Next Hop Tracking
Next hop tracking is an optimization feature that reduces the processing time involved in the BGP bestpath algorithm by monitoring changes to the routing table.
Background
Recursive routes are of the form:
p/m --> n
[Ex: 1.1.0.0/16 --> 2.2.2.2]
where ‘n’ itself is resolved through another route as follows:
p2/m --> h, interface
[Ex: 2.2.2.0/24 --> 3.3.3.3, eth0]
Usually, BGP routes are recursive in nature and BGP nexthops get resolved through an IGP route. IGP usually adds its routes pointing to an interface (these are called non-recursive routes).
When BGP receives a recursive route from a peer, it needs to validate the nexthop. The path is marked valid or invalid based on the reachability status of the nexthop. Nexthop validation is also important for BGP decision process as the metric to reach the nexthop is a parameter to best path selection process.
As it goes with routing, this is a dynamic process. Route to the nexthop can change. The nexthop can become unreachable or reachable. In the current BGP implementation, the nexthop validation is done periodically in the scanner run. The default scanner run interval is one minute. Every minute, the scanner task walks the entire BGP table. It checks the validity of each nexthop with Zebra (the routing table manager) through a request and response message exchange between BGP and Zebra process. BGP process is blocked for that duration. The mechanism has two major drawbacks:
The scanner task runs to completion. That can potentially starve the other tasks for long periods of time, based on the BGP table size and number of nexthops.
Convergence around routing changes that affect the nexthops can be long (around a minute with the default intervals). The interval can be shortened to achieve faster reaction time, but it makes the first problem worse, with the scanner task consuming most of the CPU resources.
The next-hop tracking feature makes this process event-driven. It eliminates periodic nexthop validation and introduces an asynchronous communication path between BGP and Zebra for route change notifications that can then be acted upon.
Goal
Stating the obvious, the main goal is to remove the two limitations we discussed in the previous section. The goals, in a constructive tone, are the following:
Fairness: the scanner run should not consume an unjustly high amount of CPU time. This should give an overall good performance and response time to other events (route changes, session events, IO/user interface).
Convergence: BGP must react to nexthop changes instantly and provide sub-second convergence. This may involve diverting the routes from one nexthop to another.
Overview of changes
The changes are in both BGP and Zebra modules. The short summary is the following:
Zebra implements a registration mechanism by which clients can register for next hop notification. Consequently, it maintains a separate table, per (VRF, AF) pair, of next hops and interested client-list per next hop.
When the main routing table changes in Zebra, it evaluates the next hop table: for each next hop, it checks if the route table modifications have changed its state. If so, it notifies the interested clients.
BGP is one such client. It registers the next hops corresponding to all of its received routes/paths. It also threads the paths against each nexthop structure.
When BGP receives a next hop notification from Zebra, it walks the corresponding path list. It makes them valid or invalid depending on the next hop notification. It then re-computes best path for the corresponding destination. This may result in re-announcing those destinations to peers.
Design
Modules
The core design introduces an “nht” (next hop tracking) module in BGP and “rnh” (recursive nexthop) module in Zebra. The “nht” module provides the following APIs:
Function |
Action |
---|---|
bgp_find_or_add_nexthop() |
find or add a nexthop in BGP nexthop table |
bgp_parse_nexthop_update() |
parse a nexthop update message coming from zebra |
The “rnh” module provides the following APIs:
Function |
Action |
---|---|
zebra_add_rnh() |
add a recursive nexthop |
zebra_delete_rnh() |
delete a recursive nexthop |
zebra_lookup_rnh() |
lookup a recursive nexthop |
zebra_add_rnh_client() |
register a client for nexthop notifications against a recursive nexthop |
zebra_remove_rnh_client() |
remove the client registration for a recursive nexthop |
zebra_evaluate_rnh_table() |
(re)evaluate the recursive nexthop table (most probably because the main routing table has changed). |
zebra_cleanup_rnh_client() |
Cleanup a client from the “rnh” module data structures (most probably because the client is going away). |
4.2. Control flow
The next hop registration control flow is the following:
<==== BGP Process ====>|<==== Zebra Process ====>
|
receive module nht module | zserv module rnh module
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
bgp_update_ | | |
main() | bgp_find_or_add_ | |
| nexthop() | |
| | |
| | zserv_nexthop_ |
| | register() |
| | | zebra_add_rnh()
| | |
The next hop notification control flow is the following:
<==== Zebra Process ====>|<==== BGP Process ====>
|
rib module rnh module | zebra module nht module
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
meta_queue_ | | |
process() | zebra_evaluate_ | |
| rnh_table() | |
| | |
| | bgp_read_nexthop_ |
| | update() |
| | | bgp_parse_
| | | nexthop_update()
| | |
zclient message format
ZEBRA_NEXTHOP_REGISTER and ZEBRA_NEXTHOP_UNREGISTER messages are encoded in the following way:
. 0 1 2 3
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
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| AF | prefix len |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
. Nexthop prefix .
