RFC4349
Network Working Group C. Pignataro Request for Comments: 4349 M. Townsley Category: Standards Track Cisco Systems
February 2006
High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC) Frames
over Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol, Version 3 (L2TPv3)
Status of This Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
Abstract
The Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol, Version 3, (L2TPv3) defines a protocol for tunneling a variety of data link protocols over IP networks. This document describes the specifics of how to tunnel High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC) frames over L2TPv3.
Contents
Introduction
RFC3931 defines a base protocol for Layer 2 Tunneling over IP networks. This document defines the specifics necessary for tunneling HDLC Frames over L2TPv3. Such emulated circuits are referred to as HDLC Pseudowires (HDLCPWs).
Protocol specifics defined in this document for L2TPv3 HDLCPWs include those necessary for simple point-to-point (e.g., between two L2TPv3 nodes) frame encapsulation, and for simple interface up and interface down notifications.
The reader is expected to be very familiar with the terminology and protocol constructs defined in RFC3931.
Abbreviations
HDLC High-Level Data Link Control HDLCPW HDLC Pseudowire LAC L2TP Access Concentrator (see RFC3931) LCCE L2TP Control Connection Endpoint (see RFC3931) PW Pseudowire
Specification of Requirements
In this document, several words are used to signify the requirements of the specification. These words are often capitalized. The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC2119.
Control Connection Establishment
In order to tunnel an HDLC link over IP using L2TPv3, an L2TPv3 Control Connection MUST first be established as described in RFC3931. The L2TPv3 SCCRQ Control Message and corresponding SCCRP Control Message MUST include the HDLC Pseudowire Type of 0x0006 (see Section 7, "IANA Considerations"), in the Pseudowire Capabilities List as defined in 5.4.3 of RFC3931. This identifies the control connection as able to establish L2TP sessions to support HDLC Pseudowires (HDLCPWs).
An LCCE MUST be able to uniquely identify itself in the SCCRQ and SCCRP messages via a globally unique value. By default, this is advertised via the structured Router ID AVP RFC3931, though the unstructured Hostname AVP RFC3931 MAY be used to identify LCCEs as well.
HDLC Link Status Notification and Session Establishment
This section specifies how the status of an HDLC interface is reported between two LCCEs, and the associated L2TP session creation and deletion that occurs.
L2TPv3 Session Establishment
Associating an HDLC serial interface with a PW and its transition to "Ready" or "Up" results in the establishment of an L2TP session via the standard three-way handshake described in Section 3.4.1 of RFC3931. For purposes of this discussion, the action of locally associating an interface running HDLC with a PW by local configuration or otherwise is referred to as "provisioning" the HDLC interface. The transition of the interface to "ready" or "up" will be referred to as the interface becoming ACTIVE. The transition of the interface to "not-ready" or "down" will be referred to as the interface becoming INACTIVE.
An LCCE MAY initiate the session immediately upon association with an HDLC interface or wait until the interface becomes ACTIVE before attempting to establish an L2TP session. Waiting until the interface transitions to ACTIVE may be preferred, as it delays allocation of resources until absolutely necessary.
The Pseudowire Type AVP defined in Section 5.4.4 of RFC3931, Attribute Type 68, MUST be present in the ICRQ messages and MUST include the Pseudowire Type of 0x0006 for HDLCPWs.
The Circuit Status AVP (see Section 3.4) MUST be present in the ICRQ and ICRP messages and MAY be present in the SLI message for HDLCPWs.
Following is an example of the L2TP messages exchanged for an HDLCPW that is initiated after an HDLC interface is provisioned and becomes ACTIVE.
LCCE (LAC) A LCCE (LAC) B
------------------ ------------------
HDLC Interface Provisioned
HDLC Interface Provisioned
HDLC Interface ACTIVE
ICRQ (status = 0x03) ---->
HDLC Interface ACTIVE
<---- ICRP (status = 0x03)
L2TP session established, OK to send data into tunnel
ICCN ----->
L2TP session established,
OK to send data into tunnel
In the example above, an ICRQ is sent after the interface is provisioned and becomes ACTIVE. The Circuit Status AVP indicates that this link is ACTIVE and New (0x03). The Remote End ID AVP RFC3931 MUST be present in the ICRQ in order to identify the HDLC link (together with the identity of the LCCE itself as defined in Section 2) with which to associate the L2TP session. The Remote End ID AVP defined in RFC3931 is of opaque form and variable length, though one MUST at a minimum support use of an unstructured four- octet value that is known to both LCCEs (either by direct configuration, or some other means). The exact method of how this value is configured, retrieved, discovered, or otherwise determined at each LCCE is outside the scope of this document.
