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New draft on Inter-area/AS MPLS TE: draft-vasseur-ayyangar-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt



Hi,

During IETF-58, two drafts related to Inter-area and Inter-AS MPLS TE were presented:
- draft-vasseur-inter-AS-TE (JP Vasseur / Raymond Zhang)
- draft-ayyangar-inter-region-te (Arthi Ayyangar)
It was agreed with the WG to merge the two drafts which should cover solutions for both inter-area and inter-AS MPLS TE and for both packet and non-packet TE LSPs. Here is the result of this merge.


In a nutshell, the draft proposes three TE LSPs types (Contiguous, Stitched and Nested) and two inter-area/AS TE path computation methods (Per-area/AS, distributed PCEs). We tried to also describe the applicability of each TE LSP type and path computation method as well as their respective pros and cons with regards to several aspects (path optimality, reoptimization, diverse path computation, DS-TE, hierarchy, policy control, ...).

Just a side note regarding the terminology: the comment was made several times that the PCS terminology was confusing and may be interpreted as "off-line". Hence this has been changed for PCE (Path Computation Element), where the PCE may be an ABR or an ASBR. This applies to one of the distributed path computation method described in this draft.

Several SPs expressed an interest in this draft.

Comments are obviously more than welcome !

We'd like to specifically thank Adrian Farrel for his contribution to this merged draft.

JP.


draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
                                                                         
                                                     JP Vasseur (Editor) 
                                                     Cisco Systems, Inc.  
                                                 Arthi Ayyangar (Editor) 
                                                        Juniper Networks 
IETF Internet Draft 
Expires: August, 2004                                                
                                                         February, 2004 
 
 
 
                                     
                                     
              draft-vasseur-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt 
                                     
                                     
            Inter-area and Inter-AS MPLS Traffic Engineering 
 
 
 
Status of this Memo 
 
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all 
provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026. Internet-Drafts are 
Working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its 
areas, and its working groups.  Note that other groups may also 
distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. 
 
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." 
 
The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at 
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. 
The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at 
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 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                                1 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
 
Abstract 
 
This document proposes a set of signaling and routing mechanisms to 
establish and maintain generalized (packet and non-packet) MPLS Traffic 
Engineering Label Switched Path (MPLS TE LSPs) that span multiple areas 
or Autonomous Systems.. Each mechanism is described along with its 
applicability to the set of 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 [RFC2119]. 
 
 
Content 
 
1. Terminology 
2. Introduction 
3. General assumptions 
4. Notion of contiguous, nested and stitched TE LSP 
5. Scenario 1: next-hop resolution during inter-area/AS TE LSP set 
up(per-area/AS path computation) 
5.1 Example with an inter-area TE LSP (based on the assumption 
described in section 3). 
5.1.1 Case 1: T1 is a contiguous TE LSP 
5.1.2 Case 2: T2 is a stitched or nested TE LSP 
5.1.3 Processing of the Resv message (common procedure for contiguous 
and stitched/nested LSPs) 
5.2 Example with an inter-AS TE LSP (based on the assumption described 
in section 3). 
5.2.1 Case 1: T1 is a contiguous TE LSP 
5.2.2 Case 2: T1 is a stitched or nested TE LSP 
5.3 Signaling specifics with TE LSP stitching for packet LSPs 
6. Scenario 2: end to end shortest path computation 
6.1 Introduction and definition of an optimal path 
6.2 Notion of PCE (Path Computation Element) 
6.3 Dynamic PCE discovery 
6.4 PCE selection 
6.5 LSR-PCE signaling protocol 
6.6 Computation of an optimal end to end TE LSP path 
6.7 Path optimality 
6.8 Diverse end to end path computation 
7. Mode of operation of MPLS Traffic Engineering Fast Reroute for 
inter-area/AS TE LSPs 
7.1 Support of MPLS TE Fast Reroute for a contiguous inter-area/AS TE 
LSP 
7.1.1 Failure of a network element within an area/AS 
7.1.2 Failure of an inter-AS link 
7.1.3 Failure of an ABR or an ASBR node 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                                2 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
7.1.4 Procedure during MPLS TE Fast Reroute 
7.2 Support of MPLS TE Fast Reroute for a stitched/nested TE LSP 
7.2.1 Failure of an inter-AS link 
7.2.2 Failure of an ABR or an ASBR node 
7.3 Failure handling of inter-AS TE LSP 
8. Reoptimization of an inter-area/AS TE LSP 
8.1 Contiguous TE LSPs 
8.1.1 Per-area/AS path computation (scenario 1) 
8.1.2 End to end shortest path computation (scenario 2) 
8.2 Stitched or nested (non-contiguous) TE LSPs 
9 Routing traffic onto inter-area/AS TE LSPs 
10 Evaluation criteria and applicability 
10.1 Path optimality 
10.2 Reoptimization 
10.3 Support of MPLS Traffic Engineering Fast Reroute 
10.4 Support of diversely routed paths 
10.5 Diffserv-aware MPLS TE 
10.6 Hierarchical LSP support 
10.7 Policy Control at the AS boundaries 
10.8 Inter-AS MPLS TE Management 
10.9 Confidentiality 
11 Scalability and extensibility 
12 Security Considerations 
13 Intellectual Property Considerations 
14 Acknowledgments 
 
References 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

















 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                                3 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
 
1.      Terminology 
  
LSR: Label Switch Router 
 
LSP: MPLS Label Switched Path 
 
PCE: Path Computation Element. An LSR in charge of computing TE LSP 
path for which it is not the Head-end. For instance, an ABR (inter-
area) or an ASBR (Inter-AS) can play the role of PCE. 
     
PCC: Path Computation Client (any head-end LSR) requesting a path 
computation from the Path Computation Element. 
     
Local Repair: local protection techniques used to repair TE LSPs 
quickly when a node or link along the LSPs path fails. 
 
Protected LSP: an LSP is said to be protected at a given hop if it has 
one or multiple associated backup tunnels originating at that hop. 
 
Bypass Tunnel: an LSP that is used to protect a set of LSPs passing 
over a common facility. 
 
PLR: Point of Local Repair. The head-end of a bypass tunnel. 
 
MP: Merge Point. The LSR where bypass tunnels meet the protected LSP. 
 
NHOP Bypass Tunnel: Next-Hop Bypass Tunnel. A backup tunnel which 
bypasses a single link of the protected LSP. 
 
NNHOP Bypass Tunnel: Next-Next-Hop Bypass Tunnel. A backup tunnel which 
bypasses a single node of the protected LSP. 
 
Fast Reroutable LSP: any LSP for which the "Local protection desired" 
bit is set in the Flag field of the SESSION_ATTRIBUTE object of its 
Path messages or signaled with a FAST-REROUTE object. 
 
CSPF: Constraint-based Shortest Path First. 
 
Inter-AS MPLS TE LSP: A TE LSP whose head-end LSR and tail-end LSR do  
not reside within the same Autonomous System (AS), or whose head-end 
LSR and tail-end LSR are both in the same AS but the TE  LSP?s path  
 may be across different ASes. Note that this definition also applies 
to TE LSP whose Head-end and Tail-end LSRs reside in different sub-ASes 
(BGP confederations). 
 
Inter-area MPLS TE LSP: A TE LSP where the head-end LSR and tail-end 
LSR do not reside in the same area or both the head-end and tail end 
LSR reside in the same area but the TE LSP transits one or more 
different areas along the path. 
 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                                4 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
ABR Routers: routers used to connect two IGP areas (areas in OSPF or 
L1/L2 in IS-IS) 
 
Interconnect routers or ASBR routers: routers used to connect together 
ASes of a different or the same Service Provider via one or more Inter-
AS links. 
 
Boundary LSR: a boundary LSR is either an ABR in the context of inter-
area MPLS TE or an ASBR in the context of inter-AS MPLS TE. 
 
TED: MPLS Traffic Engineering Database 
 
In this document, the term inter-area/AS TE LSP refers to an inter-area 
or an inter-AS MPLS Traffic Engineering Label Switched Path. 
 
The notion of ??TE LSP nesting?? refers to the ability to carry one or 
more inter-area/AS TE LSPs within another intra-area/AS TE LSP by using 
the MPLS label stacking property at the intra-area/AS outer TE LSP?s 
head-end LSR. On the other hand, ??stitching a TE LSP?? means to split an 
inter-area/AS TE LSP and insert a different intra-area/AS LSP, into the 
split. This implies a label swap operation at the stitching point (head-
end of the intra-area/AS TE LSP). Similar to [LSP_HIER], in the context 
of this document as well, the term FA-LSP always implies one or more 
LSPs nested within another LSP using the label stack construct. We use 
the term ??LSP segment?? in the context of LSP stitching (when one LSP is 
split and another LSP is inserted into the split). 
 
 
2.      Introduction 
 
Considering the set of requirements for inter-area and inter-AS Traffic 
Engineering respectively listed in [INTER-AREA-TE-REQS] and [INTER-AS-
TE-REQS], this document proposes a set of mechanisms to establish and 
maintain MPLS Traffic Engineering Label Switched Paths that span 
multiple areas in the context of inter-area MPLS TE or multiple ASes or 
sub-ASes (with BGP confederations) in the context of inter-AS MPLS TE. 
The mechanisms proposed in this document could also be applicable to 
MPLS TE domains other than areas and ASes as well. 
 
According to the wide set of requirements defined in [INTER-AS-TE-REQS] 
and [INTER-AREA-TE-REQS], coming up with a single solution covering all 
the requirements is certainly possible but may not be desired: indeed, 
as described in [INTER-AS-TE-REQS] the spectrum of deployment scenarios 
is quite large and designing a solution addressing the super-set of all 
the requirements would lead to provide a rich set of mechanisms not 
required in several cases. Depending on the deployment scenarios of a 
SP, certain requirements stated above may be strict while certain other 
requirements may be relaxed.  
 
There are two aspects to a TE LSP setup: the TE LSP path computation 
and the signaling. There are different ways in which path computation 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                                5 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
for an inter-area/AS TE LSP could be done. For example, if the 
requirement is for an end-to-end constraint-based shortest path for the 
inter-area/AS TE LSP, then a mechanism using one or more distributed 
PCEs could be used to obtain an optimal path across different 
areas/ASes. Alternatively, one could also use some static or discovery 
mechanisms to determine the next boundary LSR per area/AS as the inter-
area/AS TE LSP is being signaled. Other offline mechanisms for path 
computation are not precluded either. Depending on the requirements of 
the SP, one may adopt either of these techniques for inter-area/AS path 
computation. Hence, once the TE LSP path is obtained, this document 
provides three different types of inter-area/inter-AS TE LSP which are 
signaled by different means: contiguous, nested or stitched. Depending 
on the needs of the SP networks, one may choose either of these 
mechanisms to signal the TE LSP. In case of inter-AS (inter-provider) 
TE LSP setup, since different SPs may have different needs and may 
choose different TE policies in their network, this document provides a 
way to communicate some requirements that the head-end LSR originating 
the TE LSP may have for the ASes that the TE LSP transit. Also, with TE 
LSPs crossing AS boundaries or administrative domains, it is assumed 
that there will be some form of Policy control at the administrative 
boundaries. 
 
In section 11,  the applicability and evaluation criteria of each 
solution proposed in this document with respect to the set of 
requirements defined in [INTER-AS-TE-REQS] and [INTER-AREA-TE-REQS] are 
analyzed. 
 
3.      General assumptions 
 
In the rest of this document, we make the following set of assumptions: 
 
1) Assumptions common to inter-area and inter-AS TE: 
 
- Each area or AS in all the examples below is assumed to be capable of 
doing Traffic Engineering (i.e. running OSPF-TE or ISIS-TE and RSVP-
TE). An AS may itself be composed of several other sub-AS(es) (BGP 
confederations) or areas/levels. 
 
- The inter-area/AS LSPs are signaled using RSVP-TE ([RSVP-TE]). 
 
- The path (ERO) for the inter-area/AS TE LSP traversing multiple 
areas/ASes may be signaled  as a set of (loose and/or strict) hops. The 
hops may identify: 
        - The complete strict path end to end across different 
        areas/ASes 
        - The complete strict path in the source area/AS followed by 
        boundary LSRs (and domain identifiers, e.g. AS numbers) 
        - The complete list of boundary LSRs along the path 
        - The current boundary LSR and the LSP destination 
 

 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                                6 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
In this case, the set of (loose or strict) hops can either be 
statically configured on the Head-end LSR or dynamically computed. In 
the former case, the resulting path is statically configured on the 
Head-end LSR. In the latter case (dynamic computation), two methods 
described in this document can be used: 
        - A distributed path computation involving some PCEs (e.g 
        ABR/ASBR) resulting in globally optimal path consisting of 
        strict and/or loose hops, 
        - Some Auto-discovery mechanism based on BGP and/or IGP 
        information yielding the next-hop boundary LSR (ABR/ASBR) along 
        the path as the LSP is being signaled, along with crankback 
        mechanisms. 
 
- Furthermore, the boundary LSRs are assumed to be capable of 
performing local path computation for expansion of a loose next-hop in 
the signaled ERO if the path is not signaled by the head-end LSR as a 
set of strict hops or if the strict is for example an AS number. This 
can be done by performing a CSPF computation to that loose hop, instead 
of to the LSP destination or by making use of some PCEs. In any case, 
no topology or resource information needs to be distributed between 
areas/ASes, which is critical to preserve IGP/BGP scalability. 
 
