Network Working Group                             J.-L. Le Roux (Editor) 
Internet Draft                                            France Telecom 
Category: Informational                          
Expires: September 2007                                         T. Morin 
                                                          France Telecom 
                                                         
                                                         Vincent Parfait 
                                                Orange Business Services 
                                                         
                                                             Luyuan Fang 
                                                     Cisco Systems, Inc. 
                                                         
                                                                Lei Wang 
                                                                 Telenor 
                                                         
                                                             Yuji Kamite 
                                                      NTT Communications 
                                                                         
                                                            Shane Amante 
                                                  Level 3 Communications 
                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                              March 2007 
 
            Requirements for Point-To-Multipoint Extensions to  
                     the Label Distribution Protocol  
 
                     draft-ietf-mpls-mp-ldp-reqs-02.txt 
 
 
Status of this Memo 
 
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Abstract 
    
   This document lists a set of functional requirements for Label 
   Distribution Protocol (LDP) extensions for setting up point-to-
   multipoint (P2MP) Label Switched Paths (LSP), in order to deliver 
   point-to-multipoint applications over a Multi Protocol Label 
   Switching (MPLS) infrastructure. It is intended that solutions that 
   specify LDP procedures for setting up P2MP LSP satisfy these 
   requirements. 
 
Conventions used in this document 
 
   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. 
 
Table of Contents 
    
   1.      Terminology.................................................3 
   2.      Introduction................................................4 
   3.      Problem Statement and Requirements Overview.................5 
   3.1.    Problem Statement...........................................5 
   3.2.    Requirements overview.......................................5 
   4.      Application scenario........................................6 
   5.      Detailed Requirements.......................................7 
   5.1.    P2MP LSPs...................................................7 
   5.2.    P2MP LSP FEC................................................7 
   5.3.    P2MP LDP routing............................................8 
   5.4.    Setting up, tearing down and modifying P2MP LSPs............8 
   5.5.    Label Advertisement.........................................8 
   5.6.    Data Duplication............................................8 
   5.7.    Avoiding loops..............................................9 
   5.8.    P2MP LSP Re-routing.........................................9 
   5.8.1.  Rerouting upon Network Failure..............................9 
   5.8.2.  Rerouting on a Better Path..................................9 
   5.8.3.  Rerouting upon Planned Maintenance.........................10 
   5.9.    Support for LAN interfaces.................................10 
   5.10.   Support for encapsulation in P2P and P2MP TE tunnels.......10 
   5.11.   Label spaces...............................................10 
   5.12.   IPv4/IPv6 support..........................................11 
   5.13.   Multi-Area LSPs............................................11 
   5.14.   OAM........................................................11 
   5.15.   Graceful Restart and Fault Recovery........................11 
   5.16.   Robustness.................................................11 
   5.17.   Scalability................................................11 
   5.17.1.  Orders of magnitude of the expected numbers of P2MP 
             LSPs in operational networks.............................12 
   5.18.   Backward Compatibility.....................................12 
   6.      Shared Trees...............................................12 
   6.1.    Requirements for MP2MP LSPs................................13 
   7.      Evaluation criteria........................................14 
   7.1.    Performances...............................................14 
 
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   7.2.    Complexity and Risks.......................................14 
   8.      Security Considerations....................................14 
   9.      Acknowledgments............................................14 
   10.     References.................................................14 
   10.1.   Normative references.......................................14 
   10.2.   Informative references.....................................15 
   11.     Editor Address.............................................15 
   12.     Contributors Addresses.....................................16 
   13.     Intellectual Property Statement............................17 
    
 
1. Terminology 
    
      LSR: Label Switching Router 
    
      LSP: MPLS Label Switched Path 
    
      Ingress LSR: Router acting as a sender of an LSP 
    
      Egress LSR: Router acting as a receiver of an LSP 
     
      P2P LSP: A LSP that has one unique Ingress LSR and one unique  
               Egress LSR 
 
      MP2P LSP: A LSP that has one or more Ingress LSRs and one unique  
                Egress LSR 
       
      P2MP LSP: A LSP that has one unique Ingress LSR and one or more  
                Egress LSRs  
    
