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LDP MIB, version 9 outstanding issue

  • From: Ravi Malhotra <ravi.malhotra@alcatel.be>
  • From: Ravi_MALHOTRA/BE/ALCATEL@UU.NET
  • Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 14:23:53 +0200
  • Cc: nj@dataconnection.com, hans@ipunplugged.com, james_luciani@mindspring.com, riza.cetin@alcatel.be, jcucchiara@artel.com
  • Organization: Alcatel Telecom
  • X-MIMETrack: Itemize by SMTP Server on BEMAIL01/BE/ALCATEL(Release 5.0.11 |July 24, 2002) at04/15/2003 14:23:53,Serialize by Router on BEMAIL01/BE/ALCATEL(Release 5.0.11 |July 24, 2002) at04/15/2003 14:24:05,Serialize complete at 04/15/2003 14:24:05

Hi Joan,

We have discussed the proposal of Neil internally in our group and have
the following comments.


1. mplsLdpUpLspType : The value of originatingLsp(3) would be invalid in
this case as an upstream label would never be at the head-end of an LSP.
The same also applies to mplsLdpDownLspType where the value of
terminatingLsp(2) would be invalid.

2. mplsLdpUpLsrXCPointer : in case of point-to-multipoint connections,
we can have the same upstream label connected to multiple downstream
labels. In that case, this object would no longer be unique. 
Suggestion - use mplsXCIndex i.s.o row-pointer; the other indices of the
mplsXCTable can be derived from other objects in this table.

3. mplsLdpDownLiberal : This object is redundant and its value can
instead be determined from the mplsLdpDownLsrOutSegmentPointer. If the
label is liberally-retained and not-in-use, then it would not have an
out-segment and correspondingly no entry in the mplsOutSegmentTable.
Thus, if the value of mplsLdpDownLsrOutSegmentPointer is 0.0, then the
label is liberally-retained.

4. mplsLdpDownLsrXCPointer : in case of multipoint-to-point connections,
we can have the same downstream label connected to multiple upstream
labels. In that case, this object would no longer be unique.
Suggestion - use mplsXCIndex i.s.o row-pointer.

5. How can we represent label-stacking in LDP via this MIB. The
label-stacking could be either
- LDP LSPs over RSVP-TE tunnels.
- PWE-LDP (Martini) LSPs over core LDP/RSVP - LSPs.

Suggestion - Each core LSP (LDP/RSVP) can be represented by an if-index
in the IF-MIB. If we include the if-index in the above tables then we
can find out whether the LSP goes via a physical-interface or a
'tunnel-interface'.

6. Whether mplsLdpLspIndex is really required ? - it may happen in
non-merging MPLS networks that the downstream peer (the egress LSR)
might send the same label (implicit/explicit-NULL) for the same FEC to
the same peer for mutiple Label-Requests. However, from an operational
point of view - all these entries would be the same and the LSR would
indeed be 'merging'. As such, these entries would just be unneccessary
duplicates conveying no extra information.
Also, from a deployment point of view, MPLS networks where
implicit/explicit-NULL labels (i.e. generic labels) are used, generally
support merging. Only in case of legacy layer-2 networks like ATM/FR,
merging may not be supported. In these cases, one can never have the
duplicate label/FEC/Peer combination as it would force these LSRs to do
merging.

Suggestion: mplsLdpUpLabel & mplsLdpDownLabel are quite sufficient as
indices for mplsLdpUpLabelTable & mplsLdpDownLabelTable i.s.o
mplsLdpLspIndex.


7. In our implementation of the LDP-LIB tables, we use
mplsLdpLabelDirection as an additional index to determine whether the
label/FEC has been advertised or received. 
The addition of this object to the mplsLdpLspTable in LDP-MIB version 9,
would solve the problem with the uniqueness of the indexing as pointed
out by Neil. At the same time, we can avoid having multiple tables
and/or a large number of indices in the MIB.


Thanks for your time in going through these comments.


