This is a purely informative rendering of an RFC that includes verified errata. This rendering may not be used as a reference.

The following 'Verified' errata have been incorporated in this document: EID 7521
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                          M. Bocci
Request for Comments: 6215                                     L. Levrau
Updates: 5921                                             Alcatel-Lucent
Category: Informational                                         D. Frost
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                    Cisco
                                                              April 2011


                 MPLS Transport Profile User-to-Network
                   and Network-to-Network Interfaces

Abstract

   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

   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.

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   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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1.  Introduction

   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

      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-Network Interface,
   Client side) and UNI-N (User-to-Network Interface, Network side), in
   order to show their relationship to one another.
EID 7521 (Verified) is as follows:

Section: 1.1

Original Text:

   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.

Corrected Text:

   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-Network Interface,
   Client side) and UNI-N (User-to-Network Interface, Network side), in
   order to show their relationship to one another.
Notes:
This is a very minor nit.

As listed in Section 1.2., UNI stands for "User-to-Network Interface", not "User-to-User Interface".
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 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 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 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 The security considerations of [RFC5921] apply. The updated reference models provided by this document introduce no new security considerations. 5. Acknowledgements The editors wish to thank the following for their contribution to this document: o Eve Varma o Dieter Beller o Lou Berger o Stewart Bryant o Italo Busi o The experts of ITU-T Study Group 15 and the IETF MPLS and PWE3 working groups. 6. Normative References [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 Matthew Bocci Alcatel-Lucent EMail: matthew.bocci@alcatel-lucent.com Lieven Levrau Alcatel-Lucent EMail: lieven.levrau@alcatel-lucent.com Dan Frost Cisco EMail: danfrost@cisco.com