- The paths for the intra-area/AS FA-LSPs or LSP segments or for a 
contiguous TE LSP within the area/AS, may be pre-configured or computed 
dynamically based on the arriving inter-area/AS LSP setup request; 
depending on the requirements of the transit area/AS. Note that this 
capability is explicitly specified as a requirement in [INTER-AS-TE-
REQS]. When the paths for the FA-LSPs/LSP segments are pre-configured, 
the constraints as well as other parameters like local protection 
scheme for the intra-area/AS FA-LSP/LSP segment are also pre-
configured. Some local algorithm can be used on the head-end LSR of a 
FA-LSP to dynamically adjust the FA-LSP bandwidth based on the 
cumulative bandwidth requested by the inter-area/AS TE LSPs. It is 
RECOMMENDED  to use a threshold triggering mechanism to avoid constant 
bandwidth readjustment as inter-area/AS TE LSPs are set up and torn 
down. 
 
- While certain constraints like bandwidth can be used across different 
areas/ASes, certain other TE constraints like resource affinity, color, 
metric, etc. as listed in [RFC2702] could be translated at areas/ASes 
boundaries. If required, it is assumed that, at the area/AS boundary 
LSRs, there will exist some sort of local mapping based on offline 
policy agreement, in order to translate such constraints across area/AS 
boundaries. It is expected that such an assumption particularly applies 
to inter-AS TE: for example, the local mapping would be similar to the 
Inter-AS TE Agreement Enforcement Polices stated in [INTER-AS-TE-
REQTS]. 
 
- When an area/AS boundary LSR at the exit of an area/AS receives a TE 
LSP setup request (Path message) for an inter-area/AS TE LSP, then if 
this LSP had been nested or stitched at the entry area/AS boundary LSR, 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                                7 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
then this exit boundary LSR can determine the corresponding FA-LSP or 
LSP segment from the received Path message. The signaling mechanism 
used to signal an inter-area/AS TE LSP being transported either over a 
FA-LSP or LSP segment is similar to that described in [LSP-HIER]. The 
way to identify an unnumbered FA is described in [RSVP-UNNUM]. The same 
mechanisms are used here. 
 
2) Example of topology for the inter-area TE case: 
 
<---area1---><--area0--><----area2-----> 
 ---------ABR1-----------ABR?1------- 
 |      /   |              |  \     | 
R0--X1--    |              |   X2---X3--R1 
 |          |              |  /     | 
 ---------ABR2-----------ABR?2------ 
 
- ABR1, ABR2, ABR?1 and ABR?2 are ABRs 
- X1: an LSR in area 1 
- X2, X3: LSRs in area 2 
Note: 
- The terminology used in the example corresponds to OSPF but the set 
of mechanisms proposed in this document equally applies to IS-IS. 
- Just a few routers in each area are depicted in the diagram above for 
the sake of simplicity. 
 
3) Example of topology for  the inter-AS TE case: 
 
We will consider the following general case, built on a superset of the 
various scenarios defined in [INTER-AS-TE-REQS]: 
 
 
     <-- AS 1 ---> <------- AS 2 -----><--- AS 3 ---->  
 
               <---BGP--->            <---BGP--> 
CE1---R0---X1-ASBR1-----ASBR4--
                             -
                             -
                              -R3---ASBR7---
                                          -
                                          -
                                           --ASBR9----R6  
      |\     \ |       / |   / |   / |          |      | 
      | \     ASBR2---/ ASBR5  | --  |          |      |   
      |  \     |         |     |/    |          |      | 
      R1-R2--
           -
           -
            --ASBR3--
                   -
                   -
                    ----ASBR6--
                             -
                             -
                              -R4---ASBR8--
                                         -
                                         -
                                          ---ASBR10--
                                                    -
                                                    -
                                                    --R7---CE2  
                 
      <======= Inter-AS TE LSP(LSR to LSR)===========> 
or 
 
<======== Inter-AS TE LSP (CE to ASBR => 
 
or 
 
<================= Inter-AS TE LSP (CE to CE)===============> 
 
The diagram above covers all the inter-AS TE deployment cases described 
in [INTER-AS-TE-REQS]. 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                                8 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
 
Assumptions: 
 
- Three interconnected ASes, respectively AS1, AS2, and AS3. Note that 
AS3 might be AS1 in some scenarios described in [INTER-AS-TE-REQS], 
 
- The various ASBRs are BGP peers, without any IGP running on the 
single hop link interconnecting the ASBRs, 
 
- Each AS runs an IGP (IS-IS or OSPF) with the required IGP TE 
extensions (see [OSPF-TE] and [IS-IS-TE]). In other words, the ASes are 
TE enabled, 
 
- Each AS can be made of several areas. In this case, the TE LSP will 
rely on the inter-area TE techniques to compute and set up a TE LSP 
traversing multiple IGP areas. For the sake of simplicity, each routing 
domain will be considered as single area in this document, but the 
solutions described in this document does not prevent the use of multi-
area techniques. 
 
- An inter-AS TE LSP T1 originated at R0 in AS1 and terminating at R6 
in AS3, 
 
- An inter-AS TE LSP T2 originated at CE1 (connected to R0) and 
terminating at CE2 (connected to R7), 
 
- A set of backup tunnels: 
         
        o B1 from X1 to ASBR4 following the path X1-ASBR2-ASBR4 and 
        protecting against a failure of the ASBR1 node, 
         
        o B2 from ASBR1 to ASBR4 following the path ASBR1-ASBR2-ASBR4 
        and protecting against a failure of the ASBR1-ASBR4 link, 
         
        o B3 from ASBR1 to R3 following the path ASBR1-ASBR2-ASBR3-
        ASBR6-ASBR5-R3 and protecting against a failure of the ASBR4 
        node. 
         
        o B4 from ASBR1 to ASBR7 following the path ASBR1-ASBR2-ASBR3-
        ASBR6-R4-ASBR7 and protecting against a failure of the ASBR4 
        node. 
         
- In the example above, ASBR1, ASBR8 and ASBR9 could have the function 
of PCE for respectively the ASes 1, 2 and 3 (the notion of PCE applies 
to the scenario 2 of this document). 
 
4.      Notion of contiguous, nested and stitched TE LSPs 
 
A contiguous TE LSP is defined as a TE LSP spanning multiple IGP 
areas/levels or ASes, which must be considered as a unique end-to-end 
TE LSP. By contrast, a stitched or nested TE LSP is made of up multiple 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                                9 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
LSP pieces within each area/AS which are either stitched or nested 
together at area/AS boundaries to form an inter-area/AS TE LSP. 
 
In case of a contiguous TE LSP, it is expected to provide more control 
at the head-end LSR that originates the inter-area/AS TE LSP. On the 
other hand, in case of the stitched or nested TE LSP, the control of 
the TE LSP is performed on a per-area or per-AS basis. This difference 
is possible because in the latter case (stitching and nesting) the 
intra-area/AS TE LSP is a different TE LSP from the inter-area/AS TE 
LSP. The term ?LSP segment? is used when one TE LSP is split and 
another LSP is inserted into the split. And the term FA-LSP is used 
when one or more TE LSPs are carried within another LSP. Both stitched 
and nested TE LSPs are signaled using mechanisms defined in [LSP-HIER]. 
 
While signaling a contiguous TE LSP is different from signaling a 
stitched TE LSP, in the forwarding plane at the boundary LSR, both 
involve a label swap operation. However, nesting multiple inter-area/AS 
LSPs into another intra-area/AS LSP, is done using the MPLS label 
stacking construct. 
 
It is desirable in mixed environments making use of different 
techniques (contiguous, stitched or nested TE LSPs) to provide the 
ability for the head-end LSR of the inter-area/AS TE LSP to signal its 
requirement regarding the nature of the inter-area/AS TE LSP 
(contiguous, stitched, nested) on a per-LSP basis. For the sake of 
illustration, a Head-end LSR, may desire to prevent stitching or 
nesting for a traffic sensitive inter-area/AS TE LSPs that require a 
path control on the head-end LSR. On the other hand, the head-end LSR 
may decide to avoid any tight control.[LSP-ATTRIBUTES] defines the 
format of the attribute flags TLV included in the LSP-ATTRIBUTE object 
carried in an RSVP Path message which is used for the purpose of 
signaling the inter-area/AS TE LSP characteristics. 
 
The following bits of the attribute flags TLV is defined for this 
purpose: 
 
0x01: Contiguous LSP required bit: this flag is set by the head-end LSR 
that originates the inter-AS/area TE LSP if it desires a contiguous 
end-to-end TE LSP. When set, this indicates that a boundary LSR MUST 
not perform any stitching or nesting on the TE LSP and the TE LSP MUST 
be routed as any other TE LSP (it must be contiguous end to end). When 
this bit is cleared, a boundary LSR can decide to perform stitching or 
nesting. A mid-point LSR not supporting contiguous TE LSP MUST send a 
Path Error message upstream with error sub-code=17 ??Contiguous LSP type 
not supported??. This bit MUST not be modified by any downstream node. 
  
Additionally, in case of a non-contiguous inter-area/AS LSP, if the 
inter-area/AS TE LSP is being stitched into another intra-area/AS TE 
LSP, it is sometimes required to explicitly signal the stitching 
behavior in the ??intra-area/AS?? LSP segment within that area/AS. The 
following bit of the attributes flags TLV is defined for this purpose: 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               10 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
 
0x02: LSP stitching required bit: this flag is set by the boundary LSR 
for the intra-area/AS LSP segment which is local to that area/AS. This 
flag SHOULD not be modified by any other LSR in that area/AS. If the 
egress LSR for the intra-area/AS LSP segment does not understand this 
flag then it will simply forward the object unmodified and will send a 
Path Error message upstream with error sub-code=16. 
 
Further signaling details for TE LSP stitching are described in section 
5.3. 
 
Note: in some cases, it may be desirable for the head-end LSR to exert 
some control on the ability for the boundaries LSRs to make use of 
crankback. See [CRANKBACK] for the definition of those bits. When 
crankback is allowed, the boundary LSR can either decide to forward the 
Path Error message upstream to the head-end LSR or try to select 
another egress boundary LSR (which is also referred to as crankback). 
When crankback is not allowed, a boundary LSR, when receiving a Path 
Error message from a downstream boundary LSR MUST propagate the Path 
Error message up to the inter-area/AS head-end LSR. 
 
5.      Scenario 1: Next-hop resolution during inter-area/AS TE LSP set 
   up (per-area/AS path computation) 
 
Regardless of whether the inter-area/AS TE LSP is a contiguous or 
stitched or nested TE LSP, a similar set of mechanisms for local TE LSP 
path computation (next hop resolution) and setup can be used. 
 
When an ABR/ASBR receives a Path message with a loose next-hop in the 
ERO, then it carries out the following actions: 
 
1) It checks if the loose next-hop is accessible via the TED. If the 
loose next-hop is not present in the TED, then it will check if the 
next-hop at least has IP reachability (via IGP or BGP). If the next-hop 
is not reachable, then the LSR will be unable to propagate the Path 
message any further and will send back a PathErr upstream. If the next-
hop is reachable, then it will find an ABR/ASBR to get to the next-hop. 
In the absence of an auto-discovery mechanism, the ABR/ASBR should be 
the loose next-hop in the ERO and hence should be accessible via the 
TED, otherwise path computation for the inter-area/AS TE LSP will fail. 
 
2) If the next-hop boundary LSR is present in the TED. 
 
        a) Case of a contiguous TE LSP (??Contiguous LSP required bit?? 
        of the attribute flags TLV included in the LSP-ATTRIBUTE object 
        is set). In that case, the ABR/ASBR just performs an ERO 
        expansion after having computed the path to the next loose hop 
        (ABR/ASBR) that obeys the set of required constraints. If no 
        path satisfying the set of constraints can be found then a Path 
        Error MUST be sent for the inter-area/AS TE LSP. 
 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               11 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
        b) Case of stitched or nested LSP (??Contiguous LSP required 
        bit?? of the attribute flags TLV included in the LSP-ATTRIBUTE 
        object is cleared). 
         
                i) if this ABR/ASBR (receiving the LSP setup request) 
                is a candidate LSR for intra-area FA-LSP/LSP segment 
                setup, and if there is no FA-LSP/LSP segment from this 
                LSR to the next-hop boundary LSR (satisfying the 
                constraints) it SHOULD signal a FA-LSP/LSP segment to 
                the next-hop boundary LSR. If pre-configured FA-LSP(s) 
                or LSP segment(s) already exist, then it SHOULD try to 
                select from among those intra-area/AS LSPs. Depending 
                on local policy, it MAY signal a new FA-LSP/LSP segment 
                if this selection fails. If the FA-LSP/LSP segment is 
                successfully signaled or selected, it propagates the 
                inter-area/AS Path message to the next-hop following 
                the procedures described in [LSP-HIER]. If, for some 
                reason the dynamic FA-LSP/LSP segment setup to the 
                next-hop boundary LSR fails, a PathErr is sent upstream 
                for the inter-area/AS LSP. Similarly, if selection of a 
                preconfigured FA-LSP/LSP segment fails and local policy 
                prevents dynamic FA-LSP/LSP segment setup, then a 
                PathErr is sent upstream for the inter-area/AS TE LSP. 
 
                ii) If, however, this boundary LSR is not a FA-LSP/LSP 
                segment candidate, then it SHOULD simply compute a CSPF 
                path up to the next-hop boundary LSR carry out an ERO 
                expansion to the next-hop boundary LSR) and propagate 
                the Path message downstream. The outgoing ERO may be 
                modified after an ERO expansion to the loose next-hop. 
 
