Pce Working Group                                                Q. Zhao
Internet-Draft                                                  D. Dhody
Intended status: Standards Track                       Huawei Technology
Expires: April 30, 2012                                           Z. Ali
                                                                 T. Saad
                                                            S. Sivabalan
                                                     Cisco Systems, Inc.
                                                                 D. King
                                                      Old Dog Consulting
                                                             R. Casellas
                                             CTTC - Centre Tecnologic de
                                          Telecomunicacions de Catalunya
                                                        October 28, 2011


  PCE-based Computation Procedure To Compute Shortest Constrained P2MP
         Inter-domain Traffic Engineering Label Switched Paths
          draft-ietf-pce-pcep-inter-domain-p2mp-procedures-01

Abstract

   The ability to compute paths for constrained point-to-multipoint
   (P2MP) Traffic Engineering Label Switched Paths (TE LSPs) across
   multiple domains has been identified as a key requirement for the
   deployment of P2MP services in MPLS and GMPLS networks.  The Path
   Computation Element (PCE) has been recognized as an appropriate
   technology for the determination of inter-domain paths of P2MP TE
   LSPs.

   This document describes the procedures and extensions to the PCE
   communication Protocol (PCEP) to handle requests and responses for
   the computation of inter-domain paths for P2MP TE LSPs.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   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."




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   This Internet-Draft will expire on April 30, 2012.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.



































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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     1.1.  Requirements Language  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  Problem Statement  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   4.  Assumptions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   5.  Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   6.  Objective Functions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   7.  P2MP Path Computation Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     7.1.  Core Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     7.2.  Core Tree Computation Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     7.3.  Sub Tree Computation Procedures  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
     7.4.  PCEP Protocol Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
       7.4.1.  The Extension of RP Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
       7.4.2.  Domain or PCE Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     7.5.  Relationship with Hierarchical PCE . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
     7.6.  Parallelism  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   8.  Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     8.1.  End-to-end Protection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     8.2.  Domain Protection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   9.  Manageability Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     9.1.  Control of Function and Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     9.2.  Information and Data Models  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     9.3.  Liveness Detection and Monitoring  . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     9.4.  Verifying Correct Operation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
     9.5.  Requirements on Other Protocols and Functional
           Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
     9.6.  Impact on Network Operation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
     9.7.  Policy Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   10. Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   11. IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
     11.1. New Flag of the RP Object  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
     11.2. New PCEP Object  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
   12. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
   13. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
     13.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
     13.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22













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1.  Introduction

   Multicast services are increasingly in demand for high-capacity
   applications such as multicast Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), IP-
   television (IPTV) which may be on-demand or streamed, and content-
   rich media distribution (for example, software distribution,
   financial streaming, or data-sharing).  The ability to compute
   constrained Traffic Engineering Label Switched Paths (TE LSPs) for
   point-to-multipoint (P2MP) LSPs in Multiprotocol Label Switching
   (MPLS) and Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) networks across multiple domains
   is becoming important.  A domain can be defined as a collection of
   network elements within a common sphere of address management or path
   computational responsibility such as an IGP area or an Autonomous
   Systems.

   The applicability of the Path Computation Element (PCE) [RFC4655] for
   the computation of such paths is discussed in [RFC5671], and the
   requirements placed on the PCE communications Protocol (PCEP) for
   this are given in [RFC5862].

   This document describes how multiple PCE techniques can be combined
   to address the requirements.  These mechanisms include the use of the
   per-domain path computation technique specified in [RFC5152],
   extensions to the backward recursive path computation (BRPC)
   technique specified in [RFC5441] for P2MP LSP path computation in an
   inter-domain environment, and a new procedure for core-tree based
   path computation defined in this document.  These three mechanisms
   are suitable for different environments (topologies, administrative
   domains, policies, service requirements, etc.) and can also be
   effectively combined.

1.1.  Requirements Language

   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.  Terminology

   Terminology used in this document is consistent with the related
   MPLS/GMPLS and PCE documents [RFC4461], [RFC4655], [RFC4875],
   [RFC5376], [RFC5440], [RFC5441], [RFC5671] and [RFC5862].

   ABR: Area Border Router.  Router used to connect two IGP domains
   (areas in OSPF or levels in IS-IS).

   ASBR: Autonomous System Border Router.  Router used to connect
   together ASes of the same or different Service Providers via one or



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   more Inter-AS links.

   Boundary Node (BN): a boundary node is either an ABR in the context
   of inter-area Traffic Engineering or an ASBR in the context of
   inter-AS Traffic Engineering.

   Core Tree: the core tree is a P2MP tree where the root is the ingress
   LSR, and the leaf nodes are the entry BNs of the leaf domains.

   Destination: The lead Nodes can be in Root Domain, Transit Domain and
   Leaf Domain.

   Entry BN of domain(n): a BN connecting domain(n-1) to domain(n) along
   a determined sequence of domains.

