Internet Research Task Force                             F. Templin, Ed.
(IRTF)                                      Boeing Research & Technology
Internet-Draft                                           August 12, 2010
Intended status: Experimental
Expires: February 13, 2011


              The Internet Routing Overlay Network (IRON)
                       draft-templin-iron-10.txt

Abstract

   Since the Internet must continue to support escalating growth due to
   increasing demand, it is clear that current routing architectures and
   operational practices must be updated.  This document proposes an
   Internet Routing Overlay Network for supporting sustainable growth
   through Provider Independent addressing while requiring no changes to
   end systems and no changes to the existing routing system.  While
   business considerations are an important determining factor for
   widespread adoption, they are out of scope for this document.  This
   document is a product of the IRTF Routing Research Group.

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
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   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on February 13, 2011.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2010 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



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   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.


Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.  The Internet Routing Overlay Network . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
     3.1.  IR[CE] - IRON Customer Edge Router . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     3.2.  IR[VE] - IRON Virtual Prefix Company Edge Router . . . . .  8
     3.3.  IR[VC] - IRON Virtual Prefix Company Core Router . . . . .  9
     3.4.  IR[VP] - IRON Virtual Prefix Company Combined Router . . . 10
   4.  IRON Organizational Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   5.  IRON Initialization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     5.1.  IR[VC] Initialization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     5.2.  IR[VE] Initialization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     5.3.  IR[CE] Initialization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   6.  IRON Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     6.1.  IR[CE] Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     6.2.  IR[VE] Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
     6.3.  IR(VC) Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     6.4.  IRON Reference Operating Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
       6.4.1.  Both Hosts Within IRON EUNs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
       6.4.2.  Mixed IRON and Non-IRON Hosts  . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
     6.5.  Mobility, Multihoming and Traffic Engineering
           Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
       6.5.1.  Mobility Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
       6.5.2.  Multihoming  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
       6.5.3.  Inbound Traffic Engineering  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
       6.5.4.  Outbound Traffic Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
     6.6.  Renumbering Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
     6.7.  NAT Traversal Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
     6.8.  Nested EUN Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
       6.8.1.  Host A Sends Packets to Host Z . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
       6.8.2.  Host Z Sends Packets to Host A . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
   7.  Additional Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
   8.  Related Initiatives  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
   9.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
   10. Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
   11. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
   12. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
     12.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
     12.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
   Appendix A.  IRON VPs Over Internetworks with Different



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                Address Families  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
   Appendix B.  Scaling Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
   Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
















































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1.  Introduction

   Growth in the number of entries instantiated in the Internet routing
   system has led to concerns for unsustainable routing scaling
   [I-D.narten-radir-problem-statement].  Operational practices such as
   increased use of multihoming with IPv4 Provider-Independent (PI)
   addressing are resulting in more and more fine-grained prefixes
   injected into the routing system from more and more end-user
   networks.  Furthermore, the forthcoming depletion of the public IPv4
   address space has raised concerns for both increased deaggregation
   (leading to yet further routing table entries) and an impending
   address space run-out scenario.  At the same time, the IPv6 routing
   system is beginning to see growth in IPv6 Provider-Aggregated (PA)
   prefixes [BGPMON] which must be managed in order to avoid the same
   routing scaling issues the IPv4 Internet now faces.  Since the
   Internet must continue to scale to accommodate increasing demand, it
   is clear that new routing methodologies and operational practices are
   needed.

   Several related works have investigated routing scaling issues and
   proposed solutions.  Virtual Aggregation (VA) [I-D.ietf-grow-va] and
   Aggregation in Increasing Scopes (AIS) [I-D.zhang-evolution] are
   global routing proposals that introduce routing overlays with Virtual
   Prefixes (VPs) to reduce the number of entries required in each
   router's Forwarding Information Base (FIB) and Routing Information
   Base (RIB).  Routing and Addressing in Networks with Global
   Enterprise Recursion (RANGER) [RFC5720] examines recursive
   arrangements of enterprise networks that can apply to a very broad
   set of use case scenarios [I-D.russert-rangers].  In particular,
   RANGER supports encapsulation and secure redirection by treating each
   layer in the recursive hierarchy as a virtual non-broadcast, multiple
   access (NBMA) "link".  RANGER is an architectural framework that
   includes Virtual Enterprise Traversal (VET) [I-D.templin-intarea-vet]
   and the Subnetwork Adaptation and Encapsulation Layer (SEAL)
   (including the SEAL Control Message Protocol (SCMP))
   [I-D.templin-intarea-seal] as its functional building blocks.

   This document proposes an Internet Routing Overlay Network (IRON)
   with goals of supporting sustainable growth while requiring no
   changes to the existing routing system.  IRON borrows concepts from
   VA, AIS and RANGER, and further borrows concepts from the Internet
   Vastly Improved Plumbing (Ivip) [I-D.whittle-ivip-arch] architecture
   proposal along with its associated Translating Tunnel Router (TTR)
   mobility extensions [TTRMOB].  Indeed, the TTR model to a great
   degree inspired the IRON mobility architecture design discussed in
   this document.  The Network Address Translator (NAT) traversal
   techniques adapted for IRON were inspired by the Simple Address
   Mapping for Premises Legacy Equipment (SAMPLE) proposal



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   [I-D.carpenter-softwire-sample].

   IRON specifically seeks to provide scalable PI addressing without
   changing the current BGP [RFC4271] routing system.  IRON observes the
   Internet Protocol standards [RFC0791][RFC2460].  Other network layer
   protocols that can be encapsulated within IP packets (e.g., OSI/CLNP
   [RFC1070], etc.) are also within scope.

   The IRON is a global routing system comprising virtual overlay
   networks managed by Virtual Prefix Companies (VPCs) that own and
   manage Virtual Prefixes (VPs) from which End User Network (EUN) PI
   prefixes (EPs) are delegated to customer sites.  The IRON is
   motivated by a growing customer demand for multihoming, mobility
   management and traffic engineering while using stable PI addressing
   to avoid network renumbering [RFC4192][RFC5887].  The IRON uses the
   existing IPv4 and IPv6 global Internet routing systems as virtual
   links for tunneling inner network protocol packets within outer IPv4
   or IPv6 headers (see: Section 3).  The IRON requires deployment of a
   small number of new BGP core routers and supporting servers, as well
   as IRON-aware routers/servers in customer EUNs.  No modifications to
   hosts, and no modifications to most routers are required.

   Note: This document is offered in compliance with Internet Research
   Task Force (IRTF) document stream procedures [RFC5743]; it is not an
   IETF product and is not a standard.  The views in this document were
   considered controversial by the IRTF Routing Research Group (RRG) but
   the RG reached a consensus that the document should still be
   published.  The document will undergo a period of review within the
   RRG and through selected expert reviewers prior to publication.  The
   following sections discuss details of the IRON architecture.


2.  Terminology

   This document makes use of the following terms:

   End User Network (EUN)
      an edge network that connects an organization's devices (e.g.,
      computers, routers, printers, etc.) to the Internet and possibly
      also the IRON.

   Internet Service Provider (ISP)
      a service provider which physically connects customer EUNs to the
      Internet.  In other words, an ISP is responsible for providing IP
      connectivity to a customer owning an EUN.






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   Provider Aggregated (PA) address or prefix
      a network layer address or prefix delegated to an EUN by an ISP.

   Provider Independent (PI) address or prefix
      a network layer address or prefix delegated to an EUN by a third
      party independently of the EUN's ISP arrangements.

   Virtual Prefix (VP)
      a PI prefix block (e.g., an IPv4 /16, an IPv6 /20, an OSI NSAP
      prefix, etc.) that is owned and managed by a Virtual Prefix
      Company (VPC).

   End User Network PI prefix (EP)
      a more-specific PI prefix derived from a VP (e.g., an IPv4 /28, an
      IPv6 /56, etc.) and delegated to an EUN by a VPC.

   EP Address (EPA)
      a network layer address belonging to an EP and assigned to the
      interface of an end system in an EUN.

   Locator
      an IP address assigned to the interface of a router or end system
      within a public or private network.  Locators taken from public IP
      prefixes are routable on a global basis, while locators taken from
      private IP prefixes are made public via Network Address
      Translation (NAT).

   Virtual Prefix Company (VPC)
      a company that owns and manages a set of VPs from which it
      delegates End User Network PI Prefixes (EPs) to EUNs

   Internet Routing Overlay Network (IRON)
      an overlay network configured over the global Internet.  The IRON
      supports routing through encapsulation of inner packets with EPA
      addresses within outer headers that use locator addresses.


3.  The Internet Routing Overlay Network

   The Internet Routing Overlay Network (IRON) consists of IRON Routers
   (IRs) that automatically tunnel the packets of end-to-end
   communication sessions within encapsulating headers used for
   Internetwork routing.  IRs use Virtual Enterprise Traversal (VET)
   [I-D.templin-intarea-vet] in conjunction with the Subnetwork
   Encapsulation and Adaptation Layer (SEAL) [I-D.templin-intarea-seal]
   to encapsulate inner network layer packets within outer headers as
   shown in Figure 1:




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                                         +-------------------------+
                                         |    Outer headers with   |
                                         ~     locator addresses   ~
                                         |     (IPv4 or IPv6)      |
                                         +-------------------------+
                                         |       SEAL Header       |
       +-------------------------+       +-------------------------+
       |   Inner Packet Header   |  -->  |   Inner Packet Header   |
       ~    with EP addresses    ~  -->  ~    with EP addresses    ~
       | (IPv4, IPv6, OSI, etc.) |  -->  | (IPv4, IPv6, OSI, etc.) |
       +-------------------------+       +-------------------------+
       |                         |  -->  |                         |
       ~    Inner Packet Body    ~  -->  ~    Inner Packet Body    ~
       |                         |  -->  |                         |
       +-------------------------+       +-------------------------+

          Inner packet before                Outer packet after
          before encapsulation               after encapsulation

     Figure 1: Encapsulation of Inner Packets Within Outer IP Headers

   VET specifies the automatic tunneling mechanisms used for
   encapsulation, while SEAL specifies the format and usage of the SEAL
   header as well as a set of control messages.  Most notably, IRs use
   SEAL to deterministically exchange and authenticate control messages
   such as indications of Path Maximum Transmission Unit (PMTU)
   limitations.

