RSVP is a network control protocol that enables Internet applications to signal LSPs for MPLS-TE . The RSVP implementation is compliant with the IETF RFC 2205, RFC 3209.

RSVP is automatically enabled on interfaces on which MPLS-TE is configured. For MPLS-TE LSPs with nonzero bandwidth, the RSVP bandwidth has to be configured on the interfaces. There is no need to configure RSVP, if all MPLS-TE LSPs have zero bandwidth .

RSVP Refresh Reduction, defined in RFC 2961, includes support for reliable messages and summary refresh messages. Reliable messages are retransmitted rapidly if the message is lost. Because each summary refresh message contains information to refresh multiple states, this greatly reduces the amount of messaging needed to refresh states. For refresh reduction to be used between two routers, it must be enabled on both routers. Refresh Reduction is enabled by default.

Message rate limiting for RSVP allows you to set a maximum threshold on the rate at which RSVP messages are sent on an interface. Message rate limiting is disabled by default.

The process that implements RSVP is restartable. A software upgrade, process placement or process failure of RSVP or any of its collaborators, has been designed to ensure Nonstop Forwarding (NSF) of the data plane.

RSVP supports graceful restart, which is compliant with RFC 3473. It follows the procedures that apply when the node reestablishes communication with the neighbor’s control plane within a configured restart time.

It is important to note that RSVP is not a routing protocol. RSVP works in conjunction with routing protocols and installs the equivalent of dynamic access lists along the routes that routing protocols calculate. Because of this, implementing RSVP in an existing network does not require migration to a new routing protocol.

LSP setup is initiated when the LSP head node sends path messages to the tail node (see the RSVP Operation figure ).

The Path messages reserve resources along the path to each node, creating Path soft states on each node. When the tail node receives a path message, it sends a reservation (RESV) message with a label back to the previous node. When the reservation message arrives at the previous node, it causes the reserved resources to be locked and forwarding entries are programmed with the MPLS label sent from the tail-end node. A new MPLS label is allocated and sent to the next node upstream.

When the reservation message reaches the head node, the label is programmed and the MPLS data starts to flow along the path.

RSVP is designed to ensure nonstop forwarding under the following constraints:

• Ability to tolerate the failure of one RP of a 1:1 redundant pair.

• Hitless software upgrade.

The RSVP high availability (HA) design follows the constraints of the underlying architecture where processes can fail without affecting the operation of other processes. A process failure of RSVP or any of its collaborators does not cause any traffic loss or cause established LSPs to go down. When RSVP restarts, it recovers its signaling states from its neighbors. No special configuration or manual intervention are required. You may configure RSVP graceful restart, which offers a standard mechanism to recover RSVP state information from neighbors after a failure.

RSVP graceful restart provides a control plane mechanism to ensure high availability (HA), which allows detection and recovery from failure conditions while preserving nonstop forwarding services on the systems running Cisco IOS XR software.

RSVP graceful restart provides a mechanism that minimizes the negative effects on MPLS traffic caused by these types of faults:

• Disruption of communication channels between two nodes when the communication channels are separate from the data channels. This is called control channel failure.

• Control plane of a node fails but the node preserves its data forwarding states. This is called node failure.

The procedure for RSVP graceful restart is described in the “Fault Handling” section of RFC 3473, Generalized MPLS Signaling, RSVP-TE Extensions. One of the main advantages of using RSVP graceful restart is recovery of the control plane while preserving nonstop forwarding and existing labels.

Note	RSVP graceful restart feature is not supported when TE is running over multiple IGP instances which have different TE router-ids. This causes the TE tunnels to constantly flap.

RSVP provides for the configuration of extended access lists (ACLs) to forward, drop, or perform normal processing on RSVP router-alert (RA) packets. Prefix filtering is designed for use at core access routers in order that RA packets (identified by a source/destination address) can be seamlessly forwarded across the core from one access point to another (or, conversely to be dropped at this node). RSVP applies prefix filtering rules only to RA packets because RA packets contain source and destination addresses of the RSVP flow.