   Exit BN of domain(n): a BN connecting domain(n) to domain(n+1) along
   a determined sequence of domains.

   Inter-AS TE LSP: a TE LSP that crosses an AS boundary.

   Inter-area TE LSP: a TE LSP that crosses an IGP area boundary.

   Leaf Domain: a domain that does not have a downstream neighbor
   domain.  Note that, with this definition, a domain with one or more
   leaf nodes is not necessarily a leaf domain.

   Leaf Boundary Nodes: the entry boundary node in the leaf domain.

   Leaf Nodes: the LSR which is the P2MP LSP's final.

   LSR: Label Switching Router.

   LSP: Label Switched Path.

   OF: Objective Function.  A set of one or more optimization criterion
   (criteria) used for the computation of paths either for single or for
   synchronized requests (e.g. path cost minimization), or the
   synchronized computation of a set of paths (e.g. aggregate bandwidth
   consumption minimization, etc.).  See [RFC4655] and [RFC5441].

   P2MP LSP Path Tree: A set of LSRs and TE links that comprise the path
   of a P2MP TE LSP from its ingress LSR to all of its egress LSRs.

   Path Domain Sequence: The known sequence of domains for a path
   between root and leaf.

   Path Domain Tree: The tree formed by the domains that the P2MP path
   crosses, where the source (ingress) domain is the root domain.



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   PCC: Path Computation Client.  Any client application requesting a
   path computation to be performed by the Path Computation Element.

   PCE (Path Computation Element): an entity (component, application or
   network node) that is capable of computing a network path or route
   based on a network graph and applying computational constraints.

   P2MP LSP Path Tree: A set of LSRs and TE links that comprise the path
   of a P2MP TE LSP from its ingress LSR to all of its egress LSRs.

   Path Domain Sequence: the known sequence of domains for a path
   between the root node and a leaf node.

   PCE Sequence: the known sequence of PCEs for calculating a path
   between the root node and a leaf node.

   PCE Topology Tree: a list of PCE Sequences which has all the PCE
   Sequence for each path of the P2MP LSP path tree.

   PCE(i): a PCE that performs path computations for domain(i).

   Root Boundary Node: the egress LSR from the root domain on the path
   of the P2MP LSP.

   Root Domain: the domain that includes the ingress (root) LSR.

   TED: Traffic Engineering Database.

   Transit/branch Domain: a domain that has an upstream and one or more
   downstream neighbour domain.

   VSPT: Virtual Shortest Path Tree [RFC5441].

3.  Problem Statement

   The Path Computation Element (PCE) defined in [RFC4655] is an entity
   that is capable of computing a network path or route based on a
   network graph, and applying computational constraints.  A Path
   Computation Client (PCC) may make requests to a PCE for paths to be
   computed.

   [RFC4875] describes how to set up P2MP TE LSPs for use in MPLS and
   GMPLS networks.  The PCE is identified as a suitable application for
   the computation of paths for P2MP TE LSPs [RFC5671].

   [RFC5441] specifies a procedure relying on the use of multiple PCEs
   to compute (P2P) inter-domain constrained shortest paths across a
   predetermined sequence of domains, using a backward recursive path



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   computation technique.  The technique can be combined with the use of
   path keys [RFC5520] to preserve confidentiality across domains, which
   is sometimes required when domains are managed by different Service
   Providers.

   The PCE communication Protocol (PCEP) [RFC5440] is extended for
   point-to-multipoint(P2MP) path computation requests and in [RFC6006].
   However, that specification does not provide all the necessary
   mechanisms to request the computation of inter-domain P2MP TE LSPs.

   As discussed in [RFC4461], a P2MP tree is a graphical representation
   of all TE links that are committed for a particular P2MP LSP.  In
   other words, a P2MP tree is a representation of the corresponding
   P2MP tunnel on the TE network topology.  A sub-tree is a part of the
   P2MP tree describing how the root or an intermediate P2MP LSPs
   minimizes packet duplication when P2P TE sub-LSPs traverse common
   links.  As described in [RFC5671] the computation of a P2MP tree
   requires three major pieces of information.  The first is the path
   from the ingress LSR of a P2MP LSP to each of the egress LSRs, the
   second is the traffic engineering related parameters, and the third
   is the branch capability information.

   Generally, an inter-domain P2MP tree (i.e., a P2MP tree with source
   and at least one destination residing in different domains) is
   particularly difficult to compute even for a distributed PCE
   architecture.  For instance, while the BRPC recursive path
   computation may be well-suited for P2P paths, P2MP path computation
   involves multiple branching path segments from the source to the
   multiple destinations.  As such, inter-domain P2MP path computation
   may result in a plurality of per-domain path options that may be
   difficult to coordinate efficiently and effectively between domains.
   That is, when one or more domains have multiple ingress and/or egress
   border nodes, there is currently no known technique for one domain to
   determine which border routers another domain will utilize for the
   inter-domain P2MP tree, and no way to limit the computation of the
   P2MP tree to those utilized border nodes.