      MP2MP LSP: A LSP that as one or more Leaf LSRs acting  
                 indifferently as Ingress or Egress LSR 
   
      Leaf LSR: Egress LSR of a P2MP LSP or Ingress/Egress LSR of a  
                MP2MP LSP  
       
      Transit LSR: A LSR of a P2MP LSP that has one or more downstream  
                   LSRs 
 
      Branch LSR: A LSR of a P2MP LSP that has more than one downstream  
                  LSR 
       
      Bud LSR: A LSR of a P2MP LSP that is an egress but also has one or  
               more directly connected downstream LSRs 
 
       
 
 
 
 
 

 
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2. Introduction 
 
   Many operators have deployed LDP [LDP] for setting up point-to-point 
   (P2P) and multipoint-to-point (MP2P) LSPs, in order to offer point-to 
   -point services in MPLS backbones. 
    
   There are emerging requirements for supporting delivery of point-to-
   multipoint applications in MPLS backbones, such as those defined in 
   [L3VPN-MCAST-REQ] and [L2VPN-MCAST-REQ].  
    
   This requires mechanisms for setting up point-to-multipoint LSPs 
   (P2MP LSP), i.e. LSPs with one Ingress LSR, a set of Egress LSRs, and 
   with MPLS traffic replication at some Branch LSRs. 
 
   RSVP-TE extensions for setting up Point-To-Multipoint Traffic 
   Engineered LSPs (P2MP TE LSPs), have been defined in [P2MP-TE-RSVP]. 
   They meet requirements expressed in [P2MP-TE-REQ]. This approach is 
   useful, in network environments where P2MP Traffic Engineering 
   capabilities are needed (Optimization, QoS, Fast recovery).  
 
   However for operators who want to support point-to-multipoint traffic 
   delivery on an MPLS backbone, without Traffic Engineering needs, and 
   have already deployed LDP for P2P traffic, an interesting and useful 
   approach would be to rely on LDP extensions in order to setup point-
   to-multipoint (P2MP) LSPs. This would bring consistency with P2P MPLS 
   applications and would ease the delivery of point-to-multipoint 
   services in an MPLS backbone. 
    
   This document focuses on the LDP approach for setting up P2MP LSPs. 
   It lists a detailed set of requirements for P2MP extensions to LDP,  
   so as to deliver P2MP traffic over a LDP-enabled MPLS infrastructure.  
   These requirements should be used as guidelines when specifying LDP  
   extensions. It is intended that solutions that specify LDP procedures  
   for P2MP LSP setup, satisfy these requirements.  
    
   Note that generic requirements for P2MP extensions to MPLS are out of 
   the scope of this document. Rather this document describes solution 
   specific requirements related to LDP extensions in order to set up 
   P2MP LSPs. 
    
   Note also that other mechanisms could be used for setting up P2MP 
   LSPs, such as for instance PIM extensions, but these are out of the 
   scope of this document. The objective is not to compare these 
   mechanisms but rather to focus on the requirements for an LDP 
   extension approach. 
 
   The document is structured as follows: 
        - Section 3 points out the problem statement;  
        - Section 4 illustrates an application scenario;  
        - Section 5 addresses detailed requirements for P2MP LSPs;   
        - Section 6 finally discusses group communication, and   
                    requirements for MP2MP LSPs. 
 
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3. Problem Statement and Requirements Overview 
    
3.1. Problem Statement 
    
   Many operators have deployed LDP [LDP] for setting up P2P and MP2P 
   MPLS LSPs as PE-to-PE tunnels so as to carry point-to-point traffic 
   essentially in Layer 3 and Layer 2 VPN networks. There are emerging 
   requirements for supporting multicast traffic delivery within these 
   VPN infrastructures ([L3VPN-MCAST-REQ] and [L2VPN-MCAST-REQ]). For 
   various reasons, including consistency with P2P applications, and 
   taking full advantages of MPLS network infrastructure, it would be 
   highly desirable to use MPLS LSPs for the delivery of multicast 
   traffic. This could be implemented by setting up a group of P2P or 
   MP2P LSPs, but such an approach may be sub-optimal since it would 
   result in data replication at the ingress LSR, and bandwidth 
   inefficiency (duplicate data traffic within the network). Hence new 
   mechanisms are required that would allow traffic from an Ingress LSR 
   to be efficiently delivered to a number of Egress LSRs in an MPLS 
   backbone, avoiding duplicate copies of a packet on a given link.  
    