   The IRON is manifested through a business model in which Virtual
   Prefix Companies (VPCs) own and manage virtual overlay networks
   comprising a set of IRs that are distributed throughout the Internet
   and serve highly-aggregated Virtual Prefixes (VPs).  VPCs delegate
   sub-prefixes from their VPs which they lease to customers as End User
   Network PI prefixes (EPs).  The customers in turn assign the EPs to
   their customer edge IRs which connect their End User Networks (EUNs)
   to the IRON.

   VPCs may have no affiliation with the ISP networks from which
   customers obtain their basic Internet connectivity.  Therefore,
   unless the ISP also acts as a VPC the customer must have two business
   relationships - one with the ISP and a second with the VPC.  In that
   case, the VPC can open for business and begin serving their customers
   immediately without the need to coordinate their activities with ISPs
   or with other VPCs.  Further details on business considerations are
   out of scope for this document.

   The IRON requires no changes to end systems and no changes to most
   routers in the Internet.  Instead, the IRON comprises IRs that are



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   deployed either as new platforms or as modifications to existing
   platforms.  IRs may be deployed incrementally without disturbing the
   existing Internet routing system, and act as waypoints (or "cairns")
   for navigating the IRON.  The functional roles for IRs are described
   in the following sections.

3.1.  IR[CE] - IRON Customer Edge Router

   An IR[CE] is a Customer Edge router (or host with embedded gateway
   function) that logically connects the customer's EUNs and their
   associated EPs to the IRON via tunnels as shown in Figure 2.  IR[CE]s
   obtain EPs from VPCs and use them to number subnets and interfaces
   within their EUNs.  An IR[CE] can be deployed on the same physical
   platform that also connects the customer's EUNs to its ISPs, but it
   may also be a separate router or even a standalone server system
   located within the EUN.  (This model applies even if the EUN connects
   to the ISP via a Network Address Translator (NAT) - see Section 6.7).
                           .-.
                        ,-(  _)-.
        +--------+   .-(_    (_  )-.
        | IR[CE] |--(_     ISP      )
        +---+----+     `-(______)-'
            |   <= T         \     .-.
           .-.       u        \ ,-(  _)-.
        ,-(  _)-.       n     .-(_    (-  )-.
     .-(_    (_  )-.      n  (_   Internet   )
    (_     EUN      )       e   `-(______)-
       `-(______)-'           l          ___
            |                   s =>    (:::)-.
       +----+---+                   .-(::::::::)
       |  Host  |                .-(::::::::::::)-.
       +--------+               (:::: The IRON ::::)
                                 `-(::::::::::::)-'
                                    `-(::::::)-'

                Figure 2: IR[CE] Connecting EUN to the IRON

3.2.  IR[VE] - IRON Virtual Prefix Company Edge Router

   An IR[VE] is a VPC's overlay network edge router that provides
   forwarding and mapping services for the EPs owned by customer
   IR[CE]s.  In typical deployments, a VPC will deploy many IR[VE]s
   around the IRON in a globally-distributed fashion (e.g., as depicted
   in Figure 3) so that IR[CE] clients can discover those that are
   nearby.






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             +--------+    +--------+
             | IR[VE] |    | IR[VE] |
             | Boston |    | Tokyo  |
             +--+-----+    ++-------+
     +--------+  \         /
     | IR[VE] |   \   ___ /
     | Seattle|    \ (:::)-.       +--------+
     +------+-+  .-(::::::::)------+ IR[VE] |
             \.-(::::::::::::)-.   | Paris  |
             (:::: The IRON ::::)  +--------+
              `-(::::::::::::)-'
   +--------+ /  `-(::::::)-'  \     +--------+
   | IR[VE] +          |        \--- + IR[VE] |
   | Moscow |     +----+---+         | Sydney |
   +--------+     | IR[VE] |         +--------+
                  | Cairo  |
                  +--------+

               Figure 3: IR[VE] Global Distribution Example

   Each IR[VE] serves as a customer-facing tunnel endpoint router that
   IR[CE]s form bidirectional tunnels with over the IRON.  Each IR[VE]
   also associates with an Internet-facing IR[VC] that can forward
   packets from the IRON out to the native public Internet and vice-
   versa as discussed in the next section.

3.3.  IR[VC] - IRON Virtual Prefix Company Core Router

   An IR[VC] is a VPC's overlay network core router that acts as a
   gateway between the IRON and the native public Internet.  It
   therefore also serves as an Autonomous System Border Router (ASBR)
   that is owned and managed by the VPC.

   Each VPC configures one or more IR[VC]s which advertise the company's
   VPs into the IPv4 and IPv6 global Internet BGP routing systems.  Each
   IR[VC] associates with all of the VPC's overlay network edge routers,
   e.g., via tunnels over the IRON, via a direct interconnect such as an
   Ethernet cable, etc.  The IR[VC] role is depicted in Figure 4:













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                   ,-(  _)-.
                .-(_    (_  )-.
               (_   Internet   )
                  `-(______)-'
                        |
                   +----+---+
                   | IR[VC] |
                   +----+---+
                       _|_
                      (:::)-.
                  .-(::::::::)
   +--------+  .-(::::::::::::)-.  +--------+
   | IR[VE] | (:::: The IRON ::::) | IR[VE] |
   +--------+  `-(::::::::::::)-'  +--------+
                  `-(::::::)-'

                   +--------+
                   | IR[VE] |
                   +--------+

            Figure 4: IR[VC] Connecting IRON to Native Internet

3.4.  IR[VP] - IRON Virtual Prefix Company Combined Router

   An IR[VP] is a VPC's overlay network router that combines the
   functions of both the IR[VE] and IR[VC].  While not in itself a
   fundamental building block of the architecture, it is mentioned here
   to clarify an implementation option available to VPCs.

   In the IR[VP] model, the IR[VE] and IR[VC] functions can be thought
   of as "half-gateway" functions that together comprise a unified
   IR[VP].  The IR[VE] and IR[VC] functions can therefore be discussed
   separately even when both functions reside within the same physical
   IR[VP] platform as shown in Figure 5:

















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                   ,-(  _)-.
                .-(_    (_  )-.
               (_   Internet   )
                  `-(______)-'
                        |
             +----------+----------+
             | IR[VC] half-gateway |
             +---------------------+
             | IR[VE] half-gateway |
             +----------+----------+
          <- IR[VP] Unified Gateway ->
                       _|_
                      (:::)-.
                  .-(::::::::)
               .-(::::::::::::)-.
              (:::: The IRON ::::)
               `-(::::::::::::)-'
                  `-(::::::)-'

          Figure 5: IR[VP] Combining IR[VE] and IR[VC] Functions


4.  IRON Organizational Principles

   The IRON consists of the union of all VPC overlay networks worldwide
   (where each VPC configures one or more overlay networks).  Each such
   overlay network represents a distinct "patch" on the Internet
   "quilt", where the patches are stitched together by tunnels over the
   links, routers, bridges, etc. that connect the public Internet.  When
   a new VPC overlay network is deployed, it becomes yet another patch
   on the quilt.  The IRON is therefore a composite overlay network
   consisting of multiple individual patches, where each patch can
   coordinate its activities independently of all others (with the
   exception that each patch must be aware of all VP's in the IRON).

   Each VPC overlay network in the IRON maintains a set of IR[VC]s that
   connect the overlay network directly to the public IPv4 and IPv6
   Internets.  Each IR[VC] advertises the VPC overlay network's IPv4 VPs
   into the IPv4 BGP routing system and advertises the overlay network's
   IPv6 VPs into the IPv6 BGP routing system.  IR[VC]s will therefore
   receive packets with EPA destination addresses sent by end systems in
   the Internet then re-encapsulate and forward them toward the correct
   EPA-addressed end systems connected to the VPC overlay network.

   Each VPC overlay network also manages a set of IR[VE]s that connect
   customer EUNs to the IRON and to the IPv6 and IPv4 Internets via
   their associations with IR[VC]s.  IR[VE]s therefore need not be BGP
   routers themselves and can be simple commodity hardware platforms.



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   Moreover, the IR[VE] and IR[VC] functions can be deployed together on
   the same physical platform as an IR[VP] or they may be deployed on
   separate platforms (e.g., for load balancing purposes).

   Each IR[VE] maintains a working set of IR[CE]s for which it caches
   EP-to-IR[CE] mappings in its Forwarding Information Base (FIB).  Each
   IR[VE] also in turn propagates the list of EPs in its working set to
   each of the IR[VC]s in the VPC overlay network via a dynamic routing
   protocol (e.g., an overlay network internal BGP instance that carries
   only the EP-to-IR[VE] mappings and does not interact with the
   external BGP routing system).  Each IR[VE] therefore only needs to
   track the EPs for its current working set of IR[CE]s, while each
   IR[VC] will maintain a full EP-to-IR[VE] mapping table that
   represents reachability information for all EPs in the VPC overlay
   network.

   Customers establish IR[CE]s to connect their EUNs to both the VPC
   overlay network and to the rest of the IRON.  Each EUN can connect to
   the IRON via one or multiple IR[CE]s as long as the multiple IR[CE]s
   coordinate with one another, e.g., to mitigate EUN partitions.
   Unlike IR[VC]s and IR[VE]s, IR[CE]s may use private addresses behind
   one or several layers of NATs.  The IR[CE] initially discovers a list
   of nearby IR[VE]s through an anycast discovery process.  It then
   selects one of these nearby IR[VE]s as its server and forms a two-way
   tunnel with the IR[VE] through an initial exchange followed by
   periodic keepalives.

