Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                      D. Farinacci
Request for Comments: 6807                                   G. Shepherd
Category: Experimental                                         S. Venaas
ISSN: 2070-1721                                            Cisco Systems
                                                                 Y. Cai
                                                              Microsoft
                                                          December 2012


 Population Count Extensions to Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM)

Abstract

  This specification defines a method for providing multicast
  distribution-tree accounting data.  Simple extensions to the Protocol
  Independent Multicast (PIM) protocol allow a rough approximation of
  tree-based data in a scalable fashion.

Status of This Memo

  This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
  published for examination, experimental implementation, and
  evaluation.

  This document defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
  community.  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).  Not
  all documents approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of
  Internet Standard; see 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/rfc6807.
















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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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
    1.1.  Requirements Notation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
    1.2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
  2.  Pop-Count-Supported Hello Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
  3.  New Pop-Count Join Attribute Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
    3.1.  Options  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
      3.1.1.  Link Speed Encoding  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
    3.2.  Example Message Layouts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
  4.  How to Use Pop-Count Encoding  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
  5.  Implementation Approaches  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
  6.  Caveats  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
  7.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
  8.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
  9.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
    10.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
    10.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

















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1.  Introduction

  This document specifies a mechanism to convey accounting information
  using the Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) protocol [RFC4601]
  [RFC5015].  Putting the mechanism in PIM allows efficient
  distribution and maintenance of such accounting information.
  Previous mechanisms require data to be correlated from multiple
  router sources.

  This mechanism allows a single router to be queried to obtain
  accounting and statistic information for a multicast distribution
  tree as a whole or any distribution sub-tree downstream from a
  queried router.  The amount of information is fixed and does not
  increase as multicast membership, tree diameter, or branching
  increases.

  The sort of accounting data this specification provides, on a per-
  multicast-route basis, are:

  1.  The number of branches in a distribution tree.

  2.  The membership type of the distribution tree, that is, Source-
      Specific Multicast (SSM) or Any-Source Multicast (ASM).

  3.  Routing domain and time zone boundary information.

  4.  On-tree node and tree diameter counters.

  5.  Effective MTU and bandwidth.

  This document defines a new PIM Join Attribute type [RFC5384] for the
  Join/Prune message as well as a new Hello option.  The mechanism is
  applicable to IPv4 and IPv6 multicast.

  This is a new extension to PIM, and it is not completely understood
  what impact collecting information using PIM would have on the
  operation of PIM.  This is an entirely new concept.  Many PIM
  features (including the core protocols) were first introduced in
  Experimental RFCs, and it seems appropriate to advance this work as
  Experimental.  Reports of implementation and deployment across whole
  distribution trees or within sub-trees (see Section 6) will enable an
  assessment of the desirability and stability of this specification.
  The PIM Working Group will then consider whether to move this work to
  the Standards Track.

  This document does not specify how an administrator or user can
  access this information.  It is expected that an implementation may
  have a command-line interface or other ways of requesting and



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  displaying this information.  As this is currently an Experimental
  document, defining a MIB module has not been considered.  If the PIM
  Working Group finds that this should move on to Standards Track, a
  MIB module should be considered.

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 [RFC2119].

1.2.  Terminology

  This section defines the terms used in this document.

  Multicast Route:  An (S,G) or (*,G) entry regardless of whether the
     route is in ASM, SSM, or BIDIR mode of operation.

  Stub Link:  A link with members joined to the group via IGMP or
     Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD).

  Transit Link:  A link put in the oif-list (outgoing interface list)
     for a multicast route because it was joined by PIM routers.

  Note that a link can be both a Stub Link and a Transit Link at the
  same time.

2.  Pop-Count-Supported Hello Option

  A PIM router indicates that it supports the mechanism specified in
  this document by including the Pop-Count-Supported Hello option in
  its PIM Hello message.  Note that it also needs to include the Join-
  Attribute Hello option as specified in [RFC5384].  The format of the
  Pop-Count-Supported Hello option is defined to be:

      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
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |          OptionType           |         OptionLength          |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

  OptionType = 29, OptionLength = 0.  Note that there is no option
  value included.  In order to allow future updates of this
  specification that may include an option value, implementations of
  this document MUST accept and process this option even if the length
  is non-zero.  Implementations of this specification MUST accept and
  process the option ignoring any option value that may be included.




