Global Standardization Activities

Overview of GMPLS Protocols and Standardization

Kohei Shiomoto
Abstract
MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) introduced the concept of label switching in IP layer-2 networks to facilitate network operation using a path. GMPLS (Generalized MPLS) extends the label to TDM (time division multiplexing), wavelength, and fiber switching networks to facilitate path operation in various switching networks. GMPLS protocols enable multi-vendor interoperability, switched connection service, and unified control of a multi-layer network. This article presents an overview of GMPLS protocols and standardization efforts in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

1. Label extension In MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) networks, an IP packet is labeled with an MPLS label and handled according to operations associated it. This packet handling mechanism in MPLS network is called label-switching. The label-switching concept brings about flexibility in handling packets in the network. Virtual private networks (VPNs) and traffic engineering are implemented using the label switching concept. The MPLS label is used to distinguish the VPN group. The label switched path is routed to
NTT Network Service Systems Laboratories Musashino-shi, 180-8585 Japan E-mail: shiomoto.kohei@lab.ntt.co.jp

avoid congested links. MPS (multiprotocol lambda switching) was proposed to extend MPLS technology to wavelength switching network control [1]. MPS was extended to GMPLS to include TDM (time division multiplexing), wavelength, and fiber switching networks. TDM time slots, wavelengths, and fiber switch ports are treated as generalized labels in GMPLS, as shown in Fig. 1. 2. GMPLS protocols In GMPLS, signaling, routing, and link management protocols are defined. The concept of switching capability is introduced in GMPLS protocols to handle various switching technologies: layer-2

Fiber #1 Fiber #N

Fiber #1 Fiber #N

t1

tN TDM switch

t1

tN N 1 Lambda switch N 1

Fiber #1 Fiber #N

Fiber switch

Fiber #1 Fiber #N

t1

tN

t1

tN N N (3) Fiber switching network

(1) TDM network

(2) Lambda switching network

Fig. 1. Label switches of each bus networks.

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switches, TDM, lambda switches, and fiber switches. Five capabilities are defined to distinguish switching technology, as shown in Fig. 2: PSC (packet switch capable), L2SC (layer-2 switch capable), TDM, LSC (lambda switch capable), and FSC (fiber switch capable). GMPLS adds various functions to MPLS to facilitate path operation in GMPLS networks. Unlike IP/MPLS networks, the control plane is separated from the data plane in TDM, wavelength switching, and fiber switching networks. A bi-directional path is used in those networks while a uni-directional labelswitched path (LSP) is used in an IP/MPLS network. GMPLS adds functions for separating the control and data planes and for setting up and tearing down bi-

directional LSPs. 3. Signaling RSVP-TE (resource reservation protocol traffic engineering) [2] is extended to facilitate path setup in a GMPLS network [3]. Label Request Object is extended to include switch type, encoding type, and G-PID (generalized protocol id), which are used to identify TDM, wavelength switching, and fiber switching networks as shown in Fig. 3. Upstream Label Object is newly defined for bi-directional LSP setup/teardown. RSVP_HOP Object is extended to include a new class type for control and data plane

LSC PSC L2SW TDM

FSC FSC LSC TDM L2SW PSC

FSC

LSC

TDM

L2SW

PSC

Fig. 2. GMPLS network.

Generalized label request object is newly defined in RSVP message to specify the type of LSP. - LSP encoding type - Switch type - GPID - Bandwidth LSP encoding type: 1: Packet 2: Ethernet 3: ANSI/ETIS PDH 4: Reserved 5: G.707/T1.105 6: Reserved 7: Digital wrapper 8: Lambda 9: Fiber 10: Reserved 11 Fiber Channel Path w/ Gen.Lab.Req

Switch type: 1: PSC-1 2: PSC-2 3: PSC-4 4: PSC-5 51: L2SW 100: TDM 150: LSC 200: FSC

GPID: 0: Unkown 5: Asynch. Map. Of E4 . 26: VT/LOVC 27: STS SPE/HOVC . 30: POS scrambling, CRC-16 32: ATM map. 33: Ethernet 34: SONET/SDH 36: Digital wrapper 37: Lambda .. LSP encoding type = G.707/T1.105 Switch type = LSC GPID = POS-scramble, CRC-16 Bandwidth encoding = 2488.32 Mbit/s

Resv Router

Cross-connect Example of LSP between OC48c interfaces of routers.

Fig. 3. RSVP-TE GMPLS extensions.

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separation. Label Set Object and Acceptable Label Set Object are newly defined for explicit label control. Protection Object is newly defined to implement failure recovery LSP switching. 4. Routing OSPF-TE (open shortest path first-traffic engineering extensions) [4] is extended to facilitate link-state routing. Link state is flooded throughout the area of the GMPLS network. All nodes in the area of a GMPLS network learn the network topology and associated information such as available bandwidth. Link state advertisement is extended to include new sub-TLVs to carry the following information: interface switching capability descriptor (ISCD), link protection type, and shared risk link group (SRLG) as shown in Fig. 4 [5]. ISCD sub-TLV is used to identify switching capability and encoding type. The link protection type sub-TLV and SRLG sub-TLV are used to recover from a failure. 5. Link management Link management protocol (LMP) is defined for operation and maintenance of link between adjacent nodes [6]. The link between adjacent nodes consists of control and data links. A Hello packet is used to check whether the control link is alive. For data link management, summarization of multiple data links and failure localization procedures is defined [6]. The functions of LMP are shown in Fig. 5.

