RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006



   Internet Draft                                  Francois Le Faucheur
                                                                 Editor
                                                    Cisco Systems, Inc.

   draft-ietf-tsvwg-rsvp-dste-03.txt
   Expires: December 2006                                     June 2006


        Aggregation of RSVP Reservations over MPLS TE/DS-TE Tunnels



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Abstract

   RFC 3175 specifies aggregation of RSVP end-to-end reservations over
   aggregate RSVP reservations. This document specifies aggregation of
   RSVP end-to-end reservations over MPLS Traffic Engineering (TE)
   tunnels or MPLS Diffserv-aware MPLS Traffic Engineering (DS-TE)
   Tunnels. This approach is based on RFC 3175 and simply modifies the
   corresponding procedures for operations over MPLS TE tunnels instead
   of aggregate RSVP reservations. This approach can be used to achieve
   admission control of a very large number of flows in a scalable
   manner since the devices in the core of the network are unaware of
   the end-to-end RSVP reservations and are only aware of the MPLS TE
   tunnels.


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Copyright Notice
   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).


Specification of Requirements

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].



Table of Contents

   1. Introduction...................................................2
   2. Contributing Authors...........................................6
   3. Definitions....................................................7
   4. Operations of RSVP Aggregation over TE with pre-established
   Tunnels...........................................................8
      4.1. Reference Model...........................................9
      4.2. Receipt of E2E Path message By the Aggregator............10
      4.3. Handling of E2E Path message By Transit LSRs.............11
      4.4. Receipt of E2E Path Message by Deaggregator..............11
      4.5. Handling of E2E Resv Message by Deaggregator.............12
      4.6. Handling of E2E Resv Message by the Aggregator...........13
      4.7. Forwarding of E2E traffic by Aggregator..................14
      4.8. Removal of E2E reservations..............................14
      4.9. Removal of TE Tunnel.....................................15
      4.10. Example Signaling Flow..................................16
   5. IPv4 and IPv6 Applicability...................................17
   6. E2E Reservations Applicability................................17
   7. Example Deployment Scenarios..................................17
      7.1. Voice and Video Reservations Scenario....................17
      7.2. PSTN/3G Voice Trunking Scenario..........................18
   8. Optional Use of RSVP Proxy on RSVP Aggregator.................19
   9. Security Considerations.......................................21
   10. IANA Considerations..........................................22
   11. Acknowledgments..............................................22
   12. Normative References.........................................22
   13. Informative References.......................................23
   14. Editor's Address:............................................24
   Appendix A - Example Usage of RSVP Aggregation over DSTE Tunnels for
   VoIP Call Admission Control (CAC)................................25



1.  Introduction



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   The Integrated Services (Intserv) [INT-SERV] architecture provides a
   means for the delivery of end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) to
   applications over heterogeneous networks.

   [RSVP] defines the Resource reSerVation Protocol which can be used by
   applications to request resources from the network. The network
   responds by explicitely admitting or rejecting these RSVP requests.
   Certain applications that have quantifiable resource requirements
   express these requirements using Intserv parameters as defined in the
   appropriate Intserv service specifications ([GUARANTEED],
   [CONTROLLED]).

   The Differentiated Services (DiffServ) architecture ([DIFFSERV]) was
   then developed to support differentiated treatment of packets in very
   large scale environments. In contrast to the per-flow orientation of
   Intserv and RSVP, Diffserv networks classify packets into one of a
   small number of aggregated flows or "classes", based on the Diffserv
   codepoint (DSCP) in the packet IP header. At each Diffserv router,
   packets are subjected to a "per-hop behavior" (PHB), which is invoked
   by the DSCP.  The primary benefit of Diffserv is its scalability.
   Diffserv eliminates the need for per-flow state and per-flow
   processing and therefore scales well to large networks.

   However, DiffServ does not include any mechanism for communication
   between applications and the network. Thus, as detailed in [INT-DIFF],
   significant benefits can be achieved by using Intserv over Diffserv
   including resource based admission control, policy based admission
   control, assistance in traffic identification /classification and
   traffic conditioning. As discussed in [INT-DIFF], Intserv can operate
   over Diffserv in multiple ways. For example, the Diffserv region may
   be statically provisioned or may be RSVP aware. When it is RSVP aware,
   several mechanisms may be used to support dynamic provisioning and
   topology aware admission control including aggregate RSVP
   reservations, per flow RSVP or a bandwidth broker. The advantage of
   using aggregate RSVP reservations is that it offers dynamic,
   topology-aware admission control over the Diffserv region without
   per-flow reservations and the associated level of RSVP signaling in
   the Diffserv core. In turn, this allows dynamic, topology aware
   admission control of flows requiring QoS reservations over the
   Diffserv core even when the total number of such flows carried over
   the Diffserv core is extremely large.

   [RSVP-AGG] describes in detail how to perform such aggregation of end
   to end RSVP reservations over aggregate RSVP reservations in a
   Diffserv cloud. It establishes an architecture where multiple end-to-
   end RSVP reservations sharing the same ingress router (Aggregator)
   and the same egress router (Deaggregator) at the edges of an
   "aggregation region", can be mapped onto a single aggregate
   reservation within the aggregation region. This considerably reduces


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   the amount of reservation state that needs to be maintained by
   routers within the aggregation region. Furthermore, traffic belonging
   to aggregate reservations is classified in the data path purely using
   Diffserv marking.

   [MPLS-TE] describes how MPLS Traffic Engineering (TE) Tunnels can be
   used to carry arbitrary aggregates of traffic for the purposes of
   traffic engineering. [RSVP-TE] specifies how such MPLS TE Tunnels can
   be established using RSVP-TE signaling. MPLS TE uses Constraint Based
   Routing to compute the path for a TE tunnel. Then, Admission Control
   is performed during the establishment of TE Tunnels to ensure they
   are granted their requested resources.

   [DSTE-REQ] presents the Service Providers requirements for support of
   Diff-Serv-aware MPLS Traffic Engineering (DS-TE). With DS-TE,
   separate DS-TE tunnels can be used to carry different Diffserv
   classes of traffic and different resource constraints can be enforced
   for these different classes. [DSTE-PROTO] specifies RSVP-TE signaling
   extensions as well as OSPF and ISIS extensions for support of DS-TE.

   In the rest of this document we will refer to both TE tunnels and DS-
   TE tunnels simply as "TE tunnels".

