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SRv6-based BGP Service Capability
draft-lz-bess-srv6-service-capability-05

Document Type Active Internet-Draft (individual)
Authors Yao Liu , Zheng Zhang , Eduard Metz , Yisong Liu
Last updated 2024-02-22
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draft-lz-bess-srv6-service-capability-05
BESS Working Group                                                Y. Liu
Internet-Draft                                                  Z. Zheng
Intended status: Standards Track                                     ZTE
Expires: 25 August 2024                                          E. Metz
                                                                     KPN
                                                                  Y. Liu
                                                            China Mobile
                                                        22 February 2024

                   SRv6-based BGP Service Capability
                draft-lz-bess-srv6-service-capability-05

Abstract

   This draft describes the problems that may be encountered during the
   deployment of SRv6-based BGP services in the co-existence scenario
   where the network supports both SRv6 and MPLS in a given domain, and
   the possible solutions.

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 25 August 2024.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2024 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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   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.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  the Co-existence Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  SRv6-based BGP Service Capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   5.  Implementation Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8

1.  Introduction

   [RFC9252] defines procedures and messages for SRv6-based services.
   When an egress PE is enabled for BGP Services over SRv6 data plane,
   it signals one or more SRv6 Service SIDs enclosed in SRv6 Service
   TLV(s) within the BGP Prefix-SID Attribute[RFC8669] attached to MP-
   BGP NLRIs.  In other words, instead of defining new AFI/SAFIs for
   SRv6-based services to separate the SRv6-based service and MPLS-based
   service routes completely, this proposal leverages the existing AFI/
   SAFIs of MPLS-based services .

   There're two methods to encode SRv6 service SIDs in the
   advertisement.

   The first method, SRv6 Service SIDs are encoded as a whole in the
   SRv6 Services TLVs and the MPLS Label field(s) of the corresponding
   NLRI is set to Implicit NULL.

   The second method is referred to as the Transposition Scheme in
   [RFC9252], the function and/or the argument part of the SRv6 SID is
   encoded in the MPLS Label field of the NLRI and the SID value in the
   SRv6 Services TLV carries only the locator part of the SID.

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   [RFC8669] specifies that unknown TLVs in the BGP Prefix attribute
   MUST be ignored and propagated unmodified.  PEs that only support
   MPLS may discard SRv6 Services TLV in the BGP Prefix attribute and
   treat the label in the NLRI as VPN route label for MPLS VPN.

   This draft describes the problems that may be encountered during the
   deployment of SRv6-based services in the co-existence scenario where
   the network supports both SRv6 and MPLS in a given domain, and the
   possible solutions.

2.  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 [RFC2119] [RFC8174]
   when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

3.  the Co-existence Scenario

   In the progress of network upgrading, some of the legacy devices that
   only support MPLS/SR-MPLS will coexist with the new devices capable
   of SRv6 for a long time.

   As shown in Figure 1, PE1 is a legacy device that only supports MPLS-
   based services.  PE2 and PE3 support both MPLS-based and SRv6-based
   services.  There may be route reflector in the network to reflect the
   service routes.  S-RR is a service route reflector that supports both
   MPLS and SRv6.

                       +-----+
       ................|S-RR |..................
       :               +-----+                 :
       :                                       :
       :                                       :
       :                                       :
       :                                       :
       :        +----------------+             :
       :        |                |-------PE2...:
      PE1-------|    Backbone    |             :
                |                |-------PE3...:
                +----------------+

                    Figure 1: the Co-existence Scenario

   On PE3, a SRv6 service SID sid-1 and a MPLS VPN route label label-1
   are assigned for overlay service 1.

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   The SRv6 service SID and a MPLS VPN route label for the service 1 are
   advertised in separate UPDATE messages.  ADD-PATH[RFC7911] is used to
   avoid path hiding.  S-RR reflects both SRv6-VPN route and MPLS-VPN
   route to PE1.  Since PE1 only supports MPLS, it may discard the SRv6
   Service TLV(s) in the BGP Prefix attribute and treat the SRv6-based
   route as a MPLS-based route for service 1, then there're two MPLS-
   based routes for the same service 1 on PE1.

   Depending on whether the Transposition Scheme is used, the following
   two scenarios are described separately.

   Scenario 1:

   If the Transposition Scheme is used, the function and/or argument
   part of sid-1 is encoded in the MPLS Label field of the NLRI of the
   SRv6-based service route.

