Internet DRAFT - draft-ietf-pce-pcep-inter-domain-p2mp-procedures

draft-ietf-pce-pcep-inter-domain-p2mp-procedures



PCE Working Group                                                Q. Zhao
Internet-Draft                                                  D. Dhody
Intended status: Experimental                          Huawei Technology
Expires: December 17, 2014                                       D. King
                                                      Old Dog Consulting
                                                                  Z. Ali
                                                           Cisco Systems
                                                             R. Casellas
                                                                    CTTC
                                                           June 17, 2014

  PCE-based Computation Procedure To Compute Shortest Constrained P2MP
         Inter-domain Traffic Engineering Label Switched Paths
          draft-ietf-pce-pcep-inter-domain-p2mp-procedures-08


Abstract

   The ability to compute paths for constrained point-to-multipoint 
   (P2MP) Traffic Engineering Label Switched Paths (TE LSPs) across
   multiple domains has been identified as a key requirement for the
   deployment of P2MP services in MPLS and GMPLS-controlled networks. 
   The Path Computation Element (PCE) has been recognized as an 
   appropriate technology for the determination of inter-domain paths of
   P2MP TE LSPs.

   This document describes an experiment to provide procedures and 
   extensions to the PCE communication Protocol (PCEP) for the 
   computation of inter-domain paths for P2MP TE LSPs.


Status of This Memo

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

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on December 17, 2014.


Copyright Notice


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   Copyright (c) 2014 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
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   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.


Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
     1.1.  Scope  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
     1.2.  Requirements Language  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
   2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
   3.  Examination of Existing Mechanisms  . . . . . .  . . . . . . .3
   4.  Assumptions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
   5.  Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
   6.  Objective Functions and Constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
   7.  P2MP Path Computation Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
     7.1.  General  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
     7.2.  Core-Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
     7.3.  Optimal Core-Tree Computation Procedure. . . . . . . . . .12
     7.4.  Sub-tree Computation Procedures  . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
     7.5.  PCEP Protocol Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
       7.5.1.  The Extension of RP Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
       7.5.2.  Domain and PCE Sequence  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
     7.6.  Relationship with Hierarchical PCE . . . . . . . . . . . .14
     7.7.  Parallelism  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
   8.  Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
     8.1.  End-to-end Protection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
     8.2.  Domain Protection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
   9.  Manageability Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
     9.1.  Control of Function and Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
     9.2.  Information and Data Models  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
     9.3.  Liveness Detection and Monitoring  . . . . . . . . . . . .16
     9.4.  Verifying Correct Operation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
     9.5.  Requirements on Other Protocols and Functional Components.17
     9.6.  Impact on Network Operation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
     9.7.  Policy Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
   10. Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
   11. IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
   12. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
   13. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
     13.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19


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     13.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
   14. Contributors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
   15. Authors'  Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21


1.  Introduction

   Multicast services are increasingly in demand for high-capacity
   applications such as multicast Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), IP-
   television (IPTV) which may be on-demand or streamed, and content-
   rich media distribution (for example, software distribution,
   financial streaming, or database-replication).  The ability to
   compute constrained Traffic Engineering Label Switched Paths (TE
   LSPs) for point-to-multipoint (P2MP) LSPs in Multiprotocol Label
   Switching (MPLS) and Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) networks across
   multiple domains are therefore required.

   The applicability of the PCE [RFC4655] for the computation of such 
   paths is discussed in [RFC5671], and the requirements placed on the 
   PCE communications Protocol (PCEP) for this are given in [RFC5862].

   This document details the requirements for inter-domain P2MP path
   computation, it then describes the experimental procedure 
   "core-tree" path computation, developed to address the requirements
   and objectives for inter-domain P2MP path computation.
   
   When results of implementation and deployment are available, this 
   document will be updated and refined, and then moved from 
   Experimental status to Standards Track. 
   
1.2.  Scope

   The inter-domain P2MP path computation procedures described in this
   document is experimental. The experiment is intended to enable
   research for the usage of the PCE to support inter-domain P2MP path 
   computation.  
   
   This document is not intended to replace the intra-domain P2MP path
   computation approach defined by [RFC6006], and will not impact 
   existing PCE procedures and operations.

1.3.  Requirements Language

   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 2119 [RFC2119].


2.  Terminology


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   Terminology used in this document is consistent with the related
   MPLS/GMPLS and PCE documents [RFC4461], [RFC4655], [RFC4875],
   [RFC5376], [RFC5440], [RFC5441], [RFC5671] and [RFC5862].  

   The additional terms Core-Tree, Leaf Domain, Path Tree, Path Domain 
   Sequence, Path Domain Tree, Root Domain, Sub-Tree and Transit/branch 
   Domain are further defined below.  

