Internet DRAFT - draft-chen-bier-frr

draft-chen-bier-frr







Network Working Group                                       H. Chen, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                                M. McBride
Intended status: Informational                                 Futurewei
Expires: October 5, 2022                                      S. Lindner
                                                                M. Menth
                                                 University of Tuebingen
                                                                 A. Wang
                                                           China Telecom
                                                               G. Mishra
                                                            Verizon Inc.
                                                                  Y. Liu
                                                            China Mobile
                                                                  Y. Fan
                                                            Casa Systems
                                                                  L. Liu
                                                                 Fujitsu
                                                                  X. Liu
                                                          Volta Networks
                                                           April 3, 2022


                           BIER Fast ReRoute
                         draft-chen-bier-frr-05

Abstract

   BIER is a scalable multicast overlay [RFC8279] that utilizes a
   routing underlay, e.g., IP, to build up its Bit Index Forwarding
   Tables (BIFTs).  This document proposes Fast Reroute for BIER (BIER-
   FRR).  It protects BIER traffic after detecting the failure of a link
   or node in the core of a BIER domain until affected BIFT entries are
   recomputed after reconvergence of the routing underlay.  BIER-FRR is
   applied locally at the point of local repair (PLR) and does not
   introduce any per-flow state.  The document specifies nomenclature
   for BIER-FRR and gives examples for its integration in BIER
   forwarding.  Furthermore, it presents operation modes for BIER-FRR.
   Link and node protection may be chosen as protection level.
   Moreover, the backup strategies tunnel-based BIER-FRR and LFA-based
   BIER-FRR are defined and compared.

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 [RFC2119] [RFC8174]
   when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.





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Status of This Memo

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on October 5, 2022.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2022 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Definition of BIER-FRR  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.1.  Definition of Forwarding Actions  . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.2.  Definition of Backup Forwarding Entries . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.3.  Activating and Deactivating Backup Forwarding Entries . .   6
     2.4.  Computation of the Backup F-BM  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   3.  Representations for BIER-FRR Forwarding Data  . . . . . . . .   7
     3.1.  Potential Emergence of Redundant Packets  . . . . . . . .   7
     3.2.  Primary BIFT and Single Backup BIFT . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     3.3.  Primary BIFT and Failure-Specific Backup BIFTs  . . . . .  10
   4.  Protection Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     4.1.  Link Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     4.2.  Node Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     4.3.  Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12



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   5.  Backup Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     5.1.  Tunnel-Based BIER-FRR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
       5.1.1.  Tunnel-Based BIER-FRR with Link Protection  . . . . .  13
       5.1.2.  Tunnel-Based BIER-FRR with Node Protection  . . . . .  14
       5.1.3.  Implementation Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
     5.2.  LFA-based BIER-FRR  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
       5.2.1.  Relation of BIER-LFAs to IP-LFAs and Prerequisites  .  16
       5.2.2.  Definition of BIER-LFAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
       5.2.3.  Protection Coverage of BIER-LFA Types . . . . . . . .  17
       5.2.4.  Sets of Supported BIER-LFAs . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
       5.2.5.  Link Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
       5.2.6.  Node Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
       5.2.7.  Optimization Potential to Reduce Redundant BIER
               Packets in Failure Cases  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
   6.  Comparison  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     6.1.  Comparison of LFA-Based Protection for IP-FRR and BIER-
           FRR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     6.2.  Advantages and Disadvantages of Tunnel-Based BIER-FRR . .  23
       6.2.1.  Advantages  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
       6.2.2.  Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
     6.3.  Advantages and Disadvantages of LFA-Based BIER-FRR  . . .  24
       6.3.1.  Advantages  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
       6.3.2.  Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
   9.  Contributors  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
   10. Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
   11. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
     11.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
     11.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26
   Appendix A.  Specific Backup Strategy Examples  . . . . . . . . .  26
     A.1.  LFA-based BIER-FRR using Single BIFT  . . . . . . . . . .  26
     A.2.  LFA-based BIER-FRR using Multiple Backup BIFTs  . . . . .  28
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30

1.  Introduction

   With BIER [RFC8279], a Bit-Forwarding Router (BFR) forwards BIER
   packets based on a bitstring in the BIER header using the information
   in the Bit Index Forwarding Table (BIFT).  Its entries are locally
   derived from a routing underlay or set by a controller.  In case of a
   persistent link or node failure, BIER traffic may not be delivered
   until the BIFT has been updated based on the reconverged routing
   underlay or by the controller.

   BIER packets are usually forwarded without an outer IP header.  If a
   link or node fails, the corresponding BFR neighbor (BFR-NBR) is no
   longer reachable.  Fast reroute (FRR) mechanisms in the routing



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   underlay, e.g., IP-FRR, apply only to IP packets so that BIER traffic
   would be dropped.  BIER traffic can be delivered again only after
   reconvergence of the routing underlay and recalculation of the BIFT.
   Thus, tunneling BIER packets can help to reach the BFR-NBR in case of
   a link failure by leveraging FRR capabilities of the routing underlay
   if such mechanisms are available.  However, this does not help in
   case of a node failure.  Then, all destinations having the failed
   node as BFR-NBR cannot be reached anymore.  As BIER carries multicast
   traffic which has often realtime requirements, there is a particular
   need to protect BIER traffic against too long outages after failures.

   In this document we propose nomenclature for Fast Reroute in BIER
   (BIER-FRR).  As soon as a BFR detects a BFR-NBR is unreachable, BIER-
   FRR enables a BFR to quickly reroute affected BIER packets with the
   help of backup forwarding entries.  To avoid redundant packets,
   backup forwarding entries should be processed prior to normal
   forwarding entries.  To achieve that goal, two possible
   representations for backup forwarding entries are proposed.

   The protection level can be either link protection or node
   protection.  Link protection protects only the failure of a link.  It
   is simple but may not work if a BFR fails.  Node protection is more
   complex but also protects against the failure of BFRs.  The backup
   strategy determines the selection of the backup forwarding entries.

   Examples for backup strategies are tunnel-based BIER-FRR and LFA-
   based BIER-FRR

   o  Tunnel-based BIER-FRR leverages mechanisms of the routing underlay
      for FRR purposes.  The routing underlay restores connectivity
      faster than BIER as a reconverged routing underlay is prerequisite
      for recalculation of the BIFT.  If the routing underlay leverages
      FRR mechanisms, its forwarding ability is restored long before
      reconvergence is completed.  To leverage fast restoration of the
      routing underlay, BIER traffic affected by a failure is tunneled
      over the routing underlay.

   o  LFA-based BIER-FRR reroutes BIER traffic to alternative neighbors
      in case of a failure.  It utilizes the principles of IP-FRR but
      requires that LFAs are BFRs.  Normal BIER-LFAs can be reached
      without tunneling, remote BIER-LFAs utilize a tunnel, and
      topology-independent BIER-LFAs leverage explicit paths to reach
      the backup BFR-NBR.  In contrast to tunnel-based FRR, LFA-based
      BIER-FRR does not require fast reroute mechanisms in the routing
      underlay.

   BIER-FRR as presented in this document follows a primary/backup path
   principle, also known as 1:1 protection.  It is opposite to 1+1



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   protection which denotes a live-live protection principle.  This has
   been considered for BIER in [BrAl17].

2.  Definition of BIER-FRR

   In this section, forwarding actions and backup forwarding entries are
   defined.  Then, the BIER forwarding process with BIER-FRR and the
   computation of the backup F-BM are explained.

