IP Address Management

Feature Summary and Revision History

Summary Data

Table 1. Summary Data

Applicable Product(s) or Functional Area

cnBNG

Applicable Platform(s)

SMI

Feature Default Setting

Disabled - Configuration Required

Related Changes in this Release

Not Applicable

Related Documentation

Not Applicable

Revision History

Table 2. Revision History
Revision Details Release

Introduced support for Variable Chunk Size for an IPAM Data Plane.

2024.01.0

Introduced support for the Static IP Mapping Database.

2022.02.0

Enhancement Introduced:

The IPAM feature is NSO-integrated.

2021.04.0

The following sections were added:

  • Configuration Recommendations

  • IPAM Enhancements

  • Static IP Pool Enhancements

 2021.03.0

First introduced.

2021.01.0

Feature Description


Note
This feature is Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) integrated.

IP Address Management (IPAM) is a method of tracking and managing IP addresses of a network. IPAM is one of the core components of the subscriber management system. Traditional IPAM functionalities are insufficient in Cloud-Native network deployments. Hence, IPAM requires additional functionalities to work with the Cloud-Native subscriber management system. The Cloud-Native IPAM system is used in various network functions, such as Session Management function (SMF), Policy Charging function (PCF), and Broadband Network Gateway (BNG).

The IPAM system includes the following functionalities to serve the Cloud Native and Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS) architecture:

  • Centralized IP Resource Management—Based on the needs of the Internet Service Provider (ISP), the Control Plane (CP) is deployed either on a single (centralized) cluster or multiple (distributed) clusters. For multiple cluster deployments, the IPAM automatically manages the single IP address space across the multiple CPs that are deployed in the distributed environment.

  • IP Address-Range Reservation per User Plane—For subscribers connecting to the Internet core, the User Plane (UP) provides the physical connectivity. The UP uses the summary-routes to advertise subscriber routes to the Internet core. For CPs that are managing multiple UPs, the CP reserves a converged IP subnet to the UPs. In such a scenario, the IPAM splits the available address space into smaller address-ranges and assigns it to different UPs.

  • IP Address Assignment from Pre-Reserved Address-Ranges—When subscribers request for an IP address, the IPAM assigns addresses from the pre-reserved address range of their respective UP.

IPAM Components

This section describes the different components of the IPAM system.

IPAM Sub-Modules

The IPAM functionalities are categorized in the following sub-modules:

IPAM Server

This module manages the complete list of pools and address-space configurations. It splits the configured address-ranges into smaller address-ranges (statically or dynamically) to distribute it to the IPAM Cache modules. The IPAM server can be deployed as a centralized entity to serve a group of CN clusters or as an integrated entity within a single cluster.

IPAM Cache

This module acquires the free address-ranges from the IPAM server and allocates individual IP addresses to the IPAM clients. The IPAM cache is generally deployed in the Distributed mode running within each cluster, to communicate with the co-located or remotely located IPAM server. It is also responsible for address-range reservation per UP and pool threshold monitoring. The IPAM server and cache modules can also run in an integrated mode.

IPAM Client

This module is tightly coupled with its respective network-function, responsible for handling request and release of individual IP address from the IPAM cache for each IP managed end-device.

Unlike the IPAM server and cache module, the IPAM client caters to use-cases specific to network-functions such as BNG, SMF, PCF, and so on.

IPAM Integration in cnBNG

The Cloud-Native Broadband Network Gateway (cnBNG) function comprises of loosely coupled microservices that provide the functionality of the BNG. The decomposition of these microservices is based on the following three-layered architecture:

  1. Layer 1: Protocol and Load Balancer Services (Stateless)

  2. Layer 2: Application services (Stateless)

  3. Layer 3: Database Services (Stateful)

The IPAM and cnBNG integration occurs in the Application Services layer.

BNG Node Manager Application—The BNG Node Manager application is responsible for the User Plane function (UPF) management, ID and resource management, and IP address management. Therefore, the IPAM Cache is integrated as part of this microservice.

Also, the UPF uses the IPAM Client module for address-range-reservation per UPF.

BNG DHCP and PPPOE Application—The BNG-DHCP and BNG-PPOE pods are responsible for providing IP addresses to the BNG subscriber session. During session bring-up, the IP address is requested and during session bring-down, the IP address is released back. These First Sign of Life (FSOL) applications send the inter-process communications (IPC) to the Resource Manager (RMGR) component in the NodeMgr. The NodeMgr receives the IPC and invokes the IPAM component.

IPAM Server Application—Based on the deployment model, the IPAM Server runs as an independent microservice as part of the same cluster or in a remote cluster.

In standalone deployments, the IPAM Server functionality is an integral part of the IPAM Cache, that is, it runs as part of the Node Manager microservice itself.

Configuration Recommendations

This section provides the following configuration recommendations.

Pool-Size Configuration

While configuring the pool-size, the recommendation is to keep additional buffer of IPs for undisturbed subscriber churn. Consider the following recommendations:

  • Released IPs become part of the quarantine queue depending on the quarantine configuration. These IPs cannot be reused until they are free.

  • Due to the threshold logic, the CP automatically reserves additional chunks to the User Plane function (UPF) when required. It is based on a first-come-first-server basis.

    In a multiple UPF sharing a pool use case, whichever UPF hits the threshold first is given a chunk. Therefore, free chunks may not be available for other UPFs. That is, 100% pool utilization may not occur for a given pool in certain conditions. In this scenario, configure additional IPs accordingly or split into multiple pools per UPF.