   Core-Tree: a P2MP tree where the root is the ingress Label Switching 
   Router (LSR), and the leaf nodes are the entry BNs of the leaf 
   domains.

   Entry BN of domain(n): a Boundary Node (BN) connecting domain(n-1) to
   domain(n) along a determined sequence of domains.

   Exit BN of domain(n): a BN connecting domain(n) to domain(n+1) along
   a determined sequence of domains.
   
   H-PCE: Hierarchical PCE (as per [RFC6805]).

   Leaf Domain: a domain with one or more leaf nodes.

   Path Tree: a set of LSRs and TE links that comprise the path
   of a P2MP TE LSP from the ingress LSR to all egress LSRs (the leaf 
   nodes).

   Path Domain Sequence: the known sequence of domains for a path
   between the root domain and a leaf domain.

   Path Domain Tree: the tree formed by the domains that the P2MP path
   crosses, where the source (ingress) domain is the root domain.

   PCE(i): a PCE that performs path computations for domain(i).

   Root Domain: the domain that includes the ingress (root) LSR.

   Sub-tree: a P2MP tree where the root is the selected entry BN of the 
   leaf domain and the leaf nodes are the destinations (leaves) in 
   that domain. The sub-trees are grafted to the core-tree.
   
   Transit/branch Domain: a domain that has an upstream and one or more
   downstream neighbor domain.


3.  Examination of Existing Mechanisms

   The Path Computation Element (PCE) defined in [RFC4655] is an entity
   that is capable of computing a network path or route based on a
   network graph, and applying computational constraints.  A Path


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   Computation Client (PCC) may make requests to a PCE for paths to be
   computed.

   [RFC4875] describes how to set up P2MP TE LSPs for use in MPLS and
   GMPLS-controlled networks.  The PCE is identified as a suitable 
   application for the computation of paths for P2MP TE LSPs [RFC5671].

   [RFC5441] specifies a procedure relying on the use of multiple PCEs
   to compute Point to Point (P2P) inter-domain constrained shortest 
   paths across a predetermined sequence of domains, using a Backward 
   Recursive Path Computation (BRPC) technique.  The technique can be 
   combined with the use of Path-Keys [RFC5520] to preserve 
   confidentiality across domains, which is sometimes required when 
   domains are managed by different Service Providers.

   PCEP [RFC5440] was extended for point-to-multipoint (P2MP) path 
   computation requests in [RFC6006].

   As discussed in [RFC4461], a P2MP tree is the ordered set of LSRs and
   TE links that comprise the path of a P2MP TE LSP from its ingress LSR
   to all of its egress LSRs. A P2MP LSP is set up with TE constraints 
   and allows efficient packet or data replication at various branching 
   points in the network. As per [RFC5671] branch point selection is 
   fundamental to the determination of the paths for a P2MP TE LSP. Not 
   only is this selection constrained by the network topology and 
   available network resources, but it is determined by the objective 
   functions (OF) that may be applied to path computation.  

   Generally, an inter-domain P2MP tree (i.e., a P2MP tree with source
   and at least one destination residing in different domains) is
   particularly difficult to compute even for a distributed PCE
   architecture.  For instance, while the BRPC may be well-suited for 
   P2P paths, P2MP path computation involves multiple branching path 
   segments from the source to the multiple destinations. As such, 
   inter-domain P2MP path computation may result in a plurality of 
   per-domain path options that may be difficult to coordinate 
   efficiently and effectively between domains. That is, when one or 
   more domains have multiple ingress and/or egress boundary nodes 
   (i.e., when the domains are multiply inter-connected), existing 
   techniques may be convoluted when used to determine which boundary 
   node of another domain will be utilized for the inter-domain P2MP 
   tree, and no way to limit the computation of the P2MP tree to 
   those utilized boundary nodes.   
   
   A trivial solution to the computation of inter-domain P2MP tree would
   be to compute shortest inter-domain P2P paths from source to each
   destination and then combine them to generate an inter-domain,
   shortest-path-to-destination P2MP tree.  This solution, however,
   cannot be used to trade cost to destination for overall tree cost


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   (i.e., it cannot produce a Minimum Cost Tree (MCT)) and in the
   context of inter-domain P2MP TE LSPs it cannot be used to reduce the
   number of domain boundary nodes that are transited. Computing P2P TE 
   LSPs individually does not guarantee the generation of an optimal 
   P2MP tree for every definition of "optimal" in every topology.

