rfc975.txt

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RFC 975                                                    February 1986
Autonomous Confederations


      that system is entitled to list all directly reachable networks in
      EGP messages sent to any other system.  In general, it may happen
      that a particular network is directly reachable from more than one
      system.

      A network is "reachable" from an autonomous system if it is
      directly reachable from an autonomous system belonging to the same
      confederation.  A directly reachable net is always reachable from
      the same system.  Every gateway in that confederation is entitled
      to list all reachable nets in EGP messages sent to any other
      system.  It may happen that a particular net is either directly
      reachable or reachable from different confederations.

      In order to preserve global routing stability in the Internet, it
      is explicitly assumed that routes within an autonomous system to a
      directly reachable net are always preferred over routes outside
      that system and that routes within an autonomous confederation are
      always preferred over routes outside that confederation.  The
      mechanism by which this is assured is described in the next
      section.

      In general, EGP Update messages can include two lists of gateways,
      one for those gateways belonging to the same system (internal
      neighbors) and the other for gateways belonging to different
      systems (external neighbors).  Directly reachable nets must always
      be associated with gateways of the same system, that is, with
      internal neighbors, while non-directly reachable nets can be
      associated with either internal or external neighbors.  Nets that
      are reachable, but not directly reachable, must always be
      associated with gateways of the same confederation.

   2.2.  Trusted Routing Metrics

      There seems to be a general principle which characterizes
      distributed systems:  The "nearer" a thing is the more dynamic and
      trustable it is, while the "farther" a thing is the more static
      and suspicious it is.  For instance, the concept of network is
      intrinsic to the Internet model, as is the concept of gateways
      which bind them together.  A cluster of gateways "near" each other
      (e.g.  within an autonomous system) typically exchange routing
      information using a high-performance routing algorithm capable of
      sensitive monitoring of, and rapid adaptation to, changing
      performance indicators such as queueing delays and link loading.

      However, clusters of gateways "far" from each other (e.g.  widely
      separated autonomous systems) usually need only coarse routing
      information, possibly only "hints" on the best likely next hop to


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RFC 975                                                    February 1986
Autonomous Confederations


      the general destination area.  On the other hand, mutual suspicion
      increases with distance, so these clusters may need elaborate
      security considerations, including peer authentication,
      confidentiality, secrecy and signature verification.  In addition,
      considerations of efficiency usually dictate that the allowable
      network bandidth consumed by the routing protocol itself decreases
      with distance.  The price paid for both of these things typically
      is in responsiveness, with the effect that the more distant
      clusters are from each other, the less dynamic is the routing
      algorithm.

      The above observations suggest a starting point for the evolution
      of a globally acceptable routing metric.  Assume the metric is
      represented by an integer, with low values representing finer
      distinctions "nearer" the gateway and high values coarser
      distinctions "farther" from it.  Values less than a globally
      agreed constant X are associated with paths confined to the same
      autonomous system as the sender, values greater than X but less
      than another constant Y with paths confined to the autonomous
      confederation of the sender and values greater than Y associated
      with the remaining paths.

      At each of these three levels - autonomous system, autonomous
      confederation and universe of confederations - multiple routing
      algorithms could be operated simultaneously, with each producing
      for each destination net a possibly different subtree and metric
      in the ranges specified above.  However, within each system the
      metric must have the same interpretation, so that other systems
      can mitigate routes between multiple gateways in that system.
      Likewise, within each confederation the metric must have the same
      interpretation, so that other confederations can mitigate routes
      to gateways in that confederation.  Although all confederations
      must agree on a common universe-of-confederations algorithm, not
      all confederations need to use the same confederation-level
      algorithm and not all systems in the same confederation need to
      use the same system-level algorithm.

3.  Implementation Issues

   The manner in which the eight-bit "hop count" or distance field in
   the EGP Update to be used is not specified in RFC-904, but left as a
   matter for further study.  The above model provides both an
   interpretation of this field, as well as hints on how to design
   appropriate routing algorithms.

   For the sake of illustration, assume the values of X and Y above are
   128 and 192 respectively.  This means that the gateways in a


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RFC 975                                                    February 1986
Autonomous Confederations


   particular system will assign distance values less than 128 for
   directly-reachable nets and that exterior gateways can compare these
   values freely in order to select among these gateways.  It also means
   that the gateways in all systems of a particular confederation will
   assign distance values between 128 and 192 for those nets not
   directly reachable in the system but reachable in the confederation.
   In the following it will be assumed that the various confederations
   can be distinguished by some feature of the 16-bit system-number
   field, perhaps by reserving a subfield.

   3.1.  Data-Base Management Functions

      The following implementation model may clarify the above issues,
      as well as present at least one way to organize the gateway data
      base.  The data base is organized as a routing table, the entries
      of which include a net number together with a list of items, where
      each item consists of (a) the gateway address, system number and
      distance provided by an EGP neighbor, (b) a time-to-live counter,
      local routing information and other information as necessary to
      manage the data base.

