Inter-Domain Routing (idr)

WG Name Inter-Domain Routing
Acronym idr
Area Routing Area (rtg)
State Active
Charter charter-ietf-idr-06 Approved
Status update Show Changed 2018-11-07
Document dependencies
Additional resources IDR GitHub Organization
IDR Wiki, Zulip stream
Personnel Chairs Jeffrey Haas, Keyur Patel, Susan Hares
Area Director Ketan Talaulikar
Secretary Jie Dong
Delegate Jie Dong
Mailing list Address idr@ietf.org
To subscribe https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/idr
Archive https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/idr/
Chat Room address https://zulip.ietf.org/#narrow/stream/idr

Charter for Working Group

The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) (version 4) [RFC4271] was originally developed to support inter-domain IP routing over the Internet and other IP-based networks. The introduction of multiprotocol extensions [RFC4760] enabled BGP to support multiple address families, significantly broadening its applicability to a wide range of routing features and deployment scenarios.

The primary objective (and priority) of the Inter-Domain Routing (IDR) Working Group (WG) is to develop and maintain BGP as the standard inter-domain routing protocol deployed for IPv4 and IPv6 over the Internet.

Aligned with this priority, the IDR WG will develop and maintain BGP features, extensions, and mechanisms that are address-family independent and are considered core to the protocol’s operation. These are:

  • Protocol-level aspects such as message encoding and processing (PDUs), support for different transports specific to BGP, session management, neighbor finite state machine (FSM), path selection, and associated procedures.
  • BGP attributes used to convey information relevant to Network Layer Reachability Information (NLRIs), next-hop resolution, metrics, and other data integral to BGP operation.
  • Capability advertisement mechanisms [RFC5492] used during session establishment to signal support for optional protocol features.
  • Extended Communities [RFC4360], including support for Large and Wide Communities, for carrying metadata and policy-related information.
  • Outbound Route Filtering (ORF) mechanisms [RFC5291][RFC5292] for policy-based control of route advertisement.
  • Route constraint mechanisms such as Route Target Constraints [RFC4684] for limiting route propagation.
  • Advertisement of tunnel encapsulation information [RFC9012] to support data plane flexibility.
  • Advertisement of Segment Routing information via Prefix SID Attribute [RFC8669].
  • Operation and optimization of Route Reflectors [RFC4456] and Confederations [RFC5065] for scalable iBGP deployments.
  • Graceful Restart procedures [RFC4724] [RFC9494] for improving BGP session resiliency and convergence during restarts or failures.
  • BGPsec [RFC8205] and BGP security-related extensions other than the Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) related work undertaken in SIDROPS WG.

In addition, the WG will develop and maintain BGP features, extensions, and mechanisms for the following BGP address families for their respective deployments within operator networks (including but not limited to service provider, enterprise, and data center environments):

Track 1) Infrastructure (Underlay) Routing: These address families support the routing of infrastructure prefixes, commonly referred to as underlay routing:

  • IPv4 and IPv6 unicast address families for networks outside of the public Internet.
  • MPLS Labeled Unicast address family [RFC8277].
  • Address families related to intent-aware underlay routing specified by the WG.

Track 2) Routing-Adjacent Information Dissemination: These address families enable BGP to carry information related to, or adjacent to, routing functionality:

The IDR WG charter lists work areas as opposed to specific deliverables, reflecting the ongoing work, the extensible nature of the BGP, and the WG’s operational model. Milestones are added for specific deliverables as corresponding documents are adopted by the WG. These are tracked as they progress through WGLC. The WG maintains a long-standing policy that any protocol specification (excluding YANG modules) must have at least two independent implementations prior to advancing to publication.

The following work areas define the scope of activities for the WG, limited to the context of the BGP address families and core protocol extensions outlined above:

  • Advancement of BGP specifications, including but not limited to [RFC4271], toward Internet Standard status, where appropriate.
  • Resolution of protocol issues and incorporation of improvements based on operational experience and feedback from the operator community. This includes enhancements related to security, performance, scalability, protocol correctness, robustness, and operational simplicity.
  • Development of YANG data models scoped to the WG's chartered BGP features and extensions to support the management of these features and extensions, with a focus on device models and capturing operational considerations, as appropriate.
  • Definition of BGP protocol extensions to meet new requirements and use cases originating in other IETF working groups.
  • Enhancements to BGP's path selection and forwarding behavior to support advanced load-balancing capabilities beyond Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP), including unequal and weighted load-balancing based on parameters such as bandwidth.
  • Protocol improvements and extensions to support BGP deployments in IPv6 networks, including IPv6-only environments and mechanisms that facilitate the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 and coexistence.