   Per Domain path computation [RFC5152] may be used to compute P2MP 
   multi-domain paths, but may encounter the issues previously 
   described. Furthermore, this approach may also be considered to have 
   scaling issues during LSP setup.  That is, the LSP to each leaf is 
   signaled separately, and each boundary node needs to perform path 
   computation for each leaf.

   P2MP Minimum Cost Tree (MCT), i.e. a computation which guarantees the
   least cost resulting tree, typically is an NP-complete problem. 
   Moreover, adding and/or removing a single destination to/from the 
   tree may result in an entirely different tree.  In this case, 
   frequent MCT path computation requests may prove computationally 
   intensive, and the resulting frequent tunnel reconfiguration may 
   even cause network destabilization.

   This document presents a solution, procedures and extensions to
   PCEP to support P2MP inter-domain path computation.


4.  Assumptions

   Within this document we make the following assumptions:
    
   o Due to deployment and commercial limitations (e.g., inter-AS 
     (Autonomous System) peering agreements), the path domain tree will 
     be known in advance;

   o  Each PCE knows about any leaf LSRs in the domain it serves;

   Additional assumptions are documented in [RFC5441] and are not 
   repeated here.


5.  Requirements

   This section summarizes the requirements specific to computing inter-
   domain P2MP paths.  In these requirements we note that the actual
   computation time taken by any PCE implementation is outside the scope 
   of this document, but we observe that reducing the complexity of the
   required computations has a beneficial effect on the computation time
   regardless of implementation.  Additionally, reducing the number of
   message exchanges and the amount of information exchanged will reduce
   the overall computation time for the entire P2MP tree.  We refer to


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   the "complexity of the computation" as the impact on these aspects of
   path computation time as various parameters of the topology and the
   P2MP TE LSP are changed.

   It is also important that the solution can preserve confidentiality 
   across domains, which is required when domains are managed by 
   different Service Providers via Path-Key mechanism [RFC5520].

   Other than the requirements specified in [RFC5862], a number of
   requirements specific to inter-domain P2MP are detailed below:

   1.  The complexity of the computation for each sub-tree within each
       domain SHOULD be dependent only on the topology of the domain and
       it SHOULD be independent of the domain sequence.
       
   2.  The number of PCReq (Path Computation Request) and PCRep (Path 
       Computation Reply) messages SHOULD be independent of the number 
       of multicast destinations in each domain.

   3.  It SHOULD be possible to specify the domain entry and exit nodes 
       in the PCReq.

   4.  Specifying which nodes are be used as branch nodes SHOULD be 
       supported in the PCReq.

   5.  Reoptimization of existing sub-trees SHOULD be supported.

   6.  It SHOULD be possible to compute diverse P2MP paths from existing
       P2MP paths.
       

6.  Objective Functions and Constraints

   For the computation of a single or a set of P2MP TE LSPs, a request
   to meet specific optimization criteria, called an Objective Function
   (OF), MAY be used. Using an OF to select the "best" candidate path, 
   include:

   o  The sub-tree within each domain SHOULD be optimized using minimum
      cost tree [RFC5862], or shortest path tree [RFC5862].
  
   In addition to the OFs, the following constraints MAY also be 
   beneficial for inter-domain P2MP path computation:  

   1.  The computed P2MP "core-tree" SHOULD be optimal when only 
       considering the paths to the leaf domain entry BNs.

   2.  Grafting and pruning of multicast destinations (sub-tree) within
       a leaf domain SHOULD ensure minimal impact on other domains 


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       and on the core-tree.

   3.  It SHOULD be possible to choose to optimize the core-tree. 
  
   4.  It SHOULD  be possible to choose optimize the entire tree (P2MP 
       LSP).    

   5.  It SHOULD be possible to combine the aforementioned OFs and 
       constraints for P2MP path computation.
   
   When implementing and operating P2MP LSPs, following needs to be 
   taken into consideration: 
   
   o  The complexity of computation.
   
   o  The optimality of the tree (core-tree as well as full P2MP LSP 
      tree).
      
   o  The stability of the core-tree.      
        
   The solution SHOULD allow these trade-offs to be made at computation 
   time.
   
   The algorithms used to compute optimal paths using a combination of
   OFs and multiple constraints is out of scope of this document.  


7.  P2MP Path Computation Procedures

7.1. General

   A P2MP path computation can be broken down into two steps of 
   core-tree computation and grafting of sub-trees. Breaking the 
   procedure into these specific steps has the following impact: 
   
   o The core-tree and sub-tree are smaller in comparison to 
     the full P2MP Tree and are thus easier to compute. 
   
   o An implementation MAY choose to keep the core-tree fairly static
     or computed offline (trade-off with optimality).

   o Adding/Pruning of leaves which require changes to sub-tree in leaf-
     domain only.     

   o The PCEP message size is smaller in comparison.          
   
