SPRING Working Group                                             J. Dong
Internet-Draft                                       Huawei Technologies
Intended status: Informational                                 S. Bryant
Expires: 2 December 2023                            University of Surrey
                                                             T. Miyasaka
                                                        KDDI Corporation
                                                                  Y. Zhu
                                                           China Telecom
                                                                  F. Qin
                                                                   Z. Li
                                                            China Mobile
                                                                 F. Clad
                                                           Cisco Systems
                                                             31 May 2023


 Segment Routing based Virtual Transport Network (VTN) for Enhanced VPN
                draft-ietf-spring-sr-for-enhanced-vpn-05

Abstract

   Segment Routing (SR) leverages the source routing paradigm.  A node
   steers a packet through an ordered list of instructions, called
   "segments".  A segment can represent topological or service based
   instructions.  A segment can further be associated with a set of
   network resources used for executing the instruction.  Such a segment
   is called resource-aware segment.

   A Virtual Transport Network (VTN) is a virtual underlay network which
   is associated with a network topology, and is allocated with a set of
   dedicated or shared resources from the underlay physical network.

   Resource-aware Segment Identifiers (SIDs) may be used to build SR
   paths with a set of reserved network resources.  In addition, a group
   of resource-aware SIDs may be used to build SR based virtual underlay
   networks, which provide customized network topology and resource
   attributes required by one or a group of customers and/or services.
   Such virtual underlay networks are the SR instantiations of VTNs.

   This document describes a suggested approach to build SR based VTNs
   using resource-aware SIDs.

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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Copyright Notice

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Resource-Aware SIDs for VTN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  SR-MPLS based VTN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.2.  SRv6 based VTN  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.3.  VTN Identification  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.4.  Scalability Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   3.  Procedures  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     3.1.  VTN Topology and Resource Planning  . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.2.  VTN Network Resource and SID Allocation . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.3.  Construction of SR based VTNs . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     3.4.  Mapping Services to SR based VTN  . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     3.5.  VTN Visibility to Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   4.  Characteristics of SR based VTNs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   5.  Service Assurance of VTNs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   8.  Contributors  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   9.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   10. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     10.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15



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     10.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19

1.  Introduction

   Segment Routing (SR) [RFC8402] specifies a mechanism to steer packets
   through an ordered list of segments.  A segment is referred to by its
   Segment Identifier (SID).  With SR, explicit source routing can be
   achieved without introducing per-path state into the network.
   [I-D.ietf-spring-resource-aware-segments] extends SR by associating
   SIDs with network resource attributes (e.g., bandwidth, processing or
   storage resources).  These resource-aware SIDs retain their original
   functionality, with the additional semantics of identifying the set
   of network resources available for the packet processing action.
   Multiple resource-aware SIDs may be allocated on a network segment,
   each of which is associated with a set of network resources assigned
   to meet the requirements of one or a group of customers and/or
   services.

   A Virtual Transport Network (VTN) is a virtual underlay network which
   is associated with a network topology, and is allocated with a set of
   dedicated or shared resources from the underlay physical network.

   Once allocated, Resource-aware SIDs can be used to build SR paths
   with a set of reserved network resources.  In addition, a group of
   resource-aware SIDs may be used to build SR based virtual underlay
   networks, which provide customized network topology and resource
   attributes required by one or a group of customers and/or services.
   Such virtual underlay networks are the SR instantiations of VTNs, and
   can be used to deliver the enhanced VPN (VPN+) services
   [I-D.ietf-teas-enhanced-vpn].

   This document describes a suggested approach to build SR based VTNs
   using resource-aware SIDs.  Although the procedure is illustrated
   using SR-MPLS, this mechanism is applicable to both SR over MPLS data
   plane (SR-MPLS) [RFC8660] and SR over IPv6 data plane (SRv6)
   [RFC8986].

2.  Resource-Aware SIDs for VTN

   When SR is used as the data plane of VTNs in the network, it is
   necessary to compute and instantiate the SR paths with the topology
   and/or algorithm constraints of the VTN, and steer the traffic to
   only use the set of network resources allocated to the VTN.

   Based on the resource-aware segments defined in
   [I-D.ietf-spring-resource-aware-segments], a group of resource-aware
   SIDs can be allocated to represent the set of network segments of a



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   VTN.  These resource-aware SIDs are associated with the group of
   network resources allocated to the VTN on network nodes and links
   which participate in the VTN.  These resource-aware SIDs can also
   identify the network topological or functional instructions
   associated with the VTN.

   The resource-aware SIDs may be allocated either by a centralized
   network controller or by the network nodes.  The control plane
   mechanisms for advertising the resource-aware SIDs associated with
   VTNs can be based on [RFC4915], [RFC5120] and [RFC9350] with
   necessary extensions.  This is further described in section 3.3.

