Internet Engineering Task Force                        IJ. Wijnands, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                             E. Rosen, Ed.
Intended status: Standards Track                     Cisco Systems, Inc.
Expires: March 26, 2015                                      A. Dolganow
                                                          Alcatel-Lucent
                                                           T. Przygienda
                                                                Ericsson
                                                      September 22, 2014


             Multicast using Bit Index Explicit Replication
                  draft-wijnands-bier-architecture-00

Abstract

   This document specifies a new architecture for the forwarding of
   multicast data packets.  It provides optimal forwarding of multicast
   packets through a "multicast domain".  However, it does not require
   any explicit tree-building protocol, nor does it require intermediate
   nodes to maintain any per-flow state.  This architecture is known as
   "Bit Index Explicit Replication" (BIER).  When a multicast data
   packet enters the domain, the ingress router determines the set of
   egress routers to which the packet needs to be sent.  The ingress
   router then encapsulates the packet in a BIER header.  The BIER
   header contains a bitstring in which each bit represents exactly one
   egress router in the domain; to forward the packet to a given set of
   egress routers, the bits corresponding to those routers are set in
   the BIER header.  Elimination of the per-flow state and the explicit
   tree-building protocols results in a considerable simplification.

Status of This Memo

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

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

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

   This Internet-Draft will expire on March 26, 2015.





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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  The BFR Identifier and BFR-Prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   3.  Encoding BFR Identifiers in BitStrings  . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   4.  Layering  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     4.1.  The Routing Underlay  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     4.2.  The BIER Layer  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     4.3.  The Multicast Flow Overlay  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   5.  Advertising BFR-ids and BFR-Prefixes  . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   6.  BIER Intra-Domain Forwarding Procedures . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     6.1.  Overview  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     6.2.  BFR Neighbors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     6.3.  The Bit Index Routing Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     6.4.  The Bit Index Forwarding Table  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     6.5.  The BIER Forwarding Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     6.6.  Examples of BIER Forwarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
       6.6.1.  Example 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
       6.6.2.  Example 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
     6.7.  Equal Cost Multi-path Forwarding  . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     6.8.  Prevention of Loops and Duplicates  . . . . . . . . . . .  20
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
   9.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
   10. Contributor Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
   11. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     11.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     11.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23







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1.  Introduction

   This document specifies a new architecture for the forwarding of
   multicast data packets.  It provides optimal forwarding of multicast
   data packets through a "multicast domain".  However, it does not
   require any explicit tree-building protocol, and does not require
   intermediate nodes to maintain any per-flow state.  This architecture
   is known as "Bit Index Explicit Replication" (BIER).

   A router that supports BIER is known as a "Bit-Forwarding Router"
   (BFR).  A BIER domain is a connected set of BFRs, where each BFR has
   a "BFR-id" that is unique within the domain.  A BFR-id is a small
   unstructured number.  For instance, if a particular BIER domain
   contains 1,374 BFRs, each one could be given a BFR-id in the range
   1-1374.

   A multicast data packet enters a BIER domain at a "Bit-Forwarding
   Ingress Router" (BFIR), and leaves the BIER domain at one or more
   "Bit-Forwarding Egress Routers" (BFERs).  A BFR that receives a
   multicast data packet from another BFR in the same BIER domain, and
   forwards the packet to another BFR in the same BIER domain, will be
   known as a "transit BFR" for that packet.  A single BFR may be a BFIR
   for some multicast traffic while also being a BFER for some multicast
   traffic and a transit BFR for some multicast traffic.  In fact, a BFR
   may be the BFIR for a given packet and may also be (one of) the
   BFER(s), for that packet; it may also forward that packet to one or
   more additional BFRs.

   When a multicast packet arrives from outside the domain at a BFIR,
   the BFIR determines the set of BFERs to which the packet must be
   sent.  It then encapsulates the packet in a "BIER header".  The BIER
   header contains a bit string in which each bit represents a single
   BFR-id.  To indicate that a particular BFER needs to receive a given
   packet, the BFIR sets the bit corresponding to that BFER's BFR-id.
   We will use term "BitString" to refer to the bit string field in the
   BIER header.  We will use the term "payload" to refer to the packet
   that has been encapsulated.  Thus a "BIER-encapsulated" packet
   consists of a "BIER header" followed by a "payload".

   The number of BFERs to which a given packet can be forwarded is
   limited only by the length of the BitString in the BIER header.
   Different deployments can use different BitString lengths.  We will
   use the term "BitStringLength" to refer to the number of bits in the
   BitString.  It is possible that some deployment will have more BFERs
   in a given domain than there are bits in the BitString.  To
   accommodate this case, the BIER encapsulation includes both the
   BitString and a "Set Identifier" (SI).  It is the BitString and the




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   SI together that determine the set of BFERs to which a given packet
   will be delivered:

   o  by convention, the least significant (rightmost) bit in the
      BitString is "bit 1", and the most significant (leftmost) bit is
      "bit BitStringLength".

   o  if a BIER-encapsulated packet has an SI of n, and a BitString with
      bit k set, then the packet must be delivered to the BFER whose
      BFR-id is n*BitStringLength+k.

   For example, suppose the BIER encapsulation uses a BitStringLength of
   256 bits.  By convention, the least significant (rightmost) bit is
   "bit 1", and the most significant (leftmost) bit is "bit 256".
   Suppose that a given packet needs to be delivered to three BFERs,
   where those BFERs have BFR-ids of 13, 126, and 235 respectively.  The
   BFIR would create a BIER encapsulation with the SI set to zero, and
   with bits 13, 126, and 235 of the BitString set.  (All other bits of
   the BitString would be clear.)  If the packet also needs to be sent
   to a BFER whose BFR-id is 257, the BFIR would have to create a second
   copy of the packet, and the BIER encapsulation would specify an SI of
   1, and a BitString with bit 1 set and all the other bits clear.