   A trivial solution to the computation of inter-domain P2MP tree would
   be to compute shortest inter-domain P2P paths from source to each
   destination and then combine them to generate an inter-domain,
   shortest-path-to-destination P2MP tree.  This solution, however,
   cannot be used to trade cost to destination for overall tree cost
   (i.e., it cannot produce a MCT tree) and in the context of inter-
   domain P2MP LSPs it cannot be used to reduce the number of domain
   border nodes that are transited.

   Computing P2P LSPs individually is not an acceptable solution for
   computing a P2MP tree.  Even per domain path computation [RFC5152]



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   can be used to compute P2P multi-domain paths, but it does not
   guarantee to find the optimal path which crosses multiple domains.
   Furthermore, constructing a P2MP tree from individual source to leaf
   P2P LSPs does not guarantee to produce a least-cost tree.  This
   approach may also be considered to have scaling issues during LSP
   setup.  That is, the LSP to each leaf is signaled separately, and
   each border node must perform path computation for each leaf.

   P2MP Minimum Cost Tree (MCT), i.e. one which guarantees the least
   cost resulting tree, is an NP-complete problem.  Moreover, adding
   and/or removing a single destination to/from the tree may result in
   an entirely different tree.  In this case, frequent MCT path
   computation requests may prove computationally intensive, and the
   resulting frequent tunnel reconfiguration may even cause network
   destabilization.  There are several heuristic algorithms presented in
   the literature that approximate the result within polynomial time
   that are applicable within the context of a single-domain.

   This document presents a solution, and procedures and extensions to
   PCEP to support P2MP inter-domain path computation.

4.  Assumptions

   It is assumed that, due to deployment and commercial limitations
   (e.g., inter-AS peering agreements), the sequence of domains for a
   path (the path domain tree) will be known in advance.

   [DOMAIN-SEQ] descibes the use of domain path tree in P2MP scenarios.
   In the figure below, the P2MP tree spans 6 domains, with D1 being the
   root domain.  The corresponding domain sequences which are assumed
   known would be: D1-D3-D6, D1-D3-D5 and D1-D2-D4.


                                 D1
                                / \
                               D2  D3
                              /   /  \
                             D4  D5  D6

                  Figure 1: Domain Sequence Tree

   The examples and scenarios used in this document are also based on
   the following assumptions:

   o  PCC is either aware of the domain sequence for each of the P2MP
      destination as described in [DOMAIN-SEQ] or PCE sequence (i.e.
      PCE that serves each domain in the path domain tree).  The set of
      PCEs and their relationships is propagated to each PCE during the



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      first exchange of path computation requests; [Editors note - this
      assumption needs to be more explicit.]

   o  Each PCE knows about any leaf LSRs in the domain it serves;

   o  The boundary nodes to use on the LSP are pre-determined.  [Editors
      Note - In this version of the document we do not consider multi-
      homed domains.]

   Additional assumptions are documented in [RFC5441] and will not be
   repeated here.

5.  Requirements

   This section summarizes the requirements specific to computing inter-
   domain P2MP paths.  In these requirements we note that the actual
   computation times by any PCE implementation are outside the scope of
   this document, but we observe that reducing the complexity of the
   required computations has a beneficial effect on the computation time
   regardless of implementation.  Additionally, reducing the number of
   message exchanges and the amount of information exchanged will reduce
   the overall computation time for the entire P2MP tree.  We refer to
   the "Complexity of the computation" as the impact on these aspects of
   path computation time as various parameters of the topology and the
   P2MP LSP are changed.

   Its also important that the solution preserves confidentiality across
   domains, which is required when domains are managed by different
   Service Providers.

   Other than the requirements specified in [RFC5376], a number of
   requirements specific to P2MP are detailed below:

   1.  The computed P2MP LSP should be optimal when only considering the
       paths among the BNs.

   2.  Grafting and pruning of multicast destinations in a domain should
       have no impact on other domains and on the paths among BNs.

   3.  The complexity of the computation for each sub-tree within each
       domain should be dependent only on the topology of the domain and
       it should be independent of the domain sequence.

   4.  The number of PCEP request and reply messages should be
       independent of the number of multicast destinations in each
       domain.





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   5.  Specifying the domain entry and exit nodes.

   6.  Specifying which nodes should be used as branch nodes.

   7.  Reoptimization of existing sub-trees.

   8.  Computation of P2MP paths that need to be diverse from existing
       P2MP paths.

6.  Objective Functions

   For the computation of a single or a set of P2MP TE LSPs, a request
   to meet specific optimization criteria, called an Objective Function
   (OF) may be indicated.

   The computation of one or more P2MP TE-LSPs may be subject to an OF
   in order to select the "best" candidate paths.  A variety of
   objective functions have been identified as being important during
   the computation of inter-domain P2MP LSPs.  These include:

   1.  The sub-tree within each domain should be optimized, which can be
       either the Minimum cost tree [RFC5862] or Shortest path tree
       [RFC5862].

