Network Working Group F. Templin, Ed.
Internet-Draft Boeing Research & Technology
Updates: RFC2784, RFC2890 (if approved) January 26, 2016
Intended status: Informational
Expires: July 29, 2016

GRE Tunnel Fragmentation
draft-templin-intarea-grefrag-02.txt

Abstract

GRE tunnels use IPv4 or IPv6 fragmentation of the delivery packet when the delivery packet exceeds the tunnel MTU, or when otherwise necessary. This can cause problems when unmitigated IPv4 fragemntation ensues, or when middleboxes drop IPv6 fragments unconditionally. This document introduces GRE tunnel fragmentation which avoids these pitfalls..

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

GRE is specified in the following RFCs: [RFC2784][RFC2890][RFC7676]. [RFC7588] further discusses GRE fragmentation considerations. In its current manifestation, GRE allows for fragmentation of the payload packet only if it is an IPv4 packet with the Don't Fragment (DF) bit set to 0. GRE also allows for fragmentation of the delivery packet, but this can cause problems in some applications. A third option (introduced here) is for the GRE tunnel to perform tunnel fragmentation and reassembly on the payload packet.

In this way, the ingress can fragment the payload packet (while treating the payload packet's headers as ordinary data) and encapsulate each fragment in a separate delivery header. The GRE header requires a new fragment header field to support this.

This tunnel fragmentation method was first suggested in Section 3.1.7 of [RFC2764], and also appears in more recent works [I-D.templin-aerolink] [I-D.herbert-gue-fragmentation].

2. GRE Fragmentation Header

Figure 1 shows the GRE header as specified in [RFC2784][RFC2890] but with a new optional "Fragment Header" and a new control bit "F":

    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |C| |K|S|F|   Reserved0   | Ver |         Protocol Type         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      Checksum (optional)      |       Reserved1 (Optional)    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         Key (optional)                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                 Sequence Number (Optional)                    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                 Fragment Header (Optional)                    |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Figure 1: GRE Header with Fragment Header

In this format, when the "F" bit is set to 1 the GRE header includes a Fragment header formatted as specified in Section 4.5 of [RFC2460].

3. GRE Tunnel Fragmentation Procedures

GRE tunnel fragmentation treats the entire GRE payload packet (including the payload headers) as opaque data. The GRE tunnel ingress breaks the payload packet into N fragments and encapsulates each fragment in a separate GRE header and GRE delivery header. The first fragment therefore includes the GRE payload headers and first portion of the GRE payload data, while subsequent fragments include the remaining portions of the GRE payload data. The GRE tunnel ingress then sends each fragment to the GRE tunnel egress. Apart from the appearance of the Fragment Header within the GRE header, the fragmentation procedure is the same as for IPv6 fragmentation.

When the GRE tunnel egress receives the fragments, it reassembles the GRE payload packet by concatenating the data portions of each fragment according to their offsets. Apart from the appearance of the Fragment Header within the GRE header, the reassembly procedure is the same as for IPv6 reassembly.

In order to support this fragmentation and reassembly procedure, the GRE tunnel ingress must know the maximum sized packet the GRE tunnel egress is capable of reassembling, i.e., the Maximum Reassembly Unit (MRU). The GRE tunnnel egress MUST therefore configure a minimum MRU of 2KB, and MAY configure a larger MRU.

4. IANA Considerations

This document introduces no IANA considerations.

5. Security Considerations

TBD.

6. Acknowledgements

TBD

7. References

7.1. Normative References

[RFC0791] Postel, J., "Internet Protocol", STD 5, RFC 791, DOI 10.17487/RFC0791, September 1981.
[RFC2460] Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification", RFC 2460, DOI 10.17487/RFC2460, December 1998.
[RFC2764] Gleeson, B., Lin, A., Heinanen, J., Armitage, G. and A. Malis, "A Framework for IP Based Virtual Private Networks", RFC 2764, DOI 10.17487/RFC2764, February 2000.
[RFC2784] Farinacci, D., Li, T., Hanks, S., Meyer, D. and P. Traina, "Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)", RFC 2784, DOI 10.17487/RFC2784, March 2000.
[RFC2890] Dommety, G., "Key and Sequence Number Extensions to GRE", RFC 2890, DOI 10.17487/RFC2890, September 2000.
[RFC7588] Bonica, R., Pignataro, C. and J. Touch, "A Widely Deployed Solution to the Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) Fragmentation Problem", RFC 7588, DOI 10.17487/RFC7588, July 2015.
[RFC7676] Pignataro, C., Bonica, R. and S. Krishnan, "IPv6 Support for Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)", RFC 7676, DOI 10.17487/RFC7676, October 2015.

7.2. Informative References

[I-D.herbert-gue-fragmentation] Herbert, T. and F. Templin, "Fragmentation option for Generic UDP Encapsulation", Internet-Draft draft-herbert-gue-fragmentation-02, October 2015.
[I-D.templin-aerolink] Templin, F., "Asymmetric Extended Route Optimization (AERO)", Internet-Draft draft-templin-aerolink-65, January 2016.

Author's Address

Fred L. Templin (editor) Boeing Research & Technology P.O. Box 3707 Seattle, WA 98124 USA EMail: fltemplin@acm.org