LSR WG K. Kompella Internet-Draft HPE Updates: 5073 (if approved) 6 July 2026 Intended status: Standards Track Expires: 7 January 2027 Multipath Traffic Engineering Capabilities draft-kompella-lsr-mptecap-02 Abstract Multipath Traffic Engineering (MPTE) combines two approaches to traffic management: equal-cost multipath and constraint-based traffic engineering, offering a powerful new way to engineer networks. To avail of this, a node (possibly an ingress of a MPTE tunnel, or a path computation agent) must have information about the topology, link and node characteristics of a network so that it can compute the components of the MPTE tunnel. One important (node) characteristic is whether a given node supports MPTE, i.e., whether it can participate in the provisioning and maintenance of an MPTE tunnel. Multicast TE (MCTE) offers a more efficient approach to traffic engineering for multicast traffic. Again, an important node characteristic is whether a given node supports MCTE, i.e., whether it can participate in the provisioning and maintenance of an MCTE tunnel. This memo shows how these capabilities can be distributed in the IGP via Link State Routing TE Capabilities. Status of This Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on 7 January 2027. Kompella Expires 7 January 2027 [Page 1] Internet-Draft MPTE Cap July 2026 Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/ license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.1. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.1.1. Definition of Commonly Used Terms . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. MCTE/MPTE Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.1. MPTE Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2. MCTE Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. Introduction [I-D.kompella-teas-mpte] introduces the notion of multipath traffic engineering (MPTE). It describes how an entity (MPTE DAG computer or MC) can compute a directed acyclic graph (DAG) from one or more ingress nodes to one or more egress nodes that meets given traffic engineering (TE) constraints. The MC (usually one of the ingresses, or a path computation engine) will need information about the network to do the computation, most of which is available in IGP TE extensions. Once the computation is done, the MC communicates the result to the signaling source (SS) which then signals (or provisions) the MPTE tunnel via one of the following protocols: RSVP- TE [RFC3209], PCEP [RFC5440] or BGP [RFC4271]. One key piece of information that is not currently in the IGP extensions is whether or not a given node supports MPTE, i.e., is capable of sending and receiving MPTE updates that create and maintain the tunnel. An MPTE tunnel cannot be setup through such a node, and thus the MC has to take this into account. Kompella Expires 7 January 2027 [Page 2] Internet-Draft MPTE Cap July 2026 Similarly, [I-D.kompella-teas-mcte] proposes a new, more efficient approach to multicast traffic engineering (MCTE). There again, the MC would need to know if a given node can participate in an MCTE DAG. This memo fills this gap. 1.1. 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. These words may also appear in this document in lower case as plain English words, absent their normative meanings. 1.1.1. Definition of Commonly Used Terms This section provides definitions for terms and abbreviations that have a specific meaning to the MPTE protocol and that are used throughout this memo. constraints: desired properties of paths between ingresses and egresses. directed acyclic graph: a directed graph that has no cycles. directed graph (DAG): a set of nodes and directed links. A network is represented by a directed graph. egress: an end node of an MPTE DAG. ingress: a starting node of an MPTE DAG. MCTE: multicast TE with constraints that creates a multicast tree from an ingress to one or more egresses. MCTED: an MCTE DAG; the result of computation on MCTE constraints. MPTE: multipath TE with constraints that uses multiple paths from one or more ingresses to one or more egresses. MPTED: an MPTE DAG; the result of computation on MPTE constraints. MCTED/MPTED computer (MC): the entity computing the MCTED or MPTED, typically the ingress (if there is a single ingress) or a Path Computation Element Kompella Expires 7 January 2027 [Page 3] Internet-Draft MPTE Cap July 2026 node: a vertex of a graph. A node may have associated attributes. PCEP: Path Computation Element communication protocol. signaling source (SS): the initiator of MPTE signaling to establish, update or destroy an MPTE tunnel. TE: traffic engineering 2. MCTE/MPTE Capabilities [RFC5073] describes IGP protocol extension for the discovery of the TE capabilities of a node. This memo extends that with six new capabilities: 2.1. MPTE Capabilities * MPR bit: when set, this flag indicates that the node can process MPTE RSVP-TE messages. * MPP bit: when set, this flag indicates that the node can process MPTE PCEP messages. * MPB bit: when set, this flag indicates that the node can process MPTE BGP messages. 2.2. MCTE Capabilities * MCR bit: when set, this flag indicates that the node can process MCTE RSVP-TE messages. * MCP bit: when set, this flag indicates that the node can process MCTE PCEP messages. * MCB bit: when set, this flag indicates that the node can process MCTE BGP messages. These bits are encoded in the TE Node Capability Descriptor defined in [RFC5073]. This Descriptor is carried in ISIS and OSPF as defined in the same RFC. 3. IANA Considerations IANA is asked to allocate six bits for the above capabilities in the Link State Routing TE Capabilities registry. Kompella Expires 7 January 2027 [Page 4] Internet-Draft MPTE Cap July 2026 4. Security Considerations This document specifies the content of the TE Node Capability Descriptor TLV in IS-IS and OSPF to be used for MPLS-TE path computation. As this TLV is not used for SPF computation or normal routing, the extensions specified here have no direct effect on IP routing. Tampering with this TLV may have an effect on Traffic Engineering computation. Mechanisms defined to secure IS-IS Link State PDUs [RFC3567], OSPF LSAs [RFC2154], and their TLVs can be used to secure this TLV as well. 5. References 5.1. Normative References [I-D.kompella-teas-mcte] Kompella, K., "Multicast Traffic Engineering", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-kompella-teas-mcte-00, 6 July 2026, . [I-D.kompella-teas-mpte] Kompella, K., Jalil, L., Khaddam, M., and A. Smith, "Multipath Traffic Engineering", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-kompella-teas-mpte-03, 6 July 2026, . [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997, . [RFC5073] Vasseur, J.P., Ed. and J.L. Le Roux, Ed., "IGP Routing Protocol Extensions for Discovery of Traffic Engineering Node Capabilities", RFC 5073, DOI 10.17487/RFC5073, December 2007, . [RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, May 2017, . 5.2. Informative References [RFC2154] Murphy, S., Badger, M., and B. Wellington, "OSPF with Digital Signatures", RFC 2154, DOI 10.17487/RFC2154, June 1997, . Kompella Expires 7 January 2027 [Page 5] Internet-Draft MPTE Cap July 2026 [RFC3209] Awduche, D., Berger, L., Gan, D., Li, T., Srinivasan, V., and G. Swallow, "RSVP-TE: Extensions to RSVP for LSP Tunnels", RFC 3209, DOI 10.17487/RFC3209, December 2001, . [RFC3567] Li, T. and R. Atkinson, "Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) Cryptographic Authentication", RFC 3567, DOI 10.17487/RFC3567, July 2003, . [RFC4271] Rekhter, Y., Ed., Li, T., Ed., and S. Hares, Ed., "A Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", RFC 4271, DOI 10.17487/RFC4271, January 2006, . [RFC5440] Vasseur, JP., Ed. and JL. Le Roux, Ed., "Path Computation Element (PCE) Communication Protocol (PCEP)", RFC 5440, DOI 10.17487/RFC5440, March 2009, . Author's Address Kireeti Kompella HPE Sunnyvale, California 94089 United States of America Email: kireeti.ietf@gmail.com Kompella Expires 7 January 2027 [Page 6]