Warm regards,
Ravi 


----------------------------------------------------
Ravi Malhotra                          
WX-25, Alcatel-Bell,                   
Antwerpen-2016, Belgium.               
                                       
email: ravi.malhotra@alcatel.be           
phone : +32-3240-9738                     
----------------------------------------------------


jcucchiara@mindspring.com wrote:
> 
> Hello Everyone,
> 
> From the Atlanta MPLS MIB meeting there was an outstanding issue
> as described by the "MPLS MIB review meeting minutes" posted
> to the mpls working group on Dec 03, 2002.  This issue
> had to do with the change from version 8 of the MIB to
> version 9.
> 
> Version 8 of the MIB had 3 Mapping tables, from an LDP LSP
> to either an InSegment/OutSegment/XCSegment in the LSR-MIB.
> 
> Version 9 reduces this to 1 table and uses RowPointers.
> 
> The motivation for doing this was to reduce the number of
> objects.  However, it turns out that this table is lacking
> because the indexing will not be unique under certain
> circumstances.  This was very well documented in email
> by Neil Jerram on Nov 15, 2002 "RE: Questions on LDP MIB v9".
> This is repeated here for your convenience:
> 
>   "Here is a concrete example of the problem.  LSR A and LSR B each
>    distribute a label to each other, and by chance they use the same
>    label value, 67.  So in LSR A's mplsLdpLspTable, the label that A
>    distributed to B has index:
> 
>      mplsLdpEntityLdpId      AA AA AA AA 00 01
>      mplsLdpEntityIndex      1
>      mplsLdpPeerLdpId        BB BB BB BB 00 01
>      mplsLdpLspIfIndex       1
>      mplsLdpLspLabel         67
> 
>    The label that A received from B has index:
> 
>      mplsLdpEntityLdpId      AA AA AA AA 00 01
>      mplsLdpEntityIndex      1
>      mplsLdpPeerLdpId        BB BB BB BB 00 01
>      mplsLdpLspIfIndex       1
>      mplsLdpLspLabel         67
> 
>    Which is exactly the same.  So the mplsLdpLspTable can't hold
>    represent both of these labels at once."
> 
> Please note, the next version of the MIB will
> not have the mplsLdpLspTable.  Neil has proposed a solution
> which is very detailed in that email (and repeated
> at the end of this email).  I would like to incorporate his
> these tables (or revised versions of these tables)
> into the next version of the MIB.
> 
> Does anyone have any objections with this change?
> 
>    Thanks, Joan
> 
> Quoting from Neil's email dated Nov 15th to the mpls@uu.net:
> 
> "Key points of my proposal are as follows.
> 
> - The new tables are:
> 
>   - mplsLdpUpLabelTable, describing labels distributed to upstream peers
> 
>   - mplsLdpDownLabelTable, describing labels received from downstream
>     peers, including liberally retained and null labels.
> 
> - Like the tables that they replace in LDP MIB v9, these tables use
>   RowPointers to point to LIB information in the LSR MIB.  They don't
>   unnecessarily duplicate any information that can be obtained from
>   the LSR MIB.
> 
> - Advantages in comparison with LDB MIB v9 are that:
> 
>   - mplsLdpDownLabelTable can show both established and liberally
>     retained labels, and has a flag to indicate which labels are which
> 
>   - mplsLdpDownLabelTable can show multiple label mappings received
>     from the same peer, for the same FEC, and with the same label
>     value (this is most relevant for implicit and explicit null
>     labels, but can also occur in some networks with non-null label
>     values)
> 
>   - mplsLdpUpLabelTable and mplsLdpDownLabelTable can show a
>     distributed label and a received label that share the same
>     session, FEC and label value.
> 
> - mplsLdpUpLabelTable has a RowPointer to an mplsLdpDownLabelTable
>   entry that can be used to show how upstream and downstream mappings
>   are connected.
> 
> The full ASN.1 and a note on indexing are appended below.  Thank you
> very much for your time.
> 
>      Neil
> 
> Indexing
> ========
> 
> The tables are indexed by (LDP session, FEC index, LSP index), where:
> 
> - LDP session is the usual (entity ldp id, entity index, peer ldp id)
> - FEC index is a non-predictable index into the mplsFecTable
> - LSP index is a non-predictable tie-breaker index for non-merging
>   LSPs for the same FEC.
> 
> The key benefit of this indexing is that it permits the
> representation, for non-merging FECs, of the labels established by
> multiple Label Request - Label Mapping exchanges through an LSR, even
> when the labels distributed for different Label Requests are the same
> (usually implicit and explicit nulls).
> 
> ASN.1
> =====
> 
>      --
>      --  The MPLS LDP Upstream Label Table
>      --
> 
>      mplsLdpUpLabelTable OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX      SEQUENCE OF MplsLdpUpLabelEntry
>          MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
>          STATUS      current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "A table mapping LDP sessions and FECs to the upstream
>              labels distributed for those sessions and FECs, and to
>              the corresponding LIB entries in the LSR MIB."
>          ::= { mplsLdpSessionObjects 6 }
> 
>      mplsLdpUpLabelEntry OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX      MplsLdpUpLabelEntry
>          MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
>          STATUS      current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "An entry in this table represents a label that has been
