Locator/ID Separation Protocol
charter-ietf-lisp-03-01

The LISP WG has completed the first set of Experimental RFCs describing
the Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP). LISP supports a routing
architecture which decouples the routing locators and identifiers, thus
allowing for efficient aggregation of the routing locator space and
providing persistent identifiers in the identifier space. LISP requires no
changes to end-systems or to routers that do not directly participate in
the LISP deployment. LISP aims for an incrementally deployable
protocol. The scope of the LISP technology is potentially applicable to
have a large span, including unicast and multicast overlays at Layer 2 as
well as at Layer 3, encompassing NAT traversal, VPNs, and supporting
mobility as a general feature, independently of whether it is a mobile user or a migrating Virtual Machine (VM). Hence, the LISP technology is applicable in both Data Centers and public Internet environments.

The LISP WG is chartered to continue work on the LISP base protocol and
produce standard-track documents (unless the content of the document
itself is of a different type, e.g., informational or experimental). In order to
produce a coherent set of documents, the first (and high priority) work item
of the LISP Working Group is to develop a standard-track solution based on the
completed Experimental RFCs and the experience gained from early deployments. This work will include reviewing the existing set of Experimental RFCs and doing the necessary enhancements to support a base set of standards
track RFCs. The group will review the current set of Working Group
documents to identify potential standards-track documents and do
the necessary enhancements to support standards-track.

In parallel with the previous main work item, the LISP WG will work on the
items listed below:

• Multi-protocol support: Specifying the required extensions to
  support multi-protocol encapsulation (e.g., L2 or NSH (Network
  Service Headers). Rather than developing new encapsulations the
  work will aim at using existing well-established encapsulations or
  emerging from other Working Groups such as NVO3 and SFC.

• Alternative Mapping System Design: By extending LISP with new
  multi-protocols support, it becomes necessary to develop the required
  mapping function and control plane extensions to operate LISP
  map-assisted networks (which might include Hierarchical Pull,
  Publish/Subscribe, or Push models, independent mapping systems
  interconnection, security extensions, or alternative transports of the
  LISP control protocol).

• Mobility: Some LISP deployment scenarios include mobile nodes
  (in mobile environments) or Virtual Machines (VMs in data centers),
  hence, support needs to be provided in order to achieve seamless
  connectivity. This work item may benefit from experience of other
  Working Groups like DMM (Distributed Mobility Management) or NVO3
  (for VM migration).

• Multicast: Support for overlay multicast by means of replication
  as well as interfacing with existing underlay multicast support. This
  may need discussion with other Working Groups related to multicast
  solutions (e.g. PIM).

• Data-Plane Encryption: In some scenarios, it may be desirable to
  encrypt LISP encapsulated traffic. In this case, the data-plane
  encryption mechanism itself and support for control-plane security
  material exchange needs to be specified. Any solution proposed in this
  work item has to be reviewed by security experts.

• NAT-Traversal: Support for NAT-traversal solution in deployments
  where LISP tunnel routers are separated from correspondent tunnel
  routers by a NAT (e.g., LISP mobile node).

• Models for managing the LISP protocol and deployments that include
  data models, as well as allowing for programmable management interfaces. These management methods should be considered for both the data-plane, control plane, and mapping system components of standards-track
  documents.

Documents of these work items will as well target standard-track unless the main content of the document itself clearly demands for a different type (e.g., informational or experimental). In the latter case the Working Group needs to determine the proper document class.

Collaboration with other working groups, as stated in the different work items (e.g., PIM, NVO3, DMM, SFC), is important to ensure to have technologies that work smoothly together. The LISP Working Group is chartered to work on the LISP technology, and only use solutions/technology developed in other working groups. The LISP Working Group may provide feedback to other working groups based on experience gained while using their solutions.