IPPM Working Group                                              L. Zhang
Internet-Draft                                                   T. Zhou
Intended status: Standards Track                                  Huawei
Expires: 1 September 2026                               28 February 2026

In Situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (IOAM) Extension for
                       Bit Error Rate Measurement
                        draft-zhang-ippm-ber-00

Abstract

   Networks may experience transmission bit errors due to various
   factors, such as poor fiber quality, thereby corrupting packets.
   Merely measuring the end-to-end bit error rate makes it difficult to
   locate the exact link wich poor quality.  Therefore, a measurement
   method is needed to collect bit error rate information along the
   entire path to locate the specific linke with poor quality.

   This document extends IOAM with a new Trace-Type and "Interface Bit
   Error Rate" field to collect the interface error rate along the path.
   This new Trace-Type is applicable to Pre-allocated Trace, Incremental
   Trace, and Direct Exporting Option-Type.

Status of This Memo

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 1 September 2026.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.2.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  IOAM extension  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  Extension to Pre-allocated and Incremental
           Trace-Option  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
       2.1.1.  Extension to Pre-allocated and Incremental Trace-Option
               Header  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
       2.1.2.  Extension to IOAM Node Data Fields  . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.2.  Extension for Direct Exporting Option . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     5.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     5.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6

1.  Introduction

   In situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (IOAM)[RFC9197]
   collects OAM information within the packet while the packet traverses
   a particular network domain.  IOAM is used to complement mechanisms,
   such as Ping or Traceroute.

   Networks may experience transmission bit errors due to various
   factors, such as poor fiber quality, thereby corrupting packets.
   Although,the bit errors in the received packets can be detected using
   Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) and may be dropped or corrected using
   Forward Error Correction(FEC).  But even with efficient CRC and FEC
   mechanisms, some bit errors may escape detection and correction
   (called residual bit error rate), and result in upper-layer checksum
   failures and packet drops.

   [I-D.gandhi-ippm-stamp-ber] arguments the STAMP extensions in
   [RFC8972] to enable the measurement of end-to-end residual bit error
   rate within the "Extra Padding" TLV of STAMP packets.

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   However, merely measuring the end-to-end bit error rate makes it
   difficult to locate the exact link with poor quality.  Therefore, a
   measurement method is needed to collect bit error rate information
   along the entire path to locate the specific linke with poor quality.

   This document extends IOAM with a new Trace-Type and "Interface Bit
   Error Rate" field to collect the interface error rate along the path.
   This new Trace-Type is applicable to Pre-allocated Trace, Incremental
   Trace, and Direct Exporting Option-Type.

1.1.  Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

1.2.  Terminology

   The abbreviations used in this document are:

   IOAM: In situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance

2.  IOAM extension

2.1.  Extension to Pre-allocated and Incremental Trace-Option

2.1.1.  Extension to Pre-allocated and Incremental Trace-Option Header

   The format of IOAM Pre-allocated and Incremental Trace-Option header
   defined in [RFC9197] is shown as follows:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        Namespace-ID           |NodeLen  | Flags | RemainingLen|
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |               IOAM Trace-Type                 |  Reserved     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      Figure 1: IOAM Pre-allocated and Incremental Trace-Option Header

   The IOAM Trace-Type filed is a 24-bit identifier that specifies which
   data types are used in this node data list.  Currently, bit 0 to bit
   11 are already occupied, and bit 12 to 21 are not allocated.

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   This document requires to allocate a new bit X in the IOAM Trace-Type
   field:

   Bit X: When set, indicates the presence of bit error rate of the
   ingress interface in the node data.

2.1.2.  Extension to IOAM Node Data Fields

   This document defines a new IOAM node data field, which is called
   "Interface Bit Error Rate".  The format of this field is shown as
   follows:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |A|  RESERVED   |                     BER                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                  Figure 2: Interface bit error rate field

   where:

   A bit: This field represents the Anomalous (A) bit.  The A bit is set
   when the measured value of this parameter exceeds its configured
   maximum threshold.  The A bit is cleared when the measured value
   falls below its configured reuse threshold.  If the A bit is cleared,
   the sub-TLV represents steady-state link performance.

   RESERVED: This field is reserved for future use.  It MUST be set to 0
   when sent and MUST be ignored when received.

   Link Bit Error Ratio: This 24-bit field carries Link Bit Error Ratio
   as a percentage of the total traffic sent over a configurable
   interval.  The basic unit is 0.000003%, where (2^24 - 2) is
   50.331642%. This value is the highest link bit error percentage that
   can be expressed.  Therefore, measured values that are larger than
   the field maximum SHOULD be encoded as the maximum value.

2.2.  Extension for Direct Exporting Option

   As described in Section 3.2 of [RFC9326], the format of this IOAM-
   Trace-Type of Direct Exporting Option is the same as defined in
   [RFC9197].  Therefore, the new bit defined in Section 2.1.1 is also
   valid in Direct Exporting Option.

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3.  IANA Considerations

   This document requests IANA to allocate a bit from the "IOAM Trace-
   Type" registry:

      +=======+=====================================+===============+
      | Value | Description                         | Reference     |
      +=======+=====================================+===============+
      | Bit X | Bit error rate of ingress interface | This document |
      +-------+-------------------------------------+---------------+

                                  Table 1

4.  Security Considerations

   TBD

5.  References

5.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

5.2.  Informative References

   [RFC9197]  Brockners, F., Ed., Bhandari, S., Ed., and T. Mizrahi,
              Ed., "Data Fields for In Situ Operations, Administration,
              and Maintenance (IOAM)", RFC 9197, DOI 10.17487/RFC9197,
              May 2022, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9197>.

   [I-D.gandhi-ippm-stamp-ber]
              Gandhi, R., Schoenmaker, P., and R. F. Foote, "Simple Two-
              Way Active Measurement Protocol (STAMP) Extensions for
              Residual Bit Error Rate Measurement", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-gandhi-ippm-stamp-ber-04, 14
              November 2025, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-gandhi-ippm-stamp-ber-04>.

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   [RFC8972]  Mirsky, G., Min, X., Nydell, H., Foote, R., Masputra, A.,
              and E. Ruffini, "Simple Two-Way Active Measurement
              Protocol Optional Extensions", RFC 8972,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8972, January 2021,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8972>.

   [RFC9326]  Song, H., Gafni, B., Brockners, F., Bhandari, S., and T.
              Mizrahi, "In Situ Operations, Administration, and
              Maintenance (IOAM) Direct Exporting", RFC 9326,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9326, November 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9326>.

Acknowledgements

   TBD

Authors' Addresses

   Li Zhang
   Huawei
   China
   Email: zhangli344@huawei.com

   Tianran Zhou
   Huawei
   China
   Email: zhoutianran@huawei.com

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