The primary focus of the WG will remain on the development of Standards Track BGP specifications. Adoption of experimental specifications may be done as an exception in consultation with the Responsible AD. The WG will not seek to publish documents focused on use cases, frameworks, or architectural definitions. As an exception, the WG may produce Informational documents capturing deployment experience or best practices for BGP features developed within the WG with the exception of those related to global Internet routing and BGP security that are covered by the GROW and SIDROPS WGs.

The WG may take up work on BGP protocol extensions to support the work happening in other IETF WGs following consultation with the relevant WG Chairs and Responsible ADs without the need for a recharter. The WG shall coordinate closely with the originating WG(s) that is responsible for the overall base framework, architecture, and requirements. Progression of such work in IDR WG shall follow the maturity (specifically, the adoption and WGLC milestones) of the corresponding base work in those WGs. Relevant WGs include, but are not limited to, CATS, SAVNET, SPRING, and, TEAS, and, in the context of BGP-LS, LSR.

The IDR WG may consider adopting work related to new BGP address families, feature extensions, or work areas not explicitly listed above. However, adoption of such work will require demonstrated interest and sufficient expertise within the WG, and will be subject to a WG rechartering process (i.e., IDR will not become the WG that automatically adopts any BGP-related work).

Given the broad use of BGP across various WGs in the IETF, the IDR WG will provide advice and collaborate closely with other WGs developing or relying on BGP extensions and their BGP-related YANG models. This includes BESS (VPN service-related BGP features), GROW (operational practices and monitoring via BMP), LSVR (BGP-SPF extensions), and SIDROPS (RPKI-related). The IDR WG will seek input from GROW and SIDROPS as appropriate, particularly with respect to operational and security considerations during the development of new BGP specifications. Likewise, the WG will seek review from V6OPS and 6MAN for IPv6-related extensions and from SRV6OPS for Segment Routing operational aspects.

The IDR WG is expected to review BGP-related work in other WGs that is specifically impacting core BGP protocol aspects and provide timely feedback during (but not limited to) WG adoption and WGLCs in those respective WGs. This feedback has no additional standing beyond any other community review.

