Description

In Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD), periodic packet management (PPM) on the Routing Engine (RE) selects one of the Packet Forwarding Engines (PFEs) as an anchor-PFE when delegating a BFD session that is either a Multihop or Over an Aggregated Ethernet. The anchor PFE is then responsible for maintaining and transmit/receipt of the BFD session. Since the BFD packet can arrive on any interface for these sessions (MHOP or AE), having an anchor PFE ensures that the packets are absorbed at a common point where the sessions are maintained.

Given this benefit, can the anchor PFE feature be used for an AE interface in Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) Protocols? This article demonstrates the answer with an example.

Solution

  1. For connectivity fault management (CFM), PPM runs in central mode In releases before Junos OS Release 13.3. Therefore, there would be no “anchor PFE” in this scenario.
For example, here ae1.10 is running CFM:
labroot@jtac-mx480-r2006-re0> show oam ethernet connectivity-fault-management interfaces   
Interface                   Link      Status       Level  MEP         Neighbors
                                                          Identifier            
ae1.10, vlan 10             Up        Active       3      101         1        

The Distributed attribute is set to FALSE on ae1's member links, which indicates that PPM is running in central mode.

labroot@jtac-mx480-r2006-re0> show ppm adjacencies detail                                  
Protocol: CFM, Hold time: 300, IFL-index: 365
Distributed: FALSE   <<<

In Do-Dist thread:
CFM source key: MAID: 0404test0204test Level: 3 MEP-ID: 101 ack_rdi 0
Protocol: CFM, Hold time: 300, IFL-index: 371
Distributed: FALSE    <<<<

In Do-Dist thread:
CFM source key: MAID: 0405test10205test1 Level: 3 MEP-ID: 102 ack_rdi 0

Adjacencies: 2, Remote adjacencies: 0


<<-After release Release 13.3 and above JUNOS release, Connectivity fault management (CFM) sessions operate in distributed mode and can be processed on the Flexible PIC Concentrator (FPC) on aggregated Ethernet interfaces.
For example, here ae35.1201 is running CFM:
labroot@jtac-MX480-r060-re0> show oam ethernet connectivity-fault-management interfaces
Interface                   Link      Status       Level  MEP         Neighbours
                                                          Identifier             
ae35.1201                   Up        Active       5      1           1         

labroot@jtac-MX480-r060-re0> show interfaces ae35.1201 |match logical
  Logical interface ae35.1201 (Index 557) (SNMP ifIndex 2973)

labroot@jtac-MX480-r060-re0> show ppm adjacencies protocol cfm detail 

Protocol: CFM, Hold time: 3250, IFL-index: 557
Distributed: TRUE <<<-
CFM source key: MAID: 0407megapop0209ae35-1201 Level: 5 MEP-ID: 1001 ack_rdi 0
Distribution handle: 5107, Distribution address: fpc1

<snip>

labroot@jtac-MX480-r060-re0> show lacp interfaces ae35 
Aggregated interface: ae35
    LACP state:       Role   Exp   Def  Dist  Col  Syn  Aggr  Timeout  Activity
      xe-1/0/0       Actor    No    No   Yes  Yes  Yes   Yes     Fast    Active
      xe-1/0/0     Partner    No    No   Yes  Yes  Yes   Yes     Slow    Active
      xe-3/0/0       Actor    No    No    No   No   No   Yes     Fast    Active
      xe-3/0/0     Partner    No    No    No   No   No   Yes     Slow    Active
    LACP protocol:        Receive State  Transmit State          Mux State 
      xe-1/0/0(Active)          Current   Slow periodic Collecting distributing
      xe-3/0/0(Standby)         Current   Slow periodic            Waiting

labroot@jtac-MX480-r060-re0> show interfaces xe-3/0/0.1201 
  Logical interface xe-3/0/0.1201 (Index 436) (SNMP ifIndex 2909)
    Flags: Up SNMP-Traps 0x4000 VLAN-Tag [ 0x8100.1201 ]  Encapsulation: ENET2
    Input packets : 0
    Output packets: 0
    Protocol aenet, AE bundle: ae35.1201

labroot@jtac-MX480-r060-re0> show interfaces xe-1/0/0.1201    
  Logical interface xe-1/0/0.1201 (Index 358) (SNMP ifIndex 2833)
    Flags: Up SNMP-Traps 0x4000 VLAN-Tag [ 0x8100.1201 ]  Encapsulation: ENET2
    Input packets : 5242
    Output packets: 4884
    Protocol aenet, AE bundle: ae35.1201

 

  1. For link fault management (LFM), all AE child links handle PPM packets. Therefore, there would be no “anchor PFE” in this scenario as well.

For example, here ae19 is running LFM:
labroot@mxvc-r2028-r2029# run show oam ethernet link-fault-management ae19   
  Interface: ae19
    Status: Running, Discovery state: Send Any
    Transmit interval: 1000ms, PDU threshold: 3 frames, Hold time: 0ms

Here, xe-15/1/0 (ifl 970) and xe-16/1/0 (ifl 971) are child links of ae19, and both of them are handling PPM packets. In this case, PPM runs in distributed mode.

labroot@mxvc-r2028-r2029> show ppm adjacencies detail 
Protocol: LFM, Hold time: 3000, IFL-index: 970
Distributed: TRUE    <<<
Distribution handle: 14046, Distribution address: member1-fpc3

Protocol: LFM, Hold time: 3000, IFL-index: 971
Distributed: TRUE    <<<
Distribution handle: 14048, Distribution address: member1-fpc4

Adjacencies: 2, Remote adjacencies: 2

labroot@mxvc-r2028-r2029# run show interfaces ifl-index 970
  Logical interface xe-15/1/0.0 (Index 970) (SNMP ifIndex 2008)
...
    Protocol aenet, ae bundle: ae19.0
 
labroot@mxvc-r2028-r2029# run show interfaces ifl-index 971   
  Logical interface xe-16/1/0.0 (Index 971) (SNMP ifIndex 2009)
...
    Protocol aenet, ae bundle: ae19.0

Modification History

2024-11-20 update cfm's default behavior.