Internet DRAFT - draft-li-apn-header

draft-li-apn-header







Network Working Group                                              Z. Li
Internet-Draft                                                   S. Peng
Intended status: Standards Track                     Huawei Technologies
Expires: 14 October 2023                                        S. Zhang
                                                            China Unicom
                                                           12 April 2023


               Application-aware Networking (APN) Header
                         draft-li-apn-header-04

Abstract

   This document defines the application-aware networking (APN) header
   which can be used in a variety of data planes.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 14 October 2023.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2023 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.





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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  Terminologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Application-aware Networking Header . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   5.  APN ID  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   6.  APN Parameters  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     7.1.  APN ID Types  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     7.2.  APN Parameter Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   8.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   9.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   10. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     10.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     10.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12

1.  Introduction

   Application-aware Networking (APN) is introduced in
   [I-D.li-apn-framework] and [I-D.li-apn-problem-statement-usecases].
   APN conveys an attribute with data packets in the network and makes
   the network aware of fine-grain requirements at the user group and
   application group levels.

   Such an attribute is acquired, constructed in a structured value, and
   then encapsulated in the packets.  Such a structured value is treated
   as an opaque object in the network, to which the network operator
   applies policies in various nodes/service functions along the path
   and provides corresponding services.

   This structured attribute can be encapsulated in various data planes
   adopted within a Network Operator's controlled and limited domain,
   e.g.  MPLS, VXLAN, SR/SRv6 and other tunnel technologies, which waits
   to be further specified.

   This document defines the application-aware networking (APN) header
   which can be used in different data planes.  The typical data planes
   include the MPLS data plane and IPv6 data plane..

2.  Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 RFC 2119 [RFC2119] RFC 8174 [RFC8174] when, and only when, they
   appear in all capitals, as shown here.



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3.  Terminologies

   APN: Application-aware Networking

   APN Attribute: Application-aware Networking Attribute, including APN
   ID and APN Parameters.  It can be added at the edge devices of an APN
   domain along with the tunnel encapsulation.

   APN ID: Application-aware Networking ID, including Application Group
   ID and User Group ID.

   APN Para: Application-aware Networking Parameters, e.g., network
   performance parameters.

4.  Application-aware Networking Header

   A common header is defined and can be used in different data planes.
   The common header carries the APN attribute that is composed of APN
   ID and APN parameters.

   This document defines three types of APN ID:

   - Type 1 APN ID: it is 32 bits.

   - Type 2 APN ID: it is 64 bits.

   - Type 3 APN ID: it is 128 bits.

   According to the types of APN ID, three types of APN headers are
   defined.


   Type 1 APN Header:


















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    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  APN-ID-Type  |     Flags     |         APN-Para-Type         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                             APN-ID                            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       Intent (Optional)                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                       APN-Para (Optional)                     |
                                ......
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

              Figure 1. APN Header with Type 1 APN ID

   In this type of APN Header, the length of the APN ID is 32 bits.

   APN-ID-Type: An 8-bit identifier, indicates the type of APN ID.

   Flags: An 8-bit field.  The possible flags will be defined in the
   future versions of this document.

   APN-Para-Type: A 16-bit map that specifies which APN parameters are
   specified for the APN ID.  The APN-Para-Type value is a bitmap.  The
   packing order of the APN parameters follows the bit order as
   specified in the APN-Para-Type bitmap field.  The following bits are
   defined in this document, with details on each bit described in
   Section 6.

   Bit 0 (Most significant bit) When set, indicates the presence of the
   bandwidth requirement.

   Bit 1 When set, indicates the presence of the delay requirement.

   Bit 2 When set, indicates the presence of the jitter requirement.

   Bit 3 When set, indicates the presence of the packet loss rate
   requirement.

   APN-ID: A 32-bit identifier.

   Intent: A 32-bit identifier, represents a set of service requirements
   to the network.

   APN-Para: A variable field including APN parameters.  The presence of
   the APN parameters is indicated by the APN-Para-Type.



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   Type 2 APN Header

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  APN-ID-Type  |     Flags     |         APN-Para-Type         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                             APN-ID                            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       Intent (Optional)                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                       APN-Para (Optional)                     |
                                ......
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

              Figure 2. APN Header with Type 2 APN ID

   In this type of APN Header, the length of the APN ID is 64 bits.

