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- Network Working Group E. Crawley, Editor
- Request for Comments: 2382 Argon Networks
- Category: Informational L. Berger
- Fore Systems
- S. Berson
- ISI
- F. Baker
- Cisco Systems
- M. Borden
- Bay Networks
- J. Krawczyk
- ArrowPoint Communications
- August 1998
-
-
- A Framework for Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM
-
- Status of this Memo
-
- This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
- not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
- memo is unlimited.
-
- Copyright Notice
-
- Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
-
- Abstract
-
- This document outlines the issues and framework related to providing
- IP Integrated Services with RSVP over ATM. It provides an overall
- approach to the problem(s) and related issues. These issues and
- problems are to be addressed in further documents from the ISATM
- subgroup of the ISSLL working group.
-
- 1. Introduction
-
- The Internet currently has one class of service normally referred to
- as "best effort." This service is typified by first-come, first-
- serve scheduling at each hop in the network. Best effort service has
- worked well for electronic mail, World Wide Web (WWW) access, file
- transfer (e.g. ftp), etc. For real-time traffic such as voice and
- video, the current Internet has performed well only across unloaded
- portions of the network. In order to provide quality real-time
- traffic, new classes of service and a QoS signalling protocol are
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- being introduced in the Internet [1,6,7], while retaining the
- existing best effort service. The QoS signalling protocol is RSVP
- [1], the Resource ReSerVation Protocol and the service models
-
- One of the important features of ATM technology is the ability to
- request a point-to-point Virtual Circuit (VC) with a specified
- Quality of Service (QoS). An additional feature of ATM technology is
- the ability to request point-to-multipoint VCs with a specified QoS.
- Point-to-multipoint VCs allows leaf nodes to be added and removed
- from the VC dynamically and so provides a mechanism for supporting IP
- multicast. It is only natural that RSVP and the Internet Integrated
- Services (IIS) model would like to utilize the QoS properties of any
- underlying link layer including ATM, and this memo concentrates on
- ATM.
-
- Classical IP over ATM [10] has solved part of this problem,
- supporting IP unicast best effort traffic over ATM. Classical IP
- over ATM is based on a Logical IP Subnetwork (LIS), which is a
- separately administered IP subnetwork. Hosts within an LIS
- communicate using the ATM network, while hosts from different subnets
- communicate only by going through an IP router (even though it may be
- possible to open a direct VC between the two hosts over the ATM
- network). Classical IP over ATM provides an Address Resolution
- Protocol (ATMARP) for ATM edge devices to resolve IP addresses to
- native ATM addresses. For any pair of IP/ATM edge devices (i.e.
- hosts or routers), a single VC is created on demand and shared for
- all traffic between the two devices. A second part of the RSVP and
- IIS over ATM problem, IP multicast, is being solved with MARS [5],
- the Multicast Address Resolution Server.
-
- MARS compliments ATMARP by allowing an IP address to resolve into a
- list of native ATM addresses, rather than just a single address.
-
- The ATM Forum's LAN Emulation (LANE) [17, 20] and Multiprotocol Over
- ATM (MPOA) [18] also address the support of IP best effort traffic
- over ATM through similar means.
-
- A key remaining issue for IP in an ATM environment is the integration
- of RSVP signalling and ATM signalling in support of the Internet
- Integrated Services (IIS) model. There are two main areas involved
- in supporting the IIS model, QoS translation and VC management. QoS
- translation concerns mapping a QoS from the IIS model to a proper ATM
- QoS, while VC management concentrates on how many VCs are needed and
- which traffic flows are routed over which VCs.
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- 1.1 Structure and Related Documents
-
- This document provides a guide to the issues for IIS over ATM. It is
- intended to frame the problems that are to be addressed in further
- documents. In this document, the modes and models for RSVP operation
- over ATM will be discussed followed by a discussion of management of
- ATM VCs for RSVP data and control. Lastly, the topic of
- encapsulations will be discussed in relation to the models presented.
-
- This document is part of a group of documents from the ISATM subgroup
- of the ISSLL working group related to the operation of IntServ and
- RSVP over ATM. [14] discusses the mapping of the IntServ models for
- Controlled Load and Guaranteed Service to ATM. [15 and 16] discuss
- detailed implementation requirements and guidelines for RSVP over
- ATM, respectively. While these documents may not address all the
- issues raised in this document, they should provide enough
- information for development of solutions for IntServ and RSVP over
- ATM.
-
- 1.2 Terms
-
- Several term used in this document are used in many contexts, often
- with different meaning. These terms are used in this document with
- the following meaning:
-
- - Sender is used in this document to mean the ingress point to the
- ATM network or "cloud".
- - Receiver is used in this document to refer to the egress point from
- the ATM network or "cloud".
- - Reservation is used in this document to refer to an RSVP initiated
- request for resources. RSVP initiates requests for resources based
- on RESV message processing. RESV messages that simply refresh state
- do not trigger resource requests. Resource requests may be made
- based on RSVP sessions and RSVP reservation styles. RSVP styles
- dictate whether the reserved resources are used by one sender or
- shared by multiple senders. See [1] for details of each. Each new
- request is referred to in this document as an RSVP reservation, or
- simply reservation.
- - Flow is used to refer to the data traffic associated with a
- particular reservation. The specific meaning of flow is RSVP style
- dependent. For shared style reservations, there is one flow per
- session. For distinct style reservations, there is one flow per
- sender (per session).
-
- 2. Issues Regarding the Operation of RSVP and IntServ over ATM
-
- The issues related to RSVP and IntServ over ATM fall into several
- general classes:
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- - How to make RSVP run over ATM now and in the future
- - When to set up a virtual circuit (VC) for a specific Quality of
- Service (QoS) related to RSVP
- - How to map the IntServ models to ATM QoS models
- - How to know that an ATM network is providing the QoS necessary for
- a flow
- - How to handle the many-to-many connectionless features of IP
- multicast and RSVP in the one-to-many connection-oriented world of
- ATM
-
- 2.1 Modes/Models for RSVP and IntServ over ATM
-
- [3] Discusses several different models for running IP over ATM
- networks. [17, 18, and 20] also provide models for IP in ATM
- environments. Any one of these models would work as long as the RSVP
- control packets (IP protocol 46) and data packets can follow the same
- IP path through the network. It is important that the RSVP PATH
- messages follow the same IP path as the data such that appropriate
- PATH state may be installed in the routers along the path. For an
- ATM subnetwork, this means the ingress and egress points must be the
- same in both directions for the RSVP control and data messages. Note
- that the RSVP protocol does not require symmetric routing. The PATH
- state installed by RSVP allows the RESV messages to "retrace" the
- hops that the PATH message crossed. Within each of the models for IP
- over ATM, there are decisions about using different types of data
- distribution in ATM as well as different connection initiation. The
- following sections look at some of the different ways QoS connections
- can be set up for RSVP.
-
- 2.1.1 UNI 3.x and 4.0
-
- In the User Network Interface (UNI) 3.0 and 3.1 specifications [8,9]
- and 4.0 specification, both permanent and switched virtual circuits
- (PVC and SVC) may be established with a specified service category
- (CBR, VBR, and UBR for UNI 3.x and VBR-rt and ABR for 4.0) and
- specific traffic descriptors in point-to-point and point-to-
- multipoint configurations. Additional QoS parameters are not
- available in UNI 3.x and those that are available are vendor-
- specific. Consequently, the level of QoS control available in
- standard UNI 3.x networks is somewhat limited. However, using these
- building blocks, it is possible to use RSVP and the IntServ models.
