Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                          L. Blunk
Request for Comments: 6396                                      M. Karir
Category: Standards Track                                  Merit Network
ISSN: 2070-1721                                              C. Labovitz
                                                     Deepfield Networks
                                                           October 2011


Multi-Threaded Routing Toolkit (MRT) Routing Information Export Format

Abstract

  This document describes the MRT format for routing information
  export.  This format was developed in concert with the Multi-threaded
  Routing Toolkit (MRT) from whence the format takes it name.  The
  format can be used to export routing protocol messages, state
  changes, and routing information base contents.

Status of This Memo

  This is an Internet Standards Track document.

  This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
  (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
  received public review and has been approved for publication by the
  Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
  Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

  Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
  and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
  http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6396.

Copyright Notice

  Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
  document authors.  All rights reserved.

  This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
  Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
  (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
  publication of this document.  Please review these documents
  carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
  to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
  include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
  the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
  described in the Simplified BSD License.





Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 1]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
  Contributions published or made publicly available before November
  10, 2008.  The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this
  material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow
  modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process.
  Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
  the copyright in such materials, this document may not be modified
  outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may
  not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
  it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
  than English.

Table of Contents

  1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
    1.1.  Specification of Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
  2.  MRT Common Header  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
  3.  Extended Timestamp MRT Header  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
  4.  MRT Types  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
    4.1.  OSPFv2 Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
    4.2.  TABLE_DUMP Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
    4.3.  TABLE_DUMP_V2 Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
      4.3.1.  PEER_INDEX_TABLE Subtype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
      4.3.2.  AFI/SAFI-Specific RIB Subtypes . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
      4.3.3.  RIB_GENERIC Subtype  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
      4.3.4.  RIB Entries  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
    4.4.  BGP4MP Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
      4.4.1.  BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
      4.4.2.  BGP4MP_MESSAGE Subtype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
      4.4.3.  BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4 Subtype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
      4.4.4.  BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE_AS4 Subtype  . . . . . . . . . . . 15
      4.4.5.  BGP4MP_MESSAGE_LOCAL Subtype . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
      4.4.6.  BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4_LOCAL Subtype . . . . . . . . . . . 16
    4.5.  ISIS Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
    4.6.  OSPFv3 Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  5.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
    5.1.  Type Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
    5.2.  Subtype Codes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
    5.3.  Defined Type Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
    5.4.  Defined BGP, BGP4PLUS, and BGP4PLUS_01 Subtype Codes . . . 19
    5.5.  Defined TABLE_DUMP Subtype Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
    5.6.  Defined TABLE_DUMP_V2 Subtype Codes  . . . . . . . . . . . 19
    5.7.  Defined BGP4MP and BGP4MP_ET Subtype Codes . . . . . . . . 20
  6.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
  7.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
    7.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
    7.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21




Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 2]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  Appendix A.  MRT Encoding Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  Appendix B.  Deprecated MRT Types  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
    B.1.  Deprecated MRT Informational Types . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
      B.1.1.  NULL Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
      B.1.2.  START Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
      B.1.3.  DIE Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
      B.1.4.  I_AM_DEAD Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
      B.1.5.  PEER_DOWN Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
    B.2.  Other Deprecated MRT Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
      B.2.1.  BGP Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
      B.2.2.  RIP Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
      B.2.3.  IDRP Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
      B.2.4.  RIPNG Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
      B.2.5.  BGP4PLUS and BGP4PLUS_01 Types . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
      B.2.6.  Deprecated BGP4MP Subtypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
  Appendix C.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

1.  Introduction

  Researchers and engineers often wish to analyze network behavior by
  studying routing protocol transactions and routing information base
  snapshots.  To this end, the MRT record format was developed to
  encapsulate, export, and archive this information in a standardized
  data representation.

  The BGP routing protocol, in particular, has been the subject of
  extensive study and analysis, which have been significantly aided by
  the availability of the MRT format.  Two examples of large-scale MRT-
  based BGP archival projects include the University of Oregon Route
  Views Project and the RIPE NCC Routing Information Service (RIS).

  The MRT format was initially defined in the MRT Programmer's Guide
  [MRT_PROG_GUIDE].  Subsequent extensions were made in the GNU Zebra
  software routing suite and the Sprint Advanced Technology Labs Python
  Routing Toolkit (PyRT).  Further extensions may be introduced at a
  later date through additional definitions of the MRT Type field and
  Subtype fields.

  A number of MRT record types listed in the MRT Programmer's Guide
  [MRT_PROG_GUIDE] are not known to have been implemented and, in some
  cases, were incompletely specified.  Further, several types were
  employed in early MRT implementations, but saw limited use and were
  updated by improved versions.  These types are considered to be
  deprecated and are documented in the Deprecated MRT Types
  (Appendix B) section at the end of this document.  The deprecated
  types consist of codes 0 through 10 inclusive.  Some of the
  deprecated types may be of interest to researchers examining
  historical MRT format archives.



Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 3]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  Fields which contain multi-octet numeric values are encoded in
  network octet order from most significant octet to least significant
  octet.  Fields that contain routing message fields are encoded in the
  same order as they appear in the packet contents.

1.1.  Specification of Requirements

  The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
  "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
  document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

2.  MRT Common Header

  All MRT format records have a Common Header that consists of a
  Timestamp, Type, Subtype, and Length field.  The header is followed
  by a Message field.  The MRT Common Header is illustrated below.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                           Timestamp                           |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |             Type              |            Subtype            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                             Length                            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Message... (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                       Figure 1: MRT Common Header

  Header Field Descriptions:

     Timestamp:

        A 4-octet field whose integer value is the number of seconds,
        excluding leap seconds, elapsed since midnight proleptic
        Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).  This representation of time
        is sometimes called "UNIX time" [POSIX].  This time format
        cannot represent time values prior to January 1, 1970.  The
        latest UTC time value that can be represented by a 4-octet
        integer value is 03:14:07 on January 19, 2038, which is
        represented by the hexadecimal value 7FFFFFFF.  Implementations
        that wish to create MRT records after this date will need to
        provide an alternate EPOCH time base for the Timestamp field.
        Mechanisms for indicating this alternate EPOCH are currently
        outside the scope of this document.




Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 4]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


     Type:

        A 2-octet field that indicates the Type of information
        contained in the Message field.  Types 0 through 4 are
        informational messages pertaining to the state of an MRT
        collector, while Types 5 and higher are used to convey routing
        information.

     Subtype:

        A 2-octet field that is used to further distinguish message
        information within a particular record Type.

     Length:

        A 4-octet message length field.  The Length field contains the
        number of octets within the message.  The Length field does not
        include the length of the MRT Common Header.

     Message:

        A variable-length message.  The contents of this field are
        context dependent upon the Type and Subtype fields.

3.  Extended Timestamp MRT Header

  Several MRT format record types support a variant type with an
  extended timestamp field.  The purpose of this field is to support
  measurements at sub-second resolutions.  This field, Microsecond
  Timestamp, contains an unsigned 32BIT offset value in microseconds,
  which is added to the Timestamp field value.  The Timestamp field
  remains as defined in the MRT Common Header.  The Microsecond
  Timestamp immediately follows the Length field in the MRT Common
  Header and precedes all other fields in the message.  The Microsecond
  Timestamp is included in the computation of the Length field value.
  The Extended Timestamp MRT Header is illustrated below.















Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 5]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                           Timestamp                           |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |             Type              |            Subtype            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                             Length                            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Microsecond Timestamp                    |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Message... (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                 Figure 2: Extended Timestamp MRT Header

4.  MRT Types

  The following MRT Types are currently defined for the MRT format.
  The MRT Types that contain the "_ET" suffix in their names identify
  those types that use an Extended Timestamp MRT Header.  The Subtype
  and Message fields in these types remain as defined for the MRT Types
  of the same name without the "_ET" suffix.

      11   OSPFv2
      12   TABLE_DUMP
      13   TABLE_DUMP_V2
      16   BGP4MP
      17   BGP4MP_ET
      32   ISIS
      33   ISIS_ET
      48   OSPFv3
      49   OSPFv3_ET

4.1.  OSPFv2 Type

  This type supports the OSPFv2 protocol as defined in RFC 2328
  [RFC2328].  It is used to encode the exchange of OSPF protocol
  packets.












Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 6]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  The format of the MRT Message field for the OSPFv2 Type is as
  follows:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        Remote IP Address                      |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Local IP Address                      |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                  OSPF Message Contents (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                          Figure 3: OSPFv2 Type

  The Remote IP Address field contains the Source IPv4 [RFC0791]
  address from the IP header of the OSPF message.  The Local IP Address
  contains the Destination IPv4 address from the IP header.  The OSPF
  Message Contents field contains the complete contents of the OSPF
  packet following the IP header.

4.2.  TABLE_DUMP Type

  The TABLE_DUMP Type is used to encode the contents of a BGP Routing
  Information Base (RIB).  Each RIB entry is encoded in a distinct
  sequential MRT record.  It is RECOMMENDED that new MRT encoding
  implementations use the TABLE_DUMP_V2 Type (see below) instead of the
  TABLE_DUMP Type due to limitations in this type.  However, due to the
  significant volume of historical data encoded with this type, MRT
  decoding applications MAY wish to support this type.

  The Subtype field is used to encode whether the RIB entry contains
  IPv4 or IPv6 [RFC2460] addresses.  There are two possible values for
  the Subtype as shown below.

      1    AFI_IPv4
      2    AFI_IPv6














Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 7]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  The format of the TABLE_DUMP Type is illustrated below.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         View Number           |       Sequence Number         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        Prefix (variable)                      |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      | Prefix Length |    Status     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Originated Time                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    Peer IP Address (variable)                 |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |           Peer AS             |       Attribute Length        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                   BGP Attribute... (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                        Figure 4: TABLE_DUMP Type

  The View Number field is normally 0 and is intended for cases where
  an implementation may have multiple RIB views (such as a route
  server).  In cases where multiple RIB views are present, an
  implementation MAY use the View Number field to distinguish entries
  from each view.  The Sequence Number field is a simple incremental
  counter for each RIB entry.  A typical RIB dump will exceed the
  16-bit bounds of this counter, and an implementation SHOULD simply
  wrap back to zero and continue incrementing the counter in such
  cases.

  The Prefix field contains the IP address of a particular RIB entry.
  The size of this field is dependent on the value of the Subtype for
  this record.  The AFI_IPv4 Subtype value specifies an Address Family
  Identifier (AFI) type of IPv4 [IANA-AF].  It specifies a Prefix field
  length of 4 octets.  For AFI_IPv6, it is 16 octets in length.  The
  Prefix Length field indicates the length in bits of the prefix mask
  for the preceding Prefix field.

  The Status octet is unused in the TABLE_DUMP Type and SHOULD be set
  to 1.

  The Originated Time contains the 4-octet time at which this prefix
  was heard.  The value represents the time in seconds since 1 January
  1970 00:00:00 UTC.





Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 8]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  The Peer IP Address field is the IP address of the peer that provided
  the update for this RIB entry.  As with the Prefix field, the size of
  this field is dependent on the Subtype.  AFI_IPv4 indicates a 4-octet
  field and an IPv4 address, while a Subtype of AFI_IPv6 requires a
  16-octet field and an IPv6 address.  The Peer AS field contains the
  2-octet Autonomous System (AS) number of the peer.

  The TABLE_DUMP Type does not permit 4-byte Peer AS numbers, nor does
  it allow the AFI of the peer IP to differ from the AFI of the Prefix
  field.  The TABLE_DUMP_V2 Type MUST be used in these situations.

