Hi Thomas,

Thanks very much for shepherding this draft and providing valuable comments. I 
have just posted the new rev with all the edits incorproated.

We can now move to the next draft in the queue - 
draft-ietf-bess-evpn-overlay-07<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-bess-evpn-overlay/>.

Regards,
Ali

From: Thomas Morin <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Organization: Orange
Date: Friday, January 13, 2017 at 12:33 PM
To: Cisco Employee <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, Loa Andersson 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, "George Swallow -T (swallow - MBO PARTNERS INC 
at Cisco)" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, Eric Rosen 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, BESS 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Cc: Martin Vigoureux 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Subject: Re: shepherd review of draft-ietf-bess-evpn-etree

Hi Ali,

I'm fine with the new text, thanks for the work on addressing my comments.
You can post a revision and I will wrap-up the shepherd review in parallel.

Best,

-Thomas

2017-01-13, Ali Sajassi (sajassi):
Hi Thomas,

Please refer to the comment resolution below:

From: Thomas Morin <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Organization: Orange
Date: Friday, January 13, 2017 at 1:22 AM
To: Cisco Employee <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, Loa Andersson 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, "George Swallow -T (swallow - MBO PARTNERS INC 
at Cisco)" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, Eric Rosen 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, BESS 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Cc: Martin Vigoureux 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Subject: Re: shepherd review of draft-ietf-bess-evpn-etree

Hi Ali,

One comment on what seems to me the last pending issue.

Ali:
>>Thomas:
I think that this explanation is too elliptic compared to the strong ("not 
viable") conclusion. As soon as we talk about implementation details, a more 
detailed discussion is required on why, and under which assumptions, some 
things are impossible  -- there can be many different way to implement a 
dataplane. Without explaining what "two lookups" exactly means in this context, 
it's hard to follow why it would be required if duplicating MAC addresses is 
not done, and why it is latter concluded as "not viable":
- doing multiple lookups is something that is far from being uncommon on router 
platforms
- on software platforms the impact of doing multiple lookups can be reduced to 
mostly zero (e.g. with OpenVSwitch that would only impact the first packets of 
a flow)
- if the dataplane can leverage the colouring information to avoid doing two 
lookups, then perhaps this hardware ability can be leveraged to support the two 
MAC-VRFs approach with only one lookup  (building one table, marking MAC 
entries as Leaf entries if they were learned with routes carrying only the Leaf 
RT?)  --- don't misunderstand me: I'm not claiming that this works (I haven't 
looked closely enough), but simply that the text provided is not sufficient to 
exclude this kind of solution

The "duplicating MAC addresses" alternative is explained better, but still, 
nothing is explained on why this is "not viable". It seems to be as something 
rather belonging to the realm of "having a scalability impact", but even 
looking in this respect we are not talking about a change of order of magnitude.

The non-viable conclusion was based on investigation that I did for micro-code 
and ASIC based platforms; however, I see your point and I am para-phrasing the 
sentence as follow to leave room for future investigation.
"In order to avoid two MAC-VRFs, this draft introduces the coloring option (B) 
as detailed in section 3.1"


This is better, but:
- the text still makes a statement that either two lookups or duplicating MACs 
is required, without much explanation
- the logic is not consolidated: if either X or Y is required, then its 
illogical to say "In order to avoid X, this drafts introduces Z...."  (Z being 
different than Y)
- the text still misses an explanation on why avoiding two MAC-VRFs was desired

If we can't (or don't want to spend time on) explaining the details on why 
something else than "two MAC RVFs" was deemed useful, then perhaps we could 
simplify the whole paragraph into something like:

      Because option (A) is not believed to be implementable without dataplane 
performance inefficiencies some platforms, this drafts introduces the coloring 
option (B) in section 3.1.

I modified the last sentence as below:
"Because of potential inefficiencies associated with data-plane implementation 
of additional MAC lookup or duplication of MAC entries, option (A) is not 
believed to be implementable without dataplane performance inefficiencies in 
some platforms and thus this draft introduces the coloring option (B) as 
detailed in section 3.1.”

