Skip to main content

IGP for Network High Availability
draft-chen-lsr-ctr-availability-07

Document Type Active Internet-Draft (individual)
Authors Huaimo Chen , Mehmet Toy , Aijun Wang , Lei Liu , Xufeng Liu
Last updated 2023-10-08
RFC stream (None)
Intended RFC status (None)
Formats
Stream Stream state (No stream defined)
Consensus boilerplate Unknown
RFC Editor Note (None)
IESG IESG state I-D Exists
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD (None)
Send notices to (None)
draft-chen-lsr-ctr-availability-07
Network Working Group                                            H. Chen
Internet-Draft                                                 Futurewei
Intended status: Standards Track                                  M. Toy
Expires: 10 April 2024                                           Verizon
                                                                 A. Wang
                                                           China Telecom
                                                                  L. Liu
                                                                 Fujitsu
                                                                  X. Liu
                                                         IBM Corporation
                                                          8 October 2023

                   IGP for Network High Availability
                   draft-chen-lsr-ctr-availability-07

Abstract

   This document describes protocol extensions to OSPF and IS-IS for
   improving the reliability or availability of a network controlled by
   a controller cluster.

Requirements Language

   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 RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 10 April 2024.

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2023 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 (https://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 Revised BSD License text as
   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Terminologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  IGP for Controller Cluster Reliability  . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.1.  Overview of Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     3.2.  Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Extensions to IGP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     4.1.  Extensions to OSPF  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     4.2.  Extensions to IS-IS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   5.  Recovery Procedure  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   8.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11

1.  Introduction

   More and more networks are controlled by central controllers or
   controller clusters.  A controller cluster is a single controller
   externally.  It normally consists of two or more controllers
   internally working together to control a network, i.e., every network
   element (NE) in the network.  The reliability or availability of a
   network is heavily dependent on its controller cluster.  The issues
   or failures in the controller cluster may impact the reliability or
   availability of the network greatly.

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

   For a controller cluster comprising two or more controllers (i.e.,
   primary controller, secondary controller, and so on), the failures in
   the cluster may split the cluster into a few of separated controller
   groups.  These groups do not know each other and may be out of
   synchronization.  Two or more groups may be elected to control the
   network at the same time, which may cause some issues.

   This document proposes some procedures and extensions to OSPF and IS-
   IS for the separated controllers or controller groups to know each
   other thus elect one new primary controller or controller group
   correctly when the cluster is split because of failures in the
   cluster.

2.  Terminologies

   The following terminologies are used in this document.

   IGP:  Interior Gateway Protocol

   OSPF:  Open Shortest Path First

   IS-IS:  Intermediate System to Intermediate System

   LSA:  Link State Advertisement in OSPF

   LSP:  Link State Protocol PDU in IS-IS

   PDU:  Protocol Data Unit

   LS:  Link Sate, which is LSA in OSPF or LSP in IS-IS

   NE:  Network Element

   CE:  Customer Edge

   PE:  Provider Edge

3.  IGP for Controller Cluster Reliability

   This section briefs the mechanism of controller cluster reliability
   or availability using IGP, and illustrates some details through a
   simple example.

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

3.1.  Overview of Mechanism

   When a cluster of controllers is split into a few of separated groups
   because of failures in the cluster, the live controllers are still
   actually connected to the network (i.e., network elements).  Through
   some of these connections, each group can get the information about
   the other groups.  A new primary controller or controller group is
   correctly elected to control the network based on the information.

   Each controller may comprise an IGP as an information proxy, called
   IGP information proxy or IGP for short.  The IGP has an IGP adjacency
   relation with each of a given number of NEs (such as one NE) in the
   network.  When one adjacency is broken, a new adjacency is created
   and maintained if possible.  The given number of adjacency relations
   is retained.

   In normal operations, the cluster has all its controllers connected.
   They are the primary controller controlling the network, the
   secondary controller, and so on.  They have current position 1, 2,
   and so on respectively.  The primary controller advertises the
   information about the controllers via its IGP adjacencies.  The
   extensions to IGP below is used.