As with the ICRQ, the ICRP is sent only after the associated HDLC interface transitions to ACTIVE as well. If LCCE B had not been provisioned for the interface identified in the ICRQ, a CDN would have been immediately returned indicating that the associated link was not provisioned or available at this LCCE. LCCE A SHOULD then exhibit a periodic retry mechanism. If so, the period and maximum number of retries MUST be configurable.
An Implementation MAY send an ICRQ or ICRP before an HDLC interface is ACTIVE, as long as the Circuit Status AVP reflects that the link is INACTIVE and an SLI is sent when the HDLC interface becomes ACTIVE (see Section 3.3).
The ICCN is the final stage in the session establishment, confirming the receipt of the ICRP with acceptable parameters to allow bidirectional traffic.
L2TPv3 Session Teardown
In the event a link is removed (unprovisioned) at either LCCE, the associated L2TP session MUST be torn down via the CDN message defined in Section 3.4.3 of RFC3931.
General Result Codes regarding L2TP session establishment are defined in RFC3931. Additional HDLC result codes are defined as follows:
20 - HDLC Link was deleted permanently (no longer provisioned) 21 - HDLC Link has been INACTIVE for an extended period of time
L2TPv3 Session Maintenance
HDLCPWs over L2TP make use of the Set Link Info (SLI) control message defined in RFC3931 to signal HDLC link status notifications between PEs. The SLI message is a single message that is sent over the L2TP control channel, signaling the interface state change.
The SLI message MUST be sent any time there is a status change of any values identified in the Circuit Status AVP. The only exceptions to this are the initial ICRQ, ICRP, and CDN messages, which establish and teardown the L2TP session itself. The SLI message may be sent from either PE at any time after the first ICRQ is sent (and perhaps before an ICRP is received, requiring the peer to perform a reverse Session ID lookup).
All sessions established by a given control connection utilize the L2TP Hello facility defined in Section 4.4 of RFC3931 for session keepalive. This gives all sessions basic dead peer and path detection between PEs.
Use of Circuit Status AVP for HDLC
HDLC reports Circuit Status with the Circuit Status AVP defined in RFC3931, Attribute Type 71. For reference, this AVP is shown below:
0 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | Reserved |N|A| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
The Value is a 16-bit mask with the two least significant bits defined and the remaining bits reserved for future use. Reserved bits MUST be set to 0 when sending, and ignored upon receipt.
The N (New) bit SHOULD be set to one (1) if the Circuit Status indication is for a new HDLC circuit; to zero (0) otherwise.
The A (Active) bit indicates whether the HDLC interface is ACTIVE (1) or INACTIVE (0).
Encapsulation
Data Packet Encapsulation
HDLCPWs use the default encapsulations defined in RFC3931 for demultiplexing, sequencing, and flags. The HDLCPW Type over L2TP is intended to operate in an "interface to interface" or "port to port" fashion, passing all HDLC data and control PDUs over the PW. The HDLC PDU is stripped of flags and trailing FCS, bit/byte unstuffing is performed, and the remaining data, including the address, control, and protocol fields, is transported over the PW.
Since all packets are passed in a largely transparent manner over the HDLCPW, any protocol that has HDLC-like framing may utilize the HDLCPW mode, including PPP, Frame-Relay ("port to port" Frame-Relay transport), X.25 (LAPB), etc. In such cases, the negotiations and signaling of the specific protocols transported over the HDLCPW take place between the Remote Systems. A non-exhaustive list of examples and considerations of this transparent nature include:
o When the HDLCPW transports Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)
traffic, PPP negotiations (Link Control Protocol, optional
authentication, and Network Control Protocols) are performed
between Remote Systems, and LCCEs do not participate in these
negotiations.
o When the HDLCPW transports Frame-Relay traffic, PVC status
management procedures (Local Management Interface) take place
between Remote Systems, and LCCEs do not participate in LMI.
Additionally, individual Frame-Relay virtual-circuits are not
visible to the LCCEs, and the FECN, BECN, and DE bits are
transported transparently.
o When the HDLCPW transports X.25 (LAPB) traffic, LCCEs do not
function as either LAPB DCE or DTE devices.
On the other hand, exceptions include cases where direct access to the HDLC interface is required, or modes that operate on the flags, FCS, or bit/byte unstuffing that is performed before sending the HDLC PDU over the PW. An example of this is PPP ACCM negotiation.
Data Packet Sequencing
Data Packet Sequencing MAY be enabled for HDLCPWs. The sequencing mechanisms described in Section 4.6.1 of RFC3931 MUST be used for signaling sequencing support. HDLCPWs over L2TP MUST request the presence of the L2TPv3 Default L2-Specific Sublayer defined in Section 4.6 of RFC3931 when sequencing is enabled, and MAY request its presence at all times.