   TE tunnels have much in common with the aggregate RSVP reservations
   used in [RSVP-AGG]:
      - a TE tunnel is subject to Admission Control and thus is
        effectively an aggregate bandwidth reservation
      - In the data plane, packet scheduling relies exclusively on
        Diff-Serv classification and PHBs
      - Both TE tunnels and aggregate RSVP reservations are controlled
        by "intelligent" devices on the edge of the "aggregation core"
        (Head-end and Tail-end in the case of TE tunnels, Aggregator
        and Deaggregator in the case of aggregate RSVP reservations
      - Both TE tunnels and aggregate RSVP reservations are signaled
        using the RSVP protocol (with some extensions defined in [RSVP-
        TE] and [DSTE-PROTO] respectively for TE tunnels and DS-TE
        tunnels).

   This document provides a detailed specification for performing
   aggregation of end-to-end RSVP reservations over MPLS TE tunnels
   (which act as aggregate reservations in the core). This document
   builds on the RSVP Aggregation procedures defined in [RSVP-AGG], and
   only changes those where necessary to operate over TE tunnels. With
   [RSVP-AGG], a lot of responsibilities (such as mapping end-to-end
   reservations to Aggregate reservations and resizing the Aggregate
   reservations) are assigned to the Deaggregator (which is the
   equivalent of the Tunnel Tail-end) while with TE, the tunnels are
   controlled by the Tunnel Head-end. Hence, the main change over the
   RSVP Aggregations procedures defined in [RSVP-AGG] is to modify these


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   procedures to reassign responsibilities from the Deaggregator to the
   Aggregator (i.e. the tunnel Head-end).

   [LSP-HIER] defines how to aggregate MPLS TE Label Switched Paths
   (LSPs) by creating a hierarchy of such LSPs. This involves nesting of
   end-to-end LSPs into an aggregate LSP in the core (by using the label
   stack construct). Since end-to-end TE LSPs are themselves signaled
   with RSVP-TE and reserve resources at every hop, this can be looked
   at as a form of aggregation of RSVP(-TE) reservations over MPLS TE
   Tunnels. This document capitalizes on the similarities between
   nesting of TE LSPs over TE tunnels and RSVP aggregation over TE
   tunnels and reuses the procedures of [LSP-HIER] wherever possible.

   This document also builds on the "RSVP over Tunnels" concepts of RFC
   2746 [RSVP-TUN]. It differs from that specification in the following
   ways
     - Whereas RFC 2746 describes operation with IP tunnels, this
        document describes operation over MPLS tunnels. One consequence
        of this difference is the need to deal with penultimate hop
        popping (PHP).
     - MPLS-TE tunnels inherently reserve resources, whereas the
        tunnels in RFC 2746 do not have resource reservations by
        default. This leads to some simplifications in the current
        document.
     - There is exactly one reservation per MPLS-TE tunnel, whereas
        RFC 2746 permits many reservations per tunnel.
     - We have assumed in the current document that a given MPLS-TE
        tunnel will carry reserved traffic and nothing but reserved
        traffic, which negates the requirement of RFC 2746 to
        distinguish reserved and non-reserved traffic traversing the
        same tunnel by using distinct encapsulations.
     - There may be several MPLS-TE tunnels that share common head and
        tail end routers, with head-end policy determining which tunnel
        is appropriate for a particular flow. This scenario does not
        appear to be addressed in RFC 2746.

   At the same time, this document does have many similarities with RFC
   2746. MPLS-TE tunnels are "type 2 tunnels" in the nomenclature of RFC
   2746:
   "
      The (logical) link may be able to promise that some overall
      level of resources is available to carry traffic, but not to
      allocate resources specifically to individual data flows.
   "

   Aggregation of end-to-end RSVP reservations over TE tunnels combines
   the benefits of [RSVP-AGG] with the benefits of MPLS including the
   following:



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      - applications can benefit from dynamic, topology-aware resource-
        based admission control over any segment of the end to end path
        including the core
      - as per regular RSVP behavior, RSVP does not impose any burden
        on routers where such admission control is not needed (for
        example if the links upstream and downstream of the MPLS TE
        core are vastly over-engineered compared to the core capacity,
        admission control is not required on these over-engineered
        links and RSVP need not be processed on the corresponding
        router hops)
      - the core scalability is not affected (relative to the
        traditional MPLS TE deployment model) since the core remains
        unaware of end-to-end RSVP reservations and only has to
        maintain aggregate TE tunnels and since the datapath
        classification and scheduling in the core relies purely on
        Diffserv mechanism (or more precisely MPLS Diffserv mechanisms
        as specified in [DIFF-MPLS])
      - the aggregate reservation (and thus the traffic from the
        corresponding end to end reservations) can be network
        engineered via the use of Constraint based routing (e.g.
        affinity, optimization on different metrics) and when needed
        can take advantage of resources on other paths than the
        shortest path
      - the aggregate reservations (and thus the traffic from the
        corresponding end to end reservations) can be protected against
        failure through the use of MPLS Fast Reroute

   This document, like [RSVP-AGG], covers aggregation of unicast
   sessions. Aggregation of multicast sessions is for further study.


2.  Contributing Authors

   This document was the collective work of several authors.  The text
   and content were contributed by the editor and the co-authors listed
   below. (The contact information for the editor appears in the
   Editor's Address section.)


   Michael DiBiasio
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   300 Beaver Brook Road
   Boxborough, MA 01719
   USA
   Email: dibiasio@cisco.com


   Bruce Davie
   Cisco Systems, Inc.


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   300 Beaver Brook Road
   Boxborough, MA 01719
   USA
   Email: bdavie@cisco.com


   Christou Christou
   Booz Allen Hamilton
   8283 Greensboro Drive
   McLean, VA 22102
   USA
   Email: christou_chris@bah.com


   Michael Davenport
   Booz Allen Hamilton
   8283 Greensboro Drive
   McLean, VA 22102
   USA
   Email: davenport_michael@bah.com


   Jerry Ash
   AT&T
   200 Laurel Avenue
   Middletown, NJ 07748, USA
   USA
   Email: gash@att.com


   Bur Goode
   AT&T
   32 Old Orchard Drive
   Weston, CT 06883
   USA
   Email: bgoode@att.com



3.  Definitions

   For readability, a number of definitions from [RSVP-AGG] as well as
   definitions for commonly used MPLS TE terms are provided here:

   Aggregator   This is the process in (or associated with) the router
                 at the ingress edge of the aggregation region (with
                 respect to the end to end RSVP reservation) and
                 behaving in accordance with [RSVP-AGG]. In this
                 document, it is also the TE Tunnel Head-end.


