Network Working Group A. Adams Request for Comments: 3973 NextHop Technologies Category: Experimental J. Nicholas ITT A/CD W. Siadak NextHop Technologies January 2005
This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).
Abstract
This document specifies Protocol Independent Multicast - Dense Mode (PIM-DM). PIM-DM is a multicast routing protocol that uses the underlying unicast routing information base to flood multicast datagrams to all multicast routers. Prune messages are used to prevent future messages from propagating to routers without group membership information.
This specification defines a multicast routing algorithm for multicast groups that are densely distributed across a network. This protocol does not have a topology discovery mechanism often used by a unicast routing protocol. It employs the same packet formats sparse mode PIM (PIM-SM) uses. This protocol is called PIM - Dense Mode. The foundation of this design was largely built on Deering's early work on IP multicast routing [12].
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [11] and indicate requirement levels for compliant PIM-DM implementations.
Multicast Routing Information Base (MRIB) This is the multicast topology table, which is typically derived from the unicast routing table, or from routing protocols such as MBGP that carry multicast-specific topology information. PIM-DM uses the MRIB to make decisions regarding RPF interfaces.
Tree Information Base (TIB) This is the collection of state maintained by a PIM router and created by receiving PIM messages and IGMP information from local hosts. It essentially stores the state of all multicast distribution trees at that router.
Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) RPF is a multicast forwarding mode in which a data packet is accepted for forwarding only if it is received on an interface used to reach the source in unicast.
Upstream Interface Interface toward the source of the datagram. Also known as the RPF Interface.
Downstream Interface All interfaces that are not the upstream interface, including the router itself.
(S,G) Pair Source S and destination group G associated with an IP packet.
We use set notation in several places in this specification.
A (+) B is the union of two sets, A and B.
A (-) B are the elements of set A that are not in set B.
NULL is the empty set or list.
Note that operations MUST be conducted in the order specified. This is due to the fact that (-) is not a true difference operator, because B is not necessarily a subset of A. That is, A (+) B (-) C = A (-) C (+) B is not a true statement unless C is a subset of both A and B.
In addition, we use C-like syntax:
= denotes assignment of a variable. == denotes a comparison for equality. != denotes a comparison for inequality.
This section provides an overview of PIM-DM behavior. It is intended as an introduction to how PIM-DM works and is NOT definitive. For the definitive specification, see Section 4, Protocol Specification.
PIM-DM assumes that when a source starts sending, all downstream systems want to receive multicast datagrams. Initially, multicast datagrams are flooded to all areas of the network. PIM-DM uses RPF to prevent looping of multicast datagrams while flooding. If some areas of the network do not have group members, PIM-DM will prune off the forwarding branch by instantiating prune state.
Prune state has a finite lifetime. When that lifetime expires, data will again be forwarded down the previously pruned branch.
Prune state is associated with an (S,G) pair. When a new member for a group G appears in a pruned area, a router can "graft" toward the source S for the group, thereby turning the pruned branch back into a forwarding branch.
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The broadcast of datagrams followed by pruning of unwanted branches is often referred to as a flood and prune cycle and is typical of dense mode protocols.
To minimize repeated flooding of datagrams and subsequent pruning associated with a particular (S,G) pair, PIM-DM uses a state refresh message. This message is sent by the router(s) directly connected to the source and is propagated throughout the network. When received by a router on its RPF interface, the state refresh message causes an existing prune state to be refreshed.
Compared with multicast routing protocols with built-in topology discovery mechanisms (e.g., DVMRP [13]), PIM-DM has a simplified design and is not hard-wired into a specific topology discovery protocol. However, this simplification does incur more overhead by causing flooding and pruning to occur on some links that could be avoided if sufficient topology information were available; i.e., to decide whether an interface leads to any downstream members of a particular group. Additional overhead is chosen in favor of the simplification and flexibility gained by not depending on a specific topology discovery protocol.
PIM-DM differs from PIM-SM in two essential ways: 1) There are no periodic joins transmitted, only explicitly triggered prunes and grafts. 2) There is no Rendezvous Point (RP). This is particularly important in networks that cannot tolerate a single point of failure. (An RP is the root of a shared multicast distribution tree. For more details, see [4]).
The specification of PIM-DM is broken into several parts:
* Section 4.1 details the protocol state stored. * Section 4.2 specifies the data packet forwarding rules. * Section 4.3 specifies generation and processing of Hello messages. * Section 4.4 specifies the Join, Prune, and Graft generation and processing rules. * Section 4.5 specifies the State Refresh generation and forwarding rules. * Section 4.6 specifies the Assert generation and processing rules. * Section 4.7 gives details on PIM-DM Packet Formats. * Section 4.8 summarizes PIM-DM timers and their defaults.
This section specifies all the protocol states that a PIM-DM implementation should maintain to function correctly. We term this state the Tree Information Base or TIB, as it holds the state of all the multicast distribution trees at this router. In this specification, we define PIM-DM mechanisms in terms of the TIB. However, only a very simple implementation would actually implement packet forwarding operations in terms of this state. Most implementations will use this state to build a multicast forwarding table, which would then be updated when the relevant state in the TIB changes.
Unlike PIM-SM, PIM-DM does not maintain a keepalive timer associated with each (S,G) route. Within PIM-DM, route and state information associated with an (S,G) entry MUST be maintained as long as any timer associated with that (S,G) entry is active. When no timer associated with an (S,G) entry is active, all information concerning that (S,G) route may be discarded.
Although we precisely specify the state to be kept, this does not mean that an implementation of PIM-DM has to hold the state in this form. This is actually an abstract state definition, which is needed in order to specify the router's behavior. A PIM-DM implementation is free to hold whatever internal state it requires and will still be conformant with this specification as long as it results in the same externally visible protocol behavior as an abstract router that holds the following state.
A router stores the following non-group-specific state:
For each interface: Hello Timer (HT) State Refresh Capable LAN Delay Enabled Propagation Delay (PD) Override Interval (OI)
Neighbor State: For each neighbor: Information from neighbor's Hello Neighbor's Gen ID. Neighbor's LAN Prune Delay Neighbor's Override Interval Neighbor's State Refresh Capability Neighbor Liveness Timer (NLT)
For every source/group pair (S,G), a router stores the following state:
(S,G) state: For each interface: Local Membership: State: One of {"NoInfo", "Include"}
PIM (S,G) Prune State: State: One of {"NoInfo" (NI), "Pruned" (P), "PrunePending" (PP)} Prune Pending Timer (PPT) Prune Timer (PT)
(S,G) Assert Winner State: State: One of {"NoInfo" (NI), "I lost Assert" (L), "I won Assert" (W)} Assert Timer (AT) Assert winner's IP Address Assert winner's Assert Metric
Using the state defined above, the following "macros" are defined and will be used in the descriptions of the state machines and pseudocode in the following sections.
The most important macros are those defining the outgoing interface list (or "olist") for the relevant state.
The macros pim_include(*,G) and pim_include(S,G) indicate the interfaces to which traffic might or might not be forwarded because of hosts that are local members on those interfaces.
pim_include(*,G) = {all interfaces I such that: local_receiver_include(*,G,I)} pim_include(S,G) = {all interfaces I such that: local_receiver_include(S,G,I)} pim_exclude(S,G) = {all interfaces I such that: local_receiver_exclude(S,G,I)}
The macro RPF_interface(S) returns the RPF interface for source S. That is to say, it returns the interface used to reach S as indicated by the MRIB.
The macro local_receiver_include(S,G,I) is true if the IGMP module or other local membership mechanism ([1], [2], [3], [6]) has determined that there are local members on interface I that seek to receive traffic sent specifically by S to G.
The macro local_receiver_include(*,G,I) is true if the IGMP module or other local membership mechanism has determined that there are local members on interface I that seek to receive all traffic sent to G. Note that this determination is expected to account for membership joins initiated on or by the router.
The macro local_receiver_exclude(S,G,I) is true if local_receiver_include(*,G,I) is true but none of the local members seek to receive traffic from S.
The set pim_nbrs is the set of all interfaces on which the router has at least one active PIM neighbor.
The set prunes(S,G) is the set of all interfaces on which the router has received Prune(S,G) messages:
prunes(S,G) = {all interfaces I such that DownstreamPState(S,G,I) is in Pruned state}
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The set lost_assert(S,G) is the set of all interfaces on which the router has lost an (S,G) Assert.
lost_assert(S,G) = {all interfaces I such that lost_assert(S,G,I) == TRUE}
boundary(G) = {all interfaces I with an administratively scoped boundary for group G}
The following pseudocode macro definitions are also used in many places in the specification. Basically RPF' is the RPF neighbor toward a source unless a PIM-DM Assert has overridden the normal choice of neighbor.
The macro I_Am_Assert_loser(S, G, I) is true if the Assert state machine (in Section 4.6) for (S,G) on interface I is in the "I am Assert Loser" state.