2.1.  SR-MPLS based VTN

   This section describes a mechanism of allocating resource-aware SIDs
   to SR-MPLS based VTNs.

   For an IGP link, multiple resource-aware adj-SIDs are allocated, each
   of which is associated with a VTN that the link participates in, and
   represents those link resources that are allocated to the VTN.  For
   an IGP node, multiple resource-aware prefix-SIDs are allocated, each
   of which is associated with a VTN which the node participates in, and
   identifies the set of network resources allocated to the VTN on
   network nodes which participate in the VTN.  These set of resources
   will be used by the network nodes to process packets which have the
   resource-aware SIDs as the active segment.

   In the case of multi-domain VTNs, on an inter-domain link, multiple
   resource-aware BGP peering SIDs [RFC9086] are allocated, each of
   which is associated with a VTN which spans multiple domains, and
   represents a subset of resources allocated on the inter-domain link.

2.2.  SRv6 based VTN

   This section describes a mechanism of allocating resource-aware SRv6
   Locators and SIDs to SRv6 based VTNs.

   An resource-aware SRv6 Locator is allocated on each network node for
   each VTN in which the node participates.  This Locator (the VTN-
   specific Locator) identifies the set of network resources allocated
   to the VTN on the network nodes which participate in the VTN.  The
   resource-aware SRv6 SIDs associated with a VTN are allocated from the
   SID space using the VTN-specific Locator as the covering prefix.
   These SRv6 SIDs can be used to represent VTN-specific SRv6 functions,
   and can identify the set of resources used by network nodes to
   process packets.





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2.3.  VTN Identification

   In a simple case, each VTN can be mapped to a unique topology or
   algorithm.  Then the VTNs can be distinguished by the topology ID or
   algorithm ID in the control plane, and the resource-aware SIDs
   associated with a VTN can be identified using the <topology,
   algorithm> tuple as described in [RFC8402].  In this case, the number
   of VTNs supported in a network relies on the number of topologies or
   algorithms supported in the network.

   In a more complicated case, multiple VTNs may be associated with the
   same <topology, algorithm> tuple, while each is allocated a separate
   set of network resources.  Then a new VTN identifier (VTN-ID) in the
   control plane is needed.  The resource-aware SIDs of different VTNs
   are associated with different VTN-IDs in the control plane.

   In both cases, in the data plane, the resource-aware SIDs are used to
   distinguish packets of different VTNs, and are also used to determine
   the forwarding instructions and the set of network resources used for
   the packet processing action.

2.4.  Scalability Considerations

   Since multiple VTNs can be created in a network, and each VTN is
   allocated with a group of resource-aware SIDs, the mechanism of SR
   based VTNs increases the number of SIDs and SRv6 Locators needed in a
   network.  There may be some concerns, especially about the SR-MPLS
   prefix-SIDs, which are allocated from the Segment Routing Global
   Block (SRGB), that the SRGB will be used up.  The amount of network
   state will also increase accordingly.  However, based on the SR
   paradigm, resource-aware SIDs and the associated network state are
   allocated and maintained per VTN, thus per-path network state is
   avoided in the SR network.  In the control plane, the amount of
   information to be distributed in the distributed protocols (e.g.,
   IGP) for different VTNs may also become a concern.  The scalability
   of resource-aware SID based VTNs are further analysed in
   [I-D.ietf-teas-nrp-scalability].

3.  Procedures

   This section describes possible procedures for creating SR based VTNs
   and the corresponding forwarding tables and entries.  The approaches
   described in this section are not normative, but illustrate how the
   VTN-specific Locator and VTN ID could be used to build and operate
   VTNs in SR networks.  Although it is illustrated using SR-MPLS, this
   mechanism is applicable to both SR-MPLS and SRv6.





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   Suppose a virtual underlay network is requested by some customer or
   service.  One of the basic requirements is that the customer or
   service is allocated with a set of dedicated network resource, so
   that it does not experience unexpected interference from other
   services in the same network.  Other possible requirements specified
   by the customer may include the required topology, bandwidth,
   latency, reliability, etc.

   According to the customer's requirements, a centralized network
   controller calculates a subset of the underlay network topology to
   support the service.  With this topology, the set of network
   resources required on each network element is also determined.  The
   subset of network topology and network resources are the two major
   characteristics of a VTN.  Depending on the service requirements, the
   network topology and network resource of this VTN can be dedicated
   for an individual customer or service, or can be shared by a group of
   customers and/or services.

