Appendix A. Backward Compatibility

Although version 0 of this protocol (as defined in early versions of the Internet-Draft that became this RFC) is unlikely to have been deployed widely, some implementors may wish to have a backward compatibility mechanism. Note that any mechanism may be potentially used that does not alter the protocol definition, so interoperability should not be an issue.

The suggested mechanism described here has the property that it will converge on version 1 if both systems implement it, even if one system is upgraded from version 0 within a Detection Time. It will interoperate with a system that implements only one version (or is configured to support only one version). A system should obviously not perform this function if it is configured to or is only capable of using a single version.

A BFD session will enter a "negotiation holddown" if it is configured for automatic versioning and either has just started up, or the session has been manually cleared. The session is set to AdminDown state and version 1. During the holddown period, which lasts for one Detection Time, the system sends BFD Control packets as usual, but ignores received packets. After the holddown time is complete, the state transitions to Down and normal operation resumes.

When a system is not in holddown, if it doing automatic versioning and is currently using version 1, if any version 0 packet is received for the session, it switches immediately to version 0. If it is currently using version 0 and a version 1 packet is received that indicates that the neighbor is in state AdminDown, it switches to version 1. If using version 0 and a version 1 packet is received indicating a state other than AdminDown, the packet is ignored (per spec).

If the version being used is changed, the session goes down as appropriate for the new version (Down state for version 1 or Failing state for version 0).