The above procedures do not apply when a boundary LSR receives a Path 
message with strict next-hop. 
 
5.1.    Example with an inter-area TE LSP (based on the assumption 
    described in section 3). 
 
In this example, R0 sets up an inter-area TE LSP T1 to R1. 
 
5.1.1.  Case 1: T1 is a contiguous TE LSP 
 
When the path message reaches ABR1, it first determines the egress LSR 
from its area 0 along the LSP path (say ABR?1), either directly from 
the ERO (if for example the next hop ABR is specified as a loose hop in 
the ERO) or by using some constraint-aware auto-discovery mechanism.  
 
In the former case, every inter-AS TE LSP path is defined as a set of 
loose and strict hops but at least the ASBRs traversed by the inter-AS 
TE LSP MUST be specified as loose hops on the Head-End LSR.  
 
- Example 1 (set of strict hops end to end): R0-X1-ABR1-ABR?1-X2-X3-R1 
 
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- Example 2 (set of loose hops): R0-ABR1(loose)-ABR?1(loose)-R1(loose) 
- Example 3 (mix of strict and loose hops): R0-X1-ASBR1-ABR?1(loose)-
X2-X3-R1 
 
At least, the set of ABRs from the TE LSP head-end to the Tail-End MUST 
be present in the ERO as a set of loose hops. Optionally, a set of 
paths can be configured on the head-end LSR, ordered by priority. Each 
priority path can be associated with a different set of constraints. 
Typically, it might be desirable to systematically have a last resort 
option with no constraint to ensure that the inter-area TE LSP could 
always be set up if at least a path exist between the inter-area TE LSP 
source and destination. Note that in case of set up failure or when an 
RSVP Path Error is received indicating the TE LSP has suffered a 
failure, an implementation might support the possibility to retry a 
particular path option a specific amount of time (optionally with 
dynamic intervals between each trial) before trying a lower priority 
path option. Any path can be defined as a set of loose and strict hops. 
In other words, 
in some cases, it might be desirable to rely on the dynamic path 
computation in some area, and exert a strict control on the path in 
other areas (defining strict hops). 
 
Example of configuration of T1 on R0 in dynamic mode: T1 Path: R0-
R6(loose) 
 
Once it has computed the path up to the next ABR, ABR1 sends the Path 
message for the inter-area TE LSP to ABR?1. ABR?1 then repeats the 
exact same procedures and the Path message for the inter-area TE LSP 
will reach the destination R1. If ABR?1 cannot find a path obeying the 
set of constraints for the inter-area TE LSP, then ABR?1 MUST send a 
PathErr message to ABR1. Then ABR1 can in turn select another egress 
boundary LSR (ABR?2 in the example above) if crankback is allowed for 
this inter-area TE LSP (see [CRANBACK]). If crankback is not allowed 
for that inter-area TE LSP or if ABR1 has been configured not to 
perform crankback, then ABR1 MUST forward a PathErr up to the inter-
area head-end LSR (R0) without trying to select another egress LSR. 
 
5.1.2.  Case 2: T2 is a stitched or nested TE LSP 
 
When the path message reaches ABR1, it first determines the egress LSR 
from its area 0 along the LSP path (say ABR?1), either directly from 
the ERO or by using some constraint-aware auto-discovery mechanism. 
 
ABR1 will check if it has a FA-LSP or LSP segment to ABR?1 matching the 
constraints carried in the inter-area Path message. If not, ABR1 will 
setup a FA-LSP or LSP segment from ABR1 to ABR?1. Note that once the 
FA-LSP/LSP segment is setup, it may be advertised as a link within that 
area (see [LSP-HIER]) (area 0 in this example). The FA-LSP or LSP 
segment could have also been pre-configured. 
 

 
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If the inter-area LSP is a packet LSP and ABR1 desires to do one-to-one 
stitching, then it will signal this explicitly in the Path message for 
the intra-area LSP segment as described in section 5.3. 
 
Also, there could be multiple FA-LSPs/LSP segments between ABR1 and 
ABR?1. So, ABR1 needs to select one FA-LSP/LSP segment from these, for 
the inter-area LSP through area 0. The mechanism and the criterion used 
to select the FA-LSP/LSP segment is local to ABR1 and will not be 
described here in detail. e.g. if we have multiple pre-configured FA-
LSPs/LSP segments, a local policy may prefer to use FA-LSPs (nesting) 
for most inter-area/AS LSP requests. And it may select the LSP segments 
(stitching) only for some specific inter-area LSPs. 
 
Once it has selected the FA-LSP/LSP segment for the inter-area LSP, 
using the signaling procedures described in [LSP-HIER], ABR1 sends the 
Path message for inter-area TE LSP to ABR?1. Note that irrespective of 
whether ABR1 does nesting or stitching, the Path message for the inter-
area TE LSP is always forwarded to ABR?1. ABR?1 then repeats the exact 
same procedures and the Path message for the inter-area TE LSP will 
reach the destination R1. If ABR?1 cannot find a path obeying the set 
of constraints for the inter-area TE LSP, then ABR?1 MUST send a 
PathErr message to ABR1. Then ABR1 can in turn either select another 
FA-LSP/LSP segment to ABR?1 if such an LSP exists or select another 
egress boundary LSR (ABR?2 in the example above) if crankback is 
allowed for this inter-area TE LSP (see [CRANBACK]). If crankback is 
not allowed for that inter-area TE LSP or if ABR1 has been configured 
not to perform crankback, then ABR1 MUST forward a PathErr up to the 
inter-area head-end LSR (R0) without trying to select another egress 
LSR. 
 
5.1.3.  Processing of the Resv message (common procedure for contiguous 
     and stitched/nested LSPs) 
 
The Resv message for the inter-area TE LSP is sent back from R1 to R0. 
When the Resv message arrives at ABR?1, depending on whether ABR?1 is 
nesting or stitching, ABR?1 will install the appropriate label actions 
for the packets arriving on the inter-area LSP. Similar procedures are 
carried out at ABR1 as well, while processing the Resv message. 
 
As the Resv message for the inter-area LSP traverses back from R1 to 
R0, each LSR along the Path may record an address into the RRO object 
carried in the Resv. According to [RSVP-TE], the addresses in the RRO 
object may be a node or interface addresses. The link corresponding to 
an unnumbered FA-LSP/LSP segment will have the ingress and egress LSR 
Router-IDs as the link addresses ([RSVP-UNNUM]). So when ABR?1 sends 
the Resv message to ABR1, ABR?1 will record its Router ID in the RRO 
object. So, the inter-area TE LSP from R0 to R1 would have an RRO of 
R0-ABR1-ABR?1-R1 or R0-<other hops>-ABR1-ABR?1-R1, depending on whether 
the source area is setting up a FA-LSP/LSP segment or signaling a 
contiguous TE LSP. If the FA-LSPs/LSP segments are numbered, then the 

 
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addresses assigned to the FA-LSP/LSP segment will be recorded in the 
RRO object. 
 
5.2.    Example with an inter-AS TE LSP (based on the assumption 
described in section 3). 
 
The procedures for establishing an inter-AS TE LSP are very similar to 
those of the inter-area TE LSP described above. The main difference 
here from the inter-area case, is the presence of ASBR-ASBR link(s).  
 
The links interconnecting ASBRs are usually not TE enabled and no IGP 
is running at the AS boundaries. 
 
An implementation supporting inter-AS MPLS TE MUST obviously allow the 
set up of inter-AS TE LSP over the region interconnecting multiple 
ASBRs. In other words, an ASBR compliant with this document MUST 
support the set up of TE LSP over ASBR to ASBR links, performing all 
the usual operations related to MPLS Traffic Engineering (call 
admission control, ?) as defined in [RSVP-TE]. So the limitation (1) 
MUST be removed. Regarding the second limitation (2), in the very vast 
majority of the cases, two SPs do not run an IGP between ASBRs. 
Although this imposes for the two ASBRs to be interconnected via single 
hop link, this does not constitute a severe limitation. 
 
An interesting optimization consists in allowing the ASBRs to flood the 
TE information related to the ASBR-ASBR link(s) although no IGP TE is 
enabled over those links (and so there is no IGP adjacency over the 
ASBR-ASBR links). This allows a head-end LSR to make a more appropriate 
route selection up to the first ASBR in the next hop AS in the case of 
scenario 1 and will significantly reduce the number of signaling steps 
in route computation. This also allows the entry ASBR in an AS to make 
a more appropriate route selection up to the entry ASBR in the next hop 
AS taking into account constraints associated with the ASBR-ASBR links. 
Moreover, this reduces the risk of call set up failure due to inter-
ASBR links not satisfying the inter-AS TE set of constraints. Note that 
the TE information is only related to the ASBR-ASBR links. In other 
words, the TE LSA/LSP flooded by the ASBR includes not only the links 
contained in the AS but also the ASBR-ASBR links.  
 
Note that no summarized TE information is leaked between ASes in any of 
the proposed scenarios in this document. 
 
Example: 
 
               <---BGP--->            <---BGP--> 
CE1---R0---X1-ASBR1-----ASBR4--
                             -
                             -
                              -R3---ASBR7---
                                          -
                                          -
                                           --ASBR9---R6  
      |\     \ |       / |   / |   / |          |     | 
      | \     ASBR2---/ ASBR5  | --  |          |     |   
      |  \     |         |     |/    |          |     | 
      R1-R2--
           -
           -
            --ASBR3--
                   -
                   -
                    ----ASBR6--
                             -
                             -
                              -R4---ASBR8--
                                         -
                                         -
                                          ---ASBR10---R7---CE2  
                 
 
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draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
For instance, in the diagram depicted above, when ASBR1 floods its IGP 
TE LSA (opaque LSA for OSPF)/LSP (TLV 22 for IS-IS) in its routing 
domain, it reflects the reservation states and TE properties of the 
following links: X1-ASBR1, ASBR1-ASBR4, ASBR1-ASBR2. 
 
Thanks to such an optimization, the inter-ASBRs TE link information 
corresponding to the links originated by the ASBR is made available in 
the TED of other LSRs in the same area/AS that the ASBR belongs to, 
hence the CSPF computations for an inter-AS TE LSP path can also take 
into account the ASBR-ASBR link. This will improve the chance of 
successful path computation up to the next AS (ASBR4, 5 or 6 in this 
example) in case of a bottleneck on some ASBR-ASBR links and it reduces 
one level of crankback. Note that no topology information is flooded 
and these links are not used in IGP SPF computations. Only the TE 
information for the links originated by the ASBR is advertised. 
 
5.2.1.  Case 1: T1 is a contiguous TE LSP 
 
The inter-AS TE path may be configured on the head-end LSR as a set of 
strict hops, loose hops or a combination of both. 
 
- Example 1 (set of strict hops end to end): R0-X1-ASBR1-ASBR4-ASBR5-
R3-ASBR7-ASBR9-R6 
- Example 2 (set of loose hops): R0-ASBR4(loose)-ASBR9(loose)-R6(loose) 
- Example 3 (mix of strict and loose hops): R0-R2-ASBR3-ASBR2-ASBR1-
ASBR4(loose)-ASBR10(loose)-ASBR9-R6 
 
When a next hop is a loose hop, a dynamic path calculation (also called 
ERO expansion) is required taking into account the topology and TE 
information of its own AS and the set of TE LSP constraints. In the 
example 1 above, the inter-AS TE LSP path is statically configured as a 
set of strict hops, so in this case, no dynamic computation is 
required. In the example 2, a per-AS path computation is performed, 
respectively on R0 for AS1, ASBR4 for AS2 and ASBR9 for AS3. 
 
Note that when an LSR has to perform an ERO expansion, the next hop 
must either belong to the same AS, or must be the ASBR directly 
connected to the next hops AS. In this later case, the ASBR 
reachability must be announced in the IGP TE LSA/LSP originated by its 
neighboring ASBR. In the example 2 above, the TE LSP path is defined 
as: R0-ASBR4(loose)-ASBR9(loose)-R6(loose). This implies that the ERO 
expansion performed by R0 must compute the path from R0 to ASBR4. As 
stated in section 6.2, the TE reservation state related to the ASBR1-
ASBR4 link is flooded in AS1 by ASBR1. In addition, ASBR1 MUST also 
announce the IP address of ASBR4 specified in the T1 path 
configuration. 
 