2.1.  Definition of Forwarding Actions

   A BFR-NBR is directly connected if it is a next hop on the network
   layer, i.e., if it can be reached via the link layer technology.
   Otherwise, the BFR-NBR is indirectly connected.

   We define the following forwarding actions.

   o  Plain: Sends the mere BIER packet to a BFR-NBR via a direct link
      and without a tunnel header.  That means, the packet is not sent
      over the routing underlay.

   o  Tunnel: Encapsulates the BIER packet with a tunnel header towards
      a BFR-NBR and sends it over the routing underlay.

   o  Explicit: Forwards the packet over an explicit path to a BFR-NBR.
      The path information must be given.  If segment routing is used
      for this purpose, the segment IDs (SIDs) must be given.  Two
      forwarding actions of type Explicit are equal only if they share
      the same explicit path.

   The forwarding actions in the BIFT as proposed in [RFC8279] are given
   implicitly as they are derived from the connectedness of the BFR-NBR.
   If the BFR-NBR is directly connected, the forwarding action is Plain.
   If the BFR-NBR is not directly connected, the forwarding action is
   Tunnel.

2.2.  Definition of Backup Forwarding Entries

   The BIFT as proposed in [RFC8279] contains a F-BM and a BFR-NBR for a
   specific BFER.  They constitute a primary forwarding entry.  BIER-FRR
   extends this regular BIFT by additional columns containing backup
   forwarding entries.  A backup forwarding entry contains

   o  a backup F-BM (BF-BM),

   o  a backup BFR-NBR (BBFR-NBR),

   o  a backup forwarding action (BFA), and



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   o  a backup entry active (BEA) flag.

   Backup F-BM and backup BFR-NBR have the same structure as their
   primary counterparts.  The backup forwarding action is a forwarding
   action as defined in Section 2.1.  The BEA flag indicates whether the
   backup forwarding entry is active.  When it is active, the backup
   F-BM, backup BFR-NBR, and the backup forwarding action are used for
   the forwarding of BIER packets instead of the primary forwarding
   entry.  The structure of the extended BIFT is given in Figure 1.

       +--------+------+---------+--------+----------+--------+----+
       | BFR-id | F-BM | BFR-NBR | BF-BM  | BBFR-NBR |  BFA   | BEA|
       +========+======+=========+========+==========+========+====+
       |  ...   |  ... |   ...   |   ...  |   ...    |  ...   |    |
       +--------+------+---------+--------+----------+--------+----+

      Figure 1: Structure of an extended BIFT with backup forwarding
                                 entries.

   The primary action is not given in the BIFT as it is derived from the
   BFR-NBR.  In contrast, the backup forwarding action is given in the
   extended BIFT.  Moreover, an explicit path must be indicated in case
   of forwarding action Explicit.  However, explicit paths are
   implementation-specific and, therefore, this information is not
   indicated in the table.  The values for the backup BFR-NBR and the
   backup action depend on the desired protection level and the backup
   strategy.  Examples for them are described in Section 5.1 and
   Section 5.2.  The backup F-BM depends on the backup BFR-NBR.  Its
   computation is explained in Section 2.4.

2.3.  Activating and Deactivating Backup Forwarding Entries

   When a primary BFR-NBR is not reachable over the implicit primary
   action, a failure is observed.  Then, the BEA flag of the
   corresponding backup forwarding entry is set.

   If the primary BFR-NBR is directly connected, the information about
   the failed interface is sufficient to detect its unreachability.  If
   the primary BFR-NBR is indirectly connected, a BFD session between
   the BFR as PLR and the BFR-NBR may be used to monitor its
   reachability.

   If the primary BFR-NBR is reachable again, the BEA flag is
   deactivated.  This may be caused by the disappearance of the failure
   or by a change of the primary BFR-NBR due to a reconfiguration of the
   BIFT.





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2.4.  Computation of the Backup F-BM

   The primary F-BM of a specific BFER indicates all BFERs that share
   the same primary BFR-NBR.  The backup F-BM of a specific BFER
   indicates

   o  all BFERs that share the primary and backup BFR-NBR of the
      specific BFER and

   o  all BFERs that have the backup BFR-NBR of the specific BFER as
      primary BFR-NBR.

3.  Representations for BIER-FRR Forwarding Data

   We show that backup entries need to be used first to reduce the
   number of redundant packets in the single extended BIFT (presented in
   Section 2.2).  This may be hard or cannot be achieved on some
   hardware platforms.  Therefore, two alternate representations of
   forwarding entries are proposed.  The first is a primary BIFT and
   single backup BIFT (SBB).  The second is a primary BIFT and multiple
   failure-specific backup BIFTs (FBB).

3.1.  Potential Emergence of Redundant Packets

   The BIER forwarding procedure in failure-free scenarios avoids
   redundant packets, i.e., it ensures that at most a single copy is
   sent per link for every BIER packet.  However, this property might be
   violated when BIER-FRR as presented in Section 2 is applied to
   protect against a failure.

   Figure 2 shows an example of a BIER network.  BFRs have the prefix
   "B" and are numbered by their BFR-ids.  To simplify the example,
   every BFR is a BFER and its bit position in the bitstring equals its
   BFR-id.  The number on a link is its cost which is used by the
   routing underlay for computing the shortest paths.
















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              1              1
        B1 --------- B6 ------------ B5       BFR Bi is BFER
        |            |               |       (i = 1,2,3,4,5,6,7;
        |            |               |        i is BFR-id of Bi)
      2 |            | 1             |
        |      1     |               | 1     cost of link B1-B2 is 2
        B2 --------- B7              |       cost of link B3-B4 is 4
        |                            |       cost of other links is 1
      1 |                            |
        |                  4         |
       B3 ------------------------- B4

                      Figure 2: BIER network example.

   The extended BIFT with backup forwarding entries for LFA-based BIER-
   FRR with link protection built by BFR B1 is illustrated in Figure 3.

      +------+----------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
      |BFR-id|   F-BM   |BFR-NBR|  BF-BM   |BBFR-NBR|   BFA    |BEA|
      +======+==========+=======+==========+========+==========+===+
      |   2  | 0000110  |  B2   | 1111110  |   B6   |  Plain   |   |
      +------+----------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
      |   3  | 0000110  |  B2   | 1111110  |   B6   |  Plain   |   |
      +------+----------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
      |   4  | 1111000  |  B6   | 1111110  |   B2   |  Plain   |   |
      +------+----------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
      |   5  | 1111000  |  B6   | 1111110  |   B2   |  Plain   |   |
      +------+----------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
      |   6  | 1111000  |  B6   | 1111110  |   B2   |  Plain   |   |
      +------+----------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
      |   7  | 1111000  |  B6   | 1111110  |   B2   |  Plain   |   |
      +------+----------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+

   Figure 3: B1's extended BIFT for LFA-based FRR with link protection.

   We show how redundant packets can occur in case of a failure.  To
   that end, we consider the extended BIFT for BFR 1 in Figure 3.  It
   has backup forwarding entries for LFA-based FRR and link protection.
   For a BIER packet with destinations B2 and B6 (i.e., bitstring
   0100010), BFR B1 sends a single packet copy on link B1-B2 and on link
   B1-B6 in the absence of a failure.

   When the link B1-B6 fails, B1 as a PLR detects the failure.
   Therefore, B1 sets the BEA flag for all destinations that have B6 as
   BFR-NBR.  We consider again that B1 sends a BIER packet to B2 and B6.
   At first, it sends a copy with bitstring 0000010 to B2 using the
   corresponding primary forwarding entry in the extended BIFT in
   Figure 3.