   After the IR[CE] selects a serving IR[VE], it forwards outbound
   packets from its EUNs by tunneling them to an IR[VC]/IR[VE] within
   the IRON that serves the final destination.  When the IR[CE] cannot
   tunnel packets directly to an IR[VC]/IR[VE] that serves the final
   destination (e.g., when the destination address is a non-EPA address)
   it instead tunnels them to its own serving IR[VE].

   The IRON can also be used to support VPs of network layer address
   families that cannot be routed natively in the underlying
   Internetwork (e.g., OSI/CLNP within the public Internet, IPv6 within
   IPv4-only Internetworks, IPv4 within IPv6-only Internetworks, etc.).
   Further details for support of IRON VPs over non-native Internetworks
   are discussed in Appendix A.


5.  IRON Initialization

   IRON initialization entails the startup actions of IRs within the VPC
   overlay network and customer EUNs.  The following sections discuss
   these startups procedures.




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5.1.  IR[VC] Initialization

   Before its first operational use, each IR[VC] in a VPC overlay
   network is provisioned with the list of VPs that it will serve as
   well as the locators for all IR[VE]s that belong to the same overlay
   network.  The IR[VC] is also provisioned with external BGP
   interconnections the same as for any BGP router.

   Upon startup, the IR[VC] engages in BGP routing exchanges with its
   peers in the IPv4 and IPv6 Internets the same as for any BGP router.
   It then connects to all of the IR[VE]s in the overlay network (e.g.,
   via a TCP connection over a two-way tunnel, via an iBGP route
   reflector, etc.) for the purpose of discovering EP->IR[VE] mappings.
   After the IR[VC] has fully populated its EP->IR[VE] mapping
   information database, it is said to be "synchronized" wrt its VPs.

   After this initial synchronization procedure, the IR[VC] then
   advertises the overlay network's VPs externally.  In particular, the
   IR[VC] advertises the IPv6 VPs into the IPv6 BGP routing system and
   advertises the IPv4 VPs into the IPv4 BGP routing system.  If the
   IR[VC] only services IPv6 VPs (e.g., 2001:DB8::/32), it advertises
   the IPv6 VPs into the IPv6 routing system and also advertises a
   companion IPv4 prefix (e.g., 192.0.2.0/24) into the IPv4 routing
   system that can be used by IR[CE]s/IR[VE]s from other VPC overlay
   networks for anycast discovery purposes.  Similarly, if the IR[VC]
   only services IPv4 VPs, it also advertises a companion IPv6 prefix
   (e.g., 2001:DB8::/56) into the IPv6 routing system.  (See Appendix A
   for more information on the discovery and use of companion prefixes.)
   The IR[VC] then engages in ordinary packet forwarding operations.

5.2.  IR[VE] Initialization

   Before its first operational use, each IR[VE] in a VPC overlay
   network is provisioned with the locators for all IR[VC]s that serve
   the overlay network's VPs.  In order to support route optimization,
   the IR[VE] must also be provisioned with the list of all VPs in the
   IRON (i.e., and not just the VPs of it own overlay network) so that
   it can discern EPA and non-EPA addresses.  The IR[VE] should also
   discover the VP companion prefix relationships discussed in Section
   5.1, e.g., via a global database such as discussed in Appendix A.

   Upon startup, each IR[VE] must connect to all of the IR[VC]s within
   its overlay network (e.g., via a TCP connection over a two-way
   tunnel, via an iBGP route reflector, etc.) for the purpose of
   reporting its EP->IR[VE] mappings.  The IR[VE] then actively listens
   for IR[CE] customers which register their EP prefixes as part of
   establishing a two-way tunnel.  When a new IR[CE] registers its EP
   prefixes, the IR[VE] announces the new EP additions to all IR[VC]s;



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   when an existing IR[CE] unregisters its EP prefixes, the IR[VE]
   withdraws its announcements.

5.3.  IR[CE] Initialization

   Before its first operational use, each IR[CE] must obtain one or more
   EPs from its VPC as well as any companion prefixes of other address
   families (see Section 5.1) associated with the EPs.  The IR[CE] must
   also be provisioned with the list of all VPs in the IRON (i.e., and
   not just the VPs of its own overlay network) so that it can discern
   EPA and non-EPA addresses.  The IR[CE] could therefore be greatly
   simplified if the list of VPs could be covered within a small number
   of very short prefixes, e.g., one or a few IPv6 ::/20's.

   The IR[CE] must also obtain a certificate and a public/private key
   pair from the VPC that it can later use to prove ownership of its
   EPs.  This implies that each VPC must run its own key infrastructure
   to be used only for the purpose of verifying a customer's claimed
   right to use an EP.  Hence, the VPC need not coordinate its key
   infrastructure with any other organization.

   Upon startup, the IR[CE] sends a SEAL Control Message Protocol (SCMP)
   Router Solicitation (SRS) message using an implicit anycast procedure
   to discover the nearest IR[VC] in its VPC overlay network.  The
   IR[VC] will in turn return a list of locators of the company's nearby
   IR[VE]s.  (This list is analogous to the ISATAP Potential Router List
   (PRL) [RFC5214].)I

   To perform the implicit anycast procedure, the IR[CE] sets the source
   address of the SRS message to one of its locator addresses and sets
   the destination address of the message to any EPA taken from one of
   its own EPs.  (If the EP is of a different address family than the
   IR[CE]'s locators, however, the IR[CE] instead sets the destination
   address to any address taken from the companion prefix associated
   with the EP.)  This SRS message will be delivered to the nearest
   IR[VC] that attaches the VPC overlay network to the Internet.  When
   the IR[VC] receives the SRS message, it sends back an SCMP Router
   Advertisement (SRA) message that lists the locator addresses of one
   or more nearby IR[VE] routers.

   After the IR[CE] receives an SRA message from the nearby IR[VC]
   listing the locator addresses of nearby IR[VE]s, it sends SRS test
   messages to one or more of the locator addresses to elicit SRA
   messages.  The IR[VE] that configures the locator will include the
   header of the soliciting SRS message in its SRA message so that the
   IR[CE] can determine the number of hops along the forward path.  The
   IR[VE] also includes a metric in its SRA messages indicating its
   service availability so that the IR[CE] can avoid selecting IR[VE]s



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   that are overloaded.  The IR[VE] also includes a challenge/response
   puzzle that the IR[CE] must answer if it wishes to enlist this
   IR[VE]'s services.

   When the IR[CE] receives these SRA messages, it can measure the round
   trip time between sending the SRS and receiving the SRA as an
   indication of round-trip delay.  If the IR[CE] wishes the enlist the
   services of a specific IR[VE] (e.g., based on the measured
   performance), it then calculates the answer to the puzzle using its
   keying information and sends the answer back to the IR[VE] in a new
   SRS message that also contains all of the IR[CE]'s EP prefixes for
   which it claims ownership.  If the IR[CE] answered the puzzle
   correctly, the IR[VE] will send back a new SRA message that includes
   a non-zero default router lifetime and that signifies the
   establishment of a two-way tunnel.  (A zero default router lifetime
   on the other hand signifies that the IR[VE] is currently unable to
   establish a two-way tunnel, e.g., due to heavy load, due to
   challenge/response failure, etc.)

   Note that in the above procedure it is essential that the IR[CE]
   select one and only one IR[VE].  This is to allow the VPC overlay
   network mapping system to have one and only one active EP-to-IR[VE]
   mapping at any point in time which shares fate with the IR[VE]
   itself.  If this IR[VE] fails, the IR[CE] will quickly select a new
   one which will automatically update the VPC overlay network mapping
   system with a new EP-to-IR[VE] mapping.


6.  IRON Operation

   Following the IRON initialization detailed in Section 5, IRs engage
   in the steady-state process of receiving and forwarding packets.  All
   IRs forward encapsulated packets over the IRON using the mechanisms
   of VET [I-D.templin-intarea-vet] and SEAL [I-D.templin-intarea-seal],
   while IR[VC]s and IR[VE]s additionally forward packets to and from
   the native IPv6 and IPv4 Internets.  IRs also use the SEAL Control
   Message Protocol (SCMP) to coordinate with other IRs, including the
   process of sending and receiving redirect messages for route
   optimization.  Each IR operates as specified in the following sub-
   sections.

6.1.  IR[CE] Operation

   After selecting its serving IR[VE] as specified in Section 5.3, the
   IR[CE] should register each of its ISP connections with the IR[VE] in
   order to establish multiple two-way tunnels for multihoming purposes.
   To do so, it sends periodic SRS messages to its serving IR[VE] via
   each of its ISPs to establish additional two-way tunnels and to keep



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   each two-way tunnel alive.  These messages need not include
   challenge/response mechanisms since prefix proof of ownership was
   already established in the initial exchange and a nonce in the SEAL
   header can be used to confirm that the SRS message was sent by the
   correct IR[CE].  This implies that a single nonce is used to
   represent the set of all two-way tunnels between the IR[CE] and the
   IR[VE].  Therefore, there are multiple two-way tunnels, and the nonce
   names this "bundle" of tunnels.

   If the IR[CE] ceases to receive SRA messages from its serving IR[VE]
   via a specific ISP connection, it marks the IR[VE] as unreachable
   from that address and therefore over that ISP connection.  (The
   IR[CE] must also inform its serving IR[VE] of this outage via one of
   its working ISP connections.)  If the IR[CE] ceases to receive SRA
   messages from its serving IR[VE] via multiple ISP connections, it
   marks the IR[VE] as unusable and quickly attempts to establish a
   connection with a new IR[VE].  The act of establishing the connection
   with a new serving IR[VE] will automatically purge the stale mapping
   state associated with the old serving IR[VE].

   When an end system in an EUN has a packet to send, the packet is
   forwarded through the EUN via normal routing until it reaches the
   IR[CE], which then tunnels the packet either to its serving IR[VE]s
   or to an IR[VC]/IR[VE] that serves the packet's final destination.
   When the IR[CE] does not know an outer destination locator address
   that can be used to reach an IR[VC]/IR[VE] that serves the packet's
   final destination (or, if the final destination is a non-EPA address)
   the IR[CE] encapsulates the packet in an outer header with its
   locator as the source address and the locator of its serving IR[VE]
   as the destination address.

