RIFT Key/Value Structure and Registry

Introduction The Routing in Fat-Trees RIFT protocol allows for key/value pairs to be advertised within Key-Value Topology Information Elements (KV-TIEs). There are no restrictions placed on the type of data that is contained in KV-TIEs nor what the data is used for. For example, it might be beneficial to advertise overlay protocol state from leaf nodes to the Top-of-Fabric (ToF) nodes. This would make it possible to view critical state of a fabric-wide service from a single ToF node rather than retrieving and reconciling the same state from multiple leaf nodes.

Key Structure This section describes the generic Key structure and semantics, further illustrates these components.

Generic Key-Value Structure where:

Key-Type:

A 1-byte value that identifies the Key-Type. It MUST be a reserved value from the RIFT Key-Type Registry that is defined later in this document. The range of valid values is 1 - 255 (2^8-1). 0 is an illegal value and MUST NOT be allocated to or used by any implementation. It MUST be ignored on receipt.

Key Identifier:

A 3-byte value that identifies the specific key and describes the structure of the contained values. The range of valid values is 1 - 16777215 (2^24-1). 0 is an illegal value and MUST NOT be allocated to or used by any implementation. It MUST be ignored on receipt.

Values:

A variable length value that contains data associated with the Key Identifier. It SHOULD contain 1 or more elements. Whether the collection of elements allows duplicates and/or is ordered is governed by the particular Key Identifier's specification.

Experimental Key-Type This section reserves a value in the RIFT Key-Type Registry to indicate an Experimental Key-Type. As shown in , the Key-Type will be used to identify the Key-Type as Experimental. The Key Identifier will be used to identify the specific key and describe the structure of the contained values.

Experimental Key-Type

Well-Known Key-Type This section reserves a value in the RIFT Key-Type Registry to indicate Well-Known Key-Types that all implementations SHOULD support. As shown in , the Key-Type will be used to identify the Key-Type as Well-Known. The Key Identifier will be used to identify the specific key and describe the structure of the contained values.

Well-Known Key-Type

OUI Key-Type This section reserves a value in the RIFT Key-Type Registry to indicate an OUI (vendor-specific) Key-Type that any implementation MAY support. As shown in , the Key-Type will be used to identify the Key-Type as OUI. The Key Identifier MUST use the implementing organization's reserved OUI space to indicate the key and value structure.

OUI Key-Type

Operational Considerations While no restrictions are placed on Key-Value data or what it is used for, it is RECOMMENDED that a serialized Thrift model be used for simpler interoperability. is an example of this type of implementation. Key-Value elements SHOULD NOT be used to carry topology information used by RIFT itself to perform distributed computations. In cases where KV-TIEs are flooded from north to south, policies SHOULD be implemented in order to avoid network-wide flooding. For networks with more than one ToF node, it is RECOMMENDED that those ToF nodes contain identical KV-TIE information when being distributed from north to south. RIFT requires that only one KV-TIE is selected when identical keys are received from multiple northbound neighbors. If this is not considered then the tie-breaking rules may cause a node to select a suboptimal KV-TIE. Consider a case where failure conditions cause the ToF nodes to become split-brained. While the Key-Type and Key Identifier will be identical, the value(s) contained within may differ. The node(s) receiving these differing KV-TIEs will select the one from the ToF node with the highest System ID, potentially leading to unintended effects.

IANA Considerations Per , IANA is requested to create two new registries under the top-level "RIFT" category:

RIFT Key-Types
RIFT Well-Known Key-Types

The following sections detail each registry's individual requirements and suggested values. Experts reviewing requests for new values to either registry MUST consider the items in the Expert Review Guidance section.

RIFT Key-Types This section requests that IANA create and help govern the following registry:

Registry Name:

RIFT Key-Types

Registration Procedures:

Expert Review

Description:

Key-Type registry for the RIFT protocol.

Reference:

This document.

RIFT Key-Types Requested Entries This section requests that IANA register the following suggested values to the "RIFT Key-Types" registry.

Value	Key-Type	Description	Status/Reference
0	Illegal	Not allowed.	This document
1	Experimental	Indicates that the Key-Type is Experimental.	This document.
2	Well-Known	Indicates that the Key-Type is Well-Known.	This document.
3	OUI	Indicates that the Key-Type is OUI (vendor specific).	This document.

RIFT Well-Known Key-Types This section requests that IANA create and help govern the following registry:

Registry Name:

RIFT Well-Known Key-Types

Registration Procedures:

Expert Review

Description:

Well-Known Key-Types registry for the RIFT protocol.

Reference:

This document.

RIFT Well-Known Key-Types Requested Entries This section requests that IANA register the following suggested values to the "RIFT Well-Known Key-Types" Registry.

Value	Key-Identifier	Description	Status/Reference
0	Illegal	Not allowed.	This document.
1	MAC/IP Binding	To be defined.	To be defined.
2	FAM Security Roll-Over Key	To be defined.	To be defined.

Expert Review Guidance Experts reviewing requests for values from the "RIFT Key-Types" registry or the "RIFT Well-Known Key-Types" registry are responsible for the following:

Determining the existence of a specification that clearly defines the purpose supporting the request and MUST contain all required fields for given registry. The document MUST also be permenent and publically available.
Ensuring that any requests are made available to the RIFT working group for review should the work originate from outside of the RIFT Working Group.
Ensuring that any work produce outside of the IETF does not conflict with any work that is already published or actively pursuing being published.

Security Considerations This document introduces no new security concerns to RIFT or other specifications referenced in this document given that the Key-Value TIEs are already extensively secured by the RIFT protocol specification itself.

Acknowledgements To be provided.