Configure Segment Routing Path Computation Element

The Segment Routing Path Computation Element (SR-PCE) provides stateful PCE functionality by extending the existing IOS-XR PCEP functionality with additional capabilities. SR-PCE is supported on the MPLS data plane and IPv4 control plane.

About SR-PCE

The path computation element protocol (PCEP) describes a set of procedures by which a path computation client (PCC) can report and delegate control of head-end label switched paths (LSPs) sourced from the PCC to a PCE peer. The PCE can request the PCC to update and modify parameters of LSPs it controls. The stateful model also enables a PCC to allow the PCE to initiate computations allowing the PCE to perform network-wide orchestration.

SR-PCE learns topology information by way of IGP (OSPF or IS-IS) or through BGP Link-State (BGP-LS).

SR-PCE is capable of computing paths using the following methods:

  • TE metric—SR-PCE uses the TE metric in its path calculations to optimize cumulative TE metric.

  • IGP metric—SR-PCE uses the IGP metric in its path calculations to optimize reachability.

  • LSP Disjointness—SR-PCE uses the path computation algorithms to compute a pair of disjoint LSPs. The disjoint paths can originate from the same head-end or different head-ends. Disjoint level refers to the type of resources that should not be shared by the two computed paths. SR-PCE supports the following disjoint path computations:

    • Link – Specifies that links are not shared on the computed paths.

    • Node – Specifies that nodes are not shared on the computed paths.

    • SRLG – Specifies that links with the same SRLG value are not shared on the computed paths.

    • SRLG-node – Specifies that SRLG and nodes are not shared on the computed paths.

    When the first request is received with a given disjoint-group ID, the first LSP is computed, encoding the shortest path from the first source to the first destination. When the second LSP request is received with the same disjoint-group ID, information received in both requests is used to compute two disjoint paths: one path from the first source to the first destination, and another path from the second source to the second destination. Both paths are computed at the same time.

Configure SR-PCE

This task explains how to configure SR-PCE.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. configure
  2. pce
  3. address ipv4 address
  4. state-sync ipv4 address
  5. tcp-buffer size size
  6. password { clear | encrypted} password
  7. segment-routing { strict-sid-only | te-latency}
  8. timers
  9. keepalive time
  10. minimum-peer-keepalive time
  11. reoptimization time
  12. exit

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router# configure

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

pce

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config)# pce

Enables PCE and enters PCE configuration mode.

Step 3

address ipv4 address

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce)# address ipv4 192.168.0.1

Configures a PCE IPv4 address.

Step 4

state-sync ipv4 address

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce)# state-sync ipv4 192.168.0.3

Configures the remote peer for state synchronization.

Step 5

tcp-buffer size size

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce)# tcp-buffer size 1024000

Configures the transmit and receive TCP buffer size for each PCEP session, in bytes. The default buffer size is 256000. The valid range is from 204800 to 1024000.

Step 6

password { clear | encrypted} password

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce)# password encrypted pwd1

Enables TCP MD5 authentication for all PCEP peers. Any TCP segment coming from the PCC that does not contain a MAC matching the configured password will be rejected. Specify if the password is encrypted or clear text.

Step 7

segment-routing { strict-sid-only | te-latency}

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce)# segment-routing strict-sid-only

Configures the segment routing algorithm to use strict SID or TE latency.

Note 
This setting is global and applies to all LSPs that request a path from this controller.

Step 8

timers

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce)# timers

Enters timer configuration mode.

Step 9

keepalive time

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce-timers)# keepalive 60

Configures the timer value for locally generated keep-alive messages. The default time is 30 seconds.

Step 10

minimum-peer-keepalive time

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce-timers)# minimum-peer-keepalive 30

Configures the minimum acceptable keep-alive timer that the remote peer may propose in the PCEP OPEN message during session establishment. The default time is 20 seconds.

Step 11

reoptimization time

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce-timers)# reoptimization 600

Configures the re-optimization timer. The default timer is 1800 seconds.

Step 12

exit

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce-timers)# exit

Exits timer configuration mode and returns to PCE configuration mode.

