Internet DRAFT - draft-clemm-netconf-yang-push
draft-clemm-netconf-yang-push
Network Working Group A. Clemm
Internet-Draft A. Gonzalez Prieto
Intended status: Standards Track E. Voit
Expires: April 15, 2016 Cisco Systems
October 13, 2015
Subscribing to YANG datastore push updates
draft-clemm-netconf-yang-push-02.txt
Abstract
This document defines a subscription and push mechanism for YANG
datastores. This mechanism allows client applications to request
updates from a YANG datastore, which are then pushed by the server to
the client per a subscription policy, without requiring additional
client requests.
Status of This Memo
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Definitions and Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3. Solution Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1. Subscription Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2. Negotiation of Subscription Policies . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3. On-Change Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.4. Data Encodings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.4.1. Periodic Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.4.2. On-Change Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5. Subscription Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.6. Push Data Stream and Transport Mapping . . . . . . . . . 12
3.7. Subscription management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.7.1. Subscription management by RPC . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.7.2. Subscription management by configuration . . . . . . 18
3.8. Other considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.8.1. Authorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.8.2. Additional subscription primitives . . . . . . . . . 19
3.8.3. Robustness and reliability considerations . . . . . . 19
3.8.4. Update size and fragmentation considerations . . . . 19
3.8.5. Additional data streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.8.6. Implementation considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4. A YANG data model for management of datastore push
subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.2. System streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.3. Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.4. Subscription configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.5. Subscription monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.6. Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.7. RPCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.7.1. Create-subscription RPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
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4.7.2. Modify-subscription RPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.7.3. Delete-subscription RPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5. YANG module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
7. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
1. Introduction
YANG [RFC6020] was originally designed for the Netconf protocol
[RFC6241], which originally put most emphasis on configuration.
However, YANG is not restricted to configuration data. YANG
datastores, i.e. datastores that contain data modeled according using
YANG, can contain configuration as well as operational data. It is
therefore reasonable to expect that data in YANG datastores will
increasingly be used to support applications that are not focused on
managing configurations but that are, for example, related to service
assurance.
Service assurance applications typically involve monitoring
operational state of networks and devices; of particular interest are
changes that this data undergoes over time. Likewise, there are
applications in which data and objects from one datastore need to be
made available both to applications in other systems and to remote
datastores [I-D.voit-netmod-peer-mount-requirements]
[I-D.clemm-netmod-mount]. This requires mechanisms that allow remote
systems to become quickly aware of any updates to allow to validate
and maintain cross-network integrity and consistency.
Traditional approaches to remote network state visibility rely
heavily on polling. With polling, data is periodically explicitly
retrieved by a client from a server to stay up-to-date.
There are various issues associated with polling-based management:
o It introduces additional load on network, devices, and
applications. Each polling cycle requires a separate yet arguably
redundant request that results in an interrupt, requires parsing,
consumes bandwidth.
o It lacks robustness. Polling cycles may be missed, requests may
be delayed or get lost, often particularly in cases when the
network is under stress and hence exactly when the need for the
data is the greatest.
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o Data may be difficult to calibrate and compare. Polling requests
may undergo slight fluctuations, resulting in intervals of
different lengths which makes data hard to compare. Likewise,
pollers may have difficulty issuing requests that reach all
devices at the same time, resulting in offset polling intervals
which again make data hard to compare.
A more effective alternative is when an application can request to be
automatically updated as necessary of current content of the
datastore (such as a subtree, or data in a subtree that meets a
certain filter condition), and in which the server that maintains the
datastore subsequently pushes those updates. However, such a
solution does not currently exist.
The need to perform polling-based management is typically considered
an important shortcoming of management applications that rely on MIBs
polled using SNMP [RFC1157]. However, without a provision to support
a push-based alternative, there is no reason to believe that
management applications that operate on YANG datastores using
protocols such as NETCONF or Restconf [I-D.ietf-netconf-restconf]
will be any more effective, as they would follow the same request/
response pattern.
While YANG allows the definition of notifications, such notifications
are generally intended to indicate the occurrence of certain well-
specified event conditions, such as a the onset of an alarm condition
or the occurrence of an error. A capability to subscribe to and
deliver event notifications has been defined in [RFC5277]. In
addition, configuration change notifications have been defined in
[RFC6470]. These change notifications pertain only to configuration
information, not to operational state, and convey the root of the
subtree to which changes were applied along with the edits, but not
the modified data nodes and their values.
Accordingly, there is a need for a service that allows client
applications to subscribe to updates of a YANG datastore and that
allows the server to push those updates. The requirements for such a
service are documented in [I-D.i2rs-pub-sub-requirements]. This
document proposes a solution that features the following
capabilities:
o A mechanism that allows clients to subscribe to automatic
datastore updates, and the means to manage those subscription.
The subscription allows clients to specify which data they are
interested in, and to provide optional filters with criteria that
data must meet for updates to be sent. Furthermore, subscription
can specify a policy that directs when updates are provided. For
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example, a client may request to be updated periodically in
certain intervals, or whenever data changes occur.
o The ability for a server to push back on requested subscription
parameters. Because not every server may support every requested
interval for every piece of data, it is necessary for a server to
be able to indicate whether or not it is capable of supporting a
requested subscription, and possibly allow to negotiate
subscription parameters.
o A mechanism to communicate the updates themselves. For this, the
proposal leverages and extends existing YANG/Netconf/Restconf
mechanisms, defining special notifications that carry updates.
This document specifies a YANG data model to manage subscriptions to
data in YANG datastores, and to configure associated filters and data
streams. It defines extensions to RPCs defined in [RFC5277] that
allow to extend notification subscriptions to subscriptions for
datastore updates. It also defines a notification that can be used
to carry data updates and thus serve as push mechanism.
2. Definitions and Acronyms
Data node: An instance of management information in a YANG datastore.
Data record: A record containing a set of one or more data node
instances and their associated values.
Datastore: A conceptual store of instantiated management information,
with individual data items represented by data nodes which are
arranged in hierarchical manner.
Datastream: A continuous stream of data records, each including a set
of updates, i.e. data node instances and their associated values.
Data subtree: An instantiated data node and the data nodes that are
hierarchically contained within it.
NACM: NETCONF Access Control Model
NETCONF: Network Configuration Protocol
Push-update stream: A conceptual data stream of a datastore that
streams the entire datastore contents continuously and perpetually.
RPC: Remote Procedure Call
SNMP: Simple Network Management Protocol
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Subscription: A contract between a client ("subscriber") and a server
("publisher"), stipulating which information the client wishes to
receive from the server (and which information the server has to
provide to the client) without the need for further solicitation.
Subscription filter: A filter that contains evaluation criteria which
are evaluated against YANG objects of a subscription. An update is
only published if the object meets the specified filter criteria.
Subscription policy: A policy that specifies under what circumstances
to push an update, e.g. whether updates are to be provided
periodically or only whenever changes occur.
Update: A data item containing the current value of a data node.
Update trigger: A trigger, as specified by a subscription policy,
that causes an update to be sent, respectively a data record to be
generated. An example of a trigger is a change trigger, invoked when
the value of a data node changes or a data node is created or
deleted, or a time trigger, invoked after the laps of a periodic time
interval.
URI: Uniform Resource Identifier
YANG: A data definition language for NETCONF
Yang-push: The subscription and push mechanism for YANG datastores
that is specified in this document.
3. Solution Overview
This document specifies a solution that allows clients to subscribe
to information updates in a YANG datastore, which are subsequently
pushed from the server to the client.
Subscriptions are initiated by clients. Servers respond to a
subscription request explicitly positively or negatively. Negative
responses include information about why the subscription was not
accepted, in order to facilitate converging on an acceptable set of
subscription parameters. Once a subscription has been established,
datastore push updates are pushed from the server to the subscribing
client until the subscription ends.