If an auto-discovery mechanism is available, every LSR receiving an 
RSVP Path message, will have to determine automatically the next hop 
ASBR, based on the IGP/BGP reachability of the TE LSP destination. With 
such a scheme, the head-end LSR and every downstream ASBR loose hop 
 
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(except the last loose hop that computes the path to the final 
destination) automatically computes the path up to the next ASBR, the 
next loose hop based on the IGP/BGP reachability of the TE LSP 
destination. If a particular destination is reachable via multiple 
loose hops (ASBRs), local heuristics may be implemented by the head-end 
LSR/ASBRs to select the next hop an ASBR among a list of possible 
choices (closest exit point, metric advertised for the IP destination 
(ex: OSPF LSA External - Type 2), local policy,...). Once the next ASBR 
has been determined, an ERO expansion is performed as in the previous 
case. 
 
Once it has computed the path up to the next ASBR, ASBR1 sends the Path 
message for the inter-area TE LSP to ASBR4 (supposing that ASBR4 is the 
selected next hop ASBR). ASBR4 then repeats the exact same procedures 
and the Path message for the inter-AS TE LSP will reach the destination 
R1. If ASBR4 cannot find a path obeying the set of constraints for the 
inter-AS TE LSP, then ASBR4 MUST send a PathErr message to ASBR1. Then 
ASBR1 can in turn either select another ASBR (ASBR5 in the example 
above) if crankback is allowed for this inter-AS TE LSP (see 
[CRANBACK]). If crankback is not allowed for that inter-AS TE LSP or if 
ASBR1 has been configured not to perform crankback, then ABR1 MUST 
forward a PathErr up to the head-end LSR (R0) without trying to select 
another egress LSR. In this case, the head-end LSR can in turn select 
another sequence of loose hops, if configured. Alternatively, the head-
end LSR may decide to retry the same path; this can be useful in case 
of set up failure due an outdated IGP TE database in some downstream 
AS. An alternative could also be for the head-end LSR to retry to same 
sequence of loose hops after having relaxed some constraint(s). 
 
5.2.2.  Case 2: T1 is a stitched or nested TE LSP 
 
The signaling procedures are very similar to the inter-area LSP setup 
case described in section 5.1.2. In this case, the FA-LSPs or LSP 
segments will only be originated by the ASBRs at the entry to the AS. 
 
In the example provided in section 3, for an LSP setup from CE1 to CE2, 
the FA-LSPs/LSP segments may be setup between ASBR4-ASBR7 and 
potentially ASBR9-R7.  The Path message in this case traverses along 
CE1-R0-ASBR1-ASBR4-ASBR7-ASBR9-R7-CE2. In the RRO sent in the Resv 
message, the ASBRs which are ingress into the AS (like ASBR4, ASBR9, 
ASBR3, ASBR10) can record the interface address corresponding to the 
ASBR-ASBR link in the RRO. 
 
Between the ASBRs regular RSVP-TE signaling procedures are carried out. 
In case the ASBRs (say ASBR1 and ASBR4) are more than one hop away, 
then instead of creating RSVP state for every inter-AS LSP traversing 
ASBR1 and ASBR4, one MAY decided to aggregate these requests by setting 
up a FA-LSP between the ASBRs to nest the inter-AS LSP requests. The 
boundary LSR ASBR1, by default is not a candidate to initiate a FA-LSP 
or LSP segment setup. But this behavior MAY be overridden by 
configuration. 
 
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5.3.    Signaling specifics with TE LSP stitching for packet LSPs 
 
This section only applies to an inter-area/AS packet LSP being stitched 
to another intra-area/AS packet LSP. If a boundary LSR (ABR/ASBR) 
desires to perform LSP stitching, then it MUST indicate this in the 
Path message for the intra-area/AS LSP segment. This signaling is 
needed so that the egress LSR for the LSP segment knows in advance, how 
the ingress for the LSP segment plans to map traffic onto the LSP 
segment. This will allow it to allocate the correct label(s) as 
explained below. Also, so that the head-end LSR can ensure that correct 
stitching actions were carried out at the egress LSR, a new flag is 
defined below in the RRO subobject to indicate that the LSP segment may 
be used for stitching. 
 
In order to request LSP stitching, we define a new flag bit in the 
Attributes Flags TLV of the LSP_ATTRIBUTES object defined in [RSVP- 
ATTRIBUTES]: 
 
0x04: LSP stitching desired 
 
This flag will be set in the Attributes Flags TLV of the LSP_ATTRIBUTES 
object in the Path message for the local intra-area/AS LSP segment by 
the head-end LSR of the LSP segment (boundary LSR) that desires LSP 
stitching. This flag SHOULD not be modified by any other LSRs in that 
area/AS. 
 
An intra-area/AS LSP segment can only be used for stitching if 
appropriate label actions were carried out at the egress LSR of the LSP 
segment. In order to indicate this to the head-end LSR for the LSP 
segment, the following new flag bit is defined in the RRO sub-object: 
 
0x20: LSP segment stitching ready 
 
If an egress LSR receiving a Path message, supports the LSP_ATTRIBUTES 
object and the Attributes Flags TLV, and also recognizes the ??LSP 
stitching desired?? flag bit, but cannot support the requested stitching 
behavior, then it MUST send back a PathErr message with an error code 
of "Routing Problem" and an error sub-code=16 "Stitching unsupported" 
to the head-end LSR of the intra-area/AS LSP segment. 
 
If an egress LSR receiving a Path message with the ??LSP stitching 
desired?? flag set, recognizes the object, the TLV and the flag and also 
supports the desired stitching behavior, then it MUST allocate a non-
NULL label for that LSP segment in the corresponding Resv message. Now, 
so that the head-end LSR can ensure that the correct label actions will 
be carried out by the egress LSR and that the LSP segment can be used 
for stitching, the egress LSR MUST set the ??LSP segment stitching 
ready?? bit defined in the RRO sub-object. Also, when the egress LSR for 
the LSP segment receives a Path message for an inter-area/AS LSP using 
this LSP segment, it SHOULD first check if it is also the egress for 
 
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the inter-area/AS TE LSP. If the egress LSR is the egress for both the 
intra-area/AS LSP segment as well as the inter-area/AS TE LSP, and it 
requires Penultimate Hop Popping (PHP), then the LSR MUST send back a 
Resv refresh for the intra-area/AS LSP segment with a new label 
corresponding to the NULL label. The egress LSR SHOULD always allocate 
a NULL label in the Resv message for the inter-area/AS TE LSP. 
 
Finally, if the egress LSR for the intra-area/AS LSP segment supports 
the LSP_ATTRIBUTES object but does not recognize the Attributes Flags 
TLV, or supports the TLV as well but does not recognize this particular 
flag bit, then it SHOULD simply ignore the above request. 
 
An ingress LSR requesting stitching SHOULD examine the RRO sub-object 
flag corresponding to the egress LSR for the intra-area/AS LSP segment, 
to make sure that stitching actions were carried out at the egress LSR. 
It MUST NOT use the LSP segment for stitching if the ??LSP segment 
stitching ready?? flag is cleared. 
 
An ingress LSR stitching an inter-area/AS LSP to an LSP segment MUST 
ignore any Label received in the Resv for the inter-area/AS LSP. 
 
Example: In case of inter-AS TE LSP setup from CE1 to CE2 as described 
in the example, let us assume that ASBR4 is doing one-to-one LSP 
stitching. When ASBR4 receives the inter-AS TE LSP Path message, it 
will first initiate the setup of an intra-AS LSP segment to ASBR7, if 
not already present. In the Path message for this LSP segment, ASBR4 
will set the "LSP stitching desired" flag in the Attributes Flags TLV 
of the LSP_ATTRIBUTES object. When ASBR7 receives this Path message, it 
will allocate a non-NULL label (real label for swap action) in the Resv 
message for this LSP segment. Also, it will set the "LSP segment 
stitching ready" flag in the RRO subobject in the Resv message. Once 
the LSP segment is signaled successfully, ASBR4 will then forward the 
Path message for the inter-AS TE LSP to ASBR7, which propagates it 
further. Eventually as the Resv message for the inter-AS TE LSP 
traverses back from ASBR9 to ASBR7 and reaches ASBR7, ASBR7 will 
remember to swap the LSP segment label with the label received for the 
inter-AS LSP from ASBR9. Also, ASBR7 will itself allocate a NULL label 
in the Resv message for the inter-AS TE LSP and sends the Resv message 
to ASBR4. ASBR4 ignores the Label object in the Resv message received 
from ASBR7 for the inter-AS TE LSP and remembers to swap the label that 
it allocates in the inter-AS Resv message sent to ASBR1 with the label 
that it had received from say, LSR R4 for the intra-AS LSP segment. In 
this manner, the inter-AS TE LSP is stitched to an intra-area/AS LSP 
segment in AS2. In this example, if the LSP destination for the inter-
AS LSP had been ASBR7, if this is a packet-switched LSP and if ASBR7 
requires PHP, then on receiving the Path message for the inter-AS LSP, 
ASBR7 will re-send a Resv message for the intra-area/AS LSP segment to 
say R4, by changing the Label to a NULL label. 
 
6.      Scenario 2: end to end shortest path computation 
 
 
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6.1.    Introduction and definition of an optimal path 
 
Qualifying a path as optimal requires clarification. Indeed, a globally 
optimal TE LSP placement usually refers to a set of TE LSP whose 
placements optimize the network resources (i.e a placement that reduces 
the maximum or average network load for instance). By contrast, a 
optimal path for a TE LSP, is the shortest path that obeys the set of 
required constraints (bandwidth, affinities,?), minimizing either the 
IGP or TE metric cost (See [SECOND-METRIC] and [MULTIPLE-METRICS]). In 
this document, an optimal inter-AS TE path is defined as the optimal 
path that would be obtained in the absence of AS/Areas, in a totally 
flat network between the source and destination of the TE LSP. 
 
6.2.    Notion of PCE (Path Computation Element) 
 
An LSR is said to be a PCE (Path Computation Element) when it has the 
ability to compute an inter-area/AS TE LSP path for a TE LSP it is not 
the head-end of. Ideal candidates to support a PCE function are ABRs in 
the context of inter-area TE (since each ABR has the view of two of 
more areas in its TED) and ASBR in the context of inter-AS TE. Note 
that in this document an LSR supporting the function of PCE is simply 
referred to as a PCE. As in the case of intra-area TE, it is not made 
any assumption on the actual path computation algorithm in use by the 
PCE (it can be any variant of CSPF, algorithm based on linear-
programming to solve multi-constraints optimization problems,?). 
 
6.3.    Dynamic PCE discovery 
 
PCE(s) can either be statically configured on each LSR requesting an 
inter-area/AS TE LSP path computation or dynamically discovered by 
means of IGP extensions defined in [OSPF-CAP], [OSPF-TE-CAP], [ISIS-
CAP] and [ISIS-TE-CAP]. This allows an Operator to elect a subset of 
ABRs/ASBRs to act as PCEs. 
 
Note that if the AS is made of multiple areas/levels, [OSPF-CAP] and 
[ISIS-CAP] support the capabilities announcements across the entire 
routing domain (making use of TLV leaking procedure for IS-IS and OSPF 
opaque LSA type 11 for OSPF). 
 
6.4.    PCE selection 
 
It belongs to an LSR informed of the existence of multiple PCEs having 
the capability to serve an inter-area/AS TE LSP path computation 
request to select the preferred PCE. For instance, an LSR may select 
the closest PCE based on the IGP metric or may just randomly select one 
of the PCE. In case of multiple PCEs, the selected PCE should be such 
that the requests are balanced across multiple PCEs. An LSR MUST be 
able to select another PCE if its preferred PCE does not answer to its 
request. Note that the PCE may or not be along the TE LSP Path. This 
implies that the PCE is just responsible for the TE LSP path 
computation, not for its maintenance. Moreover, the PCE may compute 
 
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draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
just a path segment, not the whole path end to end; in this case, the 
returned computed path will contain loose hops. 
 
6.5.    LSR-PCE signaling protocol 
 
Any LSR can send an RSVP path computation request to a PCE that will in 
turn compute a set of TE LSP(s) path and return the corresponding path 
parameters via an RSVP path computation reply message. The format of 
the RSVP path computation requests and reply messages are defined in 
[PATH-COMP] as well as the set of optional objects characterizing the 
constraints: 
 
REQUEST-ID object: must be present in any RSVP Path computation request 
and reply message and specifies the request-ID-number, several requests 
characteristics.  
 
METRIC-TYPE object: allows the PCC to indicate to the PCE the metric to 
be used to compute the shortest path (currently two metrics are 
defined: the IGP or TE metric). 
                 
PATH-COST object: object inserted in the RSVP path computation reply 
message to indicate the cost of a computed TE LSP in addition to the 
path. This object is mandatory if the cost has been explicitly 
requested in the RSVP path computation request and optional in any 
other case. 
 
The protocol state machine is also defined in [PATH-COMP]. 
 
6.6.    Computation of an optimal end to end TE LSP path 
 
This section details the set of mechanisms allowing to compute an 
optimal (shortest) inter-area/AS TE LSP path obeying a set of specified 
constraints.  
 
Each step of the mechanism is illustrated with the example of an inter-
AS TE LSP obeying a set of specified constraints: the shortest path of 
an inter-AS TE LSP T1 originated at R0 in AS1 and terminated at R6 in 
AS3 is computed). The case of inter-area TE LSP optimal path 
computation is very similar. 
 