The logic is as follow: Option A requires either X (two MAC lookup) or Y 
(duplication of MAC entries). Because of potential data-plane inefficiencies 
for X or Y (which is needed for option A), we are suggesting option B.

The whole paragraph is as below:
"Maintaining two MAC-VRFs (two bridge tables) per VLAN (when both Leaf and Root 
ACs exists for that VLAN) would either require two lookups be performed per MAC 
address in each direction in case of a miss, or duplicating many MAC addresses 
between the two bridge tables belonging to the same VLAN (same E-TREE 
instance). Unless two lookups are made, duplication of MAC addresses would be 
needed for both locally learned and remotely learned MAC addresses. Locally 
learned MAC addresses from Leaf ACs need to be duplicated onto Root bridge 
table and locally learned MAC addresses from Root ACs need to be duplicated 
onto Leaf bridge table. Remotely learned MAC addresses from Root ACs need to be 
copied onto both Root and Leaf bridge tables. Because of potential 
inefficiencies associated with data-plane implementation of additional MAC 
lookup or duplication of MAC entries, option (A) is not believed to be 
implementable without dataplane performance inefficiencies in some platforms 
and thus this draft introduces the coloring option (B) as detailed in section 
3.1."

Cheers,
Ali


Best,

-Thomas



2017-01-13, Ali Sajassi (sajassi):



Hi Ali,

2016-12-19, Ali Sajassi (sajassi):
I have modified section 2.2 (copied below) to elaborate why coloring approach 
for Leaf/Root MAC addresses is used in this draft. Also, the use of single RT 
for this scenario is mentioned just as “MAY”. Please review the text below and 
let me know if you still have questions/comments:

Thanks for providing text that goes in the right direction.
I still have a few comments below.

-Thomas



2.2 Scenario 2: Leaf OR Root site(s) per AC

   In this scenario, a PE receives traffic from either Root OR Leaf
   sites (but not both) on a given Attachment Circuit (AC) of an EVI. In
   other words, an AC (ES or ES/VLAN) is either a Root AC or a Leaf AC
   (but not both).


                     +---------+            +---------+
                     |   PE1   |            |   PE2   |
    +---+            |  +---+  |  +------+  |  +---+  |            +---+
    |CE1+-----ES1----+--+   |  |  |      |  |  |   +--+---ES2/AC1--+CE2|
    +---+    (Leaf)  |  |MAC|  |  | MPLS |  |  |MAC|  |   (Leaf)   +---+
                     |  |VRF|  |  |  /IP |  |  |VRF|  |
                     |  |   |  |  |      |  |  |   |  |            +---+
                     |  |   |  |  |      |  |  |   +--+---ES2/AC2--+CE3|
                     |  +---+  |  +------+  |  +---+  |   (Root)   +---+
                     +---------+            +---------+

   Figure 2: Scenario 2

   In this scenario, just like the previous scenario (in section 2.1),
   two Route Targets (one for Root and another for Leaf) can be used.
   However, the difference is that on a PE with both Root and Leaf ACs,
   all remote MAC routes are imported and thus there needs to be a way
   to differentiate remote MAC routes associated with Leaf ACs versus
   the ones associated with Root ACs in order to apply the proper
   ingress filtering.

   In order to support such ingress filtering on the ingress PE with
   both Leaf and Root ACs, one the following two approaches can be used:

reverting A and B would be more natural since solution B corresponds to the 
starting point "what we had before this spec"

Done.


   A) Color MAC addresses with Leaf (or Root) color before distributing
   them in BGP to other PEs depending on whether it is learned on a Leaf

s/it is/they are/

Done.

   AC (or a Root AC)

I think removing the parenthesis is needed for the 'whether' statement to parse.

Done.

   B) Use two MAC-VRFs (two bridge tables per VLANs) - one for Root ACs
   and another for Leaf ACs.