   Based on the mechanisms described in section 2, a group of resource-
   aware SIDs can be allocated for the VTN.  With SR-MPLS, it is a group
   of prefix-SIDs and adj-SIDs which are allocated to identify the
   network nodes and links in the VTN, and also to identify the set of
   network resources allocated on these network nodes and links for the
   VTN.  As the resource-aware SIDs can be allocated either by a
   centralized network controller or by the network nodes, control plane
   protocols such as IGP (e.g., IS-IS or OSPF) and BGP-LS can be used to
   distribute the SIDs and the associated resource and topology
   information of a VTN to other nodes in the same VTN and also to the
   controller, so that both the network nodes and the controller can
   generate the VTN-specific forwarding table or forwarding entries
   based on the resource-aware SIDs of the VTN.  The detailed control
   plane mechanisms and possible extensions are described in the
   accompanying documents [I-D.ietf-lsr-isis-sr-vtn-mt]
   [I-D.ietf-idr-bgpls-sr-vtn-mt] [I-D.zhu-lsr-isis-sr-vtn-flexalgo]
   [I-D.zhu-idr-bgpls-sr-vtn-flexalgo] [I-D.dong-lsr-sr-enhanced-vpn]
   [I-D.dong-idr-bgpls-sr-enhanced-vpn] and are out of the scope of this
   document.

3.1.  VTN Topology and Resource Planning

   A centralized network controller can be responsible for the planning
   of a VTN to meet the received service request.  The controller needs
   to collect the information on network connectivity, network
   resources, network performance and any other relevant network states
   from the underlay network.  This can be done using either IGP TE
   extensions such as [RFC5305] [RFC3630] [RFC7471] [RFC8570], and/or
   BGP-LS [RFC7752] [RFC8571], or any other form of control plane
   signaling.



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   Based on the information collected from the underlay network, the
   controller obtains the underlay network topology and the information
   about the allocated and available network resources.  When a service
   request is received, the controller determines the subset of the
   network topology, and the subset of resources needed on each network
   segment (e.g., links and nodes) in the sub-topology to meet the
   service requirements, whilst maintaining the needs of the existing
   services that are using the same network.  The subset of the network
   topology and network resources will be used to constitute a VTN,
   which will be used as the virtual underlay network of the requested
   service.

3.2.  VTN Network Resource and SID Allocation

   According to the result of VTN planning, the network controller
   instructs the set of network nodes involved to join a specific VTN
   and allocate the required set of network resources for the VTN.  This
   may be done with Netconf/YANG [RFC6241] [RFC7950] or with any other
   control or management plane mechanism with necessary extensions.
   Thus, the controller not only allocates the resources to the newly
   computed VTN, but also keeps track of the remaining available
   resources in order to cope with subsequent VTN requests.

   On each network node involved in the VTN, a set of network resources
   (e.g., link bandwidth) is allocated to the VTN.  Such set of network
   resources can be dedicated for the processing of traffic in that VTN,
   and may not be used for traffic in other VTNs.  Note it is also
   possible that a group of VTNs may share a set of network resources on
   some network segments.  A group of resource-aware SIDs, such as
   prefix-SIDs and adj-SIDs are allocated to identify both the network
   segments and the set of resources allocated on the network segments
   for the VTN.  Such group of resource-aware SIDs, e.g., prefix-SIDs
   and adj-SIDs are used as the data plane identifiers of the nodes and
   links in the VTN.

   In the underlying forwarding plane, there can be multiple ways of
   allocating a subset of network resources to a VTN.  The candidate
   data plane technologies to support resource partitioning or
   reservation can be found in [I-D.ietf-teas-enhanced-vpn].  The
   resource-aware SIDs are considered as abstract data plane identifiers
   in the network layer, which can be used with various network resource
   partitioning or reservation mechanisms in the underlying forwarding
   plane.








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    Prefix-SIDs:                         Prefix-SIDs:
      r:101                               r:102
      g:201                               g:202
      b:301      r:1001:1G    r:1001:1G   b:302
         +-----+ g:2001:2G    g:2001:2G +-----+
         |  A  | b:3001:1G    b:3001:1G |  B  |
         |     +------------------------+     + r:1003:1G
         +--+--+                        +--+--+\g:2003:2G
   r:1002:1G|                     r:1002:1G|    \
   g:2002:2G|                     g:2002:2G|     \ r:1001:1G
   b:3002:3G|                     b:3002:2G|      \g:2001:2G
            |                              |       \ +-----+Prefix-SIDs:
            |                              |        \+  E  |   r:105
            |                              |        /+     |   g:205
   r:1001:1G|                     r:1002:1G|       / +-----+
   g:2001:2G|                     g:2002:2G|      /r:1002:1G
   b:3001:3G|                     b:3002:2G|     / g:2002:2G
         +--+--+                        +--+--+ /
         |     |                        |     |/r:1003:1G
         |  C  +------------------------+  D  + g:2003:2G
         +-----+ r:1002:1G    r:1001:1G +-----+
  Prefix-SIDs:   g:2002:1G    g:2001:1G   Prefix-SIDs:
      r:103      b:3002:2G    b:3001:2G     r:104
      g:203                                 g:204
      b:303                                 b:304

      Figure 1. SID and resource allocation for multiple VTNs

   Figure 1 shows an example of providing multiple VTNs in an SR based
   network.  The prefix-SIDs are labeled as such in the figure.  All
   other SIDs in the figure are adj-SIDs.  Note that the format of the
   SIDs in this figure is for illustration, both SR-MPLS and SRv6 can be
   used as the data plane.  In this example, three VTNs: red (r) , green
   (g) and blue (b) are created to carry traffic of different customers
   or services.  Both the red and green VTNs consist of nodes A, B, C,
   D, and E with all their interconnecting links, whilst the blue VTN
   only consists of nodes A, B, C and D with all their interconnecting
   links.  Note that different VTNs may have a set of shared nodes and
   links, but with different set of resources.  On each node, a
   resource-aware prefix-SID is allocated for each VTN it participates
   in.  And on each link, a resource-aware adj-SID is allocated for each
   VTN it participates in.

   In Figure 1, the notation x:nnnn:y means that in VTN x, the adj-SID
   nnnn will steer the packet over a link which has bandwidth y reserved
   for that VTN.  For example, r:1002:1G in link C->D says that the VTN
   red has a reserved bandwidth of 1Gb/s on link C->D, and will be used
   by packets arriving at node C with an adj-SID 1002 at the top of the



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   label stack.  Similarly, on each node, a resource-aware prefix-SID is
   allocated for each VTN it participates in.  Each resource-aware adj-
   SID can be associated with a set of link resources (e.g., bandwidth)
   allocated to a specific VTN, so that different adj-SIDs can be used
   to steer traffic into different set of link resources for packet
   forwarding.  A resource-aware prefix-SID in a VTN can be associated
   with the set of network resources allocated to this VTN on each
   involved network node and link.  Thus, the prefix-SIDs can be used to
   build loose SR path within a VTN, and can be used by the transit
   nodes to steer traffic into the set of local network resources
   allocated to the VTN.

3.3.  Construction of SR based VTNs

   The network controller needs to obtain the information about all the
   VTNs in the network it oversees, including the resource-aware SIDs
   and the associated network resources and topology information.  Based
   on this information, the controller can have a global view of the VTN
   topologies, network resources and the associated SIDs, so as to
   perform VTN-specific explicit path computation, taking both the
   topology and resource constraints of the VTNs into consideration, and
   use the resource-aware SIDs to build the SID list for the explicit SR
   path.  The controller may also compute the shortest paths in the VTN
   based on the resource-aware prefix-SIDs.

   The network nodes also need to obtain the information about the VTNs
   they participate in, including the resource-aware SIDs and the
   associated network resources and topology information.  Based on the
   collected information, the network nodes which are the headend of a
   path can perform VTN-specific path computation, and build the SID
   list using the collected resource-aware adj-SIDs and prefix-SIDs.
   The network nodes also need to generate the forwarding entries for
   the resource-aware prefix-SIDs in each VTN they participates in, and
   associate these forwarding entries with the set of local network
   resources (e.g., bandwidth on the outgoing interface) allocated to
   the corresponding VTN.















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   Thus, after receiving the network controller's instruction about
   network resource and SID allocation, each network node needs to
   advertise the identifier of the VTNs it participates in, the group of
   resource-aware SIDs allocated to each VTN, and the resource
   attributes (e.g., bandwidth) associated with the resource-aware SIDs
   in the network.  Each resource-aware adj-SID is advertised with the
   set of associated link resources, and each resource-aware prefix-SID
   is advertised with the identifier of the associated VTN, as all the
   prefix-SIDs in a VTN are associated with the same set of network
   resources allocated to the VTN.  Note that, as described in section
   2.3, in the control plane, VTNs can be identified either using
   existing identifiers, such as the MT-ID or Flex-Algo ID, or using a
   newly defined VTN ID.

   The IGP mechanisms which reuse the existing IDs (such as Multi-
   Topology [RFC5120] or Flex-Algo [RFC9350]) as the identifier of VTNs,
   and distribute the resource-aware SIDs with the associated topology
   and resource information may be based on the mechanisms described in
   [I-D.ietf-lsr-isis-sr-vtn-mt] and [I-D.zhu-lsr-isis-sr-vtn-flexalgo]
   respectively.  The corresponding BGP-LS mechanisms which can be used
   to distribute both the intra-domain VTN information and the inter-
   domain VTN-specific link information to the controller may be based
   on the mechanisms described in [I-D.ietf-idr-bgpls-sr-vtn-mt] and
   [I-D.zhu-idr-bgpls-sr-vtn-flexalgo] respectively.  Note that with
   these mechanisms, the number of VTNs supported relies on the number
   of topologies or algorithms supported.