Accordingly, the solution encompasses several components:
o The subscription model for configuration and management of the
subscriptions, with a set of associated services.
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o The ability to provide hints for acceptable subscription
parameters, in cases where a subscription desired by a client
cannot currently be served.
o The stream of datastore push updates.
In addition, there are a number of additional considerations, such as
the tie-in of the mechanisms with security mechanisms. Each of those
aspects will be discussed in the following subsections.
3.1. Subscription Model
Yang-push subscriptions are defined using a data model that is itself
defined in YANG. This model is based on the subscriptions defined in
[RFC5277], which are also reused in Restconf. The model is extended
with several parameters, including a subscription type and a
subscription ID.
The subscription model assumes the presence of a conceptual perpetual
datastream "push-update" of continuous datastore updates that can be
subscribed to, although other datastreams may be supported as well.
A subscription refers to a datastream and specifies filters that are
to be applied to, it for example, to provide only those subsets of
the information that match a filter criteria. In addition, a
subscription specifies a set of subscription parameters that define
the trigger when data records should be sent, for example at periodic
intervals or whenever underlying data items change.
The complete set of subscription parameters is as follows:
o The stream being subscribed to. The subscription model assumes
the presence of perpetual and continuous streams of updates. The
stream "push-update" is always available and covers the entire set
of YANG data in the server, but a system may provide other streams
to choose from.
o The datastore to target. By default, the datastore will always be
"running". However, it is conceivable that implementations want
to also support subscriptions to updates to other datastores.
o An encoding for the data updates. By default, updates are encoded
using XML, but JSON can be requested as an option and other
encodings may be supported in the future.
o An optional start time for the subscription. If the specified
start time is in the past, the subscription goes into effect
immediately. The start time also serves as anchor time for
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periodic subscriptions, from which intervals at which to send
updates are calculated (see also below).
o An optional stop time for the subscription. Once the stop time is
reached, the subscription is automatically terminated.
o A subscription policy definition regarding the update trigger when
to send new updates. The trigger can be periodic or based on
change.
* For periodic subscriptions, the trigger is defined by a
parameter that defines the interval with which updates are to
be pushed. The start time of the subscription serves as anchor
time, defining one specific point in time at which an update
needs to be sent. Update intervals always fall on the points
in time that are a multiple of a period after the start time.
* For on-change subscriptions, the trigger occurs whenever a
change in the subscribed information is detected. On-change
subscriptions have more complex semantics that can be guided by
additional parameters. Please refer also to Section 3.3.
+ One parameter is needed to specify the dampening period,
i.e. the interval that must pass before a successive update
for the same data node is sent. The first time a change is
detected, the update is sent immediately. If a subsequent
change is detected, another update is only sent once the
dampening period has passed, containing the value of the
data node that is then valid.
+ Another parameter allows to restrict the types of changes
for which updates are sent (changes to object values, object
creation or deletion events). It is conceivable to augment
the data model with additional parameters in the future to
specify even more refined policies, such as parameters that
specify the magnitude of a change that must occur before an
update is triggered.
+ A third parameter specifies whether or not a complete update
with all the subscribed data should be sent at the beginning
of a subscription.
o Optionally, a filter, or set of filters, describing the subset of
data items in the stream's data records that are of interest to
the subscriber. The server should only send to the subscriber the
data items that match the filter(s), when present. The absence of
a filter indicates that all data items from the stream are of
interest to the subscriber and all data records must be sent in
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their entirety to the subscriber. Two types of filters are
support: subtree filter, with the same semantics as defined in
[RFC 6241], and XPath filters. Additional filter types can be
added through augmentations. Filters can be specified "inline" as
part of the subscription, or can be configured separately and
referenced by a subscription, in order to facilitate reuse of
complex filters.
The subscription data model is specified as part of the YANG data
model described later in this specification. Specifically, the
subscription parameters are defined in the "subscription-info"
grouping. It is conceivable that additional subscription parameters
might be added in the future. This can be accomplished through
augmentation of the subscription data model.
3.2. Negotiation of Subscription Policies
A subscription rejection can be caused by the inability of the server
to provide a stream with the requested semantics. For example, a
server may not be able to support "on-change" updates for operational
data, or only support them for a limited set of data nodes.
Likewise, a server may not be able to support a requested updated
frequency, or a requested encoding.
Yang-push supports a simple negotiation between clients and servers
for subscription parameters. The negotiation is limited to a single
pair of subscription request and response. For negative responses,
the server SHOULD include in the returned error what subscription
parameters would have been accepted for the request. The returned
acceptable parameters constitute suggestions that, when followed,
increase the likelihood of success for subsequent requests. However,
they are no guarantee that subsequent requests for this client or
others will in fact be accepted.
In case a subscriber requests an encoding other than XML, and this
encoding is not supported by the server, the server simply indicates
in the response that the encoding is not supported.
3.3. On-Change Considerations
On-change subscriptions allow clients to subscribe to updates
whenever changes to objects occur. As such, on-change subscriptions
are of particular interest for data that changes relatively
infrequently, yet that require applications to be notified with
minimal delay when changes do occur.
On-change subscriptions tend to be more difficult to implement than
periodic subscriptions. Specifically, on-change subscriptions may
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involve a notion of state to see if a change occurred between past
and current state, or the ability to tap into changes as they occur
in the underlying system. Accordingly, on-change subscriptions may
not be supported by all implementations or for every object.
When an on-change subscription is requested for a datastream with a
given subtree filter, where not all objects support on-change update
triggers, the subscription request MUST be rejected. As a result,
on-change subscription requests will tend to be directed at very
specific, targeted subtrees with only few objects.
Any updates for an on-change subscription will include only objects
for which a change was detected. To avoid flooding clients with
repeated updates for fast-changing objects, or objects with
oscillating values, an on-change subscription allows for the
definition of a dampening period. Once an update for a given object
is sent, no other updates for this particular object are sent until
the end of the dampening period. In addition, updates include
information about objects that were deleted and ones that were newly
created.
On-change subscriptions can be refined to let users subscribe only to
certain types of changes, for example, only to object creations and
deletions, but not to modifications of object values.
Additional refinements are conceivable. For example, in order to
avoid sending updates on objects whose values undergo only a
negligible change, additional parameters might be added to an on-
change subscription specifying a policy that states how large or
"significant" a change has to be before an update is sent. A simple
policy is a "delta-policy" that states, for integer-valued data
nodes, the minimum difference between the current value and the value
that was last reported that triggers an update. Also more
sophisticated policies are conceivable, such as policies specified in
percentage terms or policies that take into account the rate of
change. While not specified as part of this draft, such policies can
be accommodated by augmenting the subscription data model
accordingly.
3.4. Data Encodings
Subscribed data is encoded in either XML or JSON format. A server
MUST support XML encoding and MAY support JSON encoding.
It is conceivable that additional encodings may be supported as
options in the future. This can be accomplished by augmenting the
subscription data model with additional identity statements used to
refer to requested encodings.
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3.4.1. Periodic Subscriptions
In a periodic subscription, the data included as part of an update
corresponds to data that could have been simply retrieved using a get
operation and is encoded in the same way. XML encoding rules for
data nodes are defined in [RFC6020]. JSON encoding rules are defined
in [I-D.ietf-netmod-yang-json]. This encoding is valid JSON, but
also has special encoding rules to identify module namespaces and
provide consistent type processing of YANG data.
3.4.2. On-Change Subscriptions
In an on-change subscription, updates need to allow to differentiate
between data nodes that were newly created since the last update,
data nodes that were deleted, and data nodes whose value changed.
XML encoding rules correspond to how data would be encoded in input
to Netconf edit-config operations as specified in [RFC6241] section
7.2, adding "operation" attributes to elements in the data subtree.
