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rfc:rfc1237
  
  
  
  
  Network Working Group                            Richard Colella (NIST)
  Request for Comments: 1237                         Ella Gardner (Mitre)
                                                        Ross Callon (DEC)
                                                                July 1991
  
  
             Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet
  
  
  
  Status of This Memo
  
  
  This RFC specifies an IAB standards track protocol for the Internet
  community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
  Please refer to the current edition of the ``IAB Official Protocol
  Standards'' for the standardization state and status of this protocol.
  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
  
  
  
  
                                   Abstract
  
  
  
  The Internet is moving towards a multi-protocol environment that
  includes OSI. To support OSI in the Internet, an OSI lower layers
  infrastructure is required. This infrastructure comprises the
  connectionless network protocol (CLNP) and supporting routing
  protocols. Also required as part of this infrastructure are guidelines
  for network service access point (NSAP) address assignment. This paper
  provides guidelines for allocating NSAPs in the Internet.
  
  
  This document provides our current best judgment for the allocation
  of NSAP addresses in the Internet. This is intended to guide initial
  deployment of OSI 8473 (Connectionless Network Layer Protocol) in
  the Internet, as well as to solicit comments. It is expected that
  these guidelines may be further refined and this document updated as a
  result of experience gained during this initial deployment.
  
  
  
  
  
  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  Contents
  
  
  
  1   Introduction                                                      4
  
  
  2   Scope                                                             4
  
  
  3   Background                                                        6
  
      3.1 OSI Routing Standards  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     7
  
      3.2 Overview of DIS10589    . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     8
  
      3.3 Requirements of DIS10589 on NSAPs  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    11
  
  
  4   NSAP and Routing                                                 13
  
  
  5   NSAP Administration and Routing in the Internet                  17
  
      5.1 Administration at the Area   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    19
  
      5.2 Administration at the Leaf Routing Domain   .  .  .  .  .    21
  
      5.3 Administration at the Transit Routing Domain   .  .  .  .    21
  
          5.3.1  Regionals  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .  .  .  .    22
  
          5.3.2  Backbones  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .  .  .  .    23
  
      5.4 Multi-homed Routing Domains  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    24
  
      5.5 Private Links  .  . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    29
  
      5.6 Zero-Homed Routing Domains   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    30
  
      5.7 Transition Issues    .  . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    31
  
  
  
  6   Recommendations                                                  34
  
      6.1 Recommendations Specific to U.S. Parts of the Internet  .    35
  
  
  
  Colella, Gardner, & Callon                                     [Page 2]
  
  
  
  
  
  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
      6.2 Recommendations Specific to Non-U.S. Parts of the Internet   37
  
      6.3 Recommendations for Multi-Homed Routing Domains   .  .  .    37
  
  
  7   Security Considerations                                          38
  
  
  8   Authors' Addresses                                               39
  
  
  9   Acknowledgments                                                  39
  
  
  A   Administration of NSAPs                                          40
  
      A.1 GOSIP Version 2 NSAPs  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    41
  
          A.1.1  Application for Administrative Authority Identifiers  42
  
          A.1.2  Guidelines for NSAP Assignment  .  . .  .  .  .  .    44
  
      A.2 Data Country Code NSAPs   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    45
  
          A.2.1  Application for Numeric Organization Name   .  .  .   46
  
      A.3 Summary of Administrative Requirements   .  .  .  .  .  .    46
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Colella, Gardner, & Callon                                     [Page 3]
  
  
  
  
  
  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  1   Introduction
  
  
  
  The Internet is moving towards a multi-protocol environment that
  includes OSI. To support OSI in the Internet, an OSI lower layers
  infrastructure is required. This infrastructure comprises the
  connectionless network protocol (CLNP) [12] (see also RFC 994 [8])
  and supporting routing protocols. Also required as part of this
  infrastructure are guidelines for network service access point (NSAP)
  address assignment. This paper provides guidelines for allocating
  NSAPs in the Internet (NSAP and NSAP address are used interchangeably
  throughout this paper in referring to NSAP addresses).
  
  
  The remainder of this paper is organized into five major sections and
  an appendix. Section 2 defines the boundaries of the problem addressed
  in this paper and Section 3 provides background information on OSI
  routing and the implications for NSAPs.
  
  
  Section 4 addresses the specific relationship between NSAPs and
  routing, especially with regard to hierarchical routing and data
  abstraction. This is followed in Section 5 with an application of
  these concepts to the Internet environment. Section 6 provides
  recommended guidelines for NSAP allocation in the Internet.
  
  
  Appendix A contains a compendium of useful information concerning
  NSAP structure and allocation authorities. The GOSIP Version 2 NSAP
  structure is discussed in detail and the structure for U.S.-based DCC
  (Data Country Code) NSAPs is described. Contact information for the
  registration authorities for GOSIP and DCC-based NSAPs in the U.S.,
  the General Services Administration (GSA) and the American National
  Standards Institute (ANSI), respectively, is provided.
  
  
  
  2   Scope
  
  
  
  There are two aspects of interest when discussing OSI NSAP allocation
  within the Internet. The first is the set of administrative require-
  ments for obtaining and allocating NSAPs; the second is the technical
  aspect of such assignments, having largely to do with routing, both
  within a routing domain (intra-domain routing) and between routing
  
  
  
  
  Colella, Gardner, & Callon                                     [Page 4]
  
  
  
  
  
  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  domains (inter-domain routing). This paper focuses on the technical
  issues.
  
  
  The technical issues in NSAP allocation are mainly related to routing.
  This paper assumes that CLNP will be widely deployed in the Internet,
  and that the routing of CLNP traffic will normally be based on the OSI
  ES-IS (end-system to intermediate system) routing protocol applicable
  for point-to-point links and LANs [13] (see also RFC 995 [7]) and
  the emerging intra-domain IS-IS protocol [17]. Also expected is the
  deployment of an inter-domain routing protocol similar to Border
  Gateway Protocol (BGP) [18].
  
  
  The guidelines provided in this paper are intended for immediate
  deployment as CLNP is made available in the Internet. This paper
  specifically does not address long-term research issues, such as
  complex policy-based routing requirements.
  
  
  In the current Internet many routing domains (such as corporate and
  campus networks) attach to transit networks (such as NSFNET regionals)
  in only one or a small number of carefully controlled access points.
  Addressing solutions which require substantial changes or constraints
  on the current topology are not considered.
  
  
  The guidelines in this paper are oriented primarily toward the large-
  scale division of NSAP address allocation in the Internet. Topics
  covered include:
  
  
     * Arrangement of parts of the NSAP for efficient operation of the
       DIS10589IS-IS routing protocol;
  
     * Benefits of some topological information in NSAPs to reduce
       routing protocol overhead;
  
     * The anticipated need for additional levels of hierarchy in
       Internet addressing to support network growth;
  
     * The recommended mapping between Internet topological entities
       (i.e., backbone networks, regional networks, and site networks)
       and OSI addressing and routing components;
  
     * The recommended division of NSAP address assignment authority
       among backbones, regionals (also called mid-levels), and sites;
  
  
  
  
  Colella, Gardner, & Callon                                     [Page 5]
  
  
  
  
  
  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
     * Background information on administrative procedures for registra-
       tion of administrative authorities immediately below the national
       level (GOSIP administrative authorities and ANSI organization
       identifiers); and,
  
  
     * Choice of the high-order portion of the NSAP in leaf routing
       domains that are connected to more than one regional or backbone.
  
  
  
  It is noted that there are other aspects of NSAP allocation, both
  technical and administrative, that are not covered in this paper.
  Topics not covered or mentioned only superficially include:
  
  
  
     * Identification of specific administrative domains in the Internet;
  
  
     * Policy or mechanisms for making registered information known to
       third parties (such as the entity to which a specific NSAP or a
       potion of the NSAP address space has been allocated);
  
  
     * How a routing domain (especially a site) should organize its
       internal topology of areas or allocate portions of its NSAP
       address space; the relationship between topology and addresses is
       discussed, but the method of deciding on a particular topology or
       internal addressing plan is not; and,
  
  
     * Procedures for assigning the System Identifier (ID) portion of the
       NSAP.
  
  
  
  3   Background
  
  
  
  Some background information is provided in this section that is
  helpful in understanding the issues involved in NSAP allocation. A
  brief discussion of OSI routing is provided, followed by a review
  of the intra-domain protocol in sufficient detail to understand the
  issues involved in NSAP allocation. Finally, the specific constraints
  that the intra-domain protocol places on NSAPs are listed.
  
  
  
  
  Colella, Gardner, & Callon                                     [Page 6]
  
  
  
  
  
  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  3.1   OSI Routing Standards
  
  
  
  OSI partitions the routing problem into three parts:
  
  
     * routing exchanges between end systems and intermediate systems
       (ES-IS),
  
     * routing exchanges between ISs in the same routing domain (intra-
       domain IS-IS), and,
  
     * routing among routing domains (inter-domain IS-IS).
  
  
  ES-IS, international standard ISO9542 [13] approved in 1987, is
  available in vendor products and is planned for the next release of
  Berkeley UNIX (UNIX is a trademark of AT&T). It is also cited in GOSIP
  Version 2 [4], which became effective in April 1991 for all applicable
  federal procurements, and mandatory beginning eighteen months later in
  1992.
  
  
  Intra-domain IS-IS advanced to draft international standard (DIS)
  status within ISO in November, 1990 as DIS10589 [17]. It is reasonable
  to expect that final text for the intra-domain IS-IS standard will be
  available by mid-1991.
  
  
  There are two candidate proposals which address OSI inter-domain
  routing, ECMA TR/50 [3] and Border Router Protocol (BRP) [19], a
  direct derivative of the IETF Border Gateway Protocol [18]. ECMA TR/50
  has been proposed as base text in the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC6/WG2 committee,
  which is responsible for the Network layer of the ISO Reference Model
  [11 ].X3S3.3, the ANSI counterpart to WG2, has incorporated features
  of TR/50 into BRP and submitted this as alternate base text at the
  WG2 meeting in October, 1990. Currently, it is out for ISO Member
  Body comment. The proposed protocol is referred to as the Inter-domain
  Routing Protocol (IDRP) [20].
  
  
  This paper examines the technical implications of NSAP assignment
  under the assumption that ES-IS, intra-domain IS-IS, and IDRP routing
  are deployed to support CLNP.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Colella, Gardner, & Callon                                     [Page 7]
  
  
  
  
  
  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  3.2   Overview of DIS10589
  
  
  
  The IS-IS intra-domain routing protocol, DIS10589, developed in ISO,
  provides routing for OSI environments. In particular, DIS10589 is
  designed to work in conjunction with CLNP and ES-IS. This section
  briefly describes the manner in which DIS10589 operates.
  
