Multi-Threaded Routing Toolkit (MRT) Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Routing Information Export Format with Geo-Location Extensions
RFC 6397

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                      T. Manderson
Request for Comments: 6397                                         ICANN
Category: Standards Track                                   October 2011
ISSN: 2070-1721

   Multi-Threaded Routing Toolkit (MRT) Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
     Routing Information Export Format with Geo-Location Extensions

Abstract

   This document updates the Multi-threaded Routing Toolkit (MRT) export
   format for Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing information by
   extending it to include optional terrestrial coordinates of a BGP
   collector and its BGP peers.

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/rfc6397.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2011 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.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
   2.  Requirements Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
   3.  Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   4.  Geo-Location-Aware MRT Routing Information Subtype  . . . . . . 3
     4.1.  GEO_PEER_TABLE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     4.2.  GEO_PEER_TABLE and Peer Entry Values  . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   5.  BGP Collector Construction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
   6.  Privacy Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   7.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
   9.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
   10. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
     10.1. Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
     10.2. Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.  Introduction

   Researchers and engineers often wish to analyze network behavior by
   studying routing protocol transactions and routing information base
   snapshots in relation to geographical topologies.  Usually, the
   Border Gateway Protocol [RFC4271] is the subject of study, and the
   analysis can be significantly aided by the availability and extension
   of the "Multi-Threaded Routing Toolkit (MRT) Routing Information
   Export Format" [RFC6396].  The MRT format was originally defined in
   the MRT Programmer's Guide [MRT-GUIDE].

   The addition of geo-location coordinates (longitude and latitude)
   pertaining to the geographical location of both the BGP collector and
   its BGP peers to BGP export data enables a researcher or enquiring
   individual to gain a terrestrial insight to the routes seen by a BGP
   speaker.  Such data may ultimately aid researchers in understanding
   any disparity between the geographical location of networks and the
   topological location of networks in addition to the relationships
   between geographical position and routing anomalies.  Such insight
   could provide future input into network design and network security.

   This memo documents an optional extension to the MRT format [RFC6396]
   and introduces an additional definition of an MRT Subtype field that
   includes the terrestrial coordinates of a BGP collector and its BGP
   peers.

2.  Requirements Notation

   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 [RFC2119].

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3.  Definitions

   Coordinates: The geographic latitude and longitude specifying a
   location on the earth.