   Note that it is generally advantageous to assign the BFR-ids so that
   as many BFERs as possible can be represented in a single bit string.

   Suppose a BFR, call it BFR-A, receives a packet whose BIER
   encapsulation specifies an SI of 0, and a BitString with bits 13, 26,
   and 235 set.  Suppose BFR-A has two BFR neighbors, BFR-B and BFR-C,
   such that the best path to BFERs 13 and 26 is via BFR-B, but the best
   path to BFER 235 is via BFR-C.  Then BFR-A will replicate the packet,
   sending one copy to BFR-B and one copy to BFR-C.  However, BFR-A will
   clear bit 235 in the BitString of the packet copy it sends to BFR-B,
   and will clear bits 13 and 26 in the BitString of the packet copy it
   sends to BFR-C.  As a result, BFR-B will forward the packet only
   towards BFERs 13 and 26, and BFR-C will forward the packet only
   towards BFER 235.  This ensures that each BFER receives only one copy
   of the packet.

   With this forwarding procedure, a multicast data packet can follow an
   optimal path from its BFIR to each of its BFERs.  Further, since the
   set of BFERs for a given packet is explicitly encoded into the BIER
   header, the packet is not sent to any BFER that does not need to
   receive it.  This allows for optimal forwarding of multicast traffic.
   This optimal forwarding is achieved without any need for transit BFRs
   to maintain per-flow state, or to run a multicast tree-building
   protocol.




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   The idea of encoding the set of egress nodes into the header of a
   multicast packet is not new.  For example, [Boivie_Feldman] proposes
   to encode the set of egress nodes as a set of IP addresses, and
   proposes mechanisms and procedures that are in some ways similar to
   those described in the current document.  However, since BIER encodes
   each BFR-id as a single bit in a bit string, it can represent up to
   128 BFERs in the same number of bits that it would take to carry the
   IPv6 address of a single BFER.  Thus BIER scales to a much larger
   number of egress nodes per packet.

   BIER does not require that each transit BFR look up the best path to
   each BFER that is identified in the BIER header; the number of
   lookups required in the forwarding path for a single packet can be
   limited to the number of neighboring BFRs; this can be much smaller
   than the number of BFERs.  See Section 6 (especially Section 6.4) for
   details.

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

2.  The BFR Identifier and BFR-Prefix

   Each BFR MUST be assigned a "BFR-Prefix".  A BFR's BFR-Prefix MUST be
   an IP address (either IPv4 or IPv6) of the BFR, and MUST be routable
   within the domain.  It is RECOMMENDED that the BFR-prefix be a
   loopback address of the BFR.  Two BFRs in the same BIER domain MUST
   NOT be assigned the same BFR-Prefix.

   A "BFR Identifier" (BFR-id) is a number in the range [1,65535].  In
   general, each BFR in a given BIER domain must be assigned a unique
   number from this range (i.e., two BFRs in the same BIER domain MUST
   NOT have the same BFR-id).  However, if it is known that a given BFR
   will never need to function as a BFER, then it is not necessary to
   assign a BFR-id to that BFR.

   The procedure for assigning a particular BFR-id to a particular BFR
   is outside the scope of this document.  However, it is RECOMMENDED
   that the BFR-ids be assigned "densely" from the numbering space, as
   this will result in a more efficient encoding (see Section 3).  That
   is, if there are 256 or fewer BFERs, it is RECOMMENDED to assign all
   the BFR-ids from the range [1,256].  If there are more than 256
   BFERs, but less than 512, it is RECOMMENDED to assign all the BFR-ids
   from the range [1,512], with as few "holes" as possible in the
   earlier range.  However, in some deployments, it may be advantageous
   to depart from this recommendation; this is discussed further in
   Section 3.




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3.  Encoding BFR Identifiers in BitStrings

   To encode a BFR-id in a BIER data packet, one must convert the BFR-id
   to an SI and a BitString.  This conversion depends upon the parameter
   we are calling "BitStringLength".  The conversion is done as follows.
   If the BFR-id is N, then

   o  SI is the integer part of the quotient (N-1)/BitStringLength

   o  The BitString has one bit position set.  If the low-order bit is
      bit 1, and the high-order bit is bit BitStringLength, the bit
      position that represents BFR-id N is
      ((N-1) modulo BitStringLength)+1.

   If several different BFR-ids all resolve to the same SI, then all
   those BFR-ids can be represented in a single BitString.  The
   BitStrings for all of those BFR-ids are combined using a bitwise
   logical OR operation.

   Different BIER domains may use different values of BitStringLength.
   Within a BIER domain, all BFRs MUST use the same BitStringLength
   value; this value is known by provisioning.  A BFR MUST support a
   BitStringLength value of 256.  Particular encapsulation types MAY
   allow other BitStringLengths to be optionally supported.  For
   example, when using the encapsulation specified in
   [MPLS_BIER_ENCAPS], a BFR may support any or all of the following
   BitStringLengths: 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, and 4096.

   A BFR MUST support SI values in the range [0,15], and MAY support SI
   values in the range [0,255].

   It is possible to design procedures that allow BFRs within a given
   BIER domain to use different BitStringLength values, and to enable
   each BFR to discover the BitStringLength values used by all the other
   BFRs in the domain.  However, this document presupposes that they all
   use the same value; procedures for the use of different values may be
   specified in future documents.