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   Deaggregator This is the process in (or associated with) the router
                 at the egress edge of the aggregation region (with
                 respect to the end to end RSVP reservation) and
                 behaving in accordance with [RSVP-AGG]. In this
                 document, it is also the TE Tunnel Tail-end

   E2E          End to end

   E2E reservation  This is an RSVP reservation such that:
                     (i)  corresponding Path messages are initiated
                            upstream of the Aggregator and terminated
                            downstream of the Deaggregator, and
                     (ii) corresponding Resv messages are initiated
                            downstream of the Deaggregator and
                            terminated upstream of the Aggregator, and
                     (iii) this RSVP reservation is to be aggregated
                            over an MPLS TE tunnel between the
                            Aggregator and Deaggregator.
                     An E2E RSVP reservation may be a per-flow
                     reservation. Alternatively, the E2E reservation
                     may itself be an aggregate reservation of various
                     types (e.g. Aggregate IP reservation, Aggregate
                     IPsec reservation). See section 5 and 6 for more
                     details on the types of E2E RSVP reservations. As
                     per regular RSVP operations, E2E RSVP reservations
                     are unidirectional.

   Head-end
                 This is the Label Switch Router responsible for
                 establishing, maintaining and tearing down a given TE
                 tunnel.

   Tail-end
                 This is the Label Switch Router responsible for
                 terminating a given TE tunnel

   Transit LSR  This is a Label Switch router that is on the path of a
                 given TE tunnel and is neither the Head-end nor the
                 Tail-end


4.  Operations of RSVP Aggregation over TE with pre-established Tunnels

   [RSVP-AGG] supports operations both in the case where aggregate RSVP
   reservations are pre-established and in the case where Aggregators
   and Deaggregators have to dynamically discover each other and
   dynamically establish the necessary aggregate RSVP reservations.





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   Similarly, RSVP Aggregation over TE tunnels could operate both in the
   case where the TE tunnels are pre-established and in the case where
   the tunnels need to be dynamically established.

   In this document we provide a detailed description of the procedures
   in the case where TE tunnels are already established. These
   procedures are based on those defined in [LSP-HIER]. The routing
   aspects discussed in section 3 of [LSP-HIER] are not relevant here
   because those aim at allowing the constraint based routing of end-to-
   end TE LSPs to take into account the (aggregate) TE tunnels. In the
   present document, the end-to-end RSVP reservations to be aggregated
   over the TE tunnels rely on regular SPF routing. However, as already
   mentioned in [LSP-HIER], we note that a TE Tunnel may be advertised
   into ISIS or OSPF, to be used in normal SPF by nodes upstream of the
   Aggregator. This would affect SPF routing and thus routing of end-to-
   end RSVP reservations. The control of aggregation boundaries
   discussed in section 6 of [LSP-HIER] is also not relevant here. This
   uses information exchanged in GMPLS protocols to dynamically discover
   the aggregation boundary. In this document, TE tunnels are pre-
   established, so that the aggregation boundary can be easily inferred.
   The signaling aspects discussed in section 6.2 of [LSP-HIER] apply to
   the establishment/termination of the aggregate TE tunnels when this
   is triggered by GMPLS mechanisms (e.g. as a result of an end-to-end
   TE LSP establishment request received at the aggregation boundary) .
   As this document assumes pre-established tunnels, those aspects are
   not relevant here. The signaling aspects discussed in section 6.1 of
   [LSP-HIER] relate to the establishment/maintenance of the end-to-end
   TE LSPs over the aggregate TE tunnel. This document describes how to
   use the same procedures as those specified in section 6.1 of [LSP-
   HIER], but for the establishment of end-to-end RSVP reservations
   (instead of end-to-end TE LSPs) over the TE tunnels. This is covered
   further in section 4 of the present document.

   Pre-establishment of the TE tunnels may be triggered by any
   mechanisms including for example manual configuration or automatic
   establishment of a TE tunnel mesh through dynamic discovery of TE
   Mesh membership as allowed in [AUTOMESH].

   Procedures in the case of dynamically established TE tunnels are for
   further studies.

4.1.  Reference Model

      I----I                                          I----I
   H--I R  I\ I-----I                       I------I /I R  I--H
   H--I    I\\I     I       I---I           I      I//I    I--H
      I----I \I He/ I       I T I           I Te/  I/ I----I
              I Agg I=======================I Deag I
             /I     I       I   I           I      I\


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   H--------//I     I       I---I           I      I\\--------H
   H--------/ I-----I                       I------I \--------H


   H       = Host requesting end-to-end RSVP reservations
   R       = RSVP router
   He/Agg  = TE tunnel Head-end/Aggregator
   Te/Deag = TE tunnel Tail-end/Deaggregator
   T       = Transit LSR

   --    = E2E RSVP reservation
   ==    = TE Tunnel


4.2.  Receipt of E2E Path message By the Aggregator

   The first event is the arrival of the E2E Path message at the
   Aggregator. The Aggregator MUST follow traditional RSVP procedures
   for processing of this E2E path message augmented with the extensions
   documented in this section.

   The Aggregator MUST first attempt to map the E2E reservation onto a
   TE tunnel. This decision is made in accordance with routing
   information as well as any local policy information that may be
   available at the Aggregator. Examples of such policies appear in the
   following paragraphs. Just for illustration purposes, among many
   other criteria, such mapping policies might take into account the
   Intserv service type, the Application Identity [RSVP-APPID] and/or
   the signaled preemption [RSVP-PREEMP] of the E2E reservation (for
   example, the aggregator may take into account the E2E reservations
   RSVP preemption priority and the MPLS TE Tunnel set-up and/or hold
   priorities when mapping the E2E reservation onto an MPLS TE tunnel).

   There are situations where the Aggregator is able to make a final
   mapping decision. That would be the case, for example, if there is a
   single TE tunnel towards the destination and if the policy is to map
   any E2E RSVP reservation onto TE Tunnels.

   There are situations where the Aggregator is not able to make a final
   determination. That would be the case, for example, if routing
   identifies two DS-TE tunnels towards the destination, one belonging
   to DS-TE Class-Type 1 and one to Class-Type 0, if the policy is to
   map Intserv Guaranteed Services reservations to a Class-Type 1 tunnel
   and Intserv Controlled Load reservations to a Class-Type 0 tunnel,
   and if the E2E RSVP Path message advertises both Guaranteed Service
   and Controlled Load.

   Whether final or tentative, the Aggregator makes a mapping decision
   and selects a TE tunnel. Before forwarding the E2E Path message


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   towards the receiver, the Aggregator SHOULD update the ADSPEC inside
   the E2E Path message to reflect the impact of the MPLS TE cloud onto
   the QoS achievable by the E2E flow. This update is a local matter and
   may be based on configured information, on information available in
   the MPLS TE topology database, on the current TE tunnel path, on
   information collected via RSVP-TE signaling, or combinations of those.

   The Aggregator MUST then forward the E2E Path message to the
   Deaggregator (which is the tail-end of the selected TE tunnel). In
   accordance with [LSP-HIER], the Aggregator MUST send the E2E Path
   message with an IF_ID RSVP_HOP object instead of an RSVP_HOP object.
   The data interface identification MUST identify the TE Tunnel.

