Export of MPLS Network Action (MNA) Information in IPFIX
draft-liu-opsawg-ipfix-mpls-mna-00
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| Document | Type | Active Internet-Draft (individual) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Yao Liu | ||
| Last updated | 2025-12-23 | ||
| RFC stream | (None) | ||
| Intended RFC status | (None) | ||
| Formats | |||
| Stream | Stream state | (No stream defined) | |
| Consensus boilerplate | Unknown | ||
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draft-liu-opsawg-ipfix-mpls-mna-00
OPSAWG Y. Liu
Internet-Draft ZTE Corporation
Intended status: Standards Track 23 December 2025
Expires: 26 June 2026
Export of MPLS Network Action (MNA) Information in IPFIX
draft-liu-opsawg-ipfix-mpls-mna-00
Abstract
This document introduces new IPFIX IEs for exporting MPLS Network
Action (MNA) information in IPFIX, covering both in-stack and post-
stack MNAs.
Status of This Memo
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provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 26 June 2026.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. IPFIX IEs for MNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. IPFIX IEs for In-Stack MNAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1.1. mplsMnaSubStack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1.2. mplsMnaLseFormatB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2. IPFIX IEs for Post-Stack MNAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2.1. mnaPostStackMplsHeaderSection . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2.2. mnaPostStackMplsHeaderType . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Operational Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1. Introduction
MPLS Network Actions (MNAs), as introduced in [RFC9789], are used to
indicate actions that impact the forwarding or other processing (such
as monitoring) of the packet along the Label Switched Path (LSP) of
the packet and to transfer any additional data needed for these
actions.
Two types of MNAs solutions are defined:
* MNA Sub-Stack Solution/In-stack Solution: as in
[I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-hdr], it is used to carry Network Actions and
Ancillary Data in the MPLS label stack. In-stack actions and
ancillary data are contained in a Network Action Sub-Stack (NAS),
which is recognized by a new base Special Purpose Label (bSPL).
* Post-Stack MNA Solution: as in [I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-ps-hdr], it is
for carrying Network Actions and Ancillary Data after the MPLS
label stack. The Post-Stack MPLS Header (PSMH) consists of two
main parts: Post-Stack MPLS Header (PSMH) Type and Post-Stack
Network Action Encoding.
When monitoring a traffic flow with MPLS MNA encoding, the following
information may be required by the network operator.
* What's the content of the MNAs carried in the MPLS label stack ?
* What's the content of the MNAs carried after the MPLS label stack
?
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In the existing IPFIX mechanism, mplsLabelStackSection(IE 316) can be
used to carry a series of n octets from the MPLS label stack of a
sampled packet, starting sectionOffset(IE 409) octets into the MPLS
label stack, and mplsPayloadPacketSection(IE 317) carries a series of
n octets from the MPLS payload of a sampled packet, starting
sectionOffset(IE 409) octets into the MPLS payload.
If mplsLabelStackSection(IE 316) and mplsPayloadPacketSection(IE 317)
are used to carry the MNA information, additional procedures are
required at the network analyzer to parse the
mplsLabelStackSection or the mplsPayloadPacketSection information to
see if there's any MNA information carried in it and what's the
detailed MNA information. And this would bring extra complexity in
the network analyzer.
This document introduces new IPFIX IEs for exporting MNA information
in IPFIX, covering both in-stack and post-stack MNAs.
2. Terminology
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
This document makes use of the terms defined in [RFC7011] and
[RFC9789].
The following terms are used as defined in [RFC7011]:
* IPFIX
* IPFIX Information Elements
* Metering Process
* Template
* Collector
* IPFIX Device
The following terms are used as defined in [RFC9789]:
* MPLS Network Action (MNA)
* Label Stack Entry (LSE)
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* Ancillary Data (AD)
* Network Action Sub-Stack (NAS)
* Post-Stack Data
3. IPFIX IEs for MNA
This section defines several Encapsulation Layer IEs for MPLS MNAs.
Section 3.1 defines IEs for MNAs carried in the MPLS label stack (in-
Stack MNA) and section 3.2 defines IEs for MNAs carried after the
bottom of the MPLS label stack (post-Stack MNA).
3.1. IPFIX IEs for In-Stack MNAs
3.1.1. mplsMnaSubStack
Name: mplsMnaSubStack
ElementID: TBD1
Description: The MNA Sub-Stack in the MPLS label stack with the MNA
Sub-Stack Indicator excluded. This Information Element has a
variable length. Multiple mplsMnaSubStack IEs can be specified
within a single Template since multiple MPLS Network Action Sub-
Stacks (NASes) may appear in a label stack as described in section
3 of [I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-hdr].
Abstract Data Type: octetArray
Data Type Semantics: default
Additional Information: See [I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-hdr].
Reference: [I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-hdr]
3.1.2. mplsMnaLseFormatB
Name: mplsMnaLseFormatB
ElementID: TBD2
Description: The LSE Format B carried in the MPLS Network Action
Sub-Stack(NAS). As defined in section 5 of
[I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-hdr], the second LSE in a NAS MUST be a Format
B LSE. This LSE contains an initial opcode plus additional fields
that describe the NAS. The size of this Information Element is 3
octets.