Specifically, the following values will be utilized:
o create: The data identified by the element has been added since
the last update.
o delete: The data identified by the element has been deleted since
the last update.
o merge: The data identified by the element has been changed since
the last update.
o replace: The data identified by the element has been replaced with
the update contents since the last update.
The remove value will not be utilized.
Contrary to edit-config operations, the data is sent from the server
to the client, not from the client to the server, and will not be
restricted to configuration data.
JSON encoding rules are roughly analogous to how data would be
encoded in input to a YANG-patch operation, as specified in
[I-D.ietf-netconf-yang-patch] section 2.2. However, no edit-ids will
be needed. Specifically, changes will be grouped under respective
"operation" containers for creations, deletions, and modifications.
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3.5. Subscription Filters
Subscriptions can specify filters for subscribed data. The following
filters are supported:
o subtree-filter: A subtree filter specifies a subtree that the
subscription refers to. When specified, updates will only concern
data nodes from this subtree. Syntax and semantics correspond to
that specified for [RFC6241] section 6.
o xpath-filter: An XPath filter specifies an XPath expression
applied to the data in an update, assuming XML-encoded data.
If multiple subscription filters are specified, all of them are
applied. In other words, it is possible to (for example) apply an
XPath filter on top of a subtree filter.
It is conceivable for implementations to support other filters. For
example, an on-change filter might specify that changes in values
should be sent only when the magnitude of the change since previous
updates exceeds a certain threshold. It is possible to augment the
subscription data model with additional filter types.
3.6. Push Data Stream and Transport Mapping
Pushing data based on a subscription could be considered analogous to
a response to a data retrieval request, e.g. a "get" request.
However, contrary to such a request, multiple responses to the same
request may get sent over a longer period of time.
A more suitable mechanism is therefore that of a notification.
Contrary to notifications associated with alarms and unexpected event
occurrences, push updates are solicited, i.e. tied to a particular
subscription which triggered the notification. (An alternative
conceptual model would consider a subscription an "opt-in" filter on
a continuous stream of updates.)
The notification contains several parameters:
o A subscription correlator, referencing the name of the
subscription on whose behalf the notification is sent.
o A data node that contains a representation of the datastore
subtree containing the updates. The subtree is filtered per
access control rules to contain only data that the subscriber is
authorized to see. Also, depending on the subscription type,
i.e., specifically for on-change subscriptions, the subtree
contains only the data nodes that contain actual changes. (This
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can be simply a node of type string or, for XML-based encoding,
anyxml.)
Notifications are sent using <notification> elements as defined in
[RFC5277]. Alternative transports are conceivable but outside the
scope of this specification.
The solution specified in this document uses notifications to
communicate datastore updates. The contents of the notification
includes a set of explicitly defined data nodes. For this purpose,
two new generic notifications are introduced, "push-update" and
"push-change-update". Both notifications are used to define how to
carry data records with updates of datastore contents as specified by
a subscription.
Push-update notification defines updates for a periodic subscription,
as well as for the initial update of an on-change subscription used
to synchronize the receiver at the start of a new subscription. The
update record contains a data snippet that contains an instantiated
subtree with the subscribed contents. The content of the update
record is equivalent to the contents that would be obtained had the
same data been explicitly retrieved using e.g. a Netconf "get"-
operation, with the same filters applied.
The contents of the notification conceptually represents the union of
all data nodes in the yang modules supported by the server. However,
in a YANG data model, it is not practical to model the precise data
contained in the updates as part of the notification. This is
because the specific data nodes supported depend on the implementing
system and may even vary dynamically. Therefore, to capture this
data, a single parameter that can represent any datastore contents is
used, not parameters that represent data nodes one at a time.
Push-change-update notification defines updates for on-change
subscriptions. The update record here contains a data snippet that
indicates the changes that data nodes have undergone, i.e. that
indicates which data nodes have been created, deleted, or had changes
to their values. The format follows the same format that operations
that apply changes to a data tree would apply, indicating the
creates, deletes, and modifications of data nodes.
The following is an example of push notification. It contains an
update for subscription my-sub, including a subtree with root foo
that contains a leaf, bar:
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<notification
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
<subscription-id
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
my-sub
</subscription-id>
<eventTime>2015-03-09T19:14:56Z</eventTime>
<datastore-contents xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
<foo>
<bar>some_string</bar>
</foo>
</datastore-contents>
</notification>
Figure 1: Push example
The following is an example of an on-change notification. It
contains an update for subscription my-on-change-sub, including a new
value for a leaf called beta, which is a child of a top-level
container called alpha:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<notification
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
<subscription-id xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
my-on-change-sub
</subscription-id>
<eventTime>2015-10-13T12:13:02Z</eventTime>
<datastore-changes-xml xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
<alpha xmlns="http://example.com/yang-push/1.0" >
<beta>1500</beta>
</alpha>
</datastore-changes-xml>
</notification>
Figure 2: Push example for on change
The equivalent update when requesting json encoding:
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<notification
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
<subscription-id xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
my-on-change-sub
</subscription-id>
<eventTime>2015-10-13T12:13:02Z</eventTime>
<datastore-changes-json
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
{
"ietf-yang-patch:yang-patch": {
"patch-id": [
null
],
"edit": [
{
"edit-id": "edit1",
"operation": "merge",
"target": "/alpha/beta",
"value": {
"beta": 1500
}
}
]
}
}
</datastore-changes-json>
</notification>
Figure 3: Push example for on change with JSON
When the beta leaf is deleted, the server may send
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<notification
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
<subscription-id xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
my-on-change-sub
</subscription-id>
<eventTime>2015-10-13T12:13:02Z</eventTime>
<datastore-changes-xml xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
<alpha xmlns="http://example.com/yang-push/1.0" >
<beta xc:operation="delete"/>
</alpha>
</datastore-changes-xml>
</notification>
Figure 4: 2nd push example for on change update
3.7. Subscription management
There are two ways in which subscriptions can be managed: RPC-based,
and configuration based.
3.7.1. Subscription management by RPC
RPC-based subscription allows a subscriber to create a subscription
via an RPC call. The subscriber and the receiver are the same
entity, i.e. a subscriber cannot subscribe or in other ways interfere
with a subscription on another receiver's behalf. The lifecycle of
the subscription is dependent on the lifecyle of the transport
session over which the subscription was requested. For example, when
a Netconf session over which a subscription was created is torn down,
the subscription is automatically terminated (and needs to be re-
initiated when a new session is established). Alternatively, a
subscriber can also decide to delete a subscription via another RPC.
When a create-subscription request is successful, the subscription
identifier of the freshly created subscription is returned.
A subscription can be rejected for multiple reasons, including the
lack of authorization to create a subscription, the lack of read
authorization on the requested data node, or the inability of the
server to provide a stream with the requested semantics. Rejections
trigger the generation of an rpc-reply with an rpc-error element,
which indicates why the subscription was rejected and, possibly,
negotiation information to facilitate the generation of subscription
requests that can be served. The contents of the rpc-error element
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follow the specification in [RFC6241]. Datastore-push-specific
content is included under <error-info>. When the requester is not
authorized to read the requested data node, the returned <error-info>
indicates an authorization error and the requested node. For
instance, for the following request:
<netconf:rpc message-id="101"
xmlns:netconf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<create-subscription
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
<stream>push-update</stream>
<filter netconf:type="xpath"
xmlns:ex="http://example.com/foo/1.0"
select="/ex:foo"/>
<period xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
500
</period>
<encoding
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
encode-xml
</encoding>
</create-subscription>
</netconf:rpc>
Figure 5: Create-Subscription example
the server may return:
<rpc-reply message-id="101"
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<rpc-error>
<error-type>application</error-type>
<error-tag>access-denied</error-tag>
<error-severity>error</error-severity>
<error-info>
<access-denied xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:
netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
<data-node>/ex:foo</data-node>
</ access-denied >
</error-info>
</rpc-error>
</rpc-reply>
Figure 6: Error response example
When the requester is not authorized to execute a subscription
request, no <error-info> element should be included in the response.