- ATM 4.0 with the Traffic Management (TM) 4.0 specification [21]
- allows much greater control of QoS. [14] provides the details of
- mapping the IntServ models to UNI 3.x and 4.0 service categories and
- traffic parameters.
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- 2.1.1.1 Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs)
-
- PVCs emulate dedicated point-to-point lines in a network, so the
- operation of RSVP can be identical to the operation over any point-
- to-point network. The QoS of the PVC must be consistent and
- equivalent to the type of traffic and service model used. The
- devices on either end of the PVC have to provide traffic control
- services in order to multiplex multiple flows over the same PVC.
- With PVCs, there is no issue of when or how long it takes to set up
- VCs, since they are made in advance but the resources of the PVC are
- limited to what has been pre-allocated. PVCs that are not fully
- utilized can tie up ATM network resources that could be used for
- SVCs.
-
- An additional issue for using PVCs is one of network engineering.
- Frequently, multiple PVCs are set up such that if all the PVCs were
- running at full capacity, the link would be over-subscribed. This
- frequently used "statistical multiplexing gain" makes providing IIS
- over PVCs very difficult and unreliable. Any application of IIS over
- PVCs has to be assured that the PVCs are able to receive all the
- requested QoS.
-
- 2.1.1.2 Switched Virtual Circuits (SVCs)
-
- SVCs allow paths in the ATM network to be set up "on demand". This
- allows flexibility in the use of RSVP over ATM along with some
- complexity. Parallel VCs can be set up to allow best-effort and
- better service class paths through the network, as shown in Figure 1.
- The cost and time to set up SVCs can impact their use. For example,
- it may be better to initially route QoS traffic over existing VCs
- until a SVC with the desired QoS can be set up for the flow. Scaling
- issues can come into play if a single RSVP flow is used per VC, as
- will be discussed in Section 4.3.1.1. The number of VCs in any ATM
- device may also be limited so the number of RSVP flows that can be
- supported by a device can be strictly limited to the number of VCs
- available, if we assume one flow per VC. Section 4 discusses the
- topic of VC management for RSVP in greater detail.
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- Data Flow ==========>
-
- +-----+
- | | --------------> +----+
- | Src | --------------> | R1 |
- | *| --------------> +----+
- +-----+ QoS VCs
- /\
- ||
- VC ||
- Initiator
-
- Figure 1: Data Flow VC Initiation
-
- While RSVP is receiver oriented, ATM is sender oriented. This might
- seem like a problem but the sender or ingress point receives RSVP
- RESV messages and can determine whether a new VC has to be set up to
- the destination or egress point.
-
- 2.1.1.3 Point to MultiPoint
-
- In order to provide QoS for IP multicast, an important feature of
- RSVP, data flows must be distributed to multiple destinations from a
- given source. Point-to-multipoint VCs provide such a mechanism. It
- is important to map the actions of IP multicasting and RSVP (e.g.
- IGMP JOIN/LEAVE and RSVP RESV/RESV TEAR) to add party and drop party
- functions for ATM. Point-to-multipoint VCs as defined in UNI 3.x and
- UNI 4.0 have a single service class for all destinations. This is
- contrary to the RSVP "heterogeneous receiver" concept. It is
- possible to set up a different VC to each receiver requesting a
- different QoS, as shown in Figure 2. This again can run into scaling
- and resource problems when managing multiple VCs on the same
- interface to different destinations.
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- +----+
- +------> | R1 |
- | +----+
- |
- | +----+
- +-----+ -----+ +--> | R2 |
- | | ---------+ +----+ Receiver Request Types:
- | Src | ----> QoS 1 and QoS 2
- | | .........+ +----+ ....> Best-Effort
- +-----+ .....+ +..> | R3 |
- : +----+
- /\ :
- || : +----+
- || +......> | R4 |
- || +----+
- Single
- IP Multicast
- Group
-
- Figure 2: Types of Multicast Receivers
-
- RSVP sends messages both up and down the multicast distribution tree.
- In the case of a large ATM cloud, this could result in a RSVP message
- implosion at an ATM ingress point with many receivers.
-
- ATM 4.0 expands on the point-to-multipoint VCs by adding a Leaf
- Initiated Join (LIJ) capability. LIJ allows an ATM end point to join
- into an existing point-to-multipoint VC without necessarily
- contacting the source of the VC. This can reduce the burden on the
- ATM source point for setting up new branches and more closely matches
- the receiver-based model of RSVP and IP multicast. However, many of
- the same scaling issues exist and the new branches added to a point-
- to-multipoint VC must use the same QoS as existing branches.
-
- 2.1.1.4 Multicast Servers
-
- IP-over-ATM has the concept of a multicast server or reflector that
- can accept cells from multiple senders and send them via a point-to-
- multipoint VC to a set of receivers. This moves the VC scaling
- issues noted previously for point-to-multipoint VCs to the multicast
- server. Additionally, the multicast server will need to know how to
- interpret RSVP packets or receive instruction from another node so it
- will be able to provide VCs of the appropriate QoS for the RSVP
- flows.
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- 2.1.2 Hop-by-Hop vs. Short Cut
-
- If the ATM "cloud" is made up a number of logical IP subnets (LISs),
- then it is possible to use "short cuts" from a node on one LIS
- directly to a node on another LIS, avoiding router hops between the
- LISs. NHRP [4], is one mechanism for determining the ATM address of
- the egress point on the ATM network given a destination IP address.
- It is a topic for further study to determine if significant benefit
- is achieved from short cut routes vs. the extra state required.
-
- 2.1.3 Future Models
-
- ATM is constantly evolving. If we assume that RSVP and IntServ
- applications are going to be wide-spread, it makes sense to consider
- changes to ATM that would improve the operation of RSVP and IntServ
- over ATM. Similarly, the RSVP protocol and IntServ models will
- continue to evolve and changes that affect them should also be
- considered. The following are a few ideas that have been discussed
- that would make the integration of the IntServ models and RSVP easier
- or more complete. They are presented here to encourage continued
- development and discussion of ideas that can help aid in the
- integration of RSVP, IntServ, and ATM.
-
- 2.1.3.1 Heterogeneous Point-to-MultiPoint
-
- The IntServ models and RSVP support the idea of "heterogeneous
- receivers"; e.g., not all receivers of a particular multicast flow
- are required to ask for the same QoS from the network, as shown in
- Figure 2.
-
- The most important scenario that can utilize this feature occurs when
- some receivers in an RSVP session ask for a specific QoS while others
- receive the flow with a best-effort service. In some cases where
- there are multiple senders on a shared-reservation flow (e.g., an
- audio conference), an individual receiver only needs to reserve
- enough resources to receive one sender at a time. However, other
- receivers may elect to reserve more resources, perhaps to allow for
- some amount of "over-speaking" or in order to record the conference
- (post processing during playback can separate the senders by their
- source addresses).
-
- In order to prevent denial-of-service attacks via reservations, the
- service models do not allow the service elements to simply drop non-
- conforming packets. For example, Controlled Load service model [7]
- assigns non-conformant packets to best-effort status (which may
- result in packet drops if there is congestion).