   2.  The P2MP LSP path, formed by considering only the entry and exit
       nodes of the domains (the Core Tree) should be optimal.

   3.  It should be possible to limit the number of entry points to a
       domain.

   4.  It should be possible to force the branches for all leaves within
       a domain to be in that domain.

7.  P2MP Path Computation Procedures

   The following sections describe the Core Tree based procedures to
   satisfy the requirements specified in the previous section.  A core
   tree based solution provides an optimal inter-domain P2MP TE LSP.

7.1.  Core Trees

   A Core Tree is defined as a tree, which satisfies the following
   conditions:

   o  The root of the core tree is the ingress LSR in the root domain;

   o  The leaves of the core tree are the entry nodes in the leaf
      domains;



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   Note that Path-Key Mechanism [RFC5520] MAY be used to hide internal
   nodes.

   An optimal core-tree [based on the OF] will be computed with
   analyzing the nodes and links within the domains.  To support
   confidentiality the same nodes and links can be hidden via a path-key
   but they must be computed and be a part of core-tree.

   For example, consider the Domain Tree from the figure below,
   representing a domain tree of 6 domains, and part of the resulting
   Core Tree which satisfies the aforementioned conditions.


                             +----------------+
                             |                |Domain D1
                             |        R       |
                             |                |
                             |        A       |
                             |                |
                             +-B------------C-+
                              /              \
                             /                \
                            /                  \
            Domain D2      /                    \ Domain D3
            +-------------D--+             +-----E----------+
            |                |             |                |
            |  F             |             |                |
            |          G     |             |       H        |
            |                |             |                |
            |                |             |                |
            +-I--------------+             +-J------------K-+
             /                              /              \
            /                              /                \
           /                              /                  \
          /                              /                    \
         /                              /                      \
        /                              /                        \
       / Domain D4         Domain D5  /              Domain D6   \
     +-L--------------+       +------P---------+      +-----------T----+
     |                |       |                |      |                |
     |                |       |  Q             |      |   U            |
     |  M        O    |       |         S      |      |                |
     |                |       |                |      |          V     |
     |          N     |       |   R            |      |                |
     +----------------+       +----------------+      +----------------+

                          Figure 2: Domain Tree Example




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                                    (R)
                                     |
                                    (A)
                                    / \
                                   /   \
                                 (B)   (C)
                                 /       \
                                /         \
                              (D)         (E)
                              /            |
                             /             |
                           (G)            (H)
                           /              / \
                          /              /   \
                        (I)            (J)   (K)
                        /              /       \
                       /              /         \
                     (L)            (P)         (T)


                    Figure 3: Core Tree

   A core tree is computed such that root of the tree is R and the leaf
   node are the entry nodes of the destination domains (L, P and T).
   Path-key Mechanism can be used to hide the internal nodes and links
   in the final core tree.

7.2.  Core Tree Computation Procedures

   The algorithms to compute the optimal large core tree are outside
   scope of this document.  The following extended BRPC based procedure
   can be used to compute the core tree.

   BRPC Based Core Tree Path Computation Procedure:

   1.  Using the BRPC procedures to compute the VSPT(i) for each leaf
       BN(i), i=1 to n, where n is the total number of entry nodes for
       all the leaf domains.  In each VSPT(i), there are a number of
       P(i) paths.

   2.  When the root PCE has computed all the VSPT(i), i=1 to n, take
       one path from each VSPT and form a set of paths, we call it a
       PathSet(j), j=1 to M, where M=P(1)xP(2)...xP(n);

   3.  For each PathSet(j), there are n S2L (Source to Leaf BN) paths
       and form these n paths into a Core Tree(j);





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   4.  There will be M number of Core Trees computed from step3.  Apply
       the OF to each of these M Core Trees and find the optimal Core
       Tree.

   Note that the application of BRPC in the aforementioned procedure
   differs from the typical one since paths returned from a downstream
   PCE are not necessary pruned from the solution set by intermediate
   PCEs.

   The reason for this is that if the PCE in a downstream domain does
   the prunning and returns the single optimal sub-path to its parent
   PCE, BRPC insures that the ingress PCE will get all the best optimal
   sub-paths for each LN (Leaf Border Nodes), but the combination of
   these single optimal sub-paths into a P2MP tree is not necessarily
   optimal even if each S2L (Source-to-Leaf) sub-path is optimal.

   Without trimming, the ingress PCE will get all the possible S2L sub-
   paths set for LN, and eventually by looking through all the
   combinations, and taking one sub-path from each set to built one P2MP
   tree it finds the optimal tree.

   Note that if the OF is SPT, VSPT is enough for computing core-tree
   and downstream PCE can continue to do the prunning.  One way to
   address this would be that a transit PCE in core-tree computation can
   decide the numbers of paths sent upstream based on the configuration
   and/or OF.  In case of SPT, the number of path sent will be 1.

