Network Management Research Group J. Park, Ed. Internet-Draft Y. Choi Intended status: Informational ETRI Expires: 10 May 2024 J. Jeong Sungkyunkwan University 7 November 2023 Intent-Based Network Management in SRv6 network draft-park-nmrg-ibn-network-management-srv6-01 Abstract This document describes secure network management in Segment Routing version six (SRv6) network. It proposes a framework empowered with Intent-Based Networking (IBN). The Intent-based Network Management (IBNM) in this document specifies an architectural framework with system components and interfaces. Also, this framework builds on Interface to Network Security Functions(I2NSF). Status of This Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on 10 May 2024. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2023 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 1] Internet-Draft IBN Network Management November 2023 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/ license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Intent based Network Management in SRv6 Network . . . . . . . 4 3.1. Components with IBNM Framework in SRv6 Network . . . . . 5 3.2. Interfaces for the IBNM Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4. Network Policy Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1. Introduction Interface to Network Security Functions (I2NSF) defines a framework and interfaces for interacting with Network Security Functions (NSFs) [RFC8192][RFC8329]. Note that an NSF is defined as software that provides a set of security-related services, such as (i) detecting unwanted activity, (ii) blocking or mitigating the effect of such unwanted activity in order to fulfill service requirements, and (iii) supporting communication stream integrity and confidentiality [RFC8329]. Th e NSF can be implemented as a Virtual Network Function (VNF) in a Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) environment [ETSI-NFV][I-D.ietf-i2nsf-applicability]. The term "intent" is defined as "an abstract, high-level policy used to operate the network" in the context of autonomic networks [RFC7575]. According to this definition, an intent is a specific type of policy provided by a user to provide guidance to the autonomic network that would otherwise operate without human intervention. Intent-Based Networking (IBN) Management (IBNM) aims to lead towards networks that are fundamentally simpler to manage and operate, requiring only minimal outside intervention. The IBNM supports a closed-loop network control architecture that can adapt to the Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 2] Internet-Draft IBN Network Management November 2023 current status of a target network by collecting and analyzing monitoring data from Network Service Functions (NSFs) of I2NSF framework. NSFs can be either Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) or Physical Network Functions (PNFs) in cloud and edge computing environments. Segment Routing (SR) [RFC8402] allows a node to steer a packet flow along any path. The headend (i.e., ingress router) is a node where the instructions for source routing (i.e., segments) are written into the packet. It hence becomes the starting node for a specific segment routing path. Intermediate per-path states are eliminated thanks to source routing. [RFC8754] and [RFC8986] describe the same for Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) with the use of the Segment Routing Header (SRH). Therefore, the instructions for source routing is made by a Segment Routing Policy (SR Policy) [RFC8402]. The SR policy is an ordered list of segments and come from the Intent, which is given by users (i.e., network operators). According to the Intent, IBNM will support several funtionalities. 2. Terminology This document uses the terminology described in [RFC8329], [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-applicability], [I-D.jeong-i2nsf-security-management-automation], and [I-D.jeong-nmrg-ibn-network-management-automation]. In addition, the following terms are defined below: * Autonomous Network Management (ANM): It means that an intent from a user (or administrator or network operator) is well-enforced in a target SRv6 network. The intent can be aligned with high-level network policy and then high-level network policy can be translated into the corresponding low-level network policy (including SRv6 Policy) by a network policy translator and dispatched to appropriate NSFs. Through the monitoring of the NSFs, the activity and performace of the NSFs is monitored and analyzed whether or not NSFs are operating well according to the intent of the users. If needed, the network rules of the low- level network and SRv6 policy are augmented or new network rules are generated and configured to appropriate NSFs. * Network Policy Translation (NPT): It means that a high-level network policy is translated to a low-level network policy (including SRv6 policy) that can be understood and configured by an NSF for autonomous network services, such as self- configuration, self-optimization, self-healing, and self- protection. Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 3] Internet-Draft IBN Network Management November 2023 * Feedback-Based Network Management (FNM): It means that a network service in SRv6 network is evolved by updating a network policy (i.e., a set of network rules) and adding new network rules for resolving network problems, which were detected by monitoring and analzing data from NSFs. +-------------+ +-----------------------------+ | IBN User | | Global Distributed Database | +-------------+ +-----------------------------+ ^ ^ | Consumer-Facing Software Update | | Interface Interface (Up) | v v +-------------------+ Registration +-----------------------+ | IBN Controller |<-------------------->| Vendor's Mgmt System | +-------------------+ Interface +-----------------------+ ^ ^ ^ | | Software Update Interface | | | (Down) | | | Analytics Interface +----------------+ | | +------------------------>| IBN Analyzer | | | +----------------+ | | NSF-Facing Interface ^ | | | | | +---------------------+ | | | Monitoring Interface | | | | +---------+------------------+--------------------------------+----+ | v v SRv6 Nodes v | | +---------------+ +---------------+ +---------------+ | | | NSF-1 |--| NSF-2 | ....... | NSF-n | | | |(Policy Control| | (Monitoring | | (Application | | | | Function, PCF)| | Function, MF)| | Function, AF) | | | +---------------+ +---------------+ +---------------+ | +------------------------------------------------------------------+ Figure 1: Intent based Network Management in SRv6 Network 3. Intent based Network Management in SRv6 Network This section describes an IBNM framework in SRv6 network. Note that this IBNM Framework is based on the Framework for Interface to Network Security Functions (I2NSF) [RFC8329][I-D.jeong-i2nsf-security-management-automation]. As shown in Figure 1, an IBN User can use network functions by delivering high-level network intents, which specify network requirements that the IBNM User wants to enforce, to the IBN Controller via the Consumer-Facing Interface (CFI). Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 4] Internet-Draft IBN Network Management November 2023 3.1. Components with IBNM Framework in SRv6 Network The following are the system components for the IBNM framework in SRv6 network. * IBN User: An entity (e.g., End User or Network Operator) that delivers a high-level network policy (including SRv6 policy) to Security Controller. It is assumed that (i) an intent in a natural language (e.g., English) can be translated into a high- level network policy through a Natural Language Processing (called NLP) technique (e.g., Lumi [USENIX-ATC-Lumi]) (ii) an intent as a network service (e.g., self-configuration, optimization, and healing) can be also translated into a high-level network policy. * IBN Controller: An entity that controls and manages other system components in the IBNM framework. It translates a high-level network policy into the corresponding low-level network policy and selects appropriate NSFs to execute the network rules of the low- level network policy. And then these NSFs are distributed and enabled into SRv6 nodes according to SRv6 policy (i.e., list of source routing). * Vendor's Management System (VMS): An entity that provides an image of of a virtualized NSF for a network service to the IBNM framework, registers the capability and access information of an NSF with IBN Controller, and downloads NSFs into appropriate SRv6 nodes. These downloaded NSFs will be updated dynamically if needed but is controlled by IBN controller. These virtualized NSFs are managed through the cloud-based distribed database. Also, this dynamic downloading NSFs could be realized by using Software Updates for Internet of Things (SUIT) framework [RFC9019][RFC9124]. * Network Service Function (NSF): An entity that is a Virtual Network Function (called VNF), Physical Network Function (called PNF) and Container Network Function (CNF), which is also called Cloud-native Network Function, for a autonomous network service. * IBN Analyzer: An entity that collects monitoring data from NSFs and analyzes such data for checking the activity and performance of the NSFs using machine learning techniques (e.g., Deep Learning [Deep-Learning]). If there is a suspicious network problem (e.g., traffic congestion and QoS degradation) for the target network or NSF, IBN Analyzer delivers a report of the augmentation or generation of network rules to IBN Controller. Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 5] Internet-Draft IBN Network Management November 2023 For IBN-based network services with Feedback-Based Network Management (FNM), IBN Analyzer is a key component for the IBNM framework [RFC9315] to collect monitoring data from NSFs and analyzing the monitoring data. In here, SRv6 is used to distinguish the monitoring data. Ingress node (i.e., Headend) in SRv6 domain adds monitoring information (e.g., intent and monitoring tag) into SRv6 headers. And then, intermediate nodes monitor and analyze IPv6 packets with monitoring information. The actual implementation of the analysis of monitoring data is out of the scope of this document. 