  Attribute Length contains the length of the Attribute field and is 2
  octets.  The BGP Attribute field contains the BGP attribute
  information for the RIB entry.  The AS_PATH attribute MUST only
  consist of 2-byte AS numbers.  The TABLE_DUMP_V2 supports 4-byte AS
  numbers in the AS_PATH attribute.

4.3.  TABLE_DUMP_V2 Type

  The TABLE_DUMP_V2 Type updates the TABLE_DUMP Type to include 4-byte
  Autonomous System Number (ASN) support and full support for BGP
  multiprotocol extensions.  It also improves upon the space efficiency
  of the TABLE_DUMP Type by employing an index table for peers and
  permitting a single MRT record per Network Layer Reachability
  Information (NLRI) entry.  The following subtypes are used with the
  TABLE_DUMP_V2 Type.

      1    PEER_INDEX_TABLE
      2    RIB_IPV4_UNICAST
      3    RIB_IPV4_MULTICAST
      4    RIB_IPV6_UNICAST
      5    RIB_IPV6_MULTICAST
      6    RIB_GENERIC

4.3.1.  PEER_INDEX_TABLE Subtype

  An initial PEER_INDEX_TABLE MRT record provides the BGP ID of the
  collector, an OPTIONAL view name, and a list of indexed peers.
  Following the PEER_INDEX_TABLE MRT record, a series of MRT records is
  used to encode RIB table entries.  This series of MRT records uses
  subtypes 2-6 and is separate from the PEER_INDEX_TABLE MRT record
  itself and includes full MRT record headers.  The RIB entry MRT
  records MUST immediately follow the PEER_INDEX_TABLE MRT record.

  The header of the PEER_INDEX_TABLE Subtype is shown below.  The View
  Name is OPTIONAL and, if not present, the View Name Length MUST be
  set to 0.  The View Name encoding MUST follow the UTF-8
  transformation format [RFC3629].



Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                    [Page 9]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Collector BGP ID                         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |       View Name Length        |     View Name (variable)      |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |          Peer Count           |    Peer Entries (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 5: PEER_INDEX_TABLE Subtype

  The format of the Peer Entries is shown below.  The PEER_INDEX_TABLE
  record contains Peer Count number of Peer Entries.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   Peer Type   |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Peer BGP ID                           |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                   Peer IP Address (variable)                  |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        Peer AS (variable)                     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                         Figure 6: Peer Entries

  The Peer Type, Peer BGP ID, Peer IP Address, and Peer AS fields are
  repeated as indicated by the Peer Count field.  The position of the
  peer in the PEER_INDEX_TABLE is used as an index in the subsequent
  TABLE_DUMP_V2 MRT records.  The index number begins with 0.

  The Peer Type field is a bit field that encodes the type of the AS
  and IP address as identified by the A and I bits, respectively,
  below.

      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     | | | | | | |A|I|
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

     Bit 6: Peer AS number size:  0 = 16 bits, 1 = 32 bits
     Bit 7: Peer IP Address family:  0 = IPv4,  1 = IPv6

                        Figure 7: Peer Type Field




Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 10]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  The MRT records that follow the PEER_INDEX_TABLE MRT record consist
  of the subtypes listed below and contain the actual RIB table
  entries.  They include a header that specifies a sequence number, an
  NLRI field, and a count of the number of RIB entries contained within
  the record.

4.3.2.  AFI/SAFI-Specific RIB Subtypes

  The AFI/SAFI-specific RIB Subtypes consist of the RIB_IPV4_UNICAST,
  RIB_IPV4_MULTICAST, RIB_IPV6_UNICAST, and RIB_IPV6_MULTICAST
  Subtypes.  These specific RIB table entries are given their own MRT
  TABLE_DUMP_V2 subtypes as they are the most common type of RIB table
  instances, and providing specific MRT subtypes for them permits more
  compact encodings.  These subtypes permit a single MRT record to
  encode multiple RIB table entries for a single prefix.  The Prefix
  Length and Prefix fields are encoded in the same manner as the BGP
  NLRI encoding for IPv4 and IPv6 prefixes.  Namely, the Prefix field
  contains address prefixes followed by enough trailing bits to make
  the end of the field fall on an octet boundary.  The value of
  trailing bits is irrelevant.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Sequence Number                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      | Prefix Length |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        Prefix (variable)                      |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         Entry Count           |  RIB Entries (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                       Figure 8: RIB Entry Header

4.3.3.  RIB_GENERIC Subtype

  The RIB_GENERIC header is shown below.  It is used to cover RIB
  entries that do not fall under the common case entries defined above.
  It consists of an AFI, Subsequent AFI (SAFI), and a single NLRI
  entry.  The NLRI information is specific to the AFI and SAFI values.
  An implementation that does not recognize particular AFI and SAFI
  values SHOULD discard the remainder of the MRT record.








Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 11]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Sequence Number                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    Address Family Identifier  |Subsequent AFI |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |     Network Layer Reachability Information (variable)         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         Entry Count           |  RIB Entries (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 9: RIB_GENERIC Entry Header

4.3.4.  RIB Entries

  The RIB Entries are repeated Entry Count times.  These entries share
  a common format as shown below.  They include a Peer Index from the
  PEER_INDEX_TABLE MRT record, an originated time for the RIB Entry,
  and the BGP path attribute length and attributes.  All AS numbers in
  the AS_PATH attribute MUST be encoded as 4-byte AS numbers.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         Peer Index            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Originated Time                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |      Attribute Length         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    BGP Attributes... (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                         Figure 10: RIB Entries

  There is one exception to the encoding of BGP attributes for the BGP
  MP_REACH_NLRI attribute (BGP Type Code 14) [RFC4760].  Since the AFI,
  SAFI, and NLRI information is already encoded in the RIB Entry Header
  or RIB_GENERIC Entry Header, only the Next Hop Address Length and
  Next Hop Address fields are included.  The Reserved field is omitted.
  The attribute length is also adjusted to reflect only the length of
  the Next Hop Address Length and Next Hop Address fields.








Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 12]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


4.4.  BGP4MP Type

  This type was initially defined in the Zebra software package for the
  BGP protocol with multiprotocol extension support as defined by RFC
  4760 [RFC4760].  The BGP4MP Type has six Subtypes, which are defined
  as follows:

      0    BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE
      1    BGP4MP_MESSAGE
      4    BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4
      5    BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE_AS4
      6    BGP4MP_MESSAGE_LOCAL
      7    BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4_LOCAL

4.4.1.  BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype

  This message is used to encode state changes in the BGP finite state
  machine (FSM).  The BGP FSM states are encoded in the Old State and
  New State fields to indicate the previous and current state.  In some
  cases, the Peer AS Number may be undefined.  In such cases, the value
  of this field MAY be set to zero.  The format is illustrated below:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         Peer AS Number        |        Local AS Number        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        Interface Index        |        Address Family         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Peer IP Address (variable)               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Local IP Address (variable)              |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |            Old State          |          New State            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                 Figure 11: BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype

  The FSM states are defined in RFC 4271 [RFC4271], Section 8.2.2.
  Both the Old State value and the New State value are encoded as
  2-octet numbers.  The state values are defined numerically as
  follows:









Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 13]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


      1    Idle
      2    Connect
      3    Active
      4    OpenSent
      5    OpenConfirm
      6    Established

  The BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE message also includes Interface Index and
  Address Family fields.  The Interface Index provides the interface
  number of the peering session.  The index value is OPTIONAL and MAY
  be zero if unknown or unsupported.  The Address Family indicates what
  types of addresses are in the address fields.  At present, the
  following AFI Types are supported:

      1    AFI_IPv4
      2    AFI_IPv6

4.4.2.  BGP4MP_MESSAGE Subtype

  This subtype is used to encode BGP messages.  It can be used to
  encode any Type of BGP message.  The entire BGP message is
  encapsulated in the BGP Message field, including the 16-octet marker,
  the 2-octet length, and the 1-octet type fields.  The BGP4MP_MESSAGE
  Subtype does not support 4-byte AS numbers.  The AS_PATH contained in
  these messages MUST only consist of 2-byte AS numbers.  The
  BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4 Subtype updates the BGP4MP_MESSAGE Subtype in
  order to support 4-byte AS numbers.  The BGP4MP_MESSAGE fields are
  shown below:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         Peer AS Number        |        Local AS Number        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        Interface Index        |        Address Family         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Peer IP Address (variable)               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Local IP Address (variable)              |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    BGP Message... (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                    Figure 12: BGP4MP_MESSAGE Subtype







Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 14]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  The Interface Index provides the interface number of the peering
  session.  The index value is OPTIONAL and MAY be zero if unknown or
  unsupported.  The Address Family indicates what types of addresses
  are in the subsequent address fields.  At present, the following AFI
  Types are supported:

      1    AFI_IPv4
      2    AFI_IPv6

  The Address Family value only applies to the IP addresses contained
  in the MRT header.  The BGP4MP_MESSAGE Subtype is otherwise
  transparent to the contents of the actual message that may contain
  any valid AFI/SAFI values.  Only one BGP message SHALL be encoded in
  the BGP4MP_MESSAGE Subtype.

4.4.3.  BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4 Subtype

  This subtype updates the BGP4MP_MESSAGE Subtype to support 4-byte AS
  numbers.  The BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4 Subtype is otherwise identical to
  the BGP4MP_MESSAGE Subtype.  The AS_PATH in these messages MUST only
  consist of 4-byte AS numbers.  The BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4 fields are
  shown below:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Peer AS Number                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Local AS Number                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        Interface Index        |        Address Family         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Peer IP Address (variable)               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Local IP Address (variable)              |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    BGP Message... (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                  Figure 13: BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4 Subtype

4.4.4.  BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE_AS4 Subtype

  This subtype updates the BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype to support
  4-byte AS numbers.  As with the BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype, the BGP
  FSM states are encoded in the Old State and New State fields to
  indicate the previous and current state.  Aside from the extension of
  the Peer and Local AS Number fields to 4 bytes, this subtype is



Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 15]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  otherwise identical to the BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype.  The
  BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE_AS4 fields are shown below:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Peer AS Number                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Local AS Number                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        Interface Index        |        Address Family         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Peer IP Address (variable)               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Local IP Address (variable)              |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |            Old State          |          New State            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

               Figure 14: BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE_AS4 Subtype

4.4.5.  BGP4MP_MESSAGE_LOCAL Subtype

  Implementations of MRT have largely focused on collecting remotely
  generated BGP messages in a passive route collector role.  However,
  for active BGP implementations, it can be useful to archive locally
  generated BGP messages in addition to remote messages.  This subtype
  is added to indicate a locally generated BGP message.  The fields
  remain identical to the BGP4MP_MESSAGE type including the Peer and
  Local IP and AS fields.  The Local fields continue to refer to the
  local IP and AS number of the collector that generated the BGP
  message, and the Peer IP and AS fields refer to the recipient of the
  generated BGP messages.

4.4.6.  BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4_LOCAL Subtype

  As with the BGP4MP_MESSAGE_LOCAL type, this type indicates locally
  generated messages.  The fields are identical to the
  BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4 message type.

4.5.  ISIS Type

  This type supports the IS-IS routing protocol as defined in RFC 1195
  [RFC1195].  There is no Type-specific header for the ISIS Type.  The
  Subtype code for this type is undefined.  The ISIS PDU directly
  follows the MRT Common Header fields.





Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 16]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


4.6.  OSPFv3 Type

  The OSPFv3 Type extends the original OSPFv2 Type to support IPv6
  addresses for the OSPFv3 protocol as defined in RFC 5340 [RFC5340].
  The format of the MRT Message field for the OSPFv3 Type is as
  follows:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        Address Family         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                     Remote IP Address (variable)              |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Local IP Address (variable)              |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                  OSPF Message Contents (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                         Figure 15: OSPFv3 Type

5.  IANA Considerations

  This section provides guidance to the Internet Assigned Numbers
  Authority (IANA) regarding registration of values related to the MRT
  specification, in accordance with BCP 26, RFC 5226 [RFC5226].

  There are two name spaces in MRT that have been registered: Type
  Codes and Subtype Codes.  Type Codes and Subtype Codes are each 16
  bits in length.

  MRT is not intended as a general-purpose specification for protocol
  information export, and allocations should not be made for purposes
  unrelated to routing protocol information export.

  The following policies are used here with the meanings defined in BCP
  26: "Specification Required", "IETF Consensus", "Experimental Use",
  "First Come First Served".  Assignments consist of a name and the
  value.

5.1.  Type Codes

  Type Codes have a range from 0 to 65535, of which 0-64 are reserved.
  New Type Codes MUST be allocated starting at 65.  Type Codes 65-511
  are assigned by IETF Review.  Type Codes 512-2047 are assigned based
  on Specification Required.  Type Codes 2048-64511 are available on a





Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 17]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  First Come First Served policy.  Type Codes 64512 - 65534 are
  available for Experimental Use.  The Type Code Value 65535 is
  reserved.

5.2.  Subtype Codes

  Subtype Codes have a range from 0 to 65535.  Subtype definitions are
  specific to a particular Type Code definition.  New Subtype Code
  definitions must reference an existing Type Code to which the Subtype
  belongs.  Subtype assignments follow the assignment rules for the
  Type Codes to which they belong.

5.3.  Defined Type Codes

  This document defines the following message Type Codes:

           Name             Value       Definition
           ----             -----       ----------
           NULL             0           See Appendix B.1.1
           START            1           See Appendix B.1.2
           DIE              2           See Appendix B.1.3
           I_AM_DEAD        3           See Appendix B.1.4
           PEER_DOWN        4           See Appendix B.1.5
           BGP              5           See Appendix B.2.1
           RIP              6           See Appendix B.2.2
           IDRP             7           See Appendix B.2.3
           RIPNG            8           See Appendix B.2.4
           BGP4PLUS         9           See Appendix B.2.5
           BGP4PLUS_01      10          See Appendix B.2.5
           OSPFv2           11          See Section 4.1
           TABLE_DUMP       12          See Section 4.2
           TABLE_DUMP_V2    13          See Section 4.3
           BGP4MP           16          See Section 4.4
           BGP4MP_ET        17          See Section 4.4
           ISIS             32          See Section 4.5
           ISIS_ET          33          See Section 4.5
           OSPFv3           48          See Section 4.6
           OSPFv3_ET        49          See Section 4.6













Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 18]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


5.4.  Defined BGP, BGP4PLUS, and BGP4PLUS_01 Subtype Codes

  This document defines the following message Subtype Codes for the
  BGP, BGP4PLUS, and BGP4PLUS_01 Types:

           Name               Value       Definition
           ----               -----       ----------
           BGP_NULL           0           See Appendix B.2.1
           BGP_UPDATE         1           See Appendix B.2.1
           BGP_PREF_UPDATE    2           See Appendix B.2.1
           BGP_STATE_CHANGE   3           See Appendix B.2.1
           BGP_SYNC           4           See Appendix B.2.1
           BGP_OPEN           5           See Appendix B.2.1
           BGP_NOTIFY         6           See Appendix B.2.1
           BGP_KEEPALIVE      7           See Appendix B.2.1

5.5.  Defined TABLE_DUMP Subtype Codes

  This document defines the following message Subtype Codes for the
  TABLE_DUMP Type:

           Name                Value       Definition
           ----                -----       ----------
           AFI_IPv4            1           See Section 4.2
           AFI_IPv6            2           See Section 4.2

5.6.  Defined TABLE_DUMP_V2 Subtype Codes

  This document defines the following message Subtype Codes for the
  TABLE_DUMP_V2 Type:

           Name                Value       Definition
           ----                -----       ----------
           PEER_INDEX_TABLE    1           See Section 4.3
           RIB_IPV4_UNICAST    2           See Section 4.3
           RIB_IPV4_MULTICAST  3           See Section 4.3
           RIB_IPV6_UNICAST    4           See Section 4.3
           RIB_IPV6_MULTICAST  5           See Section 4.3
           RIB_GENERIC         6           See Section 4.3












Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 19]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


5.7.  Defined BGP4MP and BGP4MP_ET Subtype Codes

  This document defines the following message Subtype Codes for the
  BGP4MP Type:

           Name                     Value       Definition
           ----                     -----       ----------
           BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE      0           See Section 4.4
           BGP4MP_MESSAGE           1           See Section 4.4
           BGP4MP_ENTRY             2           See Section 4.4
           BGP4MP_SNAPSHOT          3           See Section 4.4
           BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4       4           See Section 4.4
           BGP4MP_STATE_CHANGE_AS4  5           See Section 4.4
           BGP4MP_MESSAGE_LOCAL     6           See Section 4.4
           BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4_LOCAL 7           See Section 4.4

6.  Security Considerations

  The MRT Format utilizes a structure that can store routing protocol
  information data.  The fields defined in the MRT specification are of
  a descriptive nature and provide information that is useful to
  facilitate the analysis of routing data.  As such, the fields
  currently defined in the MRT specification do not in themselves
  create additional security risks, since the fields are not used to
  induce any particular behavior by the recipient application.