   Otherwise, when the inner destination address matches the address
   family of the IR[CE]'s locator, the IR[CE] encapsulates the packet in
   an outer header with its locator as the source address and the
   destination address of the inner packet copied into the destination
   address of the outer packet.  When the inner destination address does
   not match the address family of the IR[CE]'s locator, but the IR[CE]
   knows of an outer locator address that can reach an IR/[VC]/IR[VE]
   that serves the final destination, the IR[CE] encapsulates the packet
   with the outer destination address set to this outer locator address.
   The IR[CE] then forwards the encapsulated packet via one of its ISP
   connections, where normal Internet routing will convey it to an
   IR[VC]/IR[VE] that services the destination.

   The IR[CE] uses the mechanisms specified in VET and SEAL to
   encapsulate each forwarded packet.  The IR[CE] further uses the SCMP
   protocol to coordinate with other IRs, including accepting redirect
   messages that indicate a better next hop.  When the IR[CE] receives



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   an SCMP redirect, it checks the identification field of the
   encapsulated message to verify that the redirect corresponds to a
   packet that it had previously sent and accepts the redirect if there
   is a match.  Thereafter, subsequent packets forwarded by the source
   IR[CE] will follow a route-optimized path.

6.2.  IR[VE] Operation

   After an IR[VE] is initialized, it responds to SRSs from IR[CE]s by
   sending SRAs as described in Section 6.1.  When the IR[VE] receives
   an SRS message from a new IR[CE], it sends back an SRA message with a
   challenge/response puzzle.  The IR[CE] in turn sends an SRS message
   with an answer to the puzzle.  If this authentication fails, the
   IR[VE] discards the message.  Otherwise, it creates tunnel state for
   this new IR[CE], records the EPs in its FIB, and records the locator
   address from the SCMP message as the link-layer address of the next
   hop.  The IR[VE] next sends an SRA message back to the IR[CE] to
   complete the tunnel establishment.

   When the IR[VE] receives a SEAL-encapsulated packet from one of its
   IR[CE] tunnel endpoints, it examines the inner destination address.
   If the inner destination address is not an EPA, the IR[VE]
   decapsulates the packet and forwards it unencapsulated into the
   Internet if it is able to do so without loss due to ingress
   filtering.  Otherwise, the IR[VE] re-encapsulates the packet (i.e.,
   it removes the outer header and replaces it with a new outer header
   of the same address family) and sets the outer destination address to
   the locator address of an IR[VC] within its VPC overlay network.  It
   then forwards the re-encapsulated packet to the IR[VC], which will in
   turn decapsulate it and forward it into the Internet.

   If the inner destination address is an EPA, however, the IR[VE] re-
   encapsulates the packet, sets the outer source address to one of its
   own locator address, and sets the outer destination address to the
   inner destination address.  (If the outer header is of a different
   address family than the inner header, however, the IR[VE] instead
   sets the destination address to any address taken from the companion
   prefix associated with the inner destination address.)  The IR[VE]
   then forwards the re-encapsulated packet into the Internet via a
   default or more-specific route.  The IR[VE] may then receives SCMP
   redirect messages from an IR[VC]/IR[VE] that serves the destination
   EUN.  In that case, the IR[VE] forwards the redirect message to the
   IR[CE] that sent the original inner packet.  The source and
   destination addresses of the forwarded SCMP redirect message use the
   outer destination and source addresses of the original packet,
   respectively.  This arrangement is necessary to allow the redirect
   messages to flow through any NATs on the path.




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   When the IR[VE] receives a SEAL-encapsulated packet from an IR[VC] or
   from the Internet, if the inner destination address matches an EP in
   its FIB the IR[VE] 'A' re-encapsulates the packet and forwards it to
   its client IR[CE] 'B' which in turn decapsulates the packet and
   forwards it to the correct end system in the EUN.  If 'B' has left
   notice with 'A' that it has moved to a new IR[VE] 'C', however, 'A'
   will instead forward the re-encapsulated packet to 'C' and also send
   an SCMP redirect message back to the source of the packet.  In this
   way, IR[CE]s can change between IR[VE]s (e.g., due to mobility
   events) without exposing packets to loss.

6.3.  IR(VC) Operation

   After an IR[VC] has synchronized its VPs (see: Section 5.1) it
   advertises the full set of the company's VP's into the IPv4 and IPv6
   Internet BGP routing systems.  The VPs will be represented as
   ordinary routing information in the BGP, and any packets originating
   from the IPv4 or IPv6 Internet destined to an EPA covered by one of
   the VPs will be forwarded into the VPC's overlay network by an
   IR[VC].

   When an IR[VC] receives a packet from the Internet destined to an EPA
   covered by one of its VPs, it examines the packet format to determine
   the proper handling procedures as follows:

   o  If the packet is an SCMP SRS message, the IR[VC] sends an SRA
      message back to the source listing the locator addresses of nearby
      IR[VE] routers then discards the message.  The IR[VC] silently
      discards all other SCMP messages.

   o  If the packet is not SEAL-encapsulated the IR[VC] looks in its FIB
      to discover a locator of the IR[VE] that serves the destination
      address.  The IR[VC] then simply encapsulates the packet with its
      own locator as the outer source address and the locator of the
      IR[VE] as the outer destination address and forwards the packet to
      the IR[VE].

   o  If the packet is SEAL-encapsulated the IR[VC] sends an SCMP
      redirect message of the same address family back to the source
      with the locator of the serving IR[VE] as the redirected target.
      The source and destination addresses of the SCMP redirect message
      use the outer destination and source addresses of the original
      packet, respectively.  This arrangement is necessary to allow the
      redirect messages to flow through any NATs on the path.  After
      sending the redirect message, the IR[VC] then rewrites the outer
      source address to one of its own locators, rewrites the outer
      destination address to the locator of the IR[VE] and forwards the
      packet to the IR[VE] (*).



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   (*) Note that in this arrangement any errors that occur on the path
   between the IR[VC] to the IR[VE] will not be delivered to the
   original source.  This implies that the path between the IR[VC] and
   IR[VE] should be made as free from errors as possible (e.g., such as
   when the IR[VC] and IR[VE] are connected to the same physical link).

6.4.  IRON Reference Operating Scenarios

   The IRON is used to support communications when one or both hosts are
   located within EP-addressed EUNs regardless of whether the EPs are
   provisioned by the same VPC or by different VPCs .  When both hosts
   are within IRON EUNs, route redirections that eliminate unnecessary
   IR[VC]s (and sometimes also IR[VE]s) from the path are possible.
   When only one host is within an IRON EUN, however, route optimization
   cannot be used.

   The following sections discuss the two scenarios.  Note that it is
   sufficient to discuss the scenarios in a unidirectional fashion,
   i.e., by tracing packet flows only in the forward direction from the
   source host to destination host.  The reverse direction can be
   considered separately, and incurs the same considerations as for the
   forward direction.

6.4.1.  Both Hosts Within IRON EUNs

   When both hosts are within EP-addressed EUNs, the initial packets of
   the flow may need to involve an IR[VC] of the destination host but
   route optimization can eliminate the IR[VC] from the path for
   subsequent packets.  Two sub-scenarios exist based on whether or not
   the IR[CE] of the source host configures a locator of the same
   address family as the inner packet.  The sub-cases are discussed in
   the following sections.

6.4.1.1.  IR[CE] of Source Host Configures a Locator of the Same
          Protocol Version as the EPA

   Figure 6 shows the flow of initial packets from host A to host B
   within two EP-addressed EUNs when the IR[CE] of the source host A
   configures a locator of the same protocol version as the inner
   packet:











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                 ________________________________________
              .-(                 .-.                    )-.
           .-(                 ,-(  _)-.                    )-.
        .-( +=================+       _ +========+             )-.
      .(   //              (_|| Internet|| _)   ||                ).
    .(    //                 ||-(______)||      vv                  ).
  .(     //                  ||         ||    +------------+          ).
  (     //                   vv         ||    |  IR[VE](B) |====+      )
  (    //                    +------------+   +------------+    \\     )
  (   //  .-.                |  IR[VC](B) |                  .-. \\    )
  (  //,-(  _)-.             +------------+               ,-(  _)-\\   )
  ( .||_    (_  )-.           /                        .-(_    (_  ||. )
  ( _||  ISP A    .)        /  (redirect)             (__   ISP B  ||_))
  (  ||-(______)-'        /                              `-(______)||  )
  (  ||    |            /                                     |    vv  )
   ( +-----+-----+  <=/                                 +-----+-----+ )
     | IR[CE](A) |                                      | IR[CE](B) |
     +-----+-----+              The IRON                +-----+-----+
           |    (   (Overlaid on the native Internet)     )   |
          .-.     .-(                                .-)     .-.
       ,-(  _)-.      .-(________________________)-.      ,-(  _)-.
    .-(_    (_  )-.                                    .-(_    (_  )-.
   (_  IRON EUN A  )                                  (_  IRON EUN B  )
      `-(______)-'                                       `-(______)-'
           |                                                  |
       +---+----+                                         +---+----+
       | Host A |                                         | Host B |
       +--------+                                         +--------+

         Figure 6: EPA/Locator Matching Scenario Before Redirects

   In this scenario, host A sends packets destined to host B (i.e.,
   packets with source address A and destination address B) via its
   network interface connected to EUN A. (This interface could be a
   physical interface such as an Ethernet NIC, an ISATAP or VET tunnel
   virtual interface with IR[CE](A) as a PRL router, etc.)  Routing with
   EUN A will direct the packets to IR[CE](A) as a default router for
   the EUN which then uses VET and SEAL to encapsulate them in outer
   headers with its locator address as the outer source address and B as
   the outer destination address (i.e., the inner and outer destination
   address will be the same).  IR[CE](A) then releases the encapsulated
   packets into its ISP network connection that provided its locator.
   The ISP will release the packet into the Internet without filtering
   since the (outer) source address is topologically correct.  Once the
   packets have been released into the Internet, routing will direct
   them to the nearest IR[VC] that advertises reachability to a VP that
   covers destination address B (namely, IR[VC](B)).