The PIM-DM packet forwarding rules are defined below in pseudocode.
iif is the incoming interface of the packet. S is the source address of the packet. G is the destination address of the packet (group address). RPF_interface(S) is the interface the MRIB indicates would be used to route packets to S.
First, an RPF check MUST be performed to determine whether the packet should be accepted based on TIB state and the interface on which that the packet arrived. Packets that fail the RPF check MUST NOT be forwarded, and the router will conduct an assert process for the (S,G) pair specified in the packet. Packets for which a route to the source cannot be found MUST be discarded.
If the RPF check has been passed, an outgoing interface list is constructed for the packet. If this list is not empty, then the packet MUST be forwarded to all listed interfaces. If the list is empty, then the router will conduct a prune process for the (S,G) pair specified in the packet.
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Upon receipt of a data packet from S addressed to G on interface iif:
if (iif == RPF_interface(S) AND UpstreamPState(S,G) != Pruned) { oiflist = olist(S,G) } else { oiflist = NULL } forward packet on all interfaces in oiflist
This pseudocode employs the following "macro" definition:
UpstreamPState(S,G) is the state of the Upstream(S,G) state machine in Section 4.4.1.
PIM-DM uses Hello messages to detect other PIM routers. Hello messages are sent periodically on each PIM enabled interface. Hello messages are multicast to the ALL-PIM-ROUTERS group. When PIM is enabled on an interface or when a router first starts, the Hello Timer (HT) MUST be set to random value between 0 and Triggered_Hello_Delay. This prevents synchronization of Hello messages if multiple routers are powered on simultaneously.
After the initial Hello message, a Hello message MUST be sent every Hello_Period. A single Hello timer MAY be used to trigger sending Hello messages on all active interfaces. The Hello Timer SHOULD NOT be reset except when it expires.
When a Hello message is received, the receiving router SHALL record the receiving interface, the sender, and any information contained in recognized options. This information is retained for a number of seconds in the Hold Time field of the Hello Message. If a new Hello message is received from a particular neighbor N, the Neighbor Liveness Timer (NLT(N,I)) MUST be reset to the newly received Hello Holdtime. If a Hello message is received from a new neighbor, the receiving router SHOULD send its own Hello message after a random delay between 0 and Triggered_Hello_Delay.
The Hold Time in the Hello Message should be set to a value that can reasonably be expected to keep the Hello active until a new Hello message is received. On most links, this will be 3.5 times the value of Hello_Period.
If the Hold Time is set to '0xffff', the receiving router MUST NOT time out that Hello message. This feature might be used for on- demand links to avoid keeping the link up with periodic Hello messages.
If a Hold Time of '0' is received, the corresponding neighbor state expires immediately. When a PIM router takes an interface down or changes IP address, a Hello message with a zero Hold Time SHOULD be sent immediately (with the old IP address if the IP address is changed) to cause any PIM neighbors to remove the old information immediately.
If a Hello message is received from an active neighbor with a different Generation ID (GenID), the neighbor has restarted and may not contain the correct (S,G) state. A Hello message SHOULD be sent after a random delay between 0 and Triggered_Hello_Delay (see 4.8) before any other messages are sent. If the neighbor is downstream, the router MAY replay the last State Refresh message for any (S,G) pairs for which it is the Assert Winner indicating Prune and Assert status to the downstream router. These State Refresh messages SHOULD be sent out immediately after the Hello message. If the neighbor is the upstream neighbor for an (S,G) entry, the router MAY cancel its Prune Limit Timer to permit sending a prune and reestablishing a Pruned state in the upstream router.
Upon startup, a router MAY use any State Refresh messages received within Hello_Period of its first Hello message on an interface to establish state information. The State Refresh source will be the RPF'(S), and Prune status for all interfaces will be set according to the Prune Indicator bit in the State Refresh message. If the Prune Indicator is set, the router SHOULD set the PruneLimitTimer to Prune_Holdtime and set the PruneTimer on all downstream interfaces to the State Refresh's Interval times two. The router SHOULD then propagate the State Refresh as described in Section 4.5.1.
If all routers on a LAN support the LAN Prune Delay option, then the PIM routers on that LAN will use the values received to adjust their J/P_Override_Interval on that interface and the interface is LAN Delay Enabled. Briefly, to avoid synchronization of Prune Override (Join) messages when multiple downstream routers share a multi-access link, sending of these messages is delayed by a small random amount of time. The period of randomization is configurable and has a default value of 3 seconds.
Each router on the LAN expresses its view of the amount of randomization necessary in the Override Interval field of the LAN Prune Delay option. When all routers on a LAN use the LAN Prune Delay Option, all routers on the LAN MUST set their Override_Interval to the largest Override value on the LAN.
The LAN Delay inserted by a router in the LAN Prune Delay option expresses the expected message propagation delay on the link and SHOULD be configurable by the system administrator. When all routers on a link use the LAN Prune Delay Option, all routers on the LAN MUST set Propagation Delay to the largest LAN Delay on the LAN.
PIM implementers should enforce a lower bound on the permitted values for this delay to allow for scheduling and processing delays within their router. Such delays may cause received messages to be processed later and triggered messages to be sent later than intended. Setting this LAN Prune Delay to too low a value may result in temporary forwarding outages, because a downstream router will not be able to override a neighbor's prune message before the upstream neighbor stops forwarding.
This section describes the generation and processing of PIM-DM Join, Prune, and Graft messages. Prune messages are sent toward the upstream neighbor for S to indicate that traffic from S addressed to group G is not desired. In the case of downstream routers A and B, where A wishes to continue receiving data and B does not, A will send a Join in response to B's Prune to override the Prune. This is the only situation in PIM-DM in which a Join message is used. Finally, a Graft message is used to re-join a previously pruned branch to the delivery tree.
The Upstream(S,G) state machine for sending Prune, Graft, and Join messages is given below. There are three states.
Forwarding (F) This is the starting state of the Upsteam(S,G) state machine. The state machine is in this state if it just started or if oiflist(S,G) != NULL.
Pruned (P) The set, olist(S,G), is empty. The router will not forward data from S addressed to group G.
AckPending (AP) The router was in the Pruned(P) state, but a transition has occurred in the Downstream(S,G) state machine for one of this (S,G) entry's outgoing interfaces, indicating that traffic from S addressed to G should again be forwarded. A Graft message has been sent to RPF'(S), but a Graft Ack message has not yet been received.
In addition, there are three state-machine-specific timers:
GraftRetry Timer (GRT(S,G)) This timer is set when a Graft is sent upstream. If a corresponding GraftAck is not received before the timer expires, then another Graft is sent, and the GraftRetry Timer is reset. The timer is stopped when a Graft Ack message is received. This timer is normally set to Graft_Retry_Period (see 4.8).
Override Timer (OT(S,G)) This timer is set when a Prune(S,G) is received on the upstream interface where olist(S,G) != NULL. When the timer expires, a Join(S,G) message is sent on the upstream interface. This timer is normally set to t_override (see 4.8).
Prune Limit Timer (PLT(S,G)) This timer is used to rate-limit Prunes on a LAN. It is only used when the Upstream(S,G) state machine is in the Pruned state. A Prune cannot be sent if this timer is running. This timer is normally set to t_limit (see 4.8).
The transition event "RcvGraftAck(S,G)" implies receiving a Graft Ack message targeted to this router's address on the incoming interface for the (S,G) entry. If the destination address is not correct, the state transitions in this state machine must not occur.
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4.4.1.1. Transitions from the Forwarding (F) State
When the Upstream(S,G) state machine is in the Forwarding (F) state, the following events may trigger a transition:
Data Packet arrives on RPF_Interface(S) AND olist(S,G) == NULL AND S NOT directly connected The Upstream(S,G) state machine MUST transition to the Pruned (P) state, send a Prune(S,G) to RPF'(S), and set PLT(S,G) to t_limit seconds.
State Refresh(S,G) Received from RPF'(S) The Upstream(S,G) state machine remains in a Forwarding state. If the received State Refresh has the Prune Indicator bit set to one, this router must override the upstream router's Prune state after a short random interval. If OT(S,G) is not running and the Prune Indicator bit equals one, the router MUST set OT(S,G) to t_override seconds.
See Join(S,G) to RPF'(S) This event is only relevant if RPF_interface(S) is a shared medium. This router sees another router on RPF_interface(S) send a Join(S,G) to RPF'(S,G). If the OT(S,G) is running, then it means that the router had scheduled a Join to override a previously received Prune. Another router has responded more quickly with a Join, so the local router SHOULD cancel its OT(S,G), if it is running. The Upstream(S,G) state machine remains in the Forwarding (F) state.