Split-Size Configuration

While configuring the split-size of a dynamic pool, consider the following recommendations:

  • Number of IPs in pool

  • Total number of subscribers. That is, the number of IPs versus the percentage of the number of sessions.

  • Number of UPFs sharing the pool

  • Number of sessions per UPF. That is, the number of sessions versus the percentage of the number of UPFs.

  • Quarantine time of the pool

  • Churn rate. That is CPS of IP allocation, CPS of IP release.

  • Max routes a UPF can support (example: ASR9k supports 32 routes per loopback in Release 7.4.x/7.5.x)

Each Node Manager (nodemgr) uses per-cache as the split-size of the chunk.

Each UPF is assigned per-dp as the split-size of a chunk.

Each Node Manager reserves chunk of per-cache size and further splits (if-applicable) and assigns them to a UPF.

A chunk can be in one of the following states:

  • <upf-name> (means, this chunk is assigned to an UPF)

  • Free:CP (means, it is free in the cache-pod, any Node Manager can use it)

  • Free:NM0 (means, it is free in the Node Manager instance-0. Only this Node Manager can use it)

  • Free:NM1 (means, it is free in the Node Manager instance-1. Only this Node Manager can use it)

  • QT:NM0 (means, it is in quarantine in the Node Manage instance-0. This is moved to free after quarantine timer expiry)

  • QT:NM1 (means, it is in quarantine the Node Manage instance-1. This is moved to free after quarantine timer expiry)

Threshold Configuration

Changing threshold configuration on-the-fly takes effect only after the next event, such as address-allocation or address-delete. On an idle-system, there may not be any immediate action.

Variable Chunk Size Support for an IPAM Data Plane

You can now configure multiple pools of IP addresses, each with different chunk sizes for a given IPAM Data Plane (SRG group in SRG deployment, or an UPF in non-SRG deployment). This configuration would require an administrator to divide the available IP ranges into different pools, which might pose challenges in effectively using the IP addresses. To overcome this issue, you can initially configure a reasonable number of IP addresses in the pools as per the deployment plan. By monitoring the IP chunk usage per pool, you can then provide additional IP ranges as required. You can also use a metric to monitor the chunk usage for each pool.

To associate multiple pools to a DHCP profile, you can now attach a pool-tag, which in turn can be associated with one or more pools. In tag-based IP allocation for a given DP, the first chunk is allocated from the highest priority pool (for example, priority 0) for the specified tag, and the next chunk is allocated from the second highest priority pool (priority 1). If one chunk gets allocated from both the pools that are associated to a tag, any subsequent chunk requirement utilizes the least priority pool.

For configuration details, see Configuring Variable Chunk Size Support for an IPAM Data Plane section.

Limitations for Variable Chunk Size Support for an IPAM Data Plane

  • This feature is supported only for IPoE subscribers.

  • Presently, only two chunk sizes (2 pools) are supported for a given Data Plane.

  • Configuring same priority for different pools that are associated with the same pool tag is not supported.

  • In a DHCP profile, you can either configure pool-name or pool-group-tag. Configuring both together is not supported.

  • You cannot change the Pool priority dynamically. Priority must be specified when the pool is configured. The default value is 0.

  • You cannot change the Tag configuration under a pool dynamically. Tag information must be configured when the pool is configured.

How it Works

This section describes the call flow pertaining to the integration of the IPAM in the cnBNG.

Call Flows

This section describes the following IPAM call flows in cnBNG:

  • IPAM initial sequence call flow

  • IPAM call flow

  • IPAM static-pool call flow

IPAM Initial Sequence Call Flow

This section describes the cnBNG initial sequence call-flow.

Figure 1. IPAM Initial Sequence Call Flow


Table 3. IPAM Initial Sequence Call Flow Description

Step

Description

1

IPAM reads the required environments, registers with the application infrastructure for log-tags, metrics, and database connection.

2

IPAM restores the previous state from the cache-pod, if present.

3

IPAM registers for configuration change and applies the new configuration change, if any. -change, apply new config-changes if any

IPAM Call Flow

This section describes the cnBNG IPAM call-flow.

Figure 2. IPAM Call Flow


Table 4. IPAM Call Flow Description

Step

Description

1

IPAM receives the ‘addr-alloc’ request from the DHCP or PPPoE pod with pool-name, addr-type and user plane function (UPF) as input.

2

IPAM reserves a new address-range (if not already present for UPF) and sends a ROUTE-ADD message to the UPF. It waits for a success or failure response. If the receives a failure response, it removes the chunk and repeats this step.

3

IPAM reserves a free-IP from the assigned address-range and returns to the DHCP or PPPoE.

4

IPAM monitors the ‘upper-threshold’ for each UPF during each IP address-allocation and also has a background thread that monitors. It then assigns new address-ranges to the UPF and repeats the ROUTE-ADD flow.

5

IPAM receives the ‘addr-free’ request from the DHCP or PPPoE pod with pool-name, addr-type, addr or pfx, and UPF as input.

6

IPAM moves the addr or pfx first to the quarantine-list until the quarantine timer and later moves it to the free-list.

7

IPAM monitors the ‘lower-threshold’ (currently 0%) of the address-range of each UPF, removes the address-range from the UPF, and sends the ROUTE-DELETE message.

IPAM Static-Pool Call Flow

This section describes the IPAM static-pool call flow.

Figure 3. IPAM Static Pool Call Flow


Table 5. IPAM Call Flow Description

Step

Description

1

IPAM receives the ‘addr-alloc’ request from the DHCP or PPPoE pod with pool-name, addr-type and user plane function (UPF) as input.