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   Then, B1 sends another copy of the packet with bitstring 0100000 for
   B6 to B2 using the backup forwarding entry since the BEA flag is
   activated.

   This is a second (redundant) copy over the same link B1-B2.  It can
   be prevented if the backup forwarding entry is used first.  When
   using the backup forwarding entry, B1 sends only a single copy of the
   packet with bitstring 0100010 to B2.  It will not send any copy of
   the packet to B2 again since the bitstring in the packet will be all
   cleaned by the BF-BM 1111110.  Thus, prioritized processing of BFERs
   with unreachable BFR-NBRs helps to reduce redundant packet copies.

3.2.  Primary BIFT and Single Backup BIFT

   The extended BIFT may be separated into two BIFTs.  One is a primary
   BIFT and the other is a single backup BIFT.  The primary BIFT is the
   same as the regular BIFT.  The backup BIFT contains the backup
   forwarding entries, including BF-BM, BBFR-NBR, BFA and BEA in the
   extended BIFT.  When a BFR as a PLR detects that BFR-NBR N is
   unreachable, it activates the BEA flag for all BFERs in the backup
   BIFT that have BFR-NBR as primary BFR-NBR.  When a BFR forwards a
   BIER packet, it processes the packet first using the backup BIFT and
   then using the primary BIFT.  With this prioritization, the number of
   redundant packet copies can be reduced.

   B1's extended BIFT in Figure 3 is separated into the primary BIFT in
   Figure 4 and the single backup BIFT in Figure 5.

                       +--------+---------+---------+
                       | BFR-id |   F-BM  | BFR-NBR |
                       +========+=========+=========+
                       |   2    | 0000110 |    B2   |
                       +--------+---------+---------+
                       |   3    | 0000110 |    B2   |
                       +--------+---------+---------+
                       |   4    | 1111000 |    B6   |
                       +--------+---------+---------+
                       |   5    | 1111000 |    B6   |
                       +--------+---------+---------+
                       |   6    | 1111000 |    B6   |
                       +--------+---------+---------+
                       |   7    | 1111000 |    B6   |
                       +--------+---------+---------+

         Figure 4: B1's primary BIFT for the BIER network example.






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       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |BFR-id|  BF-BM   |BBFR-NBR|   BFA     |BEA|Comment: protects|
       |      |          |        |           |   |  failure of     |
       +======+==========+========+===========+===+=================+
       |   2  | 1111110  |   B6   |  Plain    |   |  Link B1->B2    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   3  | 1111110  |   B6   |  Plain    |   |  Link B1->B2    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   4  | 1111110  |   B2   |  Plain    |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   5  | 1111110  |   B2   |  Plain    |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   6  | 1111110  |   B2   |  Plain    |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   7  | 1111110  |   B2   |  Plain    |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+

         Figure 5: B1's backup BIFT for the BIER network example.

   Each forwarding entry in the backup BIFT contains BF-BM, BBFR-NBR,
   BFA and BEA.  When a BFR-NBR fails, the BEA flag is activated for all
   BFERs in the backup BIFT that have BFR-NBR as primary BFR-NBR.  For
   example, BFERs B4, B5, B6 and B7 have BFR-NBR B6 as their primary
   BFR-NBR.  When BFR-NBR B6 fails, the BEA flag for BFERs B4, B5, B6
   and B7 is activated, i.e., the BEA in the last four entries in the
   backup BIFT is set to one.

3.3.  Primary BIFT and Failure-Specific Backup BIFTs

   As an alternative, the information in the extended BIFT may be
   represented in a primary BIFT and several, failure-specific backup
   BIFTs.  A failure-specific backup BIFT is a backup BIFT for the
   unreachability of BFR-NBR N.  A backup BIFT for the failure of N is
   simply called a backup BIFT for N.  It has the same structure as the
   regular BIFT but has an entry for a backup forwarding action.  Thus,
   a BFR has a primary BIFT, which is the same as the regular BIFT, and
   a backup BIFT for each of its BFR-NBRs.

   The BFR uses the primary BIFT to forward BIER packets under failure-
   free conditions.  When the BFR as a PLR detects that BFR-NBR N is
   unreachable, it uses the backup BIFT for N to forward all BIER
   packets.  After the routing underlay has re-converged on the new
   network topology, the primary BIFT is re-computed.  Once the re-
   computed primary BIFT is installed, it is used to forward all BIER
   packets.

   We illustrate the concept using the example from extended BIFT in
   Figure 3.  Figure 4 shows the primary BIFT of B1 in this context.



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   BFR B1 in Figure 2 has two neighbors: B6 and B2.  B1 has two backup
   BIFTs with link protection: one for B6 and another for B2.  B1 has
   also two backup BIFTs with node protection.  Figure 6 is B1's backup
   BIFT for B6 to react to the unreachability of B1 in a similar way as
   with the extended BIFT in Figure 3.

    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    | BFR-id |  F-BM   | BFR-NBR |Forwarding Action|Comment: protects|
    |        |         |         |                 |  failure of     |
    +========+=========+=========+=================+=================+
    |    2   | 1111110 |    B2   |   Plain         |                 |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |    3   | 1111110 |    B2   |   Plain         |                 |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |    4   | 1111110 |    B2   |   Plain         |  Link B1->B6    |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |    5   | 1111110 |    B2   |   Plain         |  Link B1->B6    |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |    6   | 1111110 |    B2   |   Plain         |  Link B1->B6    |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |    7   | 1111110 |    B2   |   Plain         |  Link B1->B6    |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+

    Figure 6: B1's backup BIFT for B6 for LFA-based BIER FRR with link
                                protection.

   Once B1 as a PLR detects that B6 is unreachable through the link to
   B6, it uses the backup BIFT for B6 to forward all BIER packets.  As
   this representation is equivalent to the concept of single primary
   and single backup BIFT, redundant packets for the same forwarding
   action are avoided.

4.  Protection Levels

   Link and node protection may be supported.  Link protection protects
   against the failure of an adjacent link while node protection
   protects against the failure of a neighboring node and the path
   towards that node.  Depending on the supported service, link
   protection or node protection may be relevant.  Both protection
   levels can be combined with any backup strategy in Section 5.

4.1.  Link Protection

   With link protection the backup path avoids the failed link (i.e.,
   the failed primary path from the PLR to the primary BFR-NBR,
   excluding the primary BFR-NBR), but the backup path may include the
   primary BFR-NBR.  Therefore, the backup path is still operational if
   the primary path fails.  The disadvantage of link protection is that



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   it fails if the primary BFR-NBR itself is not operational.  However,
   link protection has also advantages.  It often leads to shorter
   backup paths than node protection.  In case of tunnel-based BIER-FRR,
   link protection causes at most one redundant packet while node
   protection can cause more redundant packets.  In case of LFA-based
   BIER-FRR, link protection can protect more BFERs with normal BIER-
   LFAs than node protection.

4.2.  Node Protection

   With node protection, the backup path avoids the failed node and the
   link to the node (i.e., the failed primary path from the PLR to the
   primary BFR-NBR, including the primary BFR-NBR).  Therefore, the
   backup path must not include the primary path or the primary BFR-NBR
   so that the backup path is still operational if these elements fail.
   If a BFER and its primary BFR-NBR are the same, only link protection
   is possible for that BFER.  An advantage of node protection is the
   improved protection quality compared to link protection.  However,
   node protection has also disadvantages.  It often leads to longer
   backup paths than link protection.  For tunnel-based BIER-FRR,
   possibly more redundant packets are transmitted over a link than with
   link protection.  For LFA-based BIER-FRR, possibly fewer BFERs can be
   protected with normal BIER-LFAs so that more remote BIER-LFAs or
   topology-independent BIER-LFAs are needed which are more complex.