Note	RA packets forwarded due to prefix filtering must not be sent as RSVP bundle messages, because bundle messages are hop-by-hop and do not contain RA. Forwarding a Bundle message does not work, because the node receiving the messages is expected to apply prefix filtering rules only to RA packets.

For each incoming RSVP RA packet, RSVP inspects the IP header and attempts to match the source/destination IP addresses with a prefix configured in an extended ACL. The results are as follows:

• If an ACL does not exist, the packet is processed like a normal RSVP packet.

• If the ACL match yields an explicit permit (and if the packet is not locally destined), the packet is forwarded. The IP TTL is decremented on all forwarded packets.

• If the ACL match yields an explicit deny, the packet is dropped.

If there is no explicit permit or explicit deny, the ACL infrastructure returns an implicit (default) deny. RSVP can be configured to drop the packet. By default, RSVP processes the packet if the ACL match yields an implicit (default) deny.

RFC 2206, RSVP Management Information Base Using SMIv2 defines all the SNMP MIB objects that are relevant to RSVP. By implementing the RSVP MIB, you can perform these functions:

• Specifies two traps (NetFlow and LostFlow) which are triggered when a new flow is created or deleted.

• Lets you use SNMP to access objects belonging to RSVP.

You can carry out these tasks with RSVP authentication:

• Set up a secure relationship with a neighbor by using secret keys that are known only to you and the neighbor.

• Configure RSVP authentication in global, interface, or neighbor configuration modes.

• Authenticate incoming messages by checking if there is a valid security relationship that is associated based on key identifier, incoming interface, sender address, and destination address.

• Add an integrity object with message digest to the outgoing message.

• Use sequence numbers in an integrity object to detect replay attacks.

Network administrators need the ability to establish a security domain to control the set of systems that initiates RSVP requests.

The RSVP authentication feature permits neighbors in an RSVP network to use a secure hash to sign all RSVP signaling messages digitally, thus allowing the receiver of an RSVP message to verify the sender of the message without relying solely on the sender's IP address.

The signature is accomplished on a per-RSVP-hop basis with an RSVP integrity object in the RSVP message as defined in RFC 2747. This method provides protection against forgery or message modification. However, the receiver must know the security key used by the sender to validate the digital signature in the received RSVP message.

Network administrators manually configure a common key for each RSVP neighbor on the shared network.

The following reasons explain how to choose between global, interface, or neighbor configuration modes:

• Global configuration mode is optimal when a router belongs to a single security domain (for example, part of a set of provider core routers). A single common key set is expected to be used to authenticate all RSVP messages.

• Interface, or neighbor configuration mode, is optimal when a router belongs to more than one security domain. For example, a provider router is adjacent to the provider edge (PE), or a PE is adjacent to an edge device. Different keys can be used but not shared.

Global configuration mode configures the defaults for interface and neighbor interface modes. These modes, unless explicitly configured, inherit the parameters from global configuration mode, as follows:

• Window-size is set to 1.

• Lifetime is set to 1800.

• key-source key-chain command is set to none or disabled.

You can configure global defaults for all authentication parameters including key, window size, and lifetime. These defaults are inherited when you configure authentication for each neighbor or interface. However, you can also configure these parameters individually on a neighbor or interface basis, in which case the global values (configured or default) are no longer inherited.

Note	RSVP uses the following rules when choosing which authentication parameter to use when that parameter is configured at multiple levels (interface, neighbor, or global). RSVP goes from the most specific to least specific; that is, neighbor, interface, and global.

Global keys simplify the configuration and eliminate the chances of a key mismatch when receiving messages from multiple neighbors and multiple interfaces. However, global keys do not provide the best security.

Interface keys are used to secure specific interfaces between two RSVP neighbors. Because many of the RSVP messages are IP routed, there are many scenarios in which using interface keys are not recommended. If all keys on the interfaces are not the same, there is a risk of a key mismatch for the following reasons:

• When the RSVP graceful restart is enabled, RSVP hello messages are sent with a source IP address of the local router ID and a destination IP address of the neighbor router ID. Because multiple routes can exist between the two neighbors, the RSVP hello message can traverse to different interfaces.