      The routing table is updated each time an EGP Update message is
      received from a neighbor and possibly by other means, such as the
      system IGP.  The message is first decoded into a list of quads
      consisting of a network number, gateway address, system number and
      distance.  If the gateway address is internal to the neighbor
      system, as determined from the EGP message, the system number of
      the quad is set to that system; while, if not, the system number
      is set to zero, indicating "external."

      Next, a new value of distance is computed from the old value
      provided in the message and subject to the following constraints:
      If the system number matches the local system number, the new
      value is determined by the rules for the system IGP but must be
      less than 128. If not and either the system number belongs to the
      same confederation or the system number is zero and the old
      distance is less than 192, the value is determined by the rules
      for the confederation EGP, but must be at least 128 and less than
      192.  Otherwise, the value is determined by the rules for the
      (global) universe-of-federations EGP, but must be at least 192.

      For each quad in the list the routing table is first searched for
      matching net number and a new entry made if not already there.
      Next, the list of items for that net number is searched for
      matching gateway address and system number and a new entry made if
      not already there. Finally, the distance field is recomputed, the
      time-to-live field reset and local routing information inserted.


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RFC 975                                                    February 1986
Autonomous Confederations


      The time-to-live fields of all items in each list are incremented
      on a regular basis.  If a field exceeds a preset maximum, the item
      is discarded;  while, if all items on a list are discarded, the
      entire entry including net number is discarded.

      When a gateway sends an EGP Update message to a neighbor, it must
      invert the data base in order by gateway address, rather than net
      number.  As part of this process the routing table is scanned and
      the gateway with minimum distance selected for each net number.
      The resulting list is sorted by gateway address and partitioned on
      the basis of internal/external system number.

   3.2.  Routing Functions

      A gateway encountering a datagram (service unit) searches the
      routing table for matching destination net number and then selects
      the gateway on that list with minimum distance.  As the result of
      the value assignments above, it should be clear that routes at a
      higher level will never be chosen if routes at a lower level
      exist.  It should also be clear that route selection within a
      system cannot affect route selection outside that system, except
      through the intervention of the intra-confederation routing
      algorithm.  If a simple min-system-hop algorithm is used for the
      confederation EGP, the IGP of each system can influence it only to
      the extent of reachability.

   3.3.  Compatibility Issues

      The proposed interpretation is backwards-compatibile with known
      EGP implementations which do not interpret the distance field and
      with several known EGP implementations that take private liberties
      with this field.  Perhaps the simplest way to evolve the present
      system is to collect the existing implementations that do not
      interpet the distance field at all as a single confederation with
      the present core system and routing restrictions.  All distances
      provided by this confederation would be assumed equal to 192,
      which would provide at least a rudimentary capability for routing
      within the universe of confederations.

      One or more existing or proposed systems in which the distance
      field has a uniform interpretation throughout the system can be
      organized as autonomous confederations.  This might include the
      Butterfly gateways now now being deployed, as well as clones
      elsewhere. These systems provide the capability to select routes
      into the system based on the distance fields for the different
      gateways.  It is anticipated that the distance fields for the
      Butterfly system can be set to at least 128 if the routing


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RFC 975                                                    February 1986
Autonomous Confederations


      information comes from another Butterfly system and to at least
      192 if from a non-Butterfly system presumed outside the
      confederation.

      New systems using an implmentation model such as suggested above
      can select routes into a confederation based on the distance
      field.  For this to work properly, however, it is necessary that
      all systems and confederations adopt a consistent interpretation
      of distance values exceeding 192.

4.  Summary and Conclusions

   Taken at face value, this document represents a proposal for an
   interpretation of the distance field of the EGP Update message, which
   has previously been assigned no architected interpretation, but has
   been often used informally.  The proposal amounts to ordering the
   autonomous systems in a hierarchy of systems and confederations,
   together with an interpretation of the distance field as a
   three-level metric.  The result is to create a corresponding
   three-level routing community, one prefering routes inside a system,
   a second preferring routes inside a confederation and the third with
   no preference.

   While the proposed three-level hierarchy can readily be extended to
   any number of levels, this would create strain on the distance field,
   which is limited to eight bits in the current EGP model.

   The concept of distance can easily be generalized to "administrative
   distance" as suggested by John Nagle and others.

5.  References

   [1]  Rosen, E., Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP), DARPA Network
        Working Group Report RFC-827, Bolt Beranek and Newman, September
        1982.

   [2]  Seamonson, L.J., and E.C., Rosen.  "STUB" Exterior Gateway
        Protocol, DARPA Network Working Group Report RFC-888, BBN
        Communications, January 1984.

   [3]  Mills, D.L., Exterior Gateway Protocol Formal Specification,
        DARPA Network Working Group Report RFC-904, M/A-COM Linkabit,
        April 1984.






Mills                                                          [Page 10]