Skip to main content

Operation of the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Protocol on IPFIX Mediators
draft-ietf-ipfix-mediation-protocol-04

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 7119.
Authors Benoît Claise , Atsushi Kobayashi , Brian Trammell
Last updated 2013-02-25
Replaces draft-claise-ipfix-mediation-protocol
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Formats
Reviews
Additional resources Mailing list discussion
Stream WG state WG Document
Document shepherd (None)
IESG IESG state Became RFC 7119 (Proposed Standard)
Consensus boilerplate Unknown
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD Joel Jaeggli
Send notices to (None)
draft-ietf-ipfix-mediation-protocol-04
IPFIX Working Group                                            B. Claise
Internet-Draft                                       Cisco Systems, Inc.
Intended status: Standards Track                            A. Kobayashi
Expires: August 29, 2013                                             NTT
                                                             B. Trammell
                                                              ETH Zurich
                                                       February 25, 2013

 Operation of the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Protocol on IPFIX
                               Mediators
               draft-ietf-ipfix-mediation-protocol-04.txt

Abstract

   This document specifies the operation of the IP Flow Information
   Export (IPFIX) protocol specific to IPFIX Mediators, including
   Template and Observation Point management, timing considerations, and
   other Mediator-specific concerns.

Status of this Memo

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

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on August 29, 2013.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2013 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
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013                [Page 1]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.1.  IPFIX Documents Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.2.  IPFIX Mediator Documents Overview  . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     1.3.  Relationship with the IPFIX and PSAMP Protocols  . . . . .  5
   2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.  Handling IPFIX Message Headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   4.  Template Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     4.1.  Passing Unmodified Templates through an IPFIX Mediator . . 11
       4.1.1.  Template Mapping and Information Element Ordering  . . 14
     4.2.  Creating New Templates at an IPFIX Mediator  . . . . . . . 15
     4.3.  Handling Unknown Information Elements  . . . . . . . . . . 16
   5.  Preserving Original Observation Point Information  . . . . . . 16
     5.1.  originalExporterIPv4Address Information Element  . . . . . 18
     5.2.  originalExporterIPv6Address Information Element  . . . . . 18
   6.  Managing Observation Domain IDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     6.1.  originalObservationDomainId Information Element  . . . . . 19
   7.  Timing Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   8.  Transport Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   9.  Collecting Process Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   10. Specific Reporting Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
     10.1. Intermediate Process Reliability Statistics Template . . . 22
     10.2. Flow Key Options Template  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
     10.3. intermediateProcessId Information Element  . . . . . . . . 24
     10.4. ignoredRecordTotalCount Information Element  . . . . . . . 24
   11. Configuration Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   12. Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
   13. IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
   14. Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
   15. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
     15.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
     15.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013                [Page 2]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

1.  Introduction

   The IPFIX architectural components in [RFC5470] consist of IPFIX
   Devices and IPFIX Collectors communicating using the IPFIX protocol
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis], which specifies how to export
   IP Flow information.  This protocol is designed to export information
   about IP traffic Flows and related measurement data, where a Flow is
   defined by a set of key attributes (e.g. source and destination IP
   address, source and destination port, etc.).

   However, thanks to its Template mechanism, the IPFIX protocol can
   export any type of information, as long as the relevant Information
   Element is specified in the IPFIX Information Model
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-information-model-rfc5102bis], registered with IANA,
   or specified as an enterprise-specific Information Element.  The
   specifications in the IPFIX protocol
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis] have not been defined in the
   context of an IPFIX Mediator receiving, aggregating, correlating,
   anonymizing, etc...  Flow Records from the one or multiple Exporters.
   Indeed, the IPFIX protocol must be adapted for Intermediate
   Processes, as defined in the IPFIX Mediation Reference Model as
   specified in Figure A of [RFC6183], which is based on the IPFIX
   Mediation Problem Statement [RFC5982].