   PE1 may choose the route which is originally the SRv6-based route and
   use the label field in the NLRI of this route as MPLS VPN label for
   packet encapsulation.

   Unless the allocation of SRv6 SIDs and MPLS labels on PE3 is aligned
   to ensure compatibility, the interpretation of the function and/or
   argument of the SRv6 SID (sid-1 in the example) will lead to
   incorrect forwarding of the traffic.  In the example above, at PE3
   packets may 1) be sent to the wrong service instance, in case the
   sid-1 function and/or argument value corresponds to an existing MPLS
   label, or 2) be dropped, in case the value of sid-1 does not
   correspond to an allocated MPLS label.

   Scenario 2:

   Sid-1 is encoded as a whole in the SRv6 Services TLV and the MPLS
   Label field of the corresponding NLRI is set to Implicit NULL.

   If the SRv6 Services TLV in the UPDATE messages is discarded by PE1,
   from PE1's aspect, it has received a MPLS service route with an
   Implicit NULL label.

   How to deal with the MPLS-based route with an Implicit NULL label is
   not standardized, different vendors may have different processing
   procedures which are unpredictable, e.g, set the route to invalid,
   send the packet to service 1 without the service route label or
   something else.

   On PE2, only SRv6-based service is configured.

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   PE1 may receive SRv6 service routes from PE2 which supports SRv6
   only, and discard the SRv6 Service TLV(s) in the BGP Prefix attribute
   and treat the function and/or argument part of SRv6 service SID as a
   MPLS VPN route label.  PE1 may 1) not send packets to PE2 since
   there's no LSP between PE1 and PE2 2) send packets encapsulated in
   IPv6 to PE2 if there's route to PE2.

   If the label field in the NLRI is Implicit NULL, how PE1 deals with
   it is unpredictable.

   Overall, in the co-existence scenario, if the SRv6-based service
   routes are advertised to legacy devices, it may result in service
   failure and/or abnormal extra traffic flows in the network.

   To avoid these problems, [RFC9252] specifies that implementations
   MUST provide a mechanism to control advertisement of SRv6-based BGP
   service routes on a per neighbor and per service basis.

   This can be done by configuration.  First the network operator must
   obtain whether the PEs in the network are capable of SRv6-based
   services.  Then the operator should config on PEs or route reflectors
   based on each PE's capability, the configuration is per neighbor.

   If there's a service route reflector, configurations on S-RR should
   ensure that the SRv6 service routes would not be reflected to legacy
   devices like PE1 that don't support SRv6.

   If there's no route reflector in the network, which neighbors can the
   SRv6 service routes be advertised to should be specified when
   configuring SRv6 services on the PEs.

   The above method may be feasible in small-scale networks, but are not
   applicable to large-scale networks.

   The main reasons are:

   a) The per neighbor configuration need to change with the device
   capability.  When a PE is upgraded to support SRv6-based services or
   rolled back to an old version that only supports MPLS, the
   configuration on its neighbors or the RR should be changed to add
   this PE to or exclude it from the advertisement of SRv6-based BGP
   service routes.

   Although this may be done automatically by the network management
   system, it is still not a easy job in a large-scale network and is
   not flexible enough.

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   b) The additional steps of device capability acquisition and
   capability based configuration increase the fault probability and
   troubleshooting difficulty.  If the service from PE1 to PE3 fails,
   the operator needs to confirm the capability for SRv6-based service
   of the two devices, and then check the configuration on PE3 or RR to
   make sure that the SRv6-based service route is not advertised to PE1.

   c) There is no standard solution for the network operator to obtain
   the PE's capability for SRv6-based services.  If there are devices
   from multiple vendors in the network, there may be interconnection
   problems.

4.  SRv6-based BGP Service Capability

   If the BGP speaker can obtain the capability for SRv6-based services
   of its peers, the advertisement of SRv6-based BGP service routes can
   be controlled.

   [RFC5492] defines the "Capabilities Optional Parameter".  A BGP
   speaker can include a Capabilities Optional Parameter in a BGP OPEN
   message.  This allows BGP speakers to communicate capabilities.  The
   Capabilities Optional Parameter is a triple that includes a one-octet
   Capability Code, a one-octet Capability length, and a variable-length
   Capability Value.