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3.7.2. Subscription management by configuration
Configuration-based subscription allows a subscription to be
established as part of a server's configuration. This allows to
persist subscriptions. As part of a configured subscription, a
receiver needs to be specified. It is thus possible to have a
different system acting as subscriber (the client creating the
subscription) and as receiver (the client receiving the updates).
3.8. Other considerations
3.8.1. Authorization
A receiver of subscription data may only be sent updates for which
they have proper authorization. Data that is being pushed therefore
needs to be subjected to a filter that applies all corresponding
rules applicable at the time of a specific pushed update, removing
any non-authorized data as applicable.
The authorization model for data in YANG datastores is described in
the Netconf Access Control Model [RFC6536]. However, some
clarifications to that RFC are needed so that the desired access
control behavior is applied to pushed updates.
One of these clarifications is that a subscription may only be
established if the Receiver has read access to the target data node.
+-------------+ +-------------+
subscription | protocol | | target |
request --> | operation | -------------> | data node |
| allowed? | datastore | access |
+-------------+ or state | allowed? |
data access +-------------+
Figure 7: Access control for subscription
Likewise if a receiver no longer has read access permission to a
target data node, the subscription must be abnormally terminated
(with loss of access permission as the reason provided).
Another clarification to [RFC6536] is that each of the individual
nodes in a pushed update must also go through access control
filtering. This includes new nodes added since the last push update,
as well as existing nodes. For each of these read access must be
verified. The methods of doing this efficiently are left to
implementation.
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+-------------+ +-------------------+
subscription | data node | yes | |
update --> | access | ---> | add data node |
| allowed? | | to update message |
+-------------+ +-------------------+
Figure 8: Access control for push updates
If there are read access control changes applied under the target
node, no notifications indicating the fact that this has occurred
need to be provided.
3.8.2. Additional subscription primitives
Other possible operations include the ability for a Subscriber to
request the suspension/resumption of a Subscription with a Publisher.
However, subscriber driven suspension is not viewed as essential at
this time, as a simpler alternative is to remove a subscription and
recreate it when needed.
It should be noted that this does not affect the ability of the
Publisher to suspend a subscription. This can occur in cases the
server is not able to serve the subscription for a certain period of
time, and indicated by a corresponding notification.
3.8.3. Robustness and reliability considerations
Particularly in the case of on-change push updates, it is important
that push updates do not get lost. However, datastore-push uses a
secure and reliable transport. Notifications are not getting
reordered, and in addition contain a time stamp. For those reasons,
we believe that additional reliability mechanisms at the application
level, such as sequence numbers for push updates, are not required.
3.8.4. Update size and fragmentation considerations
Depending on the subscription, the volume of updates can become quite
large. There is no inherent limitation to the amount of data that
can be included in a notification. That said, it may not always be
practical to send the entire update in a single chunk.
Implementations MAY therefore choose, at their discretion, to "chunk"
updates and break them out into several update notifications.
3.8.5. Additional data streams
The conceptual data stream introduced in this specification,
datastore-push, includes the entire YANG datastore in its scope. It
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is conceivable to introduce other data streams with more limited
scope, for example:
o operdata-push, a datastream containing all operational (read-only)
data of a YANG datastore
o operdata-nocounts-push, a datastream containing all operational
(read-only) data with the exception of counters
Those data streams make particular sense for use cases involving
service assurance (not relying on operational data), and for use
cases requiring on-change update triggers which make no sense to
support in conjunction with fast-changing counters. While it is
possible to specify subtree filters on datastore-push to the same
effect, having those data streams greatly simplifies articulating
subscriptions in such scenarios.
3.8.6. Implementation considerations
Implementation specifics are outside the scope of this specification.
That said,it should be noted that monitoring of operational state
changes inside a system can be associated with significant
implementation challenges.
Even periodic retrieval of operational state alone, to be able to
push it, can consume considerable system resources. Configuration
data may in many cases be persisted in an actual database or a
configuration file, where retrieval of the database content or the
file itself is reasonably straightforward and computationally
inexpensive. However, retrieval of operational data may, depending
on the implementation, require invocation of APIs, possibly on an
object-by-object basis, possibly involving additional internal
interrupts, etc.
For those reasons, if is important for an implementation to
understand what subscriptions it can or cannot support. It is far
preferrable to decline a subscription request, than to accept it only
to result in subsequent failure later.
Whether or not a subscription can be supported will in general be
determined by a combination of several factors, including the
subscription policy (on-change or periodic, with on-change in general
being the more challenging of the two), the period in which to report
changes (1 second periods will consume more resources than 1 hour
periods), the amount of data in the subtree that is being subscribed
to, and the number and combination of other subscriptions that are
concurrently being serviced.
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When providing access control to every node in a pushed update, it is
possible to make and update efficient access control filters for an
update. These filters can be set upon subscription and applied
against a stream of updates. These filters need only be updated when
(a) there is a new node added/removed from the subscribed tree with
different permissions than its parent, or (b) read access permissions
have been changed on nodes under the target node for the subscriber.
4. A YANG data model for management of datastore push subscriptions
4.1. Overview
The YANG data model for datastore push subscriptions is depicted in
the following figure.
module: ietf-datastore-push
+--ro system-streams
| +--ro system-stream* system-stream
+--rw filters
| +--rw filter* [filter-id]
| +--rw filter-id filter-id
| +--rw (filter-type)?
| +--:(subtree)
| | +--rw subtree-filter? subtree-filter
| +--:(xpath)
| +--rw xpath-filter? yang:xpath1.0
+--rw subscription-config
| +--rw datastore-push-subscription* [subscription-id]
| +--rw subscription-id subscription-id
| +--rw target-datastore? datastore
| +--rw stream? system-stream
| +--rw encoding? encoding
| +--rw start-time? yang:date-and-time
| +--rw stop-time? yang:date-and-time
| +--rw (update-trigger)?
| | +--:(periodic)
| | | +--rw period? yang:timeticks
| | +--:(on-change)
| | +--rw no-synch-on-start? empty
| | +--rw dampening-period yang:timeticks
| | +--rw excluded-change* change-type
| +--rw (filterspec)?
| | +--:(inline)
| | | +--rw (filter-type)?
| | | +--:(subtree)
| | | | +--rw subtree-filter? subtree-filter
| | | +--:(xpath)
| | | +--rw xpath-filter? yang:xpath1.0
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| | +--:(by-reference)
| | +--rw filter-ref? filter-ref
| +--rw receiver-address
| +--rw (push-base-transport)?
| +--:(tcpudp)
| +--rw tcpudp
| +--rw address? inet:host
| +--rw port? inet:port-number
+--ro subscriptions
+--ro datastore-push-subscription* [subscription-id]
+--ro subscription-id subscription-id
+--ro configured-subscription? empty
+--ro subscription-status? identityref
+--ro target-datastore? datastore
+--ro stream? system-stream
+--ro encoding? encoding
+--ro start-time? yang:date-and-time
+--ro stop-time? yang:date-and-time
+--ro (update-trigger)?
| +--:(periodic)
| | +--ro period? yang:timeticks
| +--:(on-change)
| +--ro no-synch-on-start? empty
| +--ro dampening-period yang:timeticks
| +--ro excluded-change* change-type
+--ro (filterspec)?
| +--:(inline)
| | +--ro (filter-type)?
| | +--:(subtree)
| | | +--ro subtree-filter? subtree-filter
| | +--:(xpath)
| | +--ro xpath-filter? yang:xpath1.0
| +--:(by-reference)
| +--ro filter-ref? filter-ref
+--ro receiver-address
+--ro (push-base-transport)?
