MPLS Transport Profile Data Plane Architecture
RFC 5960

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                     D. Frost, Ed.
Request for Comments: 5960                                S. Bryant, Ed.
Category: Standards Track                                  Cisco Systems
ISSN: 2070-1721                                            M. Bocci, Ed.
                                                          Alcatel-Lucent
                                                             August 2010

             MPLS Transport Profile Data Plane Architecture

Abstract

   The Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) is the
   set of MPLS protocol functions applicable to the construction and
   operation of packet-switched transport networks.  This document
   specifies the subset of these functions that comprises the MPLS-TP
   data plane: the architectural layer concerned with the encapsulation
   and forwarding of packets within an MPLS-TP network.

   This document is a product of a joint Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF) / International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication
   Standardization Sector (ITU-T) effort to include an MPLS Transport
   Profile within the IETF MPLS and Pseudowire Emulation Edge-to-Edge
   (PWE3) architectures to support the capabilities and functionalities
   of a packet transport network.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5960.

Frost, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 1]
RFC 5960             MPLS-TP Data Plane Architecture         August 2010

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
   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
     1.1.  Scope  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     1.3.  Requirements Language  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2.  MPLS-TP Packet Encapsulation and Forwarding  . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  MPLS-TP Transport Entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     3.1.  Label Switched Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       3.1.1.  LSP Packet Encapsulation and Forwarding  . . . . . . .  6
       3.1.2.  LSP Payloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       3.1.3.  LSP Types  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     3.2.  Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     3.3.  Pseudowires  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   4.  MPLS-TP Generic Associated Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   5.  Server-Layer Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   6.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   7.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     7.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     7.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Frost, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 2]
RFC 5960             MPLS-TP Data Plane Architecture         August 2010

1.  Introduction

   The MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) is the set of functions that
   meet the requirements [RFC5654] for the application of MPLS to the
   construction and operation of packet-switched transport networks.
   MPLS-based packet-switched transport networks, and the overall
   architecture of the MPLS-TP, are defined and described in [RFC5921].
   It is assumed that the reader is familiar with that document.

   This document defines the set of functions that comprise the MPLS-TP
   data plane: the architectural layer concerned with the encapsulation
   and forwarding of packets within an MPLS-TP network.  This layer is
   based on the data plane architectures for MPLS ([RFC3031] and
   [RFC3032]) and for pseudowires [RFC3985].