MTU Considerations
With L2TPv3 as the tunneling protocol, the packet resulting from the encapsulation is N bytes longer than the HDLC frame without the flags or FCS. The value of N depends on the following fields:
L2TP Session Header:
Flags, Ver, Res 4 octets (L2TPv3 over UDP only)
Session ID 4 octets
Cookie Size 0, 4, or 8 octets
L2-Specific Sublayer 0 or 4 octets (i.e., using sequencing)
Hence the range for N in octets is:
N = 4-16, L2TPv3 data messages are over IP; N = 16-28, L2TPv3 data messages are over UDP; (N does not include the IP header.)
The MTU and fragmentation implications resulting from this are discussed in Section 4.1.4 of RFC3931.
Applicability Statement
HDLC Pseudowires support a "port to port" or "interface to interface" deployment model operating in a point-to-point fashion. In addition to the transport of HDLC frames, a natural application of HDLCPWs allows for the transport of any protocol using an HDLC-like framing.
The HDLCPW emulation over a packet-switched network (PSN) has the following characteristics in relationship to the native service:
o HDLC data and control fields are transported transparently (see
Section 4.1). The specific negotiations and signaling of the
protocol being transported are performed between Remote Systems
transparently, and the LCCE does not participate in them.
o The trailing FCS (Frame Check Sequence) containing a CRC (Cyclic
Redundancy Check) is stripped at the ingress LCCE and not
transported over HDLCPWs. It is therefore regenerated at the
egress LCCE (see Section 4.1). This means that the FCS may not
accurately reflect errors on the end-to-end HDLC link. Errors
or corruption introduced in the HDLCPW payload during
encapsulation or transit across the packet-switched network may
not be detected. This lack of integrity-check transparency may
not be of concern if it is known that the inner payloads or
upper protocols transported perform their own error and
integrity checking. To allow for payload integrity-checking
transparency on HDLCPWs using L2TP over IP or L2TP over UDP/IP,
the L2TPv3 session can utilize IPSec as specified in Section
4.1.3 of RFC3931.
o HDLC link status notification is provided using the Circuit
Status AVP in the SLI message (see Section 3.4).
o The length of the resulting L2TPv3 packet is longer than the
encapsulated HDLC frame without flags and FCS (see Section 4.3),
with resulting MTU and fragmentation implications discussed in
Section 4.1.4 of RFC3931.
o The packet-switched network may reorder, duplicate, or silently
drop packets. Sequencing may be enabled in the HDLCPW for some
or all packets to detect lost, duplicate, or out-of-order
packets on a per-session basis (see Section 4.2).
o The faithfulness of an HDLCPW may be increased by leveraging
Quality of Service features of the LCCEs and the underlying PSN.
Security Considerations
HDLC over L2TPv3 is subject to the security considerations defined in RFC3931. Beyond the considerations when carrying other data link types, there are no additional considerations specific to carrying HDLC.
IANA Considerations
Pseudowire Type
The signaling mechanisms defined in this document rely upon the allocation of an HDLC Pseudowire Type (see Pseudowire Capabilities List as defined in 5.4.3 of RFC3931 and L2TPv3 Pseudowire Types in 10.6 of RFC3931) by the IANA (number space created as part of publication of RFC3931). The HDLC Pseudowire Type is defined in Section 2 of this specification:
L2TPv3 Pseudowire Types -----------------------
0x0006 - HDLC Pseudowire Type
Result Code AVP Values
This number space is managed by IANA as described in section 2.3 of [BCP0068]. Two new L2TP Result Codes for the CDN message appear in Section 3.2. The following is a summary:
Result Code AVP (Attribute Type 1) Values -----------------------------------------
20 - HDLC Link was deleted permanently (no longer provisioned) 21 - HDLC Link has been INACTIVE for an extended period of time
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Sudhir Rustogi and George Wilkie for valuable input. Maria Alice Dos Santos provided helpful review and comment. Many thanks to Mark Lewis for providing review and clarifying comments during IETF Last Call.
References
Normative References
RFC3931 Lau, J., Townsley, M., and I. Goyret, "Layer Two Tunneling
Protocol - Version 3 (L2TPv3)", RFC 3931, March 2005.
RFC2119 Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
Informative References
[BCP0068] Townsley, W., "Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Considerations
Update", BCP 68, RFC 3438, December 2002.
Authors' Addresses
Carlos Pignataro Cisco Systems 7025 Kit Creek Road PO Box 14987 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
EMail: [email protected]
W. Mark Townsley Cisco Systems 7025 Kit Creek Road PO Box 14987 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
EMail: [email protected]
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