[RRG] On the Transitionability of LISP

[Christian Vogt <christian.vogt@nomadiclab.com>]

Folks,

I brought this up at the microphone during the RRG meeting in Chicago,
but would like to elaborate with more details here on the mailing list.

There is a transition problem with any ID/locator split mechanism that
requires mapping functions both locally at an edge network, and remotely
at any correspondent edge network that the former edge network may
exchange traffic with.  One such mechanism is LISP, where the local and
remote mapping functions each take the form of an ITR/ETR pair.

The requirement for support on both sides implies that an "upgraded"
edge network using mapped IDs will no longer be reachable from "legacy"
edge networks that do not yet support the mapping.  This is a
disincentive for edge networks to adopt the ID/locator split mechanism
during an early transition stage.

The only way I see to get around this disincentive is the approach of
Ivip:  Decouple the remote mapping function from potential correspondent
edge networks, move it further into transit space, and use anycast IDs
to reach it.

(The reason one needs anycast IDs is to let multiple alternative
providers perform the same remote mapping for an edge network.  Unicast
IDs would bind the remote mapping to a single provider.  This would
create a dependency of the edge network on that provider, which is
exactly what we want to avoid with multi-homing.)

A side effect of anycast IDs is a change in the Internet business model.
 Edge networks today only need business relationships with providers
they directly connect to.  A transition towards mapped anycast IDs would
require an edge network to additionally subscribe to the remote-mapping
service of multiple providers further inside transit space.

As many as possible remote-mapping subscriptions would be needed per
edge network to limit the increase in packet propagation delays, which
the new, triangular routes via a remote-mapping provider would entail.

Coordination would be required between remote-mapping providers.  The
providers would need to jointly administer a large, aggregatable block
of anycast IDs, and consistently map slices of this to the locators of
subscribing edge networks.

- Christian



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