   Allowing the core-tree based solution to provide an optimal 
   inter-domain P2MP TE LSP.
   


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   The following sub-sections describe the core-tree based 
   mechanism, including procedures and PCEP extensions, that satisfy 
   the requirements and objectives specified in Section 5 and Section 6 
   of this document. 

7.2.  Core-Trees

   A core-tree is defined as a tree that satisfies the following
   conditions:

   o  The root of the core-tree is the ingress LSR in the root domain;

   o  The leaves of the core-tree are the entry boundary nodes in the 
      leaf domains.
 
   To support confidentiality these nodes and links MAY be hidden using
   the path-key mechanism [RFC5520], but they MUST be computed and be a
   part of core-tree.
      
   For example, consider the Domain Tree in Figure 1 below,
   representing a domain tree of 6 domains, and part of the resulting
   core-tree which satisfies the aforementioned conditions.





























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                             +----------------+
                             |                |Domain D1
                             |        R       |
                             |                |
                             |        A       |
                             |                |
                             +-B------------C-+
                              /              \
                             /                \
                            /                  \
            Domain D2      /                    \ Domain D3
            +-------------D--+             +-----E----------+
            |                |             |                |
            |  F             |             |                |
            |          G     |             |       H        |
            |                |             |                |
            |                |             |                |
            +-I--------------+             +-J------------K-+
             /\                             /              \
            /  \                           /                \
           /    \                         /                  \
          /      \                       /                    \
         /        \                     /                      \
        /          \                   /                        \
       / Domain D4  \      Domain D5  /              Domain D6   \
     +-L-------------W+       +------P---------+      +-----------T----+
     |                |       |                |      |                |
     |                |       |  Q             |      |   U            |
     |  M        O    |       |         S      |      |                |
     |                |       |                |      |          V     |
     |          N     |       |   R            |      |                |
     +----------------+       +----------------+      +----------------+

                          Figure 1: Domain Tree Example

















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                                    (R)
                                     |
                                    (A)
                                    / \
                                   /   \
                                 (B)   (C)
                                 /       \
                                /         \
                              (D)         (E)
                              /            |
                             /             |
                           (G)            (H)
                           /              / \
                          /              /   \
                        (I)            (J)   (K)
                        / \            /       \
                       /   \          /         \
                     (L)   (W)      (P)         (T)


                           Figure 2: Core-Tree

   A core-tree is computed such that root of the tree is R and the leaf
   node are the entry nodes of the destination domains (L, W, P and T).
   Path-key mechanism can be used to hide the internal nodes and links
   (node G and H are hidden via Path-Key PK1 and PK2 respectively) in 
   the final core-tree as shown below for domain D2 and D3. 
   
                                    (R)
                                     |
                                    (A)
                                    / \
                                   /   \
                                 (B)   (C)
                                 /       \
                                /         \
                              (D)         (E)
                              /            |
                             /             |
                          |PK1|          |PK2|
                           /              / \
                          /              /   \
                        (I)            (J)   (K)
                        / \            /       \
                       /   \          /         \
                     (L)   (W)      (P)         (T)   
   
                    Figure 3: Core-Tree with Path-Key  


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7.3.  Optimal Core-Tree Computation Procedure

   Applying the core-tree procedure to large groups of domains, such as 
   the Internet, is not considered feasible or desirable, and is out of 
   scope for this document.
   
   The following extended BRPC-based procedure can be used to compute 
   the core-tree. Note that a root PCE MAY further use its own enhanced 
   optimization techniques in future to compute the core-tree.

   A BRPC-based core-tree path computation procedure is described below:

   1.  Using the BRPC procedures to compute the VSPT(i) (Virtual 
       Shortest Path Tree) for each leaf BN(i), i=1 to n, where n is the 
       total number of entry nodes for all the leaf domains.  In each 
       VSPT(i), there are a number of P(i) paths.

   2.  When the root PCE has computed all the VSPT(i), i=1 to n, take
       one path from each VSPT and form all possible sets of paths, we
       call them PathSet(j), j=1 to M, where M=P(1)xP(2)...xP(n);

   3.  For each PathSet(j), there are n S2L (Source-to-Leaf) BN paths
       and form these n paths into a core-tree(j);

   4.  There will be M number core-trees computed from step 3. An 
       optimal core-tree is selected based on the OF and constraints.   
   
   Note that, since point to point BRPC procedure is used to compute
   VSPT, the path request and response message format defined in 
   [RFC5440] are used.

