Internet DRAFT - draft-chen-bgp-redist

draft-chen-bgp-redist









Internet Engineering Task Force                                  E. Chen
Internet Draft                                                   J. Yuan
Updates: 4271 (if approved)                           Palo Alto Networks
Intended status: Standards Track                         August 12, 2021
Expires: February 13, 2022


              Deterministic Route Redistribution into BGP
                      draft-chen-bgp-redist-03.txt

Abstract

   In this document we present several examples of non-deterministic
   routing behavior involving route redistribution into BGP.  In order
   to eliminate such non-deterministic behavior, we propose an
   enhancement to BGP route selection that would take into account the
   administrative distance under certain conditions.  We also recommend
   that the LOCAL_PREF value be reduced for the redistributed backup
   route, and be calculated automatically based on the administrative
   distance.

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on February 13, 2022.

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   Copyright (c) 2021 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
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   (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
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   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect



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   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.


1. Introduction

   A routing protocol usually downloads its best (or active) route to
   the routing table, also known as Routing Information Base (RIB),
   which in turn selects the best (or active) route to program the
   forwarding table.

   When comparing routes from different routing protocols, RIB typically
   uses the "administrative distance" [ADMIN-DIS] (abbreviated as
   "admin-distance" hereafter) as the tie breaker.  The convention is
   that a route with a lower admin-distance is more preferred, and that
   is assumed in this document when specific admin-distance values are
   given as examples.  The admin-distance associated with a route in RIB
   is commonly used to implement various routing schemes such as
   designating primary and backup routes in a network.

   On the other hand, the route selection in BGP [RFC4271] involves
   comparing the LOCAL_PREF, AS_PATH and other BGP attributes. The
   bestpath in BGP usually becomes the candidate for downloading to the
   RIB, and for advertising to BGP neighbors.

   It is common to redistribute routes from other routing protocols
   (such as "static routing" [STATIC-R]) into BGP for route propagation.
   This topic is briefly discussed in [Sect. 9.4, RFC4271].  A
   redistributed route is usually assigned a fixed LOCAL_PREF value, and
   has an empty AS_PATH attribute.

   The interaction between RIB and BGP follows these general rules:

      o A local route may be redistributed into BGP only if it is active
        in RIB based on the admin-distance.

      o Only the bestpath in BGP is downloaded to RIB.

   Currently the admin-distance does not play any role in BGP route
   selection.  Due to the lack of such correlation between RIB and BGP,
   when a backup route (based on the admin-distance) is redistributed
   into BGP as shown in the next section, routing may converge to
   different paths depending on the order of path arrivals.  Such non-
   deterministic routing behavior is clearly detrimental to network
   operations.




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   In order to eliminate such non-deterministic behavior, we propose an
   enhancement to BGP route selection that would take into account the
   admin-distance under certain conditions.  We also recommend that the
   LOCAL_PREF value be reduced for the redistributed backup route, and
   be calculated automatically based on the admin-distance.

   The proposed enhancement and recommendation are backward compatible,
   and can be deployed on an individual router basis.

   Although the static routing is used as examples in the document, the
   proposed enhancement and recommendation also apply when a route is
   redistributed from other routing protocols into BGP.


1.1. Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.


2. The Problem

   In this section several examples are presented to illustrate the non-
   deterministic routing behavior involving route redistribution into
   BGP.


2.1. On a Single Router

   Consider an example in which there are two paths for the same
   destination on a single router. As shown in the following table, the
   primary path A is received from an external BGP neighbor, and the
   backup path B is a static route and is configured for redistribution
   into BGP.


       Path   Type     Admin_Distance   LOCAL_PREF   AS_PATH
       -----------------------------------------------------
       A      EBGP           20            100        65535
       B      Static        150            100         --


   Depending on the order of path arrivals, the path that arrives first
   would be selected as the bestpath in both RIB and BGP.




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   More specifically, if Path A is received in BGP and is downloaded to
   RIB first, it would remain as the best in RIB (due to the admin-
   distance) even when Path B shows up in RIB later. In this case Path A
   would be the best one in both RIB and BGP.

   If Path B shows up in RIB and is redistributed into BGP first, it
   would remain as the best in BGP (due to it being a local route or
   with a shorter AS-PATH) even when Path A is received in BGP later. In
   this case Path B would be the best one in both RIB and BGP.


2.2. Network-wide Behavior

   Consider the following example in which Routers R1, R2 and R3 are
   part of a provider network and IBGP sessions are maintained among
   them.  There are two customer connections, a primary connection on R1
   and a backup connection on R2.  The customer route X is statically
   routed on both R1 and R2, and is redistributed into BGP.  On R2, the
   backup path for X is configured with a less preferred admin-distance
   than the one for IBGP paths.