   The proposed method may present a scalability problem for the dynamic
   computation of the Core Tree (by iterative checking of all
   combinations of the solution space), specially with dense/meshed
   domains.  Considering a domain sequence D1, D2, D3, D4, where the
   Leaf border node is at domain D4, PCE(4) will return 1 path.  PCE(3)
   will return N paths, where N is E(3) x X(3), where E(k) x X(k)
   denotes the number of entry nodes times the number of exit nodes for
   that domain.  PCE(2) will return M paths, where M = E(2) x X(2) x N =
   E(2) x X(2) x E(3) x X(3) x 1, etc.  Generally speaking the number of
   potential paths at the ingress PCE Q = \prod E(k) x X(k).

   Consequently, it is expected that the Core Path will be typically
   computed offline, without precluding the use of dynamic, online
   mechanisms such as the one presented here, in which case it SHOULD be
   possible to configure transit PCEs to control the number of paths
   sent upstream during BRPC (trading trimming for optimality at the
   point of trimming and downwards).







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7.3.  Sub Tree Computation Procedures

   Once the core tree is built, the grafting of all the leaf nodes from
   each domain to the core tree can be achieved by a number of
   algorithms.  One algorithm for doing this phase is that the root PCE
   will send the request with C bit set for the path computation to the
   destination(s) directly to the PCE where the destination(s) belong(s)
   along with the core tree computed from the phase 1.

   This approach requires that the root PCE manage a potentially large
   number of adjacencies (either in persistent or non-persistent mode),
   including PCEP adjacencies to PCEs that are not within neighboring
   domains.

   A first alternative would involve establishing PCEP adjacencies that
   correspond to the PCE domain tree.  This would require that branch
   PCEs forward requests and responses from the root PCE towards the
   leaf PCEs and vice-versa.

   Finally, another alternative would use a hierarchical PCE [H-PCE]
   architecture.  The "hierarchically" parent would request sub tree
   path computations.

   The algorithms to compute the optimal large sub tree are outside
   scope of this document.  In the case that the number of destinations
   and the number of BNs within a domain are not big, the incremental
   procedure based on p2p path computation using the OSPF can be used.

7.4.  PCEP Protocol Extensions

7.4.1.  The Extension of RP Object

   The RP Object is defined in [RFC5440] as -


        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
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |    Reserved   | Flags                             |O|B|R| Pri |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                        Request-ID-number                      |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                                                               |
       //                      Optional TLV(s)                        //
       |                                                               |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+





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                      Figure 4: RP Object Body Format


   The extended format of the RP object body to include the C bit is as
   follows:

   The C bit is added in the flag bits field of the RP object to signal
   the receiver of the message that the request/reply is for inter-
   domain P2MP Core Tree or not.


     The following flag is added in this draft:

     C bit ( P2MP Core Tree bit - 1 bit):

        0: This indicates that this is normal PCReq/PCRrep for P2MP.

        1: This indicates that this is PCReq or PCRep message for inter-
        domain Core Tree P2MP.  When the C bit is set, then the request
        message should have the Core Tree passed along with the
        destinations which and then graphed to the tree.



7.4.2.  Domain or PCE Sequence

   [DOMAIN-SEQ] mentions the benefit of using domain-sequence over PCE-
   Sequence.  The domain-seq can be used in P2MP scenarios.  [PER-DEST]
   provides a mechanims to encode Domain-Sequence (in form of IRO) per
   destination.

   But if the administrator wants to control PCE rather than domain then
   PCE-SEQUENCE Object can be used.

   The PCE Sequence Object is added to the existing PCE protocol.  A
   list of this objects will represent the PCE topology tree.  A list of
   Sequence Objects can be exchanged between PCEs during the PCE
   capability exchange or on the first path computation request message
   between PCEs.  In this case, the request message format needs to be
   changed to include the list of PCE Sequence Objects for the PCE
   inter-domain P2MP calculation request.

   Each PCE Sequence can be obtained from the domain sequence for a
   specific path.  All the PCE sequences for all the paths of P2MP
   inter-domain form the PCE Topology Tree of the P2MP LSP.

   Object Class for the PCE Sequence Object: To be assigned by IANA.




