The OSPF Opaque LSA Option
RFC 2370
Document | Type |
RFC - Proposed Standard
(July 1998; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 5250
Updated by RFC 3630
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Author | Rob Coltun | ||
Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | IETF | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 2370 (Proposed Standard) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group R. Coltun Request for Comments: 2370 FORE Systems See Also: 2328 July 1998 Category: Standards Track The OSPF Opaque LSA Option Status of this Memo This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved. Table Of Contents 1.0 Abstract ................................................. 1 2.0 Overview ................................................. 2 2.1 Organization Of This Document ............................ 2 2.2 Acknowledgments .......................................... 3 3.0 The Opaque LSA ........................................... 3 3.1 Flooding Opaque LSAs ..................................... 4 3.2 Modifications To The Neighbor State Machine .............. 5 4.0 Protocol Data Structures ................................. 6 4.1 Additions To The OSPF Neighbor Structure ................. 6 5.0 Management Considerations ................................ 7 6.0 Security Considerations .................................. 9 7.0 IANA Considerations ...................................... 10 8.0 References ............................................... 10 9.0 Author's Information ..................................... 11 Appendix A: OSPF Data Formats ................................ 12 A.1 The Options Field ........................................ 12 A.2 The Opaque LSA ........................................... 13 Appendix B: Full Copyright Statment .......................... 15 1.0 Abstract This memo defines enhancements to the OSPF protocol to support a new class of link-state advertisements (LSA) called Opaque LSAs. Opaque LSAs provide a generalized mechanism to allow for the future extensibility of OSPF. Opaque LSAs consist of a standard LSA header followed by application-specific information. The information field Coltun Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 2370 The OSPF Opaque LSA Option July 1998 may be used directly by OSPF or by other applications. Standard OSPF link-state database flooding mechanisms are used to distribute Opaque LSAs to all or some limited portion of the OSPF topology. 2.0 Overview Over the last several years the OSPF routing protocol [OSPF] has been widely deployed throughout the Internet. As a result of this deployment and the evolution of networking technology, OSPF has been extended to support many options; this evolution will obviously continue. This memo defines enhancements to the OSPF protocol to support a new class of link-state advertisements (LSA) called Opaque LSAs. Opaque LSAs provide a generalized mechanism to allow for the future extensibility of OSPF. The information contained in Opaque LSAs may be used directly by OSPF or indirectly by some application wishing to distribute information throughout the OSPF domain. For example, the OSPF LSA may be used by routers to distribute IP to link-layer address resolution information (see [ARA] for more information). The exact use of Opaque LSAs is beyond the scope of this memo. Opaque LSAs consist of a standard LSA header followed by a 32-bit qaligned application-specific information field. Like any other LSA, the Opaque LSA uses the link-state database distribution mechanism for flooding this information throughout the topology. The link- state type field of the Opaque LSA identifies the LSA's range of topological distribution. This range is referred to as the Flooding Scope. It is envisioned that an implementation of the Opaque option provides an application interface for 1) encapsulating application-specific information in a specific Opaque type, 2) sending and receiving application-specific information, and 3) if required, informing the application of the change in validity of previously received information when topological changes are detected. 2.1 Organization Of This Document This document first defines the three types of Opaque LSAs followed by a description of OSPF packet processing. The packet processing sections include modifications to the flooding procedure and to the neighbor state machine. Appendix A then gives the packet formats. Coltun Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 2370 The OSPF Opaque LSA Option July 1998 2.2 AcknowledgmentsShow full document text