   To send the E2E Path message, the Aggregator MUST address it directly
   to the Deaggregator by setting the destination address in the IP
   Header of the E2E Path message to the Deaggregator address. The
   Router Alert is not set in the E2E Path message.

   Optionally, the Aggregator MAY also encapsulate the E2E Path message
   in an IP tunnel or in the TE tunnel itself.

   Regardless of the encapsulation method, the Router Alert is not set.
   Thus, the E2E Path message will not be visible to routers along the
   path from the Aggregator to the Deaggregator. Therefore, in contrast
   to the procedures of [RSVP-AGG], the IP Protocol number need not be
   modified to "RSVP-E2E-IGNORE"; it MUST be left as is (indicating
   "RSVP") by the Aggregator.

   In some environments, the Aggregator and Deaggregator MAY also act as
   IPsec Security Gateways in order to provide IPsec protection to E2E
   traffic when it transits between the Aggregator and the Deaggregator.
   In that case, to transmit the E2E Path message to the Deaggregator,
   the Aggregator MUST send the E2E Path message into the relevant IPsec
   tunnel terminating on the Deaggregator.

   E2E PathTear and ResvConf messages MUST be forwarded by the
   Aggregator to the Deaggregator exactly like Path messages.


4.3.  Handling of E2E Path message By Transit LSRs

   Since the E2E Path message is addressed directly to the Deaggregator
   and does not have Router Alert set, it is hidden from all transit
   LSRs.


4.4.  Receipt of E2E Path Message by Deaggregator




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   On receipt of the E2E Path message addressed to it, the Deaggregator
   will notice that the IP Protocol number is set to "RSVP" and will
   thus perform RSVP processing of the E2E Path message.

   As with [LSP-HIER], the IP TTL vs. RSVP TTL check MUST NOT be made.
   The Deaggregator is informed that this check is not to be made
   because of the presence of the IF_ID RSVP HOP object.

   The Deaggregator MAY support the option to perform the following
   checks (defined in [LSP-HIER]) by the receiver Y of the IF_ID
   RSVP_HOP object:

         1. Make sure that the data interface identified in the IF_ID
            RSVP_HOP object actually terminates on Y.
         2. Find the "other end" of the above data interface, say X.
            Make sure that the PHOP in the IF_ID RSVP_HOP object is a
            control channel address that belongs to the same node as X.

   The information necessary to perform these checks may not always be
   available to the Deaggregator. Hence, the Deaggregator MUST support
   operations in such environments where the checks cannot be made.

   The Deaggregator MUST forward the E2E Path downstream towards the
   receiver. In doing so, the Deaggregator sets the destination address
   in the IP header of the E2E Path message to the IP address found in
   the destination address field of the Session object. The Deaggregator
   also sets the Router Alert.

   An E2E PathErr sent by the Deaggregator in response to the E2E Path
   message (which contains an IF_ID RSVP_HOP object) SHOULD contain an
   IF_ID RSVP_HOP object.


4.5.  Handling of E2E Resv Message by Deaggregator

   As per regular RSVP operations, after receipt of the E2E Path, the
   receiver generates an E2E Resv message which travels upstream hop-by-
   hop towards the sender.

   On receipt of the E2E Resv, the Deaggregator MUST follow traditional
   RSVP procedures on receipt of the E2E Resv message. This includes
   performing admission control for the segment downstream of the
   Deaggregator and forwarding the E2E Resv message to the PHOP signaled
   earlier in the E2E Path message and which identifies the Aggregator.
   Since the E2E Resv message is directly addressed to the Aggregator
   and does not carry the Router Alert option (as per traditional RSVP
   Resv procedures), the E2E Resv message is hidden from the routers
   between the Deaggregator and the Aggregator which, therefore, handle
   the E2E Resv message as a regular IP packet.


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   If the Aggregator and Deaggregator are also acting as IPsec Security
   Gateways, the Deaggregator MUST send the E2E Resv message into the
   relevant IPsec tunnel terminating on the Aggregator.


4.6.  Handling of E2E Resv Message by the Aggregator

   The Aggregator is responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient
   bandwidth available and reserved over the appropriate TE tunnel to
   the Deaggregator for the E2E reservation.

   On receipt of the E2E Resv message, the Aggregator MUST first perform
   the final mapping onto the final TE tunnel (if the previous mapping
   was only a tentative one).

   If the tunnel did not change during the final mapping, the Aggregator
   continues processing of the E2E Resv as described in the four
   following paragraphs.

   The aggregator calculates the size of the resource request using
   traditional RSVP procedures. That is, it follows the procedures in
   [RSVP] to determine the resource requirements from the Sender Tspec
   and the Flowspec contained in the Resv. Then it compares the resource
   request with the available resources of the selected TE tunnel.

   If sufficient bandwidth is available on the final TE tunnel, the
   Aggregator MUST update its internal understanding of how much of the
   TE Tunnel is in use and MUST forward the E2E Resv messages to the
   corresponding PHOP.

   As noted in [RSVP-AGG], a range of policies MAY be applied to the re-
   sizing of the aggregate reservation (in this case, the TE tunnel.)
   For example, the policy may be that the reserved bandwidth of the
   tunnel can only be changed by configuration. More dynamic policies
   are also possible, whereby the aggregator may attempt to increase the
   reserved bandwidth of the tunnel in response to the amount of
   allocated bandwidth that has been used by E2E reservations.
   Furthermore, to avoid the delay associated with the increase of the
   Tunnel size, the Aggregator may attempt to anticipate the increases
   in demand and adjust the TE tunnel size ahead of actual needs by E2E
   reservations. In order to reduce disruptions, the aggregator SHOULD
   use "make-before-break" procedures as described in [RSVP-TE] to alter
   the TE tunnel bandwidth".

   If sufficient bandwidth is not available on the final TE Tunnel, the
   Aggregator MUST follow the normal RSVP procedure for a reservation
   being placed with insufficient bandwidth to support this reservation.



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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006


   That is, the reservation is not installed and a ResvError is sent
   back towards the receiver.

   If the tunnel did change during the final mapping, the Aggregator
   MUST first resend to the Deaggregator an E2E Path message with the
   IF_ID RSVP_HOP data interface identification identifying the final TE
   Tunnel. If needed, the ADSPEC information in this E2E Path message
   SHOULD be updated. Then the Aggregator MUST
      - either drop the E2E Resv message
      - or proceed with the processing of the E2E Resv in the same
        manner as in the case where the tunnel did not change and
        described above.
   In the former case, admission control over the final TE tunnel (and
   forwarding of E2E Resv message upstream towards the sender) would
   only occur when the Aggregator receives the subsequent E2E Resv
   message (that will be sent by the Deaggregator in response to the
   resent E2E Path). In the latter case, admission control over the
   final Tunnel is carried out by Aggregator right away and if
   successful the E2E Resv message is generated upstream towards the
   sender.