2

IPAM reserves a new address-range (if not already present for UPF) and sends a ROUTE-ADD message to the UPF. It waits for a success or failure response. If the receives a failure response, it removes the chunk and repeats this step.

3

IPAM reserves a free-IP from the assigned address-range and returns to the DHCP or PPPoE.

4

IPAM monitors the ‘upper-threshold’ for each UPF during each IP address-allocation and also has a background thread that monitors. It then assigns new address-ranges to the UPF and repeats the ROUTE-ADD flow.

5

IPAM receives the ‘addr-free’ request from the DHCP or PPPoE pod with pool-name, addr-type, addr or pfx, and UPF as input.

6

IPAM moves the addr or pfx first to the quarantine-list until the quarantine timer and later moves it to the free-list.

7

IPAM monitors the ‘lower-threshold’ (currently 0%) of the address-range of each UPF, removes the address-range from the UPF, and sends the ROUTE-DELETE message.

Limitations

The IPAM feature has the following limitations:

  • Duplicate IP address is not supported within a pool.

  • Duplicate IP address is not supported across pools, that belong to same VRF.

  • Removal of ‘pool’ is not supported while addresses are already assigned.

  • Removal or modification of IP-address-ranges is not supported while addresses are already assigned.

  • Change of ‘source’ field is not supported while address or prefixes are already assigned.

  • Change of ‘vrf-name’ of pool is not supported while address or prefixes are already assigned.

  • Start-address should be less than the End-address.

  • Configuring addr-range split-size in wrong manner, that is, size of address-range < size-of-per-cache < size-of-dp, is not supported.

  • Configuring IPv6 Address (IANA) and Prefix (IAPD) values interchangeably is not supported.

  • Configuring invalid ‘prefix-length’ for Prefix (IAPD) range is not supported.

Configuring IPAM Feature

This section describes how to configure the IPAM feature.

Configuring the IPAM feature involves the following steps:

  1. Configuring IPAM source

  2. Configuring the global threshold

  3. Configure IPAM address pool

  4. Configuring IPv4 address ranges

  5. Configuring IPv6 address ranges

  6. Configuring IPv6 prefix ranges

  7. Configuring the IPv4 threshold

  8. Configuring the IPv6 threshold

  9. Configuring IPv4 address range split

  10. Configuring IPv6 address and prefix address-range split

Configuring IPAM Source

Use the following configuration to configure the IPAM source.

config 
   ipam 
      source local 
         threshold { ipv4-add percentage | ipv6-address percentage | ipv6-prefix percentage } 
         commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM Configuration mode.

  • source local : Enters the local datastore as the pool source.

  • threshold { ipv4-add percentage | ipv4-address percentage | ipv6-prefix percentage } : Specifies the threshold in percentage for the following:

    • ipv4-add percentage : Specifies the IPv4 threshold. The valid values range from 1 to 100. The default value is 80.

    • ipv6-add percentage : Specifies the IPv4 threshold. The valid values range from 1 to 100. The default value is 80.

    • ipv6-prefix percentage : Specifies the IPv6 threshold prefix. The valid values range from 1 to 100. The default value is 80.

Configuring Global Threshold

Use the following configuration to configure the global threshold.

config 
   ipam 
      threshold 
         ipv4-addr percentage 
         ipv6-addr percentage 
         ipv6-prefix percentage 
         commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM Configuration mode.

  • threshold : Enters the threshold sub-mode.

  • ipv4-add percentage : Specifies the IPv4 threshold. The valid values range from 1 to 100. The default value is 80.

  • ipv6-add percentage : Specifies the IPv4 threshold. The valid values range from 1 to 100. The default value is 80.

  • ipv6-prefix percentage : Specifies the IPv6 threshold prefix. The valid values range from 1 to 100. The default value is 80.

Configuring IPAM Address Pool

Use the following configuration to configure the IPAM address pool.

config 
   ipam 
      address-pool pool_name [ address-quarantine-timer ] [offline ] [ static user_plane_name ] [ vrf-name string ] 
      commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration mode.

  • address-pool pool_name [ address-quarantine-timer ] [offline ] [ static user_plane_name ] [ vrf-name string ] : Configures the address pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

    This command configures the following parameters:

    • address-quarantine-timer : Specifies the address quarantine time in seconds. The valid values range from 4 to 3600. The default value is 4.

    • offline : Sets the address pool to offline mode.

    • static user_plane_name : Specifies the 'user-plane' name associated to this static-pool.

    • vrf-name string : Configures the Virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) name of the pool.

Configuring IPAM Quarantine Timer

This section describes how to configure the IPAM quarantine timer.

config 
   ipam  
      address-pool pool_name 
         address-quarantine-timer quarantine_timer_value 
         vrf-name vrf_name_value 
         ip4 
            address-range start_ipv4_address end_ipv4_address 
            address-range start_ipv4_address end_ipv4_address 
         ! 
       ! 
     !

NOTES:

  • ipam —Enter the IPAM configuration.

  • address-pool pool_name —Specifies the name of the pool to enter the pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

  • address-quarantine-timer quarantine_timer_value —Specifies the value of the quarantine timer in seconds. quarantine_timer_value must be in the range of 4-3600 seconds. The default value is 4.

  • vrf-name vrf_name_value —Specifies the name of the VPN routing and forwarding (VRF) for the pool.

  • ipv4 —Enters the IPv4 mode.

  • address-range start_ipv4_address end_ipv4_address —Specifies the IP addresses for start and end IPv4 address-range.