   This document specifies the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)
   protocol in the context of the implementation and deployment of IPFIX
   Mediators.  The use of the IPFIX protocol within an IPFIX Mediator --
   a device which contains both a Collecting Process and an Exporting
   Process -- has an impact on the technical details of the usage of the
   protocol.  An overview of the technical problem is covered in section
   6 of [RFC5982]: loss of original Exporter information, loss of base
   time information, transport sessions management, loss of Options
   Template Information, Template Id management, considerations for
   network considerations for aggregation.

   The specifications in this document are based on the IPFIX protocol
   specifications [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis] but adapted
   according to the IPFIX Mediation Framework [RFC6183].

1.1.  IPFIX Documents Overview

   The IPFIX Protocol [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis] provides
   network administrators with access to IP Flow information.

   The architecture for the export of measured IP Flow information out
   of an IPFIX Exporting Process to a Collecting Process is defined in
   the IPFIX Architecture [RFC5470], per the requirements defined in the
   IPFIX Requirement doc, [RFC3917].

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013                [Page 3]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   The IPFIX Architecture [RFC5470] specifies how IPFIX Data Records and
   Templates are carried via a congestion-aware transport protocol from
   IPFIX Exporting Processes to IPFIX Collecting Processes.

   IPFIX has a formal description of IPFIX Information Elements, their
   name, type and additional semantic information, as specified in the
   IPFIX Information Model
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-information-model-rfc5102bis].  The registry is
   maintained by IANA [IPFIX-IANA].  New Information Element definitions
   can be added to this registry subject to an Expert Review [RFC5226],
   with additional process considerations decribed in [IPFIX-IE-
   DOCTORS]; that document also provides guidelines for authors and
   reviewers of new Information Element definitions.  The inline export
   of the Information Element type information is specified in
   [RFC5610].

   The IPFIX Applicability Statement [RFC5472] describes what type of
   applications can use the IPFIX protocol and how they can use the
   information provided.  It furthermore shows how the IPFIX framework
   relates to other architectures and frameworks.

1.2.  IPFIX Mediator Documents Overview

   The "IPFIX Mediation: Problem Statement" [RFC5982] provides an
   overview of the applicability of IPFIX Mediators, and defines
   requirements for IPFIX Mediators in general terms.  This document is
   of use largely to define the problems to be solved through the
   deployment of IPFIX Mediators, and to provide scope to the role of
   IPFIX Mediators within an IPFIX collection infrastructure.

   The "IPFIX Mediation: Framework" [RFC6183], which details the IPFIX
   Mediation reference model and the components of an IPFIX Mediator,
   provides more architectural details of the arrangement of
   Intermediate Processes within an IPFIX Mediator.

   Documents specifying the operations of specific Intermediate
   Processes cover the operation of these Processes within the IPFIX
   Mediator framework, and comply with the specifications given in this
   document; they may additionally specify the operation of the process
   independently, outside the context of an IPFIX Mediator, when this is
   appropriate.  The details of specific Intermediate Processes, when
   these have additional export specifications (e.g., metadata about the
   intermediate processing conveyed through IPFIX Options Templates),
   are each treated in their own document.  As of today, these documents
   are:

   1.  "IP Flow Anonymization Support", [RFC6235], which describes
       Anonymization techniques for IP flow data and the export of

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013                [Page 4]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

       Anonymized data using the IPFIX protocol.

   2.  "Flow Selection Techniques" [I-D.ietf-ipfix-flow-selection-tech],
       which describes the process of selecting a subset of Flows from
       all Flows observed at an Observation Point, the flow selection
       motivations, and some specific flow selection techniques.

   3.  "Exporting Aggregated Flow Data using IP Flow Information Export"
       [I-D.ietf-ipfix-a9n] which describes Aggregated Flow export
       within the framework of IPFIX Mediators and defines an
       interoperable, implementation-independent method for Aggregated
       Flow export.