   Such efficient traffic delivery requires setting up P2MP LSPs. A P2MP 
   LSP is an LSP starting at an Ingress LSR, and ending on a set of one 
   or more Egress LSRs. Traffic sent by the Ingress LSR is replicated on 
   one or more Branch LSRs down to Egress LSRs. 
 
   RSVP-TE extensions for setting up P2MP TE LSPs, which meet 
   requirements expressed in [P2MP-TE-REQ], have been defined in [P2MP-
   TE-RSVP]. This approach is useful, in network environments where 
   Traffic Engineering capabilities are required. However, for operators 
   that deployed LDP for setting up PE-to-PE unicast MPLS LSPs, and 
   without the need for traffic engineering, an interesting approach 
   would be using LDP extensions for setting up P2MP LSPs.  
    
   The following gives a set of guidelines that a specification of LDP 
   extensions for setting up P2MP LSPs should follow.  
 
3.2. Requirements overview 
 
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST support setting up P2MP LSPs, i.e. LSPs 
   with one Ingress LSR and one or more Egress LSRs, with traffic 
   replication at some Branch LSRs.  
    
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST allow the addition or removal of leaves 
   associated with a P2MP LSP. 
     
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST co-exist with current LDP mechanisms and 
   inherit its capability sets from [LDP]. It is of paramount importance 
   that the P2MP LDP mechanism MUST NOT impede the operation of existing 
   P2P/MP2P LSPs. 
    

 
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   The P2MP LDP mechanism MAY also allow setting up multipoint-to-
   multipoint (MP2MP) LSPs connecting a group of Leaf LSRs acting 
   indifferently as Ingress LSR or Egress LSR. This may allow a 
   reduction in the amount of LDP state that needs to be maintained by a 
   LSR.  
   
4. Application Scenario 
 
   Figure 1 below illustrates an LDP enabled MPLS provider network, used 
   to carry both unicast and multicast traffic of VPN customers 
   following for instance the architecture defined in [2547-MCAST] for 
   BGP/MPLS VPNs, or the one defined in [VPLS-MCAST]. 
    
   A set of MP2P LDP LSPs are setup between PE routers to carry unicast 
   VPN traffic within the MPLS backbone. 
    
   A set of P2MP LDP LSPs are setup between PE routers acting as Ingress 
   LSRs and PE routers acting as Egress LSRs, so as to support multicast 
   VPN traffic delivery within the MPLS backbone. 
    
   For instance, a P2MP LDP LSP is setup between Ingress LSR PE1 and 
   Egress LSRs PE2, PE3, and PE4. It is used to transport multicast 
   traffic from PE1 to PE2, PE3 and PE4. P1 is a Branch LSR, it 
   replicates MPLS traffic sent by PE1 to P2, P3 and PE2. P2 and P3 are 
   non-branch transit LSRs, they forward MPLS traffic sent by P1 to PE3 
   and PE4 respectively. 
    
    
                                 PE1 
                                 *|                *** P2MP LDP LSP 
                                 *| **** 
                                 P1-----PE2 
                                */ \* 
                               */   \* 
                          *****/     \* **** 
                       PE3----P2      P3----PE4 
                              |       | 
                              |       | 
                              |       | 
                             PE5     PE6  
                       
   Figure 1: P2MP LSP from PE1 to PE2, PE3, PE4. 
    
   If later there are new receivers attached to PE5 and PE6, then PE5 
   and PE6 join the P2MP LDP LSP. P2 and P3 become Branch LSRs and 
   replicate traffic received from P1, to PE3 and PE5, and to PE4 and 
   PE6 respectively (see figure 2 below). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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                                 PE1 
                                 *|               *** P2MP LDP LSP 
                                 *| **** 
                                 P1-----PE2 
                                */ \* 
                               */   \* 
                          *****/     \*  *** 
                       PE3----P2      P3----PE4 
                             *|       |* 
                             *|       |* 
                             *|       |* 
                             PE5     PE6  
                       
   Figure 2: Attachment of PE5 and PE6. 
    