>              distributed upstream for a particular session and FEC
>              combination.  It is indexed by the session's index triple
>              (mplsLdpEntityLdpId, mplsLdpEntityIndex,
>              mplsLdpPeerLdpId), the FEC index (mplsFecIndex) and an
>              LSP index (mplsLdpLspIndex) that distinguishes between
>              non-merging LSPs for the same FEC.
> 
>              The information contained in a row is read-only."
>          INDEX       { mplsLdpEntityLdpId,
>                        mplsLdpEntityIndex,
>                        mplsLdpPeerLdpId,
>                        mplsFecIndex,
>                        mplsLdpLspIndex
>                      }
>          ::= { mplsLdpUpLabelTable 1 }
> 
>      MplsLdpUpLabelEntry ::= SEQUENCE {
>          mplsLdpUpLabel                  MplsLabel,
>          mplsLdpUpLabelType              MplsLdpLabelType,
>          mplsLdpUpLspType                MplsLspType,
>          mplsLdpUpDownLabelPointer       RowPointer,
>          mplsLdpUpLsrInSegmentPointer    RowPointer,
>          mplsLdpUpLsrXCPointer           RowPointer
>      }
> 
>      mplsLdpLspIndex OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX       Unsigned32
>          MAX-ACCESS   not-accessible
>          STATUS       current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "A tie-breaker index that distinguishes between multiple
>               non-merging LSPs for the same FEC.
> 
>               Where an LSR merges all LSPs for the same FEC, this
>               field is not needed and should always be zero.
> 
>               Where an LSR does not merge LSPs for the same FEC, it is
>               possible for the LSR to distribute (or receive) multiple
>               label mappings for the same FEC to (or from) the same
>               session, and for some of these labels to be equal (in
>               particular where implicit and explicit null labels are
>               in use).  In this case, the entries that describe the
>               labels are distinguished from each other by using a
>               different, non-zero value for this index field."
>          ::= { mplsLdpUpLabelEntry 1 }
> 
>      mplsLdpUpLabel OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX        MplsLabel
>          MAX-ACCESS    not-accessible
>          STATUS        current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "The upstream label value."
>          ::= { mplsLdpUpLabelEntry 2 }
> 
>      mplsLdpUpLabelType  OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX        MplsLdpLabelType
>          MAX-ACCESS    read-only
>          STATUS        current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "The Layer 2 upstream label type."
>          ::= { mplsLdpUpLabelEntry 3 }
> 
>      mplsLdpUpLspType OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX        MplsLspType
>          MAX-ACCESS    read-only
>          STATUS        current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "The type of LSP connection for which this label is in
>              use.  The possible values are:
> 
>                 unknown(1)         --  if the LSP is not known
>                                        to be one of the following.
> 
>                terminatingLsp(2)   -- if the LSP terminates
>                                       on the LSR, then this
>                                       is an ingressing LSP
>                                       which ends on the LSR,
> 
>                originatingLsp(3)   -- if the LSP originates
>                                       from the LSR, then this
>                                       is an egressing LSP which is
>                                       the head-end of the LSP,
> 
>              crossConnectingLsp(4) -- if the LSP ingresses
>                                       and egresses on the LSR,
>                                       then it is cross-connecting
>                                       on that LSR."
>          ::= { mplsLdpUpLabelEntry 4 }
> 
>      mplsLdpUpDownLabelPointer OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX      RowPointer
>          MAX-ACCESS  read-only
>          STATUS      current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "If this label is cross-connected to a received LDP
>              downstream label mapping, this RowPointer should point to
>              the entry in the mplsLdpDownLabelTable that describes the
>              downstream label.
> 
>              Otherwise this field's value is zeroDotzero."
>          ::= { mplsLdpUpLabelEntry 5 }
> 
>      mplsLdpUpLsrInSegmentPointer OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX      RowPointer
>          MAX-ACCESS  read-only
>          STATUS      current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "If this label has a corresponding entry in the LSR MIB
>              mplsInSegmentTable, this RowPointer should point to that
>              entry.
> 
>              Otherwise this field's value is zeroDotzero."
>          ::= { mplsLdpUpLabelEntry 6 }
> 
>      mplsLdpUpLsrXCPointer OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX      RowPointer
>          MAX-ACCESS  read-only
>          STATUS      current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "If this label is cross-connected to a received LDP
>              downstream label mapping and there is an entry
>              describing this cross-connect in the LSR MIB mplsXCTable,