   When the cluster is split into a few separated groups, each group
   elects an intent primary controller, secondary controller and so on
   from the group, which have intent position 1, 2, and so on
   respectively.  The intent primary controller advertises the
   information about the controllers in the group.

   The information advertised by the (intent) primary controller
   includes its current (intent) position, its old position, its
   priority to become a primary controller, the number of controllers,
   and the IDs of the controllers which are ordered according to their
   (intent) positions.  In addition, a flag C indicating that whether it
   is Controlling the network (i.e., it is the primary controller or
   intent primary controller) is included.

3.2.  Example

   Figure 1 shows a controller cluster comprising two controllers: the
   primary controller and the secondary controller.  Each controller
   includes an IGP as an information proxy.

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

      +---------------------------------------------------+
      | Controller Cluster                                |
      |                                                   |
      |    +------------+               +------------+    |
      |    |Controller A|  Synchronize  |Controller B|    |
      |    |(Primary)   +---------------+(Secondary) |    |
      |    |       [IGP]|               |       [IGP]|    |
      |    ++-----------+               +-----------++    |
      |     |     ^                                 |     |
      |     |     |_______________                  |     |
      |     |                    |                  |     |
      |     |                    v                  |     |
      +-----|------------Control Channels-----------|-----+
            |               /       \               |
            |IGP Adj       /         \____          |
            \             /           \   \____     |IGP Adj
             \____       /\  .---. .---+       \    |
                  \     |  \(     '    |'.---. |    |
                   \    |---\  Network |      '+.   |
                   NE1 (o    \         |       | ) /
                        (     |        |       o) NE4
                         (    |        |       )
                          (   o NE2    o NE3.-'
                           '               )
                            '---._.-.     )
                                     '---'

               Figure 1: Controller Cluster of 2 Controllers

   The IGP in a controller has one IGP adjacency relation with one NE in
   the network.  In Figure 1, the IGP in controller A has IGP adjacency
   with NE1, the IGP in B has IGP adjacency with NE4.

   In normal operations, the IGP of the primary controller originates
   link state (LS) containing the information about the controllers
   connected to it.  The LS originated by Controller A (Primary) in
   Figure 1 having the following contents:

   C = 1, A's current Position = 1, A's OldPosition = 1, A's Priority,
   NoControllers = 2, A's ID, B's ID

   When failures happen in the cluster, the live controllers act as
   follows:

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

   For the Secondary Controller (e.g., B) alive, if the primary
   controller is dead, it promotes itself as the new primary controller;
   if the primary controller is alive but separated from the secondary
   controller, the secondary controller will not promote itself to be a
   new primary controller.

   For the Primary Controller (e.g., A), if it is alive, it continues to
   be the primary controller.

   With the extensions to IGP, the secondary controller can determine
   the status of the primary controller through using IGP and obtaining
   the information about the primary controller.  The conditions that
   the primary controller is alive but separated from the secondary
   controller (i.e., condition a: the connection between the primary
   controller and the secondary controller in the cluster failed, but
   condition b: the two controllers are alive) can be determined by the
   secondary controller as follows:

   For condition a, when the heartbeat from the primary stops, the
   secondary knows that the connection between the primary and secondary
   controller failed.

   For condition b, it checks its link state database (LSDB) in the IGP
   to see whether the IGP for the primary controller is connected to
   some network elements and advertises the LS.  If so, the primary
   controller is alive; otherwise, it is dead.

4.  Extensions to IGP

   This section describes extensions to OSPF and IS-IS.

4.1.  Extensions to OSPF

   A new TLV, called OSPF Controllers TLV, is defined.  When OSPF acts
   as a proxy of a controller in a cluster, it may advertise the
   information about the controllers such as the number of controllers
   connected to it (including itself) in its router information LSA,
   which contains a Controllers TLV of the following format.