   When a BFIR determines that a multicast data packet needs to be
   forwarded to a particular set of destination BFERs, it partitions
   that set of BFERs into subsets, where each subset contains the target
   BFERs whose BFR-ids all resolve to the same SI.  Call these the
   "SI-subsets" for the packet.  Each SI-subset can be represented by a
   single BitString.  The BFIR creates a copy of the packet for each
   SI-subset.  The BIER encapsulation is then applied to each packet.
   The encapsulation specifies a single SI for each packet, and contains
   the BitString that represents all the BFR-ids in the corresponding
   SI-subset.



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   Suppose, for example, that a BFIR determines that a given packet
   needs to be forwarded to three BFERs, whose BFR-ids are 27, 235, and
   497.  The BFIR will have to forward two copies of the packet.  One
   copy, associated with SI=0, will have a BitString with bits 27 and
   235 set.  The other copy, associated with SI=1, will have a BitString
   with bit 241 set.

   In order to minimize the number of copies that must be made of a
   given multicast packet, it is RECOMMENDED that the BFR-ids be
   assigned "densely" (see Section 2) from the numbering space.  This
   will minimize the number of SIs that have to be used in the domain.
   However, depending upon the details of a particular deployment, other
   assignment methods may be more advantageous.  Suppose, for example,
   that in a certain deployment, every multicast flow is either intended
   for the "east coast" or for the "west coast".  In such a deployment,
   it would be advantageous to assign BFR-ids so that all the "west
   coast" BFR-ids fall into the same SI-subset, and so that all the
   "east coast" BFR-ids fall into the same SI-subset.

   When a BFR receives a BIER data packet, it will infer the SI from the
   encapsulation.  Then the set of BFERs to which the packet needs to be
   forwarded can then be inferred from the SI and the BitString.

   In some of the examples given later in this document, we will use a
   BitStringLength of 4, and will represent a BFR-id in the form
   "SI:xyzw", where SI is the Set Identifier of the BFR-id (assuming a
   BitStringLength of 4), and xyzw is a string of 4 bits.  A
   BitStringLength of 4 is used only in the examples; we would not
   expect actual deployments to have such a small BitStringLength.

   It is expected that there will be several different forms of BIER
   encapsulation.  The particular encapsulation that is used in a given
   deployment will depend on the type of network infrastructure that is
   used to realize the BIER domain.  Details of the BIER encapsulation
   will be given in companion documents.  An encapsulation for use in
   MPLS networks is described in [MPLS_BIER_ENCAPS]

4.  Layering

   It is helpful to think of the BIER architecture as consisting of
   three layers: the "routing underlay", the "BIER layer", and the
   "multicast flow overlay".

4.1.  The Routing Underlay

   The "routing underlay" establishes "adjacencies" between pairs of
   BFRs, and determines one or more "best paths" from a given BFR to a
   given set of BFRs.  Each such path is a sequence of BFRs <BFR(k),



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   BFR(k+1), ..., BFR(k+n)> such that BFR(k+j) is "adjacent" to
   BFR(k+j+1) (for 0<=j<n).

   At a given BFR, say BFR-A, for every IP address that is the address
   of a BFR in the BIER domain, the routing underlay will map that IP
   address into a set of one or more "equal cost" adjacencies.  If a
   BIER data packet has to be forwarded by BFR-A to a given BFER, say
   BFER-B, the packet will follow the path from BFR-A to BFER-B that is
   determined by the routing underlay.

   It is expected that in a typical deployment, the routing underlay
   will be the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP), e.g., OSPF, that is used
   for unicast routing.  In that case, the underlay adjacencies are just
   the OSPF adjacencies.  A BIER data packet traveling from BFR-A to
   BFER-B will follow the path that OSPF has selected for unicast
   traffic from BFR-A to BFER-B.

   If one wants to have multicast traffic from BFR-A to BFER-B travel a
   path that is different from the path used by the unicast traffic from
   A to B, one can use a different underlay.  For example, if multi-
   topology OSPF is being used, one OSPF topology could be used for
   unicast traffic, and the other for multicast traffic.  Alternatively,
   one could deploy a routing underlay that creates a Steiner tree.
   Then BIER could be used to forward multicast data packets along the
   Steiner tree, while unicast packets follow the "ordinary" OSPF best
   path.  It is even possible to have multiple routing underlays used by
   BIER, as long as one can infer from a data packet's BIER
   encapsulation which underlay to use.

   By default, the routing underlay used by BIER is the unicast IGP.

   Note that specification of the protocol and procedures of the routing
   underlay is outside the scope of this document.

4.2.  The BIER Layer

   The BIER layer consists of the protocol and procedures that are used
   in order to transmit a multicast data packet across a BIER domain,
   from its BFIR to its BFERs.  This includes the following components:

   o  Protocols and procedures that advertise each BFR's BFR-prefix and
      BFR-id to all other BFRs in the same BIER domain.

   o  The imposition by a BFIR of a BIER header on a multicast data
      packet.

   o  The procedures for forwarding BIER-encapsulated packets, and for
      modifying the BIER header during transit.



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4.3.  The Multicast Flow Overlay

   The "multicast flow overlay" consists of the set of protocols and
   procedures that enable the following set of functions.

   o  When a BFIR receives a multicast data packet from outside the BIER
      domain, the BFIR must determine the set of BFERs for that packet.
      This information is provided by the multicast flow overlay.

   o  When a BFER receives a BIER-encapsulated packet from inside the
      BIER domain, the BFER must determine how to further forward the
      packet.  This information is provided by the multicast flow
      overlay.