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If multiple mplsMnaLseFormatB Information Elements are specified
within a single Template, then they apply to the mplsMnaSubStack
Information Elements in order: the first mplsMnaLseFormatB applies
to the first mplsMnaSubStack, the second to the second, and so on.
Note that the "closest" mplsMnaLseFormatB and mplsMnaSubStack
Information Elements within a given Template are not necessarily
related. If there are fewer mplsMnaLseFormatB Information
Elements than mplsMnaSubStack Information Elements, then
subsequent mplsMnaSubStack Information Elements have no LSE Format
B information in this template. If there are more
mplsMnaLseFormatB Information Elements than the number of
mplsMnaSubStack Information Elements, then the additional
mplsMnaLseFormatB Information Elements are meaningless.
Abstract Data Type: octetArray
Data Type Semantics: default
Additional Information: See section 4.2 in [I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-hdr]
for the definition of LSE Format B.
Reference: This document.
3.2. IPFIX IEs for Post-Stack MNAs
3.2.1. mnaPostStackMplsHeaderSection
Name: mnaPostStackMplsHeaderSection
ElementID: TBD3
Description: The Post-Stack MPLS Header encoded after the Bottom of
the MPLS label stack. This Information Element has a variable
length.
Abstract Data Type: octetArray
Data Type Semantics: default
Additional Information: See section 3 of [I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-ps-hdr].
Reference: This document.
3.2.2. mnaPostStackMplsHeaderType
Name: mnaPostStackMplsHeaderType
ElementID: TBD4
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Description: This IE carries the Post-Stack MPLS Header Type defined
in section 3.2.1 of [I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-ps-hdr]. The Post-Stack
MPLS Header type is the top-header for all the Post-Stack Network
Actions that are encoded in the PSMH for each scope. The size of
this Information Element is 4 octets.
Abstract Data Type: octetArray
Data Type Semantics: default
Additional Information: See section 3.2.1 of
[I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-ps-hdr].
Reference: This document.
4. Operational Considerations
For the in-stack MNAs, as specified in [I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-hdr], the
presence of the MNA Sub-Stack Indicator is indicated by the MNA Sub-
Stack Indicator which is a Base Special-Purpose MPLS Label with value
TBA. To generate Flow Records with the in-Stack MNA IEs included,
the metering process MUST understand the MNA Sub-Stack Indicator. If
the Base Special-Purpose MPLS Label with value TBA is absent in the
label stack, when the in-Stack MNA IEs appear in the template record,
the corresponding field in the data record is RECOMMENDED to set to
all zeros.
For the post-stack MNAs, since the presence of the Post-Stack MPLS
Header is indicated by the P-bit in the LSE Format B
[I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-ps-hdr] which is carried in the label stack
following the MNA Sub-Stack Indicator, the metering process MUST
understand the MNA Sub-Stack Indicator and the P-bit in the LSE
Format B. Only when the P-bit is set SHOULD the metering process
capture the post-stack MNA information after the bottom of the stack.
5. Security Considerations
There are no additional security considerations regarding allocation
of these new IPFIX IEs compared to [RFC7012].
6. IANA Considerations
This document requests IANA to create new IEs under the "IPFIX
Information Elements" registry [RFC7012] available at [IANA-IPFIX].
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+------------+-------------------------------+---------------+
| Element ID | Name | Reference |
+------------+-------------------------------+---------------+
| TBD1 | mplsMnaSubStack | This document |
+------------+-------------------------------+---------------+
| TBD2 | mplsMnaLseFormatB | This document |
+------------+-------------------------------+---------------+
| TBD3 | mnaPostStackMplsHeaderSection | This document |
+------------+-------------------------------+---------------+
| TBD4 | mnaPostStackMplsHeaderType | This document |
+------------+-------------------------------+---------------+
Table 1: IPFIX Information Elements Registry
7. References
7.1. Normative References
[I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-hdr]
Rajamanickam, J., Gandhi, R., Zigler, R., Song, H., and K.
Kompella, "MPLS Network Action (MNA) Sub-Stack Solution",
Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-mpls-mna-hdr-
17, 1 December 2025,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-mpls-
mna-hdr-17>.
[I-D.ietf-mpls-mna-ps-hdr]
Rajamanickam, J., Gandhi, R., Zigler, R., Li, T., and J.
Dong, "Post-Stack MPLS Network Action (MNA) Solution",
Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-mpls-mna-ps-
hdr-04, 20 November 2025,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-mpls-
mna-ps-hdr-04>.
[IANA-IPFIX]
IANA, "IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Entities",
<https://www.iana.org/assignments/ipfix>.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC7011] Claise, B., Ed., Trammell, B., Ed., and P. Aitken,
"Specification of the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)
Protocol for the Exchange of Flow Information", STD 77,
RFC 7011, DOI 10.17487/RFC7011, September 2013,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7011>.
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[RFC7012] Claise, B., Ed. and B. Trammell, Ed., "Information Model
for IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)", RFC 7012,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7012, September 2013,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7012>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
7.2. Informative References
[RFC9789] Andersson, L., Bryant, S., Bocci, M., and T. Li, "MPLS
Network Actions (MNAs) Framework", RFC 9789,
DOI 10.17487/RFC9789, July 2025,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9789>.
Author's Address
Yao Liu
ZTE Corporation
China
Email: liu.yao71@zte.com.cn
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