  
  In DIS10589, the internetwork is partitioned into routing domains.
  A routing domain is a collection of ESs and ISs that operate common
  routing protocols and are under the control of a single administra-
  tion. Typically, a routing domain may consist of a corporate network,
  a university campus network, a regional network, or a similar contigu-
  ous network under control of a single administrative organization. The
  boundaries of routing domains are defined by network management by
  setting some links to be exterior, or inter-domain, links. If a link
  is marked as exterior, no DIS10589 routing messages are sent on that
  link.
  
  
  Currently, ISO does not have a standard for inter-domain routing
  (i.e., for routing between separate autonomous routing domains). In
  the interim, DIS10589 uses manual configuration. An inter-domain link
  is statically configured with the set of address prefixes reachable
  via that link, and with the method by which they can be reached (such
  as the DTE address to be dialed to reach that address, or the fact
  that the DTE address should be extracted from the OSI NSAP address).
  
  
  DIS10589 routing makes use of two-level hierarchical routing. A
  routing domain is subdivided into areas (also known as level 1
  subdomains). Level 1 ISs know the topology in their area, including
  all ISs and ESs in their area. However, level 1 ISs do not know the
  identity of ISs or destinations outside of their area. Level 1 ISs
  forward all traffic for destinations outside of their area to a level
  2 IS within their area.
  
  
  Similarly, level 2 ISs know the level 2 topology and know which
  addresses are reachable via each level 2 IS. The set of all level 2
  ISs in a routing domain are known as the level 2 subdomain, which can
  be thought of as a backbone for interconnecting the areas. Level 2
  ISs do not need to know the topology within any level 1 area, except
  to the extent that a level 2 IS may also be a level 1 IS within a
  single area. Only level 2 ISs can exchange data packets or routing
  information directly with external ISs located outside of their
  
  
  
  Colella, Gardner, & Callon                                     [Page 8]
  
  
  
  
  
  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  routing domain.
  
  
  As illustrated in Figure 1, ISO addresses are subdivided into the
  Initial Domain Part (IDP) and the Domain Specific Part (DSP), as spec-
  ified in ISO8348/Addendum 2, the OSI network layer addressing standard
  [14 ](also RFC 941 [6]). The IDP is the part which is standardized by
  ISO, and specifies the format and authority responsible for assigning
  the rest of the address. The DSP is assigned by whatever addressing
  authority is specified by the IDP (see Appendix A for more discussion
  on the top level NSAP addressing authorities). The DSP is further
  subdivided, by DIS10589, into a High Order Part of DSP (HO-DSP), a
  system identifier (ID), and an NSAP selector (SEL). The HO-DSP may
  use any format desired by the authority which is identified by the
  IDP. Together, the combination of [IDP,HO-DSP] identify an area within
  a routing domain and, implicitly, the routing domain containing the
  area. The combination of [IDP,HO-DSP] is therefore referred to as the
  area address.
  
                _______________________________________________
                !____IDP_____!_______________DSP______________!
                !__AFI_!_IDI_!_____HO-DSP______!___ID___!_SEL_!
  
  
                   IDP     Initial Domain Part
                   AFI     Authority and Format Identifier
                   IDI     Initial Domain Identifier
                   DSP     Domain Specific Part
                   HO-DSP  High-order DSP
                   ID      System Identifier
                   SEL     NSAP Selector
  
  
                Figure 1: OSI Hierarchical Address Structure.
  
  
  
  The ID field may be from one to eight octets in length, but must have
  a single known length in any particular routing domain. Each router is
  configured to know what length is used in its domain. The SEL field is
  always one octet in length. Each router is therefore able to identify
  the ID and SEL fields as a known number of trailing octets of the NSAP
  address. The area address can be identified as the remainder of the
  address (after truncation of the ID and SEL fields).
  
  
  Usually, all nodes in an area have the same area address. However,
  sometimes an area might have multiple addresses. Motivations for
  allowing this are several:
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
     * It might be desirable to change the address of an area. The most
       graceful way of changing an area from having address A to having
       address B is to first allow it to have both addresses A and B, and
       then after all nodes in the area have been modified to recognize
       both addresses, one by one the ESs can be modified to forget
       address A.
  
     * It might be desirable to merge areas A and B into one area. The
       method for accomplishing this is to, one by one, add knowledge of
       address B into the A partition, and similarly add knowledge of
       address A into the B partition.
  
     * It might be desirable to partition an area C into two areas, A and
       B (where A might equal C, in which case this example becomes one
       of removing a portion of an area). This would be accomplished by
       first introducing knowledge of address A into the appropriate ESs
       (those destined to become area A), and knowledge of address B into
       the appropriate nodes, and then one by one removing knowledge of
       address C.
  
  
  
  Since the addressing explicitly identifies the area, it is very easy
  for level 1 ISs to identify packets going to destinations outside
  of their area, which need to be forwarded to level 2 ISs. Thus, in
  DIS10589 the two types of ISs route as follows:
  
  
     * Level 1 intermediate systems -- these nodes route based on the ID
       portion of the ISO address. They route within an area. Level 1 ISs
       recognize, based on the destination address in a packet, whether
       the destination is within the area. If so, they route towards the
       destination. If not, they route to the nearest level 2 IS.
  
     * Level 2 intermediate systems -- these nodes route based on address
       prefixes, preferring the longest matching prefix, and preferring
       internal routes over external routes. They route towards areas,
       without regard to the internal structure of an area; or towards
       level 2 ISs on the routing domain boundary that have advertised
       external address prefixes into the level 2 subdomain. A level 2 IS
       may also be operating as a level 1 IS in one area.
  
  
  
  A level 1 IS will have the area portion of its address manually
  configured. It will refuse to become a neighbor with an IS whose area
  addresses do not overlap its own area addresses. However, if a level 1
  IS has area addresses A, B, and C, and a neighbor has area addresses
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  B and D, then the level 1 IS will accept the other IS as a level 1
  neighbor.
  
  
  A level 2 IS will accept another level 2 IS as a neighbor, regardless
  of area address. However, if the area addresses do not overlap, the
  link would be considered by both ISs to be level 2 only, and only
  level 2 routing packets would flow on the link. External links (i.e.,
  to other routing domains) must be between level 2 ISs in different
  routing domains.
  
  
  DIS10589 provides an optional partition repair function. In the
  unlikely case that a level 1 area becomes partitioned, this function,
  if implemented, allows the partition to be repaired via use of level 2
  routes.
  
  
  DIS10589 requires that the set of level 2 ISs be connected. Should the
  level 2 backbone become partitioned, there is no provision for use of
  level 1 links to repair a level 2 partition.
  
  
  In unusual cases, a single level 2 IS may lose connectivity to the
  level 2 backbone. In this case the level 2 IS will indicate in its
  level 1 routing packets that it is not attached, thereby allowing
  level 1 ISs in the area to route traffic for outside of the area
  to a different level 2 IS. Level 1 ISs therefore route traffic to
  destinations outside of their area only to level 2 ISs which indicate
  in their level 1 routing packets that they are attached.
  
  
  An ES may autoconfigure the area portion of its address by extracting
  the area portion of a neighboring IS's address. If this is the case,
  then an ES will always accept an IS as a neighbor. Since the standard
  does not specify that the end system must autoconfigure its area
  address, an end system may be pre-configured with an area address. In
  this case the end system would ignore IS neighbors with non-matching
  area addresses.
  
  
  
  3.3   Requirements of DIS10589 on NSAPs
  
  
  
  The preferred NSAP format for DIS10589 is shown in Figure 1. A number
  of points should be noted from DIS10589:
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
     * The IDP is as specified in ISO 8348/Addendum 2, the OSI network
       layer addressing standard [14];
  
  
     * The high-order portion of the DSP (HO-DSP) is that portion of the
       DSP whose assignment, structure, and meaning are not constrained
       by DIS10589;
  
  
     * The concatenation of the IDP and the HO-DSP, the area address,
       must be globally unique (if the area address of an NSAP matches
       one of the area addresses of a system, it is in the system's area
       and is routed to by level 1 routing);
  
  
     * Level 2 routing acts on address prefixes, using the longest
       address prefix that matches the destination address;
  
  
     * Level 1 routing acts on the ID field. The ID field must be unique
       within an area for ESs and level 1 ISs, and unique within the
       routing domain for level 2 ISs. The ID field is assumed to be
       flat;
  
  
     * The one-octet NSAP Selector, SEL, determines the entity to receive
       the CLNP packet within the system identified by the rest of the
       NSAP (i.e., a transport entity) and is always the last octet of
       the NSAP; and,
  
  
     * A system shall be able to generate and forward data packets
       containing addresses in any of the formats specified by ISO
       8348/Addendum 2. However, within a routing domain that conforms to
       DIS10589, the lower-order octets of the NSAP should be structured
       as the ID and SEL fields shown in Figure 1 to take full advantage
       of DIS10589 routing. End systems with addresses which do not
       conform may require additional manual configuration and be subject
       to inferior routing performance.
  
  
  For purposes of efficient operation of the IS-IS routing protocol,
  several observations may be made. First, although the IS-IS protocol
  specifies an algorithm for routing within a single routing domain, the
  routing algorithm must efficiently route both: (i) Packets whose final
  destination is in the domain (these must, of course, be routed to the
  correct destination end system in the domain); and (ii) Packets whose
  final destination is outside of the domain (these must be routed to a
  correct ``border'' router, from which they will exit the domain).
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  For those destinations which are in the domain, level 2 routing treats
  the entire area address (i.e., all of the NSAP address except the ID
  and SEL fields) as if it were a flat field. Thus, the efficiency of
  level 2 routing to destinations within the domain is affected only by
  the number of areas in the domain, and the number of area addresses
  assigned to each area (which can range from one up to a maximum of
  three).
  
  
  For those destinations which are outside of the domain, level 2
  routing routes according to address prefixes. In this case, there
  is considerable potential advantage (in terms of reducing the amount
  of routing information that is required) if the number of address
  prefixes required to describe any particular set of destinations can
  be minimized.
  
  
  
  4   NSAPs and Routing
  
  
  
  When determining an administrative policy for NSAP assignment, it
  is important to understand the technical consequences. The objective
  behind the use of hierarchical routing is to achieve some level
  of routing data abstraction, or summarization, to reduce the cpu,
  memory, and transmission bandwidth consumed in support of routing.
  This dictates that NSAPs be assigned according to topological
  routing structures. However, administrative assignment falls along
  organizational or political boundaries. These may not be congruent to
  topological boundaries and therefore the requirements of the two may
  collide. It is necessary to find a balance between these two needs.
  
