Extensions to BIER Tree Engineering (BIER-TE) for Large Multicast Domains and 1:1 Protection: Concept, Implementation and Performance

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Hauptverfasser: Flüchter, Moritz, Lindner, Steffen, Ihle, Fabian, Eckert, Toerless, Menth, Michael
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Flüchter, Moritz
Lindner, Steffen
Ihle, Fabian
Eckert, Toerless
Menth, Michael
author_facet Flüchter, Moritz
Lindner, Steffen
Ihle, Fabian
Eckert, Toerless
Menth, Michael
contents Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER) has been proposed by the IETF as a stateless multicast transport technology. BIER adds a BIER header containing a bitstring indicating receivers of an IP multicast (IPMC) packet within a BIER domain. BIER-TE extends BIER with tree engineering capabilities, i.e., the bitstring indicates both receivers as well as links over which the packet is transmitted. As the bitstring is of limited size, e.g., 256 bits, only that number of receivers can be addressed within a BIER packet. To scale BIER to larger networks, the receivers of a BIER domain have been assigned to subsets that can be addressed by a bitstring with a subset ID. This approach is even compliant with fast reroute (FRR) mechanisms for BIER. In this work we tackle the challenge of scaling BIER-TE to large networks as the subset mechanism of BIER is not sufficient for that purpose. A major challenge is the support of a protection mechanism in this context. We describe how existing networking concepts like tunneling, egress protection and BIER-TE-FRR can be combined to achieve the goal. Then, we implement the relevant BIER-TE components on the P4-programmable Tofino ASIC which builds upon an existing implementation for BIER. Finally, we consider the forwarding performance of the prototype and explain how weaknesses can be improved from remedies that are well-known for BIER implementations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_07082
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Extensions to BIER Tree Engineering (BIER-TE) for Large Multicast Domains and 1:1 Protection: Concept, Implementation and Performance
Flüchter, Moritz
Lindner, Steffen
Ihle, Fabian
Eckert, Toerless
Menth, Michael
Networking and Internet Architecture
Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER) has been proposed by the IETF as a stateless multicast transport technology. BIER adds a BIER header containing a bitstring indicating receivers of an IP multicast (IPMC) packet within a BIER domain. BIER-TE extends BIER with tree engineering capabilities, i.e., the bitstring indicates both receivers as well as links over which the packet is transmitted. As the bitstring is of limited size, e.g., 256 bits, only that number of receivers can be addressed within a BIER packet. To scale BIER to larger networks, the receivers of a BIER domain have been assigned to subsets that can be addressed by a bitstring with a subset ID. This approach is even compliant with fast reroute (FRR) mechanisms for BIER. In this work we tackle the challenge of scaling BIER-TE to large networks as the subset mechanism of BIER is not sufficient for that purpose. A major challenge is the support of a protection mechanism in this context. We describe how existing networking concepts like tunneling, egress protection and BIER-TE-FRR can be combined to achieve the goal. Then, we implement the relevant BIER-TE components on the P4-programmable Tofino ASIC which builds upon an existing implementation for BIER. Finally, we consider the forwarding performance of the prototype and explain how weaknesses can be improved from remedies that are well-known for BIER implementations.
title Extensions to BIER Tree Engineering (BIER-TE) for Large Multicast Domains and 1:1 Protection: Concept, Implementation and Performance
topic Networking and Internet Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.07082