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3.  New Pop-Count Join Attribute Format

  When a PIM router supports this mechanism and has determined from a
  received Hello that the neighbor supports this mechanism, and also
  that all the neighbors on the interface support the use of join
  attributes, it will send Join/Prune messages that MAY include a Pop-
  Count Join Attribute.  The mechanism to process a PIM Join Attribute
  is described in [RFC5384].  The format of the new attribute is
  specified in the following.

      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
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |F|E| Attr_Type |    Length     |        Effective MTU          |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |             Flags             |        Options Bitmap         |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                            Options                            |
     .                               .                               .
     .                               .                               .
     .                               .                               .
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

  The above format is used only for entries in the join-list section of
  the Join/Prune message.

  F bit:  0 (Non-Transitive Attribute).

  E bit:  As specified by [RFC5384].

  Attr_Type:  3.

  Length:  The minimum length is 6.

  Effective MTU:  This contains the minimum MTU for any link in the
     oif-list.  The sender of a Join/Prune message takes the minimum
     value for the MTU (in bytes) from each link in the oif-list.  If
     this value is less than the value stored for the multicast route
     (the one received from downstream joiners), then the value should
     be reset and sent in a Join/Prune message.  Otherwise, the value
     should remain unchanged.

     This provides the MTU supported by multicast distribution tree
     when examined at the first-hop router(s) or for sub-tree for any
     router on the distribution tree.






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  Flags:  The flags field has the following format:

          0                   1
          0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
         |  Unalloc/Reserved   |P|a|t|A|S|
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

     Unallocated/Reserved Flags:  The flags that are currently not
        defined.  If a new flag is defined and used by a new
        implementation, an old implementation should preserve the bit
        settings.  This means that a router MUST preserve the settings
        of all Unallocated/Reserved Flags in PIM Join messages received
        from downstream routers in any PIM Join sent upstream.

     S flag:  This flag is set if an IGMPv3 or MLDv2 report with an
        INCLUDE mode group record was received on any oif-list entry or
        the bit was set from any PIM Join message.  This bit should
        only be cleared when the above becomes untrue.

     A flag:  This flag is set if an IGMPv3 or MLDv2 report with an
        EXCLUDE mode group record, or an IGMPv1, IGMPv2, or MLDv1
        report, was received on any oif-list entry or the bit was set
        from any PIM Join message.  This bit should only be cleared
        when the above becomes untrue.

        A combination of settings for these bits indicate:

          A flag   S flag   Description
          ------   ------   --------------------------------------
            0        0      There are no members for the group.
                            ('Stub Oif-List Count' is 0)
            0        1      All group members are using SSM.
            1        0      All group members are using ASM.
            1        1      A mixture of SSM and ASM group members.

     t flag:  This flag is set if there are any manually configured
        tunnels on the distribution tree.  This means any tunnel that
        is not an auto-tunnel.  If a manually configured tunnel is in
        the oif-list, a router sets this bit in its Join/Prune
        messages.  Otherwise, it propagates the bit setting from
        downstream joiners.









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     a flag:  This flag is set if there are any auto-tunnels on the
        distribution tree.  If an auto-tunnel is in the oif-list, a
        router sets this bit in its Join/Prune messages.  Otherwise, it
        propagates the bit setting from downstream joiners.  An example
        of an auto-tunnel is a tunnel set up by the Automatic Multicast
        Tunneling [AMT] protocol.

     P flag:  This flag is set by a router if all downstream routers
        support this specification.  That is, they are all PIM Pop-
        Count capable.  If a downstream router does not support this
        specification, it MUST be cleared.  This allows one to tell if
        the entire sub-tree is completely accounting capable.

