TRILL WG                                                       J. Touch 
Internet Draft                                                  USC/ISI 
Intended status: Informational                               R. Perlman 
Expires: August 2008                                                Sun 
                                                      February 24, 2008 
                                    
 
                                      
           Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL):  
                    Problem and Applicability Statement 
                       draft-ietf-trill-prob-02.txt 


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Copyright Notice 

   Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008). 

Abstract 

   Current Ethernet (802.1) link layers use custom routing protocols 
   that have a number of challenges. The routing protocols need to 
   strictly avoid loops, even temporary loops during route propagation, 
 
 
 
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   because of the lack of header loop detection support. Routing tends 
   not to take full advantage of alternate paths, or even non-
   overlapping pairwise paths (in the case of spanning trees). The 
   convergence of these routing protocols and stability under link 
   changes and failures is also of concern. This document addresses 
   these concerns and suggests that they are related to the need to be 
   able to apply modern network layer routing protocols at the link 
   layer. This document assumes that solutions would not address issues 
   of scalability beyond that of existing bridged (802.1D) links, but 
   that a solution would be backward compatible with 802.1D, including 
   hubs, bridges, and their existing plug-and-play capabilities. 

   This document is a work in progress; we invite you to participate on 
   the mailing list at http://www.postel.org/rbridge 

Table of Contents 

    
   1. Introduction...................................................3 
   2. The TRILL Problem..............................................3 
      2.1. Inefficient Paths.........................................4 
      2.2. Convergence Under Reconfiguration.........................5 
      2.3. Robustness to Link Interruption...........................6 
      2.4. Other Ethernet Extensions.................................6 
      2.5. Problems Not Addressed....................................7 
   3. Desired Properties of Solutions to TRILL.......................8 
      3.1. No Change to Link Capabilities............................8 
      3.2. Zero Configuration and Zero Assumption....................8 
      3.3. Forwarding Loop Mitigation................................9 
      3.4. Spanning Tree Management..................................9 
      3.5. Multiple Attachments.....................................10 
      3.6. VLAN Issues..............................................10 
      3.7. Equivalence..............................................10 
      3.8. Optimizations............................................11 
      3.9. Internet Architecture Issues.............................11 
   4. Applicability.................................................12 
   5. Security Considerations.......................................12 
   6. IANA Considerations...........................................13 
   7. Acknowledgments...............................................13 
   8. References....................................................13 
      8.1. Normative References.....................................13 
      8.2. Informative References...................................13 
   9. Author's Addresses............................................15 
   Intellectual Property Statement..................................15 
   Disclaimer of Validity...........................................16 
    

 
 
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1. Introduction 

   Conventional Ethernet networks - known in the Internet as Ethernet 
   link subnets - have a number of attractive features, allowing hosts 
   and routers to relocate within the subnet without requiring 
   renumbering and are automatically configuring. Unfortunately, the 
   basis of the simplicity of these subnets is the spanning tree, which 
   although simple and elegant, can have substantial limitations. In 
   subnets where bridges are also frequently relocated, convergence of 
   the spanning tree protocol can be slow. Because all traffic flows 
   over a single tree, all traffic is concentrated on a subset of links, 
   increasing susceptibility to the effects of link failures and 
   limiting the bandwidth across the subnet. 

   The alternative to an Ethernet link subnet is often a network subnet. 
   Network subnets can use link-state routing protocols that allow 
   traffic to traverse least-cost paths rather than being aggregated on 
   a spanning tree backbone, providing higher aggregate capacity and 
   more resistance to link failures. Unfortunately, IP - the dominant 
   network layer technology - requires that hosts be renumbered when 
   relocated in different network subnets, interrupting network (e.g., 
   tunnels, IPsec) and transport (e.g., TCP, UDP) associations that are 
   in progress during the transition.  

