Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                         A. Lindem
Request for Comments: 6549                                      Ericsson
Updates: 2328                                                     A. Roy
Category: Standards Track                                   S. Mirtorabi
ISSN: 2070-1721                                            Cisco Systems
                                                             March 2012


                   OSPFv2 Multi-Instance Extensions

Abstract

  OSPFv3 includes a mechanism to support multiple instances of the
  protocol running on the same interface.  OSPFv2 can utilize such a
  mechanism in order to support multiple routing domains on the same
  subnet.

  This document defines the OSPFv2 Instance ID to enable separate
  OSPFv2 protocol instances on the same interface.  Unlike OSPFv3 where
  the Instance ID can be used for multiple purposes, such as putting
  the same interface in multiple areas, the OSPFv2 Instance ID is
  reserved for identifying protocol instances.

  This document updates RFC 2328.

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/rfc6549.












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RFC 6549            OSPFv2 Multi-Instance Extensions          March 2012


Copyright Notice

  Copyright (c) 2012 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.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction ....................................................2
     1.1. Requirements Notation ......................................3
  2. OSPFv2 Instance Packet Encoding .................................3
  3. OSPFv2 Interface Instance ID ....................................4
     3.1. Sending and Receiving OSPFv2 Packets .......................4
     3.2. Interface Instance ID Values ...............................4
  4. State Sharing Optimizations between OSPFv2 Instances ............5
  5. OSPFv2 Authentication Impacts ...................................5
  6. Backward Compatibility and Deployment Considerations ............5
  7. Security Considerations .........................................6
  8. IANA Considerations .............................................6
  9. References ......................................................7
     9.1. Normative References .......................................7
     9.2. Informative References .....................................7
  Appendix A. Acknowledgments.... ....................................8

1.  Introduction

  OSPFv3 [OSPFV3] includes a mechanism to support multiple instances of
  a protocol running on the same interface.  OSPFv2 [OSPFV2] can
  utilize such a mechanism in order to support multiple routing domains
  on the same subnet.

  This document defines the OSPFv2 Instance ID to enable separate
  OSPFv2 protocol instances on the same interface.  Unlike OSPFv3 where
  the Instance ID can be used for multiple purposes, such as putting
  the same interface in multiple areas, the OSPFv2 Instance ID is
  reserved for identifying protocol instances.






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RFC 6549            OSPFv2 Multi-Instance Extensions          March 2012


1.1.  Requirements Notation

  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-KEYWORDS].

2.  OSPFv2 Instance Packet Encoding

  This document extends OSPFv2 with a mechanism to differentiate
  packets for different instances sent and received on the same
  interface.  In support of this capability, a modified packet header
  format with the Authentication Type field split into an Instance ID
  and AuType.

      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
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |   Version #   |     Type      |         Packet length         |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                         Router ID                             |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                          Area ID                              |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |          Checksum             |  Instance ID  |  AuType       |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                     Authentication                            |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                     Authentication                            |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                          The OSPFv2 Packet Header

  All fields are as defined in [OSPFV2] except that the Instance ID
  field is new, and the AuType field is reduced to 8 bits from 16 bits
  without any change in meaning.  The Instance ID field is defined as
  follows:

  Instance ID
     Enables multiple instances of OSPFv2 to be used on a single
     interface.  Each protocol instance would be assigned a separate
     Instance ID; the Instance ID has local subnet significance only.
     Received packets with an Instance ID not equal to one of the
     Instance IDs corresponding to one of the configured OSPFv2
     Instances for the receiving interface MUST be discarded.







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RFC 6549            OSPFv2 Multi-Instance Extensions          March 2012


3.  OSPFv2 Interface Instance ID

  Section 9 of [OSPFV2] describes the conceptual interface data
  structure.  The OSPFv2 Interface Instance ID is added to this
  structure.  The OSPFv2 Interface Instance ID has a default value of
  0.  Setting it to a non-zero value may be accomplished through
  configuration.