• When the RSVP fast reroute (FRR) is active, the RSVP Path and Resv messages can traverse multiple interfaces.

• When Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS) optical tunnels are configured, RSVP messages are exchanged with router IDs as the source and destination IP addresses. Since multiple control channels can exist between the two neighbors, the RSVP messages can traverse different interfaces.

Neighbor-based keys are particularly useful in a network in which some neighbors support RSVP authentication procedures and others do not. When the neighbor-based keys are configured for a particular neighbor, you are advised to configure all the neighbor’s addresses and router IDs for RSVP authentication.

A security association (SA) is defined as a collection of information that is required to maintain secure communications with a peer to counter replay attacks, spoofing, and packet corruption.

This table lists the main parameters that define a security association.

An SA is created dynamically when sending and receiving messages that require authentication. The neighbor, source, and destination addresses are obtained either from the IP header or from an RSVP object, such as a HOP object, and whether the message is incoming or outgoing.

When the SA is created, an expiration timer is created. When the SA authenticates a message, it is marked as recently used. The lifetime timer periodically checks if the SA is being used. If so, the flag is cleared and is cleaned up for the next period unless it is marked again.

This table shows how to locate the source and destination address keys for an SA that is based on the message type.

The key-source key-chain is used to specify which keys to use.

You configure a list of keys with specific IDs and have different lifetimes so that keys are changed at predetermined intervals automatically, without any disruption of service. Rollover enhances network security by minimizing the problems that could result if an untrusted source obtained, deduced, or guessed the current key.

RSVP handles rollover by using the following key ID types:

• On TX, use the youngest eligible key ID.

• On RX, use the key ID that is received in an integrity object.

For more information about implementing keychain management, see System Security Configuration Guide for Cisco NCS 6000 Series Routers.

These guidelines are required for window-size and out-of-sequence messages:

• Default window-size is set to 1. If a single message is received out-of-sequence, RSVP rejects it and displays a message.

• When RSVP messages are sent in burst mode (for example, tunnel optimization), some messages can become out-of-sequence for a short amount of time.

• Window size can be increased by using the window-size command. When the window size is increased, replay attacks can be detected with duplicate sequence numbers.

These caveats are listed for out-of-sequence:

• When RSVP messages traverse multiple interface types with different maximum transmission unit (MTU) values, some messages can become out-of-sequence if they are fragmented.

• Packets with some IP options may be reordered.

• Change in QoS configurations may lead to a transient reorder of packets.

• QoS policies can cause a reorder of packets in a steady state.

Because all out-of-sequence messages are dropped, the sender must retransmit them. Because RSVP state timeouts are generally long, out-of-sequence messages during a transient state do not lead to a state timeout.

To configure traffic engineering tunnel bandwidth, you must first set up TE tunnels and configure the reserved bandwidth per interface (there is no need to configure bandwidth for the data channel or the control channel).

Cisco IOS XR software supports two MPLS DS-TE modes: Prestandard and IETF.

Note

For prestandard DS-TE you do not need to configure bandwidth for the data channel or the control channel. There is no other specific RSVP configuration required for this application. When no RSVP bandwidth is specified for a particular interface, you can specify zero bandwidth in the LSP setup if it is configured under RSVP interface configuration mode or MPLS-TE configuration mode.

Two procedures are provided to show how RSVP Prefix Filtering is associated:

• Configuring ACLs for Prefix Filtering

• Configuring RSVP Packet Dropping

These tasks describe how to configure RSVP authentication in global configuration mode:

These tasks describe how to configure an interface for RSVP authentication:

These tasks describe how to configure the RSVP neighbor authentication:

• Specifying the Keychain for RSVP Neighbor Authentication

• Configuring a Lifetime for RSVP Neighbor Authentication

• Configuring the Window Size for RSVP Neighbor Authentication

To display the security associations that RSVP has established with other RSVP neighbors, use the show rsvp authentication command.

To eliminate RSVP authentication SA’s, use the clear rsvp authentication command. To eliminate RSVP counters for each SA, use the clear rsvp counters authentication command.