I am in complete agreement with both Les’s extensive analysis and opinion.  ;-)

Tony


> On Apr 2, 2019, at 8:37 AM, Les Ginsberg (ginsberg) <[email protected]> 
> wrote:
> 
> In reply to my own post, here is my opinion regarding including LANs in the 
> Flooding Topology:
> 
> While I think it would be "nice" and simplifying to be able to ignore LANs, I 
> think we are unable to do so because the possibility that LANs are actually 
> in use as transit links in some topologies exists.
> 
> NOTE: I am not persuaded by the argument that some operators have LANs that 
> could be operated in point-to-point mode but they simply don't configure the 
> links to do so. If a customer is serious about flooding reduction then they 
> need to also do what they can to reduce unnecessary LSPs/LSAs from even being 
> generated.
> 
> Even if we treat LANs as always enabled for flooding , any algorithm to 
> calculate the flooding topology would be sub-optimal if it did not consider 
> the fact that flooding is occurring on the LANs.
> 
> Bottom line, unless we are confident that LANs will not exist in the 
> topologies where flooding optimizations will be used, not supporting LANs 
> seems to be an undesirable restriction.
> 
>   Les
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Lsr <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Les Ginsberg (ginsberg)
>> Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2019 8:31 AM
>> To: [email protected]; [email protected]
>> Subject: [Lsr] Open issues with Dynamic Flooding: Including LANs in the
>> Flooding Topology
>> 
>> (I have altered the subject so we can discuss the two issues in Tony's
>> previous post separately.)
>> 
>> 
>> There are several  aspects to consider when discussing LAN support in the
>> context of flooding optimizations:
>> 
>> 1)Flooding topology advertisement (centralized mode only)
>> 
>> Support for encoding LANs when advertising the flooding topology requires
>> that
>> we include not only all routers in the set of "nodes" in the network but also
>> (to use IS-IS terminology) all “pseudo-nodes” as well. This means when
>> advertising the set of nodes and associated indeces used in calculating the
>> flooding topology there needs to be an indication as to whether a given
>> entry is a node or a pseudo-node. The encoding for this is straightforward
>> in IS-IS (include pseudo-node ID in the node identifier) but more complex
>> in OSPF.
>> 
>> However, this is a problem with a straightforward solution and is therefore
>> not a significant consideration.
>> 
>> 2)Enablement/disablement of flooding on a LAN
>> 
>> Correct operation of flooding on a LAN requires all nodes connected to the
>> LAN perform their role when the LAN is enabled for flooding and conversely
>> all nodes suppress flooding via the LAN when flooding is disabled for
>> flooding. This applies to temporary enablement of flooding on a LAN in the
>> event of a partitioned flooding topology i.e., if any node connected to the
>> LAN
>> signals enablement of temporary flooding on the LAN all nodes connected to
>> the
>> LAN MUST honor that request.
>> 
>> Selective enablement of flooding on a LAN based on whether it is part
>> of the calculated flooding topology therefore entails some additional
>> complexity.
>> 
>> Note that this discussion assumes that flooding operation on a LAN
>> is not altered by the introduction of flooding optimizations. For example
>> there is no proposal to selectively enable transmission of LSPs/LSAs on
>> a LAN only by a subset of the nodes connected to the LAN.
>> 
>> 3)Use of LANs in flooding topology algorithms
>> 
>> When LANs are considered part of the flooding topology, any algorithm
>> used to compute the flooding topology has to consider how to use LANs.
>> For example, using a LAN might have an advantage in that by enabling
>> flooding on a single LAN multiple nodes are now connected to the flooding
>> topology. This might reduce the number of point-to-point edges required
>> in the flooding topology and/or decrease the diameter of the flooding
>> topology.
>> 
>> But use of a LAN might either increase the diameter of the flooding topology
>> and thereby affect convergence or unnecessarily increase the degree of
>> connectivity of certain nodes to the flooding topology and thereby reduce
>> the optimization achieved.
>> 
>> If LANs are always enabled for flooding but are not included in the set of
>> nodes considered as part of the flooding topology (see point #1 above) then
>> "false partitions" might occur during the calculation of the flooding
>> topology.
>> 
>> Whether LANs are considered part of the flooding topology or not, the
>> presence
>> of a LAN introduces the possibility that there are "hidden nodes" to which
>> flooding is actually occurring but which are not explicitly mentioned in
>> the calculated flooding topology.
>> 
>> 4)Deployment Limitations
>> 
>> The significance of support for LANs depends upon their existence in a
>> deployment where the use of flooding optimizations is desired.
>> 
>> If all links are point-to-point then the question is irrelevant.
>> 
>> If all links are point-to-point but ethernet links have not been configured
>> to operate in point-to-point mode then lack of support for LANs would
>> compromise the value of flooding optimizations. A counter argument to this
>> case is that unnecessary operation in LAN mode itself increases the number
>> of
>> LSPs/LSAs that need to be flooded by as much as 50% and therefore is
>> something which SHOULD be addressed by altering configuration. There
>> should
>> then be motivation for network operators to enable point-to-point operation
>> where possible even if they have not done so before.
>> 
>> If LANs with more than 2 connected nodes are present and are used for
>> transiting traffic then lack of support for LAN circuits for flooding
>> optimizations will lead to diminished effectiveness of flooding 
>> optimizations.
>> 
>> Summary:
>> 
>> When forming an opinion on whether to include LANs in the flooding
>> topology
>> it is prudent to consider the above points.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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