   For example, suppose the BFIR and BFERs are Provider Edge (PE)
   routers providing Multicast Virtual Private Network (MVPN) service.
   The multicast flow overlay consists of the protocols and procedures
   described in [RFC6513] and [RFC6514].  The MVPN signaling described
   in those RFCs enables an ingress PE to determine the set of egress
   PEs for a given multicast flow (or set of flows); it also enables an
   egress PE to determine the "Virtual Routing and Forwarding Tables"
   (VRFs) to which multicast packets from the backbone network should be
   sent.  MVPN signaling also has several components that depend on the
   type of "tunneling technology" used to carry multicast data though
   the network.  Since BIER is, in effect, a new type of "tunneling
   technology", some extensions to the MVPN signaling are needed in
   order to properly interface the multicast flow overlay with the BIER
   layer.  These will be specified in a companion document.

   MVPN is just one example of a multicast flow overlay.  Protocols and
   procedures for other overlays will be provided in companion
   documents.  It is also possible to implement the multicast flow
   overlay by means of a "Software Defined Network" (SDN) controller.
   Specification of the protocols and procedures of the multicast flow
   overlay is outside the scope of this document.

5.  Advertising BFR-ids and BFR-Prefixes

   As stated in Section 2, each BFER is assigned a BFR-id (for a given
   BIER domain).  Each BFER must advertise this assignment to all the
   other BFRs in the domain.  Similarly, each BFR is assigned a
   BFR-prefix (for a given BIER domain), and must advertise this
   assignment to all the other BFRs in the domain.  Finally, it is
   useful for each BFR to advertise its value of BitStringLength (for a
   given BIER domain)

   If the BIER domain is also a link state routing IGP domain (i.e., an
   OSPF or IS-IS domain), the advertisement of the BFR-id, BFR-prefix,



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   and BitStringLength can be done using the advertisement capabilities
   of the IGP.  For example, if a BIER domain is also an OSPF domain,
   these advertisements can be done using the OSPF "Opaque Link State
   Advertisement" (Opaque LSA) mechanism.  Details of the necessary
   extensions to OSPF and IS-IS will be provided in companion documents.
   (See [OSPF_BIER_EXTENSIONS] for the extensions to OSPF.)

   These advertisements enable each BFR to associate a given BFR-id with
   a given BFR-prefix.  As will be seen in subsequent sections of this
   document, knowledge of this association is an important part of the
   forwarding process.

   Since each BFR needs to have a unique (in the domain) BFR-id, two
   different BFRs can advertise ownership of the same BFR-id only if
   there has been a provisioning error.  If BFR-A determines that BFR-B
   and BFR-C have both advertised the same BFR-id, BFR-A MUST log an
   error.  Suppose that the duplicate BFR-id is "N".  When BFR-A is
   functioning as a BFIR, it MUST NOT encode the BFR-id value N in the
   BIER encapsulation of any packet, even if it has determined that the
   packet needs to be received by BFR-B and/or BFR-C.  This will mean
   that BFR-B and BFR-C cannot receive multicast traffic at all until
   the provisioning error is fixed.  However, that is preferable to
   having them receive each other's traffic.

6.  BIER Intra-Domain Forwarding Procedures

   This section specifies the rules for forwarding a BIER-encapsulated
   data packet within a BIER domain.

6.1.  Overview

   This section provides a brief overview of the BIER forwarding
   procedures.  Subsequent sub-sections specify the procedures in more
   detail.

   To forward a BIER-encapsulated packet:

   1.  Determine the packet's SI.

   2.  From the SI and the BitString, determine the set of destination
       BFERs for the packet.

   3.  Using information provided by the routing underlay, determine the
       next hop adjacency for each of the destination BFERs.

   4.  Partition the set of destination BFERs such that all the BFERs in
       a single partition have the same next hop.  We will say that each
       partition is associated with a next hop.



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   5.  For each partition:

       a.  Make a copy of the packet.

       b.  Clear any bit in the packet's BitString that identifies a
           BFER that is not in the partition.

       c.  Transmit the packet to the associated next hop.

   If a BFR receives a BIER-encapsulated packet whose SI and BitString
   identify that BFR itself, then the BFR is also a BFER for that
   packet.  As a BFER, it must pass the payload to the multicast flow
   overlay.  If the BitString has more than one bit set, the packet also
   needs to be forwarded further within the BIER domain.  If the BF(E)R
   also forwards one or more copies of the packet within the BIER
   domain, the bit representing the BFR's own BFR-id will be cleared in
   all the copies.

   When BIER on a BFER passes a packet to the multicast flow overlay, it
   may need to provide contextual information obtained from the BIER
   encapsulation.  The information that needs to pass between the BIER
   layer and the multicast flow layer is specific to the multicast flow
   layer.  Specification of the interaction between the BIER layer and
   the multicast flow layer is outside the scope of this specification.

   When BIER on a BFER passes a packet to the multicast flow overlay,
   the overlay will determine how to further dispatch the packet.  If
   the packet needs to be forwarded into another BIER domain, then the
   BFR will act as a BFER in one BIER domain and as a BFIR in another.
   A BIER-encapsulated packet cannot pass directly from one BIER domain
   to another; at the boundary between BIER domains, the packet must be
   decapsulated and passed to the multicast flow layer.

   Note that when a BFR transmits multiple copies of a packet within a
   BIER domain, only one copy will be destined to any given BFER.
   Therefore it is not possible for any BIER-encapsulated packet to be
   delivered more than once to any BFER.

6.2.  BFR Neighbors

   The "BFR Neighbors" (BFR-NBRs) of a given BFR, say BFR-A, are those
   BFRs that, according to the routing underlay, are adjacencies of
   BFR-A.  Each BFR-NBR will have a BFR-prefix.