6. Standardization status GMPLS is mainly being standardized by the CCAMP-WG (common control and measurement plane working group) of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). CCAMP-WG is defining GMPLS protocols based on requirements documents produced by TE-WG (traffic engineering) and IPO-WG (IP optical). It also liaises with ITU (International Telecommunication Union). Figure 6 shows the recent history of standardization in IETF CCAMPWG. RFCs (requests for comments) for basic signaling protocols have been published. RFCs for routing protocols and link management protocols are under way. The next items include failure recovery including protection and restoration, ASON (automatically switched optical network) signaling & routing, and multi-area/multi-region traffic engineering. 7. Closing remarks GMPLS is expected to introduce new services and a new operating scheme in the telecommunication industry. BoD (bandwidth on demand), optical VPN, and multi-GoS/availability services could be developed (GoS: grade of service). Standardization of GMPLS protocols promotes multi-vendor interoperability and flexible network design and operation.

Cross connect Router ISC: 1: PSC-1 2: PSC-2 3: PSC-4 4: PSC-5 51: L2SW 100: TDM 150: LSC 200: FSC Encoding: 1: Packet 2: Ethernet 3: ANSI/ETIS PDH 4: Reserved 5: G.707/T1.105 6: Reserved 7: Digital wrapper 8: Lambda (photonic) 9: Fiber 10: Reserved 11 Fiber Channel

Link-state view

PSC LSC

Fig. 4. OSPF-TE GMPLS extensions.

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Health check of control channel Hello packet

wTestStatusSuccess

VerifyId A,1, B,10

Control channel

eTestStatusAck qTest message q A w e VerifyId A,1 !0 !1 !2 B

Grouping of data link (1) Health check of control channel (2) Grouping of multiple data links LOL CLEAR ChannelFail ChannelFail (3) Verification of data link

LOL

ChannelFailNack

ChannelFailAck Fault localization

Ack: acknowlegment Nack: negative acknowledgment LOL: loss of light

(4) Fault localization

Fig. 5. Link management protocol (LMP).

CY2001 3Q 51st (London) Aug. 510 4Q 1Q

CY2002 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q

CY2003 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q

CY2004 2Q 3Q 60th (San Diego) Aug. 16

53th 54th 52th (SLC) (Minneapolis) (Yokohama) Dec. 712 Mar. 1722 July 1419

55th 56th (Atlanta) (SF) Nov. 1721 Mar. 1621

57th 58th 59th (Vienna) (Minneapolis) (Seoul) July 1318 Nov. 914 Feb. 29Mar. 5

(Signaling, routing, LMP) Protection & restoration

ASON Multi-area TE

RFC

3471 (Signaling) 3472 (RSVP-TE) 3473 (CR-LDP) 3477 (RSVP-TE Unnumbered IF) 3480 (CR-LDP Unnumbered IF)

Routing OSPF-TE IS-IS LMP

Fig. 6. IETF standardization.

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References
Kohei Shiomoto
[1] D. Auduche and Y. Rekhter, Multiprotocol Lambda Switching: Combining MPLS Traffic Engineering Control with Optical Crossconnects, IEEE Commun. Mag., Vol. 39, Issue 3, pp. 111-116, 2001. D. Awduche, L. Berger, D. Gan, T. Li, V. Srinivasan, and G. Swallow, RSVP-TE: Extensions to RSVP for LSP Tunnels, RFC 3209, 2001. L. Berger (ed.), Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) Signaling Resource ReserVation Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) Extensions, RFC 3473, 2003. D. Katz, K. Kompella, and D. Yeung, Traffic Engineering (TE) Extensions to OSPF Version 2, RFC 3630, 2003. K. Kompella, and Y. Rehkter (eds.), OSPF Extensions in Support of Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching, Internet-draft <draftietf-ccamp-ospf-gmpls-extensions-12.txt>, Oct. 2003. J. Lang (ed.), Link Management Protocol (LMP), Internet-draft <draft-ietf-ccamp-lmp-10.txt>, Oct. 2003.
Senior Research Engineer, NTT Network Service Systems Laboratories. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in information and computer science from Osaka University, Osaka in 1987, 1989, and 1998, respectively. He joined NTT, Musashino, Japan in April 1989 and engaged in R&D of ATM traffic control and ATM switching system architecture design. From August 1996 to September 1997, he was engaged in research on high-speed networking as a Visiting Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA. From September 1997 to June 2001, he was directing architecture design for the high-speed IP/MPLS label switch router research project at NTT Network Service Systems Laboratories, Musashino, Japan. From July 2001 to March 2004, he was engaged in research on photonic IP router design, routing algorithms, and GMPLS routing and signaling standardization at NTT Network Innovation Laboratories. Since April 2004, he has been engaged in R&D of IP+optical at NTT Network Service Systems Laboratories. He is a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE), IEEE, and the Association for Computing Machinery. He is the Secretary of International Affairs of the Communications Society of IEICE. He was involved in the organization of several international conferences including HPSR 2002, WTC 2002, HPSR 2004, and WTC 2004. He received the Young Engineer Award from IEICE in 1995.

[2]

[3]

[4] [5]

[6]

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