   This document specifies the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)
   protocol specific to Mediation, i.e. the specifications that all
   Intermediate Processes type must comply to.  Some extra
   specifications might be required per Intermediate Process type (In
   which case, the Intermediate Process specific document would cover
   those).

1.3.  Relationship with the IPFIX and PSAMP Protocols

   The specification in this document applies to the IPFIX protocol
   specifications [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis].  All
   specifications from [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis] apply unless
   specified otherwise in this document.

   As the Packet Sampling (PSAMP) protocol specifications [RFC5476] are
   based on the IPFIX protocol specifications, the specifications in
   this document are also valid for the PSAMP protocol.  Therefore, the
   method specified by this document also applies to PSAMP.

2.  Terminology

   IPFIX-specific terms, such as Observation Domain, Flow, Flow Key,
   Metering Process, Exporting Process, Exporter, IPFIX Device,
   Collecting Process, Collector, Template, IPFIX Message, Message
   Header, Template Record, Data Record, Options Template Record, Set,
   Data Set, Information Element, Scope and Transport Session, used in
   this document are defined in [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis].
   The PSAMP-specific terms used in this document, such as Filtering and
   Sampling, are defined in [RFC5476].

   IPFIX Mediation terms related to aggregation, such as the Interval,
   Aggregated Flow, and Aggregated Function are defined in
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-a9n].

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013                [Page 5]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   The IPFIX Mediation-specific terminology used in this document is
   defined in "IPFIX Mediation: Problem Statement" [RFC5982], and reused
   in "IPFIX Mediation: Framework" [RFC6183].  However, since both of
   those documents are an informational RFCs, the definitions have been
   reproduced here along with additional definitions.

   Similarly, since [RFC6235] is an experimental RFC, the Anonymization
   Record, Anonymized Data Record, and Intermediate Anonymization
   Process terms, specified in [RFC6235], are also reproduced here.

   In this document, as in [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis],
   [RFC5476], [I-D.ietf-ipfix-a9n], and [RFC6235], the first letter of
   each IPFIX-specific and PSAMP-specific term is capitalized along with
   the IPFIX Mediation-specific term defined here.

   In this document, we call a stream of records carrying flow- or
   packet-based information a "record stream".  The records may be
   encoded as IPFIX Data Records of any other format.

   Transport Session Information:   The Transport Session is specified
      in [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis].  In SCTP, the Transport
      Session Information is the SCTP association.  In TCP and UDP, the
      Transport Session Information corresponds to a 5-tuple {Exporter
      IP address, Collector IP address, Exporter transport port,
      Collector transport port, transport protocol}.

   Original Exporter:   An Original Exporter is an IPFIX Device that
      hosts the Observation Points where the metered IP packets are
      observed.

   Original Observation Point:   An Observation Point of the Original
      Exporter.  In the case of the Intermediate Aggregation Process on
      an IPFIX Mediator, the Original Observation Point can be composed
      of, but not limited to, a (set of) specific Exporter(s), a (set
      of) specific interface(s) on an Exporter, a (set of) line card(s)
      on an Exporter, or any combinations of these.

   IPFIX Mediation:   IPFIX Mediation is the manipulation and conversion
      of a record stream for subsequent export using the IPFIX protocol.

   Template Mapping:   A mapping from Template Records and/or Options
      Template Records received by an IPFIX Mediator to Template Records
      and/or Options Template Records sent by that IPFIX Mediator.  Each
      entry in a Template Mapping is scoped by incoming or outgoing
      Transport Session and Observation Domain, as with Templates and
      Options Templates in the IPFIX Protocol.

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013                [Page 6]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   Anonymization Record:   A record that defines the properties of the
      anonymization applied to a single Information Element within a
      single Template or Options Template, as in [RFC6235].

   Anonymized Data Record:   A Data Record within a Data Set containing
      at least one Information Element with Anonymized values.  The
      Information Element(s) within the Template or Options Template
      describing this Data Record SHOULD have a corresponding
      Anonymization Record, as in [RFC6235].