See Prune(S,G) AND S NOT directly connected This event is only relevant if RPF_interface(S) is a shared medium. This router sees another router on RPF_interface(S) send a Prune(S,G). As this router is in Forwarding state, it must override the Prune after a short random interval. If OT(S,G) is not running, the router MUST set OT(S,G) to t_override seconds. The Upstream(S,G) state machine remains in Forwarding (F) state.
OT(S,G) Expires AND S NOT directly connected The OverrideTimer (OT(S,G)) expires. The router MUST send a Join(S,G) to RPF'(S) to override a previously detected prune. The Upstream(S,G) state machine remains in the Forwarding (F) state.
olist(S,G) -> NULL AND S NOT directly connected The Upstream(S,G) state machine MUST transition to the Pruned (P) state, send a Prune(S,G) to RPF'(S), and set PLT(S,G) to t_limit seconds.
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RPF'(S) Changes AND olist(S,G) is non-NULL AND S NOT directly connected Unicast routing or Assert state causes RPF'(S) to change, including changes to RPF_Interface(S). The Upstream(S,G) state machine MUST transition to the AckPending (AP) state, unicast a Graft to the new RPF'(S), and set the GraftRetry Timer (GRT(S,G)) to Graft_Retry_Period.
RPF'(S) Changes AND olist(S,G) is NULL Unicast routing or Assert state causes RPF'(S) to change, including changes to RPF_Interface(S). The Upstream(S,G) state machine MUST transition to the Pruned (P) state.
When the Upstream(S,G) state machine is in the Pruned (P) state, the following events may trigger a transition:
Data arrives on RPF_interface(S) AND PLT(S,G) not running AND S NOT directly connected Either another router on the LAN desires traffic from S addressed to G or a previous Prune was lost. To prevent generating a Prune(S,G) in response to every data packet, the PruneLimit Timer (PLT(S,G)) is used. Once the PLT(S,G) expires, the router needs to send another prune in response to a data packet not received directly from the source. A Prune(S,G) MUST be sent to RPF'(S), and the PLT(S,G) MUST be set to t_limit.
State Refresh(S,G) Received from RPF'(S) The Upstream(S,G) state machine remains in a Pruned state. If the State Refresh has its Prune Indicator bit set to zero and PLT(S,G) is not running, a Prune(S,G) MUST be sent to RPF'(S), and the PLT(S,G) MUST be set to t_limit. If the State Refresh has its Prune Indicator bit set to one, the router MUST reset PLT(S,G) to t_limit.
See Prune(S,G) to RPF'(S) A Prune(S,G) is seen on RPF_interface(S) to RPF'(S). The Upstream(S,G) state machine stays in the Pruned (P) state. The router MAY reset its PLT(S,G) to the value in the Holdtime field of the received message if it is greater than the current value of the PLT(S,G).
olist(S,G)->non-NULL AND S NOT directly connected The set of interfaces defined by the olist(S,G) macro becomes non-empty, indicating that traffic from S addressed to group G must be forwarded. The Upstream(S,G) state machine MUST cancel PLT(S,G), transition to the AckPending (AP) state and unicast a
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Graft message to RPF'(S). The Graft Retry Timer (GRT(S,G)) MUST be set to Graft_Retry_Period.
RPF'(S) Changes AND olist(S,G) == non-NULL AND S NOT directly connected Unicast routing or Assert state causes RPF'(S) to change, including changes to RPF_Interface(S). The Upstream(S,G) state machine MUST cancel PLT(S,G), transition to the AckPending (AP) state, send a Graft unicast to the new RPF'(S), and set the GraftRetry Timer (GRT(S,G)) to Graft_Retry_Period.
RPF'(S) Changes AND olist(S,G) == NULL AND S NOT directly connected Unicast routing or Assert state causes RPF'(S) to change, including changes to RPF_Interface(S). The Upstream(S,G) state machine stays in the Pruned (P) state and MUST cancel the PLT(S,G) timer.
S becomes directly connected Unicast routing changed so that S is directly connected. The Upstream(S,G) state machine remains in the Pruned (P) state.
4.4.1.3. Transitions from the AckPending (AP) State
When the Upstream(S,G) state machine is in the AckPending (AP) state, the following events may trigger a transition:
State Refresh(S,G) Received from RPF'(S) with Prune Indicator == 1 The Upstream(S,G) state machine remains in an AckPending state. The router must override the upstream router's Prune state after a short random interval. If OT(S,G) is not running and the Prune Indicator bit equals one, the router MUST set OT(S,G) to t_override seconds.
State Refresh(S,G) Received from RPF'(S) with Prune Indicator == 0 The router MUST cancel its GraftRetry Timer (GRT(S,G)) and transition to the Forwarding (F) state.
See Join(S,G) to RPF'(S,G) This event is only relevant if RPF_interface(S) is a shared medium. This router sees another router on RPF_interface(S) send a Join(S,G) to RPF'(S,G). If the OT(S,G) is running, then it means that the router had scheduled a Join to override a previously received Prune. Another router has responded more quickly with a Join, so the local router SHOULD cancel its OT(S,G), if it is running. The Upstream(S,G) state machine remains in the AckPending (AP) state.
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See Prune(S,G) This event is only relevant if RPF_interface(S) is a shared medium. This router sees another router on RPF_interface(S) send a Prune(S,G). As this router is in AckPending (AP) state, it must override the Prune after a short random interval. If OT(S,G) is not running, the router MUST set OT(S,G) to t_override seconds. The Upstream(S,G) state machine remains in AckPending (AP) state.
OT(S,G) Expires The OverrideTimer (OT(S,G)) expires. The router MUST send a Join(S,G) to RPF'(S). The Upstream(S,G) state machine remains in the AckPending (AP) state.
olist(S,G) -> NULL The set of interfaces defined by the olist(S,G) macro becomes null, indicating that traffic from S addressed to group G should no longer be forwarded. The Upstream(S,G) state machine MUST transition to the Pruned (P) state. A Prune(S,G) MUST be multicast to the RPF_interface(S), with RPF'(S) named in the upstream neighbor field. The GraftRetry Timer (GRT(S,G)) MUST be cancelled, and PLT(S,G) MUST be set to t_limit seconds.
RPF'(S) Changes AND olist(S,G) does not become NULL AND S NOT directly connected Unicast routing or Assert state causes RPF'(S) to change, including changes to RPF_Interface(S). The Upstream(S,G) state machine stays in the AckPending (AP) state. A Graft MUST be unicast to the new RPF'(S) and the GraftRetry Timer (GRT(S,G)) reset to Graft_Retry_Period.
RPF'(S) Changes AND olist(S,G) == NULL AND S NOT directly connected Unicast routing or Assert state causes RPF'(S) to change, including changes to RPF_Interface(S). The Upstream(S,G) state machine MUST transition to the Pruned (P) state. The GraftRetry Timer (GRT(S,G)) MUST be cancelled.
S becomes directly connected Unicast routing has changed so that S is directly connected. The GraftRetry Timer MUST be cancelled, and the Upstream(S,G) state machine MUST transition to the Forwarding(F) state.
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GRT(S,G) Expires The GraftRetry Timer (GRT(S,G)) expires for this (S,G) entry. The Upstream(S,G) state machine stays in the AckPending (AP) state. Another Graft message for (S,G) SHOULD be unicast to RPF'(S) and the GraftRetry Timer (GRT(S,G)) reset to Graft_Retry_Period. It is RECOMMENDED that the router retry a configured number of times before ceasing retries.
See GraftAck(S,G) from RPF'(S) A GraftAck is received from RPF'(S). The GraftRetry Timer MUST be cancelled, and the Upstream(S,G) state machine MUST transition to the Forwarding(F) state.
The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine for receiving Prune, Join and Graft messages on interface I is given below. This state machine MUST always be in the NoInfo state on the upstream interface. It contains three states.
NoInfo(NI) The interface has no (S,G) Prune state, and neither the Prune timer (PT(S,G,I)) nor the PrunePending timer ((PPT(S,G,I)) is running.
PrunePending(PP) The router has received a Prune(S,G) on this interface from a downstream neighbor and is waiting to see whether the prune will be overridden by another downstream router. For forwarding purposes, the PrunePending state functions exactly like the NoInfo state.
Pruned(P) The router has received a Prune(S,G) on this interface from a downstream neighbor, and the Prune was not overridden. Data from S addressed to group G is no longer being forwarded on this interface.
In addition, there are two timers:
PrunePending Timer (PPT(S,G,I)) This timer is set when a valid Prune(S,G) is received. Expiry of the PrunePending Timer (PPT(S,G,I)) causes the interface to transition to the Pruned state.
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Prune Timer (PT(S,G,I)) This timer is set when the PrunePending Timer (PT(S,G,I)) expires. Expiry of the Prune Timer (PT(S,G,I)) causes the interface to transition to the NoInfo (NI) state, thereby allowing data from S addressed to group G to be forwarded on the interface.
