Request for Comments: 6215
Updates: 5921
Category: Informational
ISSN: 2070-1721
L. Levrau
Alcatel-Lucent
D. Frost
Cisco
April 2011
MPLS Transport Profile User-to-Network
and Network-to-Network Interfaces
Abstract
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The framework for MPLS in transport networks (RFC 5921) provides reference models for the MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) Transport Service Interfaces, which are a User-to-Network Interface (UNI), and a Network-to-Network Interface (NNI). This document updates those reference models to show detailed reference points for these interfaces, along with further clarification of the functional architecture of MPLS-TP at a UNI and NNI.
This document is a product of a joint Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) / International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) effort to include an MPLS Transport Profile within the IETF MPLS and Pseudowire Emulation Edge-to-Edge (PWE3) architectures to support the capabilities and functionalities of a packet transport network as defined by the ITU-T.
Status of This Memo
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This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6215.
Copyright Notice
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Copyright © 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.
1. Introduction
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The framework for MPLS in transport networks [RFC5921] provides reference models for the MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) Transport Service Interfaces, which are a User-to-Network Interface (UNI) and a Network-to-Network Interface (NNI). This document updates those reference models to show detailed reference points for these interfaces, along with further clarification of the functional architecture of MPLS-TP at a UNI and NNI.
This document is a product of a joint Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) / International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) effort to include an MPLS Transport Profile within the IETF MPLS and PWE3 architectures to support the capabilities and functionalities of a packet transport network as defined by the ITU-T.
1.1. Updates to the MPLS-TP UNI and NNI
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The Transport Service Interfaces for MPLS-TP are defined in Section 3.4.3 of [RFC5921]. These definitions are illustrated by showing MPLS-TP Provider Edges (PEs) containing a UNI and an NNI. The figures illustrate the UNI and the NNI as a span. However, it is convention to illustrate these interfaces as reference points. Furthermore, in the case of a UNI, it is useful to illustrate the distribution of UNI functions between the Customer Edge (CE) side and the PE side of the UNI, i.e., the UNI-C (User-to-User Interface, Client side) and UNI-N (User-to-Network Interface, Network side), in order to show their relationship to one another.
This document provides updated illustrations of the MPLS-TP UNI and MPLS-TP NNI to show these additional details. These illustrations obsolete the corresponding ones in [RFC5921]. This document also defines additional terminology referenced in the illustrations. No other updates are made by this document.
Awareness of the Transport Service layer need exist only at PE nodes, and so only these nodes are illustrated in the figures. MPLS-TP Provider (P) nodes need have no awareness of this layer. Both PE and P nodes participate in the Transport Path layer. A PE terminates (i.e., is a Label Edge Router (LER) with respect to) the transport paths it supports, and is responsible for multiplexing and demultiplexing of Transport Service Instance traffic over such transport paths.
1.2. Terminology and Abbreviations
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The terminology and abbreviations of [RFC5921] apply.
The following additional terminology is used in this document.
Term Definition ----- --------------------------------------- CP Control Plane NNI Network-to-Network Interface TSI Transport Service Instance UNI User-to-Network Interface UNI-C User-to-Network Interface, Client side UNI-N User-to-Network Interface, Network side Transport Service Instance: A single logical point-to-point connection at the Transport Service layer between the ingress PE providing a packet transport service to a CE, and the corresponding egress PE to which the peer CE is attached.
2. MPLS-TP User-to-Network Interface
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The MPLS-TP User-to-Network Interface (UNI) is illustrated in Figure 1. This figure obsoletes Figure 3 of [RFC5921]. Note that the term "MPLS-TP UNI" is to be interpreted as a UNI to an MPLS-TP network and does not refer to the protocol transiting the UNI. The UNI for a particular client flow may involve signaling between the CE and PE. If signaling is used, it may traverse the same attachment circuit that supports the client flow.