   The following terms are used in this document to describe the
   architectural entities used by IPFIX Mediation.

   Intermediate Process:   An Intermediate Process takes a record stream
      as its input from Collecting Processes, Metering Processes, IPFIX
      File Readers, other Intermediate Processes, or other record
      sources; performs some transformations on this stream, based upon
      the content of each record, states maintained across multiple
      records, or other data sources; and passes the transformed record
      stream as its output to Exporting Processes, IPFIX File Writers,
      or other Intermediate Processes, in order to perform IPFIX
      Mediation.  Typically, an Intermediate Process is hosted by an
      IPFIX Mediator.  Alternatively, an Intermediate Process may be
      hosted by an Original Exporter.

   IPFIX Mediator:   An IPFIX Mediator is an IPFIX Device that provides
      IPFIX Mediation by receiving a record stream from some data
      sources, hosting one or more Intermediate Processes to transform
      that stream, and exporting the transformed record stream into
      IPFIX Messages via an Exporting Process.  In the common case, an
      IPFIX Mediator receives a record stream from a Collecting Process,
      but it could also receive a record stream from data sources not
      encoded using IPFIX, e.g., in the case of conversion from the
      NetFlow V9 protocol [RFC3954] to IPFIX protocol.

   Specific Intermediate Processes are described below.

   Intermediate Conversion Process  (as in [RFC6183]): An Intermediate
      Conversion Process is an Intermediate Process that transforms non-
      IPFIX into IPFIX or manages the relation among Templates and
      states of incoming/outgoing transport sessions in the case of
      transport protocol conversion (e.g., from UDP to SCTP).

   Intermediate Aggregation Process  (as in [I-D.ietf-ipfix-a9n]): an
      Intermediate Process (IAP) as in [RFC6183] that aggregates
      records, based upon a set of Flow Keys or functions applied to
      fields from the record.

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013                [Page 7]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   Intermediate Correlation Process  (as in [RFC6183]): An Intermediate
      Correlation Process is an Intermediate Process that adds
      information to records, noting correlations among them, or
      generates new records with correlated data from multiple records
      (e.g., the production of bidirectional flow records from
      unidirectional flow records).

   Intermediate Anonymization Process  (as in [RFC6235]): An
      intermediate process that takes Data Records and transforms them
      into Anonymized Data Records.

   Intermediate Selection Process  (as in [RFC6183]): An Intermediate
      Selection Process is an Intermediate Process that selects records
      from a sequence based upon criteria-evaluated record values and
      passes only those records that match the criteria (e.g., Filtering
      only records from a given network to a given Collector).

   Intermediate Flow Selection Process  (as in
      [I-D.ietf-ipfix-flow-selection-tech]: An Intermediate Flow
      Selection Process is an Intermediate Process as in [RFC6183] that
      takes Flow Records as its input and selects a subset of this set
      as its output.  Intermediate Flow Selection Process is a more
      general concept than Intermediate Selection Process as defined in
      [RFC6183].  While an Intermediate Selection Process selects Flow
      Records from a sequence based upon criteria-evaluated Flow record
      values and passes only those Flow Records that match the criteria,
      an Intermediate Flow Selection Process selects Flow Records using
      selection criteria applicable to a larger set of Flow
      characteristics and information.

3.  Handling IPFIX Message Headers

   The format of the IPFIX Message Header as exported by an IPFIX
   Mediator is shown in Figure 1.  Note that the format is compatible
   with the IPFIX Message Header defined in
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis], with some field definitions
   (for the example, the Export Time) updated in the context of the
   IPFIX Mediator.

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013                [Page 8]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |             Version           |            Length             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                           Export Time                         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       Sequence Number                         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Observation Domain ID                      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                    Figure 1: IP Message Header format

   The header fields as exported by an IPFIX Mediator are describe
   below.