I think "(two bridge tables per VLANs)" is inexact:  "two bridge tables per 
VLAN if a given VLAN exists on the PE for both Leaf and Root ACs of a given 
EVI" ?

That’s fine. Done!


Similarly, in the following paragraph, I think "per VLAN" should be replaced by 
"per E-TREE EVI having both Root and Leaf ACs".

A single EVI can consist of many VLANs (in case of VLAN-aware bundle service), 
so, “per VLAN” is right. However, to make it more exact as above, I’ll change 
it to “per VLAN (when both Root and Leafs ACs exist for that VLAN) requires …”.




   Maintaining two bridge tables per VLAN requires either two lookups be
   performed per MAC address in either direction in case of a miss, or
   duplicating many MAC addresses between the two bridge tables
   belonging to the same VLAN (same E-TREE instance). The duplication of
   MAC addresses are need for both locally learned and remotely learned
   MAC addresses.

Since it is said above "Maintaining two bridge tables per VLAN requires either 
two lookups [...] or duplicating many MAC addresses [...]", saying "The 
duplication of MAC addresses is needed for [...]"  is surprising, so I guess 
the intent is rather "Unless two lookups are made, duplication of MAC addresses 
would be needed for [...]".

That is correct. I’ll change it to the sentence that you suggested: “Unless two 
lookups are made, …"


   Locally learned MAC addresses from Leaf ACs need to be
   duplicated onto Root bridge table and locally learned MAC addresses
   from Root ACs need to be duplicated onto Leaf bridge table. Remotely
   learned MAC addresses from Root ACs need to be copied onto both Root
   and Leaf bridge tables.
   Neither double lookups nor MAC duplications
   are considered viable options; therefore, this draft recommends the
   use of MAC address coloring for this scenario as detailed in section
   3.1.


I think that this explanation is too elliptic compared to the strong ("not 
viable") conclusion. As soon as we talk about implementation details, a more 
detailed discussion is required on why, and under which assumptions, some 
things are impossible  -- there can be many different way to implement a 
dataplane. Without explaining what "two lookups" exactly means in this context, 
it's hard to follow why it would be required if duplicating MAC addresses is 
not done, and why it is latter concluded as "not viable":
- doing multiple lookups is something that is far from being uncommon on router 
platforms
- on software platforms the impact of doing multiple lookups can be reduced to 
mostly zero (e.g. with OpenVSwitch that would only impact the first packets of 
a flow)
- if the dataplane can leverage the colouring information to avoid doing two 
lookups, then perhaps this hardware ability can be leveraged to support the two 
MAC-VRFs approach with only one lookup  (building one table, marking MAC 
entries as Leaf entries if they were learned with routes carrying only the Leaf 
RT?)  --- don't misunderstand me: I'm not claiming that this works (I haven't 
looked closely enough), but simply that the text provided is not sufficient to 
exclude this kind of solution

The "duplicating MAC addresses" alternative is explained better, but still, 
nothing is explained on why this is "not viable". It seems to be as something 
rather belonging to the realm of "having a scalability impact", but even 
looking in this respect we are not talking about a change of order of magnitude.

The non-viable conclusion was based on investigation that I did for micro-code 
and ASIC based platforms; however, I see your point and I am para-phrasing the 
sentence as follow to leave room for future investigation.
"In order to avoid two MAC-VRFs, this draft introduces the coloring option (B) 
as detailed in section 3.1"



   For this scenario, if for a given EVI, the vast majority of PEs will
   have both Leaf and Root sites attached, even though they may start as
   Root-only or Leaf-only PEs, then a single RT per EVI MAY be used in
   order to alleviate  additional configuration overhead associated with

"to alleviate  additional configuration overhead associated with ..." -> "to 
alleviate the configuration overhead associated with ..." ?

Done.

   using two RTs per EVI at the expense of having unwanted MAC addresses
   on the Leaf-only PEs.