   Also note that the application of BRPC in the aforementioned
   procedure differs from the typical one since paths returned from a
   downstream PCE are not necessarily pruned from the solution set 
   (extended VSPT) by intermediate PCEs. The reason for this is that if 
   the PCE in a downstream domain does the pruning and returns the 
   single optimal sub-path to the upstream PCE, the combination of these
   single optimal sub-paths into a core-tree is not necessarily optimal 
   even if each S2L (Source-to-Leaf) sub-path is optimal. 

   Without trimming, the ingress PCE will obtain all the possible S2L 
   sub-paths set for the entry boundary nodes of the leaf domain. The 
   PCE will then, by looking through all the combinations and taking one
   sub-path from each set to build one tree, can select the optimal 
   core-tree.

   A PCE MAY add equal cost paths within the domain while constructing 
   an extended VSPT.  This will provide the ingress PCE more candidate
   paths for an optimal core-tree.


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   The proposed method may present a scalability problem for the 
   dynamic computation of the core-tree (by iterative checking of all 
   combinations of the solution space), specially with dense/meshed 
   domains. Considering a domain sequence D1, D2, D3, D4, where the 
   Leaf Boundary Node is at domain D4, PCE(4) will return 1 path. 
   PCE(3) will return N paths, where N is E(3) x X(3), where E(k) x 
   X(k) denotes the number of entry nodes times the number of exit 
   nodes for that domain.  PCE(2) will return M paths, where M = E(2) 
   x X(2) x N = E(2) x X(2) x E(3) x X(3) x 1, etc.  Generally 
   speaking the number of potential paths at the ingress PCE Q = 
   prod E(k) x X(k).

   Consequently, it is expected that the core-tree will be typically
   computed offline, without precluding the use of dynamic, online
   mechanisms such as the one presented here, in which case it SHOULD be
   possible to configure transit PCEs to control the number of paths
   sent upstream during BRPC (trading trimming for optimality at the
   point of trimming and downwards).

7.4.  Sub-tree Computation Procedures

   Once the core-tree is built, the grafting of all the leaf nodes from
   each domain to the core-tree can be achieved by a number of
   algorithms.  One algorithm for doing this phase is that the root PCE
   will send the request with C bit set (as defined in section 7.4.1 of
   this document) for the path computation to the destination(s) 
   directly to the PCE where the destination(s) belong(s) along with the
   core-tree computed from section 7.2.

   This approach requires that the root PCE manage a potentially large
   number of adjacencies (either in persistent or non-persistent mode),
   including PCEP adjacencies to PCEs that are not within neighbor
   domains.

   An alternative would involve establishing PCEP adjacencies that
   correspond to the PCE domain tree.  This would require that branch
   PCEs forward requests and responses from the root PCE towards the
   leaf PCEs and vice-versa.

   Note that the P2MP path request and response format is as per
   [RFC6006], where Record Route Object (RRO) are used to carry the
   core-tree paths in the P2MP grafting request.

   The algorithms to compute the optimal large sub-tree are outside
   scope of this document.  
   
7.5.  PCEP Protocol Extensions

7.5.1.  The Extension of RP Object


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   This experiment will be carried out by extending the RP (Request 
   Parameters) object (defined in [RFC5440]) used in PCEP requests 
   and responses.

   The extended format of the RP object body to include the C bit is as
   follows:

   The C bit is added in the flag bits field of the RP object to signal
   the receiver of the message that the request/reply is for inter-
   domain P2MP core-tree or not.

     The following flag is added in this draft:
     
     Bit Number     Name Flag
     TBA            Core-tree computation (C-bit)

     C bit (Core-Tree bit - 1 bit):

        0: This indicates that this is not for an inter-domain P2MP 
           core-tree.

        1: This indicates that this is a PCEP request or a response 
           for the computation of a inter-domain core-tree or for the 
           grafting of a sub-tree to a inter-domain core-tree. 

7.5.2.  Domain and PCE Sequence

   The procedure described in this document requires the domain-tree    
   to be known in advance.  This information MAY be either 
   administratively predetermined or dynamically discovered by some 
   means such as Hierarchical PCE (H-PCE) [RFC6805] framework, or 
   derived through the IGP/BGP routing information. 
   
   Examples of ways to encode the domain path tree include [RFC5886] 
   using PCE-ID Object and [DOMAIN-SEQ]. 
   
7.6.  Using H-PCE for Scalability 

   The ingress/root PCE is responsible for the core-tree computation as
   well as grafting of sub-trees into the multi-domain tree. Therefore, 
   the ingress/root PCE will receive all computed path segments from all
   the involved domains. When the ingress/root PCE chooses to have a 
   PCEP session with all involved PCEs, this may cause an excessive 
   number of sessions or added complexity in implementations.