+--:(tcpudp)
+--ro tcpudp
+--ro address? inet:host
+--ro port? inet:port-number
Figure 9: Model structure
The components of the model are described in the following
subsections.
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4.2. System streams
Container "system-streams" is used to indicate which data streams are
provided by the system and can be subscribed to. For this purpose,
it contains a leaf list of data nodes identifying the supported
streams.
4.3. Filters
Container "filters" contains a list of configurable data filters,
each specified in its own list element. This allows users to
configure filters separately from an actual subscription, which can
then be referenced from a subscription. This facilitates the reuse
of filter definitions, which can be important in case of complex
filter conditions.
Two types of filters can be specified as part of a filter list
element. Subtree filters follow syntax and semantics of RFC 6241 and
allow to specify which subtree(s) to subscribe to. In addition,
XPath filters can be specified for more complex filter conditions.
If several filters are specified. When both types of filters are
included, a logical "and" applies.
It is conceivable to introduce other types of filters; in that case,
the data model needs to be augmented accordingly.
4.4. Subscription configuration
Container "subscription-config" allows for the static configuration
of subscriptions, i.e. subscriptions that are created via
configuration as opposed to RPC. Each subscription is represented
through its own list element, including the following components:
o "subscription-id" is an identifier used to refer to the
subscription.
o "target-datastore" is used to refer to the datastore the
subscription refer to. By default, the datastore will always be
"running".
o "stream" refers to the stream being subscribed to. The
subscription model assumes the presence of perpetual and
continuous streams of updates. Various streams are defined:
"push-update" covers the entire set of YANG data in the server.
"operational-push" covers all operational data, while "config-
push" covers all configuration data. Other streams could be
introduced in augmentations to the model by introducing additional
identities.
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o "encoding" refers to the encoding requested for the data updates.
By default, updates are encoded using XML. However, JSON can be
requested as an option and other encodings may be supported in the
future.
o "start-time" specifies when the subscription is supposed to start.
The start time also serves as anchor time for periodic
subscriptions (see below).
o "stop-time" specifies a stop time for the subscription. Once the
stop time is reached, the subscription is automatically
terminated. However, even when terminated, the subscription entry
remains part of the configuration unless explicity deleted from
the configuration. It is possible to effectively "resume" a
stopped subscription by reconfiguring the stop time.
o A choice of subscription policies allows to define when to send
new updates - periodic or on change.
* For periodic subscriptions, the trigger is defined by a
"period", a parameter that defines the interval with which
updates are to be pushed. The start time of the subscription
serves as anchor time, defining one specific point in time at
which an update needs to be sent. Update intervals always fall
on the points in time that are a multiple of a period after the
start time.
* For on-change subscriptions, the trigger occurs whenever a
change in the subscribed information is detected. On-change
subscriptions have more complex semantics that is guided by
additional parameters. "dampening-period" specifies the
interval that must pass before a successive update for the same
data node is sent. The first time a change is detected, the
update is sent immediately. If a subsequent change is
detected, another update is only sent once the dampening period
has passed, containing the value of the data node that is then
valid. "excluded-change" allows to restrict the types of
changes for which updates are sent (changes to object values,
object creation or deletion events). "no-synch-on-start" is a
flag that allows to specify whether or not a complete update
with all the subscribed data should be sent at the beginning of
a subscription; if the flag is omitted, a complete update is
sent to facilitate synchronization. It is conceivable to
augment the data model with additional parameters in the future
to specify even more refined policies, such as parameters that
specify the magnitude of a change that must occur before an
update is triggered.
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o Filters for a subscription can be specified using a choice,
allowing to either reference a filter that has been separately
configured or entering its definition inline.
o Finally, a receiver for the subscription can be specified. The
receiver does not have to be the same system that configures the
subscription.
It should be noted that a subscription created through configuration
cannot be deleted using an RPC. Likewise, subscriptions created
through RPC cannot be deleted through configuration.
4.5. Subscription monitoring
Subscriptions can be subjected to management themselves. For
example, it is possible that a server may no longer be able to serve
a subscription that it had previously accepted. Perhaps it has run
out of resources, or internal errors may have occurred. When this is
the case, a server needs to be able to temporarily suspend the
subscription, or even to terminate it. More generally, the server
should provide a means by which the status of subscriptions can be
monitored.
Container "subscriptions", contains operational data for all
subscriptions that are currently active. This includes subscriptions
that were created using RPC, as well as subscriptions created as part
of the configuration when current time is between start and stop
time.
Each subscription is represented as a list element "datastore-push-
subscription". The associated information includes an identifier for
the subscription, a subscription status, as well as the various
subscription parameters that are in effect. The subscription status
indicates whether the subscription is currently active and healthy,
or if it is degraded in some form.
Subscriptions are automatically removed from the list once they
expire (reaching stop-time )or are terminated, whether through RPC or
deletion from the configuration.
4.6. Notifications
A server needs to indicate any changes in status of a subscription to
the receiver through a notification. Specifically, subscribers need
to be informed of the following:
o A subscription has been temporarily suspended (including the
reason)
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o A subscription (that had been suspended earlier) is once again
operational
o A subscription has been terminated (including the reason)
o A subscription has been modified (including the current set of
subscription parameters in effect)
Finally, a server might provide additional information about
subscriptions, such as statistics about the number of data updates
that were sent. However, such information is currently outside the
scope of this specification.
4.7. RPCs
Yang-push subscriptions are created, modified, and deleted using
three RPCs.
4.7.1. Create-subscription RPC
The subscriber sends a create-subscription RPC with the parameters in
section 3.1. For instance
<netconf:rpc message-id="101"
xmlns:netconf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<create-subscription
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
<stream>push-update</stream>
<filter netconf:type="xpath"
xmlns:ex="http://example.com/foo/1.0"
select="/ex:foo"/>
<period xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
500
</period>
<encoding xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
encode-xml
</encoding>
</create-subscription>
</netconf:rpc>
Figure 10: Create-subscription RPC
The server must respond explicitly positively (i.e., subscription
accepted) or negatively (i.e., subscription rejected) to the request.
Positive responses include the subscription-id of the accepted
subscription. In that case a server may respond:
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<rpc-reply message-id="101"
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<data>
<subscription-id xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
my-sub
</subscription-id>
</data>
</rpc-reply>
Figure 11: Create-subscription positive RPC response
A subscription can be rejected for multiple reasons, including the
lack of authorization to create a subscription, the lack of read
authorization on the requested data node, or the inability of the
server to provide a stream with the requested semantics. Rejections
trigger the generation of an rpc-reply with an rpc-error element,
which indicates why the subscription was rejected and, possibly,
negotiation information to facilitate the generation of subscription
requests that can be served. The contents of the rpc-error element
follow the specification in [RFC6241]. Datastore-push-specific
content is included under <error-info>.
When the requester is not authorized to read the requested data node,
the returned <error-info> indicates an authorization error and the
requested node. For instance, if the above request was unauthorized
to read node "ex:foo" the server may return:
<rpc-reply message-id="101"
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<rpc-error>
<error-type>application</error-type>
<error-tag>access-denied</error-tag>
<error-severity>error</error-severity>
<error-info>
<access-denied xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:
netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
<data-node>/ex:foo</ data-node >
</ access-denied >
</error-info>
</rpc-error>
</rpc-reply>
Figure 12: Create-subscription access denied response
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When the requester is not authorized to execute a subscription
request, no <error-info> element should be included in the response.