                                +----+
                                | R3 |
                                +----+
                               /      \
                              /  ibgp  \
                        +----+          +----+
                        | R1 |----------| R2 |
                        +----+          +----+
                          |                |
                          |                |
                          |                |
                          X                X


   While R1 consistently selects the local static route as the best one,
   the route selection on R2 would be non-deterministic.  As shown in
   the following figure, there are potentially two BGP paths A and B for
   X on R2, with Path A learned from R1 and Path B locally
   redistributed.


       Path   Type     Admin_Distance   LOCAL_PREF   AS_PATH
       -----------------------------------------------------
       A      IBGP          200            100         --
       B      Static        210            100         --




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   Depending on the order of arrivals of these two paths, the path that
   arrives first would be selected as the bestpath in both RIB and BGP.

   More specifically, if Path A is received in BGP and is downloaded to
   RIB first, it would remain as the best in RIB (due to the admin-
   distance) even when Path B shows up in RIB later. In this case A
   would be the best one in both RIB and BGP.

   If Path B shows up in RIB and is redistributed into BGP first, it
   would remain as the best in BGP (due to it being a local route or
   with a lower IGP metric) even when Path A is received in BGP later.
   In this case Path B would be the best one in both RIB and BGP.

   The non-deterministic route selection on R2 may cause other nodes
   (like R3) to converge to different paths as well. The routing
   behavior in the network would be non-deterministic, and inconsistent
   with the intended routing design.

   A network using BGP route reflection [RFC4456] (or BGP confederation
   [RFC5065]) may experience additional cases of network-wide "non-
   deterministic" routing behavior.  For example in the following
   figure, when both R1 and R2 advertise their respective local routes
   to the route reflector (RR) simultaneously, the RR would use the "IGP
   metric" to choose the bestpath between the two IBGP paths.  As a
   result the network may or may not converge to the primary path.


                                +----+
                                | RR |
                                +----+
                               /      \
                              /        \
                        +----+          +----+
                        | R1 |          | R2 |
                        +----+          +----+
                          |                |
                          |                |
                          |                |
                          X                X












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3. The Proposed Solution

   In order to eliminate the non-deterministic routing behavior
   involving route redistribution into BGP, we propose an enhancement to
   BGP route selection that would take into account the admin-distance
   under certain conditions.  We also recommend that the LOCAL_PREF
   value be reduced for the redistributed backup route, and calculated
   automatically based on the admin-distance.


3.1. Enhancement to BGP Route Selection

   To make it deterministic on a single router regarding the route being
   sourced and advertised to the network, we propose that the following
   procedure be added prior to the step that compares the degrees of
   preference of routes and identifies the route that has the highest
   degree of preference, as described in Sect. 9.1.2 [RFC4271] for BGP
   route selection:

      When comparing a locally redistributed route with another route
      that is either locally aggregated or received from an external
      neighbor, favor the one with a more preferred admin-distance. The
      admin-distance for a BGP route is obtained as follows:

          For a locally redistributed route, it is inherited from the
          route being redistributed from RIB.

          For a non-redistributed route, it is of the same value as the
          admin-distance assigned to the route for the purpose of RIB
          installation (regardless of whether it is actually installed
          in RIB).

   It should be noted that IBGP paths are deliberately excluded from the
   algorithm.  As the admin-distance is not propagated by BGP, involving
   IBGP paths in the admin-distance comparison can easily result in
   unintended routing behavior and even route churns.  To influence
   route selection in a network, use the LOCAL_PREF attribute as
   described in the next section.


3.2. Setting the LOCAL_PREF Value

   When a non-BGP route is designated as a backup route in the network,
   it should be assigned a less preferred admin-distance than the value
   for IBGP routes. When such a route is redistributed into BGP, the
   LOCAL_PREF value for the redistributed route SHOULD be set lower than
   the LOCAL_PREF values of the primary route and other more preferred
   routes.



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   Assuming the default LOCAL_PREF value is assigned to the primary
   route, then the LOCAL_PREF value for the redistributed backup route
   can be calculated automatically as described by the following pseudo-
   code:

        if (redist_admin_distance > ibgp_admin_distance) {
            offset = redist_admin_distance - ibgp_admin_distance;
            if (default_local_pref > offset)
                calculated_local_pref = default_local_pref - offset;
            else
                calculated_local_pref = 0;
        }

   in which

       o "redist_admin_distance" is the admin-distance of the route
         being redistributed.

       o "ibgp_admin_distance" is the admin-distance for IBGP routes on
         the local router.

       o "default_local_pref" is the default LOCAL_PREF value in the
         network.

       o "calculated_local_pref" is the calculated LOCAL_PREF value for
         the redistributed route.