1) Step 1: discovery by the head-end LSR of a PCE capable of serving 
its path computation request. The PCE will either be an ABR (inter-area 
TE) or an ASBR (Inter-AS TE). In the case of inter-AS TE, the PCE must 
be able to serve the source AS and can compute inter-AS TE LSP path 
terminating in the destination ASn. As mentioned above, the PCE can 
either be statically configured or dynamically discovered via IGP 
extensions. If multiple PCEs are discovered, the head-end LSR selects 
one PCE based on some local policies/heuristics. 
 
Ex: R1 selects ASBR1 as the PCE serving its request for the T1 path 
computation. 
 
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draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
 
2) Step 2: an RSVP Path computation request is sent to the selected 
PCE.  
 
Case of inter-area TE: the head-end LSR sends its path computation 
requests to the selected PCE (ABR). 
 
Case of inter-AS TE: the RSVP path computation request can be sent 
either (1) to a PCE in the same AS which will in turn relay the request 
to a PCE of the next hop AS (Ex: R0 sends an RSVP path computation 
request to ASBR1 which relays the request to say ASBR4) or (2) to the 
PCE in the next hop AS if the head-end LSR has a complete topology and 
TE view up to the next hop PCE (Ex: R0 sends an RSVP path computation 
request to ASBR4). It is expected that (1) will be the most common 
inter-AS TE deployment scenario for some security issues. 
 
Note that it may be desirable to set up some policies on the PCE to 
limit the access to specific LSRs. Moreover, the usual RSVP 
authentication process may be used when sending a request to a PCE. 
 
Step i: the PCE of ASi relays the path computation request to the 
selected PCE peer in AS(i+1) located in the next hop AS. Note that the 
address of the list of PCE(es) in the next hop AS must be statically 
configured on the PCE. This implies some static configuration on the 
PCE only. 
 
Ex: ASBR1 sends an RSVP path computation request to ASBR4 
 
If the TE LSP destination is in ASi, then the PCE provides the list of 
shortest paths (with their corresponding ERO (potentially partial ERO) 
+ Path-cost) from every ASBR to the inter-AS TE LSP destination. See a 
detailed example below. 
 
If the TE LSP destination is not in ASi, the PCE relays the RSVP path 
computation request to the targeted PCE peer in AS(i+2) in the next hop 
AS. 
 
The process is iterated until the destination AS is reached. 
 
Ex: ASBR4 relays the RSVP path computation request to ASBR9 which 
determines that the T1?s destination address belongs to its AS. ASBR9 
will in turn return a path computation reply to the requesting PCE, e.g 
ASBR4. The RSVP path computation reply contains two paths (provided 
that two paths obeying the set of constraints exist): 
        - ERO 1: ASBR9-R6, Cost=c1, 
        - ERO 2: ASBR10-R7-R6, Cost=c2 
Note that the ERO object might be made of loose hop to preserve 
confidentiality. 
 
Step 3: once a requesting PCEi receives an RSVP Path computation reply, 
the shortest path is computed from ASi to ASi+1 by route concatenation. 
 
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draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
This is done by running a virtual SPT (Shortest Path Tree) computation 
using CSPF where the nodes are the ABSRs connected by virtual link 
whose costs are equal to the shortest path connecting the ASBRs. 
 
               <---BGP--->            <---BGP--> 
CE1---R0---X1-ASBR1-----ASBR4--
                             -
                             -
                              -R3---ASBR7---
                                          -
                                          -
                                           --ASBR9---R6  
      |\     \ |       / |   / |   / |          |     | 
      | \     ASBR2---/ ASBR5  | --  |          |     |   
      |  \     |         |     |/    |          |     | 
      R1-R2--
           -
           -
            --ASBR3--
                   -
                   -
                    ----ASBR6--
                             -
                             -
                              -R4---ASBR8--
                                         -
                                         -
                                          ---ASBR10---R7---CE2  
 
Resulting Virtual SPT computed by ASBR 4 
 
ASBR4---ASBR7---ASBR9---R6 
| |  \ /  /| \  / |    / 
| |   \  / |  \/  |   / 
| |  / \/  |  /\  |  / 
| | /  /\  | /  \ | / 
|ASBR5--ASBR8---ASBR10 
| |   / / 
| |  / / 
| | / / 
| |/ / 
ASBR6 
 
Within ASi, the cost of each ASBR-ASBR virtual link is equal to the 
shortest path cost. This information is known by PCEi.  
 
The cost of the ASBR-ASBR link between ASBR of different ASes is also 
known by the PCEi (see section 6.2). 
 
Within ASi+1, the cost of the ASBR-ASBR virtual link is provided in the 
RSVP path computation reply of the PCEi+1. 
 
Ex: ASBR4 will then compute the shortest path for the TE LSP traversing 
AS2 and AS3.  
 
Then the process is reiterated recursively until the optimal end-to-end 
Path computation is completed. The whole path may not be seen by each 
PCE for confidentiality reason but this process will ensure that the 
shortest path is selected.  
 
Example: the resulting computed virtual SPT computed by ASBR1 will 
finally be: 
 
R0-----ASBR1-----ASBR4----R6 
| \     |  |\ \ /  /||   / / 
|  \    |  | \ \  / ||  / / 
|   \   |  |  / \/  || / / 
|    \  |  | / \/\  ||/  |  
|     \-|-ASBR2--
               -
               -
                ASBR5    | 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               23 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
|       |  |\  /\/  ||   | 
|       |  | \/ /\  ||   / 
|       |  | /\/  \ ||  / 
|       |  |/ /\   \|| / 
--------|=ASBR3---
                -
                -
                 ASBR6/ 
 
Then once the optimal end to end path is computed, the head-end LSR 
sets up the inter-AS TE using a complete list of ERO if the various 
PCEs have provided the list of ERO or some loose hops in the contrary. 
 
An implementation MAY decide to support local caching of path 
computation in order to optimize the path computation process. The flip 
side of path caching is the potential increase of call set up failure. 
When caching is in use, it must be flushed upon TE LSP failure provided 
that the PCE is along the inter-area/AS TE LSP path. 
 
As opposed to scenario 1, an end-to-end shortest path obeying the set 
of required constraint is computed. In that sense, the path is optimal. 
 
Some other variants of such an algorithm relying on the same principles 
are also possible. 
 
Note also that in case of ECMP paths, more than one path could be 
returned to the requesting LSR. 
 
6.7.    Path optimality 
 
In the case of inter-area TE, it is a common usage to adopt the same 
policy for the IGP/TE metric (based on the link-speed, propagation 
delay or some other combination of constraints). Hence, the proposed 
set of mechanism always computes the shortest path across multiple 
areas obeying the required set of constraints. In the case of Inter-AS 
TE, in order for this path computation to be meaningful, a metric 
normalization between ASes is required. One solution to avoid IGP 
metric modification would be for the SPs to agree on a TE metric 
normalization and use the TE metric for TE LSP path computation (in 
that case, this must be requested in the RSVP Path computation request 
via the METRIC-COST object defined in [PATH-COMP]). 
 
6.8.    Diverse end to end path computation 
 
The RSVP signaling protocol defined in [PATH-COMP] allows an LSR to 
request the computation of a set of N diversely routed TE LSPs. Then in 
this scenario, a set of diversely routed TE LSP between two LSRs can be 
computed since both paths are simultaneously computed with a minimal 
required amount of steps.  
 
7.      Mode of operation of MPLS Traffic Engineering Fast Reroute for 
inter-area/AS TE LSPs 
 

 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               24 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
MPLS Traffic Engineering Fast Reroute ([FAST-REROUTE]) defines local 
protection schemes that provide fast recovery (in 10s of msecs) of 
protected TE LSPs upon link/SRLG/Node failure. A backup TE LSP path is 
either statically configured or dynamically computed and then the 
backup TE LSP is signaled at each hop. Upon detecting a network element 
failure (via link failure detection mechanisms provided via layer 2 
protocol, or IGP/BFD/RSVP fast hellos), the node immediately upstream 
to the failure (called the PLR (Point of Local Repair)) reroutes the 
set of protected TE LSPs onto the appropriate backup tunnel(s) around 
the failed resource. In the context of inter-area/AS TE, one must 
consider various failure scenarios and analyze for each of them the 
potential required extensions for MPLS TE FRR. [FAST-REROUTE] specifies 
two modes referred to as the one to one mode and facility backup mode. 
While this section specifies the use of MPLS TE Fast Reroute for the 
facility backup mode, similar procedures also apply for the one-to-one 
backup mode. 
 
The failure scenarios specific to inter-area/AS TE are the following: 
        - Failure of an ABR or an ASBR node 
        - Failure of an inter-ASBRs link 
 
Because the cases of a contiguous LSP significantly differ from the one 
of a stitched/nested TE LSP, they will be treated separately. 
 
The current set of mechanisms defined in [FAST-REROUTE] applies without 
any restriction to any link/SRLG/Node failure within an area or an AS. 
In other words, a protected inter-area/AS TE LSP (an LSP signaled with 
the "local protection desired" bit set in the SESSION-ATTRIBUTE object 
or with a FAST-REROUTE object) can be protected via the MPLS TE Fast 
Reroute mechanism regardless of whether the TE LSP is an intra-area/AS 
or inter-AS TE LSP in case of link/SRLG/node failure within the AS. 
This is true for contiguous, nested and stitched inter-area/AS TE LSP.  
 
However, MPLS TE Fast Reroute is a temporary local protection 
mechanism. Upon a link/SRLG/node failure, the PLR triggers Fast Reroute 
and for each rerouted TE LSP, the PLR MUST send a notification of the 
local repair by sending an RSVP Path Error message with error code of 
"Notify"(Error code =25) and an error value field of ss00 cccc cccc 
cccc where ss=00 and the sub-code = 3 ("Tunnel locally repaired") (see 
[RSVP-TE]). The receipt of such a Notify Path Error is used by the 
head-end LSR to trigger a reoptimization such that the TE LSP follows a 
more optimal path.  
 
Case of a contiguous inter-area/AS TE LSP 
        - The case of a contiguous inter-area/AS TE LSP is identical to 
        an intra-area TE LSP.  
 
Case of a stitched/nested TE LSP 
         
        The failure notification (RSVP Path Error/Notify message 
        "Tunnel Locally Repaired") for the FA-LSP/LSP segment SHOULD be 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               25 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
        sent to the respective ingress LSR for that intra-area/AS FA-
        LSP/LSP segment in that area. The ingress LSR for the FA-
        LSP/LSP segment will then try to re-route the FA-LSP/LSP 
        segment around the failure, and the inter-area/AS LSPs using 
        the FA-LSP/LSP segment will start taking the new path in that 
        area/AS. However, in case the head-end LSR in that area/AS is 
        unable to find a path around the failure to re-route the intra-
        area FA-LSP/LSP segment, then a failure and repair notification 
        stated above (PathErr) for all the affected inter-area/AS TE 
        LSPs MAY be propagated to the upstream area/AS towards the 
        head-end LSR for the inter-area/AS TE LSP. This could be a 
        local policy decision.  Other area/AS boundary LSRs along the 
        way could intercept the error message to do some kind of 
        crankback if crankback is allowed for the inter-area/AS TE LSP. 
        This two-phase approach tries to handle the failure first 
        locally within an area/AS as far as possible by intercepting 
        the error notification at the area/AS boundary LSR and re-
        routing the intra-area/AS LSP. Only if that fails, do we 
        propagate the error notification further upstream. 
 
        Alternatively, instead of intercepting the error notifications 
        and following the above two-phase approach, one may choose to 
        always send back error notifications back to the head-end LSR 
        for the inter-area/AS TE LSP in the originating area/AS. This 
        could be a local policy decision. In any case, the TE LSP 
        SHOULD be re-routed around the failure using the "make-before-
        break" approach. 
         
        Example: back to the example of the inter-AS TE LSP setup, let 
        us assume that the FA-LSP/LSP segment traverses R4 in AS2, and 
        is node-protected against the failure of R4. In that case, when 
        R4 or the corresponding link to R4 fails, then the traffic will 
        be locally protected by the corresponding backup path LSP 
        associated with the protected FA-LSP/LSP segment. When the 
        PathErr/Notify message "Tunnel Locally Repaired" reaches ASBR4, 
        it may find a new path for the FA-LSP/LSP segment and signal 
        it. During this time, the FA-LSP/LSP segment along the old path 
        was locally repaired and so traffic will continue to take the 
        backup path around the failure. Once the new path for the FA-
        LSP/LSP segment is successfully signaled the traffic is 
        switched to the new path and the old path is torn down. Note 
        that since the inter-AS traffic is sent along the FA-LSP/LSP 
        segment, that traffic has been protected as well. 
 
Note: in the context of inter-AS TE LSP, if the failure occurs in an 
area/AS different from the head-end LSR, the head-end LSR exclusively 
relies on the Path Error message to get informed that a local repair 
has been performed in order to potentially perform a reoptimization. 
Hence, the RSVP Path Error message SHOULD be sent in reliable mode 
([REFRESH-REDUCTION]). 
 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               26 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
7.1.    Support of MPLS TE Fast Reroute for a contiguous inter-area/AS 
TE LSP 
 
7.1.1.  Failure of a network element within an area/AS 
 
The mode of operation of MPLS TE Fast Reroute to protect a contiguous, 
stitched or nested TE LSP within an area or AS is identical as the 
single area/AS case. 
 