Configure the Disjoint Policy (Optional)

This task explains how to configure the SR-PCE to compute disjointness for a pair of LSPs signaled by PCCs that do not include the PCEP association group-ID object in their PCEP request. This can be beneficial for deployments where PCCs do not support this PCEP object or when the network operator prefers to manage the LSP disjoint configuration centrally.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. disjoint-path
  2. group-id value type { link | node | srlg | srlg-node} [ sub-id value]
  3. strict
  4. lsp { 1 | 2} pcc ipv4 address lsp-name lsp_name [ shortest-path]

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

disjoint-path

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce)# disjoint-path

Enters disjoint configuration mode.

Step 2

group-id value type { link | node | srlg | srlg-node} [ sub-id value]

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce-disjoint)# group-id 1 type node sub-id 1

Configures the disjoint group ID and defines the preferred level of disjointness (the type of resources that should not be shared by the two paths):

  • link—Specifies that links are not shared on the computed paths.

  • node—Specifies that nodes are not shared on the computed paths.

  • srlg—Specifies that links with the same SRLG value are not shared on the computed paths.

  • srlg-node—Specifies that SRLG and nodes are not shared on the computed paths.

If a pair of paths that meet the requested disjointness level cannot be found, then the paths will automatically fallback to a lower level:

  • If the requested disjointness level is SRLG or node, then link-disjoint paths will be computed.

  • If the requested disjointness level was link, or if the first fallback from SRLG or node disjointness failed, then the lists of segments encoding two shortest paths, without any disjointness constraint, will be computed.

Step 3

strict

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce-disjoint)# strict

(Optional) Prevents the automatic fallback behavior of the preferred level of disjointness. If a pair of paths that meet the requested disjointness level cannot be found, the disjoint calculation terminates and no new path is provided. The existing path is not modified.

Step 4

lsp { 1 | 2} pcc ipv4 address lsp-name lsp_name [ shortest-path]

Example:


RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce-disjoint)# lsp 1 pcc ipv4 192.168.0.1 lsp-name rtrA_t1 shortest-path
RP/0/RP0/CPU0:router(config-pce-disjoint)# lsp 2 pcc ipv4 192.168.0.5 lsp-name rtrE_t2

Adds LSPs to the disjoint group.

The shortest-path keyword forces one of the disjoint paths to follow the shortest path from the source to the destination. This option can only be applied to the the first LSP specified.

PCE-Initiated SR Policies

Use cases based on centralized optimization, such as congestion mitigation solutions, rely on the ability of the PCE to signal and instantiate SR-TE policies in the network. We refer to this as PCE-initiated SR-TE policies.

PCE-initiated SR-TE policies can be triggered via Crossworks Network Controller (recommended approach) or via CLI at the PCE.

For more information on configuring SR-TE policies, see the SR-TE Policy Overview.

The PCE deploys the SR-TE policy using PCC-PCE communication protocol (PCEP).

  1. PCE sends a PCInitiate message to the PCC.

  2. If the PCInitiate message is valid, the PCC sends a PCRpt message; otherwise, it sends PCErr message.

  3. If the PCInitiate message is accepted, the PCE updates the SR-TE policy by sending PCUpd message.

You can achieve high-availability by configuring multiple PCEs with SR-TE policies. If the head-end (PCC) loses connectivity with one PCE, another PCE can assume control of the SR-TE policy.

Configuration Example: PCE-Initiated SR Policy with Explicit SID List

To configure a PCE-initiated SR-TE policy, you must complete the following configurations:

  1. Enter PCE configuration mode.

  2. Create the segment list.


    Note
    When configuring an explicit path using IP addresses of intermediate links, the SR-TE process selects either the protected or the unprotected Adj-SID of the link, depending on the order in which the Adj-SIDs were received.

  3. Create the policy.


/* Enter PCE configuration mode and create the SR-TE segment lists */
Router# configure
Router(config)# pce

/* Create the SR-TE segment lists */
Router(config-pce)# segment-routing
Router(config-pce-sr)# traffic-eng
Router(config-pce-sr-te)# segment-list name addr2a
Router(config-pce-sr-te-sl)# index 10 address ipv4 10.1.1.2
Router(config-pce-sr-te-sl)# index 20 address ipv4 10.2.3.2
Router(config-pce-sr-te-sl)# index 30 address ipv4 10.1.1.4
Router(config-pce-sr-te-sl)# exit

/* Create the SR-TE policy */
Router(config-pce-sr-te)# peer ipv4 10.1.1.1
Router(config-pce-sr-te)# policy P1
Router(config-pce-sr-te-policy)# color 2 end-point ipv4 2.2.2.2
Router(config-pce-sr-te-policy)# candidate-paths
Router(config-pce-sr-te-policy-path)# preference 50
Router(config-pce-sr-te-policy-path-preference)# explicit segment-list addr2a
Router(config-pce-sr-te-pp-info)# commit
Router(config-pce-sr-te-pp-info)# end
Router(config)#

Running Config


pce
 segment-routing
  traffic-eng
   segment-list name addr2a
    index 10 address ipv4 10.1.1.2
    index 20 address ipv4 10.2.3.2
    index 30 address ipv4 10.1.1.4
   !
   peer ipv4 10.1.1.1
    policy P1
     color 2 end-point ipv4 2.2.2.2
     candidate-paths
      preference 50
       explicit segment-list addr2a
      !
     !

ACL Support for PCEP Connection

PCE protocol (PCEP) (RFC5440) is a client-server model running over TCP/IP, where the server (PCE) opens a port and the clients (PCC) initiate connections. After the peers establish a TCP connection, they create a PCE session on top of it.

The ACL Support for PCEP Connection feature provides a way to protect a PCE server using an Access Control List (ACL) to restrict IPv4 PCC peers at the time the TCP connection is created based on the source address of a client. When a client initiates the TCP connection, the ACL is referenced, and the client source address is compared. The ACL can either permit or deny the address and the TCP connection will proceed or not.

Refer to the Implementing Access Lists and Prefix Lists chapter in the IP Addresses and Services Configuration Guide for Cisco NCS 5500 Series Routers for detailed ACL configuration information.

To apply an ACL to the PCE, use the pce peer-filter ipv4 access-list acl_name command.

The following example shows how to configure an ACL and apply it to the PCE:


pce
 address ipv4 10.1.1.5
 peer-filter ipv4 access-list sample-peer-filter
!
ipv4 access-list sample-peer-filter
 10 permit ipv4 host 10.1.1.6 any
 20 permit ipv4 host 10.1.1.7 any
 30 deny ipv4 any any
!

Anycast SID-Aware Path Computation

This feature allows the SR-TE head-end or SR-PCE to compute a path that is encoded using Anycast prefix SIDs of nodes along the path.

An Anycast SID is a type of prefix SID that identifies a set of nodes and is configured with n-flag clear. The set of nodes (Anycast group) is configured to advertise a shared prefix address and prefix SID. Anycast routing enables the steering of traffic toward multiple advertising nodes, providing load-balancing and redundancy. Packets addressed to an Anycast address are forwarded to the topologically nearest nodes.


Note
For information on configuring Anycast SID, see Configuring a Prefix-SID on the IS-IS Enabled Loopback Interface and Configuring a Prefix-SID on the OSPF-Enabled Loopback Interface.

This example shows how Anycast SIDs are inserted into a computed SID list.

The following figure shows 3 isolated IGP domains without redistribution and without BGP 3107. Each Area Border Router (ABR) 1 through 4 is configured with a node SID. ABRs 1 and 2 share Anycast SID 16012 and ABRs 3 and 4 share Anycast SID 16034.

Consider the case where nodes A and Z are provider edge (PE) routers in the same VPN. Node A receives a VPN route with BGP next-hop to node Z. Node A resolves the SR path to node Z based on ODN behaviors with delegation of path computation to SR-PCE.

Before considering Anycast SIDs, the head-end router or SR-PCE computes the SID list.

Assume that the computed path from node A to node Z traverses node 2 and node 4. This translates to SID list {16002, 16004, 1600Z} when node SIDs are leveraged to encode the path.