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   The format of the new PCE Sequence Object for IPv4 (Object-Type 3) is
   as follows:


       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
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       | Object-Class  |   OT  |Res|P|I|   Object Length (bytes)       |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                    IPv4 address for root PCE                  |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                IPv4 address for the downstream PCE            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                IPv4 address for the downstream PCE            |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                         !!                                    |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |   IPv4 address for the PCE corresponding to the leafDomain    |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

        Figure 5: The New PCE Sequence Object Body Format for IPv4


   The format of the new PCE Sequence Object for IPv6 (Object-Type 3) is
   as follows:


























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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
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       | Object-Class  |   OT  |Res|P|I|   Object Length (bytes)       |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                                                               |
       |                    IPv6 address for root PCE                  |
       |                                                               |
       |                                                               |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                                                               |
       |                IPv6 address for the downstream PCE            |
       |                                                               |
       |                                                               |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                                                               |
       |                IPv6 address for the downstream PCE            |
       |                                                               |
       |                                                               |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                                                               |
       |                         !!                                    |
       |                                                               |
       |                                                               |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                                                               |
       |  IPv6 address for the PCE corresponding to the leafDomain     |
       |                                                               |
       |                                                               |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

          Figure 6: The New PCE Sequence Object Body Format for IPv6


7.5.  Relationship with Hierarchical PCE

   The actual grafting of subtrees into the Multi-Domain tree needs to
   be carried out by the source node.  This means that the source node
   needs to get the computed sub-trees from all the involved domains.
   This requires that the source node either has a PCEP session with all
   the PCEs, or PCEP messages are routed via the PCEP sessions.  This
   may mean an excessive number of sessions or an added complexity in
   implementations.

   Alternatively, one may use an architecture based on the concept of
   hierarchical PCE [H-PCE].  The parent PCE would be responsible to
   request Intra-domain subtrees to the PCEs, combine them and return
   the overall P2MP tree.



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7.6.  Parallelism

   In order to minimize latency in path computation in multi-domain
   networks, intra-domain path segments and intra-domain sub-trees
   SHOULD be computed in parallel when possible.  The proposed
   procedures in this draft present opportunities for parallelism:

   1.  The BRPC procedure for each leaf node can be launched in parallel
       by the ingress/root PCE if the dynamic computation of the Core
       Tree is enabled.

   2.  Intra-domain P2MP paths can also be computed in parallel by the
       PCEs once the entry and exit nodes within a domain are known

   One of the potential issues of parallelism is that the ingress PCE
   would require a potentially high number of PCEP adjacencies to
   "remote" PCEs and that may not be desirable, but a given PCE would
   only receive requests for the destinations that are in its domain (+
   the core nodes), without PCEs forwarding requests.

8.  Protection

   It is envisaged that protection may be required when deploying and
   using inter-domain P2MP LSPs.  The procedures and mechanisms defined
   in this document do not prohibit the use of existing and proposed
   types of protection, including: end-to-end protection [RFC4875] and
   domain protection schemes.

   Segment or facility (link and node) protection is problematic in
   inter-domain environment due to the limit of Fast-reroute (FRR)
   [RFC4875] requiring knowledge of its next-hop across domain
   boundaries whilst maintaining domain confidentiality.  Although the
   FRR protection might be implemented if manually provisioned if next-
   hop information was known in advance.

8.1.  End-to-end Protection

   End-to-end protection (Node and Link Protection) principle can be
   applied for computing backup P2MP LSP.  During computaion of Core-
   Tree and Sub-Tree, end-to-end protection can be taken into
   consideration.  PCE may compute the Primary and backup P2MP LSP
   together or sequentially.

8.2.  Domain Protection

   In this protection scheme, backup P2MP Tree can be computed which
   excludes the transit/branch domain completely.  A backup domain path
   tree is needed with the same source domain and destinations domains



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   and a new set of transit domains.  The backup domain path tree can be
   applied to the above procedure to obtion the backup P2MP LSP with
   disjoint transit domains.

9.  Manageability Considerations

   [RFC5862] describes various manageability requirements in support of
   P2MP path computation when applying PCEP.  This section describes how
   manageability requirements mentioned in [RFC5862] are supported in
   the context of PCEP extensions specified in this document.

   Note that [RFC5440] describes various manageability considerations in
   PCEP, and most of manageability requirements mentioned in [PCE-P2MP]
   are already covered there.

9.1.  Control of Function and Policy

   In addition to PCE configuration parameters listed in [RFC5440], the
   following additional parameters might be required:

   o  The ability to enable or disable single domain P2MP path
      computations on the PCE.

   o  The ability to enable or disable multi-domain P2MP path
      computations on the PCE.

   o  The PCE may be configured to enable or disable the advertisement
      of its single domain and multi-domain P2MP path computation
      capability.

9.2.  Information and Data Models

   A number of MIB objects have been defined for general PCEP control
   and monitoring of P2P computations in [PCEP-MIB].  [RFC5862]
   specifies that MIB objects will be required to support the control
   and monitoring of the protocol extensions defined in this document.
   [PCEP-P2MP-MIB] describes managed objects for modeling of PCEP
   communications between a PCC and PCE, and PCE to PCE, P2MP path
   computation requests and responses.

   In case of offline Core tree computation and configuration MAYBE
   stored.

9.3.  Liveness Detection and Monitoring

   No changes are necessary to the liveness detection and monitoring
   requirements as already embodied in [RFC4657].




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   It should be noted that multi-domain P2MP computations are likely to
   take longer than P2P computations, and single domain P2MP
   computatoins.  The liveness detection and monitoring features of the
   PCECP SHOULD take this into account.

9.4.  Verifying Correct Operation

   There are no additional requirements beyond those expressed in
   [RFC4657] for verifying the correct operation of the PCECP.  Note
   that verification of the correct operation of the PCE and its
   algorithms is out of scope for the protocol requirements, but a PCC
   MAY send the same request to more than one PCE and compare the
   results.

9.5.  Requirements on Other Protocols and Functional Components

   A PCE operates on a topology graph that may be built using
   information distributed by TE extensions to the routing protocol
   operating within the network.  In order that the PCE can select a
   suitable path for the signaling protocol to use to install the P2MP
   LSP, the topology graph must include information about the P2MP
   signaling and branching capabilities of each LSR in the network.

   Mechanisms for the knowledge of other domains, the discovery of
   corresponding PCEs and their capabilities should be provided and that
   this information MAY be collected by other mechanisms.

   Whatever means is used to collect the information to build the
   topology graph, the graph MUST include the requisite information.  If
   the TE extensions to the routing protocol are used, these SHOULD be
   as described in [RFC5073].

9.6.  Impact on Network Operation

   The use of a PCE to compute P2MP paths is not expected to have
   significant impact on network operations.  However, it should be
   noted that the introduction of P2MP support to a PCE that already
   provides P2P path computation might change the loading of the PCE
   significantly, and that might have an impact on the network behavior,
   especially during recovery periods immediately after a network
   failure.

   The dynamic computation of Core Trees might also have an impact on
   the load of the involved PCEs as well as path computation times.







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9.7.  Policy Control

   [RFC5394] provides additional details on policy within the PCE
   architecture and also provides context for the support of PCE Policy.
   The are also applicable to Interdomain P2MP Path computation via Core
   Tree Mechanism.

10.  Security Considerations

   As described in [RFC5862], P2MP path computation requests are more
   CPU-intensive and also utilize more link bandwidth.  In the event of
   an unauthorized P2MP path computation request, or a denial of service
   attack, the subsequent PCEP requests and processing may be disruptive
   to the network.  Consequently, it is important that implementations
   conform to the relevant security requirements of [RFC5440] that
   specifically help to minimize or negate unauthorized P2MP path
   computation requests and denial of service attacks.  These mechanisms
   include:

   o  Securing the PCEP session requests and responses using TCP
      security techniques (Section 10.2 of [RFC5440]).

   o  Authenticating the PCEP requests and responses to ensure the
      message is intact and sent from an authorized node (Section 10.3
      of [RFC5440]).

   o  Providing policy control by explicitly defining which PCCs, via IP
      access-lists, are allowed to send P2MP path requests to the PCE
      (Section 10.6 of [RFC5440]).

   PCEP operates over TCP, so it is also important to secure the PCE and
   PCC against TCP denial of service attacks.  Section 10.7.1 of
   [RFC5440] outlines a number of mechanisms for minimizing the risk of
   TCP based denial of service attacks against PCEs and PCCs.

   PCEP implementations SHOULD also consider the additional security
   provided by the TCP Authentication Option (TCP-AO) [RFC5925].

11.  IANA Considerations

11.1.  New Flag of the RP Object

   A new flag of the RP object (specified in [RFC5440]) is defined in
   this document.  IANA maintains a registry of RP object flags in the
   "RP Object Flag Field" sub-registry of the "Path Computation Element
   Protocol (PCEP) Numbers" registry.

   IANA has allocated the following value:



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      Bit      Description              Reference
      TBA      P2MP Core Tree bit       [This.I-D]



11.2.  New PCEP Object

   IANA is requested to assign a new object class in the registry of
   PCEP Objects as follows.


      Object  Name          Object  Name                       Reference
      Class                 Type

      TBA     Pce-Seq       1       Pce Sequence [IPv4]       [This.I-D]
                            2       Pce Sequence [IPv6]       [This.I-D]


12.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Adrian Farrel, Dan Tappan and Olufemi
   Komolafe for their valuable comments on this document.

13.  References

13.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]        Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
                    Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC5440]        Vasseur, JP. and JL. Le Roux, "Path Computation
                    Element (PCE) Communication Protocol (PCEP)",
                    RFC 5440, March 2009.

   [RFC6006]        Zhao, Q., King, D., Verhaeghe, F., Takeda, T., Ali,
                    Z., and J. Meuric, "Extensions to the Path
                    Computation Element Communication Protocol (PCEP)
                    for Point-to-Multipoint Traffic Engineering Label
                    Switched Paths", RFC 6006, September 2010.

13.2.  Informative References

   [RFC4461]        Yasukawa, S., "Signaling Requirements for Point-to-
                    Multipoint Traffic-Engineered MPLS Label Switched
                    Paths (LSPs)", RFC 4461, April 2006.