If a request is rejected because the server is not capable to serve
it, the server SHOULD include in the returned error what request
parameters were not supported and what subscription parameters would
have been accepted for the request. This information is included in
the <error-info>, which is split into two sections. First,
<unsupported-parameters>, which includes the parameters in the
request the server cannot serve. Second <supported-subscription>,
which constitute suggestions that, when followed; increase the
likelihood of success for subsequent requests. However, they are no
guarantee that subsequent requests for this client or others will in
fact be accepted.
For example, for the following request:
<netconf:rpc message-id="101"
xmlns:netconf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<create-subscription
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
<stream>push-update</stream>
<filter netconf:type="xpath"
xmlns:ex="http://example.com/foo/1.0"
select="/ex:foo"/>
<dampening-period
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
10
</dampening-period>
<encoding
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
encode-xml
</encoding>
</create-subscription>
</netconf:rpc>
Figure 13: Create-subscription request example 2
A server that cannot serve on-change updates may return the
following:
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<rpc-reply message-id="101"
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<rpc-error>
<error-type>application</error-type>
<error-tag>operation-not-supported</error-tag>
<error-severity>error</error-severity>
<error-info>
<unsupported-parameters xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:
netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
<dampening-period
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
10
</dampening-period>
</unsupported-parameters >
<supported-subscription xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:
netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
<period>3000</period>
</supported-subscription>
</error-info>
</rpc-error>
</rpc-reply>
Figure 14: Create-subscription error response example 2
4.7.2. Modify-subscription RPC
The subscriber may send a modify-subscription for a previously
accepted subscription that has not been deleted. The subscriber may
change any subscription parameters by including the new values in the
modifys-subscription rpc. Parameters not included in the rpc should
remain unmodified. For illustration purposes we include an exchange
example where a subscriber modifies the period of the subscription.
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<netconf:rpc message-id="101"
xmlns:netconf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<modify-subscription
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
<stream>push-update</stream>
<subscription-id xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
my-sub
</subscription-id>
<filter netconf:type="xpath"
xmlns:ex="http://example.com/foo/1.0"
select="/ex:foo"/>
<period
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
500
</period>
<encoding
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
encode-xml
</encoding>
</create-subscription>
</netconf:rpc>
Figure 15: Modify subscription request
The server must respond explicitly positively (i.e., subscription
accepted) or negatively (i.e., subscription rejected) to the request.
Positive responses include the subscription-id of the accepted
subscription. In that case a server may respond:
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<rpc-reply message-id="101"
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<data>
<subscription-id xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
my-sub
</subscription-id>
</data>
</rpc-reply>
<netconf:rpc message-id="102"
xmlns:netconf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<modify-subscription
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
<subscription-id xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
my-sub
</subscription-id>
<period xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
100
</period>
<encoding
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:datastore-push:1.0">
encode-xml
</encoding>
</modify-subscription>
</netconf:rpc>
<rpc-reply message-id="102"
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<subscription-id xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
my-sub
</subscription-id>
</rpc-reply>
Figure 16: Modify subscription response
If the subscription modification is rejected, the server must send a
response like it does for a create-subscription and maintain the
subscription as it was before the modification request. A
subscription may be modified multiple times.
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4.7.3. Delete-subscription RPC
To stop receiving updates from a subscription and effectively
eliminate the subscription, it can send a delete-subscription RPC,
which takes as only input the subscription-id. For example
<netconf:rpc message-id="103"
xmlns:netconf="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<delete-subscription
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0">
<subscription-id xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:
datastore-push:1.0">
my-sub
</subscription-id>
</delete-subscription>
</netconf:rpc>
<rpc-reply message-id="103"
xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0">
<ok/>
</rpc-reply>
Figure 17: Delete subscription
5. YANG module
<CODE BEGINS>
file "ietf-datastore-push@2015-10-09.yang"
module ietf-datastore-push {
namespace "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-datastore-push";
prefix yp;
import ietf-inet-types {
prefix inet;
}
import ietf-yang-types {
prefix yang;
}
organization "IETF";
contact
"WG Web: <http://tools.ietf.org/wg/netconf/>
WG List: <mailto:netconf@ietf.org>
WG Chair: Mahesh Jethanandani
<mailto:mjethanandani@gmail.com>
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WG Chair: Mehmet Ersue
<mailto:mehmet.ersue@nokia.com>
Editor: Alexander Clemm
<mailto:alex@cisco.com>
Editor: Alberto Gonzalez Prieto
<mailto:albertgo@cisco.com>
Editor: Eric Voit
<mailto:evoit@cisco.com>";
description
"This module contains conceptual YANG specifications
for datastore push.";
revision 2015-10-13 {
description
"Initial revision.";
reference
"YANG Datastore Push, draft-clemm-netconf-yang-push-02";
}
feature on-change {
description
"This feature indicates that on-change updates are supported.";
}
feature json {
description
"This feature indicates that JSON encoding of push updates is
supported.";
}
identity subscription-stream-status {
description
"Base identity for the status of subscriptions and
datastreams.";
}
identity active {
base subscription-stream-status;
description
"Status is active and healthy.";
}
identity inactive {
base subscription-stream-status;
description
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"Status is inactive, for example outside the
interval between start time and stop time.";
}
identity in-error {
base subscription-stream-status;
description
"The status is in error or degraded, meaning that
stream and/or subscription are currently unable to provide
the negotiated updates.";
}
identity subscription-errors {
description
"Base identity for subscription errors.";
}
identity internal-error {
base subscription-errors;
description
"Subscription failures caused by server internal error.";
}
identity no-resources {
base subscription-errors;
description
"Lack of resources, e.g. CPU, memory, bandwidth";
}
identity subscription-deleted {
base subscription-errors;
description
"The subscription was terminated because the subscription
was deleted.";
}
identity other {
base subscription-errors;
description
"Fallback reason - any other reason";
}
identity encodings {
description
"Base identity to represent data encodings";
}
identity encode-xml {
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base encodings;
description
"Encode data using XML";
}
identity encode-json {
base encodings;
description
"Encode data using JSON";
}
identity system-streams {
description
"Base identity to represent a conceptual system-provided
datastream of datastore updates with predefined semantics.";
}
identity datastore-push {
base system-streams;
description
"A conceptual datastream consisting of all datastore
updates, including operational and configuration data.";
}
identity operational-push {
base system-streams;
description
"A conceptual datastream consisting of updates of all
operational data.";
}
identity config-push {
base system-streams;
description
"A conceptual datastream consisting of updates of all
configuration data.";
}
identity datastore {
description
"An identity that represents a datastore.";
}
identity running {
base datastore;
description
"Designates the running datastore";
}
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identity startup {
base datastore;
description
"Designates the startup datastore";
}
typedef datastore-contents-xml {
type string;
description
"This type is be used to represent datastore contents,
i.e. a set of data nodes with their values, in XML.
The syntax corresponds to the syntax of the data payload
returned in a corresponding Netconf get operation with the
same filter parameters applied.";
reference "RFC 6241 section 7.7";
}
typedef datastore-changes-xml {
type string;
description
"This type is used to represent a set of changes in a
datastore encoded in XML, indicating for datanodes whether
they have been created, deleted, or updated. The syntax
corresponds to the syntax used to when editing a
datastore using the edit-config operation in Netconf.";
reference "RFC 6241 section 7.2";
}
typedef datastore-contents-json {
type string;
description
"This type is be used to represent datastore contents,
i.e. a set of data nodes with their values, in JSON.