3.2. Interfaces for the IBNM Framework The following are the interfaces for the IBNM framework. Note that the interfaces can be modeled with YANG [RFC6020] and network policies are delivered through either RESTCONF [RFC8040] or NETCONF [RFC6241]. In addition, REST API [REST] can be supported for those software update interfaces. * Consumer-Facing Interface (CFI): An interface between IBN User and IBN Controller for the delivery of a high-level network policy or a intent [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-consumer-facing-interface-dm]. * NSF-Facing Interface (NFI): An interface between IBN Controller and an NSF for the delivery of a low-level network policy [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-nsf-facing-interface-dm]. * Registration Interface (RI): An interface between a VMS and IBN Controller for the registration of an NSF's capability and access information with the IBN Controller or the query of an NSF for a required low-level network policy [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-registration-interface-dm]. * Software Update Interface (Up) (SUI-U): An interface between a VMS and global distribed database for NSF management. * Software Update Interface (Down) (SUI-D): An interface between a VMS and a SRv6 node for delivery of a NSF. The NSF is just downloaded and does not work. After the command of IBN Controller through NFI, it works. * Monitoring Interface (MI): An interface between an NSF and IBN Analyzer for collecting monitoring data from an NSF to check the activity and performance of an NSF for a possible network problem [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-nsf-monitoring-data-model]. In here, IPv6 packets with monitoring information in SRv6 heeder is only collected. Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 6] Internet-Draft IBN Network Management November 2023 * Analytics Interface (AI): An interface between IBN Analyzer and IBN Controller for the delivery of an analytics report of the augmentation or generation of network rules to IBN Controller, which lets IBN Controller apply the report for network rules to its network policy management. For IBN-based network services with FSM, Analytics Interface is a key interface in the IBNM framework to deliver an analytics report of the augmentation or generation of network rules to IBN Controller through the analysis of the monitoring data from NSFs. For analyzing, user's intent of monitoring information in SRv6 header will compare with just monitoring data from NSFs. 4. Network Policy Translation To facilitate Network Policy Translation (NPT), IBN Controller needs to have a network policy translator that performs the translation of a high-level network policy into the corresponding low-level network policy (i.e. SRv6 policy [RFC9256]). For the automatic NPT services, the IBN framework needs to bridge a high-level YANG data model and a low-level YANG data model in an automatic manner [I-D.ietf-spring-sr-policy-yang], [I-D.yang-i2nsf-security-policy-translation]. Note that a high-level YANG data model is for the IBN Consumer-Facing Interface, and a low- level YANG data model is for the IBN NSF-Facing Interface. 5. IANA Considerations This document does not require any IANA actions. 6. Security Considerations The same security considerations for the IBN framework [RFC8329] are applicable to this document. 7. References 7.1. Normative References [RFC6020] Bjorklund, M., Ed., "YANG - A Data Modeling Language for the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)", RFC 6020, DOI 10.17487/RFC6020, October 2010, . [RFC6241] Enns, R., Ed., Bjorklund, M., Ed., Schoenwaelder, J., Ed., and A. Bierman, Ed., "Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)", RFC 6241, DOI 10.17487/RFC6241, June 2011, . Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 7] Internet-Draft IBN Network Management November 2023 [RFC8040] Bierman, A., Bjorklund, M., and K. Watsen, "RESTCONF Protocol", RFC 8040, DOI 10.17487/RFC8040, January 2017, . [RFC8329] Lopez, D., Lopez, E., Dunbar, L., Strassner, J., and R. Kumar, "Framework for Interface to Network Security Functions", RFC 8329, DOI 10.17487/RFC8329, February 2018, . [RFC9315] Clemm, A., Ciavaglia, L., Granville, L. Z., and J. Tantsura, "Intent-Based Networking - Concepts and Definitions", RFC 9315, DOI 10.17487/RFC9315, October 2022, . [RFC7575] Behringer, M., Pritikin, M., Bjarnason, S., Clemm, A., Carpenter, B., Jiang, S., and L. Ciavaglia, "Autonomic Networking: Definitions and Design Goals", RFC 7575, DOI 10.17487/RFC7575, June 2015, . [RFC8192] Hares, S., Lopez, D., Zarny, M., Jacquenet, C., Kumar, R., and J. Jeong, "Interface to Network Security Functions (I2NSF): Problem Statement and Use Cases", RFC 8192, DOI 10.17487/RFC8192, July 2017, . [RFC8402] Filsfils, C., Ed., Previdi, S., Ed., Ginsberg, L., Decraene, B., Litkowski, S., and R. Shakir, "Segment Routing Architecture", RFC 8402, DOI 10.17487/RFC8402, July 2018, . [RFC8754] Filsfils, C., Ed., Dukes, D., Ed., Previdi, S., Leddy, J., Matsushima, S., and D. Voyer, "IPv6 Segment Routing Header (SRH)", RFC 8754, DOI 10.17487/RFC8754, March 2020, . [RFC8986] Filsfils, C., Ed., Camarillo, P., Ed., Leddy, J., Voyer, D., Matsushima, S., and Z. Li, "Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) Network Programming", RFC 8986, DOI 10.17487/RFC8986, February 2021, . [RFC9256] Filsfils, C., Talaulikar, K., Ed., Voyer, D., Bogdanov, A., and P. Mattes, "Segment Routing Policy Architecture", RFC 9256, DOI 10.17487/RFC9256, July 2022, . 