The transition events "Receive Graft(S,G)", "Receive Prune(S,G)", and "Receive Join(S,G)" denote receiving a Graft, Prune, or Join message in which this router's address on I is contained in the message's upstream neighbor field. If the upstream neighbor field does not match this router's address on I, then these state transitions in this state machine must not occur.
When the Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine is in the NoInfo (NI) state, the following events may trigger a transition:
Receive Prune(S,G) A Prune(S,G) is received on interface I with the upstream neighbor field set to the router's address on I. The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine on interface I MUST transition to the PrunePending (PP) state. The PrunePending Timer (PPT(S,G,I)) MUST be set to J/P_Override_Interval if the router has more than
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one neighbor on I. If the router has only one neighbor on interface I, then it SHOULD set the PPT(S,G,I) to zero, effectively transitioning immediately to the Pruned (P) state.
Receive Graft(S,G) A Graft(S,G) is received on the interface I with the upstream neighbor field set to the router's address on I. The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine on interface I stays in the NoInfo (NI) state. A GraftAck(S,G) MUST be unicast to the originator of the Graft(S,G) message.
4.4.2.2. Transitions from the PrunePending (PP) State
When the Prune(S,G) downstream state machine is in the PrunePending (PP) state, the following events may trigger a transition.
Receive Join(S,G) A Join(S,G) is received on interface I with the upstream neighbor field set to the router's address on I. The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine on interface I MUST transition to the NoInfo (NI) state. The PrunePending Timer (PPT(S,G,I)) MUST be cancelled.
Receive Graft(S,G) A Graft(S,G) is received on interface I with the upstream neighbor field set to the router's address on I. The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine on interface I MUST transition to the NoInfo (NI) state and MUST unicast a Graft Ack message to the Graft originator. The PrunePending Timer (PPT(S,G,I)) MUST be cancelled.
PPT(S,G,I) Expires The PrunePending Timer (PPT(S,G,I)) expires, indicating that no neighbors have overridden the previous Prune(S,G) message. The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine on interface I MUST transition to the Pruned (P) state. The Prune Timer (PT(S,G,I)) is started and MUST be initialized to the received Prune_Hold_Time minus J/P_Override_Interval. A PruneEcho(S,G) MUST be sent on I if I has more than one PIM neighbor. A PruneEcho(S,G) is simply a Prune(S,G) message multicast by the upstream router to a LAN, with itself as the Upstream Neighbor. Its purpose is to add additional reliability so that if a Join that should have overridden the Prune is lost locally on the LAN, the PruneEcho(S,G) may be received and trigger a new Join message. A PruneEcho(S,G) is OPTIONAL on an interface with only one PIM neighbor. In addition, the router MUST evaluate any possible transitions in the Upstream(S,G) state machine.
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RPF_Interface(S) becomes interface I The upstream interface for S has changed. The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine on interface I MUST transition to the NoInfo (NI) state. The PrunePending Timer (PPT(S,G,I)) MUST be cancelled.
When the Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine is in the Pruned (P) state, the following events may trigger a transition.
Receive Prune(S,G) A Prune(S,G) is received on the interface I with the upstream neighbor field set to the router's address on I. The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine on interface I remains in the Pruned (P) state. The Prune Timer (PT(S,G,I)) SHOULD be reset to the holdtime contained in the Prune(S,G) message if it is greater than the current value.
Receive Join(S,G) A Join(S,G) is received on the interface I with the upstream neighbor field set to the router's address on I. The Prune(S,G) downstream state machine on interface I MUST transition to the NoInfo (NI) state. The Prune Timer (PT(S,G,I)) MUST be cancelled. The router MUST evaluate any possible transitions in the Upstream(S,G) state machine.
Receive Graft(S,G) A Graft(S,G) is received on interface I with the upstream neighbor field set to the router's address on I. The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine on interface I MUST transition to the NoInfo (NI) state and send a Graft Ack back to the Graft's source. The Prune Timer (PT(S,G,I)) MUST be cancelled. The router MUST evaluate any possible transitions in the Upstream(S,G) state machine.
PT(S,G,I) Expires The Prune Timer (PT(S,G,I)) expires, indicating that it is again time to flood data from S addressed to group G onto interface I. The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine on interface I MUST transition to the NoInfo (NI) state. The router MUST evaluate any possible transitions in the Upstream(S,G) state machine.
RPF_Interface(S) becomes interface I The upstream interface for S has changed. The Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine on interface I MUST transition to the NoInfo (NI) state. The PruneTimer (PT(S,G,I)) MUST be cancelled.
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Send State Refresh(S,G) out interface I The router has refreshed the Prune(S,G) state on interface I. The router MUST reset the Prune Timer (PT(S,G,I)) to the Holdtime from an active Prune received on interface I. The Holdtime used SHOULD be the largest active one but MAY be the most recently received active Prune Holdtime.
When a State Refresh message, SRM, is received, it is forwarded according to the following pseudo-code.
if (iif != RPF_interface(S)) return; if (RPF'(S) != srcaddr(SRM)) return; if (StateRefreshRateLimit(S,G) == TRUE) return;
for each interface I in pim_nbrs { if (TTL(SRM) == 0 OR (TTL(SRM) - 1) < Threshold(I)) continue; /* Out of TTL, skip this interface */ if (boundary(I,G)) continue; /* This interface is scope boundary, skip it */ if (I == iif) continue; /* This is the incoming interface, skip it */ if (lost_assert(S,G,I) == TRUE) continue; /* Let the Assert Winner do State Refresh */
Copy SRM to SRM'; /* Make a copy of SRM to forward */
if (I contained in prunes(S,G)) { set Prune Indicator bit of SRM' to 1;
if StateRefreshCapable(I) == TRUE set PT(S,G) to largest active holdtime read from a Prune message accepted on I;
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} else { set Prune Indicator bit of SRM' to 0; }
set srcaddr(SRM') to my_addr(I); set TTL of SRM' to TTL(SRM) - 1; set metric of SRM' to metric of unicast route used to reach S; set pref of SRM' to preference of unicast route used to reach S; set mask of SRM' to mask of route used to reach S;
if (AssertState == NoInfo) { set Assert Override of SRM' to 1; } else { set Assert Override of SRM' to 0; }
transmit SRM' on I; }
The pseudocode above employs the following macro definitions.
Boundary(I,G) is TRUE if an administratively scoped boundary for group G is configured on interface I.
StateRefreshCapable(I) is TRUE if all neighbors on an interface use the State Refresh option.
StateRefreshRateLimit(S,G) is TRUE if the time elapsed since the last received StateRefresh(S,G) is less than the configured RefreshLimitInterval.
TTL(SRM) returns the TTL contained in the State Refresh Message, SRM. This is different from the TTL contained in the IP header.
Threshold(I) returns the minimum TTL that a packet must have before it can be transmitted on interface I.
srcaddr(SRM) returns the source address contained in the network protocol (e.g., IPv4) header of the State Refresh Message, SRM.
my_addr(I) returns this node's network (e.g., IPv4) address on interface I.
This section describes the origination of State Refresh messages. These messages are generated periodically by the PIM-DM router directly connected to a source. One Origination(S,G) state machine exists per (S,G) entry in a PIM-DM router.
The Origination(S,G) state machine has the following states:
NotOriginator(NO) This is the starting state of the Origination(S,G) state machine. While in this state, a router will not originate State Refresh messages for the (S,G) pair.
Originator(O) When in this state the router will periodically originate State Refresh messages. Only routers directly connected to S may transition to this state.
In addition, there are two state machine specific timers:
State Refresh Timer (SRT(S,G)) This timer controls when State Refresh messages are generated. The timer is initially set when that Origination(S,G) state machine transitions to the O state. It is cancelled when the Origination(S,G) state machine transitions to the NO state. This timer is normally set to StateRefreshInterval (see 4.8).
Source Active Timer (SAT(S,G)) This timer is first set when the Origination(S,G) state machine transitions to the O state and is reset on the receipt of every data packet from S addressed to group G. When it expires, the Origination(S,G) state machine transitions to the NO state. This timer is normally set to SourceLifetime (see 4.8).
+-------------+ Rcv Directly From S +-------------+ | |----------------------->| | |NotOriginator| | Originator | | |<-----------------------| | +-------------+ SAT Expires OR +-------------+ S NOT Direct Connect
Figure 3: State Refresh State Machine
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In tabular form, the state machine is defined as follows:
4.5.2.1. Transitions from the NotOriginator (NO) State
When the Originating(S,G) state machine is in the NotOriginator (NO) state, the following event may trigger a transition:
Data Packet received from directly connected Source S addressed to group G The router MUST transition to an Originator (O) state, set SAT(S,G) to SourceLifetime, and set SRT(S,G) to StateRefreshInterval. The router SHOULD record the TTL of the packet for use in State Refresh messages.