  
  Routing data abstraction occurs at the boundary between hierarchically
  arranged topological routing structures. An element lower in the
  hierarchy reports summary routing information to its parent(s). Within
  the current OSI routing framework [16] and routing protocols, the
  lowest boundary at which this can occur is the boundary between an
  area and the level 2 subdomain within a DIS10589 routing domain. Data
  abstraction is designed into DIS10589 at this boundary, since level 1
  ISs are constrained to reporting only area addresses, and a maximum
  number of three area addresses are allowed in one area (This is an
  architectural constant in DIS10589. See [17], Clause 7.2.11 and Table
  2 of Clause 7.5.1).
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  Level 2 routing is based upon address prefixes. Level 2 ISs dis-
  tribute, throughout the level 2 subdomain, the area addresses of the
  level 1 areas to which they are attached (and any manually configured
  reachable address prefixes). Level 2 ISs compute next-hop forwarding
  information to all advertised address prefixes. Level 2 routing is
  determined by the longest advertised address prefix that matches the
  destination address.
  
  
  At routing domain boundaries, address prefix information is exchanged
  (statically or dynamically) with other routing domains. If area
  addresses within a routing domain are all drawn from distinct NSAP
  assignment authorities (allowing no abstraction), then the boundary
  prefix information consists of an enumerated list of all area
  addresses.
  
  
  Alternatively, should the routing domain ``own'' an address prefix
  and assign area addresses based upon it, boundary routing information
  can be summarized into the single prefix. This can allow substantial
  data reduction and, therefore, will allow much better scaling (as
  compared to the uncoordinated area addresses discussed in the previous
  paragraph).
  
  
  If routing domains are interconnected in a more-or-less random (non-
  hierarchical) scheme, it is quite likely that no further abstraction
  of routing data can occur. Since routing domains would have no defined
  hierarchical relationship, administrators would not be able to assign
  area addresses out of some common prefix for the purpose of data
  abstraction. The result would be flat inter-domain routing; all
  routing domains would need explicit knowledge of all other routing
  domains that they route to. This can work well in small- and medium-
  sized internets, up to a size somewhat larger than the current IP
  Internet. However, this does not scale to very large internets. For
  example, we expect growth in the future to an international Internet
  which has tens or hundreds of thousands of routing domains in the U.S.
  alone. This requires a greater degree of data abstraction beyond that
  which can be achieved at the ``routing domain'' level.
  
  
  In the Internet, however, it should be possible to exploit the
  existing hierarchical routing structure interconnections, as discussed
  in Section 5. Thus, there is the opportunity for a group of routing
  domains each to be assigned an address prefix from a shorter prefix
  assigned to another routing domain whose function is to interconnect
  the group of routing domains. Each member of the group of routing
  
  
  
  
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  domains now ``owns'' its (somewhat longer) prefix, from which it
  assigns its area addresses.
  
  
  The most straightforward case of this occurs when there is a set
  of routing domains which are all attached only to a single regional
  (or backbone) domain, and which use that regional for all external
  (inter-domain) traffic. A small address prefix may be assigned to
  the regional, which then assigns slightly longer prefixes (based
  on the regional's prefix) to each of the routing domains that it
  interconnects. This allows the regional, when informing other
  routing domains of the addresses that it can reach, to abbreviate
  the reachability information for a large number of routing domains
  as a single prefix. This approach therefore can allow a great deal
  of hierarchical abbreviation of routing information, and thereby can
  greatly improve the scalability of inter-domain routing.
  
  
  Clearly, this approach is recursive and can be carried through several
  iterations. Routing domains at any ``level'' in the hierarchy may
  use their prefix as the basis for subsequent suballocations, assuming
  that the NSAP addresses remain within the overall length and structure
  constraints. The GOSIP Version 2 NSAP structure, discussed later in
  this section, allows for multiple levels of routing hierarchy.
  
  
  At this point, we observe that the number of nodes at each lower
  level of a hierarchy tends to grow exponentially. Thus the greatest
  gains in data abstraction occur at the leaves and the gains drop
  significantly at each higher level. Therefore, the law of diminishing
  returns suggests that at some point data abstraction ceases to
  produce significant benefits. Determination of the point at which data
  abstraction ceases to be of benefit requires a careful consideration
  of the number of routing domains that are expected to occur at each
  level of the hierarchy (over a given period of time), compared to the
  number of routing domains and address prefixes that can conveniently
  and efficiently be handled via dynamic inter-domain routing protocols.
  
  
  There is a balance that must be sought between the requirements
  on NSAPs for efficient routing and the need for decentralized NSAP
  administration. The NSAP structure from Version 2 of GOSIP (Figure 2)
  offers an example of how these two needs might be met. The AFI,
  IDI, DFI, and AA fields provide for administrative decentralization.
  The AFI/IDI pair of values 47/0005 identify the U.S. government
  as the authority responsible for defining the DSP structure and
  allocating values within it (see Appendix A for more information on
  NSAP structure).
  
  
  
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      [Note: It is not important that NSAPs be allocated from the
      GOSIP Version 2 authority under 47/0005. The ANSI format under
      the Data Country Code for the U.S. (DCC=840) and formats
      assigned to other countries and ISO members or liaison
      organizations are also expected to be used, and will work
      equally well. For parts of the Internet outside of the U.S.
      there may in some cases be strong reasons to prefer a local
      format rather than the GOSIP format. However, GOSIP addresses
      are used in most cases in the examples in this paper because:
  
        * The DSP format has been defined and allows hierarchical
          allocation; and,
  
        * An operational registration authority for suballocation of
          AA values under the GOSIP address space has already been
          established at GSA.]
  
  
  
  GOSIP Version 2 defines the DSP structure as shown (under DFI=80h) and
  provides for the allocation of AA values to administrations. Thus, the
  fields from the AFI to the AA, inclusive, represent a unique address
  prefix assigned to an administration.
  
                  _______________
                  !<--__IDP_-->_!___________________________________
                  !AFI_!__IDI___!___________<--_DSP_-->____________!
                  !_47_!__0005__!DFI_!AA_!Rsvd_!_RD_!Area_!ID_!Sel_!
           octets !_1__!___2____!_1__!_3_!__2__!_2__!_2___!_6_!_1__!
  
  
                    IDP   Initial Domain Part
                    AFI   Authority and Format Identifier
                    IDI   Initial Domain Identifier
                    DSP   Domain Specific Part
                    DFI   DSP Format Identifier
                    AA    Administrative Authority
                    Rsvd  Reserved
                    RD    Routing Domain Identifier
                    Area  Area Identifier
                    ID    System Identifier
                    SEL   NSAP Selector
  
                  Figure 2: GOSIP Version 2 NSAP structure.
  
  
  Currently, a proposal is being progressed in ANSI for an American
  National Standard (ANS) for the DSP of the NSAP address space
  
  
  
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  administered by ANSI. This will provide an identical DSP structure
  to that provided by GOSIP Version 2. The ANSI format, therefore,
  differs from that illustrated above only in that the IDP is based
  on an ISO DCC assignment, and in that the AA will be administered
  by a different organization (ANSI secretariat instead of GSA).
  The technical considerations applicable to NSAP administration are
  independent of whether a GOSIP Version 2 or an ANSI value is used for
  the NSAP assignment.
  
  
  Similarly, although other countries may make use of slightly different
  NSAP formats, the principles of NSAP assignment and use are the same.
  
  
  In the low-order part of the GOSIP Version 2 NSAP format, two
  fields are defined in addition to those required by DIS10589. These
  fields, RD and Area, are defined to allow allocation of NSAPs along
  topological boundaries in support of increased data abstraction.
  Administrations assign RD identifiers underneath their unique address
  prefix (the reserved field is left to accommodate future growth and
  to provide additional flexibility for inter-domain routing). Routing
  domains allocate Area identifiers from their unique prefix. The result
  is:
  
  
     * AFI+IDI+DFI+AA = administration prefix,
  
     * administration prefix(+Rsvd)+RD = routing domain prefix, and,
  
     * routing domain prefix+Area = area address.
  
  
  
  This provides for summarization of all area addresses within a routing
  domain into one prefix. If the AA identifier is accorded topological
  significance (in addition to administrative significance), an
  additional level of data abstraction can be obtained, as is discussed
  in the next section.
  
  
  
  5   NSAP Administration and Routing in the Internet
  
  
  Internet routing components---backbones, regionals, and sites
  or campuses---are arranged hierarchically for the most part. A
  natural mapping from these components to OSI routing components
  is that backbones, regionals, and sites act as routing domains.
  
  
  
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  (Alternatively, a site may choose to operate as an area within a
  regional. However, in such a case the area is part of the regional's
  routing domain and the discussion in Section 5.1 applies. We assume
  that some, if not most, sites will prefer to operate as routing
  domains. By operating as a routing domain, a site operates a level 2
  subdomain as well as one or more level 1 areas.)
  
  
  Given such a mapping, where should address administration and alloca-
  tion be performed to satisfy both administrative decentralization and
  data abstraction? Three possibilities are considered:
  
    1. at the area,
  
    2. at the leaf routing domain, and,
  
    3. at the transit routing domain (TRD).
  
  Leaf routing domains correspond to sites, where the primary purpose is
  to provide intra-domain routing services. Transit routing domains are
  deployed to carry transit (i.e., inter-domain) traffic; backbones and
  regionals are TRDs.
  
  
  The greatest burden in transmitting and operating on routing informa-
  tion is at the top of the routing hierarchy, where routing information
  tends to accumulate. In the Internet, for example, regionals must man-
  age the set of network numbers for all networks reachable through the
  regional. Traffic destined for other networks is generally routed to
  the backbone. The backbones, however, must be cognizant of the network
  numbers for all attached regionals and their associated networks.
  
  
  In general, the advantage of abstracting routing information at a
  given level of the routing hierarchy is greater at the higher levels
  of the hierarchy. There is relatively little direct benefit to the
  administration that performs the abstraction, since it must maintain
  routing information individually on each attached topological routing
  structure.
  
  
  For example, suppose that a given site is trying to decide whether
  to obtain an NSAP address prefix based on an AA value from GSA
  (implying that the first four octets of the address would be those
  assigned out of the GOSIP space), or based on an RD value from its
  regional (implying that the first seven octets of the address are
  those assigned to that regional). If considering only their own
  
  
  
  
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  self-interest, the site itself, and the attached regional, have
  little reason to choose one approach or the other. The site must use
  one prefix or another; the source of the prefix has little effect
  on routing efficiency within the site. The regional must maintain
  information about each attached site in order to route, regardless of
  any commonality in the prefixes of the sites.
  