  Options Bitmap:  This is a bitmap that shows which options are
     present.  The format of the bitmap is as follows:

           0                   1
           0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
          +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
          |T|s|m|M|d|n|D|z| Unalloc/Rsrvd |
          +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

     Each one of the bits T, s, m, M, d, n, D and z is associated with
     one option, where the option is included if and only if the
     respective bit is set.  Included options MUST be in the same order
     as these bits are listed.  The bits denote the following options:

           bit     Option
          -----   ------------------------
            T      Transit Oif-List Count
            s      Stub Oif-List Count
            m      Minimum Speed Link
            M      Maximum Speed Link
            d      Domain Count
            n      Node Count
            D      Diameter Count
            z      TZ Count

     See Section 3.1 for details on the different options.  The
     unallocated bits are reserved.  Any unknown bits MUST be set to 0
     when a message is sent, and treated as 0 (ignored) when received.
     This means that unknown options that are denoted by unknown bits
     are ignored.








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     By using this bitmap we can specify at most 16 options.  If there
     becomes a need for more than 16 options, one can define a new
     option that contains a bitmap that can then be used to specify
     which further options are present.  The last bit in the current
     bitmap could be used for that option.  However, the exact
     definition of this is left for future documents.

  Options:  This field contains options.  Which options are present is
     determined by the flag bits.  As new flags and options may be
     defined in the future, any unknown/reserved flags MUST be ignored,
     and any additional trailing options MUST be ignored.  See
     Section 3.1 for details on the options defined in this document.

3.1.  Options

  There are several options defined in this document.  For each option,
  there is also a related flag that shows whether the option is
  present.  See the Options Bitmap above for a list of the options and
  their respective bits.  Each option has a fixed size.  Note that
  there are no alignment requirements for the options, so an
  implementation cannot assume they are aligned.

  Transit Oif-List Count:  This is filled in by a router sending a
     Join/Prune message indicating the number of transit links on the
     multicast distribution tree.  The value is the number of oifs
     (outgoing interfaces) for the multicast route that have been
     joined by PIM plus the sum of the values advertised by each of the
     downstream PIM routers that have joined on this oif.  Length is 4
     octets.

  Stub Oif-List Count:  This is filled in by a router sending a Join/
     Prune message indicating the number of stub links (links where
     there are host members) on the multicast distribution tree.  The
     value is the number of oifs for the multicast route that have been
     joined by IGMP or MLD plus the sum of the values advertised by
     each of the downstream PIM routers that have joined on this oif.
     Length is 4 octets.

  Minimum Speed Link:  This contains the minimum bandwidth rate for any
     link in the oif-list and is encoded as specified in Section 3.1.1.
     The sender of a Join/Prune message takes the minimum value for
     each link in the oif-list for the multicast route.  If this value
     is less than the value stored for the multicast route (the
     smallest value received from downstream joiners), then the value
     should be reset and sent in a Join/Prune message.  Otherwise, the
     value should remain unchanged.  This, together with the Maximum





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     Speed Link option, provides a way to obtain the lowest- and
     highest-speed links for the multicast distribution tree.  Length
     is 2 octets.

  Maximum Speed Link:  This contains the maximum bandwidth rate for any
     link in the oif-list and is encoded as specified in Section 3.1.1.
     The sender of a Join/Prune message takes the maximum value for
     each link in the oif-list for the multicast route.  If this value
     is greater than the value stored for the multicast route (the
     largest value received from downstream joiners), then the value
     should be reset and sent in a Join/Prune message.  Otherwise, the
     value should remain unchanged.  This, together with the Minimum
     Speed Link option, provides a way to obtain the lowest- and
     highest-speed links for the multicast distribution tree.  Length
     is 2 octets.

  Domain Count:  This indicates the number of routing domains the
     distribution tree traverses.  A router should increment this value
     if it is sending a Join/Prune message over a link that traverses a
     domain boundary.  For this to work, an implementation needs a way
     of knowing that a neighbor or an interface is in a different
     domain.  There is no standard way of doing this.  Length is 1
     octet.

  Node Count:  This indicates the number of routers on the distribution
     tree.  Each router will sum up all the Node Counts from all
     joiners on all oifs and increment by 1 before including this value
     in the Join/Prune message.  Length is 1 octet.

  Diameter Count:  This indicates the longest length of any given
     branch of the tree in router hops.  Each router that sends a Join
     increments the max value received by all downstream joiners by 1.
     Length is 1 octet.