 
5. Detailed Requirements 
 
5.1. P2MP LSPs 
 
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST support setting up P2MP LSPs.  
   Data plane aspects related to P2MP LSPs are those already defined in  
   [P2MP-TE-REQ]. That is, a P2MP LSP has one Ingress LSR and one or  
   more Egress LSRs. Traffic sent by the Ingress LSR is received by all  
   Egress LSRs. The specific aspects related to P2MP LSPs is the action  
   required at a Branch LSR, where data replication occurs.  
   Incoming labelled data is appropriately replicated to several  
   outgoing interfaces which may use different labels. Only one copy of  
   a packet MUST be sent on a given link of a P2MP LSP.  
 
   A P2MP LSP MUST be identified by a constant and unique identifier    
   within the whole LDP domain, whatever the number of leaves, which   
   may vary dynamically. 
   This identifier will be used so as to add/remove leaves to/from the 
   P2MP tree.  
      
5.2. P2MP LSP FEC 
    
   As with P2P MPLS technology [LDP], traffic MUST be classified into a 
   FEC in this P2MP extension. All packets which belong to a particular 
   P2MP FEC and which travel from a particular node MUST use the same 
   P2MP LSP.  
     
   As such, a solution MUST specify a FEC that is suitable for P2MP 
   forwarding. Such P2MP FEC MUST be distinguished clearly from the 
   existing P2P FEC. 
 
 
 
 
 
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5.3. P2MP LDP routing 
    
   As with P2P and MP2P LDP LSPs, the P2MP LDP mechanism MUST support 
   hop-by-hop LSP routing. P2MP LDP-based routing SHOULD rely upon the 
   information maintained in LSR Routing Information Bases (RIB). 
    
   It is RECOMMENDED that the P2MP LSP routing rely upon a shortest path 
   to the Ingress LSR so as to setup an MPLS shortest path tree.  
 
5.4. Setting up, tearing down and modifying P2MP LSPs 
 
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST support the establishment, maintenance 
   and teardown of P2MP LSPs in a scalable manner. This MUST include 
   both the existence of a large amount of P2MP LSPs within a single 
   network and a large amount of leaf LSRs for a single P2MP LSP. 
    
   In order to scale well with a large number of leaves it is 
   RECOMMENDED to follow a leaf-initiated P2MP LSP setup approach. For 
   that purpose, leaves will have to be aware of the P2MP LSP 
   identifier. The ways a Leaf LSR discovers P2MP LSPs identifiers rely 
   on the applications that will use P2MP LSPs, and are out of the scope 
   of this document. 
    
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST allow the dynamic addition and removal of 
   leaves to and from a P2MP LSP, without any restriction (provided 
   there is network connectivity). It is RECOMMENDED that these 
   operations be leaf-initiated.  
   These operations MUST not impact the data transfer (packet loss, 
   duplication, delay) towards other leaves. It is RECOMMENDED that 
   these operations do not cause any additional processing except on the 
   path from the added/removed Leaf LSR to the Branch LSR. 
 
5.5. Label Advertisement 
 
   The P2MP LDP mechanism SHOULD support downstream unsolicited label 
   advertisement mode. This is well suited to a leaf-initiated approach 
   and is consistent with P2P/MP2P LDP operations. 
 
5.6. Data Duplication 
 
   Data duplication refers to the receipt of multiple copies of a packet 
   by any leaf. Although this may be a marginal situation, it may also 
   be detrimental for certain applications. Hence, data duplication 
   SHOULD be avoided as much as possible, and limited to (hopefully 
   rare) transitory conditions. 
 
   Note, in particular, that data duplication might occur if P2MP LSP 
   rerouting is being performed (See also section 5.8). 
    
 
 
 
 
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5.7. Avoiding loops 
    
   The P2MP LDP mechanism SHOULD have a mechanism to avoid routing loops 
   even during transient events.  
    