4.3.  Example

   In Figure 2, B1's primary path towards BFER B5 is B1-B6-B5.  Node
   protection for BFER B5 can be achieved only via the backup path
   B1-B2-B3-B4-B5.  Link protection for BFER 5 is achieved via the
   backup path B1-B2-B7-B6 and in addition via the backup path
   B1-B2-B3-B4-B5-B6.  The backup entries depend on the protection level
   and on the backup strategy.  Example BIFTs for link and node
   protection are given in Section 5.

5.  Backup Strategies

   The backup strategies determine the selection of the backup
   forwarding entries.  They have an impact on the backup BFR-NBR and on
   the backup action, and thereby on the backup path.  In the following,
   tunnel-based BIER-FRR and LFA-based BIER-FRR are presented.

5.1.  Tunnel-Based BIER-FRR

   The routing underlay may be able to forward packets towards their
   destinations despite an existing failure.  This may be achieved,
   e.g., due to FRR mechanisms in the routing underlay.  In that case,




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   the primary BFR-NBR is not reachable via the primary action (Plain),
   but it may be reachable via a backup action (Tunnel).

   Tunnel-based BIER-FRR encapsulates BIER packets affected by a failure
   in the routing underlay to leverage its fast restoration capability.
   The affected BIER packets can be delivered towards their destinations
   as soon as the connectivity in the routing underlay is restored.  The
   appropriate backup forwarding entries in a BIFT for BIER-FRR depend
   on the desired protection level.

5.1.1.  Tunnel-Based BIER-FRR with Link Protection

   With link protection, the backup BFR-NBRs equal the primary BFR-NBRs.
   If a primary BFR-NBR is directly connected to the BFR as a PLR, the
   corresponding backup forwarding action is Tunnel.  As a result, the
   BIER packets affected by a failure are tunneled over the routing
   underlay to their BFR-NBR instead of being sent directly as plain
   BIER packets to the BFR-NBR.  If a primary BFR-NBR is not directly
   connected to the BFR as a PLR (i.e., the implicit, primary action is
   Tunnel), the corresponding backup action is also Tunnel.  The backup
   F-BMs are the same as the primary F-BMs, which is in line with the
   computation of the backup F-BMs in Section 2.4.

       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |BFR-id|  BF-BM   |BBFR-NBR|   BFA     |BEA|Comment: protects|
       |      |          |        |           |   |  failure of     |
       +======+==========+========+===========+===+=================+
       |   2  | 0000110  |  B2    |  Tunnel   |   |  Link B1->B2    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   3  | 0000110  |  B2    |  Tunnel   |   |  Link B1->B2    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   4  | 1111000  |  B6    |  Tunnel   |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   5  | 1111000  |  B6    |  Tunnel   |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   6  | 1111000  |  B6    |  Tunnel   |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   7  | 1111000  |  B6    |  Tunnel   |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+

      Figure 7: B1's backup BIFT for tunnel-based BIER-FRR with link
                                protection.

   Figure 7 shows B1's backup BIFT for tunnel-based BIER-FRR with link
   protection for the BIER network example of Figure 2.  The backup BFR-
   NBRs and backup F-BMs in this backup BIFT are the same as the primary
   BFR-NBRs and primary F-BMs in the primary BIFT in Figure 4, but the
   backup actions in this backup BIFT are Tunnel while the primary



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   actions in the primary BIFT are Plain (which are not shown, but
   implied).

   When B1 as a PLR detects failure of its link to B6, a BIER packet
   with bitstring 0100000 for B6 is tunneled by B1 towards B6 via the
   routing underlay.  The exact path of the backup tunnel depends on the
   routing underlay.  It may be B1-B2-B7-B6 or B1-B2-B3-B4-B5-B6.

   If a BIER packet is destined to {B2, B5, B7}, first an encapsulated
   packet copy is forwarded via link B1-B2 to backup BFR-NBR B6 with
   backup action Tunnel to deliver packet copies to BFER B5 and B7.
   Then, a non-encapsulated packet copy is forwarded via link B1-B2 to
   BFR-NBR B2 with primary action Plain to deliver a packet copy to BFER
   B2.  Thus, with tunnel-based BIER-FRR, a single redundant packet copy
   can occur in case of a failure because an encapsulated packet copy
   and a non-encapsulated packet copy are forwarded over the same link.
   This happens although BIER packets affected by failures are forwarded
   before BIER packets not affected by failures.

   A BIER packet with bitstring 1000000 for B7 is forwarded on the
   backup path B1-B2-B7-B6-B7 as it is first delivered to the backup
   BFR-NBR B6.  Thus, the backup path can be unnecessarily long.  This
   phenomenon is known from facility backup method in [RFC4090] which
   takes similar paths as tunnel-based BIER-FRR.

5.1.2.  Tunnel-Based BIER-FRR with Node Protection

   To determine the backup forwarding entries with node protection, a
   case analysis for the BFER to protect is needed.  If the BFER is the
   same as its primary BFR-NBR, node protection is not possible for that
   BFER.  Therefore, link protection is applied, i.e., the backup BFR-
   NBR is set to the primary BFR-NBR.  If that level of protection is
   not sufficient, egress protection in [I-D.chen-bier-egress-protect]
   may be applied.  Otherwise (i.e., the BFER is different from its
   primary BFR-NBR), the backup BFR-NBR is set to the primary BFR-NBR's
   primary BFR-NBR for that BFER, i.e., the backup BFR-NBR is a next
   next hop BFR.  In all cases, the backup action is Tunnel.  In the
   first case, the backup F-BM is set to all zeroes plus the bit enabled
   for the BFER to protect.  In the second case, the backup F-BM is
   computed in the way described in Section 2.4.











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        +------+----------+--------+----------+---+-----------------+
        |BFR-id|  BF-BM   |BBFR-NBR|   BFA    |BEA|Comment: protects|
        |      |          |        |          |   |  failure of     |
        +======+==========+========+==========+===+=================+
        |   2  | 0000010  |   B2   |  Tunnel  |   |  Link B1->B2    |
        +------+----------+--------+----------+---+-----------------+
        |   3  | 0000100  |   B3   |  Tunnel  |   |  BFR-NBR B2     |
        +------+----------+--------+----------+---+-----------------+
        |   4  | 0011000  |   B5   |  Tunnel  |   |  BFR-NBR B6     |
        +------+----------+--------+----------+---+-----------------+
        |   5  | 0011000  |   B5   |  Tunnel  |   |  BFR-NBR B6     |
        +------+----------+--------+----------+---+-----------------+
        |   6  | 0100000  |   B6   |  Tunnel  |   |  Link B1->B6    |
        +------+----------+--------+----------+---+-----------------+
        |   7  | 1000000  |   B7   |  Tunnel  |   |  BFR-NBR B6     |
        +------+----------+--------+----------+---+-----------------+

      Figure 8: B1's backup BIFT for tunnel-based BIER-FRR with node
                                protection.

