[c-nsp] VRF/ VRF-lite RD and Route-target MAX SIZE

[cc loo]

Hi all,

while practicing with VRF-lite recently, i seem to have encounter with a
nasty problem.

I typed in manually this sample config, it works (credits to oliver from
cisco):
!----------------------------------
ip vrf customer_A
 rd 1:1
 route-target export 1:100
 route-target import 1:900
!
ip vrf customer_B
 rd 1:2
 route-target export 1:200
 route-target import 1:900
!
ip vrf Hub
 rd 1:9
 route-target export 1:900
 route-target import 1:100
 route-target import 1:200
!
router bgp 65000
 address-fam ipv4 vrf customer_A
 redistribute static
 redistribute connected
 address-fam ipv4 vrf customer_B
 redistribute static
 redistribute connected
 address-fam ipv4 vrf Hub
 redistribute static
 redistribute connected
!----------------------------------

So i went off to experiment more numbers, such as
rd 1:0
rd 1:9999 etc

After the usual configuration, i realise my inter-vrf routes did not
propagate through and couldnt figure out whats going on.
I also did clear ip vrf <name> * and waited for BGP to advertise itself, but
still no show.

Last move :
Write erase and reconfig again but tis time with smaller numbers RD 1:99
This time it work properly.

I was wondering if this is due to me using some illegal numbers such as zero
or 9999. I have went through articles that RD are meant to be 8bytes (ip:NN
or asn:NN), so i assume NN = 4bytes or 32bits , hence the max value should
be 65535 ?

Cisco IOS tabbing recommends the syntax as ASN:NN , does it properly reflect
2 digits only ? I find it wierd that only 99 vpns are supported if so.

Do you have any experience on this ?