   On receipt of an E2E ResvConf from the Aggregator, the Deaggregator
   MUST forward the E2E ResvConf downstream towards the receiver. In
   doing so, the Deaggregator sets the destination address in the IP
   header of the E2E ResvConf message to the IP address found in the
   RESV_CONFIRM object of the corresponding Resv. The Deaggregator also
   sets the Router Alert.


4.7.  Forwarding of E2E traffic by Aggregator

   When the Aggregator receives a data packet belonging to an E2E
   reservations currently mapped over a given TE tunnel, the Aggregator
   MUST encapsulate the packet into that TE tunnel.

   If the Aggregator and Deaggregator are also acting as IPsec Security
   Gateways, the Aggregator MUST also encapsulate the data packet into
   the relevant IPsec tunnel terminating on the Deaggregator before
   transmission into the MPLS TE tunnel.


4.8.  Removal of E2E reservations

   E2E reservations are removed in the usual way via PathTear, ResvTear,
   timeout, or as the result of an error condition. When a reservation
   is removed, the Aggregator MUST update its local view of the
   resources available on the corresponding TE tunnel accordingly.




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4.9.  Removal of TE Tunnel

   Should a TE Tunnel go away (presumably due to a configuration change,
   route change, or policy event), the aggregator behaves much like a
   conventional RSVP router in the face of a link failure. That is, it
   may try to forward the Path messages onto another tunnel, if routing
   and policy permit, or it may send Path_Error messages to the sender
   if no suitable tunnel exists. In case the Path messages are forwarded
   onto another tunnel which terminates on a different Deaggregator, or
   the reservation is torn-down via Path Error messages, the reservation
   state established on the router acting as the Deaggregator before the
   TE tunnel went away, will time out since it will no longer be
   refreshed.






































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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006



4.10.  Example Signaling Flow


                Aggregator                      Deaggregator


                   (*)
                              RSVP-TE Path
                        =========================>

                              RSVP-TE Resv
                        <=========================
                  (**)

    E2E Path
      -------------->
                   (1)
                              E2E Path
                     ------------------------------->
                                                    (2)
                                                        E2E Path
                                                        ----------->

                                                            E2E Resv
                                                        <-----------
                                                     (3)
                              E2E Resv
                      <-----------------------------
                   (4)
          E2E Resv
      <-------------



      (*)  Aggregator is triggered to pre-establish the TE Tunnel(s)

      (**) TE Tunnel(s) are pre-established

      (1)  Aggregator tentatively selects the TE tunnel and forwards
           E2E path to Deaggregator

      (2)  Deaggregator forwards the E2E Path towards receiver

      (3)  Deaggregator forwards the E2E Resv to the Aggregator

      (4)  Aggregator selects final TE tunnel, checks that there is
           sufficient bandwidth on TE tunnel and forwards E2E Resv to



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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006


           PHOP. If final tunnel is different from tunnel tentatively
           selected, the Aggregator re-sends an E2E Path.


5.  IPv4 and IPv6 Applicability

   The procedures defined in this document are applicable to all the
   following cases:

      (1)  Aggregation of E2E IPv4 RSVP reservations over IPv4 TE
           Tunnels
      (2)  Aggregation of E2E IPv6 RSVP reservations over IPv6 TE
           Tunnels
      (3)  Aggregation of E2E IPv6 RSVP reservations over IPv4 TE
           tunnels, provided a mechanism such as [6PE] is used by the
           Aggregator and Deaggregator for routing of IPv6 traffic over
           an IPv4 MPLS core,
      (4)  Aggregation of E2E IPv4 RSVP reservations over IPv6 TE
           tunnels, provided a mechanism is used by the Aggregator and
           Deaggregator for routing IPv4 traffic over IPv6 MPLS.


6.  E2E Reservations Applicability

   The procedures defined in this document are applicable to many types
   of E2E RSVP reservations including the following cases:
      (1)  the E2E RSVP reservation is a per-flow reservation where the
           flow is characterized by the usual 5-tuple
      (2)  the E2E reservation is an aggregate reservation for multiple
           flows as described in [RSVP-AGG] or [RSVP-GEN-AGG] where the
           set of flows is characterized by the <source address,
           destination address, DSCP>
      (3)  the E2E reservation is a reservation for an IPsec protected
           flow. For example, where the flow is characterized by the
           <source address, destination address, SPI> as described in
           [RSVP-IPSEC].


7.  Example Deployment Scenarios

7.1.  Voice and Video Reservations Scenario

   An example application of the procedures specified in this document
   is admission control of voice and video in environments with very
   high numbers of hosts. In the example illustrated below, hosts
   generate end-to-end per-flow reservations for each of their video
   streams associated with a video-conference, each of their audio
   streams associated with a video-conference and each of their voice
   calls. These reservations are aggregated over MPLS DS-TE tunnels over


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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006


   the packet core. The mapping policy defined by the user maybe that
   all the reservations for audio and voice streams are mapped onto DS-
   TE tunnels of Class-Type 1 while reservations for video streams are
   mapped onto DS-TE tunnels of Class-Type 0.

   ------                                             ------
   I H  I# -------                          -------- #I H  I
   I    I\#I     I          -----           I      I#/I    I
   -----I \I Agg I          I T I           I Deag I/ ------
           I     I==========================I      I
   ------ /I     I::::::::::I   I:::::::::::I      I\ ------
   I H  I/#I     I          -----           I      I#\I H  I
   I    I# -------                          -------- #I    I
   ------                                             ------

   H     = Host
   Agg   = Aggregator (TE Tunnel Head-end)
   Deagg = Deaggregator (TE Tunnel Tail-end)
   T     = Transit LSR

   /     = E2E RSVP reservation for a Voice flow
   #     = E2E RSVP reservation for a Video flow
   ==    = DS-TE Tunnel from Class-Type 1
   ::    = DS-TE Tunnel from Class-Type 0


7.2.  PSTN/3G Voice Trunking Scenario

   An example application of the procedures specified in this document
   is voice call admission control in large scale telephony trunking
   environments. A Trunk VoIP Gateway may generate one aggregate RSVP
   reservation for all the calls in place towards another given remote
   Trunk VoIP Gateway (with resizing of this aggregate reservation in a
   step function depending on current number of calls). In turn, these
   reservations may be aggregated over MPLS TE tunnels over the packet
   core so that tunnel Head-ends act as Aggregators and perform
   admission control of Trunk Gateway reservations into MPLS TE Tunnels.
   The MPLS TE tunnels may be protected by MPLS Fast Reroute.
   This scenario is illustrated below:












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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006