>              this RowPointer should point to that entry.
> 
>              Otherwise this field's value is zeroDotzero."
>          ::= { mplsLdpUpLabelEntry 7 }
> 
>      --
>      --  The MPLS LDP Downstream Label Table
>      --
> 
>      mplsLdpDownLabelTable OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX      SEQUENCE OF MplsLdpDownLabelEntry
>          MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
>          STATUS      current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "A table mapping LDP sessions and FECs to the downstream
>              labels received for those sessions and FECs, and to the
>              corresponding LIB entries in the LSR MIB."
>          ::= { mplsLdpSessionObjects 6 }
> 
>      mplsLdpDownLabelEntry OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX      MplsLdpDownLabelEntry
>          MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
>          STATUS      current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "An entry in this table represents a label that has been
>              received from a downstream peer for a particular session
>              and FEC combination.  It is indexed by the session's
>              index triple (mplsLdpEntityLdpId, mplsLdpEntityIndex,
>              mplsLdpPeerLdpId), the FEC index (mplsFecIndex) and an
>              LSP index (mplsLdpLspIndex) that distinguishes between
>              non-merging LSPs for the same FEC.
> 
>              The information contained in a row is read-only."
>          INDEX       { mplsLdpEntityLdpId,
>                        mplsLdpEntityIndex,
>                        mplsLdpPeerLdpId,
>                        mplsFecIndex,
>                        mplsLdpLspIndex
>                      }
>          ::= { mplsLdpDownLabelTable 1 }
> 
>      MplsLdpDownLabelEntry ::= SEQUENCE {
>          mplsLdpDownLabel                  MplsLabel,
>          mplsLdpDownLabelType              MplsLdpLabelType,
>          mplsLdpDownLspType                MplsLspType,
>          mplsLdpDownLiberal                TruthValue,
>          mplsLdpDownLsrOutSegmentPointer   RowPointer,
>          mplsLdpDownLsrXCPointer           RowPointer
>      }
> 
>      mplsLdpDownLabel OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX        MplsLabel
>          MAX-ACCESS    not-accessible
>          STATUS        current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "The downstream label value."
>          ::= { mplsLdpDownLabelEntry 1 }
> 
>      mplsLdpDownLabelType  OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX        MplsLdpLabelType
>          MAX-ACCESS    read-only
>          STATUS        current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "The Layer 2 downstream label type."
>          ::= { mplsLdpDownLabelEntry 2 }
> 
>      mplsLdpDownLspType OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX        MplsLspType
>          MAX-ACCESS    read-only
>          STATUS        current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "The type of LSP connection for which this label is in
>              use.  The possible values are:
> 
>                 unknown(1)         --  if the LSP is not known
>                                        to be one of the following.
> 
>                terminatingLsp(2)   -- if the LSP terminates
>                                       on the LSR, then this
>                                       is an ingressing LSP
>                                       which ends on the LSR,
> 
>                originatingLsp(3)   -- if the LSP originates
>                                       from the LSR, then this
>                                       is an egressing LSP which is
>                                       the head-end of the LSP,
> 
>              crossConnectingLsp(4) -- if the LSP ingresses
>                                       and egresses on the LSR,
>                                       then it is cross-connecting
>                                       on that LSR."
>          ::= { mplsLdpDownLabelEntry 3 }
> 
>      mplsLdpDownLiberal OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX      TruthValue
>          MAX-ACCESS  read-only
>          STATUS      current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "Whether this is a liberally retained downstream label."
>          DEFVAL { false }
>          ::= { mplsLdpDownLabelEntry 4 }
> 
>      mplsLdpDownLsrOutSegmentPointer OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX      RowPointer
>          MAX-ACCESS  read-only
>          STATUS      current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "If this label has a corresponding entry in the LSR MIB
>              mplsOutSegmentTable, this RowPointer should point to that
>              entry.
> 
>              Otherwise this field's value is zeroDotzero."
>          ::= { mplsLdpDownLabelEntry 5 }
> 
>      mplsLdpDownLsrXCPointer OBJECT-TYPE
>          SYNTAX      RowPointer
>          MAX-ACCESS  read-only
>          STATUS      current
>          DESCRIPTION
>              "If this label is cross-connected to a distributed LDP
>              upstream label mapping and there is an entry describing
>              this cross-connect in the LSR MIB mplsXCTable, this
>              RowPointer should point to that entry.
> 
>              Otherwise this field's value is zeroDotzero."
>          ::= { mplsLdpDownLabelEntry 6 }"