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Deployment Guidelines for Edge Peering IPv4-NLRI with IPv6-NH
draft-ietf-bess-deployment-guide-ipv4nlri-ipv6nh-00

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Replaced".
Authors Gyan Mishra , Mankamana Prasad Mishra , Jeff Tantsura , Lili Wang , Qing Yang , Adam Simpson , Shuanglong Chen
Last updated 2021-05-10
Replaced by draft-ietf-bess-ipv6-only-pe-design
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draft-ietf-bess-deployment-guide-ipv4nlri-ipv6nh-00
BESS Working Group                                             G. Mishra
Internet-Draft                                              Verizon Inc.
Intended status: Best Current Practice                         M. Mishra
Expires: November 7, 2021                                  Cisco Systems
                                                             J. Tantsura
                                                                 L. Wang
                                                  Juniper Networks, Inc.
                                                                 Q. Yang
                                                         Arista Networks
                                                              A. Simpson
                                                                   Nokia
                                                                 S. Chen
                                                     Huawei Technologies
                                                             May 6, 2021

     Deployment Guidelines for Edge Peering IPv4-NLRI with IPv6-NH
          draft-ietf-bess-deployment-guide-ipv4nlri-ipv6nh-00

Abstract

   As Enterprises and Service Providers upgrade their brown field or
   green field MPLS/SR core to an IPv6 transport, Multiprotocol BGP (MP-
   BGP)now plays an important role in the transition of their Provider
   (P) core network as well as Provider Edge (PE) Edge network from IPv4
   to IPv6.  Operators must be able to continue to support IPv4
   customers when both the Core and Edge networks are IPv6-Only.

   This document details an important External BGP (eBGP) PE-CE Edge
   IPv6-Only peering design that leverages the MP-BGP capability
   exchange by using IPv6 peering as pure transport, allowing both IPv4
   Network Layer Reachability Information (NLRI) and IPv6 Network Layer
   Reachability Information (NLRI)to be carried over the same (Border
   Gateway Protocol) BGP TCP session.  The design change provides the
   same Dual Stacking functionality that exists today with separate IPv4
   and IPv6 BGP sessions as we have today.  With this design change from
   a control plane perspective a single IPv6 is required for both IPv4
   and IPv6 routing updates and from a data plane forwarindg perspective
   an IPv6 address need only be configured on the PE and CE interface
   for both IPv4 and IPv6 packet forwarding.

   This document provides a much needed solution for Internet Exchange
   Point (IXP) that are facing IPv4 address depletion at large peering
   points.  With this design, IXP can now deploy PE-CE IPv6-Only eBGP
   Edge peering design to eliminate IPv4 provisioning at the Edge.  This
   core and edge IPv6-Only peering design paradigm change can apply to
   any eBGP peering, public internet or private, which can be either
   Core networks, Data Center networks, Access networks or can be any

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   eBGP peering scenario.  This document provides interoperability test
   cases for the IPv6-Only peering design as well as test results
   between five major vendors stakeholders in the routing and switching
   indusrty, Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia and Huawei.  With the test
   results provided for the IPv6-Only Edge peering design, the goal is
   that all other vendors around the world that have not been tested
   will begin to adopt and implement this new Best Current Practice for
   eBGP IPv6-Only Edge peering.

   As this issue with IXP IPv4 address depletion is a critical issue
   around the world, it is imperative for an immediate solution that can
   be implemented quickly.  This Best Current Practice IPv6-only eBGP
   peering design specification will help proliferate IPv6-Only
   deployments at the eBGP Edge network peering points to starting
   immediately at a minimum with operators around the world using Cisco,
   Juniper, Arista, Nokia and Huawei.  As other vendors start to
   implement this Best Current Practice, the IXP IPv4 address depletion
   gap will eventually be eliminated.

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 November 7, 2021.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2021 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 Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of

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   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   3.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   4.  IPv6-Only Edge Peering Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     4.1.  Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     4.2.  IPv6-Only PE-CE Design Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     4.3.  IPv6-Only Edge Peering Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
       4.3.1.  IPv6-Only Edge Peering Packet Walk  . . . . . . . . .   8
       4.3.2.  6to4 Softwire IPv4-Only Core packet walk  . . . . . .   9
       4.3.3.  4to6 Softwire IPv6-Only Core packet walk  . . . . . .  10
     4.4.  RFC5549 and RFC8950 Applicability . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
       4.4.1.  IPv6-Only Edge Peering design next-hop encoding . . .  13
       4.4.2.  RFC8950 updates to RFC5549 applicability  . . . . . .  13
   5.  IPv6-Only Design Edge E2E Test Cases  . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     5.1.  Test-1 IPv6-Only PE-CE Global Table over IPv4-Only Core .  14
     5.2.  Test-2 E2E IPv6-Only PE-CE VPN over IPv4-Only Core  . . .  15
     5.3.  Test-3 IPv6-Only PE-CE Global Table over IPv6-Only Core .  15
     5.4.  Test-4 IPv6-Only PE-CE VPN over IPv6-Only Core  . . . . .  16
     5.5.  IPv6-Only PE-CE Operational Considerations Testing  . . .  16
   6.  Operational Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
   9.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
   10. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     10.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     10.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20

1.  Introduction

   As Enterprises and Service Providers upgrade their brown field or
   green field MPLS/SR core to an IPv6 transport such as MPLS LDPv6, SR-
   MPLSv6 or SRv6, Multiprotocol BGP (MP-BGP) now plays an important
   role in the transition of the Provider (P) core networks and Provider
   Edge (PE) edge networks from IPv4 to IPv6.  Operators have a
   requirement to support IPv4 customers and must be able to support
   IPv4 address family and Sub-Address-Family Virtual Private Network
   (VPN)-IPv4, and Multicast VPN IPv4 customers.

   IXP are also facing IPv4 address depletion at their peering points,
   which are large Layer 2 transit backbones that service providers peer
   and exchange IPv4 and IPv6 Network Layer Reachability Information
   (NLRI).  Today, these transit exchange points are Dual Stacked.  With

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   this IPv6-only BGP peering design, only IPv6 is configured on the PE-
   CE interface, the Provider Edge (PE) - Customer Edge (CE), the IPv6
   BGP peer is now used to carry IPv4 (Network Layer Reachability
   Information) NLRI over an IPv6 next hop using IPv6 next hop encoding
   defined in [RFC8950], while continuing to forward both IPv4 and IPv6
   packets.  In the framework of this design the PE is no longer Dual
   Stacked.  However in the case of the CE, PE-CE link CE side of the
   link is no longer Dual Stacked, however all other internal links
   within the CE domain may or maynot be Dual stacked.

   MP-BGP specifies that the set of usable next-hop address families is
   determined by the Address Family Identifier (AFI) and the Subsequent
   Address Family Identifier (SAFI).  Historically the AFI/SAFI
   definitions for the IPv4 address family only have provisions for
   advertising a Next Hop address that belongs to the IPv4 protocol when
   advertising IPv4 or VPN-IPv4.  [RFC8950] specifies the extensions
   necessary to allow advertising IPv4 NLRI, Virtual Private Network
   Unicast (VPN-IPv4) NLRI, Multicast Virtual Private Network (MVPN-
   IPv4) NLRI with a Next Hop address that belongs to the IPv6 protocol.
   This comprises of an extended next hop encoding MP-REACH BGP
   capability exchange to allow the address of the Next Hop for IPv4
   NLRI, VPN-IPv4 NLRI and MVPN-IPv4 NLRI to also belong to the IPv6
   Protocol.  [RFC8950] defines the encoding of the Next Hop to
   determine which of the protocols the address actually belongs to, and
   a new BGP Capability allowing MP-BGP Peers to discover dynamically
   whether they can exchange IPv4 NLRI and VPN-IPv4 NLRI with an IPv6
   Next Hop.

   The current specification for carrying IPv4 NLRI of a given address
   family via a Next Hop of a different address family is now defined in
   [RFC8950], and specifies the extended next hop encoding MP-REACH
   capability extension necessary to do so.  This comprises an extension
   of the AFI/SAFI definitions to allow the address of the Next Hop for
   IPv4 NLRI or VPN-IPv4 NLRI to belong to either the IPv4 or the IPv6
   protocol, the encoding of the Next Hop information to determine which
   of the protocols the address belongs to, and a new BGP Capability
   allowing MP-BGP peers to dynamically discover whether they can
   exchange IPv4 NLRI and VPN- IPv4 NLRI with an IPv6 Next Hop.

   With the new extensions defined in [RFC8950] supporting NLRI and next
   hop address family mismatch, the BGP peer session can now be treated
   as a pure TCP transport and carry both IPv4 and IPv6 NLRI at the
   Provider Edge (PE) - Customer Edge (CE) over a single IPv6 TCP
   session.  This allows for the elimination of dual stack from the PE-
   CE peering point, and now enable the peering to be IPv6-ONLY.  The
   elimination of IPv4 on the PE-CE peering points translates into OPEX
   expenditure savings of point-to-point infrastructure links as well as
   /31 address space savings and administration and network management

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   of both IPv4 and IPv6 BGP peers.  This reduction decreases the number
   of PE-CE BGP peers by fifty percent, which is a tremendous cost
   savings for operators.

   While the savings exists at the Edge eBGP PE-CE peering, on the core
   side PE to Route Reflector (RR) peering carrying <AFI/SAFI> IPv4
   <1/1>, VPN-IPV4 <1/128>, and Multicasat VPN <1/129>, there is no
   savings as the Provider (P) Core is IPv6 Only and thus can only have
   an IPv6 peer and must use [RFC8950] extended next hop encoding to
   carrying IPv4 NLRI IPV4 <2/1>, VPN-IPV4 <2/128>, and Multicasat VPN
   <2/129> over an IPv6 next hop.

   This document provides a much needed solution for Internet Exchange
   Point (IXP) that are facing IPv4 address depletion at large peering
   points.  With this design, IXP can now use deploy PE-CE IPv6-Only
   eBGP Edge peering design to eliminate IPv4 provisioning at the Edge.
   This core and edge IPv6-Only peering design paradigm change can apply
   to any eBGP peering, public internet or private, which can be either
   Core networks, Data Center networks, Access networks or can be any
   eBGP peering scenario.  This document provides interoperability test
   cases for the IPv6-Only peering design as well as successful test
   results between five major vendors stakeholders in the routing and
   switching indusrty, Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia and Huawei.  With
   the test results provided for the IPv6-Only Edge peering design, the
   goal is that all other vendors around the world that have not been
   tested will begin to adopt and implement this new best practice for
   eBGP IPv6-Only Edge peering.

   As this issue with IXP address depletion is a critical issue around
   the world, it is imperative for an immediate solution that can be
   implemented quickly.  This best practice IPv6-only eBGP peering
   design specification will help proliferate IPv6-Only deployments at
   the eBGP Edge network peering points starting immediately at a
   minimum with operators around the world using Cisco, Juniper, Arista,
   Nokia and Huawei.

2.  Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

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3.  Terminology

   Terminolgoy used in defining the IPv6-Only Edge specification.

   AFBR: Address Family Border Router Provider Edge (PE).

   Edge: PE-CE Edge Network Provider Edge - Customer Edge

   Core: P Core Network Provider (P)

   4to6 Softwire : IPv4 edge over an IPv6-Only core

   6to4 Softwire: IPv6 edge over an IPv4-Only core

   E2E: End to End

4.  IPv6-Only Edge Peering Architecture

4.1.  Problem Statement

   This specification addresses a real issue that has been discussed at
   many operator groups around the world related to IXP major peering
   points where hundreds of AS's have both IPv4 and IPv6 dual stacked
   peering.  IPv4 address depletion have been a major issue issue for
   many years now.  Operators around the world are clamoring for a
   solution that can help solve issues related to IPv4 address depletion
   at these large IXP peering points.  With this solution IXPs as well
   as all infrastructure networks such as Core networks, DC networks,
   Access networks as well as any PE-CE public or private network can
   now utilize this IPv6-Only Edge solution and reap the benefits
   immediately on IPv4 address space saving.

                               IXP Problem Statement

                        Dual Stacked            Dual Stacked
                             CE                      PE

                          +-------+ IPv4 BGP Peer +-------+
                          |       |---------------|       |
                          |   CE  | IPv6 BGP Peer |  PE   |
                          |       |---------------|       |
                          +-------+               +-------+
                         IPv4 forwarding            IPv4 forwarding
                         IPv6 forwarding            IPv6 forwarding

           Figure 1: Problem Statement - IXP Dual Stack Peering

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                               ________
    Dual Stacked     _____    /        \                Dual Stacked
      PE / CE       /     \__/          \___              PE / CE
  +----+  +----+   /                        \        +------+   +-----+
  |    |  |    |  |0====VPN Overlay Tunnel ==0|      |      |   |     |
  |    |  |    |  |                             \    |      |   |     |
  | CE |--| PE |--\         IPv6-Only Core      |----|  PE  |---|  CE |
  |    |  |    |    \0=========Underlay =======0|    |      |   |     |
  +----+  +----+     \                        __/    +------+   +-----+
  IPv4 IPv6 BGP peer  \ IP / MPLS / SR domain /     IPv4 and IPv6 BGP peer
  IPv4 forwarding      \__         __       /          IPv4 forwarding
  IPv6 forwarding         \_______/  \_____/           IPv6 forwarding

             Figure 2: Problem Statement - E2E Dual Stack Edge

4.2.  IPv6-Only PE-CE Design Solution

   The IPv6-Only Edge design solution provides a means of E2E single
   protocol design solution extension of [RFC5565] Softwire Mesh
   framework from the PE-CE Edge to the Core from ingres so egress
   through the entire operators domain.  This solution eliminates all
   IPv4 addressing from end to end while still providing the same Dual
   Stack functionality of IPv4 and IPv6 packet forwarding from a data
   plane perspective by leveraging the [RFC8950] extended next hop
   encoding so that IPv4 NLRI can be advertised over a single IPv6 pure
   transport TCP session.  This IPv6-Only E2E architecture eliminates
   all IPv4 peering and IPv4 addressing E2E from the ingress CE to
   ingress PE to egress PE to egress CE and all hops along the operator
   E2E path.

                             Solution applicable to
                  any Edge peering scenario - IXP, Core, DC, Access, etc

                   +-------+                +-------+
                   |       |  IPv6 Only     |       |
                   |   CE  |----------------|  PE   |
                   |       |  IPv6 BGP Peer |       |
                   +-------+                +-------+
                  IPv4 forwarding            IPv4 forwarding
                  IPv6 forwarding            IPv6 forwarding

                Figure 3: IPv6-Only Solution Applicability

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                                ________
      IPv6-Only       _____    /        \                 IPv6-Only
       PE / CE       /     \__/          \___              PE / CE
   +----+  +----+   /                        \        +------+   +-----+
   |    |  |    |  |0====VPN Overlay Tunnel ==0|      |      |   |     |
   |    |  |    |  |                             \    |      |   |     |
   | CE |--| PE |--\         IPv6-Only Core      |----|  PE  |---|  CE |
   |    |  |    |    \0=========Underlay ===== ==0    |      |   |     |
   +----+  +----+     \                        __/    +------+   +-----+
   IPv6 BGP peer        \IP / MPLS / SR domain /        IPv6 BGP peer
   IPv4 forwarding      \__         __       /          IPv4 forwarding
   IPv6 forwarding         \_______/  \_____/           IPv6 forwarding

                        Figure 4: E2E VPN Solution

4.3.  IPv6-Only Edge Peering Design

4.3.1.  IPv6-Only Edge Peering Packet Walk

   The IPv6-Only Edge Peering design utilizes two key E2E Softwire Mesh
   Framework scenario's, 4to6 softwire and 6to4 softwire.  The Softwire
   mesh framework concept is based on the overlay and underlay MPLS or
   SR based technology framework, where the underlay is the transport
   layer and the overlay is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) layer, and
   is the the tunneled virtualization layer containing the customer
   payload.  The concept of a 6to4 Softwire is based on transmission of
   IPv6 packets at the edge of the network by tunneling the IPv6 packets
   over an IPv4-Only Core.  The concept of a 4to6 Softwire is also based
   on transmission of IPv4 packets at the edge of the network by
   tunneling the IPv4 packets over an IPv6-Only Core.

   This document describes End to End (E2E) test scenarios that follow a
   packet flow from IPv6-Only attachment circuit from ingress PE-CE to
   egress PE-CE tracing the routing protocol control plane and data
   plane forwarding of IPv4 packets in a 4to6 softwire or 6to4 softwire
   within the IPv4-Only or IPv6-Only Core network.  In both secneario we
   are focusing on IPv4 packets and the control plane and data plane
   forwarding aspects of IPv4 packets from the PE-CE Edge network over
   an IPv6-Only P (Provider) core network or IPv4-Only P (Provider) core
   network.  With this IPv6-Only Edge peering design, the Softwire Mesh
   Framework is not extended beyond the Provider Edge (PE) and continues
   to terminate on the PE router.

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4.3.2.  6to4 Softwire IPv4-Only Core packet walk

   6to4 softwire where IPv6-Edge eBGP IPv6 peering where IPv4 packets at
   network Edge traverse a IPv4-Only Core

   In the scenario where IPv4 packets originating from a PE-CE edge are
   tunneled over an MPLS or Segment Routing IPv4 underlay core network,
   the PE and CE only have an IPv6 address configured on the interface.
   In this scenario the IPv4 packets that ingress the CE from within the
   CE AS are over an IPv6-Only interface and are forwarded to an IPv4
   NLRI destination prefix learned from the Pure Transport Single IPv6
   BGP Peer.  In the IPv6-Only Edge peering architecture the PE is
   IPv6-Only as all PE-CE interfaces are IPv6-Only.  However, on the CE,
   the PE-CE interface is the only interface that is IPv6-Only and all
   other interfaces may or may not be IPv6-Only.  Following the data
   plane packet flow, IPv4 packets are forwarded from the ingress CE to
   the IPv6-Only ingress PE where the VPN label imposition push per
   prefix, per-vrf, per-CE occurs and the labeled packet is forwarded
   over a 6to4 softwire IPv4-Only core, to the egress PE where the VPN
   label disposition pop occurs and the native IPv4 packet is forwarded
   to the egress CE.  In the reverse direction IPv4 packets are
   forwarded from the egress CE to egress PE where the VPN label
   imposition per prefix, per-vrf, per-CE push occurs and the labeled
   packet is forwarded back over the 6to4 softwire IPv4-Only core, to
   the ingress PE where the VPN label disposition pop occurs and the
   native IPv4 packet is forwarded to the ingress CE. . The
   functionality of the IPv4 forwarding plane in this scenario is
   identical from a data plane forwarding perspective to Dual Stack IPv4
   forwarding scenario.

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                             +--------+   +--------+
                             |  IPv4  |   |  IPv4  |
                             | Client |   | Client |
                             | Network|   | Network|
                             +--------+   +--------+
                                 |   \     /   |
                                 |    \   /    |
                                 |     \ /     |
                                 |      X      |
                                 |     / \     |
                                 |    /   \    |
                                 |   /     \   |
                             +--------+   +--------+
                             |  AFBR  |   |  AFBR  |
                          +--| IPv4/6 |---| IPv4/6 |--+
                          |  +--------+   +--------+  |
          +--------+      |                           |       +--------+
          |  IPv4  |      |                           |       |  IPv4  |
          | Client |      |                           |       | Client |
          | Network|------|            IPv4           |-------| Network|
          +--------+      |            only           |       +--------+
                          |                           |
                          |  +--------+   +--------+  |
                          +--|  AFBR  |---|  AFBR  |--+
                             | IPv4/6 |   | IPv4/6 |
                             +--------+   +--------+
                               |   \     /   |
                               |    \   /    |
                               |     \ /     |
                               |      X      |
                               |     / \     |
                               |    /   \    |
                               |   /     \   |
                            +--------+   +--------+
                            |  IPv6  |   |  IPv4  |
                            | Client |   | Client |
                            | Network|   | Network|
                            +--------+   +--------+

        Figure 5: 6to4 Softwire - IPv6 Edge over an IPv4-Only Core

4.3.3.  4to6 Softwire IPv6-Only Core packet walk

   4to6 softwire where IPv6-Edge eBGP IPv6 peering where IPv4 packets at
   network Edge traverse a IPv6-Only Core

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   In the scenario where IPv4 packets originating from a PE-CE edge are
   tunneled over an MPLS or Segment Routing IPv4 underlay core network,
   the PE and CE only have an IPv6 address configured on the interface.
   In this scenario the IPv4 packets that ingress the CE from within the
   CE AS are over an IPv6-Only interface and are forwarded to an IPv4
   NLRI destination prefix learned from the Pure Transport Single IPv6
   BGP Peer.  In the IPv6-Only Edge peering architecture the PE is
   IPv6-Only as all PE-CE interfaces are IPv6-Only.  However, on the CE,
   the PE-CE interface is the only interface that is IPv6-Only and all
   other interfaces may or may not be IPv6-Only.  Following the data
   plane packet flow, IPv4 packets are forwarded from the ingress CE to
   the IPv6-Only ingress PE where the VPN label imposition push per
   prefix, per-vrf, per-CE occurs and the labeled packet is forwarded
   over a 4to6 softwire IPv6-Only core, to the egress PE where the VPN
   label disposition pop occurs and the native IPv4 packet is forwarded
   to the egress CE.  In the reverse direction IPv4 packets are
   forwarded from the egress CE to egress PE where the VPN label
   imposition per prefix, per-vrf, per-CE push occurs and the labeled
   packet is forwarded back over the 4to6 softwire IPv6-Only core, to
   the ingress PE where the VPN label disposition pop occurs and the
   native IPv4 packet is forwarded to the ingress CE. . The
   functionality of the IPv4 forwarding plane in this scenario is
   identical from a data plane forwarding perspective to Dual Stack IPv4
   forwarding scenario.

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                             +--------+   +--------+
                             |  IPv4  |   |  IPv4  |
                             | Client |   | Client |
                             | Network|   | Network|
                             +--------+   +--------+
                                 |   \     /   |
                                 |    \   /    |
                                 |     \ /     |
                                 |      X      |
                                 |     / \     |
                                 |    /   \    |
                                 |   /     \   |
                             +--------+   +--------+
                             |  AFBR  |   |  AFBR  |
                          +--| IPv4/6 |---| IPv4/6 |--+
                          |  +--------+   +--------+  |
          +--------+      |                           |       +--------+
          |  IPv6  |      |                           |       |  IPv6  |
          | Client |      |                           |       | Client |
          | Network|------|            IPv6           |-------| Network|
          +--------+      |            only           |       +--------+
                          |                           |
                          |  +--------+   +--------+  |
                          +--|  AFBR  |---|  AFBR  |--+
                             | IPv4/6 |   | IPv4/6 |
                             +--------+   +--------+
                               |   \     /   |
                               |    \   /    |
                               |     \ /     |
                               |      X      |
                               |     / \     |
                               |    /   \    |
                               |   /     \   |
                            +--------+   +--------+
                            |  IPv4  |   |  IPv4  |
                            | Client |   | Client |
                            | Network|   | Network|
                            +--------+   +--------+

        Figure 6: 4to6 Softwire - IPv4 Edge over an IPv6-Only Core

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4.4.  RFC5549 and RFC8950 Applicability

4.4.1.  IPv6-Only Edge Peering design next-hop encoding

   This section describes [RFC8950] next hop encoding updates to
   [RFC5549] applicability to this specification.  IPv6-only eBGP Edge
   PE-CE peering to carry IPv4 Unicast NLRI <AFI/SAFI> IPv4 <1/1> over
   an IPv6 next hop BGP capability extended hop encoding IANA capability
   codepoint value 5 defined is applicable to both [RFC5549] and
   [RFC8950] as IPv4 Unicast NLRI <AFI/SAFI> IPv4 <1/1> does not change
   in the RFC updates.

   IPv4 packets over an IPv6-Only core 4to6 Softwire E2E packet flow is
   part of the IPv6-Only design vendor interoperaiblity test cases and
   in that respect is applicable as [RFC8950] updates [RFC5549] for
   <AFI/SAFI> VPN-IPV4 <1/128>, and Multicasat VPN <1/129>

4.4.2.  RFC8950 updates to RFC5549 applicability

   This section describes the [RFC8950] next hop encoding updates to
   [RFC5549]

   In [RFC5549] when AFI/SAFI 1/128 is used, the next-hop address is
   encoded as an IPv6 address with a length of 16 or 32 bytes.  This
   document modifies how the next-hop address is encoded to accommodate
   all existing implementations and bring consistency with VPNv4oIPv4
   and VPNv6oIPv6.  The next-hop address is now encoded as a VPN-IPv6
   address with a length of 24 or 48 bytes [RFC8950] (see Sections 3 and
   6.2 of this document).  This change addresses Erratum ID 5253
   (Err5253).  As all known and deployed implementations are
   interoperable today and use the new proposed encoding, the change
   does not break existing interoperability.  Updates to [RFC8950] is
   applicable to the IPv6-Only PE-CE edge design for the IPv6 next hop
   encoding E2E test case of IPv4 packets over and IPv6-Only core 4to6
   Softwire.  In this test case IPv4 Unicast NLRI <AFI/SAFI> IPv4 <1/1>
   is advertised over the PE to RR core peering 4to6 softwire in <AFI/
   SAFI> VPN-IPV4 <1/128>.  In this test case label allocation mode
   comes into play which is discussed in section 8.9.

   [RFC5549] next hop encoding of MP_REACH_NLRI with:

   o  NLRI= NLRI as per current AFI/SAFI definition

   Advertising with [RFC4760] MP_REACH_NLRI with:

   o  AFI = 1

   o  SAFI = 128 or 129

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   o  Length of Next Hop Address = 16 or 32

   o  NLRI= NLRI as per current AFI/SAFI definition

   [RFC8950] next hop encoding of MP_REACH_NLRI with:

   o  NLRI= NLRI as per current AFI/SAFI definition

   Advertising with [RFC4760] MP_REACH_NLRI with:

   o  AFI = 1

   o  SAFI = 128 or 129

   o  Length of Next Hop Address = 24 or 48

   o  Next Hop Address = VPN-IPv6 address of next hop with an 8-octet RD
      set to zero (potentially followed by the link-local VPN-IPv6
      address of the next hop with an 8-octet RD is set to zero).

   o  NLRI= NLRI as per current AFI/SAFI definition

5.  IPv6-Only Design Edge E2E Test Cases

   Proof of conept interoperability testing of the 4 test cases between
   the 5 vendors Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia and Huawei.

5.1.  Test-1 IPv6-Only PE-CE Global Table over IPv4-Only Core

                                ________
      IPv6-Only       _____    /        \                 IPv6-Only
       PE / CE       /     \__/          \___              PE / CE
   +----+  +----+   /                        \        +------+   +-----+
   |    |  |    |  |                          |_      |      |   |     |
   |    |  |    |  |                             \    |      |   |     |
   | CE |--| PE |--\         IPv4-Only Core      |----|  PE  |---|  CE |
   |    |  |    |    \0=========Underlay =======0|    |      |   |     |
   +----+  +----+     \                        __/    +------+   +-----+
   IPv6 BGP peer       \     MPLS / SR domain /         IPv6 BGP peer
   IPv4 forwarding      \__         __       /          IPv4 forwarding
   IPv6 forwarding         \_______/  \_____/           IPv6 forwarding

      Figure 7: Test-1 E2E IPv6-Only PE-CE Global Table 6to4 Softwire

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   Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, Huawei Test case Results documented
   here.

5.2.  Test-2 E2E IPv6-Only PE-CE VPN over IPv4-Only Core

                                ________
      IPv6-Only       _____    /        \                 IPv6-Only
       PE / CE       /     \__/          \___              PE / CE
   +----+  +----+   /                        \        +------+   +-----+
   |    |  |    |  | 0====VPN Overlay Tunnel ==0|     |      |   |     |
   |    |  |    |  |                             \    |      |   |     |
   | CE |--| PE |--\         IPv4-Only Core      |----|  PE  |---|  CE |
   |    |  |    |    \0=========Underlay =======0|    |      |   |     |
   +----+  +----+     \                        __/    +------+   +-----+
   IPv6 BGP peer       \   MPLS / SR domain   /         IPv6 BGP peer
   IPv4 forwarding      \__         __       /          IPv4 forwarding
   IPv6 forwarding         \_______/  \_____/           IPv6 forwarding

       Figure 8: Test-2 E2E IPv6-Only PE-CE Design VPN 6to4 Softwire

   Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, Huawei Test case Results documented
   here.