7.1.2.  Failure of an inter-AS link 
 
To protect an inter-ASBR link with MPLS TE Fast Reroute, the following 
actions are required: 
 
- A set of backup tunnels must be configured or dynamically computed 
between the two ASBRs diversely routed from the protected inter-ASBRs 
link. Mechanisms like ??auto-discovery?? of next-hop LSR and ERO loose-
hop expansion with partial CSPF computation to the first reachable LSR 
may also be applicable to the backup path computation. 
 
Notes: 
 
        - Typically, the region connecting two ASes is not TE enabled. 
        So an implementation will have to support the set up of TE LSP 
        over a non-TE enabled region. The backup tunnel path will be 
        configured on each ASBR as a set of strict hops and then 
        signaled via the RSVP-TE procedure defined in RFC3209. 
         
        - The reason why a set of NHOP backup tunnels might be required 
        is in case of requirement for bandwidth protection if a single 
        backup tunnel satisfying the bandwidth requirement cannot be 
        found (see [BANDWIDTH-PROTECTION]). 
 
        - For each protected inter-AS TE LSP traversing the protected 
        link, a NHOP backup must be selected by a PLR (i.e ASBR), when 
        the TE LSP is first set up. This requires for the PLR to select 
        a backup tunnel terminating at the NHOP. Finding the NHOP 
        backup tunnel of an inter-AS LSP can be achieved by analyzing 
        the content of the RRO object received in the RSVP Resv message 
        of both the backup tunnel and the protected TE LSP(s). As 
        defined in [RSVP-TE], the addresses specified in the RRO IPv4 
        subobjects can be node-ids and/or interface addresses (with 
        specific recommendation to use the interface address of the 
        outgoing Path messages). Within a single area, the PLR can 
        easily find whether the backup tunnel intersects the protected 
        TE LSP regardless of whether the node-id or the interfaces are 
        specified in the RRO object since it has the complete topology 
        knowledge in its IGP database. This is not the case when the MP 
        resides in a different AS. [NODEID] proposes a solution to this 
        issue, defining an additional RRO IPv4 suboject that specifies 
        a node-id address. 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               27 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
 
Example: The ASBR1-ASBR4 link is protected by the backup tunnel B1 that 
follows the ASBR1-ASBR2-ASBR4 path. 
 
7.1.3.  Failure of an ABR or an ASBR node 
 
To protect a contiguous inter-area/AS TE LSP from an ABR/ASBR node 
failure using MPLS TE Fast Reroute, the following actions are required: 
 
Case of inter-AS TE: 
 
- A set of backup tunnel(s) must be configured from the penultimate hop 
in AS1 (penultimate node directly connected to the last ASBR in AS1) to 
the first ASBR in AS2 to protect against the failure of the last ASBR 
in AS1. 
 
Ex: B1 from X1 to ASBR4 follows the X1-ASBR2-ASBR4 path and protects 
against the failure of the ASBR1 node. 
 
- A set of backup tunnel(s) must be configured from the last ASBR in 
AS1 to the next hop of the first ASBR in AS2 to protect against the 
failure of the first ASBR in AS2. 
 
Ex: B3 from ASBR1 to R3 follows the ASBR1-ASBR2-ASBR3-ASBR6-ASBR5-R3 
path and protects against the failure of the ASBR4 node. 
 
Case of inter-area TE: 
 
- A set of NHOP backup tunnel(s) must be configured from the ABR?s 
upstream LSR to the ABR?s downstream LSR. 
         
Example: B1 from X1 (upstream neighbor of ABR1 in area 1) to Y1 
(downstream neighbor of ABR1 in area 0). 
 
For each protected inter-AS TE LSP traversing the protected link/node, 
a NNHOP backup must be selected by a PLR (i.e LSR/ASBR). This requires 
for the PLR to select a backup tunnel terminating at the NNHOP. 
 
Finding the NNHOP backup tunnel of an inter-AS LSP can be achieved by 
analyzing the content of the RRO object received in the RSVP Resv 
message of both the backup tunnel and the protected TE LSP(s) (see 
[NODE-ID]). 
 
7.1.4.  Procedure during MPLS TE Fast Reroute 
 
In addition to the rules defined in [FAST-REROUTE], in the context of 
inter-area/AS TE LSP, there is a specific action that must be performed 
when protecting the first ASBR of the next AS via a NNHOP backup tunnel 
(see 5.6.3 (1)).  
 
The ASBR acting as a PLR (Point of Local Repair) MUST: 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               28 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
 
        - Identify the MP address in the RRO received in the 
        corresponding Resv message, 
        - Remove all the sub-objects preceding the first address 
        belonging to the MP, 
        - Replace this first MP address with the IP address of the MP 
        (its node-id address). 
 
Example with inter-AS TE: 
 
                <---BGP--->            <---BGP--> 
 CE1---R0---X1-ASBR1-----ASBR4--R3---ASBR7----ASBR9---R6 
       |\     \ |       / |   / |   / |          |     | 
       | \     ASBR2---/ ASBR5  |  /  |          |     | 
       |  \     |         |     |/    |          |     | 
       R1-R2---ASBR3-----ASBR6--R4---ASBR8----ASBR10---R7---CE2 
 
- T1: a protected inter-AS TE LSP from R0 to R6, whose path is defined 
on R0 as a set of loose hops: R0-ASBR1(loose)-ASBR4(loose)-
ASBR9(loose)-R6 
 
- B3: a backup tunnel from ASBR1 to R3 following the ASBR1-ASBR2-ASBR3-
ASBR6-ASBR5-R3 path and protecting against a failure of the ASBR4 node. 
 
- The ERO subobject content signaled in the rerouted RSVP Path message 
of T1 over B3 by ASBR1 (PLR) must content the MPs as the next hop 
address (R3). Otherwise, R3 will receive an incorrect ERO. 
 
A similar mechanism is required when rerouting an inter-AS TE LSP from 
the failure of the last ASBR of an AS. 
 
- The RRO object may need to be updated by inserting an IPv4 or IPv6 
subobject corresponding to the outbound interface address the rerouted 
traffic is forwarded onto (both the "Local protection in use" and 
"Local Protection Available" flags must be set). 
 
7.2.    Support of MPLS TE Fast Reroute for a stitched/nested TE LSP 
 
7.2.1.  Failure of an inter-AS link 
 
The case of inter-ASBR link protection for stitched/nested TE LSPs is 
identical as with contiguous TE LSPs.  
 
7.2.2.  Failure of an ABR or an ASBR node 
 
The major difference with contiguous inter-area/AS TE LSP is that with 
stitched/nested inter-area/AS TE, the MP for the inter-area/AS LSP MUST 
always be an area/AS boundary LSR (ABR/ASBR). This is because the FA-
LSP/LSP segment is a different LSP (different session) from the inter-
area/AS LSP, so the inter-area/AS LSP backup can only intersect the 
protected LSP path at the area/AS boundary LSRs.  
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               29 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
 
Node protection of an exit ABR/ASBR 
 
Let us consider the inter-AS TE example where the objective is to 
protect the fast re-routable inter-AS TE LSP from a failure of ASBR7 by 
means of MPLS TE Fast Reroute. 
 
Considering the FA-LSP/LSP segment terminating at ASBR7, this is the 
last hop for the FA-LSP/LSP segment, so there can be no node-protection 
for ASBR7 via the FA-LSP/LSP segment. However, as far as the inter-AS 
LSP is concerned, its path is along R0-ASBR1-ASBR4-ASBR7-ASBR9-R7 and 
the FA-LSP/LSP segment between ASBR4 and ASBR7 is a link. So for 
protecting against ASBR7's failure, ASBR4 is the PLR and ASBR4 will 
setup a bypass tunnel to the NNHOP for this LSP, which is ASBR9. Again 
the NNHOP is determined by examining the received RRO for the inter-
area/AS LSP. So one or more bypass tunnels following ASBR4-ASBR8-
ASBR10-ASBR9 must be set up on ASBR4 to protect against node ASBR7's 
failure.  
 
It is worth mentioning that this adds some additional constraints on 
the backup path since the bypass tunnel path needs to be diverse from 
the ASBR4-ASBR7-ASBR9 path instead of just being diverse from the X-
ASBR7-ASBR9 path where X is the upstream neighbor of ASBR7.  
 
The consequences are that the path is likely to be longer and if 
bandwidth protection is desired for instance ([FACILITY-BACKUP] more 
resources may be reserved in AS2 than necessary. 
 
Node protection of an entry ABR/ASBR 
 
Let us now consider the protection of an entry ASBR: for instance 
ASBR4. 
 
Again, in this case, the FA-LSP/LSP segment offers no protection; so 
one or more backups MUST be set up from the previous hop LSR, i.e. 
ASBR1, to the NNHOP with respect to the inter-AS TE LSP, which is in 
this case ASBR7. A bypass tunnel ASBR1-ASBR3-ASBR6-ASBR7 would protect 
against ASBR4's failure. Depending on whether auto-discovery mechanisms 
are available, and whether TE-information for ASBR-ASBR links is 
available, the configuration required on the PLR for the backup could 
be minimal or could require specifying the entire path.  
 
The same constraints as mentioned above apply in this case resulting in 
the same consequences in term of backup tunnel path sub-optimality. 
 
When the FA-LSP/LSP Segment is unnumbered, the Router ID of the 
boundary LSR will be recorded in the RRO object (see [RSVP-UNNUM]). 
However, if the FA-LSP/LSP segment is numbered, then bypass tunnel 
selection to protect an inter-area/AS TE LSP with Fast Reroute 
"facility backup" ([FAST-REROUTE]) against the failure of an ASBR-ASBR 
link or an ASBR node would require the support of [NODE-ID]. 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               30 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
 
7.3.    Failure handling of inter-AS TE LSP 
 
In the context of MPLS Inter-area and inter-AS Traffic Engineering, if 
a link/SRLG/Node failure occurs in an area/AS different from the head-
end LSR, the head-end LSR exclusively relies on the receipt of an RSVP 
Path Error message to get informed that the TE LSP has suffered a 
failure in a downstream AS (a ??Notify?? Path Error ??Notify?? message if 
the inter-AS TE has been locally repaired via MPLS TE Fast Reroute. For 
those reasons, as already mentioned, the Path Error message SHOULD be 
sent in reliable mode ([REFRESH-REDUCTION]). Note that this requires to 
configure the reliable messaging mechanisms proposed in [REFRESH-
REDUCTION] between every pair of LSRs in the network (more precisely 
between every PLR and any potential head-end LSRs). 
 
Upon receiving an RSVP Path Error message, a head-end LSR must perform 
a TE reroute (new route computation) in a make before break fashion.  
 
It is worth highlighting that the set up of inter-AS TE LSP might be 
significantly slower than in the case of intra-area TE LSP: 
 
        - In scenario 1, the process may involve several ASBRs 
        performing policy control, partial route computation (ERO 
        expansions), ? In case of set up failure, the number of trials 
        can be significant, which even more increases the set up time. 
         
        Furthermore, in case of dynamic loose hop computation, both the 
        IGP and BGP reachability solutions have drawbacks in term of 
        convergence upon failure. This is due to the slow convergence 
        property of BGP. With BGP redistribution within ASes, the 
        convergence might be even slower especially when BGP Route 
        Reflectors are in use with no multi-paths load balancing. 
 
        - In scenario 2, some signaling exchange between several PCC 
        and PCEs must be performed prior to setting up the TE LSP. Note 
        that in scenario 2, the probability of TE LSP set up failure is 
        limited to some lack of synchronization of the TE databases and 
        as such is significantly lower than in the case of scenario 1. 
 
Moreover, in case of a large amount of inter-AS TE LSP set up, some non 
negligible extra signaling and routing computation load will be 
required on the loose hops (scenario 1) and loose hops/PCE (scenario 
2). Some implementation may implement some pacing of inter-AS TE LSP 
set up rate. Typically a link/node/SRLG failure may impact a large 
number of TE LSPs. Relying on a local repair mechanism like MPLS TE 
Fast Reroute allows to relax the load on ASBR/PCE and reduces the need 
for urgent inter-AS TE LSP reroute. This is the recommended approach. 
 
8.      Reoptimization of an inter-area/AS TE LSP 
 

 
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draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
The ability to reoptimize an existing inter-area/AS TE LSP path is of 
course a requirement. The reoptimization process significantly differs 
based upon the nature of the TE LSP and the mechanism in use for the TE 
LSP path computation. 
 
If the head-end LSR uses a dynamic and distributed path computation 
technique such as the PCE-based path computation (described in section 
6), then the head-end LSR can leverage this to send re-optimization 
requests to the PCE to obtain an optimal end-to-end path. On the other 
hand, in the absence of such a mechanism, the following mechanisms can 
be used for re-optimization, which are dependent on the nature of the 
inter-area/AS TE LSP. 
 
8.1.    Contiguous TE LSPs 
 
8.1.1.  Per-area/AS path computation (scenario 1) 
 
After an inter-AS TE LSP has been set up, a more optimal route might 
appear in the various traversed ASes. Then in this case, it is 
desirable to get the ability to reroute an inter-AS TE LSP in a non-
disruptive fashion (making use of the so called Make Before Break 
procedure) to follow this more optimal path. This is a known as a TE 
LSP reoptimization procedure.  
 