When an Anycast SID-aware path is requested, the path computation algorithm performs the following:

  • Path Computation—Computes the path according to optimization objectives and constraints

  • Path Encoding—Encodes the path in a SID list leveraging node-SIDs and adj-SIDs as applicable

  • Anycast SID Replacement—Reiterates the original SID list by replacing node SIDs with Anycast SIDs present on the nodes along the computed path.

  • Optimality Validation—The new paths are validated against the original optimization objectives and constraints (maintain same cumulative metric as original SID list and do not violate path constraints).

  • Anycast SID Promotion—If the optimality validation is successful, then the Anycast-encoded SID list is signaled and instantiated in the forwarding.

The following figure depicts cumulative metrics between nodes in the network.

Under these conditions, the optimality check is met, and therefore, the Anycast-encoded SID list from node A to node Z is {16012,16034,1600Z}.

The Anycast SID aware path computation also provides resiliency. For example, if one of the ABRs (in this case, ABR 1) becomes unavailable or unreachable, the path from node A to node Z {16012,16034,1600Z} will still be valid and usable.

Configuration Examples

  1. Configure Prefix SIDs on the ABR nodes.

    1. Configure each node with a node SID.

    2. Configure each group of nodes with a shared Anycast SID.

    See Configuring a Prefix-SID on the IS-IS Enabled Loopback Interface and Configuring a Prefix-SID on the OSPF-Enabled Loopback Interface.

  2. Configure SR policies to include Anycast SIDs for path computation using the anycast-sid-inclusion command.

    This example shows how to configure a local SR policy to include Anycast SIDs for PCC-initiated path computation at the head-end router: 

    Router(config)# segment-routing traffic-eng 
Router(config-sr-te)# policy FOO
Router(config-sr-te-policy)# color 10 end-point ipv4 10.1.1.10
Router(config-sr-te-policy)# candidate-paths 
Router(config-sr-te-policy-path)# preference 100
Router(config-sr-te-policy-path-pref)# dynamic 
Router(config-sr-te-pp-info)# anycast-sid-inclusion

Running Configuration

Use the anycast-sid-inclusion command to request Anycast SID-aware path computation for the following SR policy types:

  • Local SR policy with PCC-initiated path computation at the head-end router:

    segment-routing
  traffic-eng
    policy FOO
      color 10 end-point ipv4 10.1.1.10
      candidate-paths
        preference 100
          dynamic
            anycast-sid-inclusion

  • Local SR policy with PCC-initiated/PCE-delegated path computation at the SR-PCE:

    segment-routing
 traffic-eng
  policy BAR
   color 20 end-point ipv4 10.1.1.20
    candidate-paths
     preference 100
      dynamic
       pcep
       anycast-sid-inclusion

  • On-demand SR policies with a locally computed dynamic path at the head-end, or centrally computed dynamic path at the SR-PCE:

    segment-routing
  traffic-eng
   on-demand color 10
    dynamic
     anycast-sid-inclusion

  • On-demand SR policies with centrally computed dynamic path at the SR-PCE:

    segment-routing
 traffic-eng
  on-demand color 20
   dynamic
    pcep
    anycast-sid-inclusion

SR-PCE IPv4 Unnumbered Interface Support

This feature allows IPv4 unnumbered interfaces to be part of an SR-PCE topology database.

An unnumbered IPv4 interface is not identified by its own unique IPv4 address. Instead, it is identified by the router ID of the node where this interfaces resides and the local SNMP index assigned for this interface.

This feature provides enhancements to the following components:

  • IGPs (IS-IS and OSPF):

    • Support the IPv4 unnumbered interfaces in the SR-TE context by flooding the necessary interface information in the topology

  • SR-PCE:


    Note
    SR-PCE and path computation clients (PCCs) need to be running Cisco IOS XR 7.0.2 or later.

    • Compute and return paths from a topology containing IPv4 unnumbered interfaces.

    • Process reported SR policies from a head-end router that contain hops with IPv4 unnumbered adjacencies.

      PCEP extensions for IPv4 unnumbered interfaces adhere to IETF RFC8664 “PCEP Extensions for Segment Routing” (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc8664/). The unnumbered hops use a Node or Adjacency Identifier (NAI) of type 5. This indicates that the segment in the explicit routing object (ERO) is an unnumbered adjacency with an IPv4 ID and an interface index.