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- Emulating these behaviors over an ATM network is problematic and
- needs to be studied. If a single maximum QoS is used over a point-
- to-multipoint VC, resources could be wasted if cells are sent over
- certain links where the reassembled packets will eventually be
- dropped. In addition, the "maximum QoS" may actually cause a
- degradation in service to the best-effort branches.
-
- The term "variegated VC" has been coined to describe a point-to-
- multipoint VC that allows a different QoS on each branch. This
- approach seems to match the spirit of the Integrated Service and RSVP
- models, but some thought has to be put into the cell drop strategy
- when traversing from a "bigger" branch to a "smaller" one. The
- "best-effort for non-conforming packets" behavior must also be
- retained. Early Packet Discard (EPD) schemes must be used so that
- all the cells for a given packet can be discarded at the same time
- rather than discarding only a few cells from several packets making
- all the packets useless to the receivers.
-
- 2.1.3.2 Lightweight Signalling
-
- Q.2931 signalling is very complete and carries with it a significant
- burden for signalling in all possible public and private connections.
- It might be worth investigating a lighter weight signalling mechanism
- for faster connection setup in private networks.
-
- 2.1.3.3 QoS Renegotiation
-
- Another change that would help RSVP over ATM is the ability to
- request a different QoS for an active VC. This would eliminate the
- need to setup and tear down VCs as the QoS changed. RSVP allows
- receivers to change their reservations and senders to change their
- traffic descriptors dynamically. This, along with the merging of
- reservations, can create a situation where the QoS needs of a VC can
- change. Allowing changes to the QoS of an existing VC would allow
- these features to work without creating a new VC. In the ITU-T ATM
- specifications [24,25], some cell rates can be renegotiated or
- changed. Specifically, the Peak Cell Rate (PCR) of an existing VC
- can be changed and, in some cases, QoS parameters may be renegotiated
- during the call setup phase. It is unclear if this is sufficient for
- the QoS renegotiation needs of the IntServ models.
-
- 2.1.3.4 Group Addressing
-
- The model of one-to-many communications provided by point-to-
- multipoint VCs does not really match the many-to-many communications
- provided by IP multicasting. A scaleable mapping from IP multicast
- addresses to an ATM "group address" can address this problem.
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- 2.1.3.5 Label Switching
-
- The MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) working group is discussing
- methods for optimizing the use of ATM and other switched networks for
- IP by encapsulating the data with a header that is used by the
- interior switches to achieve faster forwarding lookups. [22]
- discusses a framework for this work. It is unclear how this work
- will affect IntServ and RSVP over label switched networks but there
- may be some interactions.
-
- 2.1.4 QoS Routing
-
- RSVP is explicitly not a routing protocol. However, since it conveys
- QoS information, it may prove to be a valuable input to a routing
- protocol that can make path determinations based on QoS and network
- load information. In other words, instead of asking for just the IP
- next hop for a given destination address, it might be worthwhile for
- RSVP to provide information on the QoS needs of the flow if routing
- has the ability to use this information in order to determine a
- route. Other forms of QoS routing have existed in the past such as
- using the IP TOS and Precedence bits to select a path through the
- network. Some have discussed using these same bits to select one of
- a set of parallel ATM VCs as a form of QoS routing. ATM routing has
- also considered the problem of QoS routing through the Private
- Network-to-Network Interface (PNNI) [26] routing protocol for routing
- ATM VCs on a path that can support their needs. The work in this
- area is just starting and there are numerous issues to consider.
- [23], as part of the work of the QoSR working group frame the issues
- for QoS Routing in the Internet.
-
- 2.2 Reliance on Unicast and Multicast Routing
-
- RSVP was designed to support both unicast and IP multicast
- applications. This means that RSVP needs to work closely with
- multicast and unicast routing. Unicast routing over ATM has been
- addressed [10] and [11]. MARS [5] provides multicast address
- resolution for IP over ATM networks, an important part of the
- solution for multicast but still relies on multicast routing
- protocols to connect multicast senders and receivers on different
- subnets.
-
- 2.3 Aggregation of Flows
-
- Some of the scaling issues noted in previous sections can be
- addressed by aggregating several RSVP flows over a single VC if the
- destinations of the VC match for all the flows being aggregated.
- However, this causes considerable complexity in the management of VCs
- and in the scheduling of packets within each VC at the root point of
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- the VC. Note that the rescheduling of flows within a VC is not
- possible in the switches in the core of the ATM network. Virtual
- Paths (VPs) can be used for aggregating multiple VCs. This topic is
- discussed in greater detail as it applies to multicast data
- distribution in section 4.2.3.4
-
- 2.4 Mapping QoS Parameters
-
- The mapping of QoS parameters from the IntServ models to the ATM
- service classes is an important issue in making RSVP and IntServ work
- over ATM. [14] addresses these issues very completely for the
- Controlled Load and Guaranteed Service models. An additional issue
- is that while some guidelines can be developed for mapping the
- parameters of a given service model to the traffic descriptors of an
- ATM traffic class, implementation variables, policy, and cost factors
- can make strict mapping problematic. So, a set of workable mappings
- that can be applied to different network requirements and scenarios
- is needed as long as the mappings can satisfy the needs of the
- service model(s).
-
- 2.5 Directly Connected ATM Hosts
-
- It is obvious that the needs of hosts that are directly connected to
- ATM networks must be considered for RSVP and IntServ over ATM.
- Functionality for RSVP over ATM must not assume that an ATM host has
- all the functionality of a router, but such things as MARS and NHRP
- clients would be worthwhile features. A host must manage VCs just
- like any other ATM sender or receiver as described later in section
- 4.
-
- 2.6 Accounting and Policy Issues
-
- Since RSVP and IntServ create classes of preferential service, some
- form of administrative control and/or cost allocation is needed to
- control access. There are certain types of policies specific to ATM
- and IP over ATM that need to be studied to determine how they
- interoperate with the IP and IntServ policies being developed.
- Typical IP policies would be that only certain users are allowed to
- make reservations. This policy would translate well to IP over ATM
- due to the similarity to the mechanisms used for Call Admission
- Control (CAC).
-
- There may be a need for policies specific to IP over ATM. For
- example, since signalling costs in ATM are high relative to IP, an IP
- over ATM specific policy might restrict the ability to change the
- prevailing QoS in a VC. If VCs are relatively scarce, there also
- might be specific accounting costs in creating a new VC. The work so
- far has been preliminary, and much work remains to be done. The
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- policy mechanisms outlined in [12] and [13] provide the basic
- mechanisms for implementing policies for RSVP and IntServ over any
- media, not just ATM.
-
- 3. Framework for IntServ and RSVP over ATM
-
- Now that we have defined some of the issues for IntServ and RSVP over
- ATM, we can formulate a framework for solutions. The problem breaks
- down to two very distinct areas; the mapping of IntServ models to ATM
- service categories and QoS parameters and the operation of RSVP over
- ATM.
-
- Mapping IntServ models to ATM service categories and QoS parameters
- is a matter of determining which categories can support the goals of
- the service models and matching up the parameters and variables
- between the IntServ description and the ATM description(s). Since
- ATM has such a wide variety of service categories and parameters,
- more than one ATM service category should be able to support each of
- the two IntServ models. This will provide a good bit of flexibility
- in configuration and deployment. [14] examines this topic
- completely.