Configuring IP Address Reservation

Use the following configuration to reserve the minimum number of addresses for each User Plane function (UPF), Node Manager, and pool.

pool.

config 
   ipam 
      instance instance_id 
         min-dp-addr-size { ipv4-addr | ipv6-addr | ipv6-prefix } 
         commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration mode.

  • instance instance_id : Specifies the IPAM instance and enters the instance sub-mode. instance_id must be an integer. The valid value ranges from 1 to 8.

  • min-dp-addr-size { ipv4-addr | ipv6-addr | ipv6-prefix } : Specifies the minimum number of addresses to reserve for each UPF, Node Manager, and pool.

    • ipv4-addr : Specifies the minimum number of IPv4 addresses to reserve.

    • ipv6-addr : Specifies the minimum number of IPv6 addresses to reserve.

    • ipv6-prefix : Specifies the minimum number of IPv6 prefixes to reserve.

Configuring IPv4 Address Ranges

Use the following configuration to configure the IPv4 address ranges.

config 
   ipam 
      address-pool pool_name 
         ipv4 
            address-range start_ipv4_address end_ipv4_address [ default-gateway ipv4_address ] [ offline ] 
            commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration mode.

  • address-pool pool_name : Configures the address pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

  • ipv4 : Enters the IPv4 mode of the pool.

  • address-range start_ipv4_address end_ipv4_address [ default-gateway ipv4_address ] [ offline ] : Configures the IPv4 address range with the starting and ending IPv4 address.

    • default-gateway ipv4_address : Specifies the IPv4 address of the default gateway.

    • offline : Sets the address pool to offline mode.

Configuring IPv6 Address Ranges

Use the following configuration to configure the IPv6 address ranges:

config 
   ipam 
      address-pool pool_name 
         ipv6 
            address-range start_ipv6_address end_ipv6_address [ offline ] 
            commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration mode.

  • address-pool pool_name : Configures the address pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

  • ipv6 : Enters the IPv6 mode of the pool.

  • address-range start_ipv6_address end_ipv6_address [ offline ] : Configures the IPv6 address range with the starting and ending IPv6 address.

    [ offline ] : Sets the address pool to offline mode.

Configuring IPv6 Prefix Ranges

Use the following configuration to configure the IPv6 prefix ranges:

config 
   ipam 
      address-pool pool_name 
         ipv6  
            prefix-ranges 
               prefix-range prefix_value prefix-length prefix_length 
               commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration mode.

  • address-poolpool_name : Configures the address pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

  • ipv6 : Enters the IPv6 mode of the pool.

  • prefix-ranges : Enters the prefix ranges mode.

  • prefix-range prefix_value prefix-length length : Configures the IPv6 prefix range. prefix_value specifies the IPv6 prefix range.

    prefix-length length specifies the IPv6 prefix length.

Configuring IPv4 Threshold

Use the following configuration to configure the IPv4 threshold:

config 
   ipam 
      address-pool  pool_name 
         ipv4 
            threshold 
               upper-threshold  percentage 
               commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM Configuration mode.

  • address-pool pool_name : Configures the address pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

  • ipv4 : Enters the IPv4 mode of the pool.

  • threshold : Enters the threshold sub-mode.

  • upper-threshold percentage : Specifies the IPv4 upper threshold value in percentage. The valid values range from 1 to 100. The default value is 80.

The following is a sample configuration:

config
   ipam
      address-pool p1
         ipv4
            threshold
               upper-threshold 80

Configuring IPv6 Prefix-Range Threshold

Use the following configuration to configure the IPv6 prefix-range threshold.

config 
   ipam 
      address-pool pool_name 
         ipv6 
            prefix-ranges 
               threshold 
                  upper-threshold percentage 
                  commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration mode.

  • address-pool pool_name : Configures the address pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

  • ipv6 : Enters the IPv6 mode of the pool.

  • prefix-ranges : Enters the IPv6 prefix ranges sub-mode.

  • threshold : Enters the threshold sub-mode.

  • upper-threshold percentage : Specifies the IPv6 upper-threshold value in percentage.

The following is an example configuration:

config
   ipam
      address-pool p3
         ipv6
            prefix-ranges
               threshold
                  upper-threshold 78

Configuring IPv4 Address Range Split

Use the following configuration to configure the IPv4 address range split.

config 
   ipam 
      address-pool pool_name 
         ipv4 
            [ no ] split-size { per-cache value | per-dp value } 
            commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration mode.

  • -address-pool pool_name : Configures the address pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

  • ipv4 : Enters the IPv4 mode of the pool.

  • [ no ] split-size { per-cache value | per-dp value } : Specifies the size of the IPv4 range to be split for each IPAM cache allocation. The IPAM server consumes this configuration. The no form of this command disables the splitting of the address-ranges into smaller chunks.

    per-cache value : Specifies the size of the IPv4 range to be split for each Data-Plane (User-Plane) allocation. The valid values range from 2 to 262144. The default value is 1024.

    The IPAM cache consumes this configuration.

  • per-dp value : Specifies the size of the IPv4 range to be split for each Data-Plane (User-Plane) allocation. The valid values range from 2 to 262144 The default value is 256.

    The IPAM cache consumes this configuration.

Configuring IPv6 Address and Prefix Address-Range-Spilt

Use the following configuration to configure the IPv6 address and prefix address range spilt.

config 
   ipam 
      address-pool pool_name 
         ipv6 
            address-ranges 
               [ no ] spilt-size { per-cache value | per-dp value } 
               commit 
            prefix-ranges 
               [ no ] spilt-size { per-cache value | per-dp value } 
               commit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration mode.