4.5.2.2. Transitions from the Originator (O) State
When the Originating(S,G) state machine is in the Originator (O) state, the following events may trigger a transition:
Receive Data Packet from S addressed to G The router remains in the Originator (O) state and MUST reset SAT(S,G) to SourceLifetime. The router SHOULD increase its recorded TTL to match the TTL of the packet, if the packet's TTL is larger than the previously recorded TTL. A router MAY record the TTL based on an implementation specific sampling policy to avoid examining the TTL of every multicast packet it handles.
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SRT(S,G) Expires The router remains in the Originator (O) state and MUST reset SRT(S,G) to StateRefreshInterval. The router MUST also generate State Refresh messages for transmission, as described in the State Refresh Forwarding rules (Section 4.5.1), except for the TTL. If the TTL of data packets from S to G are being recorded, then the TTL of each State Refresh message is set to the highest recorded TTL. Otherwise, the TTL is set to the configured State Refresh TTL. Let I denote the interface over which a State Refresh message is being sent. If the Prune(S,G) Downstream state machine is in the Pruned (P) state, then the Prune- Indicator bit MUST be set to 1 in the State Refresh message being sent over I. Otherwise, the Prune-Indicator bit MUST be set to 0.
SAT(S,G) Expires The router MUST cancel the SRT(S,G) timer and transition to the NotOriginator (NO) state.
S is no longer directly connected The router MUST transition to the NotOriginator (NO) state and cancel both the SAT(S,G) and SRT(S,G).
When assert_metrics are compared, the metric_preference and route_metric field are compared in order, where the first lower value wins. If all fields are equal, the IP address of the router that sourced the Assert message is used as a tie-breaker, with the highest IP address winning.
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An Assert metric for (S,G) to include in (or compare against) an Assert message sent on interface I should be computed by using the following pseudocode:
MRIB.pref(X) and MRIB.metric(X) are the routing preference and routing metrics associated with the route to a particular (unicast) destination X, as determined by the MRIB. my_addr(I) is simply the router's network (e.g., IP) address associated with the local interface I.
infinite_assert_metric() gives the Assert metric we need to send an Assert but doesn't match (S,G) forwarding state:
An AssertCancel(S,G) message is simply an Assert message for (S,G) with infinite metric. The Assert winner sends this message when it changes its upstream interface to this interface. Other routers will see this metric, causing those with forwarding state to send their own Asserts and re-establish an Assert winner.
AssertCancel messages are simply an optimization. The original Assert timeout mechanism will eventually allow a subnet to become consistent; the AssertCancel mechanism simply causes faster convergence. No special processing is required for an AssertCancel message, as it is simply an Assert message from the current winner.
The macro lost_assert(S,G,I), is used in the olist computations of Section 4.1.3, and is defined as follows:
bool lost_assert(S,G,I) { if ( RPF_interface(S) == I ) { return FALSE } else { return (AssertWinner(S,G,I) != me AND (AssertWinnerMetric(S,G,I) is better than spt_assert_metric(S,G,I))) } }
AssertWinner(S,G,I) defaults to NULL, and AssertWinnerMetric(S,G,I) defaults to Infinity when in the NoInfo state.
The (S,G) Assert state machine for interface I is shown in Figure 4. There are three states:
NoInfo (NI) This router has no (S,G) Assert state on interface I.
I am Assert Winner (W) This router has won an (S,G) Assert on interface I. It is now responsible for forwarding traffic from S destined for G via interface I.
I am Assert Loser (L) This router has lost an (S,G) Assert on interface I. It must not forward packets from S destined for G onto interface I.
In addition, an Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) is used to time out the Assert state.
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+-------------+ +-------------+ | | Rcv Pref Assert or SR | | | Winner |----------------------->| Loser | | | | | +-------------+ +-------------+ ^ | ^ | | | Rcv Pref Assert or| | | |AT Expires OR State Refresh| | | |CouldAssert->FALSE | | | | | | | | +-------------+ | | | +-------->| |----------+ | | | No Info | | +-------------| |<-------------+ Rcv Data from dnstrm +-------------+ Rcv Inf Assert from Win OR OR Rcv Inferior Assert Rcv Inf SR from Winner OR OR Rcv Inferior SR AT Expires OR CouldAssert Changes OR Winner's NLT Expires
Figure 4: Assert State Machine
In tabular form, the state machine is defined as follows:
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | | Previous State | | +------------+------------+------------+ | Event | No Info | Winner | Loser | +-------------------------------+------------+------------+------------+ | An (S,G) Data packet received | ->W Send | ->W Send | ->L | | on downstream interface | Assert(S,G)| Assert(S,G)| | | | Set | Set | | | | AT(S,G,I) | AT(S,G,I) | | +-------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | Receive Inferior (Assert OR | N/A | N/A |->NI Cancel | | State Refresh) from Assert | | | AT(S,G,I) | | Winner | | | | +-------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | Receive Inferior (Assert OR | ->W Send | ->W Send | ->L | | State Refresh) from non-Assert| Assert(S,G)| Assert(S,G)| | | Winner AND CouldAssert==TRUE | Set | Set | | | | AT(S,G,I) | AT(S,G,I) | | +-------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
Terminology: A "preferred assert" is one with a better metric than the current winner. An "inferior assert" is one with a worse metric than my_assert_metric(S,G,I).
In the NoInfo state, the following events may trigger transitions:
An (S,G) data packet arrives on downstream interface I An (S,G) data packet arrived on a downstream interface. It is optimistically assumed that this router will be the Assert winner for this (S,G). The Assert state machine MUST transition to the "I am Assert Winner" state, send an Assert(S,G) to interface I, store its own address and metric as the Assert Winner, and set the Assert_Timer (AT(S,G,I) to Assert_Time, thereby initiating the Assert negotiation for (S,G).
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Receive Inferior (Assert OR State Refresh) AND CouldAssert(S,G,I)==TRUE An Assert or State Refresh is received for (S,G) that is inferior to our own assert metric on interface I. The Assert state machine MUST transition to the "I am Assert Winner" state, send an Assert(S,G) to interface I, store its own address and metric as the Assert Winner, and set the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) to Assert_Time.
Receive Preferred Assert or State Refresh The received Assert or State Refresh has a better metric than this router's, and therefore the Assert state machine MUST transition to the "I am Assert Loser" state and store the Assert Winner's address and metric. If the metric was received in an Assert, the router MUST set the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) to Assert_Time. If the metric was received in a State Refresh, the router MUST set the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) to three times the received State Refresh Interval. If CouldAssert(S,G,I) == TRUE, the router MUST also multicast a Prune(S,G) to the Assert winner with a Prune Hold Time equal to the Assert Timer and evaluate any changes in its Upstream(S,G) state machine.
When in "I am Assert Winner" state, the following events trigger transitions:
An (S,G) data packet arrives on downstream interface I An (S,G) data packet arrived on a downstream interface. The Assert state machine remains in the "I am Assert Winner" state. The router MUST send an Assert(S,G) to interface I and set the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I) to Assert_Time.
Receive Inferior Assert or State Refresh An (S,G) Assert is received containing a metric for S that is worse than this router's metric for S. Whoever sent the Assert is in error. The router MUST send an Assert(S,G) to interface I and reset the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) to Assert_Time.
Receive Preferred Assert or State Refresh An (S,G) Assert or State Refresh is received that has a better metric than this router's metric for S on interface I. The Assert state machine MUST transition to "I am Assert Loser" state and store the new Assert Winner's address and metric. If the metric was received in an Assert, the router MUST set the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) to Assert_Time. If the metric was received in a State Refresh, the router MUST set the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) to three times the State Refresh Interval. The router MUST also
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multicast a Prune(S,G) to the Assert winner, with a Prune Hold Time equal to the Assert Timer, and evaluate any changes in its Upstream(S,G) state machine.
Send State Refresh The router is sending a State Refresh(S,G) message on interface I. The router MUST set the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) to three times the State Refresh Interval contained in the State Refresh(S,G) message.
AT(S,G,I) Expires The (S,G) Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) expires. The Assert state machine MUST transition to the NoInfo (NI) state.
CouldAssert(S,G,I) -> FALSE This router's RPF interface changed, making CouldAssert(S,G,I) false. This router can no longer perform the actions of the Assert winner, so the Assert state machine MUST transition to NoInfo (NI) state, send an AssertCancel(S,G) to interface I, cancel the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)), and remove itself as the Assert Winner.
When in "I am Assert Loser" state, the following transitions can occur:
Receive Inferior Assert or State Refresh from Current Winner An Assert or State Refresh is received from the current Assert winner that is worse than this router's metric for S (typically, the winner's metric became worse). The Assert state machine MUST transition to NoInfo (NI) state and cancel AT(S,G,I). The router MUST delete the previous Assert Winner's address and metric and evaluate any possible transitions to its Upstream(S,G) state machine. Usually this router will eventually re-assert and win when data packets from S have started flowing again.