  
  However, there is a difference when the regional distributes routing
  information to backbones and other regionals. In the first case, the
  regional cannot aggregate the site's address into its own prefix;
  the address must be explicitly listed in routing exchanges, resulting
  in an additional burden to backbones and other regionals which must
  exchange and maintain this information.
  
  
  In the second case, each other regional and backbone sees a single
  address prefix for the regional, which encompasses the new site. This
  avoids the exchange of additional routing information to identify the
  new site's address prefix. Thus, the advantages primarily accrue to
  other regionals and backbones which maintain routing information about
  this site and regional.
  
  
  One might apply a supplier/consumer model to this problem: the higher
  level (e.g., a backbone) is a supplier of routing services, while
  the lower level (e.g., an attached regional) is the consumer of these
  services. The price charged for services is based upon the cost of
  providing them. The overhead of managing a large table of addresses
  for routing to an attached topological entity contributes to this
  cost.
  
  
  The Internet, however, is not a market economy. Rather, efficient
  operation is based on cooperation. The guidelines discussed below
  describe reasonable ways of managing the OSI address space that
  benefit the entire community.
  
  
  
  5.1   Administration at the Area
  
  
  If areas take their area addresses from a myriad of unrelated NSAP
  allocation authorities, there will be effectively no data abstraction
  beyond what is built into DIS10589. For example, assume that within a
  routing domain three areas take their area addresses, respectively,
  out of:
  
  
  
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     * the GOSIP Version 2 authority assigned to the Department of
       Commerce, with an AA of nnn:
  
                    AFI=47, IDI=0005, DFI=80h, AA=nnn, ... ;
  
     * the GOSIP Version 2 authority assigned to the Department of the
       Interior, with an AA of mmm:
  
                  AFI=47, IDI=0005, DFI=80h, AA=mmm, ... ; and,
  
     * the ANSI authority under the U.S. Data Country Code (DCC) (Section
       A.2) for organization XYZ with ORG identifier = xxx:
  
                     AFI=39, IDI=840, DFI=dd, ORG=xxx, ....
  
  
  As described in Section 3.3, from the point of view of any particular
  routing domain, there is no harm in having the different areas in
  the routing domain use addresses obtained from a wide variety of
  administrations. For routing within the domain, the area addresses are
  treated as a flat field.
  
  
  However, this does have a negative effect on inter-domain routing,
  particularly on those other domains which need to maintain routes to
  this domain. There is no common prefix that can be used to represent
  these NSAPs and therefore no summarization can take place at the
  routing domain boundary. When addresses are advertised by this routing
  domain to other routing domains, an enumerated list must be used
  consisting of the three area addresses.
  
  
  This situation is roughly analogous to the dissemination of routing
  information in the TCP/IP Internet. Areas correspond roughly to
  networks and area addresses to network numbers. The result of allowing
  areas within a routing domain to take their NSAPs from unrelated
  authorities is flat routing at the area address level. The number
  of address prefixes that leaf routing domains would advertise is on
  the order of the number of attached areas; the number of prefixes a
  regional routing domain would advertise is approximately the number of
  areas attached to the client leaf routing domains; and for a backbone
  this would be summed across all attached regionals. Although this
  situation is just barely acceptable in the current Internet, as the
  Internet grows this will quickly become intractable. A greater degree
  of hierarchical information reduction is necessary to allow continued
  growth in the Internet.
  
  
  
  
  
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  5.2   Administration at the Leaf Routing Domain
  
  
  
  As mentioned previously, the greatest degree of data abstraction comes
  at the lowest levels of the hierarchy. Providing each leaf routing
  domain (that is, site) with a unique prefix results in the biggest
  single increase in abstraction, with each leaf domain assigning area
  addresses from its prefix. From outside the leaf routing domain, the
  set of all addresses reachable in the domain can then be represented
  by a single prefix.
  
  
  As an example, assume NSF has been assigned the AA value of zzz
  under ICD=0005. NSF then assigns a routing domain identifier to a
  routing domain under its administrative authority identifier, rrr. The
  resulting prefix for the routing domain is:
  
  
             AFI=47, IDI=0005, DFI=80h, AA=zzz, Rsvd=0, RD=rrr.
  
  
  All areas attached to this routing domain would have area addresses
  comprising this prefix followed by an Area identifier. The prefix
  represents the summary of reachable addresses within the routing
  domain.
  
  
  There is a close relationship between areas and routing domains
  implicit in the fact that they operate a common routing protocol and
  are under the control of a single administration. The routing domain
  administration subdivides the domain into areas and structures a level
  2 subdomain (i.e., a level 2 backbone) which provides connectivity
  among the areas. The routing domain represents the only path between
  an area and the rest of the internetwork. It is reasonable that
  this relationship also extend to include a common NSAP addressing
  authority. Thus, the areas within the leaf RD should take their NSAPs
  from the prefix assigned to the leaf RD.
  
  
  
  5.3   Administration at the Transit Routing Domain
  
  
  
  Two kinds of transit routing domains are considered, backbones and
  regionals. Each is discussed separately below.
  
  
  
  
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  5.3.1   Regionals
  
  
  
  It is interesting to consider whether regional routing domains should
  be the common authority for assigning NSAPs from a unique prefix to
  the leaf routing domains that they serve. The benefits derived from
  data abstraction are less than in the case of leaf routing domains,
  and the additional degree of data abstraction provided by this is
  not necessary in the short term. However, in the long term the number
  of routing domains in the Internet will grow to the point that it
  will be infeasible to route on the basis of a flat field of routing
  domains. It will therefore be essential to provide a greater degree of
  information abstraction.
  
  
  Regionals may assign prefixes to leaf domains, based on a single
  (shorter length) address prefix assigned to the regional. For example,
  given the GOSIP Version 2 address structure, an AA value may be
  assigned to each regional, and routing domain values may be assigned
  by the regional to each attached leaf routing domain. A similar
  hierarchical address assignment based on a prefix assigned to each
  regional may be used for other NSAP formats. This results in regionals
  advertising to backbones a small fraction of the number of address
  prefixes that would be necessary if they enumerated the individual
  prefixes of the leaf routing domains. This represents a significant
  savings given the expected scale of global internetworking.
  
  
  Are leaf routing domains willing to accept prefixes derived from
  the regional's? In the supplier/consumer model, the regional is
  offering connectivity as the service, priced according to its costs
  of operation. This includes the ``price'' of obtaining service from
  one or more backbones. In general, backbones will want to handle as
  few address prefixes as possible to keep costs low. In the Internet
  environment, which does not operate as a typical marketplace, leaf
  routing domains must be sensitive to the resource constraints of the
  regionals and backbones. The efficiencies gained in routing clearly
  warrant the adoption of NSAP administration by the regionals.
  
  
  The mechanics of this scenario are straightforward. Each regional
  is assigned a unique prefix, from which it allocates slightly longer
  routing domain prefixes for its attached leaf routing domains.
  For GOSIP NSAPs, this means that a regional would be assigned an
  AA identifier. Attached leaf routing domains would be assigned RD
  identifiers under the regional's unique prefix. For example, assume
  
  
  
  
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  NIST is a leaf routing domain whose sole inter-domain link is via
  SURANet. If SURANet is assigned an AA identifier kkk, NIST could be
  assigned an RD of jjj, resulting in a unique prefix for SURANet of:
  
  
                      AFI=47, IDI=0005, DFI=80h, AA=kkk
  
  
  and a unique prefix for NIST of
  
  
            AFI=47, IDI=0005, DFI=80h, AA=kkk, (Rsvd=0), RD=jjj.
  
  
  A similar scheme can be established using NSAPs allocated under
  DCC=840. In this case, a regional applies for an ORG identifier from
  ANSI, which serves the same purpose as the AA identifier in GOSIP.
  The current direction in ANSI is to standardize on an NSAP structure
  identical to GOSIP Version 2 (see Section A.2).
  
  
  
  5.3.2   Backbones
  
  
  
  There does not appear to be a strong case for regionals to take their
  address spaces from the the NSAP space of a backbone. The benefit in
  routing data abstraction is relatively small. The number of regionals
  today is in the tens and an order of magnitude increase would not
  cause an undue burden on the backbones. Also, it may be expected that
  as time goes by there will be increased direct interconnection of the
  regionals, leaf routing domains directly attached to the backbones,
  and international links directly attached to the regionals. Under
  these circumstances, the distinction between regionals and backbones
  may become blurred.
  
  
  An additional factor that discourages allocation of NSAPs from a
  backbone prefix is that the backbones and their attached regionals are
  perceived as being independent. Regionals may take their long-haul
  service from one or more backbones, or may switch backbones should
  a more cost-effective service be provided elsewhere (essentially,
  backbones can be thought of the same way as long-distance telephone
  carriers). Having NSAPs derived from the backbone is inconsistent with
  the nature of the relationship.
  
  
  
  
  
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  5.4   Multi-homed Routing Domains
  
  
  
  The discussions in Section 5.3 suggest methods for allocating NSAP
  addresses based on regional or backbone connectivity. This allows a
  great deal of information reduction to be achieved for those routing
  domains which are attached to a single TRD. In particular, such
  routing domains may select their NSAP addresses from a space allocated
  to them by the regional. This allows the regional, when announcing the
  addresses that it can reach to other regionals and backbones, to use
  a single address prefix to describe a large number of NSAP addresses
  corresponding to multiple routing domains.
  
  
  However, there are additional considerations for routing domains
  which are attached to multiple regionals and backbones. Such ``multi-
  homed'' routing domains may, for example, consist of single-site
  campuses and companies which are attached to multiple backbones, large
  organizations which are attached to different regionals at different
  locations in the same country, or multi-national organizations which
  are attached to backbones in a variety of countries worldwide. There
  are a number of possible ways to deal with these multi-homed routing
  domains.
  
  
  One possible solution is to assign addresses to each multi-homed
  organization independently from the regionals and backbones to which
  it is attached. This allows each multi-homed organization to base its
  NSAP assignments on a single prefix, and to thereby summarize the set
  of all NSAPs reachable within that organization via a single prefix.
  The disadvantage of this approach is that since the NSAP address
  for that organization has no relationship to the addresses of any
  particular TRD, the TRDs to which this organization is attached will
  need to advertise the prefix for this organization to other regionals
  and backbones. Other regionals and backbones (potentially worldwide)
  will need to maintain an explicit entry for that organization in their
  routing tables.
  