   Furthermore, the P2MP LDP mechanism MUST avoid routing loops that may 
   trigger unexpected non-localized exponential growth of traffic. Note 
   that any loop-avoidance mechanism MUST respect scalability 
   requirements. 
 
5.8. P2MP LSP Re-routing 
 
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST support the rerouting of a P2MP LSP in 
   the following cases: 
        - Network failure (link or node); 
        - A better path exists (e.g. new link, metric change); 
        - Planned maintenance. 
    
   Given that P2MP LDP routing should rely on the RIB, the achievement 
   of the following requirements also implies the underlying routing 
   protocols (IGP, etc.). 
    
5.8.1. Rerouting upon Network Failure 
    
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST allow for rerouting of a P2MP LSP in case 
   of link or node failure(s). The rerouting time SHOULD be minimized as 
   much as possible so as to reduce traffic disruption.  
    
   A mechanism MUST be defined to prevent constant P2MP LSP teardown and 
   rebuild which may be caused by the instability of a specific 
   link/node in the network.  
 
5.8.2. Rerouting on a Better Path 
 
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST allow for rerouting of a P2MP LSP in case 
   a better path is created in the network, for instance as a result of 
   a metric change, a link repair, or the addition of links or nodes. 
   Traffic disruption and data duplication SHOULD be minimized as much 
   as possible during such rerouting.  
   There is actually a tension between packet loss minimization and 
   packet duplication minimization objectives. 
   It SHOULD be feasible to avoid either data duplication or packet loss 
   during such rerouting.  
   A solution MAY provide the operator with means to choose between 
   favoring avoiding packet loss at the expense of potential packet 
   duplication, and favoring avoiding duplication against packet loss. 
    
    
    
    


 
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5.8.3. Rerouting upon Planned Maintenance 
 
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST support planned maintenance operations. 
   It MUST be possible to reroute a P2MP LSP before a link/node is 
   deactivated for maintenance purposes.  
   Traffic disruption and data duplication SHOULD be minimized as much 
   as possible during such planned maintenance.  
   There is actually a tension between packet loss minimization and 
   packet duplication minimization objectives. 
   It SHOULD be feasible to avoid either data duplication or packet loss 
   during such rerouting.  
   A solution MAY provide the operator with means to choose between 
   favoring avoiding packet loss at the expense of packet duplication, 
   and favoring avoiding duplication against packet loss. 
    
 
5.9. Support for LAN interfaces 
 
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST provide a way for a Branch LSR to send a 
   single copy of the data onto an Ethernet LAN interface and reach 
   multiple adjacent downstream nodes. This requires that the same label 
   be negotiated with all downstream LSRs for the LSP. 
    
   When there are several candidate upstream LSRs on a LAN interface, 
   the P2MP LDP mechanism MUST provide a way for all downstream LSRs of 
   a given P2MP LSP to select the same upstream LSR, so as to avoid 
   traffic replication.  
   In addition, the P2MP LDP mechanism SHOULD allow for an efficient 
   balancing of a set of P2MP LSPs among a set of candidate upstream 
   LSRs on a LAN interface. 
 
5.10. Support for encapsulation in P2P and P2MP TE tunnels 
 
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST support nesting P2MP LSPs into P2P and 
   P2MP TE tunnels.  
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST provide a way for a Branch LSR of a P2MP 
   LSP, which is also a Head End LSR of a P2MP TE tunnel, to send a 
   single copy of the data onto the tunnel and reach all downstream LSRs 
   on the P2MP LSP, which are also Egress LSRs of the tunnel. As with 
   LAN interfaces, this requires that the same LDP label be negotiated 
   with all downstream LSRs for the P2MP LDP LSP.  
 
5.11. Label spaces 
 
   Labels for P2MP LSPs and P2P/MP2P LSPs MAY be assigned from shared or 
   dedicated label spaces.  
    
   Note that dedicated label spaces will require the establishment of 
   separate P2P and P2MP LDP sessions. 
    

 
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5.12. IPv4/IPv6 support 
    
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST be equally applicable to IPv4 and IPv6 
   traffic. Likewise, it SHOULD be possible to convey both kinds of 
   traffic in a given P2MP LSP facility. 
    
