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RFC 4271, "A Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4)", January 2006

Note: This RFC has been updated by RFC 6286, RFC 6608, RFC 6793, RFC 7606, RFC 7607, RFC 7705, RFC 8212, RFC 8654, RFC 9072

Source of RFC: idr (rtg)

Errata ID: 6498
Status: Held for Document Update
Type: Technical
Publication Format(s) : TEXT

Reported By: Graham Paasch
Date Reported: 2021-03-27
Held for Document Update by: Alvaro Retana
Date Held: 2021-03-29

Section 5.1.5 says:

LOCAL_PREF is a well-known attribute that SHALL be included in all UPDATE messages that a given BGP speaker sends to other internal peers. 

It should say:

LOCAL_PREF is a well-known discretionary attribute that SHALL be included in all UPDATE messages that a given BGP speaker sends to other internal peers. 

Notes:

It is unclear from the text to which of the four path attribute categories LOCAL_PREF belongs. There was even submitted an errata to create a fifth category for this attribute, but it is clear from the definition of the categories, that this attribute is well known discretionary. All routers must be capable of sending or receiving the LOCAL_PREF attribute, however it is up to a routers discretion whether to include that attribute in an UPDATE message.

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[Verifier notes.]

This is a valid report. The terminology in rfc4271 is not ideal, so using "discretionary" with a required action can cause significant confusion, even if that is the correct term for this attribute. A future version of this RFC should consider updating/cleaning up the terminology.

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