due to resource



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   shortages; we term this "database overflow".  When database overflow
   is anticipated, the routers with limited resources can be
   accommodated by configuring OSPF stub areas and NSSAs.  [OVERFLOW]
   details a way of gracefully handling unanticipated database
   overflows.

   In the case of type-11 Opaque LSAs, this document reuses an ASBR
   tracking mechanism that is already employed in basic OSPF for type-5
   LSAs. Therefore, applying it to type-11 Opaque LSAs does not create
   any threats that are not already known for type-5 LSAs.


9. IANA Considerations

   There are no changes to the IANA number assignment requirements from
   [RFC2370].

   Opaque types are maintained by the IANA.  Extensions to OSPF which
   require a new Opaque type must be reviewed by the OSPF working group.
   In the event that the OSPF working group has disbanded the review
   shall be performed by a recommended Designated Expert.

   Following the policies outlined in [IANA], Opaque type values in the
   range of 0-127 are allocated through an IETF Consensus action and
   Opaque type values in the range of 128-255 are reserved for private
   and experimental use.


10. References

10.1. Normative References

   [DEMD] Moy, J., "Extending OSPF to Support Demand Circuits", RFC
          1793, April 1995.

   [IANA] Narten, T., and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA
          Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, October 1998.

   [OSPF] Moy, J., "OSPF Version 2", STD 54, RFC 2328, April 1998.

   [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to indicate
             requirements levels", RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC4750] Joyal, D., et. al., "OSPF Version 2 Management Information
             Base", RFC 4750, November 2006.






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10.2. Informative References

   [MOSPF] Moy, J., "Multicast Extensions to OSPF", RFC 1584, March
           1994.

   [NSSA] Murphy P., "The OSPF Not-So-Stubby Area (NSSA) Option",
          RFC 3101, January 2003.

   [OSPF-MT] Psenak, P., et al., "Multi-Topology (MT) Routing in OSPF",
             draft-ietf-ospf-mt-, January 2007.

   [OSPFv3] Coltun, R., et al. "OSPF for IPv6",
            draft-ietf-ospf-ospfv3-update-, May 2007.

   [OVERFLOW] Moy, J., "OSPF Database Overflow", RFC 1765, March 1995.

   [RFC2370] Coltun, R., "The OSPF Opaque LSA Option", RFC 2370,
             July 1998.

   [RFC4576] Rosen, E., et. al., "Using a Link State Advertisement
             (LSA) Options Bit to Prevent Looping in BGP/MPLS IP
             Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)", RFC 4576, June 2006.


11. Author's Addresses

   Lou Berger
   LabN Consulting, L.L.C.
   Email: lberger@labn.net

   Igor Bryskin
   ADVA Optical Networking Inc
   7926 Jones Branch Drive
   Suite 615
   McLean, VA - 22102
   Email: ibryskin@advaoptical.com

   Alex Zinin
   Alcatel
   Email: zinin@psg.com

   Original Author:
   Rob Coltun
   Acoustra Productions







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12. Appendix A: OSPF Data formats

   This appendix describes the format of the Options Field followed by
   the packet format of the Opaque LSA.


12.1. The Options Field

   The OSPF Options field is present in OSPF Hello packets, Database
   Description packets and all link-state advertisements.  The Options
   field enables OSPF routers to support (or not support) optional
   capabilities, and to communicate their capability level to other OSPF
   routers. Through this mechanism routers of differing capabilities can
   be mixed within an OSPF routing domain.

   When used in Hello packets, the Options field allows a router to
   reject a neighbor because of a capability mismatch.  Alternatively,
   when capabilities are exchanged in Database Description packets a
   router can choose not to flood certain link-state advertisements to a
   neighbor because of its reduced functionality.  Lastly, listing
   capabilities in link-state advertisements allows routers to forward
   traffic around reduced functionality routers by excluding them from
   parts of the routing table calculation.