The syntax corresponds to the syntax of the data
payload returned in a corresponding RESTCONF get
operation with the same filter parameters applied.";
reference "RESTCONF Protocol";
}
typedef datastore-changes-json {
type string;
description
"This type is used to represent a set of changes in a
datastore encoded in JSON, indicating for datanodes whether
they have been created, deleted, or updated. The syntax
corresponds to the syntax used to patch a datastore
using the yang-patch operation with Restconf.";
reference "draft-ietf-netconf-yang-patch";
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}
typedef filter-id {
type string;
description
"This type defines an identifier for a filter.";
}
typedef subtree-filter {
type string;
description
"This type is used to specify the subtree that the
subscription refers to. Its syntax follows the subtree
filter syntax specified for Netconf in RFC 6241,
section 6.";
reference "RFC 6241 section 6";
}
typedef datastore {
type identityref {
base datastore;
}
description
"Used to refer to a datastore, for example, to running";
}
typedef subscription-id {
type string {
length "1 .. max";
}
description
"A client-provided identifier for the subscription.";
}
typedef subscription-term-reason {
type identityref {
base subscription-errors;
}
description
"Reason for a server to terminate a subscription.";
}
typedef subscription-susp-reason {
type identityref {
base subscription-errors;
}
description
"Reason for a server to suspend a subscription.";
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}
typedef encoding {
type identityref {
base encodings;
}
description
"Specifies a data encoding, e.g. for a data subscription.";
}
typedef change-type {
type enumeration {
enum "create" {
description
"A new data node was created";
}
enum "delete" {
description
"A data node was deleted";
}
enum "modify" {
description
"The value of a data node has changed";
}
}
description
"Specifies different types of changes that may occur
to a datastore.";
}
typedef system-stream {
type identityref {
base system-streams;
}
description
"Specifies a system-provided datastream.";
}
typedef filter-ref {
type leafref {
path "/yp:filters/yp:filter/yp:filter-id";
}
description
"This type is used to reference a yang push filter.";
}
grouping datatree-filter {
description
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"This grouping defines filters for a datastore tree.";
choice filter-type {
description
"A filter needs to be a single filter of a given type.
Mixing and matching of multiple filters does not occur
at the level of this grouping.";
case subtree {
description
"Subtree filter";
leaf subtree-filter {
type subtree-filter;
description
"Datastore subtree of interest.";
}
}
case xpath {
description
"XPath filter";
leaf xpath-filter {
type yang:xpath1.0;
description
"Xpath defining the data items of interest.";
}
}
}
}
grouping subscription-info {
description
"This grouping describes basic information concerning a
subscription.";
leaf target-datastore {
type datastore;
default "running";
description
"The datastore that is the target of the subscription.
If not specified, running applies.";
}
leaf stream {
type system-stream;
default "datastore-push";
description
"The name of the stream subscribed to.";
}
leaf encoding {
type encoding;
default "encode-xml";
description
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"The type of encoding for the subscribed data.
Default is XML";
}
leaf start-time {
type yang:date-and-time;
description
"Designates the time at which a subscription is supposed
to start, or immediately, in case the start-time is in
the past. For periodic subscription, the start time also
serves as anchor time from which the time of the next
update is computed. The next update will take place at the
next period interval from the anchor time.
For example, for an anchor time at the top of a minute
and a period interval of a minute, the next update will
be sent at the top of the next minute.";
}
leaf stop-time {
type yang:date-and-time;
description
"Designates the time at which a subscription will end.
When a subscription reaches its stop time, it will be
automatically deleted.";
}
choice update-trigger {
description
"Defines necessary conditions for sending an event to
the subscriber.";
case periodic {
description
"The agent is requested to notify periodically the
current values of the datastore or the subset
defined by the filter.";
leaf period {
type yang:timeticks;
description
"Elapsed time between notifications.";
}
}
case on-change {
description
"The agent is requested to notify changes in
values in the datastore or a subset of it defined
by a filter.";
leaf no-synch-on-start {
type empty;
description
"This leaf acts as a flag that determines behavior at the
start of the subscription. When present,
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synchronization of state at the beginning of the
subscription is outside the scope of the subscription.
Only updates about changes that are observed from the
start time, i.e. only push-change-update notifications
are sent.
When absent (default behavior), in order to facilitate
a receiver's synchronization, a full update is sent
when the subscription starts using a push-update
notification, just like in the case of a periodic
subscription. After that, push-change-update
notifications are sent.";
}
leaf dampening-period {
type yang:timeticks;
mandatory true;
description
"Minimum amount of time that needs to have
passed since the last time an update was
provided.";
}
leaf-list excluded-change {
type change-type;
description
"Use to restrict which changes trigger an update.
For example, if modify is excluded, only creation and
deletion of objects is reported.";
}
}
}
choice filterspec {
description
"Filter can be specified in-line, as part of the
subscription, or configured separately and referenced
here. If no filter is specified, the entire datatree
is of interest.";
case inline {
description
"Filter is defined as part of the subscription.";
uses datatree-filter;
}
case by-reference {
description
"Incorporate a filter that has been configured
separately.";
leaf filter-ref {
type filter-ref;
description
"References the filter to incorporate for the
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subscription.";
}
}
}
}
grouping receiver-info {
description
"Defines a reusable snippet that defines the address of the
intended receiver of push updates for a subscription.";
container receiver-address {
description
"This container contains the address information of the
receiver.";
choice push-base-transport {
description
"This choice can be augmented with different options,
depending on the transport underlying the push
transport.";
case tcpudp {
description
"For Netconf and Restconf, TCP is the base transport.";
container tcpudp {
description
"Contains TCP / UDP addressing information";
leaf address {
type inet:host;
description
"The leaf uniquely specifies the address of the
remote host. One of the following must be
specified: an ipv4 address, an ipv6 address,
or a host name.";
}
leaf port {
type inet:port-number;
description
"This leaf specifies the port number used to
deliver messages to the remote server.";
}
}
}
}
}
}
rpc create-subscription {
description
"This RPC allows a subscriber to create a subscription
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on its own behalf. If successful, the subscription
remains in effect for the duration of the subscriber's
association with the publisher, or until the subscription
is terminated by virtue of a delete-subscription request.";
input {
uses subscription-info;
}
output {
leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
description
"Identifier used for this subscription.";
}
}
}
rpc modify-subscription {
description
"This RPC allows a subscriber to modify a subscription
that was previously created using create-subscription.
If successful, the subscription
remains in effect for the duration of the subscriber's
association with the publisher, or until the subscription
is terminated by virtue of a delete-subscription request.";
input {
leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
description
"Identifier to use for this subscription.";
}
}
}
rpc delete-subscription {
description
"This RPC allows a subscriber to delete a subscription that
was previously created using create-subscription.";
input {
leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
description
"Identifier of the subscription that is to be deleted.
Only subscriptions that were created using
create-subscription can be deleted via this RPC.";
}
}
}
notification push-update {
description
"This notification contains a periodic push update.
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This notification shall only be sent to receivers
of a subscription; it does not constitute a general-purpose
notification.";
leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
mandatory true;
description
"This references the subscription because of which the
notification is sent.";
}
leaf time-of-update {
type yang:date-and-time;
description
"This leaf contains the time of the update.";
}
choice encoding {
description
"Distinguish between the proper encoding that was specified
for the subscription";
case encode-xml {
description
"XML encoding";
leaf datastore-contents-xml {
type datastore-contents-xml;
description
"This contains data encoded in XML,
per the subscription.";
}
}
case encode-json {
if-feature json;
description
"JSON encoding";
leaf datastore-contents-json {
type datastore-contents-json;
description
"This leaf contains data encoded in JSON,
per the subscription.";
}
}
}
}
notification push-change-update {
description
"This notification contains an on-change push update.
