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Are multiple BGP-LS NLRIs in a single MP_REACH_NLRI path attribute permitted?

  • 1.  Are multiple BGP-LS NLRIs in a single MP_REACH_NLRI path attribute permitted?

    Posted 09-04-2025 19:18

    I have a network capture of a real-live BGP-LS session:

    ...
    Path attributes
        Path Attribute - ORIGIN: IGP
        Path Attribute - AS_PATH: empty
        Path Attribute - LOCAL_PREF: 100
        Path Attribute - BGP-LS Attribute
            Flags: 0x80, Optional, Non-transitive, Complete
            Type Code: BGP-LS Attribute (29)
            Length: 97
            Link State
                Administrative group (color) TLV
                Maximum link bandwidth TLV
                Maximum reservable link bandwidth TLV
                Unreserved bandwidth TLV
                TE Default Metric TLV
                Metric TLV
                Adjacency SID TLV
                Adjacency SID TLV
        Path Attribute - MP_REACH_NLRI
            Flags: 0x90, Optional, Extended-Length, Non-transitive, Complete
            Type Code: MP_REACH_NLRI (14)
            Length: 228
            Address family identifier (AFI): BGP-LS (16388)
            Subsequent address family identifier (SAFI): BGP-LS (71)
            Next hop: <redacted>
            Number of Subnetwork points of attachment (SNPA): 0
            Network Layer Reachability Information (NLRI)
                BGP-LS NLRI
                BGP-LS NLRI
                BGP-LS NLRI
    ...

    ... where  within a BGP update message in the MP_REACH_NLRI path attribute one can observe multiple BGP-LS NLRIs (Link-NLRIs). Also within the BGP-LS path attribute there are multiple "Adjacency SID TLV (Type 1099)".

    I was of the opinion that this is not correct.

    As stated in RFC 9552 "[BGP-LS attribute] is used to carry link, node, and prefix parameters and attributes" - in my understanding - for a single specific BGP-LS NLRI only. If we would have multiple BGP-LS NLRIs within a MP_REACH_NLRI attribute then it is unclear for which of those the specific BGP-LS attribute TLVs are meant.

    Are multiple BGP-LS NLRIs in a single MP_REACH_NLRI path attribute possible?

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    Relevant RFCs



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    Andreas
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