   Figure 8 shows B1's backup BIFT for tunnel-based BIER-FRR with node
   protection for the BIER network example in Figure 2.  BFERs B2 and B6
   are direct neighbors of B1.  To protect them, only link protection is
   applied as B1's primary BFR-NBR for them are those nodes themselves.
   According to the description above, only the bit for B2 is set in the
   backup F-BM of B2.  The same holds for B6.  For BFER B5, the backup
   BFR-NBR is B5 as it is B1's next next hop BFR towards B5.  Similarly,
   for BFER B7, the backup BFR-NBR is B7.  When B1 as a PLR detects the
   failure of its BFR-NBR B6, a BIER packet with bitstring 1010010 for
   {B2, B5, B7} is processed as follows.  An encapsulated copy of the
   packet is sent via tunnel B1-B2-B3-B4-B5, another encapsulated copy
   is sent via tunnel B1-B2-B7, and a non-encapsulated copy is sent via
   link B1-B2.  In this example, two redundant packets are sent on link
   B1-B2.  Thus, with node protection, more redundant packets copies may
   be sent than with link protection.

   Caveat: If the routing underlay does not provide node protection,
   tunnel-based BIER-FRR cannot provide node protection, either.  This
   is shown by the following example.  The underlay in the networking
   example of Figure 2 offers only link protection.  B6 fails and B1
   must forward a packet to B5.  According to the backup BIFT in
   Figure 8 the packet is tunneled towards B5 and the tunnel path
   B1-B2-B7-B6-B5 may be taken for this purpose by the underlay due to
   FRR with link protection.  However, B6 is also unreachable at B7 so
   that the packet is returned to B2 and the packet loops between B2 and
   B7.





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5.1.3.  Implementation Experience

   Tunnel-based BIER-FRR has been implemented in P4 for the software-
   switch bmv2 [MeLi20b] and the hardware switching ASIC Tofino
   [MeLi21].  Performance results have been provided.

5.2.  LFA-based BIER-FRR

   LFA-based BIER-FRR leverages alternate BFRs to deliver BIER packets
   to BFERs for which the primary BFR-NBR is unreachable.  It does not
   rely on any fast restoration/protection mechanisms in the underlay.
   First, some prerequisites for LFA-based BIER-FRR are clarified, BIER-
   LFAs are defined, and then link and node protection for LFA-based
   BIER-FRR are discussed using a single backup BIFT.

5.2.1.  Relation of BIER-LFAs to IP-LFAs and Prerequisites

   A loop-free alternate (LFA) for a specific destination is an
   alternate node to which a packet is sent if the primary next hop for
   this destination is not reachable.  This alternate node should be
   able to forward the packet without creating a forwarding loop.  LFAs
   have been defined for IP networks in [RFC5286], [RFC7490] and
   [I-D.ietf-rtgwg-segment-routing-ti-lfa].  We denote such LFAs as IP-
   LFAs.  BIER-LFAs are very similar to IP-LFAs, but a BIER-LFA node
   must be a BFR.  If only a subset of the nodes in the routing underlay
   are BFRs, some IP-LFAs in the routing underlay may not be usable as
   BIER-LFAs.  To compute BIER-LFAs, network topology and link cost
   information from the routing underlay are needed.  This is a
   difference to tunnel-based BIER-FRR where knowledge about the primary
   BIFTs of a PLR and its BFR-NBRs is sufficient.

   LFA-based BIER-FRR may reuse IP-LFAs in the following sense as BIER-
   LFAs.  If an IP-LFA node for the destination of a specific BFER is a
   BFR, it may be reused as backup BFR-NBR for that BFER together with
   the backup action that is applied for that IP-LFA on the IP layer.  A
   normal IP-LFA corresponds to backup action plain, a remote IP-LFA to
   Tunnel, and a TI-IP-LFA to Explicit.

5.2.2.  Definition of BIER-LFAs

   As for IP-LFAs, there are several, different types of BIER-LFAs:

   o  A BFR is a normal BIER-LFA for a specific BFER if it is directly
      connected to the PLR and

      1.  the BFER can be reached from it through the BIER domain





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      2.  both the path from the PLR to it and the path from it to the
          BFER are disjoint with the primary path from the PLR to the
          primary BFR-NBR.  These paths

          +  may contain the primary BFR-NBR for link protection, and

          +  must not contain the primary BFR-NBR for node protection.

   o  A BFR is a remote BIER-LFA for a specific BFER if it is not
      directly connected to the PLR, if it can be reached via a tunnel
      from the PLR, and if it also satisfies the aforementioned
      conditions 1 and 2.

   o  A BFR is a TI-BIER-LFA for a specific BFER if it is not directly
      connected to the PLR, if it cannot be reached via a tunnel from
      the PLR, if it is reachable from the PLR via an explicit path
      (i.e., with the help of a SR header), and if it also satisfies the
      aforementioned conditions 1 and 2.

   For some BFERs, one or more normal BIER-LFAs are available at a
   specific PLR.  For other BFERs, only remote and TI-LFAs are
   available.  And there may be some BFERs, for which only TI-LFAs are
   available.

   The backup actions to reroute BIER packets depending on the BIER-LFA
   types are:

   o  For normal BIER-LFA: Plain

   o  For remote BIER-LFA: Tunnel

   o  For TI-BIER-LFA: Explicit

5.2.3.  Protection Coverage of BIER-LFA Types

   The protection coverage is the set of BFERs that can be protected
   with a desired protection level by a certain BIER-LFA type.  The
   BIER-LFA types have the following properties:

   o  Normal BIER-LFAs

      *  The protection coverage is the least because some or many BFERs
         cannot be protected with the desired protection level or even
         not at all.

      *  Redundant packet copies are avoided.

      *  No encapsulation overhead.



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   o  Remote BIER-LFAs

      *  They increase the protection coverage of normal BIER-LFAs.

      *  Redundant packet copies may occur on a link similar to tunnel-
         based BIER-FRR.

      *  Same encapsulation overhead as with tunnel-based BIER-FRR.

   o  TI-BIER-LFAs

      *  They complement the protection coverage of normal and remote
         BIER-LFAs to 100%.

      *  Redundant packets may occur on a link similar to tunnel-based
         BIER-FRR.

      *  Same or similar encapsulation overhead as with tunnel-based
         BIER-FRR depending on the FRR mechanism in the routing
         underlay.

5.2.4.  Sets of Supported BIER-LFAs

   Normal BIER-LFAs are simplest, as they require neither tunneling nor
   explicit paths.  Remote BIER-LFAs are more powerful, but entail more
   header overhead and require more functionality from the PLR.  TI-
   BIER-LFAs are most complex as they require the use of explicit paths.
   When LFA-based BIER-FRR is utilized, the set of supported BIER-LFAs
   must be indicated.  The following options are available:

   o  Option 1: only normal BIER-LFAs are supported

   o  Option 2: normal and remote BIER-LFAs are supported

   o  Option 3: all BIER-LFA types are supported

5.2.5.  Link Protection

   With link protection, normal BIER-LFAs are preferred over remote LFAs
   and remote BIER-LFAs are preferred over TI-BIER-LFAs.  Depending on
   the set of supported BIER-LFAs, a BFER may not be protectable.

   Figure 5 illustrates B1's backup BIFT for LFA-based BIER-FRR with
   link protection in the networking example of Figure 2.

   If the link B1-B6 fails, B1 cannot reach the BFERs B4, B5, B6, and B7
   over their primary BFR-NBR.  Therefore, B1 sends their traffic via
   the backup BFR-NBR B2 together with the traffic for B2 and B3 as B2



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   is their primary BFR-NBR.  As a consequence, the backup F-BM is
   1111110 in that case.  Likewise, if the link B1-B2 fails, B1 sends
   all traffic to B6, and the backup F-BM is 1111110 also in that case.