   The use of the H-PCE framework [RFC6805] may be used to establish a
   dedicated PCE with the capability (memory and CPU) and knowledge to
   maintain the necessary PCEP sessions. The parent PCE would be 
   responsible to request intra-domain path computation request to the 


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   PCEs, combine them and return the overall P2MP tree.

7.7.  Parallelism

   In order to minimize latency in path computation in multi-domain
   networks, intra-domain path segments and intra-domain sub-trees
   can be computed in parallel when possible.  The proposed
   procedures in this draft present opportunities for parallelism:

   1.  The BRPC procedure for each leaf boundary node can be launched in
       parallel by the ingress/root PCE for dynamic computation of 
       core-tree.

   2.  The grafting of sub-trees can be triggered in parallel once the 
       core-tree is computed.

   One of the potential issues of parallelism is that the ingress PCE
   would require a potentially high number of PCEP adjacencies to
   "remote" PCEs at the same time and that may not be desirable.


8.  Protection

   It is envisaged that protection may be required when deploying and
   using inter-domain P2MP TE LSPs.  The procedures and mechanisms 
   defined in this document do not prohibit the use of existing and 
   proposed types of protection, including: end-to-end protection 
   [RFC4875] and domain protection schemes.

   Segment or facility (link and node) protection is problematic in
   inter-domain environment due to the limit of Fast-reroute (FRR)
   [RFC4875] requiring knowledge of its next-hop across domain
   boundaries whilst maintaining domain confidentiality.  Although the
   FRR protection might be implemented if next-hop information was known
   in advance.

8.1.  End-to-end Protection

   An end-to-end protection (for nodes and links) principle can be 
   applied for computing backup P2MP TE LSPs.  During computation of the 
   core-tree and sub-trees, may also be taken into consideration. A
   PCE may compute the primary and backup P2MP TE LSP together or 
   sequentially.

8.2.  Domain Protection

   In this protection scheme, backup P2MP Tree can be computed which
   excludes the transit/branch domain completely.  A backup domain path
   tree is needed with the same source domain and destinations domains


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   and a new set of transit domains.  The backup path tree can be
   applied to the above procedure to obtain the backup P2MP TE LSP with
   disjoint transit domains.


9.  Manageability Considerations

   [RFC5862] describes various manageability requirements in support of
   P2MP path computation when applying PCEP.  This section describes how
   manageability requirements mentioned in [RFC5862] are supported in
   the context of PCEP extensions specified in this document.

   Note that [RFC5440] describes various manageability considerations in
   PCEP, and most of manageability requirements mentioned in [RFC6006]
   are already covered there.

9.1.  Control of Function and Policy

   In addition to PCE configuration parameters listed in [RFC5440] and
   [RFC6006], the following additional parameters might be required:

   o  The ability to enable or disable multi-domain P2MP path
      computations on the PCE.

   o  The PCE may be configured to enable or disable the advertisement
      of its multi-domain P2MP path computation capability.

9.2.  Information and Data Models

   A number of MIB objects have been defined for general PCEP control
   and monitoring of P2P computations in [PCEP-MIB].  [RFC5862]
   specifies that MIB objects will be required to support the control
   and monitoring of the protocol extensions defined in this document.
   [PCEP-P2MP-MIB] describes managed objects for modeling of PCEP
   communications between a PCC and PCE, and PCE to PCE, P2MP path
   computation requests and responses.

9.3.  Liveness Detection and Monitoring

   No changes are necessary to the liveness detection and monitoring
   requirements as already embodied in [RFC4657].

   It should be noted that multi-domain P2MP computations are likely to
   take longer than P2P computations, and single domain P2MP
   computations.  The liveness detection and monitoring features of the
   PCEP SHOULD take this into account.

9.4.  Verifying Correct Operation



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   There are no additional requirements beyond those expressed in
   [RFC4657] for verifying the correct operation of the PCEP.  Note that
   verification of the correct operation of the PCE and its algorithms
   is out of scope for the protocol requirements, but a PCC MAY send the
   same request to more than one PCE and compare the results.

9.5.  Requirements on Other Protocols and Functional Components

   A PCE operates on a topology graph that may be built using
   information distributed by TE extensions to the routing protocol
   operating within the network.  In order that the PCE can select a
   suitable path for the signaling protocol to use to install the P2MP
   TE LSP, the topology graph MUST include information about the P2MP
   signaling and branching capabilities of each LSR in the network.

   Mechanisms for the knowledge of other domains, the discovery of
   corresponding PCEs and their capabilities SHOULD be provided and that
   this information MAY be collected by other mechanisms.