   ------                                             ------
   I GW I\ -------                          -------- /I GW I
   I    I\\I     I          -----           I      I//I    I
   -----I \I Agg I          I T I           I Deag I/ ------
           I     I==========================I      I
   ------ /I     I          I   I           I      I\ ------
   I GW I//I     I          -----           I      I\\I GW I
   I    I/ -------                          -------- \I    I
   ------                                             ------

   GW    = VoIP Gateway
   Agg   = Aggregator (TE Tunnel Head-end)
   Deagg = Deaggregator (TE Tunnel Tail-end)
   T     = Transit LSR

   /     = Aggregate Gateway to Gateway E2E RSVP reservation
   ==    = TE Tunnel


8.  Optional Use of RSVP Proxy on RSVP Aggregator

   A number of approaches ([RSVP-PROXY], [L-RSVP]) have been, or are
   being, discussed in the IETF in order to allow a network node to
   behave as an RSVP proxy which:
      - originates the Resv Message (in response to the Path message) on
   behalf of the destination node
      - originates the Path message (in response to some trigger) on
   behalf of the source node.

   We observe that such approaches may optionally be used in conjunction
   with the aggregation of RSVP reservations over MPLS TE tunnels as
   specified in this document. In particular, we consider the case where
   the RSVP Aggregator/Deaggregator also behaves as the RSVP proxy.

   As discussed in [RSVP-PROXY]:

   "The proxy functionality does not imply merely generating a single
   Resv message. Proxying the Resv involves installing state in the node
   doing the proxy i.e. the proxying node should act as if it had
   received a Resv from the true endpoint. This involves reserving
   resources (if required), sending periodic refreshes of the Resv
   message and tearing down the reservation if the Path is torn down."

   Hence, when behaving as the RSVP Proxy, the RSVP Aggregator may
   effectively perform resource reservation over the MPLS TE Tunnel (and
   hence over the whole segment between the RSVP Aggregator and the RSVP



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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006


   Deaggregator) even if the RSVP signaling only takes place upstream of
   the MPLS TE Tunnel (i.e. between the host and the RSVP aggregator).

   Also, the RSVP Proxy can generate the Path message on behalf of the
   remote source host in order to achieve reservation in the return
   direction (i.e. from RSVP aggregator/Deaggregator to host).

   The resulting Signaling Flow is illustrated below, covering
   reservations for both directions:

   I----I       I--------------I  I------I   I--------------I     I----I
   I    I       I Aggregator/  I  I MPLS I   I Aggregator/  I     I    I
   IHostI       I Deaggregator/I  I cloudI   I Deaggregator/I     IHostI
   I    I       I RSVP Proxy   I  I      I   I RSVP Proxy   I     I    I
   I----I       I--------------I  I------I   I--------------I     I----I

                      ==========TE Tunnel==========>
                      <========= TE Tunnel==========

     Path                                                      Path
    ------------> (1)-\                          /-(i)  <----------
           Resv       I                         I        Resv
    <------------ (2)-/                          \-(ii) ------------>
           Path                                            Path
    <------------ (3)                              (iii) ------------>
     Resv                                                        Resv
    ------------>                                        <------------


   (1)(i)  : Aggregator/Deaggregator/Proxy receives Path message,
   selects the TE tunnel, performs admission control over the TE Tunnel.
   (1) and (i) happens independently of each other.

   (2)(ii)  : Aggregator/Deaggregator/Proxy generates the Resv message
   towards Host. (2) is triggered by (1) and (ii) is triggered by (i).
   Before generating this Resv message, the Aggregator/Proxy performs
   admission control of the corresponding reservation over the TE tunnel
   that will eventually carry the corresponding traffic.

   (3)(iii) : Aggregator/Deaggregator/Proxy generates the Path message
   towards Host for reservation in return direction. The actual trigger
   for this depends on the actual RSVP proxy solution. As an example,
   (3) and (iii) may simply be triggered respectively by (1) and (i).

   Note that the details of the signaling flow may vary slightly
   depending on the actual approach used for RSVP Proxy. For example, if
   the [L-RSVP] approach was used instead of [RSVP-PROXY], an additional
   PathRequest message would be needed from host to



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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006


   Aggregator/Deaggregator/Proxy in order to trigger the generation of
   the Path message for return direction.

   But regardless of the details of the call flow and of the actual RSVP
   Proxy approach, RSVP proxy may optionally be deployed in combination
   with RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE Tunnels, in such a way which
   ensures (when used on both the Host-Aggregator and Deaggregator-Host
   sides, and when both end systems support RSVP) that:

      (i)  admission control and resource reservation is performed on
             every segment of the end-to-end path (i.e. between source
             host and Aggregator, over the TE Tunnel between the
             Aggregator and Deaggregator which itself has been subject
             to admission control by MPLS TE, between Deaggregator and
             destination host)

      (ii) this is achieved in both direction

      (iii) RSVP signaling is localized between hosts and
             Aggregator/Deaggregator, which may result in significant
             reduction in reservation establishment delays (and in turn
             in post dial delay in the case where these reservations
             are pre-conditions for voice call establishment),
             particularly in the case where the MPLS TE tunnels span
             long distances with high propagation delays.


9.  Security Considerations

   The security issues inherent to the use of RSVP, RSVP Aggregation and
   MPLS TE apply. Those can be addressed as discussed in [RSVP], [RSVP-
   AGG] and [RSVP-TE].

   Section 7 of [LSP-HIER] discusses security considerations stemming
   from the fact that the implicit assumption of a binding between data
   interface and the interface over which a control message is sent is
   no longer valid. These security considerations are equally applicable
   to the present document.

   In addition, in the case where the Aggregators dynamically resize the
   TE tunnels based on the current level of reservation, there are risks
   that the TE tunnels used for RSVP aggregation hog resources in the
   core which could prevent other TE Tunnels from being established.
   There are also potential risks that such resizing results in
   significant computation and signaling as well as churn on tunnel
   paths. Such risks can be mitigated by configuration options allowing
   control of TE tunnel dynamic resizing (maximum Te tunnel size,
   maximum resizing frequency,...) and/or possibly by the use of TE
   preemption.


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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006



   If the Aggregator and Deaggregator are also acting as IPsec Security
   Gateways, the Security Considerations of [SEC-ARCH] apply.


10.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no actions for IANA.


11.  Acknowledgments

   This document builds on the [RSVP-AGG], [RSVP-TUN] and [LSP-HIER]
   specifications. Also, we would like to thank Tom Phelan, John Drake,
   Arthi Ayyangar, Fred Baker, Subha Dhesikan, Kwok-Ho Chan, Carol
   Iturralde and James Gibson for their input into this document.


12.  Normative References

   [RFC2119] S. Bradner, Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
   Requirement Levels, RFC2119, March 1997.