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   IR[VC](B) will receive the encapsulated packets from IR[CE](A) then
   check its FIB to discover an entry that covers address B with
   IR[VE](B) as the next hop.  IR[VC](B) will then issue SCMP redirect
   messages to inform IR[CE](A) that IR[VE](B) is a better next hop (*).
   IR[VC](B) then rewrites the outer source address of the encapsulated
   packets to its own locator address and rewrites the destination
   address of the encapsulated packets to the locator address of
   IR[VE](B).  IR[VC](B) then forwards these re-encapsulated packets to
   IR[VE](B).

   IR[VE](B) will receive the encapsulated packets from IR[VC](B) then
   check its FIB to discover an entry that covers destination address B
   with IR[CE](B) as the next hop.  IR[VE](B) then rewrites the outer
   source address of the packets to its own locator address and rewrites
   the outer destination address to the locator address of IR[CE](B).
   IR[VE](B) then tunnels these re-encapsulated packets to IR[CE](B),
   which will in turn decapsulate the packets and forward the inner
   packets to host B via EUN B.

   (*) Note that after the initial flow of packets, IR[CE](A) will have
   received one or more SCMP redirect messages from IR[VC](B) informing
   it of IR[VE](B) as a better next hop.  Thereafter, IR[CE](A) will
   forward its encapsulated packets directly to the locator address of
   IR[VE](B) without involving IR[VC](B) as shown in Figure 7:



























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                 ________________________________________
              .-(                 .-.                    )-.
           .-(                 ,-(  _)-.                    )-.
        .-( +=============> .-(_    (_  )-.======+             )-.
      .(   //              (__ Internet   _)    ||                ).
    .(    //                  `-(______)-'      vv                  ).
  .(     //                                   +------------+          ).
  (     //                                    |  IR[VE](B) |====+      )
  (    //                                     +------------+    \\     )
  (   //  .-.                                                .-. \\    )
  (  //,-(  _)-.                                          ,-(  _)-\\   )
  ( .||_    (_  )-.                                    .-(_    (_  ||. )
  ( _||  ISP A    .)                                  (__   ISP B  ||_))
  (  ||-(______)-'                                       `-(______)||  )
  (  ||    |                                                  |    vv  )
   ( +-----+-----+              The IRON                +-----+-----+ )
     | IR[CE](A) |  (Overlaid on the native Internet)   | IR[CE](B) |
     +-----+-----+                                      +-----+-----+
           |    (                                         )   |
          .-.     .-(                                .-)     .-.
       ,-(  _)-.      .-(________________________)-.      ,-(  _)-.
    .-(_    (_  )-.                                    .-(_    (_  )-.
   (_  IRON EUN A  )                                  (_  IRON EUN B  )
      `-(______)-'                                       `-(______)-'
           |                                                  |
       +---+----+                                         +---+----+
       | Host A |                                         | Host B |
       +--------+                                         +--------+

          Figure 7: EPA/Locator Matching Scenario After Redirects

6.4.1.2.  IR[CE] of Source Host Configures a Locator of a Different
          Protocol Version than the EPA

   Figure 8 shows the flow of initial packets from host A to host B
   within two EP-addressed EUNs when the IR[CE] of source host A cannot
   configure a locator of the same address family as the inner network
   layer protocol.  For example, if the IR[CE] configures only an IPv4
   locator, but EUN A uses IPv6 natively, IR[CE] is obliged to forward
   its initial packets through its serving IR[VE].











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                 ________________________________________
              .-(                 .-.                    )-.
           .-(                 ,-(  _)-.                    )-.
        .-(          +========+(_    (_  +=====+               )-.
      .(             ||    (_|| Internet ||_) ||                  ).
    .(               ||      ||-(______)-||   vv                    ).
  .(        +--------++--+   ||          ||   +------------+          ).
  (     +==>|  IR[VE](A) |   vv          ||   |  IR[VE](B) |====+      )
  (    //   +------------+   +--++----++--+   +------------+    \\     )
  (   //  .-.                |  IR[VC](B) |                  .-. \\    )
  (  //,-(  _)-.             +------------+               ,-(  _)-\\   )
  ( .||_    (_  )-.           /                        .-(_    (_  ||. )
  ( _||  ISP A    .)        /  (redirect)             (__   ISP B  ||_))
  (  ||-(______)-'        /                              `-(______)||  )
  (  ||    |            /                                     |    vv  )
   ( +-----+-----+  <=/                                 +-----+-----+ )
     | IR[CE](A) |                                      | IR[CE](B) |
     +-----+-----+              The IRON                +-----+-----+
           |    (   (Overlaid on the native Internet)     )   |
          .-.     .-(                                .-)     .-.
       ,-(  _)-.      .-(________________________)-.      ,-(  _)-.
    .-(_    (_  )-.                                    .-(_    (_  )-.
   (_  IRON EUN A  )                                  (_  IRON EUN B  )
      `-(______)-'                                       `-(______)-'
           |                                                  |
       +---+----+                                         +---+----+
       | Host A |                                         | Host B |
       +--------+                                         +--------+

        Figure 8: EPA/Locator Mismatching Scenario Before Redirects

   In this scenario, host A sends packets destined to host B via its
   network interface connected to EUN A. Routing with EUN A will direct
   the packets to IR[CE](A) as a default router for the EUN which then
   uses VET and SEAL to encapsulate them in outer headers with its
   locator address as the outer source address and the locator address
   of its serving IR[VE](A) as the outer destination address.  IR[CE](A)
   then simply releases the encapsulated packets into its ISP network
   connection that provided its locator.  The ISP will release the
   packets into the Internet without filtering since the (outer) source
   address is topologically correct.  Once the packets have been
   released into the Internet, routing will direct them to IR[VE](A).

   IR[VE](A) receives the encapsulated packets from IR[CE](A) then
   rewrites the outer source address to its own locator address and
   rewrites the outer destination address to an address taken from the
   companion prefix associated with the VP that matches B. IR[VE](A)
   then releases the re-encapsulated packets into the Internet where



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   routing will direct them to IR[VC](B) which advertises the companion
   prefix..

   IR[VC](B) will receive the encapsulated packets from IR[VE](A) then
   check its FIB to discover an entry that covers inner destination
   address B with IR[VE](B) as the next hop.  IR[VC](B) will then issue
   SCMP redirect messages to inform IR[VE](A) that IR[VE](B) is a better
   next hop (*).  IR[VC](B) then rewrites the outer source address of
   the encapsulated packets to its own locator address and rewrites the
   outer destination address to the locator address of IR[VE](B).
   IR[VC](B) then forwards these re-encapsulated packets to IR[VE](B).

   IR[VE](B) will receive the encapsulated packets from IR[VC](B) then
   check its FIB to discover an entry that covers destination address B
   with IR[CE](B) as the next hop.  IR[VE](B) then re-encapsulates the
   packet in an outer header with its own locator address as the outer
   source address and the locator address of IR[CE](B) as the outer
   destination address.  IR[VE](B) then releases these re-encapsulated
   packets into the Internet, where routing will direct them to
   IR[CE](B).  IR[CE](B) will in turn decapsulate the packets and
   forward the inner packets to host B via EUN B.

   (*) Note that after the initial flow of packets, IR[VE](A) will have
   received one or more SCMP redirect messages from IR[VC](B) informing
   it of IR[VE](B) as a better next hop.  IR[VE](A) will in turn forward
   the redirects to IR[CE](A), which will thereafter forward its
   encapsulated packets directly to the locator address of IR[VE](B)
   without involving either IR[VE](A) or IR[VC](B) as shown earlier in
   Figure 7.

6.4.2.  Mixed IRON and Non-IRON Hosts

   When one host is within an IRON EUN and the other is in a non-IRON
   EUN (i.e., one that connects to the native Internet instead of the
   IRON), the IR elements involved depend on the packet flow directions.
   The cases are described in the following sections.

6.4.2.1.  From IRON Host A to Non-IRON Host B

   Figure 9 depicts the IRON reference operating scenario for packets
   flowing from Host A in an IRON EUN to Host B in a non-IRON EUN:










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                  _________________________________________
               .-(         )-.                             )-.
            .-(      +-------)----+                           )-.
         .-(         |  IR[VC](A) |--------------+               )-.
       .(            +------------+               \                ).
     .(     +=======>|  IR[VE](A) |                \                ).
   .(     //         +--------)---+                 \                 ).
   (     //                   )                      \                 )
   (    //      The IRON      )                       \                )
   (   //  .-.                )                        \     .-.       )
   (  //,-(  _)-.             )                         \ ,-(  _)-.    )
   ( .||_    (_  )-.          ) The Native Internet    .-|_    (_  )-. )
   ( _||  ISP A     )         )                       (_ |  ISP B     ))
   (  ||-(______)-'           )                          |-(______)-'  )
   (  ||    |             )-.                            v    |        )
    ( +-----+ ----+    )-.                               +-----+-----+ )
      | IR[CE](A) |)-.                                   |  Router B |
      +-----+-----+                                      +-----+-----+
            |  (                                            )  |
           .-.   .-(____________________________________)-.   .-.
        ,-(  _)-.                                          ,-(  _)-.
     .-(_    (_  )-.                                    .-(_    (_  )-.
    (_  IRON EUN A  )                                  (_ non-IRON EUN )
       `-(______)-'                                       `-(___B___)-'
            |                                                  |
        +---+----+                                         +---+----+
        | Host A |                                         | Host B |
        +--------+                                         +--------+

               Figure 9: From IRON Host A to Non-IRON Host B

   In this scenario, host A sends packets destined to host B via its
   network interface connected to IRON EUN A. Routing with EUN A will
   direct the packets to IR[CE](A) as a default router for the EUN which
   then uses VET and SEAL to encapsulate them in outer headers with its
   locator address as the outer source address and the locator address
   of a serving IR[VE] (i.e., IR[VE](A) as the outer destination
   address.  The ISP will pass the packets without filtering since the
   (outer) source address is topologically correct.  Once the packets
   have been released into the native Internet, routing will direct them
   to IR[VE](A).