Receive Preferred Assert or State Refresh An Assert or State Refresh is received that has a metric better than or equal to that of the current Assert winner. The Assert state machine remains in Loser (L) state. If the metric was received in an Assert, the router MUST set the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) to Assert_Time. If the metric was received in a State Refresh, the router MUST set the Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) to three times the received State Refresh Interval. If the metric is better than the current Assert Winner, the router MUST
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store the address and metric of the new Assert Winner, and if CouldAssert(S,G,I) == TRUE, the router MUST multicast a Prune(S,G) to the new Assert winner.
AT(S,G,I) Expires The (S,G) Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) expires. The Assert state machine MUST transition to NoInfo (NI) state. The router MUST delete the Assert Winner's address and metric. If CouldAssert == TRUE, the router MUST evaluate any possible transitions to its Upstream(S,G) state machine.
CouldAssert -> FALSE CouldAssert has become FALSE because interface I has become the RPF interface for S. The Assert state machine MUST transition to NoInfo (NI) state, cancel AT(S,G,I), and delete information concerning the Assert Winner on I.
CouldAssert -> TRUE CouldAssert has become TRUE because interface I used to be the RPF interface for S, and now it is not. The Assert state machine MUST transition to NoInfo (NI) state, cancel AT(S,G,I), and delete information concerning the Assert Winner on I.
Current Assert Winner's NeighborLiveness Timer Expires The current Assert winner's NeighborLiveness Timer (NLT(N,I)) has expired. The Assert state machine MUST transition to the NoInfo (NI) state, delete the Assert Winner's address and metric, and evaluate any possible transitions to its Upstream(S,G) state machine.
Receive Prune(S,G), Join(S,G), or Graft(S,G) A Prune(S,G), Join(S,G), or Graft(S,G) message was received on interface I with its upstream neighbor address set to the router's address on I. The router MUST send an Assert(S,G) on the receiving interface I to initiate an Assert negotiation. The Assert state machine remains in the Assert Loser(L) state. If a Graft(S,G) was received, the router MUST respond with a GraftAck(S,G).
The following is a summary of the rules for generating and processing Assert messages. It is not intended to be definitive (the state machines and pseudocode provide the definitive behavior). Instead, it provides some rationale for the behavior.
1. The Assert winner for (S,G) must act as the local forwarder for (S,G) on behalf of all downstream members. 2. PIM messages are directed to the RPF' neighbor and not to the regular RPF neighbor. 3. An Assert loser that receives a Prune(S,G), Join(S,G), or Graft(S,G) directed to it initiates a new Assert negotiation so that the downstream router can correct its RPF'(S). 4. An Assert winner for (S,G) sends a cancelling assert when it is about to stop forwarding on an (S,G) entry. Example: If a router is being taken down, then a canceling assert is sent.
All PIM-DM packets use the same format as PIM-SM packets. In the event of a discrepancy, PIM-SM [4] should be considered the definitive specification. All PIM control messages have IP protocol number 103. All PIM-DM messages MUST be sent with a TTL of 1. All PIM-DM messages except Graft and Graft Ack messages MUST be sent to the ALL-PIM-ROUTERS group. Graft messages SHOULD be unicast to the RPF'(S). Graft Ack messages MUST be unicast to the sender of the Graft.
The IPv4 ALL-PIM-ROUTERS group is 224.0.0.13. The IPv6 ALL-PIM- ROUTERS group is 'ff02::d'.
Type Types for specific PIM messages. Available types are as follows: 0 = Hello 1 = Register (PIM-SM only) 2 = Register Stop (PIM-SM only) 3 = Join/Prune 4 = Bootstrap (PIM-SM only) 5 = Assert 6 = Graft 7 = Graft Ack 8 = Candidate RP Advertisement (PIM-SM only) 9 = State Refresh
Reserved Set to zero on transmission. Ignored upon receipt.
Checksum The checksum is the standard IP checksum; i.e., the 16 bit one's complement of the one's complement sum of the entire PIM message. For computing checksum, the checksum field is zeroed.
For IPv6, the checksum also includes the IPv6 "pseudo-header", as specified in RFC 2460, Section 8.1 [5].
Addr Family The PIM Address Family of the 'Unicast Address' field of this address. Values 0 - 127 are as assigned by the IANA for Internet Address Families in [9]. Values 128 - 250 are reserved to be assigned by the IANA for PIM specific Address Families. Values 251 - 255 are designated for private use. As there is no assignment authority for this space; collisions should be expected.
Encoding Type The type of encoding used with a specific Address Family. The value '0' is reserved for this field and represents the native encoding of the Address Family.
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Unicast Address The unicast address as represented by the given Address Family and Encoding Type.
B Indicates that the group range should use Bidirectional PIM [16]. Transmitted as zero; ignored upon receipt.
Reserved Transmitted as zero. Ignored upon receipt.
Z Indicates that the group range is an admin scope zone. This is used in the Bootstrap Router Mechanism [18] only. For all other purposes, this bit is set to zero and ignored on receipt.
Mask Len The mask length field is 8 bits. The value is the number of contiguous left justified one bits used as a mask, which, combined with the address, describes a range of addresses. It is less than or equal to the address length in bits for the given Address Family and Encoding Type. If the message is sent for a single address then the mask length MUST equal the address length. PIM-DM routers MUST only send for a single address.
Group Multicast Address The address of the multicast group.
PIM Ver, Type, Reserved, Checksum Described above.
Option Type The type of option given in the Option Value field. Available types are as follows:
0 Reserved 1 Hello Hold Time 2 LAN Prune Delay 3 - 16 Reserved 17 To be assigned by IANA 18 Deprecated and SHOULD NOT be used 19 DR Priority (PIM-SM Only) 20 Generation ID 21 State Refresh Capable 22 Bidir Capable 23 - 65000 To be assigned by IANA 65001 - 65535 Reserved for Private Use [9]
Hold Time is the number of seconds a receiver MUST keep the neighbor reachable. If the Hold Time is set to '0xffff', the receiver of this message never times out the neighbor. This may be used with dial- on-demand links to avoid keeping the link up with periodic Hello messages. Furthermore, if the Holdtime is set to '0', the information is timed out immediately. The Hello Hold Time option MUST be used by PIM-DM routers.
The LAN_Prune_Delay option is used to tune the prune propagation delay on multi-access LANs. The T bit is used by PIM-SM and SHOULD be set to 0 by PIM-DM routers and ignored upon receipt. The LAN Delay and Override Interval fields are time intervals in units of milliseconds and are used to tune the value of the J/P Override Interval and its derived timer values. Section 4.3.5 describes how these values affect the behavior of a router. The LAN Prune Delay SHOULD be used by PIM-DM routers.
Generation ID is a random value for the interface on which the Hello message is sent. The Generation ID is regenerated whenever PIM forwarding is started or restarted on the interface. The Generation ID option MAY be used by PIM-DM routers.
The Interval field is the router's configured State Refresh Interval in seconds. The Reserved field is set to zero and ignored upon receipt. The State Refresh Capable option MUST be used by State Refresh capable PIM-DM routers.
PIM Ver, Type, Reserved, Checksum Described above.
Upstream Neighbor Address The address of the upstream neighbor. The format for this address is given in the Encoded Unicast address in Section 4.7.2. PIM-DM routers MUST set this field to the RPF next hop.
Reserved Transmitted as zero. Ignored upon receipt.
Hold Time The number of seconds a receiving PIM-DM router MUST keep a Prune state alive, unless removed by a Join or Graft message. If the Hold Time is '0xffff', the receiver MUST NOT remove the Prune state unless a corresponding Join or Graft message is received. The Hold Time is ignored in Join messages.
Number of Groups Number of multicast group sets contained in the message.
Multicast Group Address The multicast group address in the Encoded Multicast address format given in Section 4.7.3.
Number of Joined Sources Number of Join source addresses listed for a given group.
Number of Pruned Sources Number of Prune source addresses listed for a given group.
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Join Source Address 1..n This list contains the sources from which the sending router wishes to continue to receive multicast messages for the given group on this interface. The addresses use the Encoded Source address format given in Section 4.7.4.
Prune Source Address 1..n This list contains the sources from which the sending router does not wish to receive multicast messages for the given group on this interface. The addresses use the Encoded Source address format given in Section 4.7.4.
PIM Graft messages use the same format as Join/Prune messages, except that the Type field is set to 6. The source address MUST be in the Join section of the message. The Hold Time field SHOULD be zero and SHOULD be ignored when a Graft is received.
PIM Graft Ack messages are identical in format to the received Graft message, except that the Type field is set to 7. The Upstream Neighbor Address field SHOULD be set to the sender of the Graft message and SHOULD be ignored upon receipt.
PIM Ver, Type, Reserved, Checksum Described above.
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Multicast Group Address The multicast group address in the Encoded Multicast address format given in Section 4.7.3.