  • SR-TE process at the head-end router:

    • Compute its own local path over a topology, including unnumbered interfaces.

    • Process PCE-computed paths that contain hops with IPv4 unnumbered interfaces.

    • Report a path that contains hops with IPv4 unnumbered interfaces to the PCE.

Configuration Example

The following example shows how to configure an IPv4 unnumbered interface:

RP/0/0/CPU0:rtrA(config)# interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0
RP/0/0/CPU0:rtrA(config-if)# ipv4 point-to-point 
RP/0/0/CPU0:rtrA(config-if)# ipv4 unnumbered Loopback0

To bring up the IPv4 unnumbered adjacency under the IGP, configure the link as point-to-point under the IGP configuration. The following example shows how to configure the link as point-to-point under the IGP configuration: 

RP/0/0/CPU0:rtrA(config)# router ospf one
RP/0/0/CPU0:rtrA(config-ospf)# area 0
RP/0/0/CPU0:rtrA(config-ospf-ar)# interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0
RP/0/0/CPU0:rtrA(config-ospf-ar-if)# network point-to-point

Verification

Use the show ipv4 interface command to display information about the interface: 

RP/0/0/CPU0:rtrA# show ipv4 interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0 brief
Tue Apr  2 12:59:53.140 EDT
Interface                      IP-Address      Status                Protocol
GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0         192.168.0.1     Up                    Up

This interface shows the IPv4 address of Loopback0.

Use the show snmp interface command to find the SNMP index for this interface: 

RP/0/0/CPU0:rtrA# show snmp interface
Tue Apr  2 13:02:49.190 EDT
ifName : Null0                 ifIndex : 3
ifName : Loopback0             ifIndex : 10
ifName : GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0  ifIndex : 6

The interface is identified with the pair (IPv4:192.168.0.1, index:6).

Use the show ospf neighbor command to display the adjacency: 

RP/0/0/CPU0:rtrA# show ospf neighbor gigabitEthernet 0/0/0/0 detail
…
Neighbor 192.168.0.4, interface address 192.168.0.4
    In the area 0 via interface GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0
    Neighbor priority is 1, State is FULL, 6 state changes
    …
    Adjacency SIDs:
        Label: 24001,    Dynamic, Unprotected
    Neighbor Interface ID: 4

The output of the show pce ipv4 topology command is enhanced to display the interface index instead of the IP address for unnumbered interfaces: 

RP/0/0/CPU0:sr-pce# show pce ipv4 topology
…
  Link[2]: unnumbered local index 6, remote index 4
    Local node:
      OSPF router ID: 192.168.0.1 area ID: 0 ASN: 0
    Remote node:
      TE router ID: 192.168.0.4
      OSPF router ID: 192.168.0.4 area ID: 0 ASN: 0
    Metric: IGP 1, TE 1, Latency 1 microseconds
    Bandwidth: Total 125000000 Bps, Reservable 0 Bps
    Admin-groups: 0x00000000
    Adj SID: 24001 (unprotected)

The output of show pce lsp detail command includes unnumbered hops: 

RP/0/0/CPU0:sr-pce# show pce lsp detail
…
   Reported path:
     Metric type: TE, Accumulated Metric 3
      SID[0]: Adj unnumbered, Label 24001, local 192.168.0.1(6), remote 192.168.0.4(4)
      SID[1]: Adj unnumbered, Label 24002, local 192.168.0.4(7), remote 192.168.0.3(7)
      SID[2]: Adj unnumbered, Label 24000, local 192.168.0.3(5), remote 192.168.0.2(5)
   Computed path: (Local PCE)
     Computed Time: Wed Apr 03 11:01:46 EDT 2019 (00:01:06 ago)
     Metric type: TE, Accumulated Metric 3
      SID[0]: Adj unnumbered, Label 24001, local 192.168.0.1(6), remote 192.168.0.4(4)
      SID[1]: Adj unnumbered, Label 24002, local 192.168.0.4(7), remote 192.168.0.3(7)
      SID[2]: Adj unnumbered, Label 24000, local 192.168.0.3(5), remote 192.168.0.2(5)