Update to OSPF Terminology
RFC 9454
Mike Fox
IBM
3039 E Cornwallis Rd.
Research Triangle Park
NC
27709
United States of America
mjfox@us.ibm.com
Acee Lindem
LabN Consulting, L.L.C.
301 Midenhall Way
Cary
NC
27513
United States of America
acee.ietf@gmail.com
Alvaro Retana
Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
2330 Central Expressway
Santa Clara
CA
95050
United States of America
aretana@futurewei.com
August 2023
rtg
lsr
OSPF terminology
This document updates some OSPF terminology to be in line with inclusive language used in the industry. The IETF has designated "Guidance for NIST Staff on Using Inclusive Language in Documentary Standards" by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for its inclusive language guidelines. It is intended that all future OSPF documents use this revised terminology even when they reference the RFCs updated by this document.
This document updates RFCs 2328, 4222, 4811, 5243, 5340, 5614, and 5838.
Introduction
This document updates some OSPF terminology to be in line with inclusive language used in the industry. The IETF has designated "Guidance for NIST Staff on Using Inclusive Language in Documentary Standards" by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [NISTIR8366] for its inclusive language guidelines. It is intended that all future OSPF documents use this revised terminology even when they reference the RFCs updated by this document.
This document updates [RFC2328], [RFC4222], [RFC4811], [RFC5243], [RFC5340], [RFC5614], and [RFC5838].
Update to RFC 2328
The base OSPFv2 specification "OSPF Version 2" [RFC2328] defines the synchronization of databases as two routers forming a "master/slave" relationship. All instances of these terms are replaced by "Leader/Follower", respectively.
In the Database Description packet, the "master (MS) bit" is renamed the "Leader (L) bit".
The operation of OSPFv2 is not modified. The Leader/Follower terminology and Leader (L) bit definition changes impact the following sections: "The Synchronization of Databases" (Section 7.2), "The Neighbor Data Structure" (Section 10), "Neighbor states" (Section 10.1), "Events causing neighbor state changes" (Section 10.2), "The Neighbor state machine" (Section 10.3), "Receiving Database Description Packets" (Section 10.6), "Sending Database Description Packets" (Section 10.8), "An Example" (Section 10.10), and "The Database Description packet" (Appendix A.3.3).
Update to RFC 4222
"Prioritized Treatment of Specific OSPF Version 2 Packets and Congestion Avoidance" [RFC4222] is a Best Current Practice (BCP) document. In Appendix C, Item (2), there is an example OSFPv2 packet sequence that refers to the "slave" in a database exchange; this reference is renamed to "Follower".
Update to RFC 4811
"OSPF Out-of-Band Link State Database (LSDB) Resynchronization" [RFC4811] is an Informational document. Section 2.4 includes a Database Description packet (Figure 2) and a description of the attendant encoding changes for Out-of-Band Resynchronization. In the figure and the description, all instances of "MS" (when referring to the Database Description packet bit) are renamed to "L". There is also a reference to "Master" in this section that is renamed to "Leader".
Update to RFC 5243
"OSPF Database Exchange Summary List Optimization" [RFC5243] is an Informational document. The Introduction (Section 1) references "Master or Slave"; this is replaced by "Leader or Follower". Section 3 includes an example of the optimized database exchange. In this example, all instances of "Master" and "Slave" are renamed to "Leader" and "Follower", respectively.
Update to RFC 5340
The base OSPFv3 specification "OSPF for IPv6" [RFC5340] defines the Database Description process between two routers as one being "designated to be the master and the other is the slave". All instances of these terms are replaced by "Leader/Follower", respectively.
In the Database Description packet, the "Master/Slave (MS) bit" is renamed the "Leader (L) bit".
The operation of OSPFv3 is not modified. The Leader/Follower terminology and Leader (L) bit definition changes impact "The Database Description Packet" (Appendix A.3.3).
Update to RFC 5614
"Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) Extension of OSPF Using Connected Dominating Set (CDS) Flooding" [RFC5614] is an Experimental document. "Changes to the Neighbor State Machine" (Section 7.1) contains modifications to the neighbor state machine that were updated from [RFC2328]. In the neighbor state machine modifications, all instances of "Master" and "Slave" are renamed to "Leader" and "Follower", respectively. Additionally, all instances of "MS" (when referring to the Database Description packet bit) are renamed to "L". And in "Receiving Database Description Packets" (Section 7.5), "master or slave" is replaced by "Leader or Follower" in the parenthetical.
Update to RFC 5838
"Support of Address Families in OSPFv3" [RFC5838] is a Standards Track document. "Database Description Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) Specification for Non-IPv6 AFs" (Section 2.7) contains a Database Description packet change figure that includes the MS bit. In this figure, the "MS" field is renamed the "L" field.
Additionally, in the first paragraph of "Changes to the Hello Packet Processing" (Section 2.4), the text is updated to remove the non-inclusive terms pertaining to unreachability handling as follows:
When an OSPFv3 router does not support this specification and an interface is configured with the Instance ID corresponding to an IPv4 AF, packets could be routed toward this interface and dropped. This could happen due to misconfiguration or a router software downgrade. For example, an IPv4 packet could be received on an interface not supporting IPv4 since a router that doesn't support this specification can still include the interface in an SPF-calculated path as long as it establishes adjacencies using the Instance ID corresponding to the IPv4 AF. Note that OSPFv3 Router-LSAs and Network-LSAs are AF-agnostic.
IANA Considerations
In the "Database Description (DD) Packet Flags" registry, IANA has updated the description for value 0x01 to "Leader (L-bit)" and has added this document as a reference, as shown below.
Value:
0x01
Description:
Leader (L-bit)
Reference:
[RFC2328] [RFC9454]
Security Considerations
This document updates the terminology used in OSPF RFCs without any modification to the specifications of the protocol. As such, the security characteristics of OSPF do not change.
References
Normative References
Informative References
[NISTIR8366]

Guidance for NIST Staff on Using Inclusive Language in Documentary Standards
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
April 2021
NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) 8366
[RFC2328]
[RFC4222]
[RFC4811]
[RFC5243]
[RFC5340]
[RFC5614]
[RFC5838]
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Dhruv Dhody, Adrian Farrel, Erik Kline, and Barry Leiba for their reviews and comments.