Network Working Group L. Andersson, Ed.
Request for Comments: 5037 Acreo AB
Category: Informational I. Minei, Ed.
Juniper Networks
B. Thomas, Ed.
Cisco Systems, Inc.
October 2007
Experience with the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP)
Status of This Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Abstract
The purpose of this memo is to document how some of the requirements
specified in RFC 1264 for advancing protocols developed by working
groups within the IETF Routing Area to Draft Standard have been
satisfied by LDP (Label Distribution Protocol). Specifically, this
report documents operational experience with LDP, requirement 5 of
section 5.0 in RFC 1264.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................2
2. Operational Experience ..........................................2
2.1. Environment and Duration ...................................2
2.2. Applications and Motivation ................................3
2.3. Protocol Features ..........................................3
2.4. Security Concerns ..........................................4
2.5. Implementations and Inter-Operability ......................4
2.6. Operational Experience .....................................4
3. Security Considerations .........................................5
4. Acknowledgments .................................................5
5. References ......................................................6
5.1. Normative References .......................................6
5.2. Informative References .....................................6
Andersson, et al. Informational [Page 1]RFC 5037 Experience with the LDP Protocol October 20071. Introduction
The purpose of this memo is to document how some of the requirements
specified in [RFC1264] for advancing protocols developed by working
groups within the IETF Routing Area to Draft Standard have been
satisfied by LDP. Specifically, this report documents operational
experience with LDP, requirement 5 of section 5.0 in RFC 1264.
LDP was originally published as [RFC3036] in January 2001. It was
produced by the MPLS Working Group of the IETF and was jointly
authored by Loa Andersson, Paul Doolan, Nancy Feldman, Andre
Fredette, and Bob Thomas. It has since been obsoleted by [RFC5036].
2. Operational Experience
This section discusses operational experience with the protocol. The
information is based on a survey sent to the MPLS Working Group in
October 2004. The questionnaire can be found in the MPLS Working
Group mail archives for October 2004.
11 responses were received, all but 2 requesting confidentiality.
The survey results are summarized to maintain confidentiality. The
networks surveyed span different geographic locations: US, Europe,
and Asia. Both academic and commercial networks responded to the
survey.
2.1. Environment and Duration
The size of the deployments ranges from less than 20 Label Switching
Routers (LSRs) to over 1000 LSRs. Eight out of the 11 deployments
use LDP in the edge and the core, two on the edge only, and one in
the core only.
Sessions exist to peers discovered via both the basic and the
extended discovery mechanisms. In half the cases, more than one
adjacency (and as many as four adjacencies) are maintained per
session. The average number of LDP sessions on an LSR ranges from
under 10 to just over 80. The responses are spread out as follows:
under 10: 4 responses, 20-50: 4 responses, and over 80: 1 response.
In the surveyed networks, the time LDP has been deployed ranges from
under 1 year to over 4 years. The responses are spread out as
follows: under 1 year: 3 responses, 2 years: 2 responses, 3 years: 3
responses, and over 4 years: 3 responses.
Andersson, et al. Informational [Page 2]RFC 5037 Experience with the LDP Protocol October 20072.2. Applications and Motivation
Nine of the 11 responses list Layer 3 Virtual Private Networks
(L3VPNs) as the application driving the LDP deployment in the
datatracker.ietf.org