-
- The operation of RSVP over ATM requires careful management of VCs in
- order to match the dynamics of the RSVP protocol. VCs need to be
- managed for both the RSVP QoS data and the RSVP signalling messages.
- The remainder of this document will discuss several approaches to
- managing VCs for RSVP and [15] and [16] discuss their application for
- implementations in term of interoperability requirement and
- implementation guidelines.
-
- 4. RSVP VC Management
-
- This section provides more detail on the issues related to the
- management of SVCs for RSVP and IntServ.
-
- 4.1 VC Initiation
-
- As discussed in section 2.1.1.2, there is an apparent mismatch
- between RSVP and ATM. Specifically, RSVP control is receiver oriented
- and ATM control is sender oriented. This initially may seem like a
- major issue, but really is not. While RSVP reservation (RESV)
- requests are generated at the receiver, actual allocation of
- resources takes place at the subnet sender. For data flows, this
- means that subnet senders will establish all QoS VCs and the subnet
- receiver must be able to accept incoming QoS VCs, as illustrated in
- Figure 1. These restrictions are consistent with RSVP version 1
- processing rules and allow senders to use different flow to VC
- mappings and even different QoS renegotiation techniques without
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- interoperability problems.
-
- The use of the reverse path provided by point-to-point VCs by
- receivers is for further study. There are two related issues. The
- first is that use of the reverse path requires the VC initiator to
- set appropriate reverse path QoS parameters. The second issue is that
- reverse paths are not available with point-to-multipoint VCs, so
- reverse paths could only be used to support unicast RSVP
- reservations.
-
- 4.2 Data VC Management
-
- Any RSVP over ATM implementation must map RSVP and RSVP associated
- data flows to ATM Virtual Circuits (VCs). LAN Emulation [17],
- Classical IP [10] and, more recently, NHRP [4] discuss mapping IP
- traffic onto ATM SVCs, but they only cover a single QoS class, i.e.,
- best effort traffic. When QoS is introduced, VC mapping must be
- revisited. For RSVP controlled QoS flows, one issue is VCs to use for
- QoS data flows.
-
- In the Classic IP over ATM and current NHRP models, a single point-
- to-point VC is used for all traffic between two ATM attached hosts
- (routers and end-stations). It is likely that such a single VC will
- not be adequate or optimal when supporting data flows with multiple
- .bp QoS types. RSVP's basic purpose is to install support for flows
- with multiple QoS types, so it is essential for any RSVP over ATM
- solution to address VC usage for QoS data flows, as shown in Figure
- 1.
-
- RSVP reservation styles must also be taken into account in any VC
- usage strategy.
-
- This section describes issues and methods for management of VCs
- associated with QoS data flows. When establishing and maintaining
- VCs, the subnet sender will need to deal with several complicating
- factors including multiple QoS reservations, requests for QoS
- changes, ATM short-cuts, and several multicast specific issues. The
- multicast specific issues result from the nature of ATM connections.
- The key multicast related issues are heterogeneity, data
- distribution, receiver transitions, and end-point identification.
-
- 4.2.1 Reservation to VC Mapping
-
- There are various approaches available for mapping reservations on to
- VCs. A distinguishing attribute of all approaches is how
- reservations are combined on to individual VCs. When mapping
- reservations on to VCs, individual VCs can be used to support a
- single reservation, or reservation can be combined with others on to
-
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
-
-
- "aggregate" VCs. In the first case, each reservation will be
- supported by one or more VCs. Multicast reservation requests may
- translate into the setup of multiple VCs as is described in more
- detail in section 4.2.2. Unicast reservation requests will always
- translate into the setup of a single QoS VC. In both cases, each VC
- will only carry data associated with a single reservation. The
- greatest benefit if this approach is ease of implementation, but it
- comes at the cost of increased (VC) setup time and the consumption of
- greater number of VC and associated resources.
-
- When multiple reservations are combined onto a single VC, it is
- referred to as the "aggregation" model. With this model, large VCs
- could be set up between IP routers and hosts in an ATM network. These
- VCs could be managed much like IP Integrated Service (IIS) point-to-
- point links (e.g. T-1, DS-3) are managed now. Traffic from multiple
- sources over multiple RSVP sessions might be multiplexed on the same
- VC. This approach has a number of advantages. First, there is
- typically no signalling latency as VCs would be in existence when the
- traffic started flowing, so no time is wasted in setting up VCs.
- Second, the heterogeneity problem (section 4.2.2) in full over ATM
- has been reduced to a solved problem. Finally, the dynamic QoS
- problem (section 4.2.7) for ATM has also been reduced to a solved
- problem.
-
- The aggregation model can be used with point-to-point and point-to-
- multipoint VCs. The problem with the aggregation model is that the
- choice of what QoS to use for the VCs may be difficult, without
- knowledge of the likely reservation types and sizes but is made
- easier since the VCs can be changed as needed.
-
- 4.2.2 Unicast Data VC Management
-
- Unicast data VC management is much simpler than multicast data VC
- management but there are still some similar issues. If one considers
- unicast to be a devolved case of multicast, then implementing the
- multicast solutions will cover unicast. However, some may want to
- consider unicast-only implementations. In these situations, the
- choice of using a single flow per VC or aggregation of flows onto a
- single VC remains but the problem of heterogeneity discussed in the
- following section is removed.
-
- 4.2.3 Multicast Heterogeneity
-
- As mentioned in section 2.1.3.1 and shown in figure 2, multicast
- heterogeneity occurs when receivers request different qualities of
- service within a single session. This means that the amount of
- requested resources differs on a per next hop basis. A related type
- of heterogeneity occurs due to best-effort receivers. In any IP
-
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
-
-
- multicast group, it is possible that some receivers will request QoS
- (via RSVP) and some receivers will not. In shared media networks,
- like Ethernet, receivers that have not requested resources can
- typically be given identical service to those that have without
- complications. This is not the case with ATM. In ATM networks, any
- additional end-points of a VC must be explicitly added. There may be
- costs associated with adding the best-effort receiver, and there
- might not be adequate resources. An RSVP over ATM solution will need
- to support heterogeneous receivers even though ATM does not currently
- provide such support directly.
-
- RSVP heterogeneity is supported over ATM in the way RSVP reservations
- are mapped into ATM VCs. There are four alternative approaches this
- mapping. There are multiple models for supporting RSVP heterogeneity
- over ATM. Section 4.2.3.1 examines the multiple VCs per RSVP
- reservation (or full heterogeneity) model where a single reservation
- can be forwarded onto several VCs each with a different QoS. Section
- 4.2.3.2 presents a limited heterogeneity model where exactly one QoS
- VC is used along with a best effort VC. Section 4.2.3.3 examines the
- VC per RSVP reservation (or homogeneous) model, where each RSVP
- reservation is mapped to a single ATM VC. Section 4.2.3.4 describes
- the aggregation model allowing aggregation of multiple RSVP
- reservations into a single VC.
-
- 4.2.3.1 Full Heterogeneity Model
-
- RSVP supports heterogeneous QoS, meaning that different receivers of
- the same multicast group can request a different QoS. But
- importantly, some receivers might have no reservation at all and want
- to receive the traffic on a best effort service basis. The IP model
- allows receivers to join a multicast group at any time on a best
- effort basis, and it is important that ATM as part of the Internet
- continue to provide this service. We define the "full heterogeneity"
- model as providing a separate VC for each distinct QoS for a
- multicast session including best effort and one or more qualities of
- service.