  • address-pool pool_name : Configures the address pool. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

  • ipv6 : Enters the IPv6 mode of the pool.

  • [ no ] spilt-size { per-cache value | per-dp value } : Specifies the size of the IPv6 range to be split for each IPAM cache allocation. The IPAM server consumes this configuration. The no form of this command disables the splitting of the address-ranges into smaller chunks.

    per-cache value : Specifies the size of the IPv6 range to be spilt for each Data-Plane (User-Plane) allocation. The valid values range from 2 to 262144. The default value is 1024.

    The IPAM cache consumes this configuration.

  • per-dp value : Specifies the size of the IPv6 range to be spilt for each Data-Plane (User-Plane) allocation. The valid values range from 2 to 262144 The default value is 256.

    The IPAM cache consumes this configuration.

Configuring Variable Chunk Size Support for an IPAM Data Plane

Use the following commands to configure the IPAM tags:

ipam
 instance instance_id
  source local
  address-pool pool_name
   tags
    group tag_value
   exit
   pool-priority
    priority <0>
   exit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration.

  • instance instance_id : Specifies the IPAM instance and enters the instance sub-mode. instance_id must be an integer. The valid value ranges from 1 to 8.

  • source local : Enters the local datastore as the pool source.

  • address-pool pool_name : Specifies the name of the pool to enter the pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool

  • tags group tag_value : Specifies the tag group value of the pool. All pools carrying the same tag group value can be associated to a DHCP profile using the keyword pool-group-tag and the corresponding tag group value. The value must be a string.

  • pool-priority priority value: Specifies the order of IP chunk and IP allocation among pools with the same tag value. value must be the integer 0 or 1. 0 is the default value, and has the highest priority. .

Use the following commands to configure DHCP for pool association:

profile dhcp dhcp_profile_name
 ipv4
  server
   pool-group-tag tag_value 
   lease hours hours_value
  exit
 exit
exit

NOTES:

  • profile dhcp dhcp_profile_name : Specifies the DHCP profile name.

  • ipv4 : Enters IPv4 configuration mode.

  • server : Enters server configuration mode.

  • pool-group-tag tag_value : Specifies the group tag value that is used to associate the profile with the group tag defined in the pool.

IPAM Enhancements

This section lists the following IPAM enhancements.

IPAM Quarantine Timer

The IP quarantine logic enhancements are as follows:

  • The maximum quarantine configuration is increased to 1 hour (Range: 4 to 3600 seconds).

  • If the configured quarantine time is <= 15min, additional buffer of 60 seconds is added to the configured quarantine time.

  • If the configured quarantine time is > 15min, additional buffer of 5 minutes is added to the configured quarantine time.

  • Default quarantine time processing thread interval is changed from 5 to 60 seconds.

  • The IP is moved to the free-list after ~(configured-qTime + buffer + delay-from-qt-thread-processing).

  • Upon Node Manager pod restart, quarantine time of all older IPs in the quarantine time-queue is reset and will restart from beginning.

  • After Node Manager pod restart, all IPs released as part of reconciliation are moved to the quarantine-queue before moving to the free-bitmap (this includes pre-reserved IPs).

Address-Range Level Quarantine

If an address-range is removed from the UPF after releasing all the IPs in a proper manner (that is, each released IP went through quarantine time) then the address-range is moved directly to free-list.

If an address-range is removed from the UPF due to the UPF-release with some of the addresses allocated, then the complete address-range is put under quarantine for the configured time and then moved to free-list.

The show ipam pool command displays quarantine-chunks with a special ‘alloc-context’.

Pool and UPF Threshold Monitoring

The UPF threshold monitoring enhancements are as follows:

  • Upper threshold: Default = 80%, configurable. This is used to add new chunks to the pool or UPF.

  • SafeCutOff: Default = (upper-threshold-5%), not-configurable. After hitting upper-threshold, new chunks are allocated to the pool or UPF to bring down the current-utilization to safecutoff level , that is, upper-threshold – 5%.

  • Lower threshold: Default = 90% of upper-threshold, not-configurable. This is used to remove a chunk from the pool or UPF.

Each Node Manager runs a pool level threshold monitoring. When a chunk is assigned to the UPF, the Node Manager checks the pool-threshold hit and reserves additional chunks from the cache-pod for future use.

For pool threshold calculation, the total number of IPs left in free-chunks are considered; not the actual number of allocated IPs on an assigned chunk. That is, after a chunk is assigned to the UPF, it is considered as fully used for pool-threshold monitoring purpose. A complete free address-range can be released back to the cache-pod based on lower-threshold calculation.

For UPF threshold monitoring, the actual number of total IPs and allocated IPs are considered; more chunks are reserved for the UPF when the upper-threshold hits. The Node Manager adds the route to the UPF whenever a new chunk is assigned to it due to the threshold hit. For performance reasons, the route is not deleted if it was added in at the last minute.

The upper threshold is configurable (default=80%), when this threshold hits, new chunks are added until the current-utilization falls back to the safe-cutoff level. That is, 75% is safe cutoff if the upper-threshold is 80%.

Lower threshold is 90% of the upper-threshold. Thati is, if the upper-threshold is 80%, then the lower-threshold is 72%, a chunk can be removed from the UPF only when the remaining threshold is below 72%. Otherwise, the chunk remains in the UPF assigned list. This logic is applied to avoid frequent route-add and route-delete operations around boundary condition. The UPF threshold monitoring is triggered during events such as address-allocate, address-release, and config-change. On idle-system, the behavior may differ, however, in a running system, the threshold calculation occurs regularly.