   [RFC3668] S. Bradner, Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology,
   RFC 3668, February 2004.

   [BCP-78], S. Bradner, IETF Rights in Contributions, RFC3978, March
   2005.

   [RSVP] Braden et al., Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) -- Version
   1 Functional Specification, RFC 2205, September 1997.

   [INT-SERV] Braden, R., Clark, D. and S. Shenker, Integrated Services
   in the Internet Architecture: an Overview, RFC 1633, June 1994.

   [GUARANTEED] Shenker et al., Specification of Guaranteed Quality of
   Service, RFC2212

   [CONTROLLED] Wroclawski, Specification of the Controlled-Load Network
   Element Service, RFC2211

   [DIFFSERV] Blake et al., An Architecture for Differentiated Services,
   RFC 2475

   [INT-DIFF] A Framework for Integrated Services Operation over
   Diffserv Networks, RFC 2998, November 2000.

   [RSVP-AGG] Baker et al, Aggregation of RSVP for IPv4 and IPv6
   Reservations, RFC 3175, September 2001.


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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006



   [MPLS-TE] Awduche et al., "Requirements for Traffic Engineering over
   MPLS", RFC 2702, September 1999.

   [RSVP-TE] Awduche et al, RSVP-TE: Extensions to RSVP for LSP Tunnels,
   RFC 3209, December 2001.

   [DSTE-PROTO] Le Faucheur et al, Protocol extensions for support of
   Diff-Serv-aware MPLS Traffic Engineering, RFC 4124, June 2005.

   [LSP-HIER] Kompella et al, Label Switched Paths (LSP) Hierarchy with
   Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) Traffic
   Engineering (TE), RFC 4206, October 2005

   [SEC-ARCH] Kent and Seo, Security Architecture for the Internet
   Protocol, RFC 4301, December 2005


13.  Informative References

   [DIFF-MPLS] Le Faucheur et al, MPLS Support of Diff-Serv, RFC3270,
   May 2002.

   [DSTE-REQ] Le Faucheur et al, Requirements for support of Diff-Serv-
   aware MPLS Traffic Engineering, RFC3564, July 2003.

   [6PE] De Clercq et al, Connecting IPv6 Islands over IPv4 MPLS using
   IPv6 Provider Edge Routers (6PE), work in progress

   [RSVP-IPSEC] Berger et al, RSVP Extensions for IPSEC Data Flows, RFC
   2207

   [RSVP-GEN-AGG] Le Faucheur et al, Generic Aggregate RSVP Reservations,
   draft-ietf-tsvwg-rsvp-ipsec, work in progress

   [RSVP-TUN] Terzis et al., RSVP Operation Over IP Tunnels, RFC 2746,
   January 2000

   [RSVP-PREEMP] Herzog, Signaled Preemption Priority Policy Element,
   RFC 3181

   [L-RSVP] Manner et al., Localized RSVP, draft-manner-lrsvp-04.txt,
   work in progress.

   [RSVP-PROXY] Gai et al., RSVP Proxy, draft-ietf-rsvp-proxy-03.txt
   (expired), work in progress.

   [RSVP-APPID] Bernet et al., Identity Representation for RSVP, RFC
   3182.


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   [AUTOMESH] Vasseur and Leroux, Routing extensions for discovery of
   Multiprotocol (MPLS) Label Switch Router (LSR) Traffic Engineering
   (TE) mesh membership, draft-vasseur-ccamp-automesh-00.txt, work in
   progress.

   [SIP-RSVP] Camarillo, Integration of Resource Management and Session
   Initiation Protocol (SIP), RFC 3312


14.  Editor's Address:

   Francois Le Faucheur
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   Village d'Entreprise Green Side - Batiment T3
   400, Avenue de Roumanille
   06410 Biot Sophia-Antipolis
   France
   Email: flefauch@cisco.com




IPR Statements

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   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
   made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information
   on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
   found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
   this standard.
   Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org.


Disclaimer of Validity


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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006



   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
   INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
   INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.


Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).  This document is subject
   to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and
   except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.



Appendix A - Example Usage of RSVP Aggregation over DSTE Tunnels for
VoIP Call Admission Control (CAC)

   This Appendix presents an example scenario where the mechanisms
   described in this document are used, in combination with other
   mechanisms specified by the IETF, to achieve Call Admission Control
   (CAC) of Voice over IP (VoIP) traffic over the packet core.

   The information is that Appendix is purely informational and
   illustrative.

   Consider the scenario depicted in Figure A1. VoIP Gateways GW1 and
   GW2 are both signaling and media gateways. They are connected to an
   MPLS network via edge routers PE1 and PE2, respectively. In each
   direction, a DSTE tunnel passes from the head-end edge router,
   through core network P routers, to the tail-end edge router. GW1 and
   GW2 are RSVP-enabled. The RSVP reservations established by GW1 and
   GW2 are aggregated by PE1 and PE2 over the DS-TE tunnels. For
   reservations going from GW1 to GW2, PE1 serves as the
   aggregator/head-end and PE2 serves as the de-aggregator/tail-end. For
   reservations going from GW2 to GW2, PE2 serves as the
   aggregator/head-end and PE1 serves as the de-aggregator/tail-end.

   To determine whether there is sufficient bandwidth in the MPLS core
   to complete a connection, the originating and destination GWs each
   send for each connection a Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP)
   bandwidth request to the network PE router to which it is connected.
   The bandwidth request takes into account VoIP header compression,
   where applicable. As part of its Aggregator role, the PE router
   effectively performs admission control of the bandwidth request



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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006


   generated by the GW onto the resources of the corresponding DS-TE
   tunnel.

   In this example, in addition to behaving as Aggregator/Deaggregator,
   PE1 and PE2 behave as RSVP proxy. So when a PE receives a Path
   message from a GW, it does not propagate the Path message any further.
   Rather, the PE performs admission control of the bandwidth signaled
   in the Path message over the DSTE tunnel towards the destination.
   Assuming there is enough bandwidth available on that tunnel, the PE
   adjusts its book-keeping of remaining available bandwidth on the
   tunnel and generates a Resv message back towards the GW to confirm
   resources have been reserved over the DSTE tunnel.