-
- Note that while full heterogeneity gives users exactly what they
- request, it requires more resources of the network than other
- possible approaches. The exact amount of bandwidth used for duplicate
- traffic depends on the network topology and group membership.
-
- 4.2.3.2 Limited Heterogeneity Model
-
- We define the "limited heterogeneity" model as the case where the
- receivers of a multicast session are limited to use either best
- effort service or a single alternate quality of service. The
- alternate QoS can be chosen either by higher level protocols or by
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
-
-
- dynamic renegotiation of QoS as described below.
-
- In order to support limited heterogeneity, each ATM edge device
- participating in a session would need at most two VCs. One VC would
- be a point-to-multipoint best effort service VC and would serve all
- best effort service IP destinations for this RSVP session.
-
- The other VC would be a point to multipoint VC with QoS and would
- serve all IP destinations for this RSVP session that have an RSVP
- reservation established.
-
- As with full heterogeneity, a disadvantage of the limited
- heterogeneity scheme is that each packet will need to be duplicated
- at the network layer and one copy sent into each of the 2 VCs.
- Again, the exact amount of excess traffic will depend on the network
- topology and group membership. If any of the existing QoS VC end-
- points cannot upgrade to the new QoS, then the new reservation fails
- though the resources exist for the new receiver.
-
- 4.2.3.3 Homogeneous and Modified Homogeneous Models
-
- We define the "homogeneous" model as the case where all receivers of
- a multicast session use a single quality of service VC. Best-effort
- receivers also use the single RSVP triggered QoS VC. The single VC
- can be a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint as appropriate. The
- QoS VC is sized to provide the maximum resources requested by all
- RSVP next- hops.
-
- This model matches the way the current RSVP specification addresses
- heterogeneous requests. The current processing rules and traffic
- control interface describe a model where the largest requested
- reservation for a specific outgoing interface is used in resource
- allocation, and traffic is transmitted at the higher rate to all
- next-hops. This approach would be the simplest method for RSVP over
- ATM implementations.
-
- While this approach is simple to implement, providing better than
- best-effort service may actually be the opposite of what the user
- desires. There may be charges incurred or resources that are
- wrongfully allocated. There are two specific problems. The first
- problem is that a user making a small or no reservation would share a
- QoS VC resources without making (and perhaps paying for) an RSVP
- reservation. The second problem is that a receiver may not receive
- any data. This may occur when there is insufficient resources to add
- a receiver. The rejected user would not be added to the single VC
- and it would not even receive traffic on a best effort basis.
-
-
-
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
-
-
- Not sending data traffic to best-effort receivers because of another
- receiver's RSVP request is clearly unacceptable. The previously
- described limited heterogeneous model ensures that data is always
- sent to both QoS and best-effort receivers, but it does so by
- requiring replication of data at the sender in all cases. It is
- possible to extend the homogeneous model to both ensure that data is
- always sent to best-effort receivers and also to avoid replication in
- the normal case. This extension is to add special handling for the
- case where a best- effort receiver cannot be added to the QoS VC. In
- this case, a best effort VC can be established to any receivers that
- could not be added to the QoS VC. Only in this special error case
- would senders be required to replicate data. We define this approach
- as the "modified homogeneous" model.
-
- 4.2.3.4 Aggregation
-
- The last scheme is the multiple RSVP reservations per VC (or
- aggregation) model. With this model, large VCs could be set up
- between IP routers and hosts in an ATM network. These VCs could be
- managed much like IP Integrated Service (IIS) point-to-point links
- (e.g. T-1, DS-3) are managed now. Traffic from multiple sources over
- multiple RSVP sessions might be multiplexed on the same VC. This
- approach has a number of advantages. First, there is typically no
- signalling latency as VCs would be in existence when the traffic
- started flowing, so no time is wasted in setting up VCs. Second,
- the heterogeneity problem in full over ATM has been reduced to a
- solved problem. Finally, the dynamic QoS problem for ATM has also
- been reduced to a solved problem. This approach can be used with
- point-to-point and point-to-multipoint VCs. The problem with the
- aggregation approach is that the choice of what QoS to use for which
- of the VCs is difficult, but is made easier if the VCs can be changed
- as needed.
-
- 4.2.4 Multicast End-Point Identification
-
- Implementations must be able to identify ATM end-points participating
- in an IP multicast group. The ATM end-points will be IP multicast
- receivers and/or next-hops. Both QoS and best-effort end-points must
- be identified. RSVP next-hop information will provide QoS end-
- points, but not best-effort end-points. Another issue is identifying
- end-points of multicast traffic handled by non-RSVP capable next-
- hops. In this case a PATH message travels through a non-RSVP egress
- router on the way to the next hop RSVP node. When the next hop RSVP
- node sends a RESV message it may arrive at the source over a
- different route than what the data is using. The source will get the
- RESV message, but will not know which egress router needs the QoS.
- For unicast sessions, there is no problem since the ATM end-point
- will be the IP next-hop router. Unfortunately, multicast routing may
-
-
-
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-
- not be able to uniquely identify the IP next-hop router. So it is
- possible that a multicast end-point can not be identified.
-
- In the most common case, MARS will be used to identify all end-points
- of a multicast group. In the router to router case, a multicast
- routing protocol may provide all next-hops for a particular multicast
- group. In either case, RSVP over ATM implementations must obtain a
- full list of end-points, both QoS and non-QoS, using the appropriate
- mechanisms. The full list can be compared against the RSVP
- identified end-points to determine the list of best-effort receivers.
- There is no straightforward solution to uniquely identifying end-
- points of multicast traffic handled by non-RSVP next hops. The
- preferred solution is to use multicast routing protocols that support
- unique end-point identification. In cases where such routing
- protocols are unavailable, all IP routers that will be used to
- support RSVP over ATM should support RSVP. To ensure proper
- behavior, implementations should, by default, only establish RSVP-
- initiated VCs to RSVP capable end-points.
-
- 4.2.5 Multicast Data Distribution
-
- Two models are planned for IP multicast data distribution over ATM.
- In one model, senders establish point-to-multipoint VCs to all ATM
- attached destinations, and data is then sent over these VCs. This
- model is often called "multicast mesh" or "VC mesh" mode
- distribution. In the second model, senders send data over point-to-
- point VCs to a central point and the central point relays the data
- onto point-to-multipoint VCs that have been established to all
- receivers of the IP multicast group. This model is often referred to
- as "multicast server" mode distribution. RSVP over ATM solutions must
- ensure that IP multicast data is distributed with appropriate QoS.
-
- In the Classical IP context, multicast server support is provided via
- MARS [5]. MARS does not currently provide a way to communicate QoS
- requirements to a MARS multicast server. Therefore, RSVP over ATM
- implementations must, by default, support "mesh-mode" distribution
- for RSVP controlled multicast flows. When using multicast servers
- that do not support QoS requests, a sender must set the service, not
- global, break bit(s).