   APN-ID-Type: An 8-bit identifier, indicates the type of APN ID.

   Flags: An 8-bit field.  The possible flags will be defined in the
   future versions of this document.

   APN-Para-Type: A 16-bit map which specifies which APN parameters are
   specified for the APN ID.  The following bits are defined in this
   document, with details on each bit described in the Section 6.  The
   order of packing the data fields in each node data element follows
   the bit order of the APN-Para-Type field, as follows:

   Bit 0 (Most significant bit) When set, indicates the presence of the
   bandwidth requirement.

   Bit 1 When set, indicates the presence of the delay requirement.

   Bit 2 When set, indicates the presence of the jitter requirement.

   Bit 3 When set, indicates the presence of the packet loss rate
   requirement.

   APN-ID: A 64-bit identifier.

   Intent: A 32-bit identifier, represents a set of service requirements
   to the network.




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   APN-Para: A variable field including APN parameters.  The presence of
   the APN parameters is indicated by the APN-Para-Type.


   Type 3 APN Header

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  APN-ID-Type  |     Flags     |         APN-Para-Type         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                             APN-ID                            |
   |                                                               |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       Intent (Optional)                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                       APN-Para (Optional)                     |
                                ......
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

              Figure 3. APN Header with Type 3 APN ID

   In this type of APN Header, the length of the APN ID is 128 bits.

   APN-ID-Type: An 8-bit identifier, indicates the type of APN ID.

   Flags: An 8-bit field.  The possible flags will be defined in the
   future versions of this document.

   APN-Para-Type: A 16-bit map which specifies which APN parameters are
   specified for the APN ID.  The following bits are defined in this
   document, with details on each bit described in the Section 6.  The
   order of packing the data fields in each node data element follows
   the bit order of the APN-Para-Type field, as follows:

   Bit 0 (Most significant bit) When set, indicates the presence of the
   bandwidth requirement.

   Bit 1 When set, indicates the presence of the delay requirement.

   Bit 2 When set, indicates the presence of the jitter requirement.

   Bit 3 When set, indicates the presence of the packet loss rate
   requirement.



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   APN-ID: A 128-bit identifier.

   Intent: A 32-bit identifier, represents a set of service requirements
   to the network.

   APN-Para: A variable field including APN parameters.  The presence of
   the APN parameters is indicated by the APN-Para-Type.

5.  APN ID

   The APN ID can be divided into three parts:

   APP-Group-ID: Application Group ID

   USER-Group-ID: User Group ID

   Reserved: The reserved field.

   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      APP-Group-ID     |    USER-Group-ID    |    Reserved     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 4. Structure of APN-ID

   The lengths of the APP-Group-ID and the USER-Group-ID are variable.
   Their lengths must be configured and consistent within a specific APN
   domain.

6.  APN Parameters

   In the APN Header, the APN-Para-Type is a bit field to indicate the
   presence of corresponding APN parameters.  When the bit is set, the
   corresponding APN parameter MUST exist in the APN Header.  The length
   of each APN parameter is 32 bits.  Thus it is easy to skip over
   unknown requirements.

   Typical APN parameters are the parameters related with the network
   performance requirements as follows:

   1.  Bandwidth Requirement

   This Bandwidth Requirement parameter indicates the minimum acceptable
   bandwidth for the APN traffic.  The format of this parameter is shown
   in the following diagram:







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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                          Bandwidth                            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 5. Bandwidth Requirement Parameter

   where:

   Bandwidth: This 32-bit unsigned integer field carries the bandwidth
   requirement in Mbps along the path.

   2.  Delay Requirement

   This Delay Requirement parameter indicates the maximum acceptable
   delay.  The format of this parameter is shown in the following
   diagram:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    RESERVED   |                   Delay                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 6. Delay Requirement Parameter

   where:

   RESERVED: This field is reserved for future use.  It MUST be set to 0
   when sent and MUST be ignored when received.

   Delay: This 24-bit field carries the delay requirements in
   microseconds, encoded as an unsigned integer value.  When set to the
   maximum value 16,777,215 (16.777215 sec), then the delay is not
   constrained.  This value is the highest delay that can be tolerated.

