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Priority Settings for BFD Packets
For all interfaces under over-subscription, the internal priority needs to be assigned to remote BFD Echo
packets, so that these BFD packets are not overwhelmed by other data packets. In addition, CoS values need
to be set appropriately, so that in the event of an intermediate switch, the reply back of remote BFD Echo
packets are protected from all other packets in the switch.
As configured CoS values in ethernet headers may not be retained in Echo messages, CoS values must be
explicitly configured in the appropriate egress QoS service policy. CoS values for BFD packets attached to a
traffic class can be set using the set cos command. For more information on configuring class-based
unconditional packet marking, see “Configuring Modular QoS Packet Classification” in the
Modular Quality
of Service Configuration Guide for Cisco NCS 6000 Series Routers
.
BFD for IPv4
Cisco IOS XR software supports bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) singlehop and multihop for both
IPv4 and IPv6.
In BFD for IPv4 single-hop connectivity, Cisco IOS XR software supports both asynchronous mode and echo
mode over physical numbered Packet-over-SONET/SDH (POS) and Gigabit Ethernet links, as follows:
• Echo mode is initiated only after a session is established using BFD control packets. Echo mode is always
enabled for BFD bundle member interfaces. For physical interfaces, the BFD minimum interval must
also be less than two seconds to support echo packets.
• BFD echo packets are transmitted over UDP/IPv4 using source and destination port 3785. The source
address of the IP packet is the IP address of the output interface (default) or the address specified with
the
router-id
command if set or the address specified in the
echo ipv4 source
command, and the
destination address is the local interface address.
• BFD asynchronous packets are transmitted over UDP and IPv4 using source port 49152 and destination
port 3784. For asynchronous mode, the source address of the IP packet is the local interface address, and
the destination address is the remote interface address.
BFD multihop does not support echo mode.
Note
Consider the following guidelines when configuring BFD on Cisco IOS XR software:
• BFD is a fixed-length hello protocol, in which each end of a connection transmits packets periodically
over a forwarding path. Cisco IOS XR software supports BFD adaptive detection times.
• BFD can be used with the following applications:
• BGP
• IS-IS
• OSPF
and OSPFv3
• MPLS Traffic Engineering (MPLS-TE)
• Static routes (IPv4 and IPv6)
Routing Configuration Guide for Cisco NCS 6000 Series Routers, IOS XR Release 6.4.x
135
Implementing BFD
Priority Settings for BFD Packets