   Version:   Version of IPFIX to which this Message conforms.  The
      value of this field is 0x000a for the current version,
      incrementing by one the version used in the NetFlow services
      export version 9 [RFC3954].

   Length:   Total length of the IPFIX Message, measured in octets,
      including Message Header and Set(s).

   Export Time:   Time at which the IPFIX Message Header leaves the
      IPFIX Mediator, expressed in seconds since the UNIX epoch of 1
      January 1970 at 00:00 UTC, encoded as an unsigned 32-bit integer.
      However, in the specific case of an IPFIX Mediator containing an
      Intermediate Conversion Process, the IPFIX Mediator MAY keep the
      export time received from the incoming Transport Session.

   Sequence Number:   Incremental sequence counter modulo 2^32 of all
      IPFIX Data Records sent in a the current stream from the current
      Observation Domain by the Exporting Process.  Each SCTP Stream
      counts sequence numbers separately, while all messages in a TCP
      connection or UDP transport session are considered to be part of
      the same stream.  This value SHOULD be used by the Collecting
      Process to identify whether any IPFIX Data Records have been
      missed.  Template and Options Template Records do not increase the
      Sequence Number.

   Observation Domain ID:   A 32-bit identifier of the Observation
      Domain that is locally unique to the Exporting Process.  The
      Exporting Process uses the Observation Domain ID to uniquely
      identify to the Collecting Process the Observation Domain that
      metered the Flows.  It is RECOMMENDED that this identifier also be
      unique per IPFIX Device.  Collecting Processes SHOULD use the

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013                [Page 9]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

      Transport Session and the Observation Domain ID field to separate
      different export streams originating from the same Exporter.  The
      Observation Domain ID SHOULD be 0 when no specific Observation
      Domain ID is relevant for the entire IPFIX Message, for example,
      when exporting the Exporting Process Statistics, or in case of a
      hierarchy of Collectors when aggregated Data Records are exported.
      See Section 4.1 for special considerations for Observation Domain
      management while passing unmodified templates through an IPFIX
      Mediator, and Section 5 for guidelines for preservation of
      original Observation Domain information at an IPFIX Mediator.

   The following specifications, copied over from
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis] have some implications in this
   document: "Template Withdrawals MAY appear interleaved with Template
   Sets, Options Template Sets, and Data Sets within an IPFIX Message.
   In this case, the Templates and Template Withdrawals shall be taken
   to take effect in the order in which they appear in the IPFIX
   Message."

   If an IPFIX Mediator receives an IPFIX Message composed of Template
   Withdrawals and Template Sets, and if the IPFIX Mediator forwards
   this IPFIX Message, it MUST not modify the Set order.  Note that the
   Template Mapping (see section 4.1) is the authorative source of
   information on the IPFIX Mediator to decide whether the entire IPFIX
   Messages can be forwarded as such.

4.  Template Management

   How an IPFIX Mediator handles the Templates it receives from the
   Original Exporter depends entirely on the nature of the Intermediate
   Process running on that IPFIX Mediator.

   IPFIX Mediators that pass substantially the same Data Records from
   the Original Exporter downstream, (e.g., an Intermediate Selection
   Process), pass unmodified Template as described in Section 4.1; this
   section describes a Template Mapping required to make this work in
   the general case, and the correlation between the receivd and
   generated IPFIX Message Withdrawals.

   IPFIX Mediators that export Data Records which are substantially
   changed from the Data Records received from the Original Exporter
   follow the guidelines in Section 4.2 instead: in this case, the IPFIX
   Mediator generates new (Options) Template Records as a result of the
   Intermediate Process, and no Template Mapping is required.

   Subsequent subsections deal with specific issues in Template
   management that may occur at IPFIX Mediators.