  
  For example, suppose that a very large U.S.-wide company ``Mega
  Big International Incorporated'' (MBII) has a fully interconnected
  internal network and is assigned a single AA value under the U.S.
  GOSIP Version 2 address space. It is likely that outside of the U.S.,
  a single entry may be maintained in routing tables for all U.S. GOSIP
  addresses. However, within the U.S., every backbone and regional
  will need to maintain a separate address entry for MBII. If MBII
  
  
  
  
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  is in fact an international corporation, then it may be necessary
  for every backbone worldwide to maintain a separate entry for MBII
  (including backbones to which MBII is not attached). Clearly this
  may be acceptable if there are a small number of such multi-homed
  routing domains, but would place an unacceptable load on routers
  within backbones if all organizations were to choose such address
  assignments. This solution may not scale to internets where there are
  many hundreds of thousands of multi-homed organizations.
  
  
  A second possible approach would be for multi-homed organizations to
  be assigned a separate NSAP space for each connection to a TRD, and
  to assign a single address prefix to each area within its routing
  domain(s) based on the closest interconnection point. For example, if
  MBII had connections to two regionals in the U.S. (one east coast, and
  one west coast), as well as three connections to national backbones
  in Europe, and one in the far east, then MBII may make use of six
  different address prefixes. Each area within MBII would be assigned a
  single address prefix based on the nearest connection.
  
  
  For purposes of external routing of traffic from outside MBII to a
  destination inside of MBII, this approach works similarly to treating
  MBII as six separate organizations. For purposes of internal routing,
  or for routing traffic from inside of MBII to a destination outside of
  MBII, this approach works the same as the first solution.
  
  
  If we assume that incoming traffic (coming from outside of MBII, with
  a destination within MBII) is always to enter via the nearest point to
  the destination, then each TRD which has a connection to MBII needs
  to announce to other TRDs the ability to reach only those parts of
  MBII whose address is taken from its own address space. This implies
  that no additional routing information needs to be exchanged between
  TRDs, resulting in a smaller load on the inter-domain routing tables
  maintained by TRDs when compared to the first solution. This solution
  therefore scales better to extremely large internets containing very
  large numbers of multi-homed organizations.
  
  
  One problem with the second solution is that backup routes to multi-
  homed organizations are not automatically maintained. With the first
  solution, each TRD, in announcing the ability to reach MBII, specifies
  that it is able to reach all of the NSAPs within MBII. With the second
  solution, each TRD announces that it can reach all of the NSAPs based
  on its own address prefix, which only includes some of the NSAPs
  within MBII. If the connection between MBII and one particular TRD
  
  
  
  
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  were severed, then the NSAPs within MBII with addresses based on that
  TRD would become unreachable via inter-domain routing. The impact
  of this problem can be reduced somewhat by maintenance of additional
  information within routing tables, but this reduces the scaling
  advantage of the second approach.
  
  
  The second solution also requires that when external connectivity
  changes, internal addresses also change.
  
  
  Also note that this and the previous approach will tend to cause
  packets to take different routes. With the first approach, packets
  from outside of MBII destined for within MBII will tend to enter via
  the point which is closest to the source (which will therefore tend to
  maximize the load on the networks internal to MBII). With the second
  solution, packets from outside destined for within MBII will tend to
  enter via the point which is closest to the destination (which will
  tend to minimize the load on the networks within MBII, and maximize
  the load on the TRDs).
  
  
  These solutions also have different effects on policies. For example,
  suppose that country ``X'' has a law that traffic from a source
  within country X to a destination within country X must at all
  times stay entirely within the country. With the first solution, it
  is not possible to determine from the destination address whether
  or not the destination is within the country. With the second
  solution, a separate address may be assigned to those NSAPs which are
  within country X, thereby allowing routing policies to be followed.
  Similarly, suppose that ``Little Small Company'' (LSC) has a policy
  that its packets may never be sent to a destination that is within
  MBII. With either solution, the routers within LSC may be configured
  to discard any traffic that has a destination within MBII's address
  space. However, with the first solution this requires one entry;
  with the second it requires many entries and may be impossible as a
  practical matter.
  
  
  There are other possible solutions as well. A third approach is to
  assign each multi-homed organization a single address prefix, based on
  one of its connections to a TRD. Other TRDs to which the multi-homed
  organization are attached maintain a routing table entry for the
  organization, but are extremely selective in terms of which other
  TRDs are told of this route. This approach will produce a single
  ``default'' routing entry which all TRDs will know how to reach
  
  
  
  
  
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  (since presumably all TRDs will maintain routes to each other), while
  providing more direct routing in some cases.
  
  
  There is at least one situation in which this third approach is
  particularly appropriate. Suppose that a special interest group of
  organizations have deployed their own backbone. For example, lets
  suppose that the U.S. National Widget Manufacturers and Researchers
  have set up a U.S.-wide backbone, which is used by corporations
  who manufacture widgets, and certain universities which are known
  for their widget research efforts. We can expect that the various
  organizations which are in the widget group will run their internal
  networks as separate routing domains, and most of them will also
  be attached to other TRDs (since most of the organizations involved
  in widget manufacture and research will also be involved in other
  activities). We can therefore expect that many or most of the
  organizations in the widget group are dual-homed, with one attachment
  for widget-associated communications and the other attachment for
  other types of communications. Let's also assume that the total number
  of organizations involved in the widget group is small enough that
  it is reasonable to maintain a routing table containing one entry
  per organization, but that they are distributed throughout a larger
  internet with many millions of (mostly not widget-associated) routing
  domains.
  
  
  With the third approach, each multi-homed organization in the widget
  group would make use of an address assignment based on its other
  attachment(s) to TRDs (the attachments not associated with the widget
  group). The widget backbone would need to maintain routes to the
  routing domains associated with the various member organizations.
  Similarly, all members of the widget group would need to maintain a
  table of routes to the other members via the widget backbone. However,
  since the widget backbone does not inform other general worldwide TRDs
  of what addresses it can reach (since the backbone is not intended
  for use by other outside organizations), the relatively large set
  of routing prefixes needs to be maintained only in a limited number
  of places. The addresses assigned to the various organizations which
  are members of the widget group would provide a ``default route'' via
  each members other attachments to TRDs, while allowing communications
  within the widget group to use the preferred path.
  
  
  A fourth solution involves assignment of a particular address prefix
  for routing domains which are attached to precisely two (or more)
  specific routing domains. For example, suppose that there are two
  regionals ``SouthNorthNet'' and ``NorthSouthNet'' which have a very
  
  
  
  
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  large number of customers in common (i.e., there are a large number
  of routing domains which are attached to both). Rather than getting
  two address prefixes (such as two AA values assigned under the GOSIP
  address space) these organizations could obtain three prefixes. Those
  routing domains which are attached to NorthSouthNet but not attached
  to SouthNorthNet obtain an address assignment based on one of the
  prefixes. Those routing domains which are attached to SouthNorthNet
  but not to NorthSouthNet would obtain an address based on the second
  prefix. Finally, those routing domains which are multi-homed to both
  of these networks would obtain an address based on the third prefix.
  Each of these two TRDs would then advertise two prefixes to other
  TRDs, one prefix for leaf routing domains attached to it only, and one
  prefix for leaf routing domains attached to both.
  
  
  This fourth solution is likely to be important when use of public data
  networks becomes more common. In particular, it is likely that at some
  point in the future a substantial percentage of all routing domains
  will be attached to public data networks. In this case, nearly all
  government-sponsored networks (such as some current NSFNET regionals)
  may have a set of customers which overlaps substantially with the
  public networks.
  
  
  There are therefore a number of possible solutions to the problem
  of assigning NSAP addresses to multi-homed routing domains. Each
  of these solutions has very different advantages and disadvantages.
  Each solution places a different real (i.e., financial) cost on the
  multi-homed organizations, and on the TRDs (including those to which
  the multi-homed organizations are not attached).
  
  
  In addition, most of the solutions described also highlight the need
  for each TRD to develop policy on whether and under what conditions
  to accept addresses that are not based on its own address prefix, and
  how such non-local addresses will be treated. For example, a somewhat
  conservative policy might be that non-local NSAP prefixes will be
  accepted from any attached leaf RD, but not advertised to other TRDs.
  In a less conservative policy, a TRD might accept such non-local
  prefixes and agree to exchange them with a defined set of other TRDs
  (this set could be an a priori group of TRDs that have something in
  common such as geographical location, or the result of an agreement
  specific to the requesting leaf RD). Various policies involve real
  costs to TRDs, which may be reflected in those policies.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  5.5   Private Links
  
  
  
  The discussion up to this point concentrates on the relationship
  between NSAP addresses and routing between various routing domains
  over transit routing domains, where each transit routing domain
  interconnects a large number of routing domains and offers a more-or-
  less public service.
  
  
  However, there may also exist a large number of private point-to-point
  links which interconnect two private routing domains. In many cases
  such private point-to-point links may be limited to forwarding packets
  directly between the two private routing domains.
  
  
  For example, let's suppose that the XYZ corporation does a lot of
  business with MBII. In this case, XYZ and MBII may contract with a
  carrier to provide a private link between the two corporations, where
  this link may only be used for packets whose source is within one of
  the two corporations, and whose destination is within the other of the
  two corporations. Finally, suppose that the point-to-point link is
  connected between a single router (router X) within XYZ corporation
  and a single router (router M) within MBII. It is therefore necessary
  to configure router X to know which addresses can be reached over
  this link (specifically, all addresses reachable in MBII). Similarly,
  it is necessary to configure router M to know which addresses can be
  reached over this link (specifically, all addresses reachable in XYZ
  Corporation).
  
  
  The important observation to be made here is that such private
  links may be ignored for the purpose of NSAP allocation, and do not
  pose a problem for routing. This is because the routing information
  associated with private links is not propagated throughout the
  internet, and therefore does not need to be collapsed into a TRD's
  prefix.
  
  
  In our example, lets suppose that the XYZ corporation has a single
  connection to an NSFNET regional, and has therefore received an
  address allocation from the space administered by that regional.
  Similarly, let's suppose that MBII, as an international corporation
  with connections to six different backbones or regionals, has chosen
  the second solution from Section 5.4, and therefore has obtained six
  different address allocations. In this case, all addresses reachable
  in the XYZ Corporation can be described by a single address prefix
  
  
  
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  (implying that router M only needs to be configured with a single
  address prefix to represent the addresses reachable over this point-
  to-point link). All addresses reachable in MBII can be described by
  six address prefixes (implying that router X needs to be configured
  with six address prefixes to represent the addresses reachable over
  the point-to-point link).
  
  
  In some cases, such private point-to-point links may be permitted
  to forward traffic for a small number of other routing domains,
  such as closely affiliated organizations. This will increase the
  configuration requirements slightly. However, provided that the number
  of organizations using the link is relatively small, then this still
  does not represent a significant problem.
  