Milestones

Date Milestone Associated documents
Dec 2027 Complete WGLC for MP-BGP Extension for IPv4/IPv6 Mapping Advertisement as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-mpbgp-extension-4map6
Dec 2027 Complete WGLC for BGP Extensions for Routing Policy Distribution as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-rpd
Dec 2027 Complete WGLC for Advertising SR P2MP Policies in BGP as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-sr-p2mp-policy
Dec 2027 Complete WGLC for BGP CT Adaptation for SRv6 as an Experimental draft-ietf-idr-bgp-ct-srv6
Nov 2027 Complete WGLC on Multisession BGP as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-bgp-multisession
Jul 2027 Complete WGLC for BGP SR Policy Extensions for Entropy Label Position as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-bgp-sr-mpls-elp
Jul 2027 Complete WGLC for BGP SR Policy Extensions for Path MTU as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-sr-policy-path-mtu
Jul 2027 Complete WGLC for BGP Extension for 5G Edge Service Metadata as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-5g-edge-service-metadata
Jul 2027 Complete WGLC for BGP-LS Extensions for SR Policy NRP as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-bgp-ls-sr-policy-nrp
Jul 2027 Complete WGLC for BGP for SD-WAN Edge Discovery as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-sdwan-edge-discovery
Jul 2027 Complete WGLC for BGP-LS Extensions for IS-IS Flood Reflection as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-bgp-ls-isis-flood-reflection
May 2027 Submit Base BGP specification (RFC 4271) to IESG as an Internet Standard draft-ietf-idr-bgp4-rfc4271bis
Mar 2027 Complete WGLC for ASpath ORF as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-aspath-orf
Dec 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP SR Policy Extensions for Advertising SID Algorithm as Experimental draft-ietf-idr-sr-te-policy-attr
Dec 2026 Complete WGLC for IANA Registrations for the BGP FSM as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-bgp-fsm-iana
Dec 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP Flow Specification Version 2 - for Basic IP as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-fsv2-ip-basic
Dec 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP BFD Strict-Mode as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-bgp-bfd-strict-mode
Dec 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP-LS Extensions for SR Policy Path Segment as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-bgp-ls-sr-policy-path-segment
Dec 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP SR Policy Extensions for Path Segment as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-sr-policy-path-segment
Dec 2026 Complete WGLC for Dynamic Capability for BGP-4 draft-ietf-idr-dynamic-cap
Nov 2026 Complete WGLC for Registered Wide BGP Community Values as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-registered-wide-bgp-communities
Nov 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP SR Policy Extensions for Metric as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-sr-policy-metric
Nov 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP FlowSpec Extensions for SRv6 Policy as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-ts-flowspec-srv6-policy
Nov 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP FlowSpec Extensions for Path Redirection as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-flowspec-path-redirect
Nov 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP Community Container Attribute as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-wide-bgp-communities
Nov 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP FlowSpec Extensions for Indirection to Interface-set as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-flowspec-interfaceset
Nov 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP FlowSpec Extensions for SRv6 as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-flowspec-srv6
Nov 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP-LS SR EPE over L2 Bundle Members as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-sr-epe-over-l2bundle
Jul 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP-LS Extension for Inter-AS Topology Retrieval as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-bgpls-inter-as-topology-ext
Jul 2026 Complete WGLC for Extended Communities Derived from Route Targets as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-rt-derived-community
Jul 2026 Submit Yang BGP Modules to IESG as Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-bgp-model
Jul 2026 Submit BGP Extended Communities Attribute rfc4360bis to IESG as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-rfc4360-bis
Jul 2026 Complete WGLC for Link-Local Next Hop Capability for BGP as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-linklocal-capability
Jul 2026 Complete WGLC for BGP SR Policy Extensions for Segment List Identifier as a Proposed Standard draft-ietf-idr-sr-policy-seglist-id

Done milestones

Date Milestone Associated documents
Done Submit BGP Link Bandwidth Extended Community to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc10005 (was draft-ietf-idr-link-bandwidth)
Done Submit Advertisement of Multiple Paths in BGP to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc7911 (was draft-ietf-idr-add-paths)
Done Submit Error Handling for Optional Transitive BGP Attributes to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc7606 (was draft-ietf-idr-error-handling)
Done Submit The Accumulated IGP Metric Attribute for BGP to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc7311 (was draft-ietf-idr-aigp)
Done Submit Revisions to the BGP 'Minimum Route Advertisement Interval' to IESG as a Proposed Standard
Done Submit BGP Support for Four-octet AS Number Space (revised version) to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc6793 (was draft-ietf-idr-rfc4893bis)
Done Submit AS-wide Unique BGP Identifier for BGP-4 to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc6286 (was draft-ietf-idr-bgp-identifier)
Done Prefix ORF draft to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc5292 (was draft-ietf-idr-bgp-prefix-orf)
Done Submit Outbound Route Filter draft to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc5291 (was draft-ietf-idr-route-filter)
Done Submit Subcodes for BGP Cease Notification Message to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc4486 (was draft-ietf-idr-cease-subcode)
Done Submit Extended Communities draft to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc4360 (was draft-ietf-idr-bgp-ext-communities)
Done Submit BGP Graceful Restart to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc4724 (was draft-ietf-idr-restart)
Done Submit revised text on Multi-Protocol BGP (rfc2858bis) to IESG as a Draft Standard rfc4760 (was draft-ietf-idr-rfc2858bis)
Done Submit BGP Security Vulnerabilities Analysis to IESG as an Informational rfc4272 (was draft-ietf-idr-bgp-vuln)
Done Submit BGP4 document to IESG as a Draft Standard rfc4271 (was draft-ietf-idr-bgp4)
Done Submit BGP4 MIB to IESG as a Proposed Standard rfc4273 (was draft-ietf-idr-bgp4-mib)
Done Submit to BGP Capability Advertisement to the IESG rfc3392 (was draft-ietf-idr-rfc2842bis)