   IR[VE](A) receives the encapsulated packets from IR[CE](A) then
   forwards them to IR[VC](A) which simply decapsulates them and
   releases the unencapsulated packets into the Internet.  Once the
   packets are released into the Internet, routing will direct them to
   the final destination B. (Note that in this diagram IR[VE](A) and
   IR[VC](A) are depicted as two halves of a unified IR[VP](A).  In that



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   case, the "forwarding" between IR[VE](A) and IR[VC](A) is a zero-
   instruction imaginary operation.)

   Note that this scenario always involves an IR[VE](A) and IR[VC](A)
   owned by the VPC that provides service to IRON EUN A. This scenario
   therefore imparts a cost that would need to be borne by either the
   VPC or its customers.

6.4.2.2.  From Non-IRON Host B to IRON Host A

   Figure 10 depicts the IRON reference operating scenario for packets
   flowing from Host B in an Non-IRON EUN to Host A in an IRON EUN:

                  _______________________________________
               .-(         )-.                             )-.
            .-(      +-------)----+                           )-.
         .-(         |  IR[VC](A) |<-------------+              )-.
       .(            +------------+               \                ).
     .(     +========|  IR[VE](A) |                \                ).
   .(     //         +--------)---+                 \                 ).
   (     //                   )                      \                 )
   (    //      The IRON      )                       \                )
   (   //  .-.                )                        \     .-.       )
   (  //,-(  _)-.             )                         \ ,-(  _)-.    )
   ( .||_    (_  )-.          ) The Native Internet    .-|_    (_  )-. )
   ( _||  ISP A     )         )                       (_ |  ISP B     ))
   (  ||-(______)-'           )                          |-(______)-'  )
   (  vv    |             )-.                            |    |        )
    ( +-----+ ----+    )-.                               +-----+-----+ )
      | IR[CE](A) |)-.                                   |  Router B |
      +-----+-----+                                      +-----+-----+
            |  (                                            )  |
           .-.   .-(____________________________________)-.   .-.
        ,-(  _)-.                                          ,-(  _)-.
     .-(_    (_  )-.                                    .-(_    (_  )-.
    (_  IRON EUN A  )                                  (_ non-IRON EUN )
       `-(______)-'                                       `-(___B___)-'
            |                                                  |
        +---+----+                                         +---+----+
        | Host A |                                         | Host B |
        +--------+                                         +--------+

              Figure 10: From Non-IRON Host B to IRON Host A

   In this scenario, host B sends packets destined to host A via its
   network interface connected to non-IRON EUN B. Routing will direct
   the packets to IR[VC](A) which then forwards them to IR[VE](A) using
   encapsulation if necessary.  (Note that in this diagram IR[VE](A) and



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   IR[VC](A) are depicted as two halves of a unified IR[VP](A).  In that
   case, the "forwarding" between IR[VE](A) and IR[VC](A) is a zero-
   instruction imaginary operation.)

   IR[VE](A) will then check its FIB to discover an entry that covers
   destination address A with IR[CE](A) as the next hop.  IR[VE](A) then
   encapsulates the packets using its own locator address as the outer
   source address and the locator address of IR[CE](A) as the outer
   destination address.  IR[VE](A) then releases these encapsulated
   packets into the Internet, where routing will direct them to
   IR[CE](A).  IR[CE](A) will in turn decapsulate the packets and
   forward the inner packets to host A via its network interface
   connected to IRON EUN A.

   Note that this scenario always involves an IR[VE](A) and IR[VC](A)
   owned by the VPC that provides service to IRON EUN A. This scenario
   therefore imparts a cost that would need to be borne by either the
   VPC or its customers.

6.5.  Mobility, Multihoming and Traffic Engineering Considerations

   While IR[VE]s and IR[VC]s can be considered as fixed infrastructure,
   IR[CE]s may need to move between different network points of
   attachment, connect to multiple ISPs, or explicitly manage their
   traffic flows.  The following sections discuss mobility, multi-homing
   and traffic engineering considerations for IR[CE]s.

6.5.1.  Mobility Management

   When an IR[CE] changes its network point of attachment (e.g., due to
   a mobility event), it configures one or more new locators.  If the
   IR[CE] has not moved far away from its previous network point of
   attachment, it simply informs its serving IR[VE] of any locator
   additions or deletions.  This operation is performance-sensitive, and
   should be conducted immediately to avoid packet loss.

   If the IR[CE] has moved far away from its previous network point of
   attachment, however, it re-issues the implicit anycast discovery
   procedure described in Section 6.1 to discover whether its candidate
   set of serving IR[VE]s has changed.  If the IR[CE]'s current serving
   IR[VE] is also included in the new list received from the VPC, this
   serves as indication that the IR[CE] has not moved far enough to
   warrant changing to a new serving IR[VE].  Otherwise, the IR[CE] may
   wish to move to a new serving IR[VE] in order to maintain optimal
   routing.  This operation is not performance-critical, and therefore
   can be conducted over a matter of seconds/minutes instead of
   milliseconds/microseconds.




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   To move to a new IR[VE], the IR[CE] first engages in the EP
   registration process with the new IR[VE] and maintains the
   registrations through periodic SRS/SRA exchanges the same as
   described in Section 6.1.  The IR[CE] then informs its former IR[VE]
   that it has moved by providing it with the locator address of the new
   IR[VE].  The IR[CE] then discontinues the SRS/SRA keepalive process
   with the former IR[VE], which will garbage-collect the stale FIB
   entries when their lifetime expires.  This will allow the former
   IR[VE] to redirect existing correspondents to the new IR[VE] so that
   no packets are lost.

6.5.2.  Multihoming

   An IR[CE] may register multiple locators with its serving IR[VE].  It
   can assign metrics with its registrations to inform its IR[VE] of
   preferred locators, and can select outgoing locators according to its
   local preferences.  Multihoming is therefore naturally supported.

6.5.3.  Inbound Traffic Engineering

   An IR[CE] can dynamically adjust the priorities of its prefix
   registrations with its serving IR[VE] in order to influence inbound
   traffic flows.  It can also change between serving IR[VE]s when
   multiple IR[VE]s are available, but should strive for stability in
   its IR[VE] selection in order to limit routing churn.

6.5.4.  Outbound Traffic Engineering

   An IR[CE] can select outgoing locators, e.g., based on current QoS
   considerations such as minimizing one-way delay or one-way delay
   variation.

6.6.  Renumbering Considerations

   As better link layer technologies and service plans emerge, customers
   will be motivated to select their service providers through healthy
   competition between ISPs.  If a customer's EUN addresses are tied to
   a specific ISP, however, the customer may be forced to undergo a
   painstaking EUN renumbering process if it wishes to changes to a
   different ISP [RFC4192][RFC5887].

   When a customer obtains EP prefixes from a VPC, it can change between
   ISPs seamlessly and without need to renumber.  If the VPC itself
   applies unreasonable costing structures for use of the EPs, however,
   the customer may be compelled to seek a different VPC and would again
   be required to confront a renumbering scenario.  The IRON approach to
   renumbering avoidance therefore depends on VPCs conducting ethical
   business practices and offering reasonable rates.



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6.7.  NAT Traversal Considerations

   The Internet today consists of a global public IPv4 routing and
   addressing system with non-IRON EUNs that use either public or
   private IPv4 addressing.  The latter class of EUNs connect to the
   public Internet via Network Address Translators (NATs).  When an
   IR[CE] is located behind a NAT, its selects IR[VE]s using the same
   procedures as for IR[CE]s with public addresses, i.e., it will send
   SRS messages to IR[VE]s in order to get SRA messages in return.  The
   only requirement is that the IR[CE] must configure its SEAL
   encapsulation to use a transport protocol that supports NAT
   traversal, namely UDP.

   Since the IR[VE] maintains state about its IR[CE] customers, it can
   discover locator information for each IR[CE] by examining the UDP
   port number and IP address in the outer headers of SRS messages.
   When there is a NAT in the path, the UDP port number and IP address
   in the SRS message will correspond to state in the NAT box and might
   not correspond to the actual values assigned to the IR[CE].  The
   IR[VE] can then encapsulate packets destined to hosts serviced by the
   IR[CE] within outer headers that use this IP address and UDP port
   number.  The NAT box will receive the packets, translate the values
   in the outer headers to match those assigned to the IR[CE], then
   forward the packets to the IR[CE].  In this sense, the IR[VE]'s
   "locator" for the IR[CE] consists of the concatenation of the IP
   address and UDP port number.

   IRON does not introduce any new issues to complications raised for
   NAT traversal or for applications embedding address referrals in
   their payload.

6.8.  Nested EUN Considerations

   Each IR[CE] configures a locator that may be taken from an ordinary
   non-EPA address assigned by an ISP or from an EPA address taken from
   an EP assigned to another IR[CE].  In that case, the IR[CE] is said
   to be "nested" within the EUN of another IR[CE].