   Clearly, in order for the calculated LOCAL_PREF value to truly
   reflect the intended routing design, the admin-distance needs to be
   assigned properly.  Guideline is provided on assigning the admin-
   distance in the next section.

   This algorithm would not apply if the "default_local_pref" is not
   assigned to the primary route, in which case manual configuration
   should be used.

   In addition to lowering the LOCAL_PREF value, it may be necessary to
   modify the parameters for the aforementioned redistributed route
   pertaining to any vendor-specific route selection criteria preceding
   the LOCAL_PREF comparison.  For example, the "weight" parameter
   exists in a number of implementations in which case the "weight" for
   the aforementioned redistributed route should be made equal to the
   default "weight" for IBGP routes.








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3.3. Admin-distance Assignment

   In order to achieve the desired routing scheme using the LOCAL_PREF
   calculated from the admin-distance, coordination would be necessary
   for the admin-distance assignment when the same destination is
   redistributed from multiple routers in a network.

   While the default LOCAL_PREF value is usually consistent in a
   network, the default admin-distance for IBGP routes can vary from one
   node to another in a multi-vendor network.

   The coordination of the admin-distance assignment can be simplified
   by examining the "role" that a non-BGP route is supposed to play
   (such as being the primary, the secondary or the tertiary), and then
   associate an "offset" to the route based on its role.  Among the
   routes involved, the less preferred a route is, the higher the offset
   should be.  Then the admin-distance for the route can be assigned as
   (ibgp_admin_distance + offset), and the desired LOCAL_PREF value
   would be automatically calculated using the algorithm described in
   the previous section.

   As an example shown in the following table, there are three non-BGP
   paths for the same destination on separate routers A, B and C in the
   network and they are designated as the primary, the secondary and the
   tertiary. The default LOCAL_PREF value is 100 in the network, and the
   "ibgp_admin_distance" is 200 on the router with the secondary path,
   and 170 on the router with the tertiary path.

   The desired LOCAL_PREF values for the redistributed routes are
   obtained using the algorithm and procedures described in this
   document.


       Router   Role         Offset   Admin_Distance    LOCAL_PREF
       --------------------------------------------------------------
       A        Primary        -             50         100 (Default)
       B        Secondary     10       200 + 10         100 - 10
       C        Tertiary      20       170 + 20         100 - 20


3.4. Configuration Option

   Configuration can be used to achieve the equivalent outcome by
   setting the appropriate LOCAL_PREF value (and also the "weight"
   parameter if applicable) for the redistributed backup route. It can
   also be used to override the LOCAL_PREF value calculated based on the
   admin-distance value of the redistributed route as proposed in this
   document.



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   When route redistribution is part of a more complex routing scheme
   beyond what can be automated with the proposed solution,
   configuration can also be used following the general principles
   discussed in this document.


4. IANA Considerations

   This document has no request for IANA.


5. Security Considerations

   The solution proposed in this document does not change the underlying
   security or confidentiality issues inherent in the existing BGP
   [RFC4271].


6. Acknowledgments

   The authors would like to thank Naiming Shen, Acee Lindem and Robert
   Raszuk for inputs and discussions.


7. References

7.1. Normative References

   [RFC2119]   Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
               Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
               DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
               <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC4271]   Rekhter, Y., Ed., Li, T., Ed., and S. Hares, Ed., "A
               Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271,
               DOI 10.17487/RFC4271, January 2006,
               <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4271>.

   [RFC8174]   Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
               2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
               May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.










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7.2. Informative References

   [STATIC-R]  Static routing, Wikipedia,
               https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_routing

   [ADMIN-DIS] Administrative distance, Wikipedia,
               https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_distance.

   [RFC4456]   Bates, T., Chen, E., and R. Chandra, "BGP Route
               Reflection: An Alternative to Full Mesh Internal BGP
               (IBGP)", RFC 4456, DOI 10.17487/RFC4456, April 2006,
               <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4456>.

   [RFC5065]   Traina, P., McPherson, D., and J. Scudder, "Autonomous
               System Confederations for BGP", RFC 5065,
               DOI 10.17487/RFC5065, August 2007,
               <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5065>.

Authors' Addresses

   Enke Chen
   Palo Alto Networks

   Email: enchen@paloaltonetworks.com

   Jenny Yuan
   Palo Alto Networks

   Email: jyuan@paloaltonetworks.com






















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