   Suppose a BIER-encapsulated packet arrives at BFR-A.  From the
   packet's encapsulation, BFR-A learns the BFR-ids of the BFERs to
   which the packet is destined.  Then using the information advertised
   per Section 5, BFR-A can find the BFR-prefix of each destination



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   BFER.  Given the BFR-prefix of a particular destination BFER, say
   BFER-D, BFR-A learns from the routing underlay an IP address of the
   BFR that is the next hop on the path from BFR-A to BFER-D.  Let's
   call this next hop BFR-NH.  BFR-A must then determine the BFR-prefix
   of BFR-NH.  (This determination can be made from the information
   advertised per Section 5.)  This BFR-prefix is the BFR-NBR of BFR-A
   on the path from BFR-A to BFER-D.

   Note that if the routing underlay provides multiple equal cost paths
   from BFR-A to BFER-D, BFR-A may have multiple BFR-NBRs for BFER-D.

6.3.  The Bit Index Routing Table

   The Bit Index Routing Table (BIRT) is a table that maps from the
   BFR-id of a BFER to the BFR-prefix of that BFER, and to the BFR-NBR
   on the path to that BFER.


     ( A ) ------------ (  B  ) ------------ ( C ) ------------ ( D )
    4 (0:1000)              \                  \            1 (0:0001)
                             \                  \
                             ( E )              ( F )
                           3 (0:0100)         2 (0:0010)

                         Figure 1: BIER Topology 1

   As an example, consider the topology shown in Figure 1.  In this
   diagram, we represent the BFR-id of each BFR in the SI:xyzw form
   discussed in Section 3.  This topology will result in the BIRT of
   Figure 2 at BFR-B.  The first column shows the BFR-id as a number and
   also (in parentheses) in the SI:BitString format that corresponds to
   a BitStringLength of 4.  (The actual minimum BitStringLength is 64,
   but we use 4 in the examples.)


















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               --------------------------------------------
               |     BFR-id     |  BFR-Prefix  | BFR-NBR  |
               | (SI:BitString) | of Dest BFER |          |
               ============================================
               |   4 (0:1000)   |     A        |     A    |
               --------------------------------------------
               |   1 (0:0001)   |     D        |     C    |
               --------------------------------------------
               |   3 (0:0100)   |     E        |     E    |
               --------------------------------------------
               |   2 (0:0010)   |     F        |     C    |
               --------------------------------------------


                Figure 2: Bit Index Routing Table at BFR-B

6.4.  The Bit Index Forwarding Table

   The "Bit Index Forwarding Table" (BIFT) is derived from the BIRT as
   follows.

   Suppose that several rows in the BIRT have the same SI and the same
   BFR-NBR.  By taking the logical OR of the BitStrings of those rows,
   we obtain a bit mask that corresponds to that combination of SI and
   BFR-NBR.  We will refer to this bit mask as the "Forwarding Bit Mask"
   (F-BM) for that <SI,BFR-NBR> combination.

   For example, in Figure 2, we see that two of the rows have the same
   SI (0) and same BFR-NBR (C).  The Bit Mask that corresponds to <SI=0,
   BFR-NBR-C> is 0011 ("0001" OR'd with "0010").

   The BIFT is used to map from the BFR-id of a BFER to the
   corresponding F-BM and BFR-NBR.  For example, Figure 3 shows the BIFT
   that is derived from the BIRT of Figure 2.  Note that BFR-ids 1 and 2
   have the same SI and the same BFR-NBR, hence they have the same F-BM.
















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                   -------------------------------------
                   |      BFR-id    |  F-BM  | BFR-NBR |
                   | (SI:Bitstring) |        |         |
                   =====================================
                   |   1 (0:0001)   |  0011  |    C    |
                   -------------------------------------
                   |   2 (0:0010)   |  0011  |    C    |
                   -------------------------------------
                   |   3 (0:0100)   |  0100  |    E    |
                   -------------------------------------
                   |   4 (0:1000)   |  1000  |    A    |
                   -------------------------------------

                   Figure 3: Bit Index Forwarding Table

   This Bit Index Forwarding Table (BIFT) is programmed into the data-
   plane and used to forward packets, applying the rules specified below
   in Section 6.5.

6.5.  The BIER Forwarding Procedure

   Below is the procedure for forwarding a BIER-encapsulated packet.

   1.  Determine the packet's SI.

   2.  Find the position of least significant (rightmost) bit in the
       packet's BitString that is set.  (Remember, bits are numbered
       from 1, starting with the least significant bit.)  Use that bit
       position, together with the SI, as the 'index' into the BIFT.

   3.  Extract from the BIFT the F-BM and the BFR-NBR.

   4.  Copy the packet.  Update the copy's BitString by AND'ing it with
       the F-BM (i.e., PacketCopy->BitString &= F-BM).  Then forward the
       copy to the BFR-NBR.  Note that when a packet is forwarded to a
       particular BFR-NBR, its BitString identifies only those BFERs
       that are to be reached via that BFR-NBR.

   5.  Now update the original packet's BitString by AND'ing it with the
       INVERSE of the F-BM (i.e., Packet->Bitstring &= ~F-BM).  (This
       clears the bits that identify the BFERs to which a copy of the
       packet has just been forwarded.)  Go to step 2.

   Note that this procedure causes the packet to be forwarded to a
   particular BFR-NBR only once.  The number of lookups in the BIFT is
   the same as the number of BFR-NBRs to which the packet must be
   forwarded; it is not necessary to do a separate lookup for each
   destination BFER.