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 10]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

4.1.  Passing Unmodified Templates through an IPFIX Mediator

   The first case is a situation where the IPFIX Mediator doesn't modify
   the (Options) Template Record(s) content.  A typical example is an
   Intermediate Flow Selection Process acting as distributor, which
   collects Flow Records from one or more Exporters, and based on the
   Information Elements content, redirects the Flow Records to the
   appropriate Collector.  This example is a typical case of a single
   network operation center managing multiple universities: an unique
   IPFIX Collector collects all Flow Records for the common
   infrastructure, but might be re-exporting specific university Flow
   Records to the responsible system administrator.

   As specified in [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis], the Template
   IDs are unique per Exporter, per Transport Session, and per
   Observation Domain.  As there is no guarantee that, for similar
   Template Records, the Template IDs received on the incoming Transport
   Session and exported to the outgoing Transport Session would be same,
   the IPFIX Mediator MUST maintain a Template Mapping composed of
   related received and exported (Options) Template Records:

   o  for each received (Options) Template Record: Template Record
      Information Elements, Template ID, Observation Domain Id, and
      Transport Session Information, metada scoped to the Template (*)

   o  for each exported (Options) Template Record: Template Record
      Information Elements, Template ID, Collector, Observation Domain
      Id, and Transport Session Information metadata scoped to the
      Template (*)

   (*) The "metadata scoped to the Template" encompasses the metadata,
   that are scoped to the Template, and that help to determine the
   semantics of the Template Record.  Note that these metadata are
   typically sent in Data Records described by an Options Template.  A
   example is the flowKeyIndicator: An IPFIX Mediator could potentially
   received two different Template IDs, from the same Exporter, with the
   same Information Elements, but with a different set of Flow Keys
   (indicated by the flowKeyIndicator in an Options Template Record).
   Another example is the combination of anonymizationFlags and
   anonymizationTechnique [RFC6235]).  This metadata information must be
   present in the Template Mapping, to stress that the two Template
   Record semantics are different.

   If an IPFIX Mediator receives an IPFIX Withdrawal Message for a
   (Options) Template Record that is not used anymore in any other
   Template Mappings, the IPFIX Mediator SHOULD export the appropriate
   IPFIX Withdrawal Message(s) on the outgoing Transport Session, and
   remove the corresponding entry in the Template Mapping.

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 11]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   If a (Options) Template Record is not used anymore in an outgoing
   Transport Session, it MUST be withdrawn with an IPFIX Template
   Withdrawal Message on that specific outgoing Transport Session, and
   its entry MUST be removed from the Template Mapping.

   If an incoming or outgoing Transport Session is gracefully shutdown
   or reset, the (Options) Template Records corresponding to that
   Transport Session MUST be removed from the Template Mapping.

   For example, Figure 2 displays an example of an Intermediate Flow
   Selection Process, re-distributing Data Records to Collectors on the
   basis of customer networks, i.e. the Route Distinguisher (RD).  In
   this example, the Template Record received from the Exporter #1 is
   reused towards Collector #1, Collector #2, and Collector #3.

                                       Tmpl.  .---------.
                                       ID 256 |         |
                                        .---->|Collector|<==>Customer
                                        |     |#1       |    A
                                        |     |         |
                                     RD=100:1 '---------'
      .---------.Templ.  .---------.    |
      |         |Id      |         |----'     .---------.
      |         |258     |         | RD=100:2 |         |
      |IPFIX    |------->|IPFIX    |--------->|Collector|<==>Customer
      |Exporter |        |Mediator | Tmpl.    |#2       |    B
      |#1       |        |         | ID 257   |         |
      |         |        |         |----.     '---------'
      '---------'        '---------'    |
                                       RD=100:3
                                  Tmpl. |     .---------.
                                  ID    |     |         |
                                  257   '---->|Collector|<==>Customer
                                              |#3       |    C
                                              |         |
                                              '---------'

           Figure 2: Intermediate Flow Selection Process example

   Figure 3 shows the Template Mapping for the system shown in Figure 2.