5.3.  Test-3 IPv6-Only PE-CE Global Table over IPv6-Only Core

                                ________
      IPv6-Only       _____    /        \                 IPv6-Only
       PE / CE       /     \__/          \___              PE / CE
   +----+  +----+   /                        \        +------+   +-----+
   |    |  |    |  |                          |_      |      |   |     |
   |    |  |    |  |                             \    |      |   |     |
   | CE |--| PE |--\         IPv6-Only Core      |----|  PE  |---|  CE |
   |    |  |    |    \0=========Underlay =======0|    |      |   |     |
   +----+  +----+     \                        __/    +------+   +-----+
   IPv6 BGP peer       \     MPLS / SR domain /         IPv6 BGP peer
   IPv4 forwarding      \__         __       /          IPv4 forwarding
   IPv6 forwarding         \_______/  \_____/           IPv6 forwarding

      Figure 9: Test-3 E2E IPv6-Only PE-CE Global Table 4to6 Softwire

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   Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, Huawei Test case Results documented
   here.

5.4.  Test-4 IPv6-Only PE-CE VPN over IPv6-Only Core

                                ________
      IPv6-Only       _____    /        \                 IPv6-Only
       PE / CE       /     \__/          \___              PE / CE
   +----+  +----+   /                        \        +------+   +-----+
   |    |  |    |  | 0====VPN Overlay Tunnel ==0|     |      |   |     |
   |    |  |    |  |                             \    |      |   |     |
   | CE |--| PE |--\         IPv6-Only Core      |----|  PE  |---|  CE |
   |    |  |    |    \0=========Underlay =======0|    |      |   |     |
   +----+  +----+     \                        __/    +------+   +-----+
   IPv6 BGP peer       \    MPLS / SR domain  /         IPv6 BGP peer
   IPv4 forwarding      \__         __       /          IPv4 forwarding
   IPv6 forwarding         \_______/  \_____/           IPv6 forwarding

          Figure 10: Test-4 E2E IPv6-Only PE-CE VPN 4to6 Softwire

   Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, Huawei Test case Results documented
   here.

5.5.  IPv6-Only PE-CE Operational Considerations Testing

                       Ping CE to PE when destination prefix is withdrawn
                       Traceroute CE to PE and test all ICMPv4 and ICMPv6 type codes

                   +-------+                +-------+
                   |       |  IPv6 Only     |       |
                   |   CE  |----------------|  PE   |
                   |       |  IPv6 BGP Peer |       |
                   +-------+                +-------+
                  IPv4 forwarding            IPv4 forwarding
                  IPv6 forwarding            IPv6 forwarding

                    Figure 11: Ping and Trace Test Case

   Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, Huawei Test case Results documented
   here.

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6.  Operational Considerations

   With a single IPv6 Peer carrying both IPv4 and IPv6 NLRI there are
   some operational considerations in terms of what changes and what
   does not change.

   What does not change with a single IPv6 transport peer carrying IPv4
   NLRI and IPv6 NLRI below:

   Routing Policy configuration is still separate for IPv4 and IPv6
   configured by capability as previously.

   Layer 1, Layer 2 issues such as one-way fiber or fiber cut will
   impact both IPv4 and IPv6 as previously.

   If the interface is in the Admin Down state, the IPv6 peer would go
   down, and IPv4 NLRI and IPv6 NLRI would be withdrawn as previously.

   Changes resulting from a single IPv6 transport peer carrying IPv4
   NLRI and IPv6 NLRI below:

   Physical interface is no longer dual stacked.

   Any change in IPv6 address or DAD state will impact both IPv4 and
   IPv6 NLRI exchange.

   Single BFD session for both IPv4 and IPv6 NLRI fate sharing as the
   session is now tied to the transport, which now is only IPv6 address
   family.

   Both IPv4 and IPv6 peer now exists under the IPv6 address family
   configuration.

   Fate sharing of IPv4 and IPv6 address family from a logical
   perspective now carried over a single physical IPv6 peer.

   From an operations perspective, prior to elimination of IPv4 peers,
   an audit is recommended to identify and IPv4 and IPv6 peering
   incongruencies that may exist and to rectify them.  No operational
   impacts or issues are expected with this change.

   With MPLS VPN overlay, per-CE next-hop label allcoation mode where
   both IPv4 and IPv6 prefixes have the same label in no table lookup
   pop-n-forward mode should be taken into consideration.

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7.  IANA Considerations

   There are not any IANA considerations.

8.  Security Considerations

   The extensions defined in this document allow BGP to propagate
   reachability information about IPv4 prefixes over an MPLS or SR
   IPv6-Only core network.  As such, no new security issues are raised
   beyond those that already exist in BGP-4 and the use of MP-BGP for
   IPv6.  Both IPv4 and IPv6 peers exist under the IPv6 address family
   configuration.  The security features of BGP and corresponding
   security policy defined in the ISP domain are applicable.  For the
   inter-AS distribution of IPv6 routes according to case (a) of
   Section 4 of this document, no new security issues are raised beyond
   those that already exist in the use of eBGP for IPv6 [RFC2545].

9.  Acknowledgments

   Thanks to Kaliraj Vairavakkalai, Linda Dunbar, Aijun Wang, Eduardfor
   Vasilenko, Joel Harlpern, Michael McBride, Ketan Talaulikar for
   review comments.