                                ,-.     ,-.
                          _.---'   `---'   `-+
                      ,-''   +------------+  :
                     (       |            |   `.
                      \     ,'    CCA     `.    :
                       \  ,' |            | `.  ;
                        ;'   +------------+   `._
                      ,'+                     ; `.
                    ,' -+   Application Layer'    `.
               SIP,'     `---+       |    ;         `.SIP
                ,'            `------+---'            `.
              ,'                                        `.
            ,'                                            `.
          ,'                  ,-.        ,-.                `.
        ,'                ,--+   `--+--'-   --'\              `._
     +-`--+_____+------+  {   +----+   +----+   `. +------+_____+----+
     |GW1 | RSVP|      |______| P  |___| P  |______|      | RSVP|GW2 |
     |    |-----| PE1  |  {   +----+   +----+    /+| PE2  |-----|    |
     |    |     |      |==========================>|      |     |    |
     +-:--+ RTP |      |<==========================|      | RTP +-:--+
      _|..__    +------+  {     DSTE Tunnels    ;  +------+ __----|--.
    _,'    \-|          ./                    -'._          /         |
    | Access  \         /        +----+           \,        |_ Access |
    | Network   |       \_       | P  |             |       /  Network |
    |          /          `|     +----+            /        |         '
    `--.  ,.__,|           |    IP/MPLS Network   /         '---'- ----'
       '`'  ''             ' .._,,'`.__   _/ '---'                |
        |                             '`'''                       |
        C1                                                        C2

      Figure A1.  Integration of SIP Resource Management, DSTE
                  and RSVP  Aggregation


   [SIP-RSVP] discusses how network quality of service can be made a
   precondition for establishment of sessions initiated by the Session


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                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006


   Initiation Protocol (SIP). These preconditions require that the
   participant reserve network resources before continuing with the
   session. The reservation of network resources are performed through a
   signaling protocol such as RSVP.

   Our example environment relies of [SIP-RSVP] to synchronize RSVP
   bandwidth reservations with SIP. For example, the RSVP bandwidth
   requests may be integrated into the call setup flow as follows (See
   call setup flow diagram in Figure A2):

      - Caller C1 initiates a call by sending a SIP INVITE to VoIP
        gateway GW1, which passes the INVITE along to the call control
        agent (CCA).  The INVITE message may contain a list of codecs
        that the calling phone can support.

      - VoIP gateway GW2, chooses a compatible codec from the list and
        responds with a SIP message 183 Session Progress.

      - When GW1 receives the SIP response message and learns the codec
        to be used, it knows how much bandwidth is required for the
        call.

      - GW1 sends an RSVP Path message to PE1, requesting bandwidth for
        the call.

      - GW2 also sends an RSVP Path message to PE2.

      - Assuming that the tunnel (from left to right) has sufficient
        bandwidth, PE1 responds to GW1 with a Resv message

      - Again assuming the tunnel (from right to left) has sufficient
        bandwidth, PE2 responds to GW2 with a Resv message

      - GW2 sends a SIP 200 OK message to GW1.

      - GW1 sends a SIP UPDATE message to GW2.

      - Upon receiving the UPDATE, GW2 sends the INVITE to the
        destination phone, which responds with SIP message 180 RINGING.

      - When (and if) the called party answers, the destination phone
        responds with another SIP 200 OK which completes the connection
        and tells the calling party that there is now reserved
        bandwidth in both directions so that conversation can begin.

      - RTP media streams in both directions pass through the DSTE
        tunnels as they traverse the MPLS network.




Le Faucheur, et al.                                          [Page 27]


                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006



    IP-Phone/                                                  IP-Phone/
     TA-C1      GW1     PE1         CCA          PE2      GW2      TA-C2
     |     INVITE|(SDP1) |  INVITE   |   INVITE   |        |           |
     |---------->|-------|---------->|------------|------->|           |
     |        100|TRYING |           |            |        |           |
     |<----------|-------|-----------|            |        |           |
     |        183|(SDP2) |           |            |        |           |
     |<----------|-------|-----------|------------|--------|           |
     |           | PATH  |           |            |  PATH  |           |
     |           |------>|           |            |<-------|           |
     |           | RESV  |           |            |  RESV  |           |
     |           |<------|           |            |------->|           |
     |           |       |     UPDATE|(SDP3)      |        |           |
     |           |-------|-----------|------------|------->|           |
     |           |       |     200 OK|(SDP4)      |        |           |
     |           |<------|-----------|------------|--------|  INVITE   |
     |           |       |           |            |        |---------->|
     |180 RINGING|       |        180|RINGING     |        |180 RINGING|
     |<----------|<------|-----------|------------|--------|<----------|
     | 200 OK    |    200|OK         |         200|OK      |  200 OK   |
     |<----------|<------|-----------|<-----------|--------|<----------|
     |           |       |           |            |        |           |
     |           |       |       DSTE|TUNNEL      |        |           |
     |        RTP|MEDIA  |-----------|------------|        |           |
     |===========|=======|===========|============|========|==========>|
     |           |       |-----------|------------|        |           |
     |           |       |           |            |        |           |
     |           |       |-----------|------------|        |           |
     |<==========|=======|===========|============|========|===========|
     |           |       |-----------|------------|        |           |
                                 DSTE TUNNEL

           Figure A2. VoIP QoS CAC using SIP with Preconditions


   Through the collaboration between SIP resource management, RSVP
   signaling, RSVP Aggregation and DS-TE as described above, we see
   that:
      a) the PE and GW collaborate to determine whether there is enough
   bandwidth on the tunnel between the calling and called GWs to
   accommodate the connection,
      b) the corresponding accept/reject decision is communicated to the
   GWs on a connection-by-connection basis, and
      c) the PE can optimize network resources by dynamically adjusting
   the bandwidth of each tunnel according to the load over that tunnel.
   For example, if a tunnel is operating near capacity, the network may
   dynamically adjust the tunnel size within a set of parameters.



Le Faucheur, et al.                                          [Page 28]


                RSVP Aggregation over MPLS TE tunnels       June 2006


   We note that admission Control of voice calls over the core network
   capacity is achieved in a hierarchical manner whereby:
      - DSTE tunnels are subject to Admission Control over the
        resources of the MPLS TE core
      - Voice calls are subject to CAC over the DSTE tunnel bandwidth
   This hierarchy is a key element in the scalability of this CAC
   solution for voice calls over an MPLS Core.

   It is also possible for the GWs to use aggregate RSVP reservations
   themselves instead of per-call RSVP reservations. For example,
   instead of setting one reservation for each call GW1 has in place
   towards GW2, GW1 may establish one (or a small number of) aggregate
   reservations as defined in [RSVP-AGG] which is used for all (or a
   subset of all) the calls towards GW2. This effectively provides an
   additional level of hierarchy whereby:
      -
         DSTE tunnels are subject to Admission Control over the
        resources of the MPLS TE core
      - Aggregate RSVP reservations (for the calls from one GW to
        another GW) are subject to Admission Control over the DSTE
        tunnels (as per the "RSVP Aggregation over TE Tunnels"
        procedures defined in this document)
      - Voice calls are subject to CAC by the GW over the aggregate
        reservation towards the appropriate destination GW.
   This pushes even further the scalability limits of this voice CAC
   architecture.


























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