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   Suppose it has been decided (by the above rules) to send a packet to
   a particular BFR-NBR.  If that BFR-NBR is connected via multiple
   parallel interfaces, it may be desirable to apply some form of load
   balancing.  Load balancing algorithms are outside the scope of this
   document.  However, if the packet's encapsulation contains an
   "entropy" field, the entropy field SHOULD be respected; two packets
   with the same value of the entropy field SHOULD be sent on the same
   interface (if possible).

   In some cases, the routing underlay may provide multiple equal cost
   paths (through different BFR-NBRs) to a given BFER.  This is known as
   "Equal Cost Multiple Paths" (ECMP).  The procedures described in this
   section must be augmented in order to support load balancing over
   ECMP.  The necessary augmentations can be found in Section 6.7.

   In the event that unicast traffic to the BFR-NBR is being sent via a
   "bypass tunnel" of some sort, the BIER-encapsulated multicast traffic
   send to the BFR-NBR SHOULD also be sent via that tunnel.  This allows
   any existing "Fast Reroute" schemes to be applied to multicast
   traffic as well as to unicast traffic.

   Some examples of these forwarding procedures can be found in
   Section 6.6.

   The rules given in this section can be represented by the following
   pseudocode:

   void ForwardBitMaskPacket (Packet)
   {
       SI=GetPacketSI(Packet);
       Offset=SI*BitStringLength;
       for (Index = GetFirstBitPosition(Packet->BitString); Index ;
            Index = GetNextBitPosition(Packet->BitString, Index)) {
           F-BM = BIFT[Index+Offset]->F-BM;
           if (!F-BM) continue;
           BFR-NBR = BIFT[Index+Offset]->BFR-NBR;
           PacketCopy = Copy(Packet);
           PacketCopy->BitString &= F-BM;
           PacketSend(PacketCopy, BFR-NBR);
           Packet->BitString &= ~F-BM;
       }
   }


                           Figure 4: Pseudocode

   Note that at a given BFER, the BFR-NBR entry corresponding to the
   BFER's own BFR-id will be the BFER's own BFR-prefix.  In this case,



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   the "PacketSend" function sends the packet to the multicast flow
   layer.

6.6.  Examples of BIER Forwarding

   In this section, we give two examples of BIER forwarding, based on
   the topology in Figure 1.  In these examples, all packets have SI=0,
   and the BitStringLength is 4.  Figure 5 shows the BIFT entries for
   SI=0 only.  For compactness, we show the first column of the BIFT,
   the BFR-id, only as an integer.

           BFR-A BIFT            BFR-B BIFT            BFR-C BIFT
      -------------------   -------------------   -------------------
      | Id | F-BM | NBR |   | Id | F-BM | NBR |   | Id | F-BM | NBR |
      ===================   ===================   ===================
      |  1 | 0111 |  B  |   |  1 | 0011 |  C  |   |  1 | 0001 |  D  |
      -------------------   -------------------   -------------------
      |  2 | 0111 |  B  |   |  2 | 0011 |  C  |   |  2 | 0010 |  F  |
      -------------------   -------------------   -------------------
      |  3 | 0111 |  B  |   |  3 | 0100 |  E  |   |  3 | 1100 |  B  |
      -------------------   -------------------   -------------------
      |  4 | 1000 |  A  |   | 4 |  1000 |  A  |   |  4 | 1100 |  B  |
      -------------------   -------------------   -------------------

                  Figure 5: BIFTs for Forwarding Examples

6.6.1.  Example 1

   BFR-D, BFR-E and BFR-F are BFER's.  BFR-A is the BFIR.  Suppose that
   BFIR-A has learned from the multicast flow layer that BFER-D is
   interested in a given multicast flow.  If BFIR-A receives a packet of
   that flow from outside the BIER domain, BFIR-A applies the BIER
   encapsulation to the packet.  The encapsulation must be such that the
   SI is zero.  The encapsulation also includes a BitString, with just
   bit 1 set and with all other bits clear (i.e., 0001).  This indicates
   that BFER-D is the only BFER that needs to receive the packet.  Then
   BFIR-A follows the procedures of Section 6.5:

   o  Since the packet's BitString is 0001, BFIR-A finds that the first
      bit in the string is bit 1.  Looking at entry 1 in its BIFT, BFR-A
      determines that the bit mask F-BM is 0111 and the BFR-NBR is
      BFR-B.

   o  BFR-A then makes a copy of the packet, and applies F-BM to the
      copy: Copy->BitString &= 0111.  The copy's Bitstring is now 0001
      (0001 & 0111).

   o  The copy is now sent to BFR-B.



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   o  BFR-A then updates the packet's BitString by applying the inverse
      of the F-BM: Packet->Bitstring &= ~F-BM.  As a result, the
      packet's BitString is now 0000 (0001 & 1000).

   o  As the packet's BitString is now zero, the forwarding procedure is
      complete.

   When BFR-B receives the multicast packet from BFR-A, it follows the
   same procedure.  The result is that a copy of the packet, with a
   BitString of 0001, is sent to BFR-C.  BFR-C applies the same
   procedures, and as a result sends a copy of the packet, with a
   BitString of 0001, to BFR-D.

   At BFER-D, the BIFT entry (not pictured) for BFR-id 1 will specify an
   F-BM of 0000 and a BFR-NBR of BFR-D itself.  This will cause a copy
   of the packet to be delivered to the multicast flow layer at BFR-D.
   The packet's BitString will be set to 0000, and the packet will not
   be forwarded any further.