   Also the P2MP LDP mechanism MUST support the establishment of LDP 
   sessions over both IPv4 and IPv6 control planes. 
    
5.13. Multi-Area LSPs 
    
   The P2MP LDP mechanism MUST support the establishment of multi-area 
   P2MP LSPs, i.e. LSPs whose leaves do not all reside in the same IGP 
   area as the Ingress LSR. This SHOULD be possible without requiring 
   the advertisement of Ingress LSRs' addresses across IGP areas. 
    
5.14. OAM 
 
   LDP management tools ([LDP-MIB], etc.) MUST be enhanced to support 
   P2MP LDP extensions. This may yield a new MIB module, which may 
   possibly be inherited from the LDP MIB. 
    
   In order to facilitate correct management, P2MP LDP LSPs MUST have 
   unique identifiers, otherwise it is impossible to determine which LSP 
   is being managed. 
    
   Built-in diagnostic tools MUST be defined to check the connectivity, 
   trace the path and ensure fast detection of data plane failures on 
   P2MP LDP LSPs. 
 
   Further and precise requirements and mechanisms for P2MP MPLS OAM 
   purpose are out of the scope of this document and are addressed in 
   [RFC4687]. 
    
5.15. Graceful Restart and Fault Recovery 
 
   LDP Graceful Restart mechanisms [LDP-GR] and Fault Recovery [LDP-FT] 
   mechanisms SHOULD be enhanced to support P2MP LDP LSPs. 
    
5.16. Robustness 
 
   A solution MUST avoid single points of failures provided there is 
   enough network connectivity.  
 
5.17. Scalability 
    
   Scalability is a key requirement for the P2MP LDP mechanism.  
   It MUST be designed to scale well with an increase in the number of 
   any of the following: 
      - number of Leaf LSRs per P2MP LSP; 
      - number of Downstream LSRs per Branch LSR; 
      - number of P2MP LSPs per LSR. 
 
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   In order to scale well with an increase in the number of leaves, it 
   is RECOMMENDED that the size of a P2MP LSP state on a LSR, for one 
   particular LSP, depend only on the number of adjacent LSRs on the 
   LSP. 
    
5.17.1. Orders of magnitude of the expected numbers of P2MP LSPs in 
       operational networks 
    
   Typical orders of magnitude that we expect should be supported are: 
   - tens of thousands of P2MP trees spread out across core network 
      routers; 
   - hundreds, or a few thousands, of leaves per tree; 
    
   See also section 4.2 of [L3VPN-MCAST-REQ]. 
    
5.18. Backward Compatibility 
    
   In order to allow for a smooth migration, the P2MP LDP mechanism 
   SHOULD offer as much backward compatibility as possible. In 
   particular, the solution SHOULD allow the setup of a P2MP LSP along 
   non-Branch Transit LSRs that do not support P2MP LDP extensions. 
 
   Also, the P2MP LDP solution MUST co-exist with current LDP mechanisms 
   and inherit its capability sets from [LDP]. The P2MP LDP solution 
   MUST not impede the operation of P2P/MP2P LSPs. A P2MP LDP solution 
   MUST be designed in such a way that it allows P2P/MP2P and P2MP LSPs 
   to be signalled on the same interface. 
 
6. Shared Trees 
    
   For traffic delivery between a group of N Leaf LSRs which are acting  
   indifferently as Ingress or Egress LSRs, it may be useful to  
   setup a shared tree connecting all these LSRs, instead of having N 
   P2MP LSPs. This would reduce the amount of control and forwarding 
   state that has to be maintained on a given LSR.  
    
   There are actually two main options for supporting such shared trees: 
    
        - This could rely on the applications protocols that use LDP  
          LSPs. A shared tree could consist of the combination of a  
          MP2P LDP LSP from Leafs LSRs to a given root node, with a P2MP  
          LSP from this root to all Leaf LSRs. For instance with 
          Multicast L3 VPN applications, it would be possible to build a  
          shared tree by combining (see section 6.6 of [2547-MCAST]): 
              - a MP2P unicast LDP LSP, from each PE of the group to a  
                particular root PE acting as tree root, 
              - with a P2MP LDP LSP from this root PE to each PEs of the   
                Group.  
    