[LOOSE-REOPT] proposes a mechanisms allowing: 
 
        - The head-end LSR to trigger on every LSR whose next hop is a 
        loose hop the re evaluation of the current path in order to 
        detect a potentially more optimal path. This is done via 
        explicit signaling request: the head-end LSR sets the ??ERO 
        Expansion request?? bit of the SESSION-ATTRIBUTE object carried 
        in the RSVP Path message. 
         
        - An LSR whose next hop is a loose-hop to signal to the head-
        end LSR that a better path exists. This is performed by sending 
        an RSVP Path Error Notify message (ERROR-CODE = 25), sub-code 6 
        (Better path exists). 
         
        This indication may be sent either: 
 
                - In response to a query sent by the head-end LSR, 
                - Spontaneously by any LSR having detected a more 
                optimal path  
 
Such a mechanism allows to reoptimize a TE LSP if and only if a better 
path is some downstream area/AS is detected. 
 
The reoptimization event can either be timer or event-driven based (a 
link UP event for instance). 
 

 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               32 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
Note that the reoptimization MUST always be performed in a non-
disruptive fashion. 
 
Once the head-end LSR is informed of the existence of a more optimal 
path either in its head-end area/AS or in another AS, the inter-AS TE 
Path computation is triggered using the same set of mechanisms as when 
the TE LSP is first set up (per-AS path computation as in scenario 1 or 
involving some PCE(s) in scenario 2). Then the inter-AS TE LSP is set 
up following the more optimal path, making use of the make before break 
procedure. In case of a contiguous LSP, the reoptimization process is 
strictly controlled by the head-end LSR which triggers the make-before-
break procedure, regardless of the location where the more optimal path 
is. 
 
8.1.2.  End to end shortest path computation (scenario 2) 
 
[PATH-COMP] provides the ability to request a path reoptimization. In 
order to avoid double bandwidth accounting which could result in 
falsely triggered call set up failure the requesting LSR just provides 
the current path of the inter-area/AS TE LSP path to be reoptimized. 
 
8.2.    Stitched or nested (non-contiguous) TE LSPs 
 
In the case of a stitched or nested inter-areas/AS TE LSP, re-
optimization is treated as a local matter to any Area/AS. The main 
reason is that the inter-area/AS TE LSP is a different LSP (and 
therefore different RSVP session) from the intra-area/AS LSP segment or 
FA-LSP in an area or an AS. Therefore, reoptimization in an area/AS is 
done by locally reoptimizing the intra-area/AS LSP segments.  Since the 
inter-area/AS TE LSPs are transported using LSP segments or FA-LSP 
across an area/AS, optimality of the inter-area/AS LSP in an area/AS is 
dependent on the optimality of the corresponding LSP segments or FA-
LSPs. If, after an inter-area/AS LSP is setup, a more optimal path is 
available within an area/AS, the corresponding LSP segment(s) or FA-LSP 
will be re-optimized using "make-before-break" techniques discussed in 
[RSVP-TE]. Reoptimization of the LSP segment automatically reoptimizes 
the inter-area/AS LSPs that the LSP segment transports. Reoptimization 
parameters like frequency of reoptimization, criteria for 
reoptimization like metric or bandwidth availability; etc can vary from 
one area/AS to another and can be configured as required, per intra-
area/AS TE LSP segment or FA-LSP if it is preconfigured or based on 
some global policy within the area/AS. 
 
So, in this scheme, since each area/AS takes care of reoptimizing its 
own LSP segments or FA-LSPs, and therefore the corresponding inter-
area/AS TE LSPs, the make-before-break can happen locally and is not 
triggered by the head-end LSR for the inter-area/AS LSP. So, no 
additional RSVP signaling is required for LSP re-optimization and 
reoptimization is transparent to the HE LSR of the inter-area/AS TE 
LSP. 
 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               33 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
If, however, an operator desires to manually trigger reoptimization at 
the head-end LSR for the inter-area/AS LSP, then this solution does not 
prevent that. A manual trigger for reoptimization at the head-end LSR 
SHOULD force a reoptimization thereby signaling a "new" path for the 
same LSP (along the optimal path) making use of the make-before-break 
procedure. In response to this new setup request, the boundary LSR may 
either initiate new LSP segment setup, in case the inter-area/AS TE LSP 
is being stitched to the intra-area/AS LSP segment or it may select an 
existing FA-LSP in case of nesting. When the LSP setup along the 
current optimal path is complete, the head end should switchover the 
traffic onto that path and the old path is eventually torn down. Note 
that the head-end LSR does not know a priori whether a more optimal 
path exists. Such a manual trigger from the head-end LSR of the inter-
area/AS TE LSP is, however, not considered to be a frequent occurrence. 
 
Note that because stitching or nesting rely on local optimization, the 
reoptimization process allows to locally reoptimize each TE LSP segment 
or FA-LSP: hence, the reoptimization is not global and cannot guarantee 
that the optimal path end to end is found. 
 
9.      Routing traffic onto inter-area/AS TE LSPs 
 
Once an inter-area/AS TE LSP has been set up, the head-end LSR has to 
determine the set of traffic to be routed onto the TE LSP.  
 
In the case of intra-area/AS TE LSP, various options are available: 
 
        (1) modify the IGP SPF such that shortest path calculation can 
        be performed taking into account existing TE LSP, with some 
        path preference, 
         
        (2) make use of static routing. Note that the recursive route 
        resolution of BGP allows routing any traffic to a particular 
        (MP)BGP peer making use of a unique static route pointing the 
        BGP peer address to the TE LSP. So any routes advertised by the 
        BGP peer (IPv4/VPNv4 routes) will be reached using the TE LSP. 
         
With an inter-area/AS TE LSP, just the mode (2) is available, as the TE 
LSP head-end does not have any topology information related to the 
destination area/AS. 
 
10.     Evaluation criteria and applicability 
 
The aim of this section is to evaluate each proposed set of mechanisms 
described above with respects to the set of requirements listed in 
[INTER-AS-TE-REQS] and [INTER-AREA-TE-REQS]. 
 
10.1.   Path optimality 
 
Inter-area/AS TE LSP path optimality is one of the major differences 
between the various path computation techniques. In scenario 1, the 
 
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draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
path is computed on a per-area/AS basis (making use of mechanisms like 
auto-discovery based on IGP/BGP information) cannot guarantee to 
compute an optimal (shortest) path across multiple areas/ASes. The 
resulting TE LSP path is the first path obeying the required set of 
constraints. This gets particularly true as TE LSP gets rerouted due 
the network element failures. On the other hand, a path computation 
mechanism like PCE (described in section 6) relies on a distributed 
path computation algorithm involving multiple ABR/ASBRs acting as PCEs 
(Path Computation Elements) which guarantees to compute the shortest 
path end to end. Hence the PCE-based path computation method fully 
complies with the requirements states in [INTER-AS-TE-REQS] to be able 
to compute a shortest path end to end. 
 
10.2.   Reoptimization 
 
In the absence of a distributed path computation method like the PCE-
based, both the contiguous LSP and non-contiguous TE LSP 
(stitching/nesting) solution allows for reoptimization but they 
significantly differ in term of reoptimization process. A stitched or 
nested TE LSP is reoptimized on a per-area/AS basis. Each ABR/ASBR 
which is also the head-end LSR of an LSP segment or FA-LSP is 
responsible for the local reoptimization of that LSP segment or FA-LSP 
in the corresponding area/AS: in other words, the reoptimization 
process is contained within an area/AS. The reoptimization criteria and 
frequency is individually controlled by each head-end LSR (ABR/ASBR) of 
the LSP segment/FA-LSP independently of other segments and is 
transparent to the inter-area/AS TE LSP head-end LSR. The head-end LSR 
of the inter-area/AS TE LSP could still enforce a reoptimization but 
without knowing in advance whether a more optimal path actually exist 
in some downstream area/AS. Note also that each reoptimization is 
performed in a non-disruptive fashion (Make before break procedure). XX 
Indeed, each reoptimization implies some jitter and potentially some 
packet reordering usually undesirable for sensitive traffic. The use of 
contiguous inter-area/AS TE LSP used in conjunction with [LOOSE-PATH-
REOPT] allows the head-end LSR to exert a strict control on the 
reoptimization process and perform a reoptimization if and only if a 
better path exists in some downstream area/AS. It relies on both a 
polling mechanism upon which an inter-area/AS TE LSP head-end LSR can 
poll the downstream nodes involved in partial path computation to learn 
whether a better (shorter) path exists. In addition, a downstream node 
can explicitly notify the head-end LSR of the existence of a better 
path (such a notification can be governed by local policy: timer-based, 
event-driven, ?). In any case, the decision is led to the head-end LSR 
to perform an end to end reoptimization: it is expected that the head-
end LSR will make use of some dampening mechanism to control the 
reoptimization frequency based on the inter-area/AS attributes. Note 
that the inter-area/AS TE LSP is reoptimized in every area/AS and may 
follow an identical path in some area(s)/AS(es). 
 
In scenario 2, when a distributed path computation mechanism like PCE 
is used by the head-end LSR, an inter-area/AS TE LSP reoptimization is 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               35 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
similar to a path computation with the exception that the path of the 
inter-area/AS TE LSP is provided to the PCE to avoid any double 
bandwidth accounting. The reoptimization procedure is entirely 
controlled by the head-end LSR of the inter-area/AS TE LSP: this 
includes the path computation request frequency, decision to trigger an 
actual reoptimization (for example, the Head-end LSR may decide the 
perform a reoptimization if and only if the new more optimal path meets 
some specific requirements like a gain of x% in term of path cost 
compared to the TE LSP in place). 
 
10.3.   Support of MPLS Traffic Engineering Fast Reroute 
 
As stated in [INTER-AS-TE-REQS] and [INTER-AREA-TE-REQS], the support 
of MPLS Traffic Engineering Fast Reroute is a strong requirement for 
inter-area/AS TE LSP and MUST cover the case of an inter-area/AS 
link/SRLG/Node failure, an inter-ASBRs link failure and an ABR/ASBR 
node failure. 
 
The various solutions proposed in this document are equivalent in term 
of recovery time but significantly differ in term of backup tunnel path 
optimality. In the case of a fast reroutable contiguous TE LSP, the 
backup tunnel computed to protect against an ABR/ASBR node failure 
starts on the node immediately upstream to the ABR/ASBR and terminates 
on the node immediately downstream to the ABR/ASBR. By contrast, the 
computed backup tunnel to protect an inter-area/AS TE LSP making use of 
the stitching/nesting method MUST start and terminate on a boundary LSR 
(ABR/ASBR).  
 
Hence, in the case of inter-AS TE for example, in order to protect 
against the failure of an exit ASBR, the backup tunnel must start on 
the entry upstream ASBR in the AS and terminate on the entry ASBR in 
the next-hop AS. In order the protect against the failure of entry 
ASBR, the backup tunnel starts on the node immediately upstream to the 
ASBR (exit ASBR on the upstream AS) and terminates on an exit ASBR in 
the AS (on the tail-end LSR of the FA-LSP/segment).  
 
Such an additional constraint has the consequences for the backup 
tunnel path to be potentially sub-optimal compared to the backup tunnel 
path for a contiguous inter-area/AS TE LSP, hence implying more jitter 
during Fast Reroute. Moreover, this potentially reduces the capability 
to provide bandwidth protection and perform some efficient bandwidth 
sharing between backup tunnels protecting independent resources. 
Finally, this may increase the number of TE LSPs per mid-point LSR. 
 
10.4.   Support of diversely routed paths 
 
There are several circumstances where the ability to set up a set of 
diversely routed TE LSP paths between two LSRs might be desirable: 
 
(1) Load balancing 
 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               36 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
When a single TE LSP path satisfying the required constraints cannot be 
found between two LSRs, an alternative may consist in setting up N TE 
LSP such that the sum of their bandwidth is equal to the total required 
bandwidth. In addition, having diverse paths allows to limit the 
traffic disruption in case of network element failure between the two 
nodes to the set of affected TE LSPs. 
 
(2) Path Protection 
 
In some networks, Path protection is used to protect TE LSP from 
link/SRLG/node failure. This requires setting up, for each TE LSP, a 
set of diversely routed TE LSPs. In case of failure along the primary 
TE LSP path, the node directly attached to the failed resources signals 
to the head-end LSR that the TE LSP has failed, sending an RSVP Path 
Error. The head-end LSR can also detect that the TE LSP has suffered a 
failure when receiving an IGP update reflecting the failed resource. 
Note that the head-end LSR cannot rely on the IGP topology database to 
detect the failure if the failure does not occur in the Head-End 
area/AS in the case of inter-area/AS TE. Once the head-end LSR learns 
the failure, the traffic is switched onto the pre-established backup TE 
LSP. Note that a set of TE LSP can potentially share a single backup TE 
LSP (1:N protection). 
 