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 12]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   Template Entry A:
   Incoming Transport Session Information (from Exporter#1):
     Source IP: <Exporter#1 export IP address>
     Destination IP: <IPFIX Mediator IP address>
     Protocol: SCTP
     Source Port: <source port>
     Destination Port: 4739 (IPFIX)
   Observation Domain Id: <Observation Domain ID>
   Template Id: 258
   Metada scoped to the Template : <not applicable in this case>

   Template Entry B:
   Outgoing Transport Session Information (to Collector#1):
     Source IP: <IPFIX Mediator IP address>
     Destination IP: <IPFIX Collector#1 IP address>
     Protocol: SCTP
     Source Port: <source port>
     Destination Port: 4739 (IPFIX)
   Observation Domain Id: <Observation Domain ID>
   Template Id: 256
   Metada scoped to the Template : <not applicable in this case>

   Template Entry C:
   Outgoing Transport Session Information (to Collector#2):
     Source IP: <IPFIX Mediator IP address>
     Destination IP: <IPFIX Collector#2 IP address>
     Protocol: SCTP
     Source Port: <source port>
     Destination Port: 4739 (IPFIX)
   Observation Domain Id: <Observation Domain ID>
   Template Id: 257
   Metada scoped to the Template : <not applicable in this case>

   Template Entry D:
   Outgoing Transport Session Information (to Collector#3):
     Source IP: <IPFIX Mediator IP address>
     Destination IP: <IPFIX Collector#3 IP address>
     Protocol: SCTP
     Source Port: <source port>
     Destination Port: 4739 (IPFIX)
   Observation Domain Id: <Observation Domain ID>
     Template Id: 257
   Metada scoped to the Template : <not applicable in this case>

               Figure 3: Template Mapping example: templates

   The Template Mapping corresponding to figure B can be displayed as:

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 13]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   Template Entry A   <----> Template Entry B
   Template Entry A   <----> Template Entry C
   Template Entry A   <----> Template Entry D

                    Template Mapping example: mappings

   Alternatively, the Template Mapping may be optimized as:

                         +--> Template Entry B
                         |
   Template Entry A   <--+--> Template Entry C
                         |
                         +--> Template Entry D

                    Template Mapping example: mappings

   Note that all examples use Transport Sessions based on the SCTP
   protocol, as simplified use cases.  However, the protocol would be
   important in situations such as an Intermediate Conversion Process
   doing transport protocol conversion.

4.1.1.  Template Mapping and Information Element Ordering

   In the situation where Original Exporters each export an (Options)
   Template to a single IPFIX Mediator, and the (Options) Template
   Record contains the same Information Elements but in different order,
   should the IPFIX Mediator maintain a Template Mapping with a single
   Export Template Record (see figure "Template Mapping and Ordering: a
   single Export Template Record") or should the IPFIX Mediator maintain
   multiple independent Template Records (see figure "Template Mapping
   and Ordering: multiple Export Template Record") before re-exporting
   to the Collector?

           Template Entry A   <--+
                                 |
           Template Entry B   <--+--> Template Entry D
                                 |
           Template Entry C   <--+

      Template Mapping and Ordering: a single Export Template Record

           Template Entry A   <--+--> Template Entry D

           Template Entry B   <--+--> Template Entry E

           Template Entry C   <--+--> Template Entry F

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 14]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

      Template Mapping and Ordering: multiple Export Template Records

   The answer depends whether the order of the Information Elements
   implies some specific semantic.  One of the guiding principles in
   IPFIX protocol specifications that the semantic meaning of one
   Information Element doesn't depend on the value of the different
   Information Element.  However, there is one noticeable exception, as
   mentioned in [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis]:

   "Multiple Scope Fields MAY be present in the Options Template Record,
   in which case, the composite scope is the combination of the scopes.
   For example, if the two scopes are meteringProcessId and templateId,
   the combined scope is this Template for this Metering Process.  If a
   different order of Scope Fields would result in a Record having a
   different semantic meaning, then the order of Scope Fields MUST be
   preserved by the Exporting Process.  For example, in the context of
   PSAMP [RFC5476], if the first scope defines the filtering function,
   while the second scope defines the sampling function, the order of
   the scope is important.  Applying the sampling function first,
   followed by the filtering function, would lead to potentially
   different Data Records than applying the filtering function first,
   followed by the sampling function."