Marking a pool or address-range as offline overrides the lower-threshold logic. That is, if an offline chunk is completely free, it is removed from the UPF irrespective of the lower-threshold calculation.

Multiple Replica Handling

IPAM is part of the Node Manager (nodemgr) pod. A maximum of two nodemgr pods are supported per BNG cluster.

During UPF-registration, one of the nodemgr pod gets all the static-pool-routes for the UPF and all the dynamic-pool-routes from both the nodemgr pod if anything is allocated earlier and programs it.

During IP-allocation, the IPC request goes to one of the nodemgr pods. If no routes were assigned earlier, a new route is assigned and if successful, an IP is returned to FSOL. Even if one nodemgr pod goes down, the other nodemgr can handle IP-allocations, provided enough IPs are available. Chunks that are reserved by one nodemgr cannot be used by the other nodemgr for address-allocations.

During IP-release, the IPC request should go to the IP owner nodemgr as best-effort. If the IPC fails due, then the IP become stale on the IPAM. During nodemgr bring-up, the CDL reconciliation occcurs, which recovers the stale IPs. In addition, a new CLI is added reconcile-ipam to manually trigger IPAM-CDL reconciliation on a need basis. This command should be executed only during maintenance because it is a heavy operation.

During the UPF release, the N4 release comes to one of the nodemgrs. It sends an internal-IPC to the other nodemgr and both clean-up all the routes assigned to the respective UPF. If one of the nodemgr is down during that time, the other nodemgr takes over the content and releases the chunks on behalf of its peer.

Static IP Support

Feature Summary and Revision History

Summary Data

Table 6. Summary Data

Applicable Product(s) or Functional Area

cnBNG

Applicable Platform(s)

SMI

Feature Default Setting

Disabled - Configuration Required

Related Changes in this Release

Not Applicable

Related Documentation

Cloud Native BNG Control Plane Command Reference Guide

Revision History

Table 7. Revision History
Revision Details Release

Multiple UPFs support with a static IP-pool.

2024.01.0

First introduced.

2021.03.0

Feature Description

IPAM is the core component of the subscriber management system. Traditional IPAM functionalities prove insufficient in the Cloud Native network deployments. Therefore, IPAM requires additional functionalities to work with the Cloud Native subscriber management system.

The Static Pool Enhancements provide more functionalities on the cnBNG using IPAM. These functionalities are as follows:

  • Supports addition of a new static-pool or static-addr-range dynamically when system is running.

    • Send routes when User Plane function (UPF) is already associated.

  • Supports removal of a new static-pool or static-addr-range dynamically when system is running

    • Mark the static-pool or static-addr-range offline.

    • Clear subscribers, manually.

    • Delete the configuration. IPAM sends the route-delete command to the UPF if it is already associated.

  • The cnBNG Control Plane now supports sharing a single static IP-pool with multiple UPFs.

    • To enable sharing of the same static IP-pool across multiple UPFs, you must configure the static IP-pool as a Global Static pool. Global Static pool here refers to a static pool that is used by the IPAM module for sessions with IP addresses set from an external entity such as RADIUS, and not bound to any UPF.

      For configuration details, see Configuring a Static IP-pool to support multiple UPFs.


Note
Changing the UPF name directly in the static IP pool is not supported. To change the UPF name, gracefully delete the static IP pool and readd the new UPF.

Note the following guidelines while configuring a static IP pool:

  • An address pool is marked as ‘static’ during configuration. A given address pool can be either configured as 'dynamic' or 'static' mode only. It cannot be modified while the system is running.

  • Each static pool is associated to an User Plane function (UPF). The IPAM configures all the address-ranges as routes on the UPF. The recommendation is to use the ‘no-split’ configuration to avoid having too many splits and routes.

  • The IPV4 address ranges must be configured with the ‘default-gateway’ value, because unlike dynamic address-range, IPAM cannot assign ‘default-gateway’ on its own. Also, the static address-ranges must not be split further. Therefore, use the ‘no-split’ configuration.

Limitations

Support of multiple UPFs with a Static IP-pool feature has the following limitations:

  • This feature is supported only for PPPoE subscribers.

  • You must not dynamically change Global Static-Pool to non-Global Static-Pool (UPF specific static pool), or the reverse.

  • You may encounter the following scenario when you want to delete an IPv4 address range in a static pool:

    Consider the following sample configuration.

    config
  ipam
    instance 1
      address-pool old-static-pool-ft
        vrf-name vrf_lps
        static enable
        ipv4
          split-size
            no-split
          exit
          address-range 209.165.200.225 209.165.200.254 offline default-gateway 209.165.200.225
          address-range 209.165.201.1 209.165.201.30 default-gateway 209.165.201.1
          address-range 209.165.202.129 209.165.202.158 default-gateway 209.165.202.129

    If you want to delete the address range that is marked offline, and if you run the command bng(config-ipv4)# no address-range 209.165.200.225 209.165.200.254 default-gateway 209.165.200.225 , only the default gateway address is deleted, and the address range is not deleted.

    To delete the address range, you must run the command as follows:

    bng(config-ipv4)# no address-range 209.165.200.225 209.165.200.254

    Note

    To delete the address range, ensure that default-gateway ip_address is not included in the command.

Configuring Static IP Support

This section describes how to configure the Static IP support feature.