   It is thus useful to consider a new approach that combines the 
   features of these two existing solutions, hopefully retaining the 
   desirable properties of each. Such an approach would develop a new 
   kind of bridge system that was capable of using network-style 
   routing, while still providing Ethernet service. It allows reuse of 
   well-understood network routing protocols to benefit the link layer. 

   This document describes the challenge of such a combined approach in 
   detail. This problem is known as "Transparent Interconnection of Lots 
   of Links" or "TRILL". The remainder of this document makes as few 
   assumptions about a solution to TRILL as possible. 

2. The TRILL Problem 

   Ethernet subnets have evolved from 'thicknet' to 'thinnet' to twisted 
   pair with hubs to twisted pair with switches, becoming increasingly 
   simple to wire and manage. Each level has corresponding topology 
   restrictions; thicknet is inherently linear, whereas thinnet and hub-
   connected twisted pair have to be wired as a tree. Switches, added in 
   802.1D, allow network managers to avoid thinking in trees, where the 
   spanning tree protocol finds a valid tree automatically; 
   unfortunately, this additional simplicity comes with a number of 
   associated penalties [12]. 
 
 
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   The spanning tree often results in inefficient use of the link 
   topology; traffic is concentrated on the spanning tree path, and all 
   traffic follows that path even when other more direct paths may be 
   available. The spanning tree configuration is affected by even small 
   topology changes, and small changes can have large effects. Each of 
   these inefficiencies can cause problems for current link layer 
   deployments. 

2.1. Inefficient Paths 

   The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) helps break cycles in a set of 
   interconnected bridges, but it also can limit the bandwidth among 
   that set and cause traffic to take circuitous paths. 

   Consider the network shown in Figure 1, which shows a number of 
   bridges and their interconnecting links. End hosts and routers are 
   not shown; they would connect to the bridges that are shown, labeled 
   A-H. Note that the network shown has cycles which would cause packet 
   storms if hubs (repeaters) were used instead of STP-capable bridges. 
   One possible spanning tree is shown by double lines. 

                                  A  
                                // \     C                                 
                               //   \   / \\   D                          
                              //     \ /   \\ //                          
                              B=======H===== E                             
                               \     //     || 
                                \   //      ||                             
                                 \ //       ||                             
                                  G----------F                             
                                                                    
             Figure 1 Bridged subnet with spanning tree shown 

   The spanning tree limits the capacity of the resulting subnet. Assume 
   that the links are 100 Mbps. Figure 2 shows how traffic from hosts on 
   A to hosts on C goes via the spanning tree path A-B-H-E-C (links 
   replaced with '1' in the figure); traffic from hosts on G to F go via 
   the spanning three path G-H-E-F (links replaced by '2' in the 
   figure). The link H-E is shared by both paths (alternating '1's and 
   '2's), resulting in an aggregate capacity for both A..C and G..F 
   paths of a total of 100 Mbps.  






 
 
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                                  A 
                                 1        C                                 
                                1          1                              
                               1            1                            
                              B1111111H121212E                             
                                     2       2 
                                    2        2                             
                                   2         2                             
                                  G          F                             
                                                                    
         Figure 2 Traffic from A..C (1) and G..F (2) share a link 

   If traffic from G to F were to go directly using full routing, e.g., 
   from G-F, both paths could have 100 Mbps each, and the total 
   aggregate capacity could be 200 Mbps (Figure 3). In this case, the H-
   F link carries only A-C traffic ('1's) and the G-F traffic ('2's) is 
   more direct. 

                                  A 
                                 1        C                                
                                1          1                              
                               1            1                            
                              B1111111H111111E                             
                                               
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                  G2222222222F                             
                                                                    
       Figure 3 Traffic from A..C (1) and G..F (2) with full routing 

   There are a number of features of modern layer 3 routing protocols 
   which would be beneficial if available at layer 2, but which cannot 
   be integrated into the spanning tree system. Multipath routing can 
   distribute load simultaneously among two different paths; alternate 
   path routing supports rapid failover to backup paths. Layer 3 routing 
   typically optimizes paths between pairs of endpoints, conventionally 
   based on hopcount but also including bandwidth, latency, or other 
   policy metrics. 