7.2. Informative References Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 8] Internet-Draft IBN Network Management November 2023 [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-consumer-facing-interface-dm] Jeong, J. P., Chung, C., Ahn, T., Kumar, R., and S. Hares, "I2NSF Consumer-Facing Interface YANG Data Model", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-i2nsf-consumer- facing-interface-dm-31, 15 May 2023, . [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-nsf-facing-interface-dm] Kim, J. T., Jeong, J. P., Jung-Soo, J., Hares, S., and Q. Lin, "I2NSF Network Security Function-Facing Interface YANG Data Model", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft- ietf-i2nsf-nsf-facing-interface-dm-29, 1 June 2022, . [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-registration-interface-dm] Hyun, S., Jeong, J. P., Roh, T., Wi, S., and J. Jung-Soo, "I2NSF Registration Interface YANG Data Model for NSF Capability Registration", Work in Progress, Internet- Draft, draft-ietf-i2nsf-registration-interface-dm-26, 10 May 2023, . [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-nsf-monitoring-data-model] Jeong, J. P., Lingga, P., Hares, S., Xia, L., and H. Birkholz, "I2NSF NSF Monitoring Interface YANG Data Model", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf- i2nsf-nsf-monitoring-data-model-20, 1 June 2022, . [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-applicability] Jeong, J. P., Hyun, S., Ahn, T., Hares, S., and D. Lopez, "Applicability of Interfaces to Network Security Functions to Network-Based Security Services", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-i2nsf-applicability-18, 16 September 2019, . [I-D.jeong-i2nsf-security-management-automation] Jeong, J. P., Lingga, P., Jung-Soo, J., Lopez, D., and S. Hares, "Security Management Automation of Cloud-Based Security Services in I2NSF Framework", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-jeong-i2nsf-security-management- automation-06, 24 July 2023, . Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 9] Internet-Draft IBN Network Management November 2023 [I-D.yang-i2nsf-security-policy-translation] Jeong, J. P., Lingga, P., and J. Yang, "Guidelines for Security Policy Translation in Interface to Network Security Functions", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-yang-i2nsf-security-policy-translation-15, 24 July 2023, . [I-D.ietf-spring-sr-policy-yang] Raza, S., Sawaya, R., Shunwan, Z., Voyer, D., Durrani, M., Matsushima, S., and V. P. Beeram, "YANG Data Model for Segment Routing Policy", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-spring-sr-policy-yang-02, 23 September 2022, . [RFC9019] Moran, B., Tschofenig, H., Brown, D., and M. Meriac, "A Firmware Update Architecture for Internet of Things", RFC 9019, DOI 10.17487/RFC9019, April 2021, . [RFC9124] Moran, B., Tschofenig, H., and H. Birkholz, "A Manifest Information Model for Firmware Updates in Internet of Things (IoT) Devices", RFC 9124, DOI 10.17487/RFC9124, January 2022, . [I-D.jeong-nmrg-ibn-network-management-automation] Jeong, J. P., Ahn, Y., Kim, Y., and J. Jung-Soo, "Intent- Based Network Management Automation in 5G Networks", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-jeong-nmrg-ibn-network- management-automation-03, 6 November 2023, . [ETSI-NFV] "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Architectural Framework", Available: https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/ nfv/001_099/002/01.02.01_60/gs_nfv002v010201p.pdf, December 2014. [USENIX-ATC-Lumi] Jacobs, A., Pfitscher, R., Ribeiro, R., Ferreira, R., Granville, L., Willinger, W., and S. Rao, "Hey, Lumi! Using Natural Language for Intent-Based Network Management", USENIX Annual Technical Conference, Available: https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc21/presentation/ jacobs, July 2021. Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 10] Internet-Draft IBN Network Management November 2023 [REST] Fielding, R. and R. Taylor, "Principled Design of the Modern Web Architecture", ACM Transactions on Internet Technology, Vol. 2, Issue 2,, Available: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/514183.514185, May 2002. [Deep-Learning] Goodfellow, I., Bengio, Y., and A. Courville, "Deep Learning", Publisher: The MIT Press, URL: https://www.deeplearningbook.org/, November 2016. Authors' Addresses Jungsoo Park (editor) Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute 218 Gajeongno, Yuseung-gu Daejeon 34129 South Korea Phone: +82 42 860 6514 Email: pjs@etri.re.kr Yunchul Choi Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute 218 Gajeongno, Yuseung-gu Daejeon 34129 South Korea Phone: +82 42 860 5978 Email: cyc79@etri.re.kr Jaehoon Paul Jeong Department of Computer Science and Engineering Sungkyunkwan University 2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-Gu Suwon Gyeonggi-Do 16419 South Korea Phone: +82 31 299 4957 Email: pauljeong@skku.edu URI: http://iotlab.skku.edu/people-jaehoon-jeong.php Park, et al. Expires 10 May 2024 [Page 11]