  TZ Count:  This indicates the number of time zones the distribution
     tree traverses.  A router should increment this value if it is
     sending a Join/Prune message over a link that traverses a time
     zone.  This can be a configured link attribute, or using other
     means to determine the time zone is acceptable.  Length is 1
     octet.











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3.1.1.  Link Speed Encoding

  The speed is encoded using 2 octets as follows:

           0                   1
           0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
          +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
          | Exponent  |    Significand    |
          +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

  Using this format, the speed of the link is Significand * 10 ^
  Exponent kbps.  This allows specifying link speeds with up to 3
  decimal digits precision and speeds from 1 kbps to 10 ^ 67 kbps.  A
  computed speed of 0 kbps means the link speed is < 1 kbps.

  Here are some examples of how this is used:

           Link Speed     Exponent     Significand
          ------------   ----------   -------------
           500 kbps       0            500
           500 kbps       2              5
           155 Mbps       3            155
            40 Gpbs       6             40
           100 Gpbs       6            100
           100 Gpbs       8              1

3.2.  Example Message Layouts

  Here, we will give a few examples to illustrate the use of flags and
  options.

  A minimum-size message has no option flags set and looks like this:

      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
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |F|E| Attr_Type |  Length = 6   |        Effective MTU          |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |  Unalloc/Reserved   |P|a|t|A|S|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0| Unalloc/Rsrvd |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+











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  A message containing all the options defined in this document would
  look like this:

      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
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |F|E| Attr_Type |  Length = 18  |        Effective MTU          |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |  Unalloc/Reserved   |P|a|t|A|S|1|1|1|1|1|1|1|1| Unalloc/Rsrvd |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                    Transit Oif-List Count                     |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                      Stub Oif-List Count                      |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |      Minimum Speed Link       |      Maximum Speed Link       |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |  Domain Count |  Node Count   | Diameter Count|    TZ Count   |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

  A message containing only Stub Oif-List Count and Node Count would
  look like this:

      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
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |F|E| Attr_Type |  Length = 9   |        Effective MTU          |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |  Unalloc/Reserved   |P|a|t|A|S|0|1|0|0|0|1|0|0| Unalloc/Rsrvd |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                      Stub Oif-List Count                      |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |  Node count   |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

4.  How to Use Pop-Count Encoding

  A router supporting this mechanism MUST, unless administratively
  disabled, include the PIM Join Attribute option in its PIM Hellos.
  See [RFC5384] and "PIM-Hello Options" on [PIM-REG] for details.

  It is RECOMMENDED that implementations allow for administrative
  control of whether to make use of this mechanism.  Implementations
  MAY also allow further control of what information to store and send
  upstream.







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  It is very important to note that any changes to the values
  maintained by this mechanism MUST NOT trigger a new Join/Prune
  message.  Due to the periodic nature of PIM, the values can be
  accurately obtained at 1-minute intervals (or whatever Join/Prune
  interval used).

  When a router removes a link from an oif-list, it needs to be able to
  reevaluate the values that it will advertise upstream.  This happens
  when an oif-list entry is timed out or a Prune is received.

  It is RECOMMENDED that the Join Attribute defined in this document be
  used only for entries in the join-list part of the Join/Prune
  message.  If the attribute is used in the prune-list, an
  implementation MUST ignore it and process the Prune as if the
  attribute were not present.

  It is also RECOMMENDED that join suppression be disabled on a LAN
  when Pop-Count is used.

  It is RECOMMENDED that, when triggered Join/Prune messages are sent
  by a downstream router, the accounting information not be included in
  the message.  This way, when convergence is important, avoiding the
  processing time to build an accounting record in a downstream router
  and processing time to parse the message in the upstream router will
  help reduce convergence time.  If an upstream router receives a Join/
  Prune message with no accounting data, it SHOULD NOT interpret the
  message as a trigger to clear or reset the accounting data it has
  cached.

5.  Implementation Approaches

  This section offers some non-normative suggestions for how Pop-Count
  may be implemented.