UNI : MPLS-TP :<-- UNI-C -->: : :<-- UNI-N ->: Network <-----> : function : : : function : --------------- : ------------:-------------------- : | : | : Transport | : | V | Client : Path | : | | Service : Mux/Demux | : | | Control : -- | : ---------- | | ----------: | | Transport| :| | | | | | | | Path | :|Signaling |_|___________|_|Signaling | | | ---------> :|Controller| | | |Controller| | | | : ---------- | | ---------- | | ---------> : :......|...........|......: : | | | : | Control | : | | Transport| : | Channel | : | | Path | : | | : | | ---------> : | | : | | -+----------->TSI : | | Transport : | | | ---------> : | Client | Service : | | | | : | Traffic | Data Plane: | | | | : ---------- | Flows | -------------- | | |Transport| :| Client |-|-----------|-|Client/Service|-| |- Path | :| Traffic |=|===========|=| Traffic | | | ---------> :|Processing| | | | Processing |=| |===+===========>TSI : ---------- | | -------------- | | ---------> : |______|___________|______| : | | | : | Data Link | : | | | : | | : -- | : | | : Transport | : | | : Path | : | | : Data Plane| --------------- --------------------------------- Customer Edge Node MPLS-TP Provider Edge Node
Note: The client service control plane may be a control protocol
belonging to the native service, or GMPLS.
Figure 1: UNI between CE Node and MPLS-TP PE Node
3. MPLS-TP Network-to-Network Interface
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The MPLS-TP Network-to-Network Interface (NNI) is illustrated in Figure 2. This figure obsoletes Figure 5 of [RFC5921]. The NNI for a particular Transport Service Instance may involve signaling between the two PEs. If signaling is used, it may traverse the same data- link that supports the service instance. NNI :<--- NNI --->: : :<--- NNI ---->: : Function : : : Function : --------------------------- : -------------------------- | : Transport | : | Transport : | | : Service CP | V | Service CP : | | : ---------- |Signaling| ---------- : | | : |Signaling |_| _______ |_|Signaling | : | | : |Controller| | | |Controller| : | | : ---------- | | ---------- : | | : :....... Control .......: : | | : | Channel | : | | - : Transport | | Transport : - | | | | : Path CP | | Path CP : | | | | | | : ---------- |Signaling| ---------- : | | | -----| | : |Signaling |_| _______ |_|Signaling | : | |----- ---+-| | : |Controller| | | |Controller| : | |-+--- -----| | : ---------- | | ---------- : | |----- | | | : :....... Control .......: : | | | | | | : | Channel | : | | | | | | Transport Path | | Transport Path | | | | | | / mux/demux \ | | / mux/demux \| | | | | |/ : \-- | | -- / : | | | | | | ---------- | | |Transport| | | ---------- | | | | | |--|Transport |---| | | Path | | |---|Transport |--| | | -----| | | Service | | |-------------| | | Service | | |----- TSI+=| |==|Processing|===| |<+===TSI===+>| |===|Processing|==| |=+TSI -----| | ---------- | |-------------| | ---------- | |----- | | | : | | | | | | : | | | | | | : | | | | | | : | | | | - : -- | | -- : - | | : | | : | | Transport Path | | Transport Path | | Data Plane | Data Plane | --------------------------- -------------------------- MPLS-TP Provider MPLS-TP Provider Edge Node A Edge Node B
Figure 2: NNI between MPLS-TP PE Nodes
4. Security Considerations
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The security considerations of [RFC5921] apply. The updated reference models provided by this document introduce no new security considerations.
5. Acknowledgements
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The editors wish to thank the following for their contribution to this document:
- Eve Varma
- Dieter Beller
- Lou Berger
- Stewart Bryant
- Italo Busi
- The experts of ITU-T Study Group 15 and the IETF MPLS and PWE3 working groups.
6. Normative References
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[RFC5921] Bocci, M., Bryant, S., Frost, D., Levrau, L., and L. Berger, "A Framework for MPLS in Transport Networks", RFC 5921, July 2010.
Authors' Addresses
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Matthew Bocci
Alcatel-LucentEMail: matthew.bocci@alcatel-lucent.com
Lieven Levrau
Alcatel-LucentEMail: lieven.levrau@alcatel-lucent.com
Dan Frost
CiscoEMail:
danfrost@cisco.com