3.1.  Sending and Receiving OSPFv2 Packets

  When sending OSPFv2 packets, the OSPFv2 Interface Instance ID is set
  in the OSPFv2 packet header.  When receiving OSPFv2 packets, the
  OSPFv2 Header Instance ID is used to aid in demultiplexing the packet
  and associating it with the correct OSPFv2 instance.  Received
  packets with an Instance ID not equal to one of the configured OSPFv2
  Instance IDs on the receiving interface MUST be discarded.

3.2.  Interface Instance ID Values

  The following OSPFv2 Instance IDs have been defined:

  0      Base IPv4 Instance - This is the default IPv4 routing instance
         corresponding to default IPv4 unicast routing and the
         attendant IPv4 routing table.  Use of this Instance ID
         provides backward compatibility with the base OSPF
         specification [OSPFV2].

  1      Base IPv4 Multicast Instance - This IPv4 instance corresponds
         to the separate IPv4 routing table used for the Reverse Path
         Forwarding (RPF) checking performed on IPv4 multicast traffic.

  2      Base IPv4 In-band Management Instance - This IPv4 instance
         corresponds to a separate IPv4 routing table used for network
         management applications.

  3-127  Private Use - These Instance IDs are reserved for definition
         and semantics defined by the local network administrator.  For
         example, separate Interface Instance IDs and their
         corresponding OSPFv2 instances could be used to support
         independent non-congruent topologies for different classes of
         IPv4 unicast traffic.  The details of such deployments are
         beyond the scope of this document.

  The first three Interface Instance IDs are analogous to the topology
  IDs defined in [RFC4915].






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RFC 6549            OSPFv2 Multi-Instance Extensions          March 2012


4.  State-Sharing Optimizations between OSPFv2 Instances

  This is beyond the scope of this document and is an area for further
  study.

5.  OSPFv2 Authentication Impacts

  Now that the AuType OSPFv2 header field has been reduced from 2
  octets to 1 octet, OSPFv2 routers not supporting this specification
  will fail packet authentication for any instance other than the
  default (i.e., the Base IPv4 Unicast Instance).  This is solely due
  to the difference in field definition as opposed to any explicit
  change to OSPFv2 authentication, as described in Appendix D of RFC
  2328 [OSPFV2] and RFC 5709 [RFC5709].  However, this is exactly what
  is desired since OSPFv2 routers not supporting this specification
  should only support the default instance (refer to Section 6).

6.  Backward Compatibility and Deployment Considerations

  When there are OSPFv2 routers that support OSPFv2 Multi-Instance
  extensions on the same broadcast-capable interface as OSPFv2 routers
  that do not, packets with non-zero OSPFv2 header Instance IDs are
  received by those legacy OSPFv2 routers.  Since the non-zero Instance
  ID is included in the AuType by these legacy OSPFv2 routers, it is
  misinterpreted as a mismatched authentication type and the packet is
  dropped.  This is exactly what is expected and desired.

  Previously, there was concern that certain implementations would log
  every single authentication type mismatch.  However, discussions with
  implementers have led us to the conclusion that this is not as severe
  a problem as we'd first thought, and it will be even less of a
  problem by the time the mechanism described herein is standardized,
  implemented, and deployed.  Most implementations will dampen the
  logging of errors.  Hence, the more drastic mechanisms to avoid
  legacy OSPFv2 routers from receiving multicast OSPFv2 packets with
  non-zero Instance IDs have been removed.

  If the OSPF MIB as specified in [OSPF-MIB] is implemented, even the
  damped generation of the ospfIfAuthFailure or ospfVirtIfAuthFailure
  Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) notifications would be
  undesirable in situations where legacy OSPFv2 routers are deployed on
  the same subnet as OSPFv2 routers supporting this specification.
  Consequently, it is recommended that implementations that implement
  this specification and the OSPF MIB also implement SNMP Notification
  filtering as specified in Section 6 of [RFC3413].