   B1 requires only normal BIER-LFAs to protect all BFERs.  This can be
   substantially different for other BFRs.  Figure 9 and Figure 10 show
   the backup BIFTs for B7 and B5 respectively.  BFR B7 requires one
   normal BIER-LFA, three remote BIER-LFAs, and two TI-BIER-LFAs to
   protect all BFERs.  And BFR B5 requires even one normal BIER-LFA, one
   remote BIER-LFA, and four TI-BIER-LFAs as backup BFR-NBRs.  Thus,
   depending on the set of supported BIER-LFAs, a BFER cannot be
   protected by BIER-FRR.

   We now assume B7 has a BIER packet with destinations {B1, B4, B5,
   B6}.  When link B7-B6 fails, the packet copy for B1 is sent to B2
   using forwarding action Plain, the packet copy to B4 is tunneled via
   B2 to B3, and the packet copies towards B5 and B6 are sent via
   explicit paths towards B4 and B1 respectively.  As these packet
   copies have different headers, they all need to be sent.  Hence, we
   observe three redundant copies.

       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |BFR-id|  BF-BM   |BBFR-NBR|   BFA     |BEA|Comment: protects|
       |      |          |        |           |   |  failure of     |
       +======+==========+========+===========+===+=================+
       |   1  | 0000111  |   B2   |  Plain    |   |  Link B7->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   2  | 0000110  |   B1   |  Tunnel   |   |  Link B1->B2    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   3  | 0000110  |   B1   |  Tunnel   |   |  Link B1->B2    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   4  | 0001000  |   B3   |  Tunnel   |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   5  | 0010000  |   B4   |  Explicit |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   6  | 0100000  |   B1   |  Explicit |   |  Link B1->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+

             Figure 9: B7's backup BIFT with link protection.












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       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |BFR-id|  BF-BM   |BBFR-NBR|   BFA     |BEA|Comment: protects|
       |      |          |        |           |   |  failure of     |
       +======+==========+========+===========+===+=================+
       |   1  | 1100011  |   B3   |  Explicit |   |  Link B5->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   2  | 1100011  |   B3   |  Explicit |   |  Link B5->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   3  | 0000100  |   B4   |  Plain    |   |  Link B5->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   4  | 0001000  |   B3   |  Tunnel   |   |  Link B5->B4    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   6  | 1100011  |   B3   |  Explicit |   |  Link B5->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   7  | 1100011  |   B3   |  Explicit |   |  Link B5->B6    |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+

             Figure 10: B5's backup BIFT with link protection.

5.2.6.  Node Protection

   To determine the backup forwarding entries with node protection, a
   case analysis for the BFER to protect is needed again.  If the BFER
   is the same as its primary BFR-NBR, node protection is not possible
   for that BFER.  In this case, link protection is applied.  Otherwise,
   the BFER must be protected by a node-protecting BIER-LFA.  Thereby,
   normal BIER-LFAs are preferred over remote BIER-LFAs and remote BIER-
   LFAs are preferred over TI-BIER-LFAs.  Depending on the set of
   allowed BIER-LFAs, a BFER may not be protectable.

   Figure 11 illustrates B1's backup BIFT for the LFA-based BIER-FRR
   with node protection in the networking example of Figure 2.



















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       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |BFR-id|  BF-BM   |BBFR-NBR|   BFA     |BEA|Comment: protects|
       |      |          |        |           |   |  failure of     |
       +======+==========+========+===========+===+=================+
       |   2  | 1111010  |   B6   |  Plain    |   |  BFR-NBR B2     |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   3  | 0000100  |   B4   |  Tunnel   |   |  BFR-NBR B2     |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   4  | 0001000  |   B3   |  Tunnel   |   |  BFR-NBR B6     |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   5  | 0010000  |   B4   |  Explicit |   |  BFR-NBR B6     |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   6  | 1100100  |   B2   |  Plain    |   |  BFR-NBR B6     |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+
       |   7  | 1100100  |   B2   |  Plain    |   |  BFR-NBR B6     |
       +------+----------+--------+-----------+---+-----------------+

             Figure 11: B1's backup BIFT with node protection.

   As the primary BFR-NBR of B1 for BFER B6 is B6 itself, only link
   protection can be applied.  Therefore, B2 is used as normal, link-
   protection BIER-LFA to protect B6.  Likewise, the primary BFR-NBR of
   B1 for BFER B2 is B2, and therefore, B2 is protected with B6 as
   normal, link-protecting BIER-LFA.  BFER B7 is protected against the
   failure of node B6 with B2 as normal, node-protecting BIER-LFA as B2
   has a shortest path towards B7 that does not traverse B6.  The backup
   F-BMs for BFER 6 and BFER 7 are {B2, B6, B7} because if B6 is
   unreachable, the traffic for these BFERs is sent via link B1-B2 with
   forwarding action Plain.

   BFER B4 is not reachable through a normal LFA when BFR B6 fails.
   However, B3 is a remote, node-protecting BIER-LFA for BFER B4 because
   B3 has a shortest path towards B4, and B3 is reachable through a
   shortest path from B1, and the resulting backup path from B1 to B4
   does not traverse B6.  Likewise, B4 is a remote LFA for BFER B3 if
   BFR B2 fails.

   BFER B5 is neither reachable through a normal BIER-LFA nor through a
   remote BIER-LFA when BFR B6 fails.  However, B4 is a node-protecting
   TI-LFA for BFER B5 because B4 has a shortest path towards B5 that
   does not traverse B6.  Moreover, B4 is reachable through the explicit
   path B1-B2-B3-B4.









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5.2.7.  Optimization Potential to Reduce Redundant BIER Packets in
        Failure Cases

   Redundant packets occur with LFA-based BIER-FRR if BIER packets are
   sent over a specific link in different forms.  These forms are

   o  plain BIER packets (plain primary transmission or reroute to
      normal BIER-LFA)

   o  BIER packets encapsulated to a specific BFR-NBR (tunneled primary
      transmission or reroute to remote BIER-LFA)

   o  BIER packets with an encoded explicit path (reroute to TI-LFA)

   When different remote LFAs are addressed, even multiple redundant
   packets can be caused through remote LFAs.  The same can happen with
   TI-LFAs.  Some redundant packets can be avoided if remote LFAs or TI-
   LFAs are chosen such that they can protect several BFERs and thereby
   avoid the need for another remote LFA or TI-LFA.  However, this may
   lead to longer backup paths.  This is a new, potential optimization
   objective for the choice of remote or TI-BIER-LFAs which does not
   exist for IP-FRR.  Its relevance may depend on the use case.

   We illustrate this optimization potential.  We consider LFA-based
   BIER-FRR with link protection for B7.  Its backup BIFT is given in
   Figure 9.  As observed in Section 5.2.5, B7 needs to send four copies
   to forward a packet to {B1, B4, B5, B6}.  If we choose the more
   complex TI-BIER-LFA B4 to protect BFER B4 instead of the remote BIER-
   LFA B3, then only two redundant copies need to be sent.

6.  Comparison

   This section first discusses the difference of IP-LFAs for IP-FRR and
   BIER-LFAs for BIER-FRR.  Then it discusses advantages and
   disadvantages of tunnel-based and LFA-based BIER-FRR.

6.1.  Comparison of LFA-Based Protection for IP-FRR and BIER-FRR

   LFAs have been first proposed for IP networks.  They are simple in
   the sense that they do not require any tunneling overhead.  However,
   some destinations cannot be protected against some link failures and
   even more destinations cannot be protected against some node
   failures.  Therefore, remote LFAs (R-LFAs) have been defined to
   improve that coverage by tunneling the affected traffic to another
   node from where the traffic can reach the destination via normal
   forwarding.  Nevertheless, there may be still some destinations that
   cannot be protected against link or node failures.  Therefore,
   topology-independent LFAs (TI-LFAs) have been defined where affected



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   traffic is tunneled via an explicit path (preferably using segment
   routing headers) to another node from where the traffic can reach its
   destination via normal IP forwarding.  With TI-LFAs, all destinations
   can be protected against any failures as long as connectivity exists.