  An implementation can decide how the accounting attributes are
  maintained.  The values can be stored as part of the multicast route
  data structure by combining the local information it has with the
  joined information on a per-oif basis.  So, when it is time to send a
  Join/Prune message, the values stored in the multicast route can be
  copied to the message.

  Or, an implementation could store the accounting values per oif and,
  when a Join/Prune message is sent, it can combine the oifs with its
  local information.  Then, the combined information can be copied to
  the message.






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  When a downstream joiner stops joining, accounting values cached must
  be evaluated.  There are two approaches that can be taken.  One is to
  keep values learned from each joiner, so when the joiner goes away,
  the count/max/min values are known and the combined value can be
  adjusted.  The other approach is to set the value to 0 for the oif,
  and then start accumulating new values as subsequent Joins are
  received.

  The same issue arises when an oif is removed from the oif-list.
  Keeping per-oif values allows you to adjust the per-route values when
  an oif goes away.  Or, alternatively, a delay for reporting the new
  set a values from the route can occur while all oif values are zeroed
  (where accumulation of new values from subsequent Joins cause
  repopulation of values and a new max/min/count can be reevaluated for
  the route).

6.  Caveats

  This specification requires each router on a multicast distribution
  tree to support this specification or else the accounting attributes
  for the tree will not be known.

  However, if there is a contiguous set of routers downstream in the
  distribution tree, they can maintain accounting information for the
  sub-tree.

  If there is a set of contiguous routers supporting this specification
  upstream on the multicast distribution tree, accounting information
  will be available, but it will not represent an accurate assessment
  of the entire tree.  Also, it will not be clear how much of the
  distribution tree the accounting information covers.

7.  IANA Considerations

  A new PIM-Hello Option type, 29, has been assigned by IANA.  Although
  the length is specified as 0 in this specification, non-zero length
  is allowed, so IANA has listed the length as being variable.

  A new PIM Join Attribute type, 3, has been assigned by IANA.

8.  Security Considerations

  The use of this specification requires some additional processing of
  PIM Join/Prune messages.  However, the additional amount of
  processing is fairly limited, so this is not believed to be a
  significant concern.





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  The use of this mechanism includes information like the number of
  receivers.  This information is assumed to not be of a sensitive
  nature.  If an operator has concerns about revealing this information
  to upstream routers or other routers/hosts that may potentially
  inspect this information, there should be a way to disable the
  mechanism or, alternatively, more detailed control of what
  information to include.

9.  Acknowledgments

  The authors would like to thank John Zwiebel, Amit Jain, and Clayton
  Wagar for their review comments on the initial versions of this
  document.  Adrian Farrel did a detailed review of the document and
  proposed textual changes that have been incorporated.  Further review
  and comments were provided by Thomas Morin and Zhaohui (Jeffrey)
  Zhang.

10.  References

10.1.  Normative References

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

  [RFC4601]  Fenner, B., Handley, M., Holbrook, H., and I. Kouvelas,
             "Protocol Independent Multicast - Sparse Mode (PIM-SM):
             Protocol Specification (Revised)", RFC 4601, August 2006.

  [RFC5015]  Handley, M., Kouvelas, I., Speakman, T., and L. Vicisano,
             "Bidirectional Protocol Independent Multicast (BIDIR-
             PIM)", RFC 5015, October 2007.

  [RFC5384]  Boers, A., Wijnands, I., and E. Rosen, "The Protocol
             Independent Multicast (PIM) Join Attribute Format",
             RFC 5384, November 2008.

10.2.  Informative References

  [AMT]      Bumgardner, G., "Automatic Multicast Tunneling", Work
             in Progress, June 2012.

  [PIM-REG]  IANA, "Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) Parameters",
             <http://www.iana.org/assignments/pim-parameters>.








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Authors' Addresses

  Dino Farinacci
  Cisco Systems
  Tasman Drive
  San Jose, CA  95134
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]


  Greg Shepherd
  Cisco Systems
  Tasman Drive
  San Jose, CA  95134
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]


  Stig Venaas
  Cisco Systems
  Tasman Drive
  San Jose, CA  95134
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]


  Yiqun Cai
  Microsoft
  1065 La Avenida
  Mountain View, CA  94043
  USA

  EMail: [email protected]















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