   For example, assume a configuration in which IR[CE](A) configures a
   locator EPA(B) taken from the EP assigned to EUN(B).  IR[CE](B) in
   turn configures a locator EPA(C) taken from the EP assigned to
   EUN(C).  Finally, IR[CE](C) assigns a locator ISP(D) taken from a
   non-EPA address delegated by an ordinary ISP(D).  Using this example,
   the "nested-IRON" case must be examined in which a host A which
   configures the address EPA(A) within EUN(A) exchanges packets with
   host Z located elsewhere in the Internet.  The example configuration
   is depicted in Figure 11:




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                            .-.
                 EPA(D)  ,-(  _)-.
      +-----------+   .-(_    (_  )-.
      | IR[CE](C) |--(_    ISP(D)    )
      +-----+-----+     `-(______)-'
            |   <= T         \     .-.
           .-.       u        \ ,-(  _)-.
        ,-(  _)-.       n     .-(_    (-  )-.
     .-(_    (_  )-.      n  (_   Internet   )
    (_    EUN(C)    )       e   `-(______)-       +--------+
       `-(______)-'           l          ___      | Host Z |
            | EPA(C)           s =>     (:::)-.   +--------+
      +-----+-----+                 .-(::::::::)
      | IR[CE](B) |              .-(::::::::::::)-.
      +-----+-----+             (:::: The IRON ::::)
            |                    `-(::::::::::::)-'
           .-.                      `-(::::::)-'
        ,-(  _)-.
     .-(_    (_  )-.              +-----------------+
    (_    EUN(B)    )             | IR[VP/VC/VE]'s] |
       `-(______)-'               +-----------------+
            | EPA(B)
      +-----+-----+
      | IR[CE](A) |
      +-----------+
            |
           .-.
        ,-(  _)-.  EPA(A)
     .-(_    (_  )-.    +--------+
    (_    EUN(A)    )---| Host A |
       `-(______)-'     +--------+

                       Figure 11: Nested EUN Example

   The two cases of host A sending packets to host Z, and host Z sending
   packets to host A, must be considered separately as described below.

6.8.1.  Host A Sends Packets to Host Z

6.8.1.1.  Nested IRON Example When Z Configures an EPA Address

   Host A first forwards a packet with source address EPA(A) and
   destination address EPA(Z) into EUN(A).  Routing within EUN(A) will
   direct the packet to IR[CE](A), which encapsulates it in an outer
   header with EPA(B) as the outer source address and EPA(Z) as the
   outer destination address then forwards the once-encapsulated packet
   into EUN(B).  Routing within EUN[B] will direct the packet to
   IR[CE](B), which encapsulates it in an outer header with EPA(C) as



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   the outer source address and EPA(Z) as the outer destination address
   then forwards the twice-encapsulated packet into EUN(C).  Routing
   within EUN(C) will direct the packet to IR[CE](C), which encapsulates
   it in an outer header with ISP(D) as the outer source address and
   EPA(Z) as the outer destination address.  IR[CE](C) then sends this
   triple-encapsulated packet into the ISP(D) network, where it will be
   routed into the Internet to an IR[VC](Z) that advertises a VP that
   covers destination address EPA(Z).

   When IR[VC](Z) receives the triple-encapsulated packet, it consults
   its FIB to determine that IR[VE](Z) is the serving router for EP(Z).
   It then re-encapsulates the packet by changing the outer source
   address to its own locator address and the outer destination address
   to the locator address for IR[VE](Z).  It also sends a redirect
   message back to IR[CE](C) as normal.  When IR[VE](Z) receives the
   triple-encapsulated packet, it strips off all outer layers of
   encapsulation and re-encapsulates the inner packet in a single outer
   header using its own locator address as the source address and the
   locator address of IR[CE](Z) as the destination address.  IR[VE](Z)
   then tunnels the packet to IR[CE](Z), which decapsulates the packet
   and forwards it to host Z.

   The key architectural requirement derived from this case is that each
   IR[VE] must iteratively decapsulate each layer of a multi-
   encapsulated packet when the outer destination address matches an EPA
   assigned to one of its IR[CE] customers.  When the final such layer
   of encapsulation is reached, the IR[VE] must re-encapsulate the
   packet and forward it to the correct customer IR[CE].

6.8.1.2.  Nested IRON Example when Z Configures a non-EPA Address

   Host A first forwards a packet with source address EPA(A) and
   destination address Z into EUN(A).  Routing within EUN(A) will direct
   the packet to IR[CE](A), which encapsulates it in an outer header
   with EPA(B) as the outer source address and IR[VE](A) as the outer
   destination address then forwards this once-encapsulated packet into
   EUN(B).  (Note that IR[CE](A) must forward this packet via its
   serving IR[VE](A) for reasons explained in Section 6.4.2).  Routing
   within EUN[B] will direct the packet to IR[CE](B), which encapsulates
   it in an outer header with EPA(C) as the outer source address and
   IR[VE](B) as the outer destination address then forwards this twice-
   encapsulated packet into EUN(C).  Routing within EUN(C) will direct
   the packet to IR[CE](C), which encapsulates it in an outer header
   with ISP(D) as the outer source address and IR[VE](C) as the outer
   destination address.  IR[CE](C) then sends this triple-encapsulated
   packet into its ISP network, where it will be routed to IR[VE](C).

   To ease in discussion of this case, now consider that each IR[VE]



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   named above is half of a unified IR[VP] that combines both the IR[VC]
   and IR[VE] functions.  With this simplification in mind, when
   IR[VP](C) receives the triple-encapsulated packet, it removes the
   outermost layer of encapsulation and forwards the twice-encapsulated
   packet into the Internet where Internet routing will direct it to
   IR[VP](B).  IR[VP](B) in turn removes the next layer of encapsulation
   and forwards the once-encapsulated packet into the Internet where
   Internet routing will direct it to IR[VP](A).  IR[VP](A) will finally
   remove the final layer of encapsulation and forward the packet into
   the Internet where Internet routing will direct it to host Z.

   The key architectural requirement derived from this case is that each
   IR[VE] must iteratively decapsulate each layer of a multi-
   encapsulated packet when the outer destination address is one of its
   own locator addresses.  When the final such layer of encapsulation is
   reached, the IR[VE] forwards the packet into the Internet.

6.8.2.  Host Z Sends Packets to Host A

   Whether or not host Z configures an EPA address, its packets destined
   to Host A will eventually reach IR[VE](A).  IR[VE](A) will have a
   mapping that lists IR[CE](A) as the next hop toward EPA(A).
   IR[VE](A) will then encapsulate the packet with EPA(B) as the outer
   destination address and forward the packet into the Internet.
   Internet routing will convey this once-encapsulated packet to
   IR[VE](B) which will have a mapping that lists IR[CE](B) as the next
   hop toward EPA(B).  IR[VE](B) will then encapsulate the packet with
   EPA(C) as the outer destination address and forward the packet into
   the Internet.  Internet routing will then convey this twice-
   encapsulated packet to IR[VE](C) which will have a mapping that lists
   IR[CE](C) as the next hop toward EPA(C).  IR[VE](C) will then
   encapsulate the packet with ISP(D) as the outer destination address
   and forward the packet into the Internet.  Internet routing will then
   convey this triple-encapsulated packet to IR[CE](C).

   When the triple-encapsulated packet arrives at IR[CE](C), it strips
   the outer layer of encapsulation and forwards the twice-encapsulated
   packet to EPA(C) which is the locator address of IR[CE](B).  When
   IR[CE](B) receives the twice-encapsulated packet, it strips the outer
   layer of encapsulation and forwards the once-encapsulated packet to
   EPA(B) which is the locator address of IR[CE](A).  When IR[CE](A)
   receives the once-encapsulated packet, it strips the outer layer of
   encapsulation and forwards the unencapsulated packet to EPA(A) which
   is the host address of host A.

   The key architectural requirement derived from this case is that each
   IR[CE] must decapsulate only the outermost layer of a multi-
   encapsulated packet when the outer destination address matches an EPA



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   assigned to a device in its EUN.  This class of packets can be
   considered as "inbound" wrt the IR[CE]'s EUNs.  The outbound cases
   are discussed in Section 6.8.1


7.  Additional Considerations

   Considerations for the scalability of Internet Routing due to
   multihoming, traffic engineering and provider-independent addressing
   are discussed in [I-D.narten-radir-problem-statement].  Route
   optimization considerations for mobile networks are found in
   [RFC5522].


8.  Related Initiatives

   IRON builds upon the concepts RANGER architecture [RFC5720], and
   therefore inherits the same set of related initiatives.

   Virtual Aggregation (VA) [I-D.ietf-grow-va] and Aggregation in
   Increasing Scopes (AIS) [I-D.zhang-evolution] provide the basis for
   the Virtual Prefix concepts.

   Internet vastly improved plumbing (Ivip) [I-D.whittle-ivip-arch] has
   contributed valuable insights, including the use of real-time
   mapping.  The use of IR[VE]s as mobility anchor points is directly
   influenced by Ivip's associated TTR mobility extensions [TTRMOB].

   [I-D.bernardos-mext-nemo-ro-cr] discussed a route optimization
   approach using a Correspondent Router (CR) model.  The IRON IR[VE]
   construct is similar to the CR concept described in this work,
   however the manner in which customer EUNs coordinates with IR[VE]s is
   different and based on the redirection model associated with NBMA
   links.

   Numerous publications have proposed NAT traversal techniques.  The
   NAT traversal techniques adapted for IRON were inspired by the Simple
   Address Mapping for Premises Legacy Equipment (SAMPLE) proposal
   [I-D.carpenter-softwire-sample].


9.  IANA Considerations

   There are no IANA considerations for this document.







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10.  Security Considerations

   Security considerations that apply to tunneling in general are
   discussed in [I-D.ietf-v6ops-tunnel-security-concerns].  Additional
   considerations that apply also to IRON are discussed in RANGER
   [RFC5720], VET [I-D.templin-intarea-vet] and SEAL
   [I-D.templin-intarea-seal].

   IR[CE]s require a means for securely registering their EP-to-locator
   bindings with their VPC.  Each VPC provides its customer IR[CE]s with
   a secure means for registering and re-registering their mappings.


11.  Acknowledgements

   This ideas behind this work have benefited greatly from discussions
   with colleagues; some of which appear on the RRG and other IRTF/IETF
   mailing lists.  Robin Whittle and Steve Russert co-authored the TTR
   mobility architecture which strongly influenced IRON.  Eric
   Fleischman pointed out the opportunity to leverage anycast for
   discovering topologically-close servers.  Thomas Henderson
   recommended a quantitative analysis of scaling properties.

   The following individuals provided essential review input: Mohamed
   Boucadair, Wesley Eddy, Dae Young Kim and Robin Whittle.