6.6.2.  Example 2

   This example is similar to Example 1, except that BFIR-A has learned
   from the multicast flow layer that both BFER-D and BFER-E are
   interested in a given multicast flow.  If BFIR-A receives a packet of
   that flow from outside the BIER domain, BFIR-A applies the BIER
   encapsulation to the packet.  The encapsulation must be such that the
   SI is zero.  The encapsulation also includes a BitString with two
   bits set: bit 1 is set (as in example 1) to indicate that BFR-D is a
   BFER for this packet, and bit 3 is set to indicate that BFR-E is a
   BFER for this packet.  I.e., the BitString (assuming again a
   BitStringLength of 4) is 0101.  To forward the packet, BFIR-A follows
   the procedures of Section 6.5:

   o  Since the packet's BitString is 0101, BFIR-A finds that the first
      bit in the string is bit 1.  Looking at entry 1 in its BIFT, BFR-A
      determines that the bit mask F-BM is 0111 and the BFR-NBR is
      BFR-B.

   o  BFR-A then makes a copy of the packet, and applies the F-BM to the
      copy: Copy->BitString &= 0111.  The copy's Bitstring is now 0101
      (0101 & 0111).

   o  The copy is now sent to BFR-B.

   o  BFR-A then updates the packet's BitString by applying the inverse
      of the F-BM: Packet->Bitstring &= ~F-BM.  As a result, the
      packet's BitString is now 0000 (0101 & 1000).




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   o  As the packet's BitString is now zero, the forwarding procedure is
      complete.

   When BFR-B receives the multicast packet from BFR-A, it follows the
   procedure of Section 6.5, as follows:

   o  Since the packet's BitString is 0101, BFR-B finds that the first
      bit in the string is bit 1.  Looking at entry 1 in its BIFT, BFR-B
      determines that the bit mask F-BM is 0011 and the BFR-NBR is
      BFR-C.

   o  BFR-B then makes a copy of the packet, and applies the F-BM to the
      copy: Copy->BitString &= 0011.  The copy's Bitstring is now 0001
      (0101 & 0011).

   o  The copy is now sent to BFR-C.

   o  BFR-B then updates the packet's BitString by applying the inverse
      of the F-BM: Packet->Bitstring &=  F-BM.  As a result, the
      packet's BitString is now 0100 (0101 & 1100).

   o  Now BFR-B finds the next bit in the packet's (modified) BitString.
      This is bit 3.  Looking at entry 3 in its BIFT, BFR-B determines
      that the F-BM is 0100 and the BFR-NBR is BFR-E.

   o  BFR-B then makes a copy of the packet, and applies the F-BM to the
      copy: Copy->BitString &= 0100.  The copy's Bitstring is now 0100
      (0100 & 0100).

   o  The copy is now sent to BFR-E.

   o  BFR-B then updates the packet's BitString by applying the inverse
      of the F-BM: Packet->Bitstring &= ~F-BM.  As a result, the
      packet's BitString is now 0000 (0100 & 1011).

   o  As the packet's BitString is now zero, the forwarding procedure is
      complete.

   Thus BFR-B forwards two copies of the packet.  One copy of the
   packet, with BitString 0001, has now been sent from BFR-B to BFR-C.
   Following the same procedures, BFR-C will forward the packet to
   BFER-D.

   At BFER-D, the BIFT entry (not pictured) for BFR-id 1 will specify an
   F-BM of 0000 and a BFR-NBR of BFR-D itself.  This will cause a copy
   of the packet to be delivered to the multicast flow layer at BFR-D.
   The packet's BitString will be set to 0000, and the packet will not
   be forwarded any further.



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   The other copy of the packet has been sent from BFR-B to BFER-E, with
   BitString 0100.

   At BFER-E, the BIFT entry (not pictured) for BFR-id 3 will specify an
   F-BM of 0000 and a BFR-NBR of BFR-E itself.  This will cause a copy
   of the packet to be delivered to the multicast flow layer at BFR-E.
   The packet's BitString will be set to 0000, and the packet will not
   be forwarded any further.

6.7.  Equal Cost Multi-path Forwarding

   In many networks, the routing underlay will provide multiple equal
   cost paths from a given BFR to a given BFER.  When forwarding
   multicast packets through the network, it can be beneficial to take
   advantage of this by load balancing among those paths.  This feature
   is known as "equal cost multiple path forwarding", or "ECMP".

   BIER supports ECMP, but the procedures of Section 6.5 must be
   modified slightly.  This is shown in Figure 6, which is based on the
   topology of Figure 1.

           BFR-A BIFT            BFR-B BIFT            BFR-C BIFT
      -------------------   -------------------   -------------------
      | Id | F-BM | NBR |   | Id | F-BM | NBR |   | Id | F-BM | NBR |
      ===================   ===================   ===================
      | 1  | 0111 |  B  |   | 1  | 0011 |  C  |   | 1  | 0001 |  D  |
      -------------------   -------------------   -------------------
      | 2  | 0111 |  B  |   | 2  | 0011 |  C  |   | 2  | 0010 |  F  |
      -------------------   |    | 0110 |  E  |   -------------------
      | 3  | 0111 |  B  |   -------------------   | 3  | 1100 |  B  |
      -------------------   | 3  | 0110 |  E  |   -------------------
      | 4  | 1000 |  A  |   ------------------|   | 4  | 1100 |  B  |
      -------------------   | 4  | 1000 |  A  |   -------------------
                            -------------------

                         Figure 6: Example of ECMP

   In this example, BFR-B has two equal cost paths to reach BFER-F, one
   via BFR-C and one via BFR-E.  Since the BFR-id of BFER-F is 2, this
   is reflected in entry 2 of BFR-B's BIFT.  Entry 2 shows that BFR-B
   has a choice of two BFR-NBRs for BFER-B, and that a different F-BM is
   associated with each choice.  When BFR-B looks up entry 2 in the
   BIFT, it can choose either BFR-NBR.  However, when following the
   procedures of Section 6.5, it MUST use the F-BM corresponding to the
   BFR-NBR that it chooses.