  
  Note that the relationship between routing and NSAP addressing
  described in other sections of this paper is concerned with problems
  in scaling caused by large, essentially public transit routing domains
  which interconnect a large number of routing domains. However, for
  the purpose of NSAP allocation, private point-to-point links which
  interconnect only a small number of private routing domains do not
  pose a problem, and may be ignored. For example, this implies that
  a single leaf routing domain which has a single connection to a
  ``public'' backbone (e.g., the NSFNET), plus a number of private
  point-to-point links to other leaf routing domains, can be treated
  as if it were single-homed to the backbone for the purpose of NSAP
  address allocation.
  
  
  
  5.6   Zero-Homed Routing Domains
  
  
  
  Currently, a very large number of organizations have internal
  communications networks which are not connected to any external
  network. Such organizations may, however, have a number of private
  point-to-point links that they use for communications with other
  organizations. Such organizations do not participate in global
  routing, but are satisfied with reachability to those organizations
  with which they have established private links. These are referred to
  as zero-homed routing domains.
  
  
  Zero-homed routing domains can be considered as the degenerate case
  of routing domains with private links, as discussed in the previous
  section, and do not pose a problem for inter-domain routing. As above,
  
  
  
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  the routing information exchanged across the private links sees very
  limited distribution, usually only to the RD at the other end of the
  link. Thus, there are no address abstraction requirements beyond those
  inherent in the address prefixes exchanged across the private link.
  
  
  However, it is important that zero-homed routing domains use valid
  globally unique NSAP addresses. Suppose that the zero-homed routing
  domain is connected through a private link to an RD. Further, this
  RD participates in an internet that subscribes to the global OSI
  addressing plan (i.e., Addendum 2 to ISO8348). This RD must be able
  to distinguish between the zero-homed routing domain's NSAPs and any
  other NSAPs that it may need to route to. The only way this can be
  guaranteed is if the zero-homed routing domain uses globally unique
  NSAPs.
  
  
  
  5.7   Transition Issues
  
  
  
  Allocation of NSAP addresses based on connectivity to TRDs is
  important to allow scaling of inter-domain routing to an internet
  containing millions of routing domains. However, such address
  allocation based on topology also implies that a change in topology
  may result in a change of address.
  
  
  This need to allow for change in addresses is a natural, inevitable
  consequence of routing data abstraction. The basic notion of routing
  data abstraction is that there is some correspondence between the
  address and where a system (i.e., a routing domain, area, or end
  system) is located. Thus if the system moves, in some cases the
  address will have to change. If it were possible to change the
  connectivity between routing domains without changing the addresses,
  then it would clearly be necessary to keep track of the location of
  that routing domain on an individual basis.
  
  
  In the short term, due to the rapid growth and increased commer-
  cialization of the Internet, it is possible that the topology may be
  relatively volatile. This implies that planning for address transition
  is very important. Fortunately, there are a number of steps which can
  be taken to help ease the effort required for address transition. A
  complete description of address transition issues is outside of the
  scope of this paper. However, a very brief outline of some transition
  issues is contained in this section.
  
  
  
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  Also note that the possible requirement to transition addresses
  based on changes in topology imply that it is valuable to anticipate
  the future topology changes before finalizing a plan for address
  allocation. For example, in the case of a routing domain which is
  initially single-homed, but which is expecting to become multi-homed
  in the future, it may be advantageous to assign NSAP addresses based
  on the anticipated future topology.
  
  
  In general, it will not be practical to transition the NSAP addresses
  assigned to a routing domain in an instantaneous ``change the address
  at midnight'' manner. Instead, a gradual transition is required in
  which both the old and the new addresses will remain valid for a
  limited period of time. During the transition period, both the old and
  new addresses are accepted by the end systems in the routing domain,
  and both old and new addresses must result in correct routing of
  packets to the destination.
  
  
  Provision for transition has already been built into DIS10589.
  As described in Section 3, DIS10589 allows multiple addresses to
  be assigned to each area specifically for the purpose of easing
  transition.
  
  
  Similarly, there are provisions in OSI for the autoconfiguration of
  area addresses. This allows OSI end systems to find out their area
  addresses automatically by observing the ISO9542 IS-Hello packets
  transmitted by routers. If the ID portion of the address is assigned
  by using IEEE style ``stamped in PROM at birth'' identifiers, then
  an end system can reconfigure its entire NSAP address automatically
  without the need for manual intervention. However, routers will still
  need manual address reconfiguration.
  
  
  During the transition period, it is important that packets using
  the old address be forwarded correctly, even when the topology has
  changed. This is facilitated by the use of ``best match'' inter-domain
  routing.
  
  
  For example, suppose that the XYZ Corporation was previously connected
  only to the NorthSouthNet NSFNET regional. The XYZ Corporation
  therefore went off to the NorthSouthNet administration and got a
  routing domain assignment based on the AA value assigned to the
  NorthSouthNet regional under the GOSIP address space. However, for
  a variety of reasons, the XYZ Corporation decided to terminate its
  association with the NorthSouthNet, and instead connect directly to
  
  
  
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  the NewCommercialNet public data network. Thus the XYZ Corporation
  now has a new address assignment under the ANSI address assigned to
  the NewCommercialNet. The old address for the XYZ Corporation would
  seem to imply that traffic for the XYZ Corporation should be routed to
  the NorthSouthNet, which no longer has any direct connection with XYZ
  Corporation.
  
  
  If the old TRD (NorthSouthNet) and the new TRD (NewCommercialNet) are
  adjacent and cooperative, then this transition is easy to accomplish.
  In this case, packets routed to the XYZ Corporation using the old
  address assignment could be routed to the NorthSouthNet, which would
  directly forward them to the NewCommercialNet, which would in turn
  forward them to XYZ Corporation. In this case only NorthSouthNet
  and NewCommercialNet need be aware of the fact that the old address
  refers to a destination which is no longer directly attached to
  NorthSouthNet.
  
  
  If the old TRD and the new TRD are not adjacent, then the situation
  is a bit more complex, but there are still several possible ways to
  forward traffic correctly.
  
  
  If the old TRD and the new TRD are themselves connected by other
  cooperative transit routing domains, then these intermediate domains
  may agree to forward traffic for XYZ correctly. For example, suppose
  that NorthSouthNet and NewCommercialNet are not directly connected,
  but that they are both directly connected to the NSFNET backbone.
  In this case, all three of NorthSouthNet, NewCommercialNet, and
  the NSFNET backbone would need to maintain a special entry for XYZ
  corporation so that traffic to XYZ using the old address allocation
  would be forwarded via NewCommercialNet. However, other routing
  domains would not need to be aware of the new location for XYZ
  Corporation.
  
  
  Suppose that the old TRD and the new TRD are separated by a non-
  cooperative routing domain, or by a long path of routing domains. In
  this case, the old TRD could encapsulate traffic to XYZ Corporation in
  order to deliver such packets to the correct backbone.
  
  
  Also, those locations which do a significant amount of business with
  XYZ Corporation could have a specific entry in their routing tables
  added to ensure optimal routing of packets to XYZ. For example,
  suppose that another commercial backbone ``OldCommercialNet'' has a
  large number of customers which exchange traffic with XYZ Corporation,
  
  
  
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  and that this third TRD is directly connected to both NorthSouthNet
  and NewCommercialNet. In this case OldCommercialNet will continue
  to have a single entry in its routing tables for other traffic
  destined for NorthSouthNet, but may choose to add one additional (more
  specific) entry to ensure that packets sent to XYZ Corporation's old
  address are routed correctly.
  
  
  Whichever method is used to ease address transition, the goal is that
  knowledge relating XYZ to its old address that is held throughout the
  global internet would eventually be replaced with the new information.
  It is reasonable to expect this to take weeks or months and will be
  accomplished through the distributed directory system. Discussion of
  the directory, along with other address transition techniques such as
  automatically informing the source of a changed address, are outside
  the scope of this paper.
  
  
  
  6   Recommendations
  
  
  
  We anticipate that the current exponential growth of the Internet will
  continue or accelerate for the foreseeable future. In addition, we
  anticipate a rapid internationalization of the Internet. The ability
  of routing to scale is dependent upon the use of data abstraction
  based on hierarchical NSAP addresses. As OSI is introduced in the
  Internet, it is therefore essential to choose a hierarchical structure
  for NSAP addresses with great care.
  
  
  It is in the best interests of the internetworking community that the
  cost of operations be kept to a minimum where possible. In the case of
  NSAP allocation, this again means that routing data abstraction must
  be encouraged.
  
  
  In order for data abstraction to be possible, the assignment of NSAP
  addresses must be accomplished in a manner which is consistent with
  the actual physical topology of the Internet. For example, in those
  cases where organizational and administrative boundaries are not
  related to actual network topology, address assignment based on such
  organization boundaries is not recommended.
  
  
  The intra-domain IS-IS routing protocol allows for information
  abstraction to be maintained at two levels: systems are grouped
  
  
  
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  into areas, and areas are interconnected to form a routing domain.
  For zero-homed and single-homed routing domains (which are expected
  to remain zero-homed or single-homed), we recommend that the NSAP
  addresses assigned for OSI use within a single routing domain use
  a single address prefix assigned to that domain. Specifically, this
  allows the set of all NSAP addresses reachable within a single domain
  to be fully described via a single prefix.
  
  
  We anticipate that the total number of routing domains existing on a
  worldwide OSI Internet to be great enough that additional levels of
  hierarchical data abstraction beyond the routing domain level will be
  necessary.
  
  
  In most cases, network topology will have a close relationship with
  national boundaries. For example, the degree of network connectivity
  will often be greater within a single country than between countries.
  It is therefore appropriate to make specific recommendations based on
  national boundaries, with the understanding that there may be specific
  situations where these general recommendations need to be modified.
  
  
  
  6.1   Recommendations Specific to U.S. Parts of the Internet
  
  
  
  NSAP addresses for use within the U.S. portion of the Internet are
  expected to be based primarily on two address prefixes: the IDP format
  used by NIST for GOSIP Version 2, and the DCC=840 format defined by
  ANSI.
  
  
  We anticipate that, in the U.S., public interconnectivity between
  private routing domains will be provided by a diverse set of TRDs,
  including (but not necessarily limited to):
  
     * the NSFNET backbone;
  
     * a number of NSFNET regional networks; and,
  
     * a number of commercial Public Data Networks.
  
  It is also expected that these networks will not be interconnected
  in a strictly hierarchical manner (for example, there is expected
  to be direct connectivity between NSFNET regionals, and all three of
  these types of networks may have direct international connections).
  