   The IGP mechanisms described in [I-D.dong-lsr-sr-enhanced-vpn]
   introduce a new control plane identifier, so that multiple VTNs can
   be mapped to the same <topology, algorithm> tuple, while each VTN can
   have different resource attributes.  This provides a mechanism which
   allows flexible combination of network topology and network resources
   attributes to build a large number of VTNs with a relatively small
   number of topologies or algorithms.  The corresponding BGP-LS
   mechanisms which may be used to distribute the intra-domain VTN
   information and the inter-domain VTN-specific link information to the
   controller are described in [I-D.dong-idr-bgpls-sr-enhanced-vpn].

   Figure 2 shows the three SR based VTNs created in the network in
   Figure 1.











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      1001  1001                 2001  2001                 3001  3001
   101---------102            201---------202            301---------302
    |           | \1003        |           | \2003        |           |
1002|       1002|  \ 1001  2002|       2002|  \ 2001  3002|       3002|
    |           |  105         |           |  205         |           |
1001|       1002|  / 1002  2001|       2002|  / 2002  3001|       3002|
    |           | / 1003       |           | / 2003       |           |
   103---------104            203---------204            303---------304
      1002  1001                 2002  2001                 3002  3001
       VTN Red                   VTN Green                   VTN Blue

         Figure 2. SR based VTNs with different groups of SIDs

   For each SR based VTN, SR paths are computed within the VTN, taking
   the VTN topology and resources as constraints.  The SR path can be an
   explicit path instantiated using SR policy [RFC9256], in which the
   SID-list is built only with the SIDs allocated to the VTN.  The SR
   path can also be an IGP computed path associated with a prefix-SID or
   SRv6 End SID allocated by a node for the VTN, the IGP path
   computation is also based on the topology and/or algorithm
   constraints of the VTN.  Different SR paths in the same VTN may use
   shared network resources when they use the same resource-aware SIDs
   allocated to the VTN, while SR paths in different VTNs use different
   set of network resources even when they traverse the same network
   links or nodes.  These VTN-specific SR paths need to be installed in
   the corresponding forwarding tables.

   For example, to create an explicit path A-B-D-E in VTN red in
   Figure 2, the SR SID-list encapsulated in the service packet would be
   (1001, 1002, 1003).  For the same explicit path A-B-D-E in VTN green,
   the SR segment list would be (2001, 2002, 2003).  In the case where
   we wish to construct a loose path A-D-E in VTN green, the packet
   should be encapsulated with the SR SID-list (201, 204, 205).  At node
   A, the packet can be sent towards D via either node B or C using the
   network resources allocated by these nodes for VTN green.  At node D,
   the packet is forwarded to E using the link and node resource
   allocated for VTN green.  Similarly, a packet to be sent via loose
   path A-D-E in VTN red would be encapsulated with segment list (101,
   104, 105).  In the case where an IGP computed path can meet the
   service requirement, the packet can be simply encapsulated with the
   prefix-SID of the egress node E in the corresponding VTN.










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3.4.  Mapping Services to SR based VTN

   Network services can be provisioned using SR based VTNs as the
   virtual underlay networks.  For example, different services may be
   provisioned in different SR based VTNs, each of which would use the
   network resources allocated to the VTN, so that their data traffic
   will not interfere with each other.  In another case, a group of
   services which have similar characteristics and requirements may be
   provisioned in the same VTN, in this case the network resources
   allocated to the VTN are only shared among this group of services,
   but will not be shared with other services in the network.  The
   steering of service traffic to SR based VTNs can be based on either
   local policy or, for example, the mechanisms as defined in [RFC9256].

3.5.  VTN Visibility to Customers

   VTNs can be used by network operators to organize and split their
   network infrastructure into different virtual underlay networks for
   different customers or services.  Some customers may also request
   different granularity of visibility into the VTN which is used to
   deliver the service.  Depending on the requirement and the network
   operator's policy, VTNs may be exposed to the customer either as a
   virtual network with both the edge nodes and the intermediate nodes,
   as a set of paths with some of the transit nodes, or simply as a set
   of virtual connections between the endpoints without any transit node
   information.  The visibility may be delivered through different
   mechanisms, such as IGPs (e.g., IS-IS, OSPF), BGP-LS or Netconf/YANG.
   On the other hand, a network operator may want to restrict the
   visibility of the underlay network information it delivers to the
   customer by either hiding the transit nodes between sites (and only
   delivering information about the endpoint connectivity), or by hiding
   some of the transit nodes (summarizing the path into fewer nodes).
   The information about VTNs which are not used by the customer should
   also be filtered.  Mechanisms such as BGP-LS allow the flexibility of
   the advertisement of aggregated virtual network information and
   configurable filtering policies.