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RFC 6549            OSPFv2 Multi-Instance Extensions          March 2012


7.  Security Considerations

  The enhancement described herein doesn't include additional security
  considerations to OSPFv2.  Security considerations for OSPFv2 are
  described in [OSPFV2].

  Given that only three OSPFv2 authentication types have been
  standardized, it seems reasonable to reduce the OSPFv2 packet header
  field to 8 bits.

8.  IANA Considerations

  The size of the AuType field is reduced from 16 octets to 8 octets.
  This changes the OSPF Authentication Codes registry in that the
  values 256-65535 are no longer defined and are therefore deprecated.
  There is no backward compatibility issue since this range of values
  was previously defined as "Reserved and should not be assigned".

  A new registry has been created for OSPFv2 Instance IDs.  The initial
  allocation of OSPFv2 Instance IDs is described below.  Refer to
  Section 3.2 for more information.

     +-------------+----------------------+--------------------+
     | Value/Range | Designation          | Assignment Policy  |
     +-------------+----------------------+--------------------+
     | 0           | Base IPv4 Unicast    | Assigned           |
     |             | Instance             |                    |
     |             |                      |                    |
     | 1           | Base IPv4 Multicast  | Assigned           |
     |             | Instance             |                    |
     |             |                      |                    |
     | 2           | Base IPv4 In-band    | Assigned           |
     |             | Management Instance  |                    |
     |             |                      |                    |
     | 3-127       | Private Use          | Reserved for local |
     |             |                      | policy assignment  |
     |             |                      |                    |
     | 128-255     | Unassigned           | Standards Action   |
     +-------------+----------------------+--------------------+

                     OSPFv2 Instance ID










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RFC 6549            OSPFv2 Multi-Instance Extensions          March 2012


9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

  [OSPFV2]   Moy, J., "OSPF Version 2", STD 54, RFC 2328, April 1998.

  [OSPFV3]   Coltun, R., Ferguson, D., Moy, J., and A. Lindem, "OSPF
             for IPv6", RFC 5340, July 2008.

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

9.2.  Informative References

  [OSPF-MIB] Joyal, D., Ed., Galecki, P., Ed., Giacalone, S., Ed.,
             Coltun, R., and F. Baker, "OSPF Version 2 Management
             Information Base", RFC 4750, December 2006.

  [RFC3413]  Levi, D., Meyer, P., and B. Stewart, "Simple Network
             Management Protocol (SNMP) Applications", STD 62, RFC
             3413, December 2002.

  [RFC4915]  Psenak, P., Mirtorabi, S., Roy, A., Nguyen, L., and P.
             Pillay-Esnault, "Multi-Topology (MT) Routing in OSPF", RFC
             4915, June 2007.

  [RFC5709]  Bhatia, M., Manral, V., Fanto, M., White, R., Barnes, M.,
             Li, T., and R. Atkinson, "OSPFv2 HMAC-SHA Cryptographic
             Authentication", RFC 5709, October 2009.





















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RFC 6549            OSPFv2 Multi-Instance Extensions          March 2012


Appendix A.  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to Adrian Farrel for reviewing and providing some suggested
  improvements during the IESG review.

  Thanks to Paul Wells for commenting on the backward compatibility
  issues.

  Thanks to Paul Wells and Vladica Stanisic for commenting during the
  OSPF WG last call.

  Thanks to Manav Bhatia for comments and for being the document
  shepherd.

  Thanks to Magnus Nystrom for comments under the auspices of the
  Security Directorate review.

  Thanks to Dan Romascanu for comments during the IESG review.

  Thanks to Pete McCann for comments under the auspices of the Gen-ART
  review.






























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RFC 6549            OSPFv2 Multi-Instance Extensions          March 2012


Authors' Addresses

  Acee Lindem
  Ericsson
  102 Carric Bend Court
  Cary, NC 27519
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]


  Abhay Roy
  Cisco Systems
  225 West Tasman Drive
  San Jose, CA 95134
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]


  Sina Mirtorabi
  Cisco Systems
  3 West Plumeria Drive
  San Jose, CA 95134
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]
























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