   Whatever means is used to collect the information to build the
   topology graph, the graph MUST include the requisite information.  If
   the TE extensions to the routing protocol are used, these SHOULD be
   as described in [RFC5073].

9.6.  Impact on Network Operation

   The use of a PCE to compute P2MP paths is not expected to have
   significant impact on network operations.  However, it should be
   noted that the introduction of P2MP support to a PCE that already
   provides P2P path computation might change the loading of the PCE
   significantly, and that might have an impact on the network behavior,
   especially during recovery periods immediately after a network
   failure.

   The dynamic computation of core-trees might also have an impact on
   the load of the involved PCEs as well as path computation times.
   
   It should be noted that pre-computing and maintaining domain-trees 
   might be a considerable administration effort on the operator.

9.7.  Policy Control

   [RFC5394] provides additional details on policy within the PCE
   architecture and also provides context for the support of PCE Policy.
   They are also applicable to Inter-domain P2MP Path computation via 
   the core-tree mechanism.


10.  Security Considerations


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   As described in [RFC5862], P2MP path computation requests are more
   CPU-intensive and also utilize more link bandwidth.  In the event of
   an unauthorized P2MP path computation request, or a denial of service
   attack, the subsequent PCEP requests and processing may be disruptive
   to the network.  Consequently, it is important that implementations
   conform to the relevant security requirements of [RFC5440] that
   specifically help to minimize or negate unauthorized P2MP path
   computation requests and denial of service attacks.  These mechanisms
   include:

   o  Securing the PCEP session requests and responses using TCP
      security techniques (Section 10.2 of [RFC5440]).

   o  Authenticating the PCEP requests and responses to ensure the
      message is intact and sent from an authorized node (Section 10.3
      of [RFC5440]).

   o  Providing policy control by explicitly defining which PCCs, via IP
      access-lists, are allowed to send P2MP path requests to the PCE
      (Section 10.6 of [RFC5440]).

   PCEP operates over TCP, so it is also important to secure the PCE and
   PCC against TCP denial of service attacks.  Section 10.7.1 of
   [RFC5440] outlines a number of mechanisms for minimizing the risk of
   TCP-based denial of service attacks against PCEs and PCCs.

   PCEP implementations SHOULD also consider the additional security
   provided by the TCP Authentication Option (TCP-AO) [RFC5925].

   Finally, any multi-domain operation necessarily involves the exchange 
   of information across domain boundaries.  This may represent a 
   significant security and confidentiality risk especially when the 
   domains are controlled by different commercial entities.  PCEP 
   allows individual PCEs to maintain confidentiality of their domain 
   path information by using path-keys [RFC5520] and would allow for 
   securing of domain path information when performing core-tree 
   based path computations. 


11.  IANA Considerations

   IANA maintains the "Path Computation Element Protocol (PCEP) Numbers" 
   registry with the "RP Object Flag Field" sub-registry.
   
   IANA is requested to allocate a new bit from this registry as 
   follows:
   
   Bit             Description                        Reference



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   TBA             Core-tree computation (C-bit)      [This.I-D]
      

12.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Adrian Farrel, Dan Tappan, Olufemi
   Komolafe, Oscar Gonzalez de Dios and Julien Meuric for their 
   valuable comments on this document.


13.  References

13.1.  Normative References

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

   [RFC5440]        Vasseur, JP. and JL. Le Roux, "Path Computation
                    Element (PCE) Communication Protocol (PCEP)",
                    RFC 5440, March 2009.
                    
   [RFC5441]        Vasseur, JP., Zhang, R., Bitar, N., and JL. Le Roux,
                    "A Backward-Recursive PCE-Based Computation (BRPC)
                    Procedure to Compute Shortest Constrained Inter-
                    Domain Traffic Engineering Label Switched Paths",
                    RFC 5441, April 2009.
                    
   [RFC6006]        Zhao, Q., King, D., Verhaeghe, F., Takeda, T., Ali,
                    Z., and J. Meuric, "Extensions to the Path
                    Computation Element Communication Protocol (PCEP)
                    for Point-to-Multipoint Traffic Engineering Label
                    Switched Paths", RFC 6006, September 2010.

13.2.  Informative References

   [RFC4461]        Yasukawa, S., "Signaling Requirements for Point-to-
                    Multipoint Traffic-Engineered MPLS Label Switched
                    Paths (LSPs)", RFC 4461, April 2006.

   [RFC4655]        Farrel, A., Vasseur, J., and J. Ash, "A Path
                    Computation Element (PCE)-Based Architecture",
                    RFC 4655, August 2006.