Configuring the Static IP Support involves the following step.

Configuring Static IPv4 Address Ranges

Configuring Static IPv4 Address Ranges

Use the following configuration to configure the Static IPv4 address ranges.

config 
   ipam 
      instance instance_id 
         source { local | external } 
         address-pool pool_name 
         vrf-name vrf_name 
         static enable user_plane_name 
         ipv4  
            split-size no-split  
            exit  
         ipv4  
         address-range start_ipv4_address end_ipv4_address 
            default-gateway ipv4_address 
            exit 
         exit 
      exit

NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration mode.

  • address-poolpool_name : Configures the address pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

  • vrf-name vrf_name : Specifies the name of the VPN routing and forwarding (VRF) for the pool.

  • static enable user_plane_name : Configures static IP details. Sets the specified User Plane (UP) as static. user_plane_name is the specified UP for this static pool.

  • ipv4 : Enters the IPv4 mode of the pool.

  • split-size no-split : Specifies that the address-ranges should not be into smaller chunks.

  • address-range start_ipv4_address end_ipv4_address : Configures the IPv4 address range with the starting and ending IPv4 address.

  • default-gateway ipv4_address : Specifies the IPv4 address of the default gateway.

  • IPAM does only route-validation for Static IP. Validate if UPF has a route for a given static IP address or prefix. Individual address-management is not performed.

Configuring a Static IP-pool to Support Multiple UPFs

Use the following configuration to configure a static IP-pool to support multiple UPFs.


config 
  ipam 
    instance instance_id 
      address-pool pool_name 
        vrf-name string 
        static enable  
        exit
NOTES:

  • ipam : Enters the IPAM configuration mode.

  • address-pool pool_name : Configures the address pool configuration. pool_name must be the name of the address pool.

  • vrf-name vrf_name_value : Specifies the name of the VPN routing and forwarding (VRF) for the pool.

  • static enable : Enables sharing of the same static IP pool across multiple UPFs (global static pool).

Static IP Mapping Database

Feature Summary and Revision History

Summary Data

Table 8. Summary Data

Applicable Product(s) or Functional Area

cnBNG

Applicable Platform(s)

SMI

Feature Default Setting

Disabled - Configuration Required

Related Documentation

Not Applicable

Revision History

Table 9. Revision History
Revision Details Release

First introduced.

2022.02.0

Feature Description

The centralized IPAM component of the cnBNG CP enables mapping of static IPs for priority or VIP subscribers. The Static IP Mapping Database feature supports this requirement. It enables mapping of the MAC address of the subscriber to the static IP address. The static IP mapping database is maintained in the cnBNG CP, which ensures that the particular VIP subscriber receives the mapped static IP address every time the subscriber connects.

Maintaining the static IP mapping database is the key function of this feature.

  • Each static IP mapping entry is pushed via the CLI, NETCONF, or RESTCONF interfaces.

  • Given the number of entries, the static IP mapping entry cannot be stored as a configuration in CONFD. Instead, mapping values are directly stored in IPAM. Therefore, the show running config CLI command does not display these entries.

  • If a subscriber receives a framed IP address from RADIUS, this IP address is given priority over the static IP mapped in IPAM and is assigned to the subscriber. However, if RADIUS does not allocate any address and the DHCP profile has a static IP mapping configuration enabled (see, Configuring Static Database Key in DHCP Profile), then it attempts to fetch the IP for this subscriber from the static IP mapping database.


Note

  • A copy of static IP address mapping entries is stored in volume-mounted ETCD database for handling pod restart and image upgrades.

  • The static IP mapping database remains persistent across the system shutdown and running mode.

How it Works

This section provides a brief of how the Static IP Mapping Database feature works.

The DHCP profile is configured with the subscriber-key-template that is used for IP mapping search. The DHCP forms the subscriber-key based on the DHCP profile configuration and incoming packet, and then forwards the request to the IPAM.

The IPAM searches the static database based on the subscriber-key input, finds the mapped IP address, and responds to the DHCP.

If the IP static database does not have an entry for the subscriber-key in the database, the IPAM returns a failure to the DHCP. This causes the DHCP to fail the session.

Call Flows

This section includes the following call flow.


Note
The Static IP Mapping Database feature is supported only for IPoE (DHCP) sessions.
Figure 4. Static IP Mapping Call Flow


Configuring the Static IP Mapping Database

This section describes how to configure the Static IP Mapping Database feature.

Configuring the Static IP Mapping Database feature involves the following procedures.

Configuring Static IP Mapping Database in IPAM

Use the following CLI commands to add or delete entries in the static IP mapping database.

ipam-staticdb mapping { pool pool_name 
{ ipv4 { address ipv4_address subkey subkey }
| ipv6-addr { address ipv6_address subkey subkey }
| ipv6-prefix { address ipv6_prefix_address subkey subkey }
| delete }
NOTES:

  • pool pool_name : Specifies the pool name.

  • ipv4 address ipv4_address subkey subkey : Specifies the IPv4 address and subkey.

  • ipv6-addr address ipv6_address subkey subkey : Specifies the IPv6 address and subkey.

  • ipv6-prefix address ipv6_prefix_address subkey subkey : Specifies the IPv6 prefix address and subkey.

  • delete : Deletes the static IP mapping database.