12.  References

12.1.  Normative References

   [RFC0791]  Postel, J., "Internet Protocol", STD 5, RFC 791,
              September 1981.

   [RFC2460]  Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6
              (IPv6) Specification", RFC 2460, December 1998.

12.2.  Informative References

   [BGPMON]   net, B., "BGPmon.net - Monitoring Your Prefixes,
              http://bgpmon.net/stat.php", June 2010.

   [I-D.bernardos-mext-nemo-ro-cr]
              Bernardos, C., Calderon, M., and I. Soto, "Correspondent
              Router based Route Optimisation for NEMO (CRON)",
              draft-bernardos-mext-nemo-ro-cr-00 (work in progress),
              July 2008.




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   [I-D.carpenter-softwire-sample]
              Carpenter, B. and S. Jiang, "Legacy NAT Traversal for
              IPv6: Simple Address Mapping for Premises Legacy Equipment
              (SAMPLE)", draft-carpenter-softwire-sample-00 (work in
              progress), June 2010.

   [I-D.ietf-grow-va]
              Francis, P., Xu, X., Ballani, H., Jen, D., Raszuk, R., and
              L. Zhang, "FIB Suppression with Virtual Aggregation",
              draft-ietf-grow-va-02 (work in progress), March 2010.

   [I-D.ietf-v6ops-tunnel-security-concerns]
              Hoagland, J., Krishnan, S., and D. Thaler, "Security
              Concerns With IP Tunneling",
              draft-ietf-v6ops-tunnel-security-concerns-02 (work in
              progress), March 2010.

   [I-D.narten-radir-problem-statement]
              Narten, T., "On the Scalability of Internet Routing",
              draft-narten-radir-problem-statement-05 (work in
              progress), February 2010.

   [I-D.russert-rangers]
              Russert, S., Fleischman, E., and F. Templin, "RANGER
              Scenarios", draft-russert-rangers-05 (work in progress),
              July 2010.

   [I-D.templin-intarea-seal]
              Templin, F., "The Subnetwork Encapsulation and Adaptation
              Layer (SEAL)", draft-templin-intarea-seal-16 (work in
              progress), July 2010.

   [I-D.templin-intarea-vet]
              Templin, F., "Virtual Enterprise Traversal (VET)",
              draft-templin-intarea-vet-16 (work in progress),
              July 2010.

   [I-D.whittle-ivip-arch]
              Whittle, R., "Ivip (Internet Vastly Improved Plumbing)
              Architecture", draft-whittle-ivip-arch-04 (work in
              progress), March 2010.

   [I-D.zhang-evolution]
              Zhang, B. and L. Zhang, "Evolution Towards Global Routing
              Scalability", draft-zhang-evolution-02 (work in progress),
              October 2009.

   [RFC1070]  Hagens, R., Hall, N., and M. Rose, "Use of the Internet as



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              a subnetwork for experimentation with the OSI network
              layer", RFC 1070, February 1989.

   [RFC3849]  Huston, G., Lord, A., and P. Smith, "IPv6 Address Prefix
              Reserved for Documentation", RFC 3849, July 2004.

   [RFC4192]  Baker, F., Lear, E., and R. Droms, "Procedures for
              Renumbering an IPv6 Network without a Flag Day", RFC 4192,
              September 2005.

   [RFC4271]  Rekhter, Y., Li, T., and S. Hares, "A Border Gateway
              Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271, January 2006.

   [RFC4548]  Gray, E., Rutemiller, J., and G. Swallow, "Internet Code
              Point (ICP) Assignments for NSAP Addresses", RFC 4548,
              May 2006.

   [RFC5214]  Templin, F., Gleeson, T., and D. Thaler, "Intra-Site
              Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol (ISATAP)", RFC 5214,
              March 2008.

   [RFC5522]  Eddy, W., Ivancic, W., and T. Davis, "Network Mobility
              Route Optimization Requirements for Operational Use in
              Aeronautics and Space Exploration Mobile Networks",
              RFC 5522, October 2009.

   [RFC5720]  Templin, F., "Routing and Addressing in Networks with
              Global Enterprise Recursion (RANGER)", RFC 5720,
              February 2010.

   [RFC5737]  Arkko, J., Cotton, M., and L. Vegoda, "IPv4 Address Blocks
              Reserved for Documentation", RFC 5737, January 2010.

   [RFC5743]  Falk, A., "Definition of an Internet Research Task Force
              (IRTF) Document Stream", RFC 5743, December 2009.

   [RFC5887]  Carpenter, B., Atkinson, R., and H. Flinck, "Renumbering
              Still Needs Work", RFC 5887, May 2010.

   [TTRMOB]   Whittle, R. and S. Russert, "TTR Mobility Extensions for
              Core-Edge Separation Solutions to the Internet's Routing
              Scaling Problem,
              http://www.firstpr.com.au/ip/ivip/TTR-Mobility.pdf",
              August 2008.







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Appendix A.  IRON VPs Over Internetworks with Different Address Families

   The IRON architecture leverages the routing system by providing
   generally shortest-path routing for packets with EPA addresses from
   VPs that match the address family of the underlying Internetwork.
   When the VPs are of an address family that is not routable within the
   underlying Internetwork, however, (e.g., when OSI/NSAP [RFC4548] VPs
   are used within an IPv4 Internetwork) a global mapping database is
   required to allow IR[VE]s to map VPs to companion prefixes taken from
   address families that are routable within the Internetwork.  For
   example, an IPv6 VP (e.g., 2001:DB8::/32) could be paired with a
   companion IPv4 prefix (e.g., 192.0.2.0/24) so that encapsulated IPv6
   packets can be forwarded over IPv4-only Internetworks.

   Every VP in the IRON must therefore be represented in a globally
   distributed Master VP database (MVPd) that maintains VP-to-companion
   prefix mappings for all VPs in the IRON.  The MVPd is maintained by a
   globally-managed assigned numbers authority in the same manner as the
   Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) currently maintains the
   master list of all top-level IPv4 and IPv6 delegations.  The database
   can be replicated across multiple servers for load balancing much in
   the same way that FTP mirror sites are used to manage software
   distributions.

   Upon startup, each IR[VE] discovers the full set of VPs for the IRON
   by reading the MVPd.  The IR[VE] reads the MVPd from a nearby server
   and periodically checks the server for deltas since the database was
   last read.  After reading the MVPd, the IR[VE] has a full list of VP
   to companion prefix mappings and is said to be "synchronized with the
   IRON".

   The IR[VE] can then forward packets toward EPAs covered by a VP by
   encapsulating them in an outer header of the VP's companion prefix
   address family and using any address taken from the companion prefix
   as the outer destination address.  The companion prefix therefore
   serves as an implicit anycast prefix.

   Possible encapsulations in this model include IPv6-in-IPv4, IPv4-in-
   IPv6, OSI/CLNP-in-IPv6, OSI/CLNP-in-IPv4, etc.


Appendix B.  Scaling Considerations

   Scaling aspects of the IRON architecture have strong implications for
   its applicability in practical deployments.  Scaling must be
   considered along multiple vectors including Interdomain core routing
   scaling, scaling to accommodate large numbers of customer EUNs,
   traffic scaling, state requirements, etc.



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   In terms of routing scaling, each VPC will advertise one or more VPs
   from which EPs are delegated to customer EUNs.  Routing scaling will
   therefore be minimized when each VP covers many EPs.  For example,
   the IPv6 prefix 2001:DB8::/32 contains 2^16 /56 prefixes for
   assignment to EUNs.  Therefore, 2^16 EUNs can be represented as a
   single VP in the interdomain routing core.  The IRON could therefore
   accommodate 10^10 IPv6 ::/56 EPs with only 625 IPv6 ::/32 VPs
   advertised in the interdomain routing core.

   In terms of traffic scaling for IR[VC]s, each IR[VC] represents an
   ASBR of a "shell" enterprise network that simply turns arriving
   traffic packets with EPA destination addresses back out into the
   Internet towards IR[VE]s that service customer EUNs.  Moreover, the
   IR[VC] sheds traffic destined to EPAs through redirection which
   removes it from the path for the vast majority of traffic packets.
   On the other hand, IR[VC]s must handle all traffic packets forwarded
   between EUNs and the non-IRON Internet.  The scaling concerns for
   this latter class of traffic are no different than for ASBR routers
   that connect large enterprise networks to the Internet.  In terms of
   traffic scaling for IR[VE]s, each IR[VE] services a set of the VPC
   overlay network's customer EUNs.  The IR[VE] services all traffic
   packets destined to its EUNs but only services the initial packets of
   flows initiated from the EUNs.  Therefore, traffic scaling is an
   asymmetric consideration and is proportional to the number of EUNs
   each IR[VE] serves.

   In terms of state requirements for IR[VC]s, each IR[VC] maintains a
   list of all IR[VE]s in the VPC overlay network as well as all
   customer EUNs that each IR[VE] serves.  This state is therefore
   dominated by the number of EUNs in the VPC overlay network.  Sizing
   the IR[VC] to accommodate state information for all EUNs is therefore
   required during VPC overlay network planning.  In terms of state
   requirements for IR[VE]s, each IR[VE] maintains two-way tunnel state
   for each of the customer EUNs it serves but need not keep state for
   all EUNs in the VPC overlay network.  Finally, neither IR[VC]s nor
   IR[VE] need keep state for final destinations of outbound traffic.

   IR[CE]s source and sink all traffic packets originating from or
   destined to the customer EUN.  Therefore traffic scaling
   considerations for IR[CE]s are the same as for any site border
   router.  IR[CE]s also retain state for the final destinations of
   outbound traffic flows.  This can be managed as soft state, since
   stale entries purged from the cache will be refreshed when new
   traffic packets are sent.







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Author's Address

   Fred L. Templin (editor)
   Boeing Research & Technology
   entire. Box 3707 MC 7L-49
   Seattle, WA  98124
   USA

   Email: fltemplin@acm.org










































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