Scenario 1: per-AS path computation 
 
In the case of scenario 1, the set up of N diversely routed TE LSP 
paths can be done using the following scenario: 
 
- Set up the first TE LSP among the set of N TE LSPs and include an 
RSVP RRO object in the RSVP Resv message to record the Path, 
 
- For i=2 to N 
        Set up the TE LSPi, excluding the elements traversed by the 
        already set up TE LSP1, ?, TE LSP i-1. The exclusion of a set 
        of resources from a TE LSP path can be performed on the head-
        end LSR by CSPF and in other ASes by the loose hops along the 
        path, each of them performing the computation of a part of the 
        TE LSP. This requires from the head-end to pass the ??exclude?? 
        constraints (see [EXCLUDE-ROUTE]). 
 
Important note: such an algorithm does not guarantee that diverse paths 
can be found for the successive TE LSPs since the TE LSP path are not 
simultaneously computed, even if a possible solution exists. Also this 
simple algorithm does not allow finding two paths such that the sum of 
their cost is minimal. In case of an inter-area/AS path setup, it is 
important to note that CSPF computation may be distributed over 
different LSRs and also the path represented by the RRO, need not 
represent physical links, they could be other FA-LSPs/LSP segments. 
 
Scenario 2: end to end shortest path computation: since both the 
primary and secondary TE LSP paths are simultaneously computed by the 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               37 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
distributed PCEs, it is possible to compute N diversely routed TE LSPs 
if such paths exist, with possibly and/or if necessary different 
constraints for both the primary and secondary inter-area TE LSPs. 
[PATH-COMP] proposes some RSVP extensions to signal such a requirement. 
 
10.5.   Diffserv-aware MPLS TE 
 
There are no restrictions as far as Diffserv-aware MPLS TE is concerned 
introduced by the mechanisms proposed in the document. 
 
10.6.   Hierarchical LSP support 
 
The non-contiguous TE LSP signaling for both nested TE LSPs is based on 
LSP Hierarchy signaling. Furthermore, the nesting of multiple inter-
area/AS TE LSPs into an intra-area/AS FA LSP provides the Hierarchical 
LSP support in both control and forwarding planes. 
 
10.7.   Policy Control at the AS boundaries 
     
Policy control essentially applies to TE LSPs spanning multiple ASes 
where each AS belongs to a different Operator. As stated in [INTER-AS-
TE-REQS], a set of configurable options may be made available upon 
which ingress control policies can be implemented governing or honoring 
inter-AS TE agreements made by two interconnect SPs. During the path 
computation process, the inter-AS RSVP path message sent to its 
downstream loose hop (ASBR also) in a different AS can be firstly 
passed through an inter-AS TE policy control process on the downstream 
ASBR prior to its ERO expansion. The inter-AS RSVP path setup request 
will get rejected resulting in an path-error message which will be sent 
to the head-end LSR should it fail the control policy: for example, 
requesting bandwidth reservation more than agreed upon or wrong 
preemption priorities. Another approach consists in performing some 
constraint mapping. In the case of a contiguous TE LSPs, the local 
policy can dictate some constraints rewrite in order to make a TE LSP 
compliant with the agreements between the SPs. In the case of LSP 
stitching or nesting, the operation is eased by the fact that a 
different LSP segment or FA-LSP is established within the AS; 
consequently, other constraints can be applied to this intra-area/AS 
LSP segment or FA-LSP like different affinities, preemption,etc. 
 
10.8.   Inter-AS MPLS TE Management 
 
[LSPPING] proposes a solution which can be adopted for inter-AS TE LSPs 
whereby a head-end LSR sends MPLS echo requests over the LSP being 
tested. When the destination LSR receives the message, it needs to 
acknowledge the source LSR by sending an LSP_ECHO object in a RSVP Resv 
message. 
 
The TTL processing over inter-area/AS TE primary or local backup LSPs 
will be supported as per [MPLS-TTL]. 
 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               38 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
10.9.   Confidentiality 
 
Confidentiality issues essentially apply to the case of a TE LSP 
spanning multiple ASes, where each AS belongs to a different Operator. 
That being said, this can also apply to other scenarios where 
confidentially must be preserved outside of some specific domain. As 
mentioned in [INTER-AS-REQS], the solution should allow preserving AS 
confidentiality, by hiding the set of hops followed by the inter-AS TE 
LSP within an AS. 
 
In scenario 1, as far as TE LSP signaling using RSVP is concerned, this 
requirement can be met via some proper RRO filtering at the AS 
boundaries (this applies to the RRO object carried in both the Path and 
Resv message). Note that, if MPLS TE Fast Reroute is required to 
protect inter-AS TE LSP against the failure of an ASBR, the RRO object 
carried in the Resv message of an inter-AS TE LSP must not be 
completely filtered, as mentioned in section 8. As least, the 
information (label, IPv4 or IPv6 subobject (node-id subobject)) 
pertaining to the next-hop ASBRs must be preserved. 
 
In scenario 2, the RSVP Path computation reply can be filtered to 
provide a partial ERO (an ERO containing loose hops). If the agreement 
between SPs at AS boundary is such that confidentiality must be 
guaranteed, just a partial EROs be returned PCEs. 
 
For the sake of illustration, [PATH-COMP] proposes some signaling 
extensions whereby the requesting LSR in ASx sends a Path computation 
request to the PCE in AS y, with the "Partial" flag of the REQUEST-ID 
object set. The PCE controls that this flag is appropriately set; if 
not, the PCE might decide either to provide a partial ERO or to drop 
the request. 
 
Note that even when the returned ERO is partial, the PCE should provide 
the cost of the computed path.  
 
Again for illustration, [PATH-COMP] proposes that the path computation 
reply includes a PATH-COST object in the RSVP Path computation reply 
message. If the agreement between SPs at AS boundaries is such that 
path cost might be provided, then the requesting LSR in ASx might send 
a Path computation request to the PCE in ASy, with the "cost" flag of 
the REQUEST-ID object set. The PCE controls that this flag is 
appropriately set; if set, the PCE MUST include a PATH-COST object in 
its RSVP Path Computation reply message. This is required to compute 
end to end shortest path. 
 
 
11.     Scalability and extensibility 
 
All the features related to intra-area TE LSP are also applicable to 
inter-AS TE LSP, without any restriction. 
 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               39 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
 
12.     Security Considerations 
 
When signaling an inter-AS TE, an Operator may make use of the already 
defined security features related to RSVP (authentication). This may 
require some coordination between SPs to share the keys (see RFC 2747 
and RFC 3097). 
 
 
13.     Intellectual Property Considerations 
 
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any 
intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to pertain 
to the implementation or use of the technology described in this 
document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or 
might not be available; neither does it represent that it has made any 
effort to identify any such rights. Information on the IETF's 
procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and standards-
related documentation can be found in BCP-11. Copies of claims of 
rights made available for publication and any assurances of licenses to 
be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general 
license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by 
implementors or users of this specification can be obtained from the 
IETF Secretariat. 
 
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any 
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights 
which may cover technology that may be required to practice this 
standard. Please address the information to the IETF Executive 
Director. 
 
 
14.     Acknowledgments 
 
We would like to acknowledge input and helpful comments from Adrian 
Farrel. 
 
 
Normative References 
 
[RSVP] Braden, et al, " Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) -
                                                             - Version 
1, Functional Specification??, RFC 2205, September 1997. 
 
[RSVP-TE] Awduche, et al, "Extensions to RSVP for LSP Tunnels", RFC 
3209, December 2001. 
 
[REFRESH-REDUCTION] Berger et al, ??RSVP Refresh Overhead Reduction 
Extensions??, RFC2961, April 2001. 
 


 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               40 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
[FAST-REROUTE] Ping Pan, et al, "Fast Reroute Extensions to RSVP-TE for 
LSP Tunnels", draft-ietf-mpls-rsvp-lsp-fastreroute-03.txt, December 
2003. 
 
[OSPF-TE] Katz, D., Yeung, D., Kompella, K., "Traffic Engineering 
Extensions to OSPF Version 2", draft-katz-yeung-ospf-traffic-
09.txt(work in progress). 
 
[ISIS-TE] Li, T., Smit, H., "IS-IS extensions for Traffic Engineering", 
draft-ietf-isis-traffic-04.txt (work in progress) 
 
Informative references 
 
[BANDWIDTH-PROTECTION] Vasseur et all, ??MPLS Traffic Engineering Fast 
reroute: bypass tunnel path computation for bandwidth protection »,  
draft-vasseur-mpls-backup-computation-01.txt, October 2002, Work in 
progress. 
 
[SECOND-METRIC] Le faucheur, ??Use of IGP Metric as a second TE Metric??, 
Internet draft, draft-lefaucheur-te-metric-igp-02.txt. 
 
[MULTIPLE-METRICS] Fedyk D., Ghanwani A., Ash J., Vedrenne A. ??Multiple 
Metrics for Traffic Engineering with IS-IS and OSPF??, Internet draft,  
draft-fedyk-isis-ospf-te-metrics-01.txt 
 
[PATH-COMP] Vasseur et al, ??RSVP Path computation request and reply 
messages??,  draft-vasseur-mpls-computation-rsvp-04.txt, work in 
progress. 
 
[RSVP-CONSTRAINTS] Kompella, K., "Carrying Constraints in RSVP", 
work in progress. 
 
[OSPF-TE-CAP] Vasseur et al."OSPF TE TLV capabilities", draft-ccamp-
mpls-ospf-te-cap-00.txt, work in Progress. 
 
[OSPF-CAP] Lindem et all ?? Extensions to OSPF for Advertising Optional 
Router Capabilities??, draft-ietf-ospf-cap-01.txt, work in progress. 
 
[ISIS-CAP] Aggarwal et all, ??Extensions to IS-IS for Advertising 
Optional Router Capabilities??, work in progress 
 
[ISIS-CAPA] Vasseur et al, « IS-IS extensions for advertising optional 
router capabilities », draft-vasseur-isis-cap-00.txt, work in progress. 
 
[ISIS-TE-CAP] Vasseur et al, ??IS-IS TE TLV capabilities??, draft-vasseur-
ccamp-isis-te-cap-00.txt, work in progress. 
 
[LSP-ATTRIBUTE] Farrel A. et al, "Encoding of Attributes for 
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Label Switched Path (LSP) 
Establishment Using RSVP-TE", (work in progress). 
 
 
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draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
[GMPLS-OVERLAY] G. Swallow et al, "GMPLS RSVP Support for the Overlay 
Model", (work in progress). 
 
[EXCLUDE-ROUTE] Lee et
                    all
                     ,
                       Exclude Routes - Extension to RSVP-TE, draft-
ietf-ccamp-rsvp-te-exclude-route-00.txt, work in progress. 
     
[INTER-AREA-TE] Kompella et all,??Multi-area MPLS Traffic Engineering??,           
draft-kompella-mpls-multiarea-te-04.txt, work in progress. 
 
[LSPPING] Kompella, K., Pan, P., Sheth, N., Cooper, D.,Swallow, G., 
Wadhwa, S., Bonica, R., " Detecting Data Plane Liveliness in MPLS", 
Internet Draft <draft-ietf-mpls-lsp-ping-02.txt>, October 2002. (Work 
in Progress) 
 
[MPLS-TTL], Agarwal, et al, "Time to Live (TTL) Processing in MPLS   
Networks", RFC 3443 Updates RFC 3032) ", January 2003 
 
[INTER-AS-TE-REQS] Zhang et al, ??MPLS Inter-AS Traffic Engineering 
requirements??, draft-ietf-tewg-interas-mpls-te-req-06.txt, work in 
progress. 
 
[INTER-AREA-TE-REQTS-1] Boyle J., "Requirements for support of Inter- 
Area and Inter-AS MPLS Traffic Engineering", (work in progress). 
 
[INTER-AREA-TE-REQTS-2] Leroux et al, ??Requirements for Inter-area MPLS 
Traffic Engineering??, draft-leroux-tewg-interarea-mpls-te-req-00.txt, 
work in progress. 
 
[LOOSE-PATH-REOPT] Vasseur and Ikejiri, ??Reoptimization of an explicit 
loosely routed MPLS TE paths??, draft-vasseur-ccamp-loose-path-reopt-
00.txt, June 2003, Work in Progress. 
 
[NODE-ID] Vasseur, Ali and Sivabalan, ??Definition of an RRO node-id 
subobject??,  draft-ietf-mpls-nodeid-subobject-02.txt, work in progress. 
 
[LSP-HIER] Kompella K., Rekhter Y., "LSP Hierarchy with Generalized 
MPLS TE", draft-ietf-mpls-lsp-hierarchy-08.txt, March 2002. 
 
[MPLS-TTL], Agarwal, et al, "Time to Live (TTL) Processing in MPLS 
Networks", RFC 3443 (Updates RFC 3032) ", January 2003. 
 
 
Authors' Address: 
 
Jean-Philippe Vasseur 
Cisco Systems, Inc. 
300 Beaver Brook Road 
Boxborough , MA - 01719 
USA 
Email: jpv@cisco.com 
 
 
 Vasseur and Ayyangar                                               42 
 
 

draft-vasseur-ayyangar-ccamp-inter-area-AS-TE-00.txt      February 2004 
 
 
Arthi Ayyangar 
Juniper Networks, Inc 
1194 N.Mathilda Ave 
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 
USA 
e-mail: arthi@juniper.net  
 
 
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