From: Thomas Morin <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Organization: Orange
Date: Thursday, December 15, 2016 at 4:12 AM
To: Cisco Employee <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, Loa Andersson 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, "George Swallow -T (swallow - MBO PARTNERS INC 
at Cisco)" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, Eric Rosen 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, BESS 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Cc: Martin Vigoureux 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Subject: Re: shepherd review of draft-ietf-bess-evpn-etree

Hi Ali,

2016-12-13, Ali Sajassi (sajassi):

2016-12-10, Ali Sajassi (sajassi):
Your suggestion regarding multiple MAC-VRFs per EVI for E-TREE, impacts lot 
more sections than just section 2.2 for which you suggested some texts. It 
drastically  impacts section 3.1 (known unicast traffic), and it also impacts 
section 3.2 (BUM traffic) and section 5.1.

Can you detail why ?
The understanding that leads me to this suggestion is that the 
2-RT+split-horizon scenario in 2.1, then applied to Root/Leaf PE in a 2.2.1 
would not require new procotol procedures nor changes in the text that as I 
understand provides procedures for 2.2(.2) and 2.3.
2nd try. As my 1st response got truncated for some reason.

The reason that impacts more sections than just sec. 2, is that the proposed 
2.2.1 would be an alternative option for section 3.1. In section 3.1, the 
root/leaf indication for MAC addresses are done via flag-bit defined in section 
5.1 and it only uses a single MAC-VRF (single bridge table per VLAN) per RFC 
7432. If we go with two MAC-VRFs (e.g., two bridge tables) per VLAN, then that 
is an alternative way of doing the same thing described in section 3.1. This 
alternative way has big ramifications on the platform as it requires 
duplicating MACs and managing multiple bridge tables per VLAN.

Since 2.1 and the proposed 2.2.1 do not require new protocol procedures (they 
only require split-horizon locally in Leaf MAC-VRFs), if you state clearly that 
the procedures in the document are here to address 2.2.2 and 2.3, then you 
don't need to modify the content of the document after section 2  (more 
exactly, you will need minor update like changing the current "This scheme 
applies to all scenarios described in section 2." in section 3 into "This 
scheme applies to scenarios described in 2.2.2 and 2.3".

The "big ramifications" above are then not about section 3, but just the 
(platform specific-drawbacks) of 2.2.2 that we have already discussed and that 
can be covered in 2.2.2.

Maybe what you really want is to allow for scenario 2.2 to operate with two RTs 
which has the benefits of both 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 and non of the drawbacks. So, 
maybe we can clarify the current text to make sure that this comes out clearly 
– ie, a PE can have single MAC–VRF can have multiple RTs.

You could mention that, but for me the key things is:
- documenting the motivation for the new procedures
- not arbitrarily /restrict/ 2.2.2 to one RT (but why not document identified 
drawbacks)


Furthermore, it creates a new paradigm for EVPN that was never intended for 
because of creating two MAC-VRFs (and two bridge tables) for the same VLAN.

The "<new thing> created a new paradigm that <RFX xyz> was never intended for" 
is a not generally valid, or sufficiently detailed, argument: if it was, then 
you might go as far as challenging the whole E-Tree spec on the same kind 
grounds (and many other new things).

So here is where it seems we have a gap to bridge: I still don't understand 
what in RFC7432 describes an intention of "not supporting two MAC-VRFs for the 
same VLAN".

I tried to explain the relationship between EVI, MAC-VRF, bridge table, and 
VLAN in my previous email per RFC 7432. However, lets park this discussion for 
time being as I think it is secondary.

Ok, feel free to revisit if you think that RFC7432 would preclude procedures 
that end up being described in this draft

I think you agree that if we have a single solution that has all the benefits 
of your proposed 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 and none of the drawbacks, it is much more 
preferable with having two solutions each with its own advantages and draw 
backs, right? If so, then existing text in 2.2 was intended to convey that. 
However, we can clarify it further – e.g, make it clear that for PE with root & 
leaf in the same EVI, we can use a single MAC-VRF with two RTs (one for leaf 
and another for root).

As said above my key concern is having the document clearly spell out the 
motivation for new specs.
If this implies documenting the fact that already existing procedure can be 
used, but have drawbacks, then so be it ; there would be no point in hiding 
that, right ?



The WG LC was completed on 3/29/16 and I am sure it is not your intention to 
have major changes to the doc at this stage where multiple vendors have already 
implemented the draft.

As you know, there are different stages at which people do reviews on a doc 
after WGLC, an which may lead doc editors to introduce significant --editorial 
or technical-- changes in a document. Sometimes that leads to documents going 
back to the working group.

However my root intention as doc shepherd, of course, is not to propose a major 
change, but merely to able to answer the standard question of the shepherd 
review -- on the reviews done, on document readiness, and on the document 
quality -- in a way as positive and sincere as possible. In particular 
questions (3) (4) and (6).

So, hopefully the answers to these three questions are now clear. I believe 
your main concern is to ensure that we can apply two-RT approach of sec. 2.1  
to sec. 2.2 (and we can still do and still have a single MAC-VRF)

See above.



This draft talks about two kinds of traffic filtering: a) ingress filtering for 
known unicast and b) egress filtering for BUM traffic. What you are suggesting 
is an alternate mechanism for ingress filtering.

(well I'm not suggesting the mechanism itself --which section 2.1 already 
does-- but simply to document that it can still apply without the constraint of 
avoiding the presence of a Root MAC-VRF and a Leaf MAC-VRF on a same PE)

Although having multiple VRFs (and forwarding tables) are fine for IP-VPNs 
because the unknown traffic is always dropped, multiple VRFs for the same VLAN 
is not OK for L2 traffic because of flooding of unknown traffic. That’s why in 
section 6 of RFC 7432, for all service interface types, the draft talks about a 
single MAC-VRF per EVI per PE and in case of VLAN-aware mode,  multiple VLANs 
per MAC-VRF but only a single bridge table per VLAN. In other words, the bottom 
line is that there can only be a single bridge table per VLAN in order to avoid 
unnecessary flooding.



When you have two MAC-VRFs per VLAN (one for root ACs and another for Leaf 
ACs), then you either need to duplicate lots of MAC addresses between these two 
VRFs, or do lookup on both of these VRFs. Either ways this is not a good option 
relative to keeping a single VRF table for both root and leaf sites and just 
have a single-bit indication on whether a MAC is associated with root or leaf 
(as currently described approach in the draft).  I


In the above, it seems you agree that it can work, and you are able to offer 
reasons why it is not the preferred option, then why not just document that it 
can work and provides these reasons as the motivations that lead to proposing a 
new specs ?

Sure, I can do that. [...]

Ok.
I'll be happy to review a new revision and hopefully post the shepherd review.

Thanks,

-Thomas



(it seems you have an unfinished last sentence: "I [...]" )





(assuming the previous point is resolved:)

With this mechanism above, isn't it possible to have on a given PE, for a 
single E-TREE EVI, both Leaves and Roots, as long as distinct MAC-VRFs are used 
(one for Leaves and one for Roots) ?   (it seems to me that the assymetric 
import/export RT would do what is needed to build an E-TREE, we would just have 
a particular case where a Leaf MAC-VRF and a Root MAC-VRF for a given E-TREE 
end up on a single PE)

That’s not possible because per definition of an EVI, there is only a single 
MAC-VRF per EVI for a PE.

Where can I read such a definition ? (the Terminology section in RFC7432 does 
not say that, unless I'm missing something).
And that seems a completely arbitrary restriction.
(just thinking that a given PE device can be split in two logical devices show 
that it can work)

Section 6 of RFC7432 where it gives definitions for different service interface 
types, it specifies the relationship between MAC-VRF and VLAN (bridge table) 
and how many MAC-VRF (and bridge tables) can be per EVI.

This section of RFC7434 discusses many different things for the different 
variants.
Can you provide a specific pointer about "how many MAC-VRFs can be per EVI" ?

Ali> Section 6 of RFC7432 spells out the relationship between EVI, MAC-VRF, and 
bridge tables for all service interfaces very clearly.
In all service interfaces, the RFC says there is one MAC-VRF per EVI on a given 
PE.
Now, if the service interface is “vlan-aware”, then there are several bridge 
tables for that single MAC-VRF – ie, one bridge table per VLAN. In all service 
interfaces, you can ONLY have one bridge table per VLAN.

This answer is everything but a specific pointer.
If Section 6 of RFC7432 says all this very clearly, I guess it should be 
possible to extract quotes about "there is one MAC-VRF per EVI on a given PE", 
right ?



In bridging world, there can only be a single bridge table per VLAN in a device.

I still don't find here anything that would preclude having, on a given PE, for 
a given E-TREE EVI, one Leaves MAC-VRF and one Roots MAC-VRF: can't these two 
MAC-VRFs use different internal VLANs (with translation if the external VLANs 
are constrained).

Ali>  Lets assume we are using vlan-based service and thus there is only a 
single bridge table per MAC-VRF, then what you are suggesting is two use two 
MAC-VRFs (two bridge tables) for the same EVI (same VLAN). This results in some 
duplications of MAC addresses and would only work if flooding is disabled (more 
on this later).

"results in some duplications of MAC" is perhaps a drawback, but nothing like 
"just does not work" ?

"would only work if flooding is disabled": why ?  (you wrote "(more on this 
later)" but I couldn't identify anything recent from you in the rest of the 
email below)


>From an helicopter view, I can't see what fundamentally would become 
>problematic between "two MAC-VRFs on two distinct PEs" and the same "two 
>MAC-VRFs on a same PEs", at worse it is as efficient or as inefficient as 
>having them on separate PEs (think logical router without anykind of dataplane 
>optimisation), and we can't exclude that the PE could have local 
>implementation details to do better than that.



Besides, I don’t understand what good does it do to have two MAC-VRFs on the 
same PE (one for Leafs and another for Roots)

Well, the "what is good for" is pretty simple: it means you can have, just by 
tailoring the import/export policies like in 2.1, something as useful as the 
scenario in 2.2.

There can only be a single bridge table per VLAN. Now even if you add some kind 
of logic to form two logical PEs in single physical PE, you end up replicating 
all the MAC addresses associated with the root sites in two bridge tables.

Your point above certainly does not sound to me as "it can't be done": some may 
think that the above is an acceptable cost, some others may find ways to make 
this "replication" with a low overhead, on some platforms the cost may be 
negligible, etc.




because Leafs and Roots need to talk to each other and thus we want them to be 
in the same MAC-VRF.

The fact that Leafs and Roots need to talk to each other does not mean that 
they *have* to be in the same MAC-VRF, you can rely on the local MPLS dataplane 
inside the PE to carry the traffic between Roots and Leaves can be passed 
between a Leaf MAC-VRF and a Root MAC-VRF (and you can possibly implement a 
shortcut not involving MPLS encap/decap).

Anything is possible but at what cost.

You know, for cost it is not always obvious to reach conclusions that are true 
for all implementations and all targets.

The current proposal is very efficient in terms of forwarding path as well as 
control plane.

Sure, but what I question is not the new solution but the lack of discussion on 
why using the existing specs was not considered good enough.


I think that my concern of clearly explaining the scenarios and motivations for 
this new spec could be addressed by splitting section 2.2 into a 2.2.1 
describing the approach from 2.1 and its possible drawbacks, and a 2.2.2 having 
essentially the content of current section 2.2.

Here is a proposal:

2.2 Scenario 2: Leaf of Root site(s) per AC

   In these scenarii, a PE receives traffic from either Root OR Leaf
   sites (but not both) on a given Attachment Circuit (AC) of an EVI. In
   other words, an AC (ES or ES/VLAN) is either associated with Root(s)
   or Leaf(s) (but not both).

2.2.1 Scenario 2a: Leaf OR Root site(s) per AC, separate Leaf/Root MAC-VRFs

                     +---------+            +---------+
                     |   PE1   |            |   PE2   |
    +---+            |  +---+  |  +------+  |  +---+  |            +---+
    |CE1+-----ES1----+--+   |  |  |      |  |  |MAC+--+---ES2/AC1--+CE2|
    +---+    (Leaf)  |  |MAC|  |  | MPLS |  |  |VRF|  |   (Leaf)   +---+
                     |  |VRF|  |  |  /IP |  |  '---'  |
                     |  |   |  |  |      |  |  .---.  |
                     |  |   |  |  |      |  |  |MAC|  |            +---+
                     |  |   |  |  |      |  |  |VRF+--+---ES2/AC2--+CE3|
                     |  +---+  |  +------+  |  +---+  |   (Root)   +---+
                     +---------+            +---------+

   Figure 2: Scenario 2a

   In this scenario, the RT constraint procedures described in section 2.1 could
   also be used. The feasibility and efficiency of this approach depends on
   platforms specifics.

   This approach will lead toduplication of a large proportion of MAC addresses 
on
   PEs having both Leaf and Root sites, and is hence considered less suitable 
for
   deployment contexts where the vast majority of PEs are likely to ultimately
   have both Leaf and Root sites attached to them.

2.2.2 Scenario 2b: Leaf OR Root site(s) per AC, single MAC-VRF

                     +---------+            +---------+
                     |   PE1   |            |   PE2   |
    +---+            |  +---+  |  +------+  |  +---+  |            +---+
    |CE1+-----ES1----+--+   |  |  |      |  |  |   +--+---ES2/AC1--+CE2|
    +---+    (Leaf)  |  |MAC|  |  | MPLS |  |  |MAC|  |   (Leaf)   +---+
                     |  |VRF|  |  |  /IP |  |  |VRF|  |
                     |  |   |  |  |      |  |  |   |  |            +---+
                     |  |   |  |  |      |  |  |   +--+---ES2/AC2--+CE3|
                     |  +---+  |  +------+  |  +---+  |   (Root)   +---+
                     +---------+            +---------+

   Figure 2: Scenario 2b

   This scenario will alleviate keys drawbacks from Scenario 2a, in particular
   by avoiding duplication of MAC addresses on Leaf/Root PEs and avoiding the
   operational overhead of managing more than one RT.

   This approach comes at the expense of having routes for unneeded MAC 
addresses
   on Leaf-only PEs, and is hence considered less suitable for deployment 
contexts
   where the vast majority of PEs would remain Leaf-only.   Unlike Scenario 1 
and Scenario 2a, this scenario requires additional procedures
   provided in this document.




(And this last sentence should be added to section 2.3 as well)


For this scenario, if for a given
   EVI, the majority of PEs will eventually have both Leaf and Root
   sites attached, even though they may start as Root-only or Leaf-only
   PEs, then it is recommended to use a single RT per EVI and avoid
   additional configuration and operational overhead.

Why this recommendation ?
Even with a majority of PEs having both Leaves and Roots, there can remain (up 
to 49% of) PEs having only Leaves, which will uselessly have all routes to 
other Leaves.

So "it is recommended" above, deserves to be explained more, I think.

OK, I changed “majority” to “vast majority” :-)

My point was not to nit pick on "majority", but was that you should explain why 
you recommend that.
As the text currently reads, the cost of the recommendation can be identified: 
having useless routes on the fraction of PEs having only Leaves.
But the gain brought by the recommendation is not even mentioned, not to say 
explained.
Hence: why ?
(Why is it a useful tradeoff to have useless routes on some, even if only one, 
PE ?)

Changed the last sentence from:
"then it is recommended to use a single RT per EVI and avoid additional 
configuration and operational overhead.”
To
"then it is recommended to use a single RT per EVI and avoid additional 
configuration and operational overhead
at the expense of having unwanted MAC addresses on the Leaf PEs."

Ok. I adapted and incorporated this addition into my proposed text splitting 
2.2 into a 2.2.1 and a 2.2.2.

Best,

-Thomas






_______________________________________________
BESS mailing list
[email protected]
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/bess

Reply via email to