Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) C. Villamizar, Ed.
Request for Comments: 7226 OCCNC, LLC
Category: Informational D. McDysan, Ed.
ISSN: 2070-1721 Verizon
S. Ning
Tata Communications
A. Malis
Huawei
L. Yong
Huawei USA
May 2014
Requirements for Advanced Multipath in MPLS Networks
Abstract
This document provides a set of requirements for Advanced Multipath
in MPLS networks.
Advanced Multipath is a formalization of multipath techniques
currently in use in IP and MPLS networks and a set of extensions to
existing multipath techniques.
Status of This Memo
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.
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). Not all documents
approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
Standard; see 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/rfc7226.
Villamizar, et al. Informational [Page 1]RFC 7226 Advanced Multipath Requirements May 2014Copyright Notice
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Functional Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1. Availability, Stability, and Transient Response . . . . . 6
3.2. Component Links Provided by Lower-Layer Networks . . . . 7
3.3. Component Links with Different Characteristics . . . . . 8
3.4. Considerations for Bidirectional Client LSP . . . . . . . 9
3.5. Multipath Load-Balancing Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4. General Requirements for Protocol Solutions . . . . . . . . . 12
5. Management Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Villamizar, et al. Informational [Page 2]RFC 7226 Advanced Multipath Requirements May 20141. Introduction
There is often a need to provide large aggregates of bandwidth that
are best provided using parallel links between routers or carrying
traffic over multiple MPLS Label Switched Paths (LSPs). In core
networks, there is often no alternative since the aggregate
capacities of core networks today far exceed the capacity of a single
physical link or a single packet-processing element.
The presence of parallel links, with each link potentially comprised
of multiple layers, has resulted in additional requirements. Certain
services may benefit from being restricted to a subset of the
component links or a specific component link, where component link
characteristics, such as latency, differ. Certain services require
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