2.2. Convergence Under Reconfiguration 

   The spanning tree is dependent on the way a set of bridges are 
   interconnected, i.e., the link layer topology. Small changes in this 
   topology can cause large changes in the spanning tree. Changes in the 
   spanning tree can take time to propagate and converge. 


 
 
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   One possible case occurs when one of the branches connected to the 
   root bridge fails, causing a large number of ports to block and 
   unblock before the network reconverges [4][9]. Consider a ring as 
   shown in Figure 4. 

                        A----B----C----D----E 
                        |                   | 
                        +-----F-----G-------+ 
         Figure 4 Ring with poor convergence under reconfiguration 

   If A is the root bridge, then the paths A->B->C->D and A->F->G->E are 
   the two open paths, while the D->E link is blocked in both 
   directions. If the A->B link fails, then E must unblock its port to D 
   for traffic to flow again, but it may require recomputation of the 
   entire tree through BPDUs. 

   The spanning tree protocol is inherently global to an entire layer 2 
   subnet; there is no current way to contain, partition, or otherwise 
   factor the protocol into a number of smaller, more stable subsets 
   that interact as groups. Contrast this with Internet routing, which 
   includes both intradomain and interdomain variants, split to provide 
   exactly that containment and scalability within a domain while 
   allowing domains to interact freely independent of what happens 
   within a domain.  

2.3. Robustness to Link Interruption 

   Persistent changes to the link topology, as described in Section 2.2, 
   are not the only effects on subnet stability. Transient link 
   interruptions have similar effects, with similar scalability issues. 
   It would be more useful for subnet configuration to be tolerant of 
   such transients, e.g., supporting alternate, backup paths. 

   Contrast this to network layer intradomain and interdomain routing, 
   both of which include provisions for backup paths. These backups 
   allow routing to be more stable in the presence of transients, as 
   well as to recover more rapidly when the transient disappears. 

2.4. Other Ethernet Extensions 

   There have been a variety of 802.1 protocols beyond the initial 
   shared-media variant, including: 

   o  802.1D - added bridges (i.e., switches) and a spanning tree 
      protocol (STP) (incorporates 802.1w, below) [6] 


 
 
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   o  802.1w - extension for rapid reconvergence of the spanning tree 
      protocol (RTSP) [6] 

   o  802.1Q - added VLAN support, where each link address maps to one 
      VLAN (incorporates 802.1v and 802.1s, below) [7] 

   o  802.1v - added VLANs where segments map to VLANs based on link 
      address together with network protocol and transport port [7] 

   o  802.1s - added support for multiple spanning trees, one per VLAN 
      (MSTP) [7] 

   These variants are further complicated by different versions updated 
   periodically.  

   It is useful to note that these extensions do not address the issue 
   of independent, localized routing in a single spanning tree - which 
   is the focus of TRILL. This document presumes the above variants are 
   supported on the Ethernet subnet, i.e., that a TRILL solution would 
   support all of the above. 

2.5. Problems Not Addressed 

   There are other challenges to deploying Ethernet subnets that are not 
   addressed in this document. These include: 

   o  increased Ethernet link subnet scale 

   o  increased node relocation 

   o  Ethernet link subnet management protocol security 

   o  flooding attacks on a Ethernet link subnet 

   Solutions to TRILL are not intended to support deployment of 
   increasingly larger scales of Ethernet link subnets than current 
   broadcast domains can support (e.g., around 1,000 end-hosts in a 
   single bridged LAN of 100 bridges, or 100,000 end-hosts inside 1,000 
   VLANs served by 10,000 bridges). 

   Similarly, solutions to TRILL are not intended to address link layer 
   node migration, which can complicate the caches in learning bridges. 
   Similar challenges exist in the ARP protocol, where link layer 
   forwarding is not updated appropriately when nodes move to ports on 
   other bridges. Again, the compartmentalization available in network 
   routing, like that of network layer ASes, can help hide the effect of 

 
 
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   migration. That is a side effect, however, and not a primary focus of 
   this work. 