4.  Characteristics of SR based VTNs

   The mechanism described in this document provides several key
   characteristics:










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   *  Customization: Different customized VTNs can be created in a
      shared physical network to meet different customers' connectivity
      and service requirement.  The customers are only aware of the
      topology and attributes of their own VTNs, and services are
      provisioned only on the VTN instead of the physical network.  This
      provides a practical mechanism to support network slicing
      [I-D.ietf-teas-ietf-network-slices].

   *  Resource isolation: The computation and instantiation of SR paths
      in one VTN can be independent from other VTNs or other services in
      the network.  In addition, a VTN can be associated with a set of
      dedicated network resources, which can avoid resource competition
      and performance interference from services in other VTNs in the
      network.  This mechanism also allows resource sharing between
      different service flows of the same customer, or between a group
      of services which are provisioned in the same VTN.  This gives the
      operators and the customers the flexibility in network planning
      and service provisioning.  In a VTN, the performance of critical
      services can be further ensured using other mechanisms, e.g.,
      those as defined in [DetNet].

   *  Scalability: The introduction of resource aware SIDs for different
      VTNs would increase the amount of SIDs and state in the network.
      While the increased network state is considered an inevitable
      price in meeting the requirements of some customers or services,
      the SR based VTN mechanism seeks to achieve a balance between the
      state limitations of traditional end-to-end TE mechanism and the
      lack of resource awareness in classic segment routing.  Following
      the segment routing paradigm, network resources are allocated on
      network segments in a per VTN manner and represented as SIDs, this
      ensures that there is no per-path state introduced in the network.
      In addition, operators can choose the granularity of resource
      partition on different network segments.  In network segments
      where resource is scarce and service requirement may not always be
      met, this approach can be used to allocate a set of resources to
      specific VTNs to avoid possible resource competition.  By
      contrast, in other segment of the network where resource is
      considered plentiful, the resource may be shared between a number
      of VTNs.  The decision to do this is in the hands of the operator.

5.  Service Assurance of VTNs

   In order to provide assurance for services provisioned in the SR
   based VTNs, it is necessary to instrument the network at multiple
   levels, e.g., in both the underlay network level and the VTN level.
   The operator or the customer may also monitor and measure the
   performance of the services carried by the VTNs.  In principle these
   can be achieved using existing or in development techniques in IETF,



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   such as network telemetry [RFC9232].  The detailed mechanisms are out
   of the scope of this document.

   In case of failure or service performance degradation in a VTN, it is
   necessary that some recovery mechanisms, e.g., local protection or
   end-to-end protection mechanism is used to switch the traffic to
   another path in the same VTN which could meet the service performance
   requirement.  Care must be taken that the service or path recovery
   mechanism in one VTN does not impact other VTNs in the same physical
   network.

6.  IANA Considerations

   This document makes no request of IANA.

   Note to RFC Editor: this section may be removed on publication as an
   RFC.

7.  Security Considerations

   The security considerations of segment routing [RFC8402] [RFC8754]
   and resource-aware SIDs [I-D.ietf-spring-resource-aware-segments] are
   applicable to this document.

   The SR VTNs may be used carry services with specific SLA parameters.
   An attack can be directly targeted at the customer application by
   disrupting the SLA, and can be targeted at the network operator by
   causing them to violate the SLA, triggering commercial consequences.
   By rigorously policing the traffic at the ingress and carefully
   provisioning the network resources provided to the VTN, this type of
   attack can be prevented.  However care needs to be taken when shared
   resources are provided between VTNs at some point in the network, and
   when the network needs to be reconfigured as part of ongoing
   maintenance or in response to a failure.

   Considering the scalability of the SR VTN mechanism, the system may
   be destabilised by an attack or accident that causes a large number
   of VTNs to be configured.  This can be mitigated by placing
   thresholds (for alarms or cut-off) in the configuration process.

   Traffic within a network may be marked as belonging to a specific VTN
   and this makes it possible to carry out targeted attacks on traffic
   and to deduce customer-sensitive traffic patterns.

   The details of the underlying network should not be exposed to third
   parties, some abstraction would be needed, this is also to prevent
   attacks aimed at exploiting a shared resource between VTNs.




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8.  Contributors

   Zhenbin Li
   Email: lizhenbin@huawei.com

   Zhibo Hu
   Email: huzhibo@huawei.com

9.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Mach Chen, Stefano Previdi, Charlie
   Perkins, Bruno Decraene, Loa Andersson, Alexander Vainshtein, Joel
   Halpern, James Guichard, Adrian Farrel and Shunsuke Homma for the
   valuable discussion and suggestions to this document.