This notification shall only be sent to the receivers
of a subscription; it does not constitute a general-purpose
notification.";
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leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
mandatory true;
description
"This references the subscription because of which the
notification is sent.";
}
leaf time-of-update {
type yang:date-and-time;
description
"This leaf contains the time of the update, i.e. the
time at which the change was observed.";
}
choice encoding {
description
"Distinguish between the proper encoding that was specified
for the subscription";
case encode-xml {
description
"XML encoding";
leaf datastore-changes-xml {
type datastore-changes-xml;
description
"This contains datastore contents that has changed
since the previous update, per the terms of the
subscription. Changes are encoded analogous to
the syntax of a corresponding Netconf edit-config
operation.";
}
}
case encode-json {
if-feature json;
description
"JSON encoding";
leaf datastore-changes-yang {
type datastore-changes-json;
description
"This contains datastore contents that has changed
since the previous update, per the terms of the
subscription. Changes are encoded analogous
to the syntax of a corresponding RESTCONF yang-patch
operation.";
}
}
}
}
notification subscription-started {
description
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"This notification indicates that a subscription has
started and data updates are beginning to be sent.
This notification shall only be sent to receivers
of a subscription; it does not constitute a general-purpose
notification.";
leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
mandatory true;
description
"This references the affected subscription.";
}
uses subscription-info;
}
notification subscription-suspended {
description
"This notification indicates that a suspension of the
subscription by the server has occurred. No further
datastore updates will be sent until subscription
resumes.
This notification shall only be sent to receivers
of a subscription; it does not constitute a general-purpose
notification.";
leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
mandatory true;
description
"This references the affected subscription.";
}
leaf reason {
type subscription-susp-reason;
description
"Provides a reason for why the subscription was
suspended.";
}
}
notification subscription-resumed {
description
"This notification indicates that a subscription that had
previously been suspended has resumed. Datastore updates
will once again be sent.";
leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
mandatory true;
description
"This references the affected subscription.";
}
}
notification subscription-modified {
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description
"This notification indicates that a subscription has
been modified. Datastore updates sent from this point
on will conform to the modified terms of the
subscription.";
leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
mandatory true;
description
"This references the affected subscription.";
}
uses subscription-info;
}
notification subscription-terminated {
description
"This notification indicates that a subscription has been
terminated.";
leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
mandatory true;
description
"This references the affected subscription.";
}
leaf reason {
type subscription-term-reason;
description
"Provides a reason for why the subscription was
terminated.";
}
}
container system-streams {
config false;
description
"This container contains a leaf list of built-in
streams that are provided by the system.";
leaf-list system-stream {
type system-stream;
description
"Identifies a built-in stream that is supported by the
system. Streams are associated with their own identities,
each of which carries a special semantics.";
}
}
container filters {
description
"This container contains a list of configurable filters
that can be applied to subscriptions. This facilitates
the reuse of complex filters once defined.";
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list filter {
key "filter-id";
description
"A list of configurable filters that can be applied to
subscriptions.";
leaf filter-id {
type filter-id;
description
"An identifier to differentiate between filters.";
}
uses datatree-filter;
}
}
container subscription-config {
description
"Contains the list of subscriptions that are configured,
as opposed to established via RPC or other means.";
list datastore-push-subscription {
key "subscription-id";
description
"Content of a yang-push subscription.";
leaf subscription-id {
type subscription-id;
description
"Identifier to use for this subscription.";
}
uses subscription-info;
uses receiver-info;
}
}
container subscriptions {
config false;
description
"Contains the list of currently active subscriptions,
i.e. subscriptions that are currently in effect,
used for subscription management and monitoring purposes.
This includes subscriptions that have been setup via RPC
primitives, e.g. create-subscription, delete-subscription,
and modify-subscription, as well as subscriptions that
have been established via configuration.";
list datastore-push-subscription {
key "subscription-id";
config false;
description
"Content of a yang-push subscription.
Subscriptions can be created using a control channel
or RPC, or be established through configuration.";
leaf subscription-id {
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type subscription-id;
description
"Identifier of this subscription.";
}
leaf configured-subscription {
type empty;
description
"The presence of this leaf indicates that the
subscription originated from configuration, not through
a control channel or RPC.";
}
leaf subscription-status {
type identityref {
base subscription-stream-status;
}
description
"The status of the subscription.";
}
uses subscription-info;
uses receiver-info;
}
}
}
<CODE ENDS>
6. Security Considerations
Subscriptions could be used to attempt to overload servers of YANG
datastores. For this reason, it is important that the server has the
ability to decline a subscription request if it would deplete its
resources. In addition, a server needs to be able to suspend an
existing subscription when needed. When this occur, the subscription
status is updated accordingly and the clients are notified.
Likewise, requests for subscriptions need to be properly authorized.
A subscription could be used to retrieve data in subtrees that a
client has not authorized access to. Therefore it is important that
data pushed based on subscriptions is authorized in the same way that
regular data retrieval operations are. Data being pushed to a client
needs therefore to be filtered accordingly, just like if the data
were being retrieved on-demand. The Netconf Authorization Control
Model applies.
A subscription could be configured on another receiver's behalf, with
the goal of flooding that receiver with updates. One or more
publishers could be used to overwhelm a receiver which doesn't even
support subscriptions. Clients which do not want pushed data need
only terminate or refuse any transport sessions from the publisher.
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7. Acknowledgments
We wish to acknowledge the helpful contributions, comments, and
suggestions that were received from Ambika Prasad Tripathy and Einar
Nilsen-Nygaard.
8. References
8.1. Normative References
[RFC1157] Case, J., Fedor, M., Schoffstall, M., and J. Davin,
"Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)", RFC 1157,
DOI 10.17487/RFC1157, May 1990,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1157>.
[RFC5277] Chisholm, S. and H. Trevino, "NETCONF Event
Notifications", RFC 5277, July 2008.
[RFC6020] Bjorklund, M., Ed., "YANG - A Data Modeling Language for
the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)", RFC 6020,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6020, October 2010,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6020>.
[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,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6241>.
[RFC6470] Bierman, A., "Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)
Base Notifications", RFC 5277, February 2012.
[RFC6536] Bierman, A. and M. Bjorklund, "Network Configuration
Protocol (NETCONF) Access Control Model", RFC 6536,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6536, March 2012,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6536>.
8.2. Informative References
[I-D.clemm-netmod-mount]
Clemm, A., Medved, J., and E. Voit, "Mounting YANG-defined
information from remote datastores", draft-clemm-netmod-
mount-03 (work in progress), April 2015.
[I-D.i2rs-pub-sub-requirements]
Voit, E., Clemm, A., and A. Gonzalez Prieto, "Requirements
for Subscription to YANG Datastores", draft-ietf-i2rs-pub-
sub-requirements-03 (work in progress), October 2015.
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[I-D.ietf-netconf-restconf]
Bierman, A., Bjorklund, M., and K. Watsen, "RESTCONF
Protocol", I-D draft-ietf-netconf-restconf-07, July 2015.
[I-D.ietf-netconf-yang-patch]
Bierman, A., Bjorklund, M., and K. Watsen, "YANG Patch
Media Type", draft-ietf-netconf-yang-patch-05 (work in
progress), July 2015.
[I-D.ietf-netmod-yang-json]
Lhotka, L., "JSON Encoding of Data Modeled with YANG",
draft-ietf-netmod-yang-json-06 (work in progress), October
2015.
[I-D.voit-netmod-peer-mount-requirements]
Voit, E., Clemm, A., and S. Mertens, "Requirements for
Peer Mounting of YANG subtrees from Remote Datastores",
draft-voit-netmod-peer-mount-requirements-03 (work in
progress), September 2015.
Authors' Addresses
Alexander Clemm
Cisco Systems
EMail: alex@cisco.com
Alberto Gonzalez Prieto
Cisco Systems
EMail: albertgo@cisco.com
Eric Voit
Cisco Systems
EMail: evoit@cisco.com
Clemm, et al. Expires April 15, 2016 [Page 51]