-
- 4.2.6 Receiver Transitions
-
- When setting up a point-to-multipoint VCs for multicast RSVP
- sessions, there will be a time when some receivers have been added to
- a QoS VC and some have not. During such transition times it is
- possible to start sending data on the newly established VC. The
- issue is when to start send data on the new VC. If data is sent both
- on the new VC and the old VC, then data will be delivered with proper
-
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
-
-
- QoS to some receivers and with the old QoS to all receivers. This
- means the QoS receivers can get duplicate data. If data is sent just
- on the new QoS VC, the receivers that have not yet been added will
- lose information. So, the issue comes down to whether to send to
- both the old and new VCs, or to send to just one of the VCs. In one
- case duplicate information will be received, in the other some
- information may not be received.
-
- This issue needs to be considered for three cases:
-
- - When establishing the first QoS VC
- - When establishing a VC to support a QoS change
- - When adding a new end-point to an already established QoS VC
-
- The first two cases are very similar. It both, it is possible to
- send data on the partially completed new VC, and the issue of
- duplicate versus lost information is the same. The last case is when
- an end-point must be added to an existing QoS VC. In this case the
- end-point must be both added to the QoS VC and dropped from a best-
- effort VC. The issue is which to do first. If the add is first
- requested, then the end-point may get duplicate information. If the
- drop is requested first, then the end-point may loose information.
-
- In order to ensure predictable behavior and delivery of data to all
- receivers, data can only be sent on a new VCs once all parties have
- been added. This will ensure that all data is only delivered once to
- all receivers. This approach does not quite apply for the last case.
- In the last case, the add operation should be completed first, then
- the drop operation. This means that receivers must be prepared to
- receive some duplicate packets at times of QoS setup.
-
- 4.2.7 Dynamic QoS
-
- RSVP provides dynamic quality of service (QoS) in that the resources
- that are requested may change at any time. There are several common
- reasons for a change of reservation QoS.
-
- 1. An existing receiver can request a new larger (or smaller) QoS.
- 2. A sender may change its traffic specification (TSpec), which can
- trigger a change in the reservation requests of the receivers.
- 3. A new sender can start sending to a multicast group with a larger
- traffic specification than existing senders, triggering larger
- reservations.
- 4. A new receiver can make a reservation that is larger than existing
- reservations.
-
-
-
-
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
-
-
- If the limited heterogeneity model is being used and the merge node
- for the larger reservation is an ATM edge device, a new larger
- reservation must be set up across the ATM network. Since ATM service,
- as currently defined in UNI 3.x and UNI 4.0, does not allow
- renegotiating the QoS of a VC, dynamically changing the reservation
- means creating a new VC with the new QoS, and tearing down an
- established VC. Tearing down a VC and setting up a new VC in ATM are
- complex operations that involve a non-trivial amount of processing
- time, and may have a substantial latency. There are several options
- for dealing with this mismatch in service. A specific approach will
- need to be a part of any RSVP over ATM solution.
-
- The default method for supporting changes in RSVP reservations is to
- attempt to replace an existing VC with a new appropriately sized VC.
- During setup of the replacement VC, the old VC must be left in place
- unmodified. The old VC is left unmodified to minimize interruption of
- QoS data delivery. Once the replacement VC is established, data
- transmission is shifted to the new VC, and the old VC is then closed.
- If setup of the replacement VC fails, then the old QoS VC should
- continue to be used. When the new reservation is greater than the old
- reservation, the reservation request should be answered with an
- error. When the new reservation is less than the old reservation,
- the request should be treated as if the modification was successful.
- While leaving the larger allocation in place is suboptimal, it
- maximizes delivery of service to the user. Implementations should
- retry replacing the too large VC after some appropriate elapsed time.
-
- One additional issue is that only one QoS change can be processed at
- one time per reservation. If the (RSVP) requested QoS is changed
- while the first replacement VC is still being setup, then the
- replacement VC is released and the whole VC replacement process is
- restarted. To limit the number of changes and to avoid excessive
- signalling load, implementations may limit the number of changes that
- will be processed in a given period. One implementation approach
- would have each ATM edge device configured with a time parameter T
- (which can change over time) that gives the minimum amount of time
- the edge device will wait between successive changes of the QoS of a
- particular VC. Thus if the QoS of a VC is changed at time t, all
- messages that would change the QoS of that VC that arrive before time
- t+T would be queued. If several messages changing the QoS of a VC
- arrive during the interval, redundant messages can be discarded. At
- time t+T, the remaining change(s) of QoS, if any, can be executed.
- This timer approach would apply more generally to any network
- structure, and might be worthwhile to incorporate into RSVP.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
-
-
- The sequence of events for a single VC would be
-
- - Wait if timer is active
- - Establish VC with new QoS
- - Remap data traffic to new VC
- - Tear down old VC
- - Activate timer
-
- There is an interesting interaction between heterogeneous
- reservations and dynamic QoS. In the case where a RESV message is
- received from a new next-hop and the requested resources are larger
- than any existing reservation, both dynamic QoS and heterogeneity
- need to be addressed. A key issue is whether to first add the new
- next-hop or to change to the new QoS. This is a fairly straight
- forward special case. Since the older, smaller reservation does not
- support the new next-hop, the dynamic QoS process should be initiated
- first. Since the new QoS is only needed by the new next-hop, it
- should be the first end-point of the new VC. This way signalling is
- minimized when the setup to the new next-hop fails.
-
- 4.2.8 Short-Cuts
-
- Short-cuts [4] allow ATM attached routers and hosts to directly
- establish point-to-point VCs across LIS boundaries, i.e., the VC
- end-points are on different IP subnets. The ability for short-cuts
- and RSVP to interoperate has been raised as a general question. An
- area of concern is the ability to handle asymmetric short-cuts.
- Specifically how RSVP can handle the case where a downstream short-
- cut may not have a matching upstream short-cut. In this case, PATH
- and RESV messages following different paths.
-
- Examination of RSVP shows that the protocol already includes
- mechanisms that will support short-cuts. The mechanism is the same
- one used to support RESV messages arriving at the wrong router and
- the wrong interface. The key aspect of this mechanism is RSVP only
- processing messages that arrive at the proper interface and RSVP
- forwarding of messages that arrive on the wrong interface. The
- proper interface is indicated in the NHOP object of the message. So,
- existing RSVP mechanisms will support asymmetric short-cuts. The
- short-cut model of VC establishment still poses several issues when
- running with RSVP. The major issues are dealing with established
- best-effort short-cuts, when to establish short-cuts, and QoS only
- short-cuts. These issues will need to be addressed by RSVP
- implementations.
-
- The key issue to be addressed by any RSVP over ATM solution is when
- to establish a short-cut for a QoS data flow. The default behavior is
- to simply follow best-effort traffic. When a short-cut has been
-
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
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-
- established for best-effort traffic to a destination or next-hop,
- that same end-point should be used when setting up RSVP triggered VCs
- for QoS traffic to the same destination or next-hop. This will happen
- naturally when PATH messages are forwarded over the best-effort
- short-cut. Note that in this approach when best-effort short-cuts
- are never established, RSVP triggered QoS short-cuts will also never
- be established. More study is expected in this area.
-
- 4.2.9 VC Teardown
-
- RSVP can identify from either explicit messages or timeouts when a
- data VC is no longer needed. Therefore, data VCs set up to support
- RSVP controlled flows should only be released at the direction of
- RSVP. VCs must not be timed out due to inactivity by either the VC
- initiator or the VC receiver. This conflicts with VCs timing out as
- described in RFC 1755 [11], section 3.4 on VC Teardown. RFC 1755
- recommends tearing down a VC that is inactive for a certain length of
- time. Twenty minutes is recommended. This timeout is typically
- implemented at both the VC initiator and the VC receiver. Although,
- section 3.1 of the update to RFC 1755 [11] states that inactivity
- timers must not be used at the VC receiver.
-
- When this timeout occurs for an RSVP initiated VC, a valid VC with
- QoS will be torn down unexpectedly. While this behavior is
- acceptable for best-effort traffic, it is important that RSVP
- controlled VCs not be torn down. If there is no choice about the VC
- being torn down, the RSVP daemon must be notified, so a reservation
- failure message can be sent.
-
- For VCs initiated at the request of RSVP, the configurable inactivity
- timer mentioned in [11] must be set to "infinite". Setting the
- inactivity timer value at the VC initiator should not be problematic
- since the proper value can be relayed internally at the originator.
- Setting the inactivity timer at the VC receiver is more difficult,
- and would require some mechanism to signal that an incoming VC was
- RSVP initiated. To avoid this complexity and to conform to [11]
- implementations must not use an inactivity timer to clear received
- connections.
-
- 4.3 RSVP Control Management
-
- One last important issue is providing a data path for the RSVP
- messages themselves. There are two main types of messages in RSVP,
- PATH and RESV. PATH messages are sent to unicast or multicast
- addresses, while RESV messages are sent only to unicast addresses.
- Other RSVP messages are handled similar to either PATH or RESV,
- although this might be more complicated for RERR messages. So ATM
- VCs used for RSVP signalling messages need to provide both unicast
-
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
-
-
- and multicast functionality. There are several different approaches
- for how to assign VCs to use for RSVP signalling messages.
-
- The main approaches are:
-
- - use same VC as data
- - single VC per session
- - single point-to-multipoint VC multiplexed among sessions
- - multiple point-to-point VCs multiplexed among sessions
-
- There are several different issues that affect the choice of how to
- assign VCs for RSVP signalling. One issue is the number of additional
- VCs needed for RSVP signalling. Related to this issue is the degree
- of multiplexing on the RSVP VCs. In general more multiplexing means
- fewer VCs. An additional issue is the latency in dynamically setting
- up new RSVP signalling VCs. A final issue is complexity of
- implementation. The remainder of this section discusses the issues
- and tradeoffs among these different approaches and suggests
- guidelines for when to use which alternative.
-
- 4.3.1 Mixed data and control traffic
-
- In this scheme RSVP signalling messages are sent on the same VCs as
- is the data traffic. The main advantage of this scheme is that no
- additional VCs are needed beyond what is needed for the data traffic.
- An additional advantage is that there is no ATM signalling latency
- for PATH messages (which follow the same routing as the data
- messages). However there can be a major problem when data traffic on
- a VC is nonconforming. With nonconforming traffic, RSVP signalling
- messages may be dropped. While RSVP is resilient to a moderate level
- of dropped messages, excessive drops would lead to repeated tearing
- down and re-establishing of QoS VCs, a very undesirable behavior for
- ATM. Due to these problems, this may not be a good choice for
- providing RSVP signalling messages, even though the number of VCs
- needed for this scheme is minimized. One variation of this scheme is
- to use the best effort data path for signalling traffic. In this
- scheme, there is no issue with nonconforming traffic, but there is an
- issue with congestion in the ATM network. RSVP provides some
- resiliency to message loss due to congestion, but RSVP control
- messages should be offered a preferred class of service. A related
- variation of this scheme that is hopeful but requires further study
- is to have a packet scheduling algorithm (before entering the ATM
- network) that gives priority to the RSVP signalling traffic. This can
- be difficult to do at the IP layer.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
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-
- 4.3.1.1 Single RSVP VC per RSVP Reservation
-
- In this scheme, there is a parallel RSVP signalling VC for each RSVP
- reservation. This scheme results in twice the number of VCs, but
- means that RSVP signalling messages have the advantage of a separate
- VC. This separate VC means that RSVP signalling messages have their
- own traffic contract and compliant signalling messages are not
- subject to dropping due to other noncompliant traffic (such as can
- happen with the scheme in section 4.3.1). The advantage of this
- scheme is its simplicity - whenever a data VC is created, a separate
- RSVP signalling VC is created. The disadvantage of the extra VC is
- that extra ATM signalling needs to be done. Additionally, this scheme
- requires twice the minimum number of VCs and also additional latency,
- but is quite simple.
-
- 4.3.1.2 Multiplexed point-to-multipoint RSVP VCs
-
- In this scheme, there is a single point-to-multipoint RSVP signalling
- VC for each unique ingress router and unique set of egress routers.
- This scheme allows multiplexing of RSVP signalling traffic that
- shares the same ingress router and the same egress routers. This can
- save on the number of VCs, by multiplexing, but there are problems
- when the destinations of the multiplexed point-to-multipoint VCs are
- changing. Several alternatives exist in these cases, that have
- applicability in different situations. First, when the egress routers
- change, the ingress router can check if it already has a point-to-
- multipoint RSVP signalling VC for the new list of egress routers. If
- the RSVP signalling VC already exists, then the RSVP signalling
- traffic can be switched to this existing VC. If no such VC exists,
- one approach would be to create a new VC with the new list of egress
- routers. Other approaches include modifying the existing VC to add an
- egress router or using a separate new VC for the new egress routers.
- When a destination drops out of a group, an alternative would be to
- keep sending to the existing VC even though some traffic is wasted.
- The number of VCs used in this scheme is a function of traffic
- patterns across the ATM network, but is always less than the number
- used with the Single RSVP VC per data VC. In addition, existing best
- effort data VCs could be used for RSVP signalling. Reusing best
- effort VCs saves on the number of VCs at the cost of higher
- probability of RSVP signalling packet loss. One possible place where
- this scheme will work well is in the core of the network where there
- is the most opportunity to take advantage of the savings due to
- multiplexing. The exact savings depend on the patterns of traffic
- and the topology of the ATM network.
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
-
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- 4.3.1.3 Multiplexed point-to-point RSVP VCs
-
- In this scheme, multiple point-to-point RSVP signalling VCs are used
- for a single point-to-multipoint data VC. This scheme allows
- multiplexing of RSVP signalling traffic but requires the same traffic
- to be sent on each of several VCs. This scheme is quite flexible and
- allows a large amount of multiplexing.
-
- Since point-to-point VCs can set up a reverse channel at the same
- time as setting up the forward channel, this scheme could save
- substantially on signalling cost. In addition, signalling traffic
- could share existing best effort VCs. Sharing existing best effort
- VCs reduces the total number of VCs needed, but might cause
- signalling traffic drops if there is congestion in the ATM network.
- This point-to-point scheme would work well in the core of the network
- where there is much opportunity for multiplexing. Also in the core of
- the network, RSVP VCs can stay permanently established either as
- Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) or as long lived Switched Virtual
- Circuits (SVCs). The number of VCs in this scheme will depend on
- traffic patterns, but in the core of a network would be approximately
- n(n-1)/2 where n is the number of IP nodes in the network. In the
- core of the network, this will typically be small compared to the
- total number of VCs.