   LFA-based BIER-FRR adopts the idea of LFAs.  It differs from IP-FRR
   as the LFA target node, i.e., the node to which the traffic is
   deviated, must be a BFR.  If an IP-LFA target is a BFR, it can be
   utilized as a BIER-LFA; otherwise it cannot serve as BIER-LFA.  Thus,
   if only some nodes of the underlay are BFRs, the BIER-LFAs will be
   substantially different from IP-LFAs.  Moreover, this makes it more
   difficult to find normal LFAs for which tunneling is not needed.
   That means, LFA-based BIER-FRR is likely to require more remote LFAs
   and TI-LFAs than IP-FRR under such conditions.

6.2.  Advantages and Disadvantages of Tunnel-Based BIER-FRR

6.2.1.  Advantages

   o  Computation of backup forwarding entries is very simple.  Only
      primary BIFTs of a PLR and its BFR-NBRs are needed to compute the
      backup forwarding entries.  Routing information from the routing
      underlay is not needed.

   o  The forwarding action Explicit is not needed.  However, depending
      on the underlay, explicit forwarding may be used to achieve FRR in
      the underlay.

6.2.2.  Disadvantages

   o  It requires a FRR mechanism on the underlay.

   o  It is limited to the protection level of the underlay.  E.g., if
      the underlay supports only link protection, tunnel-based BIER-FRR
      cannot provide node protection.

   o  Redundant packet copies may occur in tunnel-based BIER-FRR.

   o  In case of node protection, backup paths may be extended more than
      needed.

   o  Requires a tunneling header for any rerouting, which creates
      header overhead.








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6.3.  Advantages and Disadvantages of LFA-Based BIER-FRR

6.3.1.  Advantages

   o  Does not rely on any fast protection of the underlay.

   o  Can provide better protection on the BIER layer than on the IP
      layer; this is possible if LFA-based BIER-FRR utilizes BIER-LFAs
      with better protection level than LFA-based IP-FRR.  E.g., the
      underlay may provide only FRR with link protection while BIER-FRR
      may provide node protection for BIER traffic.

   o  Avoids header overhead for normal BIER-LFAs.

6.3.2.  Disadvantages

   o  Computation of backup forwarding entries requires routing
      information from the underlay.

   o  Computation of backup forwarding entries more complex if some
      nodes of the underlay are not BFRs.

   o  Need for forwarding action Tunnel to protect some BFERs, which
      adds header overhead.

   o  Need for forwarding action Explicit to achieve full protection
      coverage for some topologies; otherwise only partial protection
      coverage.  This requires support for explicit paths, e.g., segment
      routing.

   o  More remote and TI-LFAs needed than for IP-FRR if some nodes in
      the routing underlay are not BFRs.

   o  Redundant packet copies may occur in LFA-based BIER-FRR (but it's
      less than with tunnel-based BIER-FRR).

7.  Security Considerations

   TBD.

8.  IANA Considerations

   No requirements for IANA.








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9.  Contributors

        Daniel Merling
        Germany
        Email: daniel.merling@uni-tuebingen.de


        Xuesong Geng
        China
        Email: gengxuesong@huawei.com


10.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Jeffrey Zhang, Tony Przygienda and
   Shaofu Peng for their comments to this work.

11.  References

11.1.  Normative References

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

   [RFC5286]  Atlas, A., Ed. and A. Zinin, Ed., "Basic Specification for
              IP Fast Reroute: Loop-Free Alternates", RFC 5286,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5286, September 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5286>.

   [RFC7490]  Bryant, S., Filsfils, C., Previdi, S., Shand, M., and N.
              So, "Remote Loop-Free Alternate (LFA) Fast Reroute (FRR)",
              RFC 7490, DOI 10.17487/RFC7490, April 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7490>.

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

   [RFC8279]  Wijnands, IJ., Ed., Rosen, E., Ed., Dolganow, A.,
              Przygienda, T., and S. Aldrin, "Multicast Using Bit Index
              Explicit Replication (BIER)", RFC 8279,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8279, November 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8279>.






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11.2.  Informative References

   [BrAl17]   Braun, W., Albert, M., Eckert, T., and M. Menth,
              "Performance Comparison of Resilience Mechanisms for
              Stateless Multicast Using BIER", May 2017.

   [I-D.chen-bier-egress-protect]
              Chen, H., McBride, M., Wang, A., Mishra, G. S., Liu, Y.,
              Menth, M., Khasanov, B., Geng, X., Fan, Y., Liu, L., and
              X. Liu, "BIER Egress Protection", draft-chen-bier-egress-
              protect-03 (work in progress), October 2021.

   [I-D.ietf-rtgwg-segment-routing-ti-lfa]
              Litkowski, S., Bashandy, A., Filsfils, C., Francois, P.,
              Decraene, B., and D. Voyer, "Topology Independent Fast
              Reroute using Segment Routing", draft-ietf-rtgwg-segment-
              routing-ti-lfa-08 (work in progress), January 2022.

   [MeLi20b]  Merling, D., Lindner, S., and M. Menth, "P4-Based
              Implementation of BIER and BIER-FRR for Scalable and
              Resilient Multicast", November 2020.

   [MeLi21]   Merling, D., Lindner, S., and M. Menth, "Hardware-based
              Evaluation of Scalable and Resilient Multicast with BIER
              in P4", March 2020.

   [RFC4090]  Pan, P., Ed., Swallow, G., Ed., and A. Atlas, Ed., "Fast
              Reroute Extensions to RSVP-TE for LSP Tunnels", RFC 4090,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4090, May 2005,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4090>.

Appendix A.  Specific Backup Strategy Examples

   This appendix demonstrates the computations of some specific backup
   strategy options in details.

A.1.  LFA-based BIER-FRR using Single BIFT

   In the LFA-based BIER-FRR using single BIFT, every BFR has a single
   BIFT for a level of protection.  Its structure is the same as the one
   in Figure 1.

   The following presents the details in BFR B1 in Figure 2 for building
   the BIFT for BIER-FRR link protection.

   At first, BFR B1 obtains a BIER-LFA as BBFR-NBR for each BFER.  B6 is
   normal BIER-LFA as BBFR-NBR for BFER B2 and B3.  B2 is normal BIER-
   LFA as BBFR-NBR for BFER B4, B5, B6 and B7.  Figure 12 illustrates



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   B1's intermediate BIFT for link protection filled with values for
   BBFR-NBRs and BFAs.

       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |BFR-id|   F-BM  |BFR-NBR|  BF-BM   |BBFR-NBR|   BFA    |BEA|
       +======+=========+=======+==========+========+==========+===+
       |   2  | 0000110 |  B2   |          |   B6   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |   3  | 0000110 |  B2   |          |   B6   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |   4  | 1111000 |  B6   |          |   B2   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |   5  | 1111000 |  B6   |          |   B2   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |   6  | 1111000 |  B6   |          |   B2   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |   7  | 1111000 |  B6   |          |   B2   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+

          Figure 12: B1's intermediate BIFT for link protection.

   From the intermediate BIFT, BFERs B2 and B3 have the same BFR-NBR B2
   and BBFR-NBR B6, BFERs B4 to B7 have the same BFR-NBR B6 as the BBFR-
   NBR B6 for BFER B2.  According to Section 2.4, the BF-BM for BFER B2
   has the bits for B2 and B3 as well as the bits for B4 to B7, which is
   1111110.  The BF-BM for BFER B3 is also 1111110.  Similarly, the BF-
   BM for each of BFERs B3 to B7 is computed, which is 1111110.

   With the BF-BMs, BFR B1 has the BIFT for link protection, which is
   illustrated in Figure 13.

       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |BFR-id|   F-BM  |BFR-NBR|  BF-BM   |BBFR-NBR|   BFA    |BEA|
       +======+=========+=======+==========+========+==========+===+
       |   2  | 0000110 |  B2   | 1111110  |   B6   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |   3  | 0000110 |  B2   | 1111110  |   B6   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |   4  | 1111000 |  B6   | 1111110  |   B2   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |   5  | 1111000 |  B6   | 1111110  |   B2   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |   6  | 1111000 |  B6   | 1111110  |   B2   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+
       |   7  | 1111000 |  B6   | 1111110  |   B2   | Plain    |   |
       +------+---------+-------+----------+--------+----------+---+

            Figure 13: B1's BIFT for BIER-FRR link protection.



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A.2.  LFA-based BIER-FRR using Multiple Backup BIFTs

   For the LFA-based BIER-FRR using multiple backup BIFTs, in addition
   to a primary BIFT, a BFR has a backup BIFT for each of its BFR-NBRs
   with a level of protection.  The backup BIFT for BFR-NBR N with link
   protection (or simply called the backup BIFT for link to N) assumes
   that the link to N failed.  The BFR uses it to protect against the
   failure of its link to N.  The backup BIFT for N with node protection
   (or simply called the backup BIFT for N) assumes that node N failed.
   The BFR uses it to protect against the failure of N.  Once the BFR as
   a PLR detects the failure of its link to N, it uses the backup BIFT
   for link to N to forward all BIER packets.  When the BFR as a PLR
   detects the failure of its BFR-NBR N, it uses the backup BIFT for N
   to forward all BIER packets.

   Even though a BFR has multiple backup BIFTs, the LFA-based BIER-FRR
   using multiple backup BIFTs is scalable.  Both the size of a backup
   BIFT and the number of backup BIFTs on the BFR are small.  Assume a
   BIER network has 1000 BFRs and 100 BFERs, and each BFR has 10 BFR-
   NBRs on average.  The size of a backup BIFT is 100 forwarding
   entries.  The number of backup BIFTs on the BFR is 20 on average.
   The total size of all backup BIFTs is 100*20 = 2000 forwarding
   entries.

   The following presents the details in BFR B1 in Figure 2 for building
   the backup BIFT for link to B2 to support BIER-FRR link protection.

   To support link protection, BFR B1 in Figure 2 has two backup BIFTs:
   one for link to B2 and the other for link to B6.  The backup BIFT for
   link to B2 is illustrated in Figure 14.





















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    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    | BFR-id |   F-BM  | BFR-NBR |Forwarding Action|Comment: protects|
    |        |         |         |                 |  failure of     |
    +========+=========+=========+=================+=================+
    |   2    | 1111110 |    B6   |   Plain         |  Link B1->B2    |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |   3    | 1111110 |    B6   |   Plain         |  Link B1->B2    |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |   4    | 1111110 |    B6   |   Plain         |                 |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |   5    | 1111110 |    B6   |   Plain         |                 |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |   6    | 1111110 |    B6   |   Plain         |                 |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
    |   7    | 1111110 |    B6   |   Plain         |                 |
    +--------+---------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+

                Figure 14: B1's backup BIFT for link to B2.

   BFR B1 builds the backup BIFT for link to B2 in two steps.  In the
   first step, it builds the backup BIRT for link to B2 through copying
   its regular BIRT to the backup BIRT and then changing BFR-NBR B2 in
   the backup BIRT to a backup BFR-NBR to protect against the failure of
   the link to B2.  The backup BIRT for link to B2 built by B1 is
   illustrated in Figure 15.

   +------+-------------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
   |BFR-id|BFER's Prefix| BFR-NBR |Forwarding Action|Comment: protects|
   |      |             |         |                 |  failure of     |
   +======+=============+=========+=================+=================+
   |  2   |     B2      |    B6   |   Plain         |  Link B1->B2    |
   +------+-------------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
   |  3   |     B3      |    B6   |   Plain         |  Link B1->B2    |
   +------+-------------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
   |  4   |     B4      |    B6   |   Plain         |                 |
   +------+-------------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
   |  5   |     B5      |    B6   |   Plain         |                 |
   +------+-------------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
   |  6   |     B6      |    B6   |   Plain         |                 |
   +------+-------------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+
   |  7   |     B7      |    B6   |   Plain         |                 |
   +------+-------------+---------+-----------------+-----------------+

                Figure 15: B1's backup BIRT for link to B2.

   The BFR-NBR in each of the first two routing entries with BFR-NBR B2
   originally from the BIRT is changed to its corresponding backup BFR-
   NBR.  The BFR-NBR B2 in the first entry is changed to backup BFR-NBR



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   BIER-LFA B6.  The BFR-NBR B2 in the second entry is changed to backup
   BFR-NBR BIER-LFA B6.

   In the second step, BFR B1 derives the backup BIFT for link to B2
   from the backup BIRT for link to B2 in the same way as it derives its
   regular BIFT from its BIRT defined in [RFC8279].  The result of the
   backup BIFT for link to B2 is the one shown in Figure 14.

   When BFR B1 as a PLR detects the failure of its link to B2, it
   forwards all the BIER packets using the FRR-BIFT for link to B2.
   There is no redundant packet.  For example, for a BIER packet with
   destinations B2 and B6 (i.e., bitstring 0100010), BFR B1 sends a
   single packet copy on the link to B6 using the backup BIFT for link
   to B2 after detecting the failure of its link to B2.  It will not
   send any copy of the packet to B6 again since the bitstring in the
   packet will be all cleaned by the F-BM 1111110 after sending the
   packet to B6 via its link to B6.  Similarly, for a BIER packet with
   destinations B2, B5 and B7 (i.e., bitstring 1010010), BFR B1 sends a
   single packet copy on its link to B6 using the backup BIFT for link
   to B2 after detecting the failure of its link to B2.

Authors' Addresses

   Huaimo Chen (editor)
   Futurewei
   Boston, MA
   USA

   Email: Huaimo.chen@futurewei.com


   Mike McBride
   Futurewei

   Email: michael.mcbride@futurewei.com


   Steffen Lindner
   University of Tuebingen

   Email: steffen.lindner@uni-tuebingen.de


   Michael Menth
   University of Tuebingen

   Email: menth@uni-tuebingen.de




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   Aijun Wang
   China Telecom
   Beiqijia Town, Changping District
   Beijing  102209
   China

   Email: wangaj3@chinatelecom.cn


   Gyan S. Mishra
   Verizon Inc.
   13101 Columbia Pike
   Silver Spring  MD 20904
   USA

   Phone: 301 502-1347
   Email: gyan.s.mishra@verizon.com


   Yisong Liu
   China Mobile

   Email: liuyisong@chinamobile.com


   Yanhe Fan
   Casa Systems
   USA

   Email: yfan@casa-systems.com


   Lei Liu
   Fujitsu
   USA

   Email: liulei.kddi@gmail.com


   Xufeng Liu
   Volta Networks
   McLean, VA
   USA

   Email: xufeng.liu.ietf@gmail.com






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