10.  References

10.1.  Normative References

   [I-D.ietf-spring-resource-aware-segments]
              Dong, J., Bryant, S., Miyasaka, T., Zhu, Y., Qin, F., Li,
              Z., and F. Clad, "Introducing Resource Awareness to SR
              Segments", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
              spring-resource-aware-segments-06, 11 October 2022,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-spring-
              resource-aware-segments-06>.

   [I-D.ietf-teas-enhanced-vpn]
              Dong, J., Bryant, S., Li, Z., Miyasaka, T., and Y. Lee, "A
              Framework for Enhanced Virtual Private Network (VPN+)",
              Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-teas-
              enhanced-vpn-12, 23 January 2023,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-teas-
              enhanced-vpn-12>.

   [RFC8402]  Filsfils, C., Ed., Previdi, S., Ed., Ginsberg, L.,
              Decraene, B., Litkowski, S., and R. Shakir, "Segment
              Routing Architecture", RFC 8402, DOI 10.17487/RFC8402,
              July 2018, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8402>.

   [RFC8660]  Bashandy, A., Ed., Filsfils, C., Ed., Previdi, S.,
              Decraene, B., Litkowski, S., and R. Shakir, "Segment
              Routing with the MPLS Data Plane", RFC 8660,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8660, December 2019,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8660>.

10.2.  Informative References




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   [DetNet]   "DetNet WG", 2016,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/detnet>.

   [I-D.dong-idr-bgpls-sr-enhanced-vpn]
              Dong, J., Hu, Z., Li, Z., Tang, X., and R. Pang, "BGP-LS
              Extensions for Scalable Segment Routing based Enhanced
              VPN", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-dong-idr-
              bgpls-sr-enhanced-vpn-04, 4 March 2022,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-dong-idr-
              bgpls-sr-enhanced-vpn-04>.

   [I-D.dong-lsr-sr-enhanced-vpn]
              Dong, J., Hu, Z., Li, Z., Tang, X., Pang, R., and S.
              Bryant, "IGP Extensions for Scalable Segment Routing based
              Enhanced VPN", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-
              dong-lsr-sr-enhanced-vpn-08, 11 July 2022,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-dong-lsr-sr-
              enhanced-vpn-08>.

   [I-D.ietf-idr-bgpls-sr-vtn-mt]
              Xie, C., Li, C., Dong, J., and Z. Li, "BGP-LS with Multi-
              topology for Segment Routing based Virtual Transport
              Networks", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
              idr-bgpls-sr-vtn-mt-02, 13 March 2023,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-idr-
              bgpls-sr-vtn-mt-02>.

   [I-D.ietf-lsr-isis-sr-vtn-mt]
              Xie, C., Ma, C., Dong, J., and Z. Li, "Using IS-IS Multi-
              Topology (MT) for Segment Routing based Virtual Transport
              Network", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
              lsr-isis-sr-vtn-mt-04, 13 March 2023,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-lsr-
              isis-sr-vtn-mt-04>.

   [I-D.ietf-teas-ietf-network-slices]
              Farrel, A., Drake, J., Rokui, R., Homma, S., Makhijani,
              K., Contreras, L. M., and J. Tantsura, "A Framework for
              IETF Network Slices", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
              draft-ietf-teas-ietf-network-slices-19, 21 January 2023,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-teas-
              ietf-network-slices-19>.

   [I-D.ietf-teas-nrp-scalability]
              Dong, J., Li, Z., Gong, L., Yang, G., Guichard, J.,
              Mishra, G. S., Qin, F., Saad, T., and V. P. Beeram,
              "Scalability Considerations for Network Resource
              Partition", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-



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              teas-nrp-scalability-01, 24 October 2022,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-teas-
              nrp-scalability-01>.

   [I-D.zhu-idr-bgpls-sr-vtn-flexalgo]
              Zhu, Y., Dong, J., and Z. Hu, "BGP-LS with Flex-Algo for
              Segment Routing based Virtual Transport Networks", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-zhu-idr-bgpls-sr-vtn-
              flexalgo-01, 22 February 2021,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-zhu-idr-
              bgpls-sr-vtn-flexalgo-01>.

   [I-D.zhu-lsr-isis-sr-vtn-flexalgo]
              Zhu, Y., Dong, J., and Z. Hu, "Using Flex-Algo for Segment
              Routing (SR) based Virtual Transport Network (VTN)", Work
              in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-zhu-lsr-isis-sr-vtn-
              flexalgo-05, 11 July 2022,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-zhu-lsr-isis-
              sr-vtn-flexalgo-05>.

   [RFC3630]  Katz, D., Kompella, K., and D. Yeung, "Traffic Engineering
              (TE) Extensions to OSPF Version 2", RFC 3630,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC3630, September 2003,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3630>.