   If an IPFIX Mediator receives, from multiple Exporters, Template
   Records with identical Information Elements, but ordered differently,
   it SHOULD consider those Template Records as identical.

   If an IPFIX Mediator receives, from multiple Exporters, Options
   Template Records with identical and ordered Information Elements in
   the Scope fields, and with identical Information Elements, but
   ordered differently, in the non Scope fields, it SHOULD consider
   those Template Records as identical.

   If an IPFIX Mediator receives, from multiple Exporters, Options
   Template Records with identical Information Elements in the scope,
   but ordered differently, it MUST consider those Template Records as
   semantically different.

4.2.  Creating New Templates at an IPFIX Mediator

   The second case is a situation where the IPFIX Mediator generates new
   (Options) Template Records as a result of the Intermediate Process.

   In this situation, the IPFIX Mediator doesn't need to maintain a
   Template Mapping, as it generates its own series of (Options)
   Template Records.  However, the following special case might still
   require a Template Mapping, i.e. a situation where the IPFIX
   Mediator, typically containing an Intermediate Conversion Process,

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 15]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   Intermediate Aggregation Process, or Intermediate Anonymization
   Process in case of black-marker Anonymization [RFC6235], generates
   new (Options) Template Records based on what it receives from the
   Exporter(s), and based on the Intermediate Process function.  In such
   a case, it's important to keep the correlation between the received
   (Options) Template Records and exported Derived (Options) Template
   Records in the Template Mapping.  These Template Mappings would be
   kept as in Section 4.1, except that the exported Template would not
   be identical to the received Template.

4.3.  Handling Unknown Information Elements

   Depending on application requirements, Mediators which do not
   generate new Records SHOULD re-export values for unknown Information
   Elements, whether enterprise-specific Information Elements or
   Information Elements in the IANA IPFIX Information Element registry
   added since the Mediator was implemented or updated.  However, as
   there may be presence or ordering dependencies among the unknown
   Information Elements, the Mediator MUST NOT omit fields from such re-
   exported Records, or re-order any fields within the Records.

   Mediators which generate new Records, as in Section 4.2, SHOULD NOT
   use values of Information Elements they do not understand.  If they
   do pass such values, they MUST NOT pass values of unknown Informaiton
   Elements unless all such values are passed on in the original order
   in which they were received.

   In any case, Mediators handling unknown Information Elements SHOULD
   log this fact, as it is likely that mediation of records containing
   unknown values will have unintended consequences.

5.  Preserving Original Observation Point Information

   Depending on the use case, the Collector in an Exporter - IPFIX
   Mediator - Collector structure may need to receive information about
   the Original Observation Point(s), otherwise it may wrongly conclude
   that the IPFIX Device exporting the Flow Records, i.e. the IPFIX
   Mediator, directly observed the packets that generated the Flow
   Records.  Two new Information Elements are introduced in the
   subsections below to address this use case:
   originalExporterIPv4Address and originalExporterIPv6Address.
   Practically, the Original Exporters will not exporting these
   Information Elements.  Therefore, the Intermediate Process SHOULD
   report the Original Observation Point(s) to the best of its
   knowledge.  Note that the Configuration Data Model for IPFIX and
   PSAMP [RFC6728] may help.

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 16]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   In the IPFIX Mediator, the Observation Point(s) may be represented
   by:

   o  A single Original Exporter (represented by the
      originalExporterIPv4Address or originalExporterIPv6Address
      Information Elements)

   o  A list of Original Exporters (represented by the
      originalExporterIPv4Address or originalExporterIPv6Address
      Information Elements).

   o  Any combