Thanks, Anand.

I agree that the sequence of events identifies a limitation in a mixed RFC 
7432/RFC 9721 deployment. RFC 7432 assigns mobility sequence numbers per MAC 
address, so a legacy PE learning IPx-Mx is not required to make the Mx sequence 
number higher than the sequence number previously advertised for IPx-My. RFC 
9721 Section 6.1 adds that requirement, but an RFC 7432-only PE naturally does 
not implement it.

I do not think this establishes that RFC 9721 is backward incompatible, 
however. The example exercises the new IP-to-different-MAC mobility behavior at 
a legacy PE, which RFC 7432 never specified. Lack of the new behavior in an old 
implementation is not, by itself, backward incompatibility. The existing route 
encoding remains usable, and the previously supported mobility behavior 
continues to interoperate. The proposed corrected text therefore overstates the 
issue.

My recommendation is to reject this erratum as submitted. A future update could 
usefully clarify that the extended mobility behavior requires the relevant PEs 
to implement RFC 9721.

Before I proceed to reject this erratum, is there additional feedback from BESS 
WG?

G/

________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2026 8:04 PM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>; 
[email protected] <[email protected]>; Jorge Rabadan (Nokia) 
<[email protected]>; Gunter van de Velde (Nokia) 
<[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>; 
[email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>; 
[email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] 
<[email protected]>; gunter <[email protected]>; [email protected] 
<[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected] <[email protected]>; 
[email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: [Technical Errata Reported] RFC9721 (9001)


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The following errata report has been submitted for RFC9721,
"Extended Mobility Procedures for Ethernet VPN Integrated Routing and Bridging 
(EVPN-IRB)"

--------------------------------------
You may review the report below and at:
https://errata.rfc-editor.org/eid9001/

--------------------------------------
Type: Technical
Reported by: Anand Narayanan <[email protected]>

Section Abstract says:

Original Text
-------------
The extensions are backward compatible with existing EVPN-IRB implementations 
and aim to optimize network performance in scenarios involving frequent IP 
address mobility.

Corrected Text
--------------
The extensions while backwards incompatible, allow EVPN-IRB implementations to 
deterministically handle scenarios involving frequent IP address mobility

Notes
-----
The mobility procedures defined in RFC9721 does not seem backwards compatible 
with the procedures defined in RFC7432.

Example:

Premise:

1. An RFC7432 speaker has MAC Mx with sequence number = 1
2. An RFC9721 speaker has MAC My with sequence number = 2

Sequence of Events:

1. The RFC9721 speaker learns a local ARP for IPx-My, and advertised MAC-IP 
route with sequence number 2
2. IPx moves to be behind RFC7432 speaker
3. RFC7432 speaker would simply advertise IPx-Mx with sequence number 1
4. When RFC9721 speaker receives the MAC-IP route advertised by RFC7432 for 
IPx-Mx, it will be unable to remove it's local ARP binding because the remote 
route has an inferior sequence number.

This makes the schemes not compatible with each other.

Instructions:
-------------
This erratum is currently posted as "Reported". Please
use "Reply All" to discuss whether it should be verified or
rejected. When a decision is reached, the verifying party
will log in to change the status and edit the report, if necessary.

--------------------------------------
RFC9721 (draft-ietf-bess-evpn-irb-extended-mobility)
--------------------------------------
Title               : Extended Mobility Procedures for Ethernet VPN Integrated 
Routing and Bridging (EVPN-IRB)
Publication Date    : April 2025
Author(s)           : N. Malhotra, Ed., A. Sajassi, A. Pattekar, J. Rabadan, A. 
Lingala, J. Drake
Category            : Proposed Standard
Source              : bess (rtg)
Stream              : IETF
Verifying Party     : IESG
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