Source Address The address of the data source in the Encoded Unicast address format given in Section 4.7.2.
Originator Address The address of the first hop router in the Encoded Unicast address format given in Section 4.7.2.
R The Rendezvous Point Tree bit. Set to 0 for PIM-DM. Ignored upon receipt.
Metric Preference The preference value assigned to the unicast routing protocol that provided the route to the source.
Metric The cost metric of the unicast route to the source. The metric is in units applicable to the unicast routing protocol used.
Masklen The length of the address mask of the unicast route to the source.
TTL Time To Live of the State Refresh message. Decremented each time the message is forwarded. Note that this is different from the IP Header TTL, which is always set to 1.
P Prune indicator flag. This MUST be set to 1 if the State Refresh is to be sent on a Pruned interface. Otherwise, it MUST be set to 0.
N Prune Now flag. This SHOULD be set to 1 by the State Refresh originator on every third State Refresh message and SHOULD be ignored upon receipt. This is for compatibility with earlier versions of state refresh.
O Assert Override flag. This SHOULD be set to 1 by upstream routers on a LAN if the Assert Timer (AT(S,G)) is not running and SHOULD be ignored upon receipt. This is for compatibility with earlier versions of state refresh.
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Reserved Set to zero and ignored upon receipt.
Interval Set by the originating router to the interval (in seconds) between consecutive State Refresh messages for this (S,G) pair.
PIM-DM maintains the following timers. All timers are countdown timers -- they are set to a value and count down to zero, at which point they typically trigger an action. Of course they can just as easily be implemented as count-up timers, where the absolute expiry time is stored and compared against a real-time clock, but the language in this specification assumes that they count downward towards zero.
Global Timers Hello Timer: HT
Per interface (I): Per neighbor (N): Neighbor Liveness Timer: NLT(N,I)
Per (S,G) Pair: (S,G) Graft Retry Timer: GRT(S,G) (S,G) Upstream Override Timer: OT(S,G) (S,G) Prune Limit Timer: PLT(S,G) (S,G) Source Active Timer: SAT(S,G) (S,G) State Refresh Timer: SRT(S,G)
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When timer values are started or restarted, they are set to default values. The following tables summarize those default values.
Timer Name: Hello Timer (HT) +----------------------+--------+--------------------------------------+ | Value Name | Value | Explanation | +----------------------+--------+--------------------------------------+ |Hello_Period | 30 sec | Periodic interval for hello messages | +----------------------+--------+--------------------------------------+ |Triggered_Hello_Delay | 5 sec | Random interval for initial Hello | | | | message on bootup or triggered Hello | | | | message to a rebooting neighbor | +----------------------+--------+--------------------------------------+
Hello messages are sent on every active interface once every Hello_Period seconds. At system power-up, the timer is initialized to rand(0,Triggered_Hello_Delay) to prevent synchronization. When a new or rebooting neighbor is detected, a responding Hello is sent within rand(0,Triggered_Hello_Delay).
Timer Name: Neighbor Liveness Timer (NLT(N,I)) +-------------------+-----------------+--------------------------------+ | Value Name | Value | Explanation | +-------------------+-----------------+--------------------------------+ | Hello Holdtime | From message | Hold Time from Hello Message | +-------------------+-----------------+--------------------------------+
Timer Name: PrunePending Timer (PPT(S,G,I)) +-----------------------+---------------+------------------------------+ | Value Name | Value | Explanation | +-----------------------+---------------+------------------------------+ | J/P_Override_Interval | OI(I) + PD(I) | Short time after a Prune to | | | | allow other routers on the | | | | LAN to send a Join | +-----------------------+---------------+------------------------------+
The J/P_Override_Interval is the sum of the interface's Override_Interval (OI(I)) and Propagation_Delay (PD(I)). If all routers on a LAN are using the LAN Prune Delay option, both parameters MUST be set to the largest value on the LAN. Otherwise, the Override_Interval (OI(I)) MUST be set to 2.5 seconds, and the Propagation_Delay (PD(I)) MUST be set to 0.5 seconds.
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Timer Name: Prune Timer (PT(S,G,I)) +----------------+----------------+------------------------------------+ | Value Name | Value | Explanation | +----------------+----------------+------------------------------------+ | Prune Holdtime | From message | Hold Time read from Prune Message | +----------------+----------------+------------------------------------+
Timer Name: Assert Timer (AT(S,G,I)) +--------------------------+---------+---------------------------------+ | Value Name | Value | Explanation | +--------------------------+---------+---------------------------------+ | Assert Time | 180 sec | Period after last assert before | | | | assert state is timed out | +--------------------------+---------+---------------------------------+
Note that, for historical reasons, the Assert message lacks a Holdtime field. Thus, changing the Assert Time from the default value is not recommended. If all members of a LAN are state refresh enabled, the Assert Time will be three times the received RefreshInterval(S,G).
Timer Name: Graft Retry Timer (GRT(S,G)) +--------------------+-------+-----------------------------------------+ | Value Name | Value | Explanation | +--------------------+-------+-----------------------------------------+ | Graft_Retry_Period | 3 sec | In the absence of receipt of a GraftAck | | | | message, the time before retransmission | | | | of a Graft message | +--------------------+-------+-----------------------------------------+
Timer Name: Upstream Override Timer (OT(S,G)) +------------+----------------+----------------------------------------+ | Value Name | Value | Explanation | +------------+----------------+----------------------------------------| | t_override | rand(0, OI(I)) | Randomized delay to prevent response | | | | implosion when sending a join message | | | | to override someone else's prune | +------------+----------------+----------------------------------------+
t_override is a random value between 0 and the interface's Override_Interval (OI(I)). If all routers on a LAN are using the LAN Prune Delay option, the Override_Interval (OI(I)) MUST be set to the largest value on the LAN. Otherwise, the Override_Interval (OI(I)) MUST be set to 2.5 seconds.
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Timer Name: Prune Limit Timer (PLT(S,G)) +------------+--------------------+------------------------------------+ | Value Name | Value | Explanation | +------------+--------------------+------------------------------------| | t_limit | Default: 210 secs | Used to prevent Prune storms on a | | | | LAN | +------------+--------------------+------------------------------------+
Timer Name: Source Active Timer (SAT(S,G)) +----------------+-------------------+---------------------------------+ | Value Name | Value | Explanation | +----------------+-------------------+---------------------------------+ | SourceLifetime | Default: 210 secs | Period of time after receiving | | | | a multicast message a directly | | | | attached router will continue | | | | to send State Refresh messages | +----------------+-------------------+---------------------------------+
Timer Name: State Refresh Timer (SRT(S,G)) +-----------------+------------------+---------------------------------+ | Value Name | Value | Explanation | +-----------------+------------------+---------------------------------+ | RefreshInterval | Default: 60 secs | Interval between successive | | | | state refresh messages | +-----------------+------------------+---------------------------------+
PIM-DM is designed to be independent of underlying unicast routing protocols and will interact only to the extent needed to perform RPF checks. It is generally assumed that multicast area and autonomous system boundaries will correspond to the same boundaries for unicast routing, though a deployment that does not follow this assumption is not precluded by this specification.
In general, PIM-DM interactions with other multicast routing protocols should be in compliance with RFC 2715 [7]. Other specific interactions are noted below.
PIM-DM is not intended to interact directly with PIM-SM, even though they share a common packet format. It is particularly important to note that a router cannot differentiate between a PIM-DM neighbor and a PIM-SM neighbor based on Hello messages.
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In the event that a PIM-DM router becomes a neighbor of a PIM-SM router, the two will effectively form a simplex link, with the PIM-DM router sending all multicast messages to the PIM-SM router while the PIM-SM router sends no multicast messages to the PIM-DM router.
The common packet format permits a hybrid PIM-SM/DM implementation that would use PIM-SM when a rendezvous point is known and PIM-DM when one is not. Such an implementation is outside the scope of this document.
PIM-DM will forward received multicast data packets to neighboring host group members in all cases except when the PIM-DM router is in an Assert Loser state on that interface. Note that a PIM Prune message is not permitted to prevent the delivery of messages to a network with group members.
A PIM-DM Router MAY use the DR Priority option described in PIM-SM [14] to elect an IGMP v1 querier.
PIM-DM makes no special considerations for SSM [15]. All Prunes and Grafts within the protocol are for a specific source, so no additional checks have to be made.
Although multicast group scope boundaries are generally identical to routing area boundaries, it is conceivable that a routing area might be partitioned for a particular multicast group. PIM-DM routers MUST NOT send any messages concerning a particular group across that group's scope boundary.
The PIM Address Family field was chosen to be 8 bits as a tradeoff between packet format and use of the IANA assigned numbers. When the PIM packet format was designed, only 15 values were assigned for Address Families, and large numbers of new Address Families were not envisioned; 8 bits seemed large enough. However, the IANA assigns Address Families in a 16 bit value. Therefore, the PIM Address Family is allocated as follows:
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Values 0 - 127 are designated to have the same meaning as IANA assigned Address Family Numbers [9].