  
  
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  However, the total number of such TRDs is expected to remain (for the
  foreseeable future) small enough to allow addressing of this set of
  TRDs via a flat address space. These TRDs will be used to interconnect
  a wide variety of routing domains, each of which may comprise a single
  corporation, part of a corporation, a university campus, a government
  agency, or other organizational unit.
  
  
  In addition, some private corporations may be expected to make use of
  dedicated private TRDs for communication within their own corporation.
  
  
  We anticipate that the great majority of routing domains will be
  attached to only one of the TRDs. This will permit hierarchical
  address abbreviation based on TRD. We therefore strongly recommend
  that addresses be assigned hierarchically, based on address prefixes
  assigned to individual TRDs.
  
  
  For the GOSIP address format, this implies that Administrative
  Authority (AA) identifiers should be assigned to all TRDs (explicitly
  including the NSFNET backbone, the NSFNET regionals, and other major
  government backbones). For those leaf routing domains which are
  connected to a single TRD, they should be assigned a Routing Domain
  (RD) value from the space assigned to that TRD.
  
  
  We recommend that all TRDs explicitly be involved in the task of
  address administration for those leaf routing domains which are
  single-homed to them. This will offer a valuable service to their
  customers, and will also greatly reduce the resources (including
  human and network resources) necessary for that TRD to take part in
  inter-domain routing.
  
  
  Each TRD should develop policy on whether and under what conditions to
  accept addresses that are not based on its own address prefix, and how
  such non-local addresses will be treated. Policies should reflect the
  issue of cost associated with implementing such policies.
  
  
  We recommend that a similar hierarchical model be used for NSAP
  addresses using the DCC-based address format. The structure for
  DCC=840-based NSAPs is provided in Section A.2.
  
  
  For routing domains which are not attached to any publically-
  available TRD, there is not the same urgent need for hierarchical
  address abbreviation. We do not, therefore, make any additional
  recommendations for such ``isolated'' routing domains, except to
  
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  note that there is no technical reason to preclude assignment of
  GOSIP AA identifier values or ANSI organization identifiers to such
  domains. Where such domains are connected to other domains by private
  point-to-point links, and where such links are used solely for routing
  between the two domains that they interconnect, again no additional
  technical problems relating to address abbreviation is caused by such
  a link, and no specific additional recommendations are necessary.
  
  
  
  6.2   Recommendations Specific to Non-U.S. Parts of the Internet
  
  
  
  For the part of the Internet which is outside of the U.S., it is
  recommended that the DSP format be structured similarly to that
  specified within GOSIP Version 2 no matter whether the addresses are
  based on DCC or ICD format.
  
  
  Further, in order to allow aggregation of NSAPs at national boundaries
  into as few prefixes as possible, we further recommend that NSAPs
  allocated to routing domains should be assigned based on each routing
  domain's connectivity to a national Internet backbone.
  
  
  
  6.3   Recommendations for Multi-Homed Routing Domains
  
  
  
  Some routing domains will be attached to multiple TRDs within the
  same country, or to TRDs within multiple different countries. We
  refer to these as ``multi-homed'' routing domains. Clearly the strict
  hierarchical model discussed above does not neatly handle such routing
  domains.
  
  
  There are several possible ways that these multi-homed routing domains
  may be handled. Each of these methods vary with respect to the amount
  of information that must be maintained for inter-domain routing
  and also with respect to the inter-domain routes. In addition, the
  organization that will bear the brunt of this cost varies with the
  possible solutions. For example, the solutions vary with respect to:
  
     * resources used within routers within the TRDs;
  
     * administrative cost on TRD personnel; and,
  
  
  
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     * difficulty of configuration of policy-based inter-domain routing
       information within leaf routing domains.
  
  
  Also, the solution used may affect the actual routes which packets
  follow, and may effect the availability of backup routes when the
  primary route fails.
  
  
  For these reasons it is not possible to mandate a single solution for
  all situations. Rather, economic considerations will require a variety
  of solutions for different routing domains, regionals, and backbones.
  
  
  
  7   Security Considerations
  
  
  
  Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  8   Authors' Addresses
  
  
  
                Richard P. Colella
                National Institute of Standards & Technology
                Building 225/Room B217
                Gaithersburg, MD 20899
  
  
                Phone: (301) 975-3627
                EMail:  colella@osi3.ncsl.nist.gov
  
  
  
                EllaP. Gardner
                The MITRE Corporation
                7525 Colshire Drive
                McLean, VA 22102
  
  
                Phone: (703) 883-5826
                EMail:  epg@gateway.mitre.org
  
  
  
                Ross Callon
                c/o Digital Equipment Corporation, 1-2/A19
                550 King Street
                Littleton, MA 01460-1289
  
  
                Phone: (508) 486-5009
                Email:  Callon@bigfut.enet.dec.com
  
  
  
  9   Acknowledgments
  
  
  
  The authors would like to thank the members of the IETF OSI-NSAP
  Working Group for the helpful suggestions made during the writing of
  this paper.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  A   Administration of NSAPs
  
  
  
  NSAPs represent the endpoints of communication through the Network
  Layer and must be globally unique [5]. Addendum 2 to ISO8348 defines
  the semantics of the NSAP and the abstract syntaxes in which the
  semantics of the Network address can be expressed [14].
  
  
  The NSAP consists of the initial domain part (IDP) and the domain
  specific part (DSP). The initial domain part of the NSAP consists
  of an authority and format identifier (AFI) and an initial domain
  identifier (IDI). The AFI specifies the format of the IDI, the network
  addressing authority responsible for allocating values of the IDI,
  and the abstract syntax of the DSP. The IDI specifies the addressing
  subdomain from which values of the DSP are allocated and the network
  addressing authority responsible for allocating values of the DSP from
  that domain. The structure and semantics of the DSP are determined by
  the authority identified by the IDI. Figure 3 shows the NSAP address
  structure.
                _______________
                !_____IDP_____!________________________________
                !__AFI_!_IDI__!______________DSP______________!
  
  
                    IDP  Initial Domain Part
                    AFI  Authority and Format Identifier
                    IDI  Initial Domain Identifier
                    DSP  Domain Specific Part
  
                      Figure 3: NSAP address structure.
  
  
  The global network addressing domain consists of all the NSAP
  addresses in the OSI environment. Within that environment, seven
  second-level addressing domains and corresponding IDI formats are
  described in ISO8348/Addendum 2:
  
     * X.121 for public data networks
  
     * F.69 for telex
  
     * E.163 for the public switched telephone network numbers
  
     * E.164 for ISDN numbers
  
     * ISO Data Country Code (DCC), allocated according to ISO3166 [9]
  
  
  
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     * ISO International Code Designator (ICD), allocated according to
       ISO6523 [10]
  
     * Local to accommodate the coexistence of OSI and non-OSI network
       addressing schemes.
  
  
  For OSI networks in the U.S., portions of the ICD subdomain are
  available for use through the U.S. Government, and the DCC subdo-
  main is available for use through The American National Standards
  Institute (ANSI). The British Standards Institute is the registration
  authority for the ICD subdomain, and has registered four IDIs for
  the U.S. Government: those used for GOSIP, DoD, OSINET, and the OSI
  Implementors Workshop. ANSI, as the U.S. ISO Member Body, is the
  registration authority for the DCC domain in the United States. (The
  U.S. Government is registered as an organization by ANSI under the
  DCC, and in turn, will register object identifiers and X.400 names
  under this authority.)
  
  
  
  A.1   GOSIP Version 2 NSAPs
  
  
  
  GOSIP Version 2 makes available for government use an NSAP addressing
  subdomain with a corresponding address format as illustrated in
  Figure 2 on page 16. The ``47'' signifies that it is based on the ICD
  format and uses a binary syntax for the DSP. The 0005 is an IDI value
  which has been assigned to the U.S. Government. Although GOSIP Version
  2 NSAPs are intended primarily for U.S. government use, requests from
  non-government and non-U.S. organizations will be considered on a
  case-by-case basis.
  
  
  The format for the DSP under ICD=0005 has been established by the
  National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the authority
  for the ICD=0005 domain, in GOSIP Version 2 [4] (see Figure 2,
  page 16). NIST has delegated the authority to register AA identifiers
  for GOSIP Version 2 NSAPs to the General Services Administration
  (GSA).
  
  
  Addendum 2 to ISO8348 allows a maximum length of 20 octets for the
  NSAP. The AFI of 47 occupies one octet, and the IDI of 0005 occupies
  two octets. The DSP is encoded as binary as indicated by the AFI of
  47. One octet is allocated for a DSP Format Identifier, three octets
  for an Administrative Authority identifier, two octets for Routing
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  Domain, two octets for Area, six octets for the System Identifier,
  and one octet for the NSAP selector. Note that two octets have been
  reserved to accommodate future growth and to provide additional
  flexibility for inter-domain routing. The last seven octets of the
  GOSIP NSAP format are structured in accordance with DIS10589 [17], the
  intra-domain IS-IS routing protocol. The DSP Format Identifier (DFI)
  identifies the format of the remaining DSP structure and may be used
  in the future to identify additional DSP formats; the value 80h in the
  DFI identifies the GOSIP Version 2 NSAP structure.
  
  
  The Administrative Authority identifier names the administrative
  authority which is responsible for registration within its domain.
  The administrative authority may delegate the responsibility for
  registering areas to the routing domains, and the routing domains
  may delegate the authority to register System Identifiers to the
  areas. The main responsibility of a registration authority at any
  level of the addressing hierarchy is to assure that names of entities
  are unambiguous, i.e., no two entities have the same name. The
  registration authority is also responsible for advertising the names.
  
  
  A routing domain is a set of end systems and intermediate systems
  which operate according to the same routing procedures and is wholly
  contained within a single administrative domain. An area uniquely
  identifies a subdomain of the routing domain. The system identifier
  names a unique system within an area. The value of the system
  field may be a physical address (SNPA) or a logical value. Address
  resolution between the NSAP and the SNPA may be accomplished by an ES-
  IS protocol [13], locally administered tables, or mapping functions.
  The NSAP selector field identifies the end user of the network layer
  service, i.e., a transport layer entity.
  
  
  
  A.1.1   Application for Administrative Authority Identifiers
  
  
  
  The steps required for an agency to acquire an NSAP Administrative
  Authority identifier under ICD=0005 from GSA will be provided in the
  updated GOSIP users' guide for Version 2 [2] and are given below.
  Requests from non-government and non-U.S. organizations should
  originate from a senior official, such as a vice-president or chief
  operating officer.
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
     * Identify all end systems, intermediate systems, subnetworks, and
       their topological and administrative relationships.
  
     * Designate one individual (usually the agency head) within an
       agency to authorize all registration requests from that agency
       (NOTE: All agency requests must pass through this individual).
  