   [RFC4657]        Ash, J. and J. Le Roux, "Path Computation Element
                    (PCE) Communication Protocol Generic Requirements",
                    RFC 4657, September 2006.

   [RFC4875]        Aggarwal, R., Papadimitriou, D., and S. Yasukawa,
                    "Extensions to Resource Reservation Protocol -


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                    Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) for Point-to-
                    Multipoint TE Label Switched Paths (LSPs)",
                    RFC 4875, May 2007.

   [RFC5073]        Vasseur, J. and J. Le Roux, "IGP Routing Protocol
                    Extensions for Discovery of Traffic Engineering Node
                    Capabilities", RFC 5073, December 2007.

   [RFC5152]        Vasseur, JP., Ayyangar, A., and R. Zhang, "A Per-
                    Domain Path Computation Method for Establishing
                    Inter-Domain Traffic Engineering (TE) Label Switched
                    Paths (LSPs)", RFC 5152, February 2008.

   [RFC5376]        Bitar, N., Zhang, R., and K. Kumaki, "Inter-AS
                    Requirements for the Path Computation Element
                    Communication Protocol (PCECP)", RFC 5376,
                    November 2008.

   [RFC5394]        Bryskin, I., Papadimitriou, D., Berger, L., and J.
                    Ash, "Policy-Enabled Path Computation Framework",
                    RFC 5394, December 2008.

   [RFC5520]        Bradford, R., Vasseur, JP., and A. Farrel,
                    "Preserving Topology Confidentiality in Inter-Domain
                    Path Computation Using a Path-Key-Based Mechanism",
                    RFC 5520, April 2009.

   [RFC5671]        Yasukawa, S. and A. Farrel, "Applicability of the
                    Path Computation Element (PCE) to Point-to-
                    Multipoint (P2MP) MPLS and GMPLS Traffic Engineering
                    (TE)", RFC 5671, October 2009.

   [RFC5862]        Yasukawa, S. and A. Farrel, "Path Computation
                    Clients (PCC) - Path Computation Element (PCE)
                    Requirements for Point-to-Multipoint MPLS-TE",
                    RFC 5862, June 2010.
                    
   [RFC5886]        Vasseur, JP., Le Roux, JL., and Y. Ikejiri, "A Set 
                    of Monitoring Tools for Path Computation Element 
                    (PCE)-Based Architecture", RFC 5886, June 2010.
              
   [RFC5925]        Touch, J., Mankin, A., and R. Bonica, "The TCP
                    Authentication Option", RFC 5925, June 2010.

   [RFC6805]        King, D. and A. Farrel, "The Application of the Path
                    Computation Element Architecture to the
                    Determination of a Sequence of Domains in MPLS and
                    GMPLS", RFC 6805, November 2012.



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   [PCEP-MIB]       Koushik, K., Stephan, E., Zhao, Q., King, D., and J.
                    Hardwick, "PCE communication protocol (PCEP)
                    Management Information Base (Work in Progress)",
                    April 2014.

   [PCEP-P2MP-MIB]  Zhao, Q., Dhody, D., Palle, U., and D. King,
                    "Management Information Base for the PCE
                    Communications Protocol (PCEP) When Requesting
                    Point-to-Multipoint Services (Work in Progress)",
                    Aug 2012.

   [DOMAIN-SEQ]     Dhody, D., Palle, U., and R. Casellas, "Standard
                    Representation Of Domain Sequence (Work in
                    Progress)", July 2014.


14. Contributor Addresses

   Siva Sivabalan
   Cisco Systems
   2000 Innovation Drive
   Kanata, Ontario  K2K 3E8
   CANADA

   EMail: msiva@cisco.com

   Tarek Saad
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   2000 Innovation Drive
   Kanata, Ontario  K2K 3E8
   CANADA

   EMail: tsaad@cisco.com


15. Authors' Addresses

   Quintin Zhao
   Huawei Technology
   125 Nagog Technology Park
   Acton, MA  01719
   US

   EMail: quintin.zhao@huawei.com

   Dhruv Dhody
   Huawei Technology
   Leela Palace
   Bangalore, Karnataka  560008


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   INDIA

   EMail: dhruv.dhody@huawei.com

   Zafar Ali
   Cisco Systems
   2000 Innovation Drive
   Kanata, Ontario  K2K 3E8
   CANADA

   EMail: zali@cisco.com

   Daniel King
   Old Dog Consulting
   UK

   EMail: daniel@olddog.co.uk

   Ramon Casellas
   CTTC
   Av. Carl Friedrich Gauss n7
   Castelldefels, Barcelona  08860
   SPAIN

   EMail: ramon.casellas@cttc.es


























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