Values 128 - 250 are designated to be assigned by the IANA based on IESG approval, as defined in [8].
Values 251 - 255 are designated for Private Use, as defined in [8].
Values 17 - 65000 are to be assigned by the IANA. Since the space is large, they may be assigned as First Come First Served, as defined in [8]. Assignments are valid for one year and may be renewed. Permanent assignments require a specification, as defined in [8].
The IPsec authentication header [10] MAY be used to provide data integrity protection and groupwise data origin authentication of PIM protocol messages. Authentication of PIM messages can protect against unwanted behaviors caused by unauthorized or altered PIM messages. In any case, a PIM router SHOULD NOT accept and process PIM messages from neighbors unless a valid Hello message has been received from that neighbor.
Note that PIM-DM has no rendezvous point, and therefore no single point of failure that may be vulnerable. Because PIM-DM uses unicast routes provided by an unknown routing protocol, it may suffer collateral effects if the unicast routing protocol is attacked.
The extent of possible damage depends on the type of counterfeit messages accepted. We next consider the impact of possible forgeries. A forged PIM-DM message is link local and can only reach a LAN if it was sent by a local host or if it was allowed onto the LAN by a compromised or non-compliant router.
1. A forged Hello message can cause multicast traffic to be delivered to links where there are no legitimate requestors, potentially wasting bandwidth on that link. On a multi-access LAN, the effects are limited without the capability to forge a Join message, as other routers will Prune the link if the traffic is not desired.
2. A forged Join/Prune message can cause multicast traffic to be delivered to links where there are no legitimate requestors, potentially wasting bandwidth on that link. A forged Prune
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message on a multi-access LAN is generally not a significant attack in PIM, because any legitimately joined router on the LAN would override the Prune with a Join before the upstream router stops forwarding data to the LAN.
3. A forged Graft message can cause multicast traffic to be delivered to links where there are no legitimate requestors, potentially wasting bandwidth on that link. In principle, Graft messages could be sent multiple hops because they are unicast to the upstream router. This should not be a problem, as the remote forger should have no way to get a Hello message to the target of the attack. Without a valid Hello message, the receiving router SHOULD NOT accept the Graft.
4. A forged GraftAck message has no impact, as it will be ignored unless the router has recently sent a Graft to its upstream router.
5. By forging an Assert message on a multi-access LAN, an attacker could cause the legitimate forwarder to stop forwarding traffic to the LAN. Such a forgery would prevent any hosts downstream of that LAN from receiving traffic.
6. A forged State Refresh message on a multi-access LAN would have the same impact as a forged Assert message, having the same general functions. In addition, forged State Refresh messages would be propagated downstream and might be used in a denial of service attack. Therefore, a PIM-DM router SHOULD rate limit State Refresh messages propagated.
A PIM-DM router SHOULD provide an option to limit the set of neighbors from which it will accept PIM-DM messages. Either static configuration of IP addresses or an IPSec security association may be used. All options that restrict the range of addresses from which packets are accepted MUST default to allowing all packets.
Furthermore, a PIM router SHOULD NOT accept protocol messages from a router from which it has not yet received a valid Hello message.
The IPSec [10] transport mode using the Authentication Header (AH) is the recommended method to prevent the above attacks in PIM. The specific AH authentication algorithm and parameters, including the choice of authentication algorithm and the choice of key, are configured by the network administrator. The Encapsulating Security
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Payload (ESP) MAY also be used to provide both encryption and authentication of PIM protocol messages. When IPsec authentication is used, a PIM router SHOULD reject (drop without processing) any unauthorized PIM protocol messages.
To use IPSec, the administrator of a PIM network configures each PIM router with one or more Security Associations and associated Security Parameters Indices that are used by senders to authenticate PIM protocol messages and are used by receivers to authenticate received PIM protocol messages. This document does not describe protocols for establishing Security Associations. It assumes that manual configuration of Security Associations is performed, but it does not preclude the use of some future negotiation protocol such as GDOI [17] to establish Security Associations.
The network administrator defines a Security Association (SA) and Security Parameters Index (SPI) to be used to authenticate all PIM-DM protocol messages from each router on each link in a PIM-DM domain.
In order to avoid the problem of allocating individual keys for each neighbor on a link to each individual router, it is acceptable to establish only one authentication key for all PIM-DM routers on a link. This will not specifically authenticate the individual router sending the message, but will ensure that the sender is a PIM-DM router on that link. If this method is used, the receiver of the message MUST ignore the received sequence number, thus disabling anti-replay mechanisms. The effects of disabling anti-replay mechanisms are essentially the same as the effects of forged messages, described in Section 7.1, with the additional protection that the forger can only reuse legitimate messages.
The Security Policy Database at a PIM-DM router should be configured to ensure that all incoming and outgoing PIM-DM packets use the SA associated with the interface to which the packet is sent. Note that, according to [10], there is nominally a different Security Association Database (SAD) for each router interface. Thus, the selected Security Association for an inbound PIM-DM packet can vary depending on the interface on which the packet arrived. This fact allows the network administrator to use different authentication methods for each link, even though the destination address is the same for most PIM-DM packets, regardless of interface.
There are a number of possible denial of service attacks against PIM that can be caused by generating false PIM protocol messages or even by generating false data traffic. Authenticating PIM protocol traffic prevents some, but not all, of these attacks. The possible attacks include the following:
* Sending packets to many different group addresses quickly can amount to a denial of service attack in and of itself. These messages will initially be flooded throughout the network before they are pruned back. The maintenance of state machines and State Refresh messages will be a continual drain on network resources.
* Forged State Refresh messages sent quickly could be propagated by downstream routers, creating a potential denial of service attack. Therefore, a PIM-DM router SHOULD limit the rate of State Refresh messages propagated.
The major features of PIM-DM were originally designed by Stephen Deering, Deborah Estrin, Dino Farinacci, Van Jacobson, Ahmed Helmy, David Meyer, and Liming Wei. Additional features for state refresh were designed by Dino Farinacci, Isidor Kouvelas, and Kurt Windisch. This revision was undertaken to incorporate some of the lessons learned during the evolution of the PIM-SM specification and early deployments of PIM-DM.
[1] Deering, S., "Host extensions for IP multicasting", STD 5, RFC 1112, August 1989.
[2] Fenner, W., "Internet Group Management Protocol, Version 2", RFC 2236, November 1997.
[3] Cain, B., Deering, S., Kouvelas, I., Fenner, B., and A. Thyagarajan, "Internet Group Management Protocol, Version 3", RFC 3376, October 2002.
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[4] Estrin, D., Farinacci, D., Helmy, A., Thaler, D., Deering, S., Handley, M., Jacobson, V., Liu, C., Sharma, P., and L. Wei, "Protocol Independent Multicast-Sparse Mode (PIM-SM): Protocol Specification", RFC 2362, June 1998.
[5] Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification", RFC 2460, December 1998.
[6] Deering, S., Fenner, W., and B. Haberman, "Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) for IPv6", RFC 2710, October 1999.
[7] Thaler, D., "Interoperability Rules for Multicast Routing Protocols", RFC 2715, October 1999.
[8] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 2434, October 1998.
[12] Deering, S.E., "Multicast Routing in a Datagram Internetwork", Ph.D. Thesis, Electrical Engineering Dept., Stanford University, December 1991.
[13] Waitzman, D., Partridge, C., and S. Deering, "Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol", RFC 1075, November 1988.
[14] Fenner, W., Handley, M., Holbrook, H., and I. Kouvelas, "Protocol Independent Multicast - Sparse Mode (PIM-SM): Protocol Specification (Revised)", Work in Progress.
[15] Holbrook, H. and B. Cain, "Source Specific Multicast for IP", Work in Progress.
[16] Handley, M., Kouvelas, I., Speakman, T., and L. Vicisano, "Bi- directional Protocol Independent Multicast", Work in Progress.
[17] Baugher, M., Weis, B., Hardjono, T., and H. Harney, "The Group Domain of Interpretation", RFC 3547, July 2003.
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[18] Fenner, W., Handley, M., Kermode, R., and D. Thaler, "Bootstrap Router (BSR) Mechanism for PIM Sparse Mode", Work in Progress.
Authors' Addresses
Andrew Adams NextHop Technologies 825 Victors Way, Suite 100 Ann Arbor, MI 48108-2738
EMail: ala@nexthop.com
Jonathan Nicholas ITT Industries Aerospace/Communications Division 100 Kingsland Rd Clifton, NJ 07014
EMail: jonathan.nicholas@itt.com
William Siadak NextHop Technologies 825 Victors Way, Suite 100 Ann Arbor, MI 48108-2738
EMail: wfs@nexthop.com
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