        - Or this could rely on a specific LDP mechanism allowing to     
          setup multipoint-to-multipoint MPLS LSPs (MP2MP LSPs). 
 
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   The former approach (Combination of MP2P and P2MP LSPs at the 
   application level) is out of the scope of this document while the 
   latter (MP2MP LSPs) belong to the scope of this document. 
   Requirements for the set up of MP2MP LSPs are listed below. 
 
6.1. Requirements for MP2MP LSPs 
    
   A MP2MP LSP is a LSP connecting a group of Leaf LSRs acting 
   indifferently as Ingress or Egress LSRs. Traffic sent by any Leaf 
   LSRs is received by all other Leaf LSRs of the group. 
    
   Procedures for setting up MP2MP LSPs SHOULD be specified.    
   An implementation that support P2MP LDP LSPs MAY also support MP2MP 
   LDP LSP. 
 
   The MP2MP LDP procedures MUST not impede the operations of P2MP LSP. 
 
   Requirements for P2MP LSPs set forth in section 5 apply equally to 
   MP2MP LSPs. Particular attention should be given on the below 
   requirements: 
    
   - The solution MUST support recovery upon link and transit node  
     failure and there MUST NOT be any single point of failure (provided   
     network connectivity is redundant). Note that transit node  
     failure recovery is likely to be more complex to handle with MP2MP  
     LSPs than with P2MP LSPs;  
   - The size of MP2MP state on a LSR, for one particular MP2MP LSP,  
     SHOULD only depend on the number of adjacent LSRs on the LSP; 
   - Furthermore, the MP2MP LDP mechanism MUST avoid routing loops that    
     may trigger exponential growth of traffic. Note that this  
     requirement is more challenging with MP2MP LSPs as a LSR can  
     receive traffic for a given LSP on multiple interfaces. 
    
        
    There are additional requirements specific to MP2MP LSPs: 
    
   - It is RECOMMENDED that a MP2MP MPLS LSP follow shortest paths to a  
     specific LSR called root LSR; 
   - It is RECOMMENDED to define several root LSRs (e.g. a primary and 
      a backup) to ensure redundancy upon root LSR failure; 
   - The receiver SHOULD not receive back a packet it has sent on the  
     MP2MP LSP; 
   - The solution SHOULD avoid that all traffic between any pair of  
     leaves is traversing a root LSR, and SHOULD as much as possible  
     minimize the distance between two leaves (similarly to PIM-Bidir   
     trees); 
   - It MUST be possible to check connectivity of a MP2MP LSP in both    
      directions. 
    
 

 
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7. Evaluation criteria 
 
7.1. Performances 
 
      The solution will be evaluated with respect to the following 
      criteria: 
    
      (1) Time to add or remove a Leaf LSR; 
      (2) Time to repair a P2MP LSP in case of link or node  
          failure; 
      (3) Scalability (state size, number of messages, message size). 
 
   Particularly the P2MP LDP mechanism SHOULD be designed with as key 
   objective to minimize the additional amount of state and additional 
   processing required in the network when deploying P2MP LDP. 
 
   Also, the P2MP LDP mechanism SHOULD be designed so that convergence 
   times in case of link or node failure are minimized, in order to 
   limit traffic disruption.  
 
7.2. Complexity and Risks 
    
   The proposed solution SHOULD not introduce complexity to the current 
   LDP operations to such a degree that it would affect the stability 
   and diminish the benefits of deploying such P2MP LDP solution. 
    
8. Security Considerations 
    
   This document does not introduce any new security issue beyond those 
   inherent to LDP, and a P2MP LDP solution may rely on the security 
   mechanisms defined in [LDP] (e.g. TCP MD5 Signature). 
    
9. Acknowledgments 
 
   We would like to thank Christian Jacquenet (France Telecom),   
   Hitoshi Fukuda (NTT Communications), Ina Minei (Juniper), Dean  
   Cheng (Cisco Systems), and Benjamin Niven-Jenkins (British Telecom),    
   for their highly useful comments and suggestions. 
 