   3.  Delay Variation Requirement

   This Delay Variation Requirement parameter indicates the maximum
   acceptable delay variation.  The format of this parameter is shown in
   the following diagram:









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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |  RESERVED     |               Delay Variation                 |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 7. Delay Variation Parameter

   where:

   RESERVED: This field is reserved for future use.  It MUST be set to 0
   when sent and MUST be ignored when received.

   Delay Variation: This 24-bit field carries the delay variation
   requirements in microseconds, encoded as an unsigned integer value.

   4.  Packet Loss Rate Requirement

   This Packet Loss Rate Requirement parameter indicates the maximum
   acceptable packet loss rate.  The format of this parameter is shown
   in the following diagram:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    RESERVED   |                    Packet Loss Rate           |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 8. Packet Loss Rate Sub-TLV

   where:

   RESERVED: This field is reserved for future use.  It MUST be set to 0
   when sent and MUST be ignored when received.

   Packet Loss Rate: This 24-bit field carries packet loss rate
   requirement in packets per second as an unsigned integer.  This value
   is the highest packet-loss rate that can be tolerated.

7.  IANA Considerations

   These IANA Considerations conform to [RFC8126].

   IANA is requested to create the following new registries on a new
   "Application-Aware Networking (APN)" webpage.






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7.1.  APN ID Types

   IANA is requested to create the following registry on the
   Application-Aware Networking (APN) Attribute webpage:

   Name: APN ID Types

   Registration Procedure: IETF Review

   Reference: [this document]



      Value    Description     Reference
      -----   -------------   ---------------
          0    reserved
          1    Type 1 APN ID   [this document]
          2    Type 2 APN ID   [this document]
          3    Type 3 APN ID   [this document]
      4-254    unassigned
        255    reserved

7.2.  APN Parameter Types

   IANA is requested to create the following registry on the
   Application-Aware Networking (APN) Attribute webpage:

   Name: APN Parameter Types

   Registration Procedure: IETF Review

   Reference: [this document]



      Bit    Description               Reference
      ---   -----------------------   ---------------
        0   Bandwidth requirement     [this document]
        1   Delay requirement         [this document]
        2   Jitter requirement        [this document]
        3   Packet loss requirement   [this document]
     4-15   unassigned

8.  Acknowledgements

   The suggestions of the following are gratefully acknowledged: Stefano
   Previdi, Adrian Farrel, Donald Eastlake.




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9.  Security Considerations

   The Security Considerations described in
   [I-D.li-apn-problem-statement-usecases] and
   [I-D.peng-apn-security-privacy-consideration] can be referred to.

10.  References

10.1.  Normative References

   [I-D.li-apn-framework]
              Li, Z., Peng, S., Voyer, D., Li, C., Liu, P., Cao, C., and
              G. S. Mishra, "Application-aware Networking (APN)
              Framework", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-li-
              apn-framework-07, 3 April 2023,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-li-apn-
              framework-07>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8126]  Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

10.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.li-apn-problem-statement-usecases]
              Li, Z., Peng, S., Voyer, D., Xie, C., Liu, P., Qin, Z.,
              and G. S. Mishra, "Problem Statement and Use Cases of
              Application-aware Networking (APN)", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-li-apn-problem-statement-usecases-
              08, 3 April 2023, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-li-apn-problem-statement-usecases-08>.










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   [I-D.peng-apn-security-privacy-consideration]
              Peng, S., Li, Z., Voyer, D., Li, C., Liu, P., and C. Cao,
              "APN Security and Privacy Considerations", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-peng-apn-security-privacy-
              consideration-02, 16 June 2021,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-peng-apn-
              security-privacy-consideration-02>.

   [RFC3272]  Awduche, D., Chiu, A., Elwalid, A., Widjaja, I., and X.
              Xiao, "Overview and Principles of Internet Traffic
              Engineering", RFC 3272, DOI 10.17487/RFC3272, May 2002,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3272>.

Authors' Addresses

   Zhenbin Li
   Huawei Technologies
   Beijing
   100095
   China
   Email: lizhenbin@huawei.com


   Shuping Peng
   Huawei Technologies
   Beijing
   100095
   China
   Email: pengshuping@huawei.com


   Shuai Zhang
   China Unicom
   Beijing
   China
   Email: zhangs366@chinaunicom.cn















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