-
- 4.3.2 QoS for RSVP VCs
-
- There is an issue of what QoS, if any, to assign to the RSVP
- signalling VCs. For other RSVP VC schemes, a QoS (possibly best
- effort) will be needed. What QoS to use partially depends on the
- expected level of multiplexing that is being done on the VCs, and the
- expected reliability of best effort VCs. Since RSVP signalling is
- infrequent (typically every 30 seconds), only a relatively small QoS
- should be needed. This is important since using a larger QoS risks
- the VC setup being rejected for lack of resources. Falling back to
- best effort when a QoS call is rejected is possible, but if the ATM
- net is congested, there will likely be problems with RSVP packet loss
- on the best effort VC also. Additional experimentation is needed in
- this area.
-
- 5. Encapsulation
-
- Since RSVP is a signalling protocol used to control flows of IP data
- packets, encapsulation for both RSVP packets and associated IP data
- packets must be defined. The methods for transmitting IP packets over
- ATM (Classical IP over ATM[10], LANE[17], and MPOA[18]) are all based
- on the encapsulations defined in RFC1483 [19]. RFC1483 specifies two
- encapsulations, LLC Encapsulation and VC-based multiplexing. The
- former allows multiple protocols to be encapsulated over the same VC
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
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-
- and the latter requires different VCs for different protocols.
-
- For the purposes of RSVP over ATM, any encapsulation can be used as
- long as the VCs are managed in accordance to the methods outlined in
- Section 4. Obviously, running multiple protocol data streams over
- the same VC with LLC encapsulation can cause the same problems as
- running multiple flows over the same VC.
-
- While none of the transmission methods directly address the issue of
- QoS, RFC1755 [11] does suggest some common values for VC setup for
- best-effort traffic. [14] discusses the relationship of the RFC1755
- setup parameters and those needed to support IntServ flows in greater
- detail.
-
- 6. Security Considerations
-
- The same considerations stated in [1] and [11] apply to this
- document. There are no additional security issues raised in this
- document.
-
- 7. References
-
- [1] Braden, R., Zhang, L., Berson, S., Herzog, S., and S. Jamin,
- "Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) -- Version 1 Functional
- Specification", RFC 2209, September 1997.
-
- [2] Borden, M., Crawley, E., Davie, B., and S. Batsell, "Integration
- of Realtime Services in an IP-ATM Network Architecture", RFC
- 1821, August 1995.
-
- [3] Cole, R., Shur, D., and C. Villamizar, "IP over ATM: A Framework
- Document", RFC 1932, April 1996.
-
- [4] Luciani, J., Katz, D., Piscitello, D., Cole, B., and N.
- Doraswamy, "NBMA Next Hop Resolution Protocol (NHRP)", RFC 2332,
- April 1998.
-
- [5] Armitage, G., "Support for Multicast over UNI 3.0/3.1 based ATM
- Networks", RFC 2022, November 1996.
-
- [6] Shenker, S., and C. Partridge, "Specification of Guaranteed
- Quality of Service", RFC 2212, September 1997.
-
- [7] Wroclawski, J., "Specification of the Controlled-Load Network
- Element Service", RFC 2211, September 1997.
-
- [8] ATM Forum. ATM User-Network Interface Specification Version 3.0.
- Prentice Hall, September 1993.
-
-
-
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- RFC 2382 Integrated Services and RSVP over ATM August 1998
-
-
- [9] ATM Forum. ATM User Network Interface (UNI) Specification Version
- 3.1. Prentice Hall, June 1995.
-
- [10] Laubach, M., "Classical IP and ARP over ATM", RFC 2225, April
- 1998.
-
- [11] Perez, M., Mankin, A., Hoffman, E., Grossman, G., and A. Malis,
- "ATM Signalling Support for IP over ATM", RFC 1755, February
- 1995.
-
- [12] Herzog, S., "RSVP Extensions for Policy Control", Work in
- Progress.
-
- [13] Herzog, S., "Local Policy Modules (LPM): Policy Control for
- RSVP", Work in Progress.
-
- [14] Borden, M., and M. Garrett, "Interoperation of Controlled-Load
- and Guaranteed Service with ATM", RFC 2381, August 1998.
-
- [15] Berger, L., "RSVP over ATM Implementation Requirements", RFC
- 2380, August 1998.
-
- [16] Berger, L., "RSVP over ATM Implementation Guidelines", RFC 2379,
- August 1998.
-
- [17] ATM Forum Technical Committee. LAN Emulation over ATM, Version
- 1.0 Specification, af-lane-0021.000, January 1995.
-
- [18] ATM Forum Technical Committee. Baseline Text for MPOA, af-95-
- 0824r9, September 1996.
-
- [19] Heinanen, J., "Multiprotocol Encapsulation over ATM Adaptation
- Layer 5", RFC 1483, July 1993.
-
- [20] ATM Forum Technical Committee. LAN Emulation over ATM Version 2
- - LUNI Specification, December 1996.
-
- [21] ATM Forum Technical Committee. Traffic Management Specification
- v4.0, af-tm-0056.000, April 1996.
-
- [22] Callon, R., et al., "A Framework for Multiprotocol Label
- Switching, Work in Progress.
-
- [23] Rajagopalan, B., Nair, R., Sandick, H., and E. Crawley, "A
- Framework for QoS-based Routing in the Internet", RFC 2386,
- August 1998.
-
-
-
-
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- [24] ITU-T. Digital Subscriber Signaling System No. 2-Connection
- modification: Peak cell rate modification by the connection
- owner, ITU-T Recommendation Q.2963.1, July 1996.
-
- [25] ITU-T. Digital Subscriber Signaling System No. 2-Connection
- characteristics negotiation during call/connection establishment
- phase, ITU-T Recommendation Q.2962, July 1996.
-
- [26] ATM Forum Technical Committee. Private Network-Network Interface
- Specification v1.0 (PNNI), March 1996.
-
- 8. Authors' Addresses
-
- Eric S. Crawley
- Argon Networks
- 25 Porter Road
- Littleton, Ma 01460
-
- Phone: +1 978 486-0665
- EMail: esc@argon.com
-
-
- Lou Berger
- FORE Systems
- 6905 Rockledge Drive
- Suite 800
- Bethesda, MD 20817
-
- Phone: +1 301 571-2534
- EMail: lberger@fore.com
-
-
- Steven Berson
- USC Information Sciences Institute
- 4676 Admiralty Way
- Marina del Rey, CA 90292
-
- Phone: +1 310 822-1511
- EMail: berson@isi.edu
-
-
- Fred Baker
- Cisco Systems
- 519 Lado Drive
- Santa Barbara, California 93111
-
- Phone: +1 805 681-0115
- EMail: fred@cisco.com
-
-
-
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-
- Marty Borden
- Bay Networks
- 125 Nagog Park
- Acton, MA 01720
-
- Phone: +1 978 266-1011
- EMail: mborden@baynetworks.com
-
-
- John J. Krawczyk
- ArrowPoint Communications
- 235 Littleton Road
- Westford, Massachusetts 01886
-
- Phone: +1 978 692-5875
- EMail: jj@arrowpoint.com
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- 9. Full Copyright Statement
-
- Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
-
- This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
- others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
- or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
- and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
- kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
- included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
- document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
- the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
- Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
- developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
- copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
- followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
- English.
-
- The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
- revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
-
- This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
- "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
- TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
- BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
- HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
- MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
-
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