   [RFC4915]  Psenak, P., Mirtorabi, S., Roy, A., Nguyen, L., and P.
              Pillay-Esnault, "Multi-Topology (MT) Routing in OSPF",
              RFC 4915, DOI 10.17487/RFC4915, June 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4915>.

   [RFC5120]  Przygienda, T., Shen, N., and N. Sheth, "M-ISIS: Multi
              Topology (MT) Routing in Intermediate System to
              Intermediate Systems (IS-ISs)", RFC 5120,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5120, February 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5120>.

   [RFC5305]  Li, T. and H. Smit, "IS-IS Extensions for Traffic
              Engineering", RFC 5305, DOI 10.17487/RFC5305, October
              2008, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5305>.

   [RFC6241]  Enns, R., Ed., Bjorklund, M., Ed., Schoenwaelder, J., Ed.,
              and A. Bierman, Ed., "Network Configuration Protocol
              (NETCONF)", RFC 6241, DOI 10.17487/RFC6241, June 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6241>.







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   [RFC7471]  Giacalone, S., Ward, D., Drake, J., Atlas, A., and S.
              Previdi, "OSPF Traffic Engineering (TE) Metric
              Extensions", RFC 7471, DOI 10.17487/RFC7471, March 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7471>.

   [RFC7752]  Gredler, H., Ed., Medved, J., Previdi, S., Farrel, A., and
              S. Ray, "North-Bound Distribution of Link-State and
              Traffic Engineering (TE) Information Using BGP", RFC 7752,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7752, March 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7752>.

   [RFC7950]  Bjorklund, M., Ed., "The YANG 1.1 Data Modeling Language",
              RFC 7950, DOI 10.17487/RFC7950, August 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7950>.

   [RFC8570]  Ginsberg, L., Ed., Previdi, S., Ed., Giacalone, S., Ward,
              D., Drake, J., and Q. Wu, "IS-IS Traffic Engineering (TE)
              Metric Extensions", RFC 8570, DOI 10.17487/RFC8570, March
              2019, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8570>.

   [RFC8571]  Ginsberg, L., Ed., Previdi, S., Wu, Q., Tantsura, J., and
              C. Filsfils, "BGP - Link State (BGP-LS) Advertisement of
              IGP Traffic Engineering Performance Metric Extensions",
              RFC 8571, DOI 10.17487/RFC8571, March 2019,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8571>.

   [RFC8754]  Filsfils, C., Ed., Dukes, D., Ed., Previdi, S., Leddy, J.,
              Matsushima, S., and D. Voyer, "IPv6 Segment Routing Header
              (SRH)", RFC 8754, DOI 10.17487/RFC8754, March 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8754>.

   [RFC8986]  Filsfils, C., Ed., Camarillo, P., Ed., Leddy, J., Voyer,
              D., Matsushima, S., and Z. Li, "Segment Routing over IPv6
              (SRv6) Network Programming", RFC 8986,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8986, February 2021,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8986>.

   [RFC9086]  Previdi, S., Talaulikar, K., Ed., Filsfils, C., Patel, K.,
              Ray, S., and J. Dong, "Border Gateway Protocol - Link
              State (BGP-LS) Extensions for Segment Routing BGP Egress
              Peer Engineering", RFC 9086, DOI 10.17487/RFC9086, August
              2021, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9086>.

   [RFC9232]  Song, H., Qin, F., Martinez-Julia, P., Ciavaglia, L., and
              A. Wang, "Network Telemetry Framework", RFC 9232,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9232, May 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9232>.




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   [RFC9256]  Filsfils, C., Talaulikar, K., Ed., Voyer, D., Bogdanov,
              A., and P. Mattes, "Segment Routing Policy Architecture",
              RFC 9256, DOI 10.17487/RFC9256, July 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9256>.

   [RFC9350]  Psenak, P., Ed., Hegde, S., Filsfils, C., Talaulikar, K.,
              and A. Gulko, "IGP Flexible Algorithm", RFC 9350,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9350, February 2023,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9350>.

Authors' Addresses

   Jie Dong
   Huawei Technologies
   Email: jie.dong@huawei.com


   Stewart Bryant
   University of Surrey
   Email: stewart.bryant@gmail.com


   Takuya Miyasaka
   KDDI Corporation
   Email: ta-miyasaka@kddi.com


   Yongqing Zhu
   China Telecom
   Email: zhuyq8@chinatelecom.cn


   Fengwei Qin
   China Mobile
   Email: qinfengwei@chinamobile.com


   Zhenqiang Li
   China Mobile
   Email: li_zhenqiang@hotmail.com


   Francois Clad
   Cisco Systems
   Email: fclad@cisco.com






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