The static IP mapping database in CP can be in following format.

staticMapping:
  - poolName: <pool-name1>
    ipv4List:    
     - <subscriber-key1> 
       <static-ip-address1>
     - <subscriber-key2> 
       <static-ip-address2>
 - poolName: <pool-name2>
    ipv4List:    
     - <subscriber-key1> 
       <static-ip-address1>
     - <subscriber-key2> 
       <static-ip-address2>

Note

  • The subscriber-key is defined based on the deployment need. For example, the subscriber-key can be the MAC address of the subscriber or a combination of multiple identifiers with some delimiters.

  • For static IP key mapping, the only supported identifier is the MAC address.

  • The IP address can be IPv4, IPv6-NA, or IPv6-PD.

Example

The following are the CLI and RESTCONF configuration examples.

Sample Output: CLI

The following is a sample CLI of the static IP mapping database.

bng# ipam-staticdb mapping pool { pool-name static-pool ipv4 { subkey aa11.0000.0001 address 20.20.0.5 } ipv4 { subkey aa11.0000.0002 address 20.20.0.6 } ipv6-addr { subkey aa11.0000.0001 address 2001:cb0::0:1 } ipv6-prefix { subkey aa11.0000.0001 address 2001:ef0::/48 } } 
mapping-details 
Static IP Mapping Success

Sample Output: RESTCONF

The following is a sample RESTCONF of the static IP mapping database.

curl -i -k -X "POST" "https://restconf.bng-ops-center.10.84.102.254.nip.io/restconf/data/cnbng-static-map:ipam-static-db/mapping" -H 'Content-Type: application/yang-data+json' -H 'Accept: application/yang-data+json' -u 'admin:*****' \
-d $'{"pool":{"pool-name":"test1",
"ipv4": [
{"subkey": "0000.1111.2221","address": "1.1.1.1"}
{"subkey": "0000.1111.2222","address": "1.1.1.2"}
]}}'

Note
The following caveats are applicable when configuring the static IP mapping database:

  • Data is not validated for admininstrator-configured static database. However, input data is accepted as-is and stored. It is the responsibility of the adminstrator to configure and map valid IP addresses to the subscribers.

    For example, validation of address formats and duplicate IP addresses across subscribers is not supported.

  • The following soft limits are applicable on the number of entries per request via the CLI or RESTCONF.

    • Number of static IP mapping entries per CLI request is 100.

    • Number of static IP mapping entries per RESTCONF request is 1000.

    Any number that exceeds more than the specified limits can be time consuming or lead to indeterministic behaviour.
Verifying Static IP Mapping Database in IPAM

Use the following show commands to verify the administrator-specified IP to MAC mapping.

  • Number of mappings per AFI (IPv4, IANA, IAPD) level.

    bng# show ipam-staticdb
staticdb-info
{
"staticdbInfo": [
{
"poolName": "static-pool",
"ipv4Total": 7,
"ipv6AddrTotal": 7,
"ipv6PfxTotal": 4
}
]
}

  • Number of mappings per pool, per AFI level.

    bng# show ipam-staticdb pool-name static-pool
staticdb-info
{
"staticdbInfo": [
{
"poolName": "static-pool",
"ipv4Total": 7,
"ipv6AddrTotal": 7,
"ipv6PfxTotal": 4
}
]
}

  • MAC to IP mapping information. 

    bng# show ipam-staticdb pool-name static-pool ipv4-addr start-index 3
staticdb-info
{
"staticdbInfo": [
{
"poolName": "static-pool",
"ipv4Total": 7,
"ipv6AddrTotal": 7,
"ipv6PfxTotal": 4,
"ipv4Range": [
{
"subkey": "aa11.0000.0003",
"subip": "20.20.0.3"
},
{
"subkey": "aa11.0000.0004",
"subip": "20.20.0.4"
},
{
"subkey": "aa11.0000.0005",
"subip": "20.20.0.5"
},
{
"subkey": "aa11.0000.0006",
"subip": "20.20.0.6"
},
{
"subkey": "aa11.0000.0007",
"subip": "20.20.0.7"
}
]
}
]
}

Note

By default only 1000 entries are displayed per index-based show command.

For example:

  • When start-index is 100, entries from 100 to 1099 are displayed.

  • When start-index is 1000, entries from 1000 to 1999 are displayed and so on.

Configuring Static Database Key in DHCP Profile

Use the following CLI commands to configure the static database key in the DHCP profile.

config
   profile dhcp dhcp_profile_name
      ipv4
         { class class_name | mode server | server }
            server static-ip-key identifier client mac_address client_mac_address 
            exit
         exit
      exit
   exit

NOTES:

  • profile dhcp dhcp_profile_name : Specifies the DHCP profile name.

  • ipv4 : Enters IPv4 configuration mode.

  • { class class_name | mode | server } : Enters Class, Mode Server, or Server configuration mode.

  • server static-ip-key identifier client mac_address client_mac_address : Specifies the static-ip-key identifier and client MAC address. client_mac_address must be in Client MAC Address in AABB.CCDD.EEFF format.

The static database key in the DHCP profile can be in the following format:

profile dhcp dhcp-server1
 ipv4
  mode server
  server
   pool-name   pool-ISP
   dns-servers [ 8.8.8.8 ]
   lease days 10
   lease hours 0
   lease minutes 3
   static-ip-key identifier client-mac-address
  exit
  class c1
   server
    pool-name static-pool
    static-ip-key identifier client-mac-address
   exit
  exit
 exit
 ipv6
  mode server
  server
   iana-pool-name static-pool
   lease days 10
   lease hours 0
   lease minutes 4
   static-ip-key identifier client-mac-address
  exit
  class c2
   server
    iapd-pool-name static-pool
    static-ip-key identifier client-mac-address
   exit
  exit
 exit
exit