   How the choice is made is an implementation matter.  However, the
   usual rules for ECMP apply: packets of a given flow SHOULD NOT be



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   split among two paths, and any "entropy" field in the packet's
   encapsulation SHOULD be respected.

   Note however that by the rules of Section 6.5, any packet destined
   for both BFER-D and BFER-F will be sent via BFR-C.

6.8.  Prevention of Loops and Duplicates

   The BitString in a BIER-encapsulated packet specifies the set of
   BFERs to which that packet is to be forwarded.  When a BIER-
   encapsulated packet is replicated, no two copies of the packet will
   ever have a BFER in common.  If one of the packet's BFERs forwards
   the packet further, that will first clear the bit that identifies
   itself.  As a result, duplicate delivery of packets is not possible
   with BIER.

   As long as the routing underlay provides a loop free path between
   each pair of BFRs, BIER-encapsulated packets will not loop.  Since
   the BIER layer does not create any paths of its own, there is no need
   for any BIER-specific loop prevention techniques beyond the
   forwarding procedures specified in Section 6.5.

   If, at some time, the routing underlay is not providing a loop free
   path between BFIR-A and BFER-B, then BIER encapsulated packets may
   loop while traveling from BFIR-A to BFER-B.  However, such loops will
   never result in delivery of duplicate packets to BFER-B.

   These properties of BIER eliminate the need for the "reverse path
   forwarding" (RPF) check that is used in conventional IP multicast
   forwarding.

7.  IANA Considerations

   This document contains no actions for IANA.

8.  Security Considerations

   When BIER is paired with a particular multicast flow layer, it
   inherits the security considerations of that layer.  Similarly, when
   BIER is paired with a particular routing underlay, it inherits the
   security considerations of that layer.

   If the BIER encapsulation of a particular packet specifies an SI or a
   BitString other than the one intended by the BFIR, the packet is
   likely to be misdelivered.  If the BIER encapsulation of a packet is
   modified (through error or malfeasance) in a way other than that
   specified in this document, the packet may be misdelivered.




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   If the procedures used for advertising BFR-ids and BFR-prefixes are
   not secure, an attack on those procedures may result in incorrect
   delivery of BIER-encapsulated packets.

   Every BFR must be provisioned to know which of its interfaces lead to
   a BIER domain and which do not.  If two interfaces lead to different
   BIER domains, the BFR must be provisioned to know that those two
   interfaces lead to different BIER domains.  If the provisioning is
   not correct, BIER-encapsulated packets from one BIER domain may
   "leak" into another; this is likely to result in misdelivery of
   packets.

9.  Acknowledgements

   The authors wish to thank Rajiv Asati, John Bettink, Nagendra Kumar,
   Christian Martin, Neale Ranns, Greg Shepherd, and Ramji Vaithianathan
   for their ideas and contributions to this work.

10.  Contributor Addresses

   Below is a list of other contributing authors in alphabetical order:






























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   Wim Henderickx
   Alcatel-Lucent
   Copernicuslaan 50
   Antwerp 2018
   Belgium

   Email: wim.henderickx@alcatel-lucent.com

   Martin Horneffer
   Deutsche Telekom
   Hammer Str. 216-226
   Muenster 48153
   DE

   Email: Martin.Horneffer@telekom.de

   Uwe Joorde
   Deutsche Telekom
   Hammer Str. 216-226
   Muenster  D-48153
   DE

   Email: Uwe.Joorde@telekom.de

   Jeff Tantsura
   Ericsson
   300 Holger Way
   San Jose, CA  95134
   US

   Email: jeff.tantsura@ericsson.com

11.  References

11.1.  Normative References

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

11.2.  Informative References

   [Boivie_Feldman]
              Boivie, R. and N. Feldman, "Small Group Multicast",
              (expired) draft-boivie-sgm-02.txt, February 2001.







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   [MPLS_BIER_ENCAPS]
              Wijnands, IJ., "BIER Encapsulation for MPLS Networks",
              internet-draft draft-wijnands-mpls-bier-encaps-00.txt,
              September 2014.

   [OSPF_BIER_EXTENSIONS]
              Kumar, N. and P. Psenak, "OSPF Extension for Bit Index
              Explicit Replication", internet-draft draft-kumar-ospf-
              bier-extension-00.txt, September 2014.

   [RFC6513]  Rosen, E. and R. Aggarwal, "Multicast in MPLS/BGP IP
              VPNs", RFC 6513, February 2012.

   [RFC6514]  Aggarwal, R., Rosen, E., Morin, T., and Y. Rekhter, "BGP
              Encodings and Procedures for Multicast in MPLS/BGP IP
              VPNs", RFC 6514, February 2012.

Authors' Addresses

   IJsbrand Wijnands (editor)
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   De Kleetlaan 6a
   Diegem  1831
   Belgium

   Email: ice@cisco.com


   Eric C. Rosen (editor)
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   1414 Massachusetts Avenue
   Boxborough, Massachusetts  01781
   USA

   Email: erosen@cisco.com


   Andrew Dolganow
   Alcatel-Lucent
   600 March Rd.
   Ottawa, Ontario  K2K 2E6
   Canada

   Email: andrew.dolganow@alcatel-lucent.com







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   Tony Przygienda
   Ericsson

   Email: antoni.przygienda@ericsson.com















































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