  Some information contained in an MRT data structure might be
  considered sensitive or private.  For example, a BGP peer that sends
  a message to an MRT-enabled router might not expect that message to
  be shared beyond the AS to which it is sent.

  Information that could be considered sensitive includes BGP peer IP
  addresses, BGP Next Hop IP addresses, and BGP Path Attributes.  Such
  information could be useful to mount attacks against the BGP protocol
  and routing infrastructure.  RFC 4272 [RFC4272] examines a number of
  weaknesses in the BGP protocol that could potentially be exploited.

  An organization that intends to use the MRT structure to export
  routing information beyond the domain where it is normally accessible
  (e.g., publishing MRT dumps for use by researchers) should verify
  with any peers whose information might be included, and possibly
  remove sensitive fields.

  The proposed geolocation extension to MRT could reveal the location
  of an MRT router's peers [GEOMRT].






Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 20]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

  [IANA-AF]         IANA, "Address Family Numbers",
                    <http://www.iana.org/numbers.html>.

  [RFC0791]         Postel, J., "Internet Protocol", STD 5, RFC 791,
                    September 1981.

  [RFC1195]         Callon, R., "Use of OSI IS-IS for routing in TCP/IP
                    and dual environments", RFC 1195, December 1990.

  [RFC2119]         Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
                    Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

  [RFC2328]         Moy, J., "OSPF Version 2", STD 54, RFC 2328,
                    April 1998.

  [RFC2460]         Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol,
                    Version 6 (IPv6) Specification", RFC 2460,
                    December 1998.

  [RFC3629]         Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
                    10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003.

  [RFC4271]         Rekhter, Y., Li, T., and S. Hares, "A Border
                    Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271,
                    January 2006.

  [RFC4760]         Bates, T., Chandra, R., Katz, D., and Y. Rekhter,
                    "Multiprotocol Extensions for BGP-4", RFC 4760,
                    January 2007.

  [RFC5226]         Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for
                    Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs",
                    BCP 26, RFC 5226, May 2008.

  [RFC5340]         Coltun, R., Ferguson, D., Moy, J., and A. Lindem,
                    "OSPF for IPv6", RFC 5340, July 2008.

7.2.  Informative References

  [GEOMRT]          Manderson, T., "Multi-Threaded Routing Toolkit
                    (MRT) Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Routing
                    Information Export Format with Geo-Location
                    Extensions", RFC 6397, October 2011.




Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 21]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  [MRT_PROG_GUIDE]  Labovitz, C., "MRT Programmer's Guide",
                    November 1999, <http://www.merit.edu/
                    networkresearch/mrtprogrammer.pdf>.

  [POSIX]           Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
                    "P1003.1, Information Technology Portable Operating
                    System Interface (POSIX) Part 1: System Application
                    Program Interface (API) [C Language], 1990.",
                    IEEE Standard P1003.1.

  [RFC2080]         Malkin, G. and R. Minnear, "RIPng for IPv6",
                    RFC 2080, January 1997.

  [RFC2453]         Malkin, G., "RIP Version 2", STD 56, RFC 2453,
                    November 1998.

  [RFC4272]         Murphy, S., "BGP Security Vulnerabilities
                    Analysis", RFC 4272, January 2006.

































Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 22]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


Appendix A.  MRT Encoding Examples

  This appendix, which is not normative, contains MRT encoding
  examples.

  The following example shows the encoding for an MRT record type of
  BGP4MP and subtype BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4.  The Peer AS and Local AS
  numbers are encoded in 4-byte fields due to the use of the
  BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4 subtype.  The encoded BGP Update is shown in
  hexadecimal.  The AS numbers in the ASPATH in the BGP Update are
  encoded as 4-byte values in accord with the MRT BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4
  subtype.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    Timestamp = 1300475700 epoch sec (2011-03-18 19:15:00)     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |          Type = 16            |         Subtype = 4           |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                           Length = 82                         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Peer AS = 64496                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        Local AS = 64497                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |     Interface Index = 0       |     Address Family  = 1       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                Peer IP Address = 192.0.2.85                   |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |               Local IP Address = 198.51.100.4                 |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |  BGP Update =

               ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
               00 3e 02 00 00 00 1f 40 01 01 02 40 02 0e 02 03
               00 00 fb f0 00 00 fb ff 00 00 fb f6 40 03 04 c6
               33 64 55 c0 08 04 fb f0 00 0e 18 cb 00 71

                Figure 16: MRT BGP4MP_MESSAGE_AS4 Example











Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 23]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  The contents of the BGP Update Message above are as follows:

    ORIGIN: INCOMPLETE
    ASPATH: 64496 64511 64502
    NEXT_HOP: 198.51.100.188
    COMMUNITY: 64496:14
    NLRI: 203.0.113.0/24

                     Figure 17: BGP Message Contents

  The following example displays the encoding for an MRT record type of
  TABLE_DUMP_V2 and subtype PEER_INDEX_TABLE.  The table in this
  example contains 2 entries.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    Timestamp = 1300475700 epoch sec (2011-03-18 19:15:00)     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |          Type = 13            |         Subtype = 1           |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                           Length = 34                         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |               Collector BGP ID = 198.51.100.4                 |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |     View Name Length = 0      |       Peer Count = 2          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |  Peer Type = 2  |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                   Peer BGP ID  = 198.51.100.5                 |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                 Peer IP Address = 198.51.100.5                |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        Peer AS = 65541                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |  Peer Type = 2  |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                   Peer BGP ID  = 192.0.2.33                   |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                 Peer IP Address = 192.0.2.33                  |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        Peer AS = 65542                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                 Figure 18: MRT PEER_INDEX_TABLE Example






Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 24]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  The following example displays the encoding for an MRT record type of
  TABLE_DUMP_V2 and subtype RIB_IPV6_UNICAST.  This entry applies to
  the NLRI prefix of 2001:0DB8::/32.  There is a single entry for this
  prefix.  The entry applies to the peer identified by index location
  15 in a preceding MRT PEER_INDEX_TABLE record.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    Timestamp = 1300475700 epoch sec (2011-03-18 19:15:00)     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |          Type = 13            |         Subtype = 4           |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                           Length = 87                         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Sequence Number = 42                     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      | Preflen = 32  |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                 Prefix  =  2001:0DB8::/32                     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    Entry Count = 1            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    Peer Index =  15           |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |Originated Time = 1300475700 epoch sec (2011-03-18 19:15:00)   |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   Attribute Length  =  68     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   BGP Path Attributes =

             40 01 01 00 50 02 00 0e 02 03 00 00 fb f0 00 00
             fb ff 00 00 fb f6 80 0e 2b 00 02 01 20 20 01 0d
             b8 00 0d 00 ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 87 fe 80 00
             00 00 00 00 00 02 12 f2 ff fe 9f 1b 00 00 00 20
             20 01 0d b8

                 Figure 19: MRT RIB_IPV6_UNICAST Example













Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 25]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  The contents of the BGP Path Attribute field above are as follows:

  ORIGIN: IGP
  ASPATH: 64496 64511 64502
  MP_REACH_NLRI(IPv6 Unicast)
  NEXT_HOP: 2001:db8:d:ff::187
  NEXT_HOP: fe80::212:f2ff:fe9f:1b00
  NLRI: 2001:0DB8::/32

                 Figure 20: BGP Path Attribute Contents

Appendix B.  Deprecated MRT Types

  This appendix lists deprecated MRT types.  These types are documented
  for informational purposes.

B.1.  Deprecated MRT Informational Types

  The initial MRT format defined five Informational Type records.
  These records were intended to signal the state of an MRT data
  collector and do not contain routing information.  These records were
  intended for use when MRT records were sent over a network to a
  remote repository store.  However, MRT record repository stores have
  traditionally resided on the same device as the collector, and these
  Informational Types are not known to be implemented.  Further,
  transport mechanisms for MRT records are considered to be outside the
  scope of this document.

  The Message field MAY contain an OPTIONAL string for diagnostic
  purposes.  The message string encoding MUST follow the UTF-8
  transformation format [RFC3629].  The Subtype field is unused for
  these Types and SHOULD be set to 0.

  The MRT Informational Types are defined below:

      0    NULL
      1    START
      2    DIE
      3    I_AM_DEAD
      4    PEER_DOWN

B.1.1.  NULL Type

  The NULL Type message causes no operation.







Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 26]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


B.1.2.  START Type

  The START Type indicates that a collector is about to begin
  generating MRT records.

B.1.3.  DIE Type

  The DIE Type signals a remote MRT repository that it SHOULD stop
  accepting messages.

B.1.4.  I_AM_DEAD Type

  An I_AM_DEAD MRT record indicates that a collector has shut down and
  has stopped generating MRT records.

B.1.5.  PEER_DOWN Type

  The PEER_DOWN message was intended to indicate that a collector had
  lost association with a BGP peer.  However, the MRT format provides
  BGP state change message types that duplicate this functionality.

B.2.  Other Deprecated MRT Types

      5    BGP
      6    RIP
      7    IDRP
      8    RIPNG
      9    BGP4PLUS
      10   BGP4PLUS_01

B.2.1.  BGP Type

  The BGP Type indicates that the Message field contains BGP routing
  information.  The BGP routing protocol is defined in RFC 4271
  [RFC4271].  The information in the message is dependent on the
  Subtype value.  The BGP Type and all associated Subtypes below are
  considered to be deprecated by the BGP4MP Type.

  The following BGP Subtypes are defined for the MRT BGP Type.  As with
  the BGP Type itself, they are all considered to be deprecated.











Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 27]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


      0    BGP_NULL
      1    BGP_UPDATE
      2    BGP_PREF_UPDATE
      3    BGP_STATE_CHANGE
      4    BGP_SYNC
      5    BGP_OPEN
      6    BGP_NOTIFY
      7    BGP_KEEPALIVE

B.2.1.1.  BGP_NULL Subtype

  The BGP_NULL Subtype is a reserved Subtype.

B.2.1.2.  BGP_UPDATE Subtype

  The BGP_UPDATE Subtype is used to encode BGP UPDATE messages.  The
  format of the MRT Message field for this subtype is as follows:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         Peer AS Number        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Peer IP Address                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        Local AS Number        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        Local IP Address                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    BGP UPDATE Contents (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 21: BGP_UPDATE Subtype

  The BGP UPDATE Contents include the entire BGP UPDATE message, which
  follows the BGP Message Header.  The BGP Message Header itself is not
  included.  The Peer AS Number and IP Address fields contain the AS
  number and IP address of the remote system that is generating the BGP
  UPDATE messages.  The Local AS Number and IP Address fields contain
  the AS number and IP address of the local collector system that is
  archiving the messages.

B.2.1.3.  BGP_PREF_UPDATE Subtype

  The BGP_PREF_UPDATE Subtype is not defined.






Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 28]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


B.2.1.4.  BGP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype

  The BGP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype is used to reflect changes in the BGP
  finite state machine.  These FSM states are defined in RFC 4271
  [RFC4271], Section 8.2.2.  Both the Old State value and the New State
  value are encoded as 2-octet numbers.  The state values are defined
  numerically as follows:

      1    Idle
      2    Connect
      3    Active
      4    OpenSent
      5    OpenConfirm
      6    Established

  The format of the BGP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype MRT Message field is as
  follows:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         Peer AS Number        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        Peer IP Address                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |            Old State          |          New State            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 22: BGP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype

B.2.1.5.  BGP_SYNC Subtype

  The BGP_SYNC Subtype was intended to convey a system file name where
  BGP Table Dump messages MAY be recorded.  The View Number was to
  correspond to the View Number provided in the TABLE_DUMP Type
  records.  There are no known implementations of this subtype, and it
  SHOULD be ignored.  The following format applies to this subtype:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        View Number            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |            File Name... (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                       Figure 23: BGP_SYNC Subtype




Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 29]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


  The File Name is terminated with a NULL (0) character.

B.2.1.6.  BGP_OPEN Subtype

  The BGP_OPEN Subtype is used to encode BGP OPEN messages.  The format
  of the MRT Message field for this subtype is the same as the
  BGP_UPDATE; however, the last field contains the contents of the BGP
  OPEN message.

B.2.1.7.  BGP_NOTIFY Subtype

  The BGP_NOTIFY Subtype is used to encode BGP NOTIFICATION messages.
  The format of the MRT Message field for this subtype is the same as
  the BGP_UPDATE; however, the last field contains the contents of the
  BGP NOTIFICATION message.

B.2.1.8.  BGP_KEEPALIVE Subtype

  The BGP_KEEPALIVE Subtype is used to encode BGP KEEPALIVE messages.
  The format of the MRT Message field for this subtype is the same as
  the BGP_UPDATE; however, the last field contains no information.

B.2.2.  RIP Type

  The RIP Type is used to export RIP packets as defined in RFC 2453
  [RFC2453].  The Subtype field is currently reserved for this type and
  SHOULD be set to 0.

  The format of the MRT Message field for the RIP Type is as follows:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Peer IP Address                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         Local IP Address                      |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    RIP Message Contents (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                           Figure 24: RIP Type

B.2.3.  IDRP Type

  The IDRP Type was intended to be used to export Inter-Domain Routing
  Protocol (IDRP) information as defined in the ISO/IEC 10747 standard.
  However, this type has seen no known use, and there are no details on
  protocol encoding for this type.



Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 30]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


B.2.4.  RIPNG Type

  The RIPNG Type is used to export RIPNG protocol packets as defined in
  RFC 2080 [RFC2080].  The RIPNG protocol updates the RIP protocol to
  support IPv6.  The Subtype field is currently reserved for this type
  and SHOULD be set to 0.

  The format of the MRT Message field for the RIPNG Type is as follows:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                                                               |
      ~                        Peer IPv6 Address                      ~
      |                                                               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                                                               |
      ~                        Local IPv6 Address                     ~
      |                                                               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                  RIPNG Message Contents (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                          Figure 25: RIPNG Type

B.2.5.  BGP4PLUS and BGP4PLUS_01 Types

  The BGP4PLUS and BGP4PLUS_01 Types were defined to support IPv6 BGP
  routing information.  The BGP4PLUS Type was specified based on the
  initial Internet-Draft that became RFC 4760, "Multiprotocol
  Extensions to BGP-4".  The BGP4PLUS_01 Type was specified to
  correspond to the -01 revision of that Internet-Draft.  The two Types
  share the same definitions in terms of their MRT format
  specifications.

  The Subtype field definitions are shared with the BGP Type; however,
  the address fields in the BGP_UPDATE, BGP_OPEN, BGP_NOTIFY,
  BGP_KEEPALIVE, and BGP_STATE_CHANGE Subtype records are extended to
  16 octets for IPv6 addresses.  As with the BGP Type, the BGP4PLUS and
  BGP4PLUS_01 Types are deprecated as they were superseded by the
  BGP4MP Type.










Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 31]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


B.2.6.  Deprecated BGP4MP Subtypes

  The following two subtypes of the BGP4MP Type are considered to be
  deprecated.

      2    BGP4MP_ENTRY
      3    BGP4MP_SNAPSHOT

B.2.6.1.  BGP4MP_ENTRY Subtype

  This subtype is similar to the TABLE_DUMP Type and is used to record
  RIB table entries.  It was intended to include true multiprotocol
  support.  However, this subtype does not support 4-byte AS numbers
  and has not been widely implemented.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         Peer AS Number        |        Local AS Number        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        Interface Index        |        Address Family         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Peer IP Address (variable)               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      Local IP Address (variable)              |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         View Number           |             Status            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        Time Last Change                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        Address Family         |    SAFI       | Next-Hop-Len  |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                     Next Hop Address (variable)               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      | Prefix Length  |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                     Address Prefix (variable)                 |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |       Attribute Length        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    BGP Attribute... (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                     Figure 26: BGP4MP_ENTRY Subtype







Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 32]

RFC 6396                       MRT Format                   October 2011


B.2.6.2.  BGP4MP_SNAPSHOT Subtype

  This subtype was intended to convey a system file name where
  BGP4MP_ENTRY records MAY be recorded.  It is similar to the BGP_SYNC
  Subtype and is deprecated.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        View Number            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |            File Name... (variable)
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 27: BGP4MP_SNAPSHOT Subtype

Appendix C.  Acknowledgements

  The initial MRT specification was developed by Craig Labovitz for use
  in the Multi-thread Routing Toolkit (MRT) project.  The BGP4MP Type
  was introduced in the Zebra routing software project by Kunihiro
  Ishiguro.  The BGP4MP_ET, ISIS, and ISIS_ET Types were defined in the
  Python Routing Toolkit (PyRT) developed by Richard Mortier while at
  Sprint Advanced Technology Labs.

Authors' Addresses

  Larry Blunk
  Merit Network

  EMail: [email protected]


  Manish Karir
  Merit Network

  EMail: [email protected]


  Craig Labovitz
  Deepfield Networks

  EMail: [email protected]








Blunk, et al.                Standards Track                   [Page 33]