[mpls] [Errata Rejected] RFC4928 (5396)

RFC Errata System <rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org> Fri, 26 February 2021 22:07 UTC

To: jsharma@ciena.com, stbryant@cisco.com, swallow@cisco.com, loa@pi.se
From: RFC Errata System <rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org>
Cc: db3546@att.com, iesg@ietf.org, mpls@ietf.org, rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org
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Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2021 14:07:09 -0800
Archived-At: <https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/mpls/EpmMbNgNMf9KD3RoMyn45S65zOk>
Subject: [mpls] [Errata Rejected] RFC4928 (5396)
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The following errata report has been rejected for RFC4928,
"Avoiding Equal Cost Multipath Treatment in MPLS Networks".

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You may review the report below and at:
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5396

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Status: Rejected
Type: Technical

Reported by: Jitendra Kumar Sharma <jsharma@ciena.com>
Date Reported: 2018-06-18
Rejected by: Deborah Brungard (IESG)

Section: Section 2

Original Text
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A less obvious case is when the packets of a given flow happen to
have constant values in the fields upon which IP ECMP would be
performed. For example, if an Ethernet frame immediately follows the
label and the LSR does ECMP on IPv4, but does not do ECMP on IPv6,
then either the first nibble will be 0x4, or it will be something
else. If the nibble is not 0x4 then no IP ECMP is performed, but
Label ECMP may be performed. If it is 0x4, then the constant values
of the MAC addresses overlay the fields that would have been occupied
by the source and destination addresses of an IP header. In this
case, the input to the ECMP algorithm would be a constant value and
thus the algorithm would always return the same result.

Corrected Text
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<This paragraph should be removed>

Notes
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The example stated here seems incorrect. It talks about an L2VPN case where Ethernet frame starts immediately after the last label in the stack. But had it been an IP packet instead, the same initial 12 bytes, which is the place for MAC addresses in an Ethernet Frame, would not be the place of IP addresses, as IP addresses are placed at the end of 20-byte IP header (not start). Hence it would still be subjected to ECMP if precautions (as recommended in this RFC) are not been followed.
--VERIFIER NOTES--
This should be addressed by the working group (e.g., updating or revising the RFC).

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RFC4928 (draft-ietf-mpls-ecmp-bcp-03)
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Title : Avoiding Equal Cost Multipath Treatment in MPLS Networks
Publication Date : June 2007
Author(s) : G. Swallow, S. Bryant, L. Andersson
Category : BEST CURRENT PRACTICE
Source : Multiprotocol Label Switching
Area : Routing
Stream : IETF
Verifying Party : IESG

[mpls] [Errata Rejected] RFC4928 (5396) RFC Errata System