10.  References

10.1.  Normative References

   [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>.

   [RFC2545]  Marques, P. and F. Dupont, "Use of BGP-4 Multiprotocol
              Extensions for IPv6 Inter-Domain Routing", RFC 2545,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2545, March 1999,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2545>.

   [RFC4291]  Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing
              Architecture", RFC 4291, DOI 10.17487/RFC4291, February
              2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4291>.

   [RFC4364]  Rosen, E. and Y. Rekhter, "BGP/MPLS IP Virtual Private
              Networks (VPNs)", RFC 4364, DOI 10.17487/RFC4364, February
              2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4364>.

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   [RFC4760]  Bates, T., Chandra, R., Katz, D., and Y. Rekhter,
              "Multiprotocol Extensions for BGP-4", RFC 4760,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4760, January 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4760>.

   [RFC5492]  Scudder, J. and R. Chandra, "Capabilities Advertisement
              with BGP-4", RFC 5492, DOI 10.17487/RFC5492, February
              2009, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5492>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

   [RFC8277]  Rosen, E., "Using BGP to Bind MPLS Labels to Address
              Prefixes", RFC 8277, DOI 10.17487/RFC8277, October 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8277>.

10.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-idr-dynamic-cap]
              Ramachandra, S. and E. Chen, "Dynamic Capability for BGP-
              4", draft-ietf-idr-dynamic-cap-14 (work in progress),
              December 2011.

   [RFC4659]  De Clercq, J., Ooms, D., Carugi, M., and F. Le Faucheur,
              "BGP-MPLS IP Virtual Private Network (VPN) Extension for
              IPv6 VPN", RFC 4659, DOI 10.17487/RFC4659, September 2006,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4659>.

   [RFC4684]  Marques, P., Bonica, R., Fang, L., Martini, L., Raszuk,
              R., Patel, K., and J. Guichard, "Constrained Route
              Distribution for Border Gateway Protocol/MultiProtocol
              Label Switching (BGP/MPLS) Internet Protocol (IP) Virtual
              Private Networks (VPNs)", RFC 4684, DOI 10.17487/RFC4684,
              November 2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4684>.

   [RFC4798]  De Clercq, J., Ooms, D., Prevost, S., and F. Le Faucheur,
              "Connecting IPv6 Islands over IPv4 MPLS Using IPv6
              Provider Edge Routers (6PE)", RFC 4798,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4798, February 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4798>.

   [RFC4925]  Li, X., Ed., Dawkins, S., Ed., Ward, D., Ed., and A.
              Durand, Ed., "Softwire Problem Statement", RFC 4925,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4925, July 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4925>.

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   [RFC5549]  Le Faucheur, F. and E. Rosen, "Advertising IPv4 Network
              Layer Reachability Information with an IPv6 Next Hop",
              RFC 5549, DOI 10.17487/RFC5549, May 2009,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5549>.

   [RFC5565]  Wu, J., Cui, Y., Metz, C., and E. Rosen, "Softwire Mesh
              Framework", RFC 5565, DOI 10.17487/RFC5565, June 2009,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5565>.

   [RFC6074]  Rosen, E., Davie, B., Radoaca, V., and W. Luo,
              "Provisioning, Auto-Discovery, and Signaling in Layer 2
              Virtual Private Networks (L2VPNs)", RFC 6074,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6074, January 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6074>.

   [RFC6513]  Rosen, E., Ed. and R. Aggarwal, Ed., "Multicast in MPLS/
              BGP IP VPNs", RFC 6513, DOI 10.17487/RFC6513, February
              2012, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6513>.

   [RFC6514]  Aggarwal, R., Rosen, E., Morin, T., and Y. Rekhter, "BGP
              Encodings and Procedures for Multicast in MPLS/BGP IP
              VPNs", RFC 6514, DOI 10.17487/RFC6514, February 2012,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6514>.

   [RFC8126]  Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.

   [RFC8950]  Litkowski, S., Agrawal, S., Ananthamurthy, K., and K.
              Patel, "Advertising IPv4 Network Layer Reachability
              Information (NLRI) with an IPv6 Next Hop", RFC 8950,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8950, November 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8950>.

Authors' Addresses

   Gyan Mishra
   Verizon Inc.

   Email: gyan.s.mishra@verizon.com

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   Mankamana Mishra
   Cisco Systems
   821 Alder Drive,
   MILPITAS  CALIFORNIA 95035

   Email: mankamis@cisco.com

   Jeff Tantsura
   Juniper Networks, Inc.

   Email: jefftant.ietf@gmail.com

   Lili Wang
   Juniper Networks, Inc.
   10 Technology Park Drive,
   Westford  MA 01886
   US

   Email: liliw@juniper.net

   Qing Yang
   Arista Networks

   Email: qyang@arista.com

   Adam Simpson
   Nokia

   Email: adam.1.simpson@nokia.com

   Shuanglong Chen
   Huawei Technologies

   Email: chenshuanglong@huawei.com

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