   This document defines a Capability Code for SRv6-based BGP service
   capability.  If a BGP speaker has not sent the SRv6-based BGP service
   capability in its BGP OPEN message on a particular BGP session, or if
   it has not received the SRv6-based BGP service capability in the BGP
   OPEN message from its peer on that BGP session, that BGP speaker MUST
   NOT send on that session any UPDATE message that includes the SRv6
   service TLVs.  Like other capabilities, if the capability for
   SRv6-based services is enabled or removed, an established session
   needs to be reset to resend the OPEN message.

   In this way, the advertisement of SRv6-based BGP service routes is
   controlled without per neighbor configuration, which makes it easier
   to implement and manage in the network.

   In the co-existence scenario, the SRv6-based service routes would
   only be exchange between devices that support it based on this
   capability.  There would be no UPDATE message that includes the SRv6
   service TLV received by legacy devices.

   Back to the scenario in Figure 1, since PE1 only supports MPLS and
   has not sent the SRv6-based BGP service capability in the OPEN
   message, the S-RR will not reflect the SRv6-based service routes of
   PE2 or PE3 to PE1, while the MPLS service routes from PE3 are

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   reflected to PE1.  So PE1 wouldn't receive any SRv6 SRv6-based
   service routes that may be misinterpretted, and the MPLS-based
   service between PE1 and PE3 is unaffected.

5.  Implementation Considerations

   PEs attached to the network, in general BGP speakers, indicate their
   ability to advertise and receive SRv6 based service routes through
   the SRv6 based BGP service capability.

   If service route reflectors are deployed in the network, it's
   required that these RRs MUST support the SRv6-based BGP service
   capability.

   In a co-existence/migration scenario it is RECOMMENDED that PEs that
   support SRv6 based service advertise both SRv6 and MPLS VPN routes.
   Advertisement the same VPN prefix as an SRV6 VPN or MPLS VPN route
   may be done through the BGP ADD-PATH capability or other method.
   Details of this is outside the scope of this document.

   Use of the SRv6 based BGP service capability ensures that SRv6 based
   routes are distributed only among those nodes that support these.
   For example, consider a co-existence scenario with multihomed sites
   and PEs with different transport capabilities (no use of RRs) as
   shown in Figure 2.  In this scenario CE1 is connected to PE2 and PE3,
   PE2 only supports MPLS VPN while PE3 supports SRv6 VPN, PE1 is the
   peer of PE2 and PE3, and supports both capabilities.  If SRv6-based
   BGP service capability is introduced, PE1 will receive both MPLS VPN
   and SRv6 VPN routes, whereas PE2 will receive only MPLS VPN routes
   and PE3 will receive both.

   In case a node receive both SRv6 VPN routes and MPLS VPN routes (for
   the same prefix), such as PE1, it may use one or both (e.g.  ECMP)
   for forwarding depending on local policy.

   The detailed deployment designs and implementation options are
   outside the scope of this document.

                   +----------------+
                   |                |-------PE2...:
         PE1-------|    Backbone    |             CE1
                   |                |-------PE3...:
                   +----------------+

                   Figure 2: Multihomes Sites without RRs

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6.  IANA Considerations

   This document defines a new Capability Codes option, named "SRv6
   Service Capability" with an assigned value <TBD1> to indicate that a
   BGP speaker supports SRv6-based services.  The length of this
   capability is 1.

7.  Security Considerations

   This extension to BGP does not change the underlying security issues
   inherent in [RFC5492] and [RFC9252].

8.  References

8.1.  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>.

   [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>.

8.2.  Informative References

   [RFC8669]  Previdi, S., Filsfils, C., Lindem, A., Ed., Sreekantiah,
              A., and H. Gredler, "Segment Routing Prefix Segment
              Identifier Extensions for BGP", RFC 8669,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8669, December 2019,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8669>.

   [RFC9252]  Dawra, G., Ed., Talaulikar, K., Ed., Raszuk, R., Decraene,
              B., Zhuang, S., and J. Rabadan, "BGP Overlay Services
              Based on Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6)", RFC 9252,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9252, July 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9252>.

Authors' Addresses

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   Yao Liu
   ZTE
   Nanjing
   China
   Email: liu.yao71@zte.com.cn

   Zhang Zheng
   ZTE
   Nanjing
   China
   Email: zhang.zheng@zte.com.cn

   Eduard Metz
   KPN
   Netherlands
   Email: etmetz@gmail.com

   Yisong Liu
   China Mobile
   China
   Email: liuyisong@chinamobile.com

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