Carrying Network Resource (NR) related Information in IPv6 Extension Header

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide different customers with logically separated connectivity over a common network infrastructure. With the introduction of 5G and also in some existing network scenarios, some customers may require network connectivity services with advanced features comparing to conventional VPN services. Such kind of network service is called enhanced VPNs. Enhanced VPNs can be used, for example, to deliver network slice services. A Network Resource Partition (NRP) is a subset of the network resources and associated policies on each of a connected set of links in the underlay network. An NRP may be used as the underlay to support one or a group of enhanced VPN services. For packet forwarding within a specific NRP, some fields in the data packet (which is called NRP Selector) need to be used to identify the NRP to which the packet belongs. In doing so, NRP-specific processing can be performed on each node along the forwarding path in the NRP. This document specifies a new IPv6 Hop-by-Hop option to carry Network Resource related information (e.g., identifier) in data packets. The NR Option can be used to carry NRP Selector ID and related information, while it is designed to make the NR option generalized for other network resource semantics and functions.