   We would also like to thank authors of [P2MP-TE-REQ] from which some 
   text of this document has been inspired. 
 
10. References 
    
10.1. Normative references 
    
   [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate 
   Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. 
 
   [LDP] L. Andersson, P. Doolan, N. Feldman, A. Fredette, B. Thomas, 
   "LDP Specification", RFC 3036, January 2001 
    
 
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   [LDP-MIB] J. Cuchiarra et al. "Definitions of Managed Objects for the 
   Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), Label Distribution Protocol 
   (LDP)", RFC3815, June 2004. 
 
   [LDP-GR] M. Leelanivas, Y. Rekhter, R. Aggarwal, " Graceful Restart 
   Mechanism for Label Distribution Protocol" RFC3478, February 2003. 
    
   [LDP-FT] A. Farrel, " Fault Tolerance for the Label Distribution 
   Protocol (LDP)", RFC3479, February 2003. 
    
10.2. Informative references 
    
   [L3VPN-MCAST-REQ] T. Morin, Ed., "Requirements for Multicast in L3 
   Provider-Provisioned VPNs", draft-ietf-l3vpn-ppvpn-mcast-reqts, work 
   in progress. 
    
   [L2VPN-MCAST-REQ]  Y. Kamite et al. "Requirements for Multicast 
   Support in Virtual Private LAN Services", draft-ietf-l2vpn-vpls-
   mcast-reqts, work in progress. 
 
   [2547-MCAST] E. Rosen, R. Aggarwal, et. al., "Multicast in MPLS/BGP 
   IP VPNs", draft-ietf-l3vpn-2547bis-mcast, work in progress. 
 
   [VPLS-MCAST] R.Aggarwal, Y Kamite, L Fang, “VPLS Multicast” draft-
   ietf-l2vpn-vpls-mcast, work in progress. 
 
   [RFC4687] S. Yasukawa, A. Farrel, D. King, T. Nadeau, "OAM 
   Requirements for Point-To-Multipoint MPLS Networks", RFC4687, 
   September 2006. 
    
   [P2MP-TE-REQ] S. Yasukawa, et. al., "Requirements for Point-to-
   Multipoint capability extension to MPLS", RFC4461, April 2006. 
 
   [P2MP-TE-RSVP] R. Aggarwal, D. Papadimitriou, S. Yasukawa, et. al.., 
   "Extensions to RSVP-TE for Point to Multipoint TE LSPs", draft-ietf-
   mpls-rsvp-te-p2mp, work in progress. 
 
 
11. Editor Address  
    
   Jean-Louis Le Roux  
   France Telecom  
   2, avenue Pierre-Marzin  
   22307 Lannion Cedex  
   FRANCE 
   Email: jeanlouis.leroux@orange-ftgroup.com 
    
    
    
    
    
 
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12. Contributors Addresses  
 
   Thomas Morin  
   France Telecom  
   2, avenue Pierre-Marzin  
   22307 Lannion Cedex  
   FRANCE 
   Email: thomas.morin@orange-ftgroup.com 
 
   Vincent Parfait 
   Orange Business Services 
   1041 Route des Dolines 
   Sophia Antipolis 
   06560 Valbonne  
   FRANCE 
   Email: vincent.parfait@orange-ftgroup.com 
 
   Luyuan Fang 
   Cisco Systems, Inc. 
   300 Beaver Brook Road 
   Boxborough, MA 01719 
   USA 
   EMail: lufang@cisco.com Luyuan Fang 
   
   Lei Wang 
   Telenor 
   Snaroyveien 30 
   Fornebu  1331 
   NORWAY 
   Email: lei.wang@telenor.com 
 
   Yuji Kamite 
   NTT Communications Corporation 
   Tokyo Opera City Tower 
   3-20-2 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, 
   Tokyo 163-1421, 
   JAPAN 
   Email: y.kamite@ntt.com 
    
   Shane Amante 
   Level 3 Communications, LLC 
   1025 Eldorado Blvd 
   Broomfield, CO 80021 
   USA 
   Email: shane@level3.net 
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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