   All eight bits of the OSPF Options field have been assigned, although
   only the O-bit is described completely by this document.  Each bit is
   described briefly below. Routers SHOULD reset (i.e., clear)
   unrecognized bits in the Options field when sending Hello packets or
   Database Description packets and when originating link-state
   advertisements. Conversely, routers encountering unrecognized Option
   bits in received Hello Packets, Database Description packets or link-
   state advertisements SHOULD ignore the capability and process the
   packet/advertisement normally.

                +--------------------------------------+
                | DN | O | DC | EA | N/P | MC | E | MT |
                +--------------------------------------+

                             The Options Field

   MT-bit
        This bit describes the router's multi-topology link-excluding
        capability, as described in [OSPF-MT].

   E-bit
        This bit describes the way AS-external-LSAs are flooded, as
        described in Sections 3.6, 9.5, 10.8 and 12.1.2 of [OSPF].




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   MC-bit
        This bit describes whether IP multicast datagrams are forwarded
        according to the specifications in [MOSPF].

   N/P-bit
        This bit describes the handling of Type-7 LSAs, as specified in
        [NSSA].

   DC-bit
        This bit describes the router's handling of demand circuits, as
        specified in [DEMD].

   EA-bit
        This bit describes the router's willingness to receive and
        forward External-Attributes-LSAs.  While defined, the
        documents specifying this bit have all expired. The use
        of this bit may be deprecated in the future.

   O-bit
        This bit describes the router's willingness to receive and
        forward Opaque-LSAs as specified in this document.

   DN-bit
        This bit is used to prevent looping in BGP/MPLS IP VPNs,
        as specified in [RFC4576].


12.2. The Opaque LSA

   Opaque LSAs are Type 9, 10, and 11 link-state advertisements.  These
   advertisements MAY be used directly by OSPF or indirectly by some
   application wishing to distribute information throughout the OSPF
   domain.  The function of the Opaque LSA option is to provide for
   future OSPF extensibility.

   Opaque LSAs contain some number of octets (of application-specific
   data) padded to 32-bit alignment.  Like any other LSA, the Opaque LSA
   uses the link-state database distribution mechanism for flooding this
   information throughout the topology.  However, the Opaque LSA has a
   flooding scope associated with it so that the scope of flooding may
   be link-local (type-9), area-local (type-10) or the entire OSPF
   routing domain (type-11).  Section 3 of this document describes the
   flooding procedures for the Opaque LSA.








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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
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |            LS age             |     Options   |  9, 10, or 11 |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |  Opaque Type  |               Opaque ID                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Advertising Router                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      LS Sequence Number                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         LS checksum           |           Length              |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                                                               |
      +                                                               +
      |                      Opaque Information                       |
      +                                                               +
      |                              ...                              |

   Link-State Type

     The link-state type of the Opaque LSA identifies the LSA's range of
     topological distribution. This range is referred to as the Flooding
     Scope.  The following explains the flooding scope of each of the
     link-state types.

     o A value of 9 denotes a link-local scope. Opaque LSAs with a
       link-local scope MUST NOT be flooded beyond the local
       (sub)network.

     o A value of 10 denotes an area-local scope. Opaque LSAs with a
       area-local scope MUST NOT be flooded beyond their area of
       origin.

     o A value of 11 denotes that the LSA is flooded throughout the
       Autonomous System (e.g., has the same scope as type-5 LSAs).
       Opaque LSAs with AS-wide scope MUST NOT be flooded into stub
       areas or NSSAs.

   Syntax Of The Opaque LSA's Link-State ID

   The link-state ID of the Opaque LSA is divided into an Opaque Type
   field (the first 8 bits) and an Opaque ID (the remaining 24 bits).
   See section 7 of this document for a description of Opaque type
   allocation and assignment.






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13. Full Copyright Statement

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Acknowledgement

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   Administrative Support Activity (IASA).






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Generated on: Mon Mar 10 10:35:48 EDT 2008