Framework for Abstraction and Control of TE Networks (ACTN)
RFC 8453
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) D. Ceccarelli, Ed.
Request for Comments: 8453 Ericsson
Category: Informational Y. Lee, Ed.
ISSN: 2070-1721 Huawei
August 2018
Framework for Abstraction and Control of TE Networks (ACTN)
Abstract
Traffic Engineered (TE) networks have a variety of mechanisms to
facilitate the separation of the data plane and control plane. They
also have a range of management and provisioning protocols to
configure and activate network resources. These mechanisms represent
key technologies for enabling flexible and dynamic networking. The
term "Traffic Engineered network" refers to a network that uses any
connection-oriented technology under the control of a distributed or
centralized control plane to support dynamic provisioning of end-to-
end connectivity.
Abstraction of network resources is a technique that can be applied
to a single network domain or across multiple domains to create a
single virtualized network that is under the control of a network
operator or the customer of the operator that actually owns the
network resources.
This document provides a framework for Abstraction and Control of TE
Networks (ACTN) to support virtual network services and connectivity
services.
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 candidates for any level of Internet
Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8453.
Ceccarelli & Lee Informational [Page 1]
RFC 8453 ACTN Framework August 2018
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2. VNS Model of ACTN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.1. Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.2. Service Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.3. Network Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3. ACTN Base Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1. Customer Network Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.2. Multi-Domain Service Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.3. Provisioning Network Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.4. ACTN Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4. Advanced ACTN Architectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.1. MDSC Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2. Functional Split of MDSC Functions in Orchestrators . . . 16
5. Topology Abstraction Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.1. Abstraction Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.2. Abstraction Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.2.1. Native/White Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.2.2. Black Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.2.3. Grey Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.3. Methods of Building Grey Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.3.1. Automatic Generation of Abstract Topology by
Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.3.2. On-Demand Generation of Supplementary Topology via
Path Compute Request/Reply . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.4. Hierarchical Topology Abstraction Example . . . . . . . . 23
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