   Current link control plane protocols, including Ethernet link subnet 
   management (STP) and link/network integration (ARP), are vulnerable 
   to a variety of attacks. Solutions to TRILL are not intended to 
   directly address these vulnerabilities. Similar attacks exist in the 
   data plane, e.g., source address spoofing, single address traffic 
   attacks, traffic snooping, and broadcast flooding. TRILL solutions do 
   not address any of these issues, although it is critical that they do 
   not introduce new vulnerabilities in the process (see Section 5). 

3. Desired Properties of Solutions to TRILL 

   This section describes some of the desirable or required properties 
   of any system that would solve the TRILL problems, independent of the 
   details of such an architecture. Most of these are based on retaining 
   useful properties of bridges, or maintaining those properties while 
   solving the problems listed in Section 2. 

3.1. No Change to Link Capabilities 

   There must be no change to the service that Ethernet subnets already 
   provide as a result of deploying a TRILL solution. Ethernet supports 
   unicast, broadcast, and multicast natively. Although network 
   protocols, notably IP, can tolerate link layers that do not provide 
   all three, it would be useful to retain the support already in place 
   [8]. Zeroconf, as well as existing bridge autoconfiguration, are 
   dependent on broadcast as well. 

   Current Ethernet ensures in-order delivery and no duplicated packets 
   under normal operation (excepting transients during reconfiguration). 
   These criteria apply in varying degrees to the different variants of 
   Ethernet, e.g., basic Ethernet up through basic VLAN (802.1Q) ensures 
   that all packets between two link addresses have both properties, but 
   protocol/port VLAN (802.1v) ensures this only for packets with the 
   same protocol and port. There are subtle implications to such a 
   requirement. Bridge autolearning already is susceptible to moving 
   nodes between ports, because previously learned associations between 
   port and link address change. A TRILL solution could be similarly 
   susceptible to such changes. 

3.2. Zero Configuration and Zero Assumption 

   Both bridges and hubs are zero configuration devices; hubs having no 
   configuration at all, and bridges being automatically self-
   configured. Bridges are further zero-assumption devices, unlike hubs. 
 
 
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   Bridges can be interconnected in arbitrary topologies, without regard 
   for cycles or even self-attachment. STP removes the impact of cycles 
   automatically, and port autolearning reduces unnecessary broadcast of 
   unicast traffic.  

   A TRILL solution should strive to have similar zero configuration, 
   zero assumption operation. This includes having TRILL solution 
   components automatically discover other TRILL solution components and 
   organize themselves, as well as to configure that organization for 
   proper operation (plug-and-play). It also includes zero configuration 
   backward compatibility with existing bridges and hubs, which may 
   include interacting with some of the bridge protocols, such as STP. 

   VLANs add a caveat to zero configuration; a TRILL solution should 
   support automatic use of a default VLAN (like non-VLAN bridges), but 
   should require explicit configuration where the VLANS require them as 
   well. 

   Autoconfiguration extends to optional services, such as multicast 
   support via IGMP snooping, broadcast support via serial copy, and 
   supporting multiple VLANs.  

3.3. Forwarding Loop Mitigation 

   Spanning tree avoids forwarding loops by construction, although 
   transient loops can occur, e.g., via the appearance of a new link.   
   Solutions to TRILL are intended to use adapted network layer routing 
   protocols which may introduce transient loops during routing 
   convergence. TRILL solutions thus need support for mitigating the 
   effect of such routing loops. 

   In the Internet, loop mitigation is provided by a decrementing 
   hopcounts (TTL); in other networks, packets include a trace 
   (sometimes referred to as 'serialized' or 'unioned') of visited nodes 
   [2]. These mechanisms (respectively) limit the impact of loops or 
   detect them explicitly. A mechanism with similar effect should be 
   included in TRILL solutions. 

3.4. Spanning Tree Management 

   In order to address convergence under reconfiguration and robustness 
   to link interruption (Sections 2.2 and 2.3), participation in the STP 
   must be carefully managed. The goal is to provide the desired 
   stability of the TRILL solution and of the entire Ethernet link 
   subnet while not interfering with the operation of STP of the 
   Ethernet on which the TRILL resides. This may involve TRILL solutions 
   participating in the STP, where the protocol is used for TRILL might 
 
 
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   dampen interactions with STP, or it may involve severing the STP into 
   separate STPs on 'stub' external Ethernet link subnet segments. 

   A requirement is that a TRILL solution must not require modifications 
   or exceptions to the existing spanning tree protocols (STP, MSTP). 

3.5. Multiple Attachments 

   In STP, a single NIC with multiple attachments to a single spanning 
   tree will always only get traffic over one of the two attachment 
   points, TRILL allows load sharing between the attachment points. 
   Further, TRILL must manage multicast and broadcast traffic so as not 
   to create feedback loops on Ethernet segments which are attached at 
   multiple TRILL access points. 

3.6. VLAN Issues 

   A TRILL solution should support multiple VLANs (802.1Q, 802.1V, and 
   802.1S). This may involve ignorance, just as many bridge devices do 
   not participate in the VLAN protocols. It may alternately support 
   direct VLAN support, e.g., by the use of separate TRILL routing 
   protocol instances to separate traffic for each VLAN traversing a 
   TRILL solution. 

3.7. Equivalence 

   As with any extension to an existing architecture, it would be useful 
   - though not strictly necessary - to be able to describe or consider 
   a TRILL solution as a model of an existing link layer component. Such 
   equivalence provides a validation model for the architecture and a 
   way for users to predict the effect of the use of a TRILL solution on 
   a deployed Ethernet. In this case, 'user' refers to users of the 
   Ethernet protocol, whether at the host (data segments), bridge (ST 
   control segments), or VLAN (VLAN control). 

   This provides a sanity check, i.e., "we got it right if we can 
   replace a TRILL solution with an X" (where "X" might be a single 
   bridge, a hub, or some other link layer abstraction). It does not 
   matter whether "X" can be implemented on the same scale as the 
   corresponding TRILL solution. It also does not matter if it can - 
   there may be utility to deploying the TRILL solution components 
   incrementally, in ways that a single "X" could not be installed. 

   For example, if TRILL solution were equivalent to a single 802.1D 
   bridge, it would mean that the TRILL solution would - as a whole - 
   participate in the STP. This need not require that TRILL solution 
   would propagate STP, any more than a bridge need do so in its on-
 
 
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   board control. It would mean that the solution would interact with 
   BPDUs at the edge, where the solution would - again, as a whole - 
   participate as if a single node in the spanning tree. Note that this 
   equivalence is not required; a solution may act as if an 802.1 hub, 
   or may not have a corresponding equivalent link layer component at 
   all. 

3.8. Optimizations 

   There are a number of optimizations that may be applied to TRILL 
   solutions. These must be applied in a way that does not affect 
   functionality as a tradeoff for increased performance. Such 
   optimizations address broadcast and multicast frame distribution, 
   VLAN support, and snooping of ARP and IPv6 neighbor discovery. 

3.9. Internet Architecture Issues 

   TRILL solutions are intended to have no impact on the Internet 
   network layer architecture. In particular, the Internet and higher 
   layer headers should remain intact when traversing a TRILL solution, 
   just as they do when traversing any other link subnet technologies. 
   This means that the IP TTL field cannot be co-opted for forwarding 
   loop mitigation, as it would interfere with the Internet layer 
   assuming that the link subnet was reachable with no changes in TTL 
   (Internet TTLs are changed only at routers, as per RFC 1812, and even 
   if IP TTL were considered, TRILL is expected to support non-IP 
   payloads, and so requires a separate solution anyway) [2]. 

   TRILL solutions should also have no impact on Internet routing or 
   signaling, which also means that broadcast and multicast, both of 
   which can pervade an entire Ethernet link subnet, must be able to 
   transparently pervade a TRILL solution. Changing how either of these 
   capabilities behaves would have significant effects on a variety of 
   protocols, including RIP (broadcast), RIPv2 (multicast), ARP 
   (broadcast), IPv6 neighbor discovery (multicast), etc. 

   Note that snooping of network layer packets may be useful, especially 
   for certain optimizations. These include snooping multicast control 
   plane packets (IGMP) to tune link multicast to match the network 
   multicast topology, as is already done in existing smart switches 
   [3][5]. This also includes snooping IPv6 neighbor discovery messages 
   to assist with governing TRILL solution edge configuration, as is the 
   case in some smart learning bridges [10]. Other layers may similarly 
   be snooped, notably ARP packets, for similar reasons for IPv4 [14]. 



 
 
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4. Applicability 

   As might be expected, TRILL solutions are intended to be used to 
   solve the problems described in Section 2. However, not all such 
   installations are appropriate environments for such solutions. This 
   section outlines the issues in the appropriate use of these 
   solutions. 

   TRILL solutions are intended to address problems of path efficiency 
   and stability within a single Ethernet link subnet. Like bridges, 
   individual TRILL solution components may find other TRILL solution 
   components within a single Ethernet link subnet and aggregate into a 
   single TRILL solution.  

   TRILL solutions are not intended to span separate Ethernet link 
   subnets where interconnected by network layer (e.g., router) devices, 
   except via link layer tunnels that are in place prior to their 
   deployment, where such tunnels render the distinct subnet 
   undetectably equivalent from a single Ethernet link subnet. 

   A currently open question is whether a single Ethernet link subnet 
   should contain only one TRILL solution instance, either of necessity 
   of architecture or utility. Multiple TRILL solutions, like Internet 
   ASes, may allow TRILL routing protocols to be partitioned in ways 
   that help their stability, but this may come at the price of needing 
   the TRILL solutions to participate more fully as nodes (each modeling 
   a bridge) in the Ethernet link subnet STP. Each architecture solution 
   should decide whether multiple TRILL solutions are supported within a 
   single Ethernet link subnet and mechanisms should be included to 
   enforce whatever decision is made. 

   TRILL solutions are not intended to address scalability limitations 
   in bridged subnets. Although there may be scale benefits of other 
   aspects of solving TRILL problems, e.g., of using network layer 
   routing to provide stability under link changes or intermittent 
   outages, this is not a focus of this work. 

   As also noted earlier, TRILL solutions are not intended to address 
   security vulnerabilities in either the data plane or control plane of 
   the link layer. This means that TRILL solutions should not limit 
   broadcast frames, ARP requests, or spanning tree protocol messages 
   (if such are interpreted by the TRILL solution or solution edge). 

5. Security Considerations 

   TRILL solutions should not introduce new vulnerabilities compared to 
   traditional bridged subnets.  
 
 
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   TRILL solutions are not intended to be a solution to Ethernet link 
   subnet vulnerabilities, including spoofing, flooding, snooping, and 
   attacks on the link control plane (STP, flooding the learning cache) 
   and link-network control plane (ARP). Although TRILL solutions are 
   intended to provide more stable routing than STP, this stability is 
   limited to performance, and the subsequent robustness is intended to 
   address non-malicious events. 

   There may be some side-effects to the use of TRILL solutions that can 
   provide more robust operation under certain attacks, such as those 
   interrupting or adding link service, but TRILL solutions should not 
   be relied upon for such capabilities. 

   Finally, TRILL solutions should not interfere with other protocols 
   intended to address these vulnerabilities, such as those under 
   development to secure IPv6 neighbor discovery [1].  

6. IANA Considerations 

   This document has no IANA considerations.  

   This section should be removed by the RFC Editor prior to final 
   publication. 

7. Acknowledgments 

   Portions of this document are based on documents that describe a 
   preliminary solution, and on a related network layer solution 
   [11][13][15]. 

   This document was prepared using 2-Word-v2.0.template.dot. 

8. References 

8.1. Normative References 

   None. 

8.2. Informative References 

   [1]   Arkko, J., J. Kempf, B. Sommerfield, B. Zill, P. Nikander, 
         "Secure Neighbor Discovery (SeND)", RFC 3971 (Proposed 
         Standard), Mar. 2005. 

   [2]   Baker, F., "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers", RFC 1812 
         (Proposed Standard), Jun. 1995. 

 
 
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   [3]   Cain, B., S. Deering, I. Kouvelas, B. Fenner, A. Thyagarajan, 
         "Internet Group Management Protocol, Version 3", RFC 3376 
         (Proposed Standard), Oct. 2002. 

   [4]   Elmeleegy, K., A.L. Cox, T.E. Ng, "On Count-to-Infinity Induced 
         Forwarding Loops in Ethernet Networks", Proc. Infocom 2006, 
         Apr. 2006. 

   [5]   Haberman, B., J. Martin, "Multicast Router Discovery", RFC 4286 
         (Proposed Standard), Dec. 2005. 

   [6]   IEEE 802.1D bridging standard, "IEEE Standard for Local and 
         metropolitan area networks: Media Access Control (MAC) 
         Bridges", (incorporates 802.1w), Jun. 2004. 

   [7]   IEEE 802.1Q VLAN standard, "IEEE Standards for Local and 
         metropolitan area networks: Virtual Bridged Local Area 
         Networks", (incorporates 802.1v and 802.1s), May 2003. 

   [8]   Karn, P., (ed.), C. Bormann, G. Fairhurst, D. Grossman, R. 
         Ludwig, J. Mahdavi, G. Montenegro, J. Touch, L. Wood, "Advice 
         for Internet Subnetwork Designers", RFC-3819 / BCP 89 (Best 
         Current Practice), Jul. 2004. 

   [9]   Myers, A., T.E. Ng, H. Zhang, "Rethinking the Service Model: 
         Scaling Ethernet to a Million Nodes", Proc. ACM Third Workshop 
         on Hot Topics in Nnetworks (HotNets-III), Mar. 2004. 

   [10]  Narten, T., E. Nordmark, W. Simpson, H. Soliman, "Neighbor 
         Discovery for IP version 6 (IPv6)", RFC 4861 (Draft Standard), 
         Sep. 2007. 

   [11]  Perlman, R., "RBridges: Transparent Routing", Proc. Infocom 
         2005, Mar. 2004. 

   [12]  Perlman, R., "Interconnection: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and 
         Internetworking Protocols", Addison Wesley, Chapter 3, 1999. 

   [13]  Perlman, R., J. Touch, A. Yegin, "RBridges: Transparent 
         Routing," (expired work in progress), Apr. 2004 - May 2005. 

   [14]  Plummer, D., "Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol: Or 
         converting network protocol addresses to 48.bit Ethernet 
         address for transmission on Ethernet hardware", RFC 826 / STD 
         37 (Standard), Nov. 1982. 


 
 
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   [15]  Touch, J., Y. Wang, L. Eggert, G. Finn, "A Virtual Internet 
         Architecture", ISI Technical Report ISI-TR-570, Presented at 
         the Workshop on Future Directions in Network Architecture 
         (FDNA) 2003 at Sigcomm 2003, March 2003. 

9.  Author's Addresses 

   Joe Touch 
   USC/ISI 
   4676 Admiralty Way 
   Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6695 
   U.S.A. 
       
   Phone: +1 (310) 448-9151 
   Email: touch@isi.edu 
   URL:   http://www.isi.edu/touch 
    
    
   Radia Perlman 
   Sun Microsystems 
       
   Email: Radia.Perlman@sun.com 
 

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