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |           Type (TBD1)         |             Length            |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |   Flags     |C|    Position   |  OldPosition  |   Priority    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                 Reserved                      | NoControllers |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                       Controller 1 ID                         |
    :                              :                                |
    |                       Controller n ID                         |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                       Figure 2: OSPF Controllers TLV

   Type:  TBD1 is to be assigned by IANA.

   Length:  It indicates the length of the value portion in octets.

   Flag (8 bits):  One flag bit, C-bit, is defined.  When set, it
      indicates that the position is the position of the current active
      primary controller.  In this case, C = 1 and Position = 1, which
      indicate that the controller is the current active primary
      controller controlling the network.

   Position (8 bits):  It indicates the current/intent position of the
      controller in the controller cluster or group.  1: primary (first)
      controller, 2: secondary controller, 3: third controller, and so
      on (i.e., Controller Position of value n: n-th controller in the
      cluster or group).

   OldPosition (8 bits):  It indicates the old position of the
      controller in the controller cluster before it is split.

   Priority (8 bits):  It indicates the priority of the controller to be
      elected as a primary controller.

   Reserved (24 bits):  Reserved field, must set to zero for
      transmission and ignored for reception.

   NoControllers (8 bits):  It indicates the number of controllers
      connected to the controller advertising the TLV.

   Controller i ID (32 bits):  It represents the identifier (ID) of
      controller i at position i (i = 1, ..., n) in the cluster or
      group.

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                 [Page 7]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

   When the information about the controllers is changed, OSPF of a
   primary controller originates an OSPF Router Information Opaque LSA,
   which includes a OSPF Controllers TLV.

4.2.  Extensions to IS-IS

   Similar to OSPF, a new TLV, called IS-IS Controllers TLV, is defined.
   When IS-IS acts as a proxy of a controller in a cluster, it may
   advertise the information about the cluster such as the number of
   controllers connected to it (including itself) in its LSP, which
   contains an IS-IS Controllers TLV of the following format.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |  Type (TBD2)  |    Length     | Flags       |C|    Position   |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |  OldPosition  |    Priority   | NoControllers |    Reserved   |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |                       Controller 1 ID                         |
    :                              :                                |
    |                       Controller n ID                         |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 3: IS-IS Controllers TLV

   Type (8 bits):  TBD2 is to be assigned by IANA.

   Length (8 bits):  It indicates the length of the value portion in
      octets.

   All other fields:  The meaning of each of the other fields is the
      same as the one of the corresponding field in the OSPF Controllers
      TLV defined above.

   When the information about the controllers is changed, the IS-IS of a
   primary controller originates an LSP, which includes an IS-IS
   Controllers TLV.

5.  Recovery Procedure

   This section describes the recovery procedure for a controller
   cluster of n (n > 2) controllers, which are the primary controller A,
   the secondary controller B, ..., the n-th controller N.

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                 [Page 8]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

   When failures happen in the cluster, it may be split into a few
   separated groups of controllers.  In one policy, the group with the
   maximum number of controllers is responsible for controlling the
   network as the primary group of the cluster, in which the new primary
   controller, secondary controller, and so on are elected.

   For each separated group of controllers, the intent primary
   controller, secondary controller, and so on are elected.  The intent
   primary controller of the group advertises the information about the
   group through its IGP.  The information includes its intent position,
   its old position, its priority to become a primary controller, the
   number of controllers in the group, and identifiers of the
   controllers in the group.  The identifiers of the controllers are
   ordered according to their positions.  The identifier of the intent
   primary controller, which has position 1, is the first one; The
   identifier of the intent secondary controller, which has position 2,
   is the second one; and so on.  Thus every separated group has the
   information about the other groups and can determine which group has
   the maximum number of controllers.

   In the case of tie (i.e., two or more groups have the same maximum
   number of controllers), the group with the highest priority
   controller wins in one policy.  In another policy, the group with the
   highest old position controller (e.g., the old primary controller)
   wins.

   Some details of the recovery procedures in the current and intent
   primary controller in a controller cluster or group are as follows.

   In normal operations, it advertises Controllers TLV containing:

   C = 1, Position = 1, Old Position = 1, Primary Controller's priority,
   NoControllers = n, Primary Controller's ID, secondary controller's
   ID, ..., and n-th Controller's ID.

   When failures cause the cluster split, it advertises Controllers TLV
   containing:

   C = 0, Position = 1, Old Position = 1, Intent Primary Controller's
   priority, NoControllers = m (m is the number of controllers in the
   group that the primary controller is connected after the failures),
   Intent Primary Controller's ID, IDs of the other controllers
   connected.

   Then after a given time, it checks if the group is elected as the
   primary group.  If so, it advertises Controllers TLV containing:

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                 [Page 9]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

   C = 1, Position = 1, Old Position = 1, its Priority, NoControllers =
   m, the IDs of the controllers in the group.

   One example is that failures split the cluster into two separated
   groups: group 1 comprising A and C, group 2 consisting of B and N.
   Each group elects its intent primary controller, secondary
   controller, and so on.  Suppose that controller A and C are elected
   as the intent primary and secondary controller respectively in group
   1; controller B and N are elected as the intent primary and secondary
   controller respectively in group 2.

   Each of the intent primary controllers A and B advertises the
   information about the controllers in its group.  The information
   advertised by A includes:

   C = 0, Position = 1, OldPosition = 1, A's Priority, NoControllers =
   2, A's ID, C's ID.

   The information advertised by B includes:

   C = 0, Position = 1, OldPosition = 2, B's Priority, NoControllers =
   2, B's ID, N's ID.

   Group 1 and 2 have the same number of controllers, which is 2.  But
   OldPosition in group 1 is higher than that in group 2.  Group 1 is
   elected as the primary group, and the intent primary controller A in
   the primary group is determined as the current primary controller.
   After the determination, the information about the controllers in
   group 1 (i.e., the primary group) is changed.  The updated
   information advertised by A includes:

   C = 1, Position = 1, OldPosition = 1, A's Priority, NoControllers =
   2, A's ID, C's ID.

6.  IANA Considerations

   TBD

7.  Security Considerations

   TBD

8.  Acknowledgements

   TBD

9.  References

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                [Page 10]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

9.1.  Normative References

   [ISO10589] ISO, "Intermediate System to Intermediate System Intra-
              Domain Routing Exchange Protocol for use in Conjunction
              with the Protocol for Providing the Connectionless-mode
              Network Service (ISO 8473)", ISO/IEC 10589:2002, November
              2002.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC2328]  Moy, J., "OSPF Version 2", STD 54, RFC 2328,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2328, April 1998,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2328>.

   [RFC5305]  Li, T. and H. Smit, "IS-IS Extensions for Traffic
              Engineering", RFC 5305, DOI 10.17487/RFC5305, October
              2008, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5305>.

   [RFC5329]  Ishiguro, K., Manral, V., Davey, A., and A. Lindem, Ed.,
              "Traffic Engineering Extensions to OSPF Version 3",
              RFC 5329, DOI 10.17487/RFC5329, September 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5329>.

9.2.  Informative References

   [RFC4970]  Lindem, A., Ed., Shen, N., Vasseur, JP., Aggarwal, R., and
              S. Shaffer, "Extensions to OSPF for Advertising Optional
              Router Capabilities", RFC 4970, DOI 10.17487/RFC4970, July
              2007, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4970>.

Authors' Addresses

   Huaimo Chen
   Futurewei
   Boston, MA,
   United States of America
   Email: Huaimo.chen@futurewei.com

   Mehmet Toy
   Verizon
   United States of America
   Email: mehmet.toy@verizon.com

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                [Page 11]
Internet-Draft             IGP for Network HA               October 2023

   Aijun Wang
   China Telecom
   Beiqijia Town, Changping District
   Beijing
   102209
   China
   Email: wangaj3@chinatelecom.cn

   Lei Liu
   Fujitsu
   United States of America
   Email: liulei.kddi@gmail.com

   Xufeng Liu
   IBM Corporation
   United States of America
   Email: xufeng.liu.ietf@gmail.com

Chen, et al.              Expires 10 April 2024                [Page 12]