     * Send a letter on agency letterhead and signed by the agency head
       to GSA:
  
  
              Telecommunications Customer Requirements Office
              U. S. General Services Administration
              Information Resource Management Service
              Office of Telecommunications Services
              18th and F Streets, N.W.
              Washington, DC 20405
  
              Fax 202 208-5555
  
  
       The letter should contain the following information:
  
         - Requestor's Name and Title,
  
         - Organization,
  
         - Postal Address,
  
         - Telephone and Fax Numbers,
  
         - Electronic Mail Address(es), and,
  
         - Reason Needed (one or two paragraphs explaining the intended
           use).
  
  
     * If accepted, GSA will send a return letter to the agency head
       indicating the NSAP Administrative Authority identifier as-
       signed,effective date of registration, and any other pertinent
       information.
  
     * If rejected, GSA will send a letter to the agency head explaining
       the reason for rejection.
  
     * Each Authority will administer its own subaddress space in
       accordance with the procedures set forth by the GSA in Section
       A.1.2.
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
     * The GSA will maintain, publicize, and disseminate the assigned
       values of Administrative Authority identifiers unless specifically
       requested by an agency not to do so.
  
  
  
  A.1.2   Guidelines for NSAP Assignment
  
  
  
  Recommendations which should be followed by an administrative
  authority in making NSAP assignments are given below.
  
  
  
     * The authority should determine the degree of structure of the
       DSP under its control. Further delegation of address assignment
       authority (resulting in additional levels of hierarchy in the
       NSAP) may be desired.
  
     * The authority should make sure that portions of NSAPs that it
       specifies are unique, current, and accurate.
  
     * The authority should ensure that procedures exist for dissemi-
       nating NSAPs to routing domains and to areas within each routing
       domain.
  
     * The systems administrator must determine whether a logical or a
       physical address should be used in the System Identifier field
       (Figure2, page 16). An example of a physical address is a 48-bit
       MAC address; a logical address is merely a number that meets the
       uniqueness requirements for the System Identifier field, but bears
       no relationship to an address on a physical subnetwork.
  
     * The network address itself contains no routing information [15].
       Information that enables next-hop determination based on NSAPs
       is gathered and maintained by each intermediate system through
       routing protocol exchanges.
  
     * GOSIP end systems and intermediate systems in federal agencies
       must be capable of routing information correctly to and from any
       subdomain defined by ISO8348/Addendum 2.
  
     * An agency may request the assignment of more than one Administra-
       tive Authority identifier. The particular use of each should be
       specified.
  
  
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  A.2   Data Country Code NSAPs
  
  
  
  NSAPs from the Data Country Code (DCC) subdomain will also be common
  in the international Internet. Currently, there is a draft proposed
  American National Standard (dpANS) in the U.S. for the DSP structure
  under DCC=840 [1]. Subsequent to an upcoming ANSI X3 Committee ballot,
  the dpANS will be distributed for public comment.
  
  
  In the dpANS, the DSP structure is identical to that specified in
  GOSIP Version 2, with the Administrative Authority identifier replaced
  by the numeric form of the ANSI-registered organization name, as shown
  in Figure 4.
  
  
  Referring to Figure 4, when the value of the AFI is 39, the IDI
  denotes an ISO DCC and the abstract syntax of the DSP is binary
  octets. The value of the IDI for the U.S. is 840, the three-digit
  numeric code for the United States under ISO3166 [9]. The numeric
  form of organization name is analogous to the Administrative Authority
  identifier in the GOSIP Version 2 NSAP.
  
                  ______________
                  !<--_IDP_-->_!_____________________________________
                  !AFI_!__IDI__!____________<--_DSP_-->_____________!
                  !_39_!__840__!DFI_!_ORG_!Rsvd_!RD_!Area_!_ID_!Sel_!
           octets !_1__!___2___!_1__!__3__!_2___!_2_!__2__!_6__!_1__!
  
  
  
                   IDP   Initial Domain Part
                   AFI   Authority and Format Identifier
                   IDI   Initial Domain Identifier
                   DSP   Domain Specific Part
                   DFI   DSP Format Identifier
                   ORG   Organization Name (numeric form)
                   Rsvd  Reserved
                   RD    Routing Domain Identifier
                   Area  Area Identifier
                   ID    System Identifier
                   SEL   NSAP Selector
  
  
       Figure 4: NSAP format for DCC=840 as proposed in ANSI X3S3.3.
  
  
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  A.2.1   Application for Numeric Organization Name
  
  
  
  The procedures for registration of numeric organization names in
  the U.S. have been defined and are operational. To register a
  numeric organization name, the applicant must submit a request for
  registration and the $1,000 (U.S.) fee to the registration authority,
  the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ANSI will register a
  numeric value, along with the information supplied for registration,
  in the registration database. The registration information will be
  sent to the applicant within ten working days. The values for numeric
  organization names are assigned beginning at 113527.
  
  
  The application form for registering a numeric organization name may
  be obtained from the ANSI Registration Coordinator at the following
  address:
  
  
             Registration Coordinator
             American National Standards Institute
             11 West 42nd Street
             New York, NY 10036
             +1 212 642 4976 (tel)
             +1 212 398 0023 (fax)
  
  
  Once an organization has registered with ANSI, it becomes a registra-
  tion authority itself. In turn, it may delegate registration authority
  to routing domains, and these may make further delegations, for in-
  stance, from routing domains to areas. Again, the responsibilities of
  each Registration Authority are to assure that NSAPs within the domain
  are unambiguous and to advertise them as applicable.
  
  
  
  A.3   Summary of Administrative Requirements
  
  
  
  NSAPs must be globally unique, and an organization may assure this
  uniqueness for OSI addresses in two ways. The organization may
  apply to GSA for an Administrative Authority identifier. Although
  registration of Administrative Authority identifiers by GSA primarily
  serves U.S. Government agencies, requests for non-Government and
  non-U.S. organizations will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
  Alternatively, the organization may apply to ANSI for a numeric
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
  organization name. In either case, the organization becomes the
  registration authority for its domain and can register NSAPs or
  delegate the authority to do so.
  
  
  In the case of GOSIP Version 2 NSAPs, the complete DSP structure is
  given in GOSIP Version 2. For ANSI DCC-based NSAPs, there is a draft
  proposed American National Standard that specifies the DSP structure
  under DCC=840. The dpANS specifies a DSP structure that is identical
  to that specified in GOSIP Version 2.
  
  
  
  References
  
  
  
    [1] ANSI. American National Standard for the Structure and Semantics
        of the Domain Specific Part (DSP) of the OSI Network Service
        Access Point (NSAP) Address.  Draft Proposed American National
        Standard, 1991 (pending final approval by ANSI).
  
  
    [2] Tim Boland.  Government Open Systems Interconnection Profile
        Users' Guide Version 2 [DRAFT].  NIST Special Publication,
        National Institute of Standards and Technology, Computer Systems
        Laboratory, Gaithersburg, MD, June 1991.
  
  
    [3] ECMA. Inter-Domain Routeing.  Technical Report 50, ISO/IEC JTC 1,
        Switzerland, 1989.
  
  
    [4] GOSIP Advanced Requirements Group.  Government Open Systems
        Interconnection Profile (GOSIP) Version 2.  Federal Information
        Processing Standard 146-1, U.S. Department of Commerce, National
        Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, April
        1991.
  
  
    [5] Christine Hemrick.  The OSI Network Layer Addressing Scheme, Its
        Implications, and Considerations for Implementation. NTIA Report
        85-186, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications
        and Information Administration, 1985.
  
  
    [6] ISO. Addendum to the Network Service Definition Covering Network
        Layer Addressing.  RFC 941,Network Working Group, April 1985.
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
    [7] ISO. End System to Intermediate System Routing Exchange Protocol
        for use in conjunction with ISO 8473.  RFC 995, Network Working
        Group, April 1986.
  
    [8] ISO. Final Text of DIS 8473, Protocol for Providing the
        Connectionless-mode Network Service.  RFC 994, Network Working
        Group, March 1986.
  
    [9] ISO/IEC.  Codes for the Representation of Names of Countries.
        International Standard 3166, ISO/IEC JTC 1, Switzerland, 1984.
  
   [10] ISO/IEC.  Data Interchange - Structures for the Identification
        of Organization.  International Standard 6523, ISO/IEC JTC 1,
        Switzerland, 1984.
  
   [11] ISO/IEC.  Information Processing Systems - Open Systems Intercon-
        nection- Basic Reference Model.  International Standard 7498,
        ISO/IEC JTC 1, Switzerland, 1984.
  
   [12] ISO/IEC.  Protocol for Providing the Connectionless-mode Network
        Service.  International Standard 8473, ISO/IEC JTC 1, Switzerland,
        1986.
  
   [13] ISO/IEC.  End System to Intermediate System Routing Exchange
        Protocol for use in Conjunction with the Protocol for the Provi-
        sion of the Connectionless-mode Network Service. International
        Standard 9542, ISO/IEC JTC 1, Switzerland, 1987.
  
   [14] ISO/IEC.  Information Processing Systems -- Data Communications
        -- Network Service Definition Addendum 2: Network Layer Address-
        ing. International Standard 8348/Addendum 2, ISO/IEC JTC 1,
        Switzerland, 1988.
  
   [15] ISO/IEC.  Information Processing Systems - OSI Reference Model
        - Part3: Naming and Addressing.  Draft International Standard
        7498-3, ISO/IEC JTC 1, Switzerland, March 1989.
  
   [16] ISO/IEC.  Information Technology - Telecommunications and
        Information Exchange Between Systems - OSI Routeing Framework.
        Technical Report 9575, ISO/IEC JTC 1, Switzerland, 1989.
  
   [17] ISO/IEC.  Intermediate System to Intermediate System Intra-Domain
        Routeing Exchange Protocol for use in Conjunction with the
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  RFC 1237  Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet  July 1991
  
  
  
        Protocol for Providing the Connectionless-mode Network Service
        (ISO 8473).  Draft International Standard 10589, ISO/IEC JTC 1,
        Switzerland, November 1990.
  
  
   [18] K. Loughheed and Y. Rekhter.  A Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).
        RFC 1105, Network Working Group, 1989.
  
  
   [19] K. Loughheed and Y. Rekhter.  A Border Router Protocol(BRP).
        Draft, Network Working Group, February 1990.
  
  
   [20] ASC X3S3.3.  Intermediate System to Intermediate System Inter-
        Domain Routeing Exchange Protocol. Working Document 90-216, ANSI,
        New York, July 1990.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Colella, Gardner, & Callon                                    [Page 49]
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