. .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
. .
. .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| AF | prefix len |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
. Nexthop prefix .
. .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
ZEBRA_NEXTHOP_UPDATE
message is encoded as follows:
. 0 1 2 3
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
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| AF | prefix len |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
. Nexthop prefix getting resolved .
. .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| metric |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| #nexthops |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| nexthop type |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
. resolving Nexthop details .
. .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
. .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| nexthop type |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
. resolving Nexthop details .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
BGP data structure
Legend:
/\ struct bgp_node: a BGP destination/route/prefix
\/
[ ] struct bgp_path_info: a BGP path (e.g. route received from a peer)
_
(_) struct bgp_nexthop_cache: a BGP nexthop
/\ NULL
\/--+ ^
| :
+--[ ]--[ ]--[ ]--> NULL
/\ :
\/--+ :
| :
+--[ ]--[ ]--> NULL
:
_ :
(_)...........
Zebra data structure
RNH table:
. O
/ \
O O
/ \
O O
struct rnh
{
uint8_t flags;
struct route_entry *state;
struct list *client_list;
struct route_node *node;
};
User interface changes
frr# show ip nht
3.3.3.3
resolved via kernel
via 11.0.0.6, swp1
Client list: bgp(fd 12)
11.0.0.10
resolved via connected
is directly connected, swp2
Client list: bgp(fd 12)
11.0.0.18
resolved via connected
is directly connected, swp4
Client list: bgp(fd 12)
11.11.11.11
resolved via kernel
via 10.0.1.2, eth0
Client list: bgp(fd 12)
frr# show ip bgp nexthop
Current BGP nexthop cache:
3.3.3.3 valid [IGP metric 0], #paths 3
Last update: Wed Oct 16 04:43:49 2013
11.0.0.10 valid [IGP metric 1], #paths 1
Last update: Wed Oct 16 04:43:51 2013
11.0.0.18 valid [IGP metric 1], #paths 2
Last update: Wed Oct 16 04:43:47 2013
11.11.11.11 valid [IGP metric 0], #paths 1
Last update: Wed Oct 16 04:43:47 2013
frr# show ipv6 nht
frr# show ip bgp nexthop detail
frr# debug bgp nht
frr# debug zebra nht
6. Sample test cases
r2----r3
/ \ /
r1----r4
- Verify that a change in IGP cost triggers NHT
+ shutdown the r1-r4 and r2-r4 links
+ no shut the r1-r4 and r2-r4 links and wait for OSPF to come back
up
+ We should be back to the original nexthop via r4 now
- Verify that a NH becoming unreachable triggers NHT
+ Shutdown all links to r4
- Verify that a NH becoming reachable triggers NHT
+ no shut all links to r4
Future work
route-policy for next hop validation (e.g. ignore default route)
damping for rapid next hop changes
prioritized handling of nexthop changes ((un)reachability vs. metric changes)
handling recursion loop, e.g:
11.11.11.11/32 -> 12.12.12.12 12.12.12.12/32 -> 11.11.11.11 11.0.0.0/8 -> <interface>
better statistics