   [RFC4655]        Farrel, A., Vasseur, J., and J. Ash, "A Path
                    Computation Element (PCE)-Based Architecture",



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                    RFC 4655, August 2006.

   [RFC4657]        Ash, J. and J. Le Roux, "Path Computation Element
                    (PCE) Communication Protocol Generic Requirements",
                    RFC 4657, September 2006.

   [RFC4875]        Aggarwal, R., Papadimitriou, D., and S. Yasukawa,
                    "Extensions to Resource Reservation Protocol -
                    Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) for Point-to-
                    Multipoint TE Label Switched Paths (LSPs)",
                    RFC 4875, May 2007.

   [RFC5073]        Vasseur, J. and J. Le Roux, "IGP Routing Protocol
                    Extensions for Discovery of Traffic Engineering Node
                    Capabilities", RFC 5073, December 2007.

   [RFC5152]        Vasseur, JP., Ayyangar, A., and R. Zhang, "A Per-
                    Domain Path Computation Method for Establishing
                    Inter-Domain Traffic Engineering (TE) Label Switched
                    Paths (LSPs)", RFC 5152, February 2008.

   [RFC5376]        Bitar, N., Zhang, R., and K. Kumaki, "Inter-AS
                    Requirements for the Path Computation Element
                    Communication Protocol (PCECP)", RFC 5376,
                    November 2008.

   [RFC5394]        Bryskin, I., Papadimitriou, D., Berger, L., and J.
                    Ash, "Policy-Enabled Path Computation Framework",
                    RFC 5394, December 2008.

   [RFC5441]        Vasseur, JP., Zhang, R., Bitar, N., and JL. Le Roux,
                    "A Backward-Recursive PCE-Based Computation (BRPC)
                    Procedure to Compute Shortest Constrained Inter-
                    Domain Traffic Engineering Label Switched Paths",
                    RFC 5441, April 2009.

   [RFC5520]        Bradford, R., Vasseur, JP., and A. Farrel,
                    "Preserving Topology Confidentiality in Inter-Domain
                    Path Computation Using a Path-Key-Based Mechanism",
                    RFC 5520, April 2009.

   [RFC5671]        Yasukawa, S. and A. Farrel, "Applicability of the
                    Path Computation Element (PCE) to Point-to-
                    Multipoint (P2MP) MPLS and GMPLS Traffic Engineering
                    (TE)", RFC 5671, October 2009.

   [RFC5862]        Yasukawa, S. and A. Farrel, "Path Computation
                    Clients (PCC) - Path Computation Element (PCE)



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                    Requirements for Point-to-Multipoint MPLS-TE",
                    RFC 5862, June 2010.

   [RFC5925]        Touch, J., Mankin, A., and R. Bonica, "The TCP
                    Authentication Option", RFC 5925, June 2010.

   [H-PCE]          King, D. and A. Farrel, "The Application of the Path
                    Computation Element Architecture to the
                    Determination of a Sequence of Domains in MPLS and
                    GMPLS", October 2011.

   [PCEP-MIB]       Koushik, K., Stephan, E., Zhao, Q., and D. King,
                    "PCE communication protocol (PCEP) Management
                    Information Base (Work in Progress)", July 2010.

   [PCEP-P2MP-MIB]  Zhao, Q., Dhody, D., Palle, U., and D. King,
                    "Management Information Base for the PCE
                    Communications Protocol (PCEP) When Requesting
                    Point-to-Multipoint Services (Work in Progress)",
                    Sept 2011.

   [DOMAIN-SEQ]     Dhody, D., Palle, U., and R. Casellas, "Standard
                    Representation Of Domain Sequence (Work in
                    Progress)", Aug 2011.

   [PER-DEST]       Dhody, D. and U. Palle, "Supporting explicit-path
                    per destination in Path Computation Element
                    Communication Protocol (PCEP) - P2MP Path Request.
                    (Work in Progress)", June 2011.

Authors' Addresses

   Quintin Zhao
   Huawei Technology
   125 Nagog Technology Park
   Acton, MA  01719
   US

   EMail: quintin.zhao@huawei.com












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   Dhruv Dhody
   Huawei Technology
   Leela Palace
   Bangalore, Karnataka  560008
   INDIA

   EMail: dhruv.dhody@huawei.com


   Zafar Ali
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   2000 Innovation Drive
   Kanata, Ontario  K2K 3E8
   CANADA

   EMail: zali@cisco.com


   Tarek Saad
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   US

   EMail: tsaad@cisco.com


   Siva Sivabalan
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   2000 Innovation Drive
   Kanata, Ontario  K2K 3E8
   CANADA

   EMail: msiva@cisco.com


   Daniel King
   Old Dog Consulting
   UK

   EMail: daniel@olddog.co.uk












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   Ramon Casellas
   CTTC - Centre Tecnologic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya
   Av. Carl Friedrich Gauss n7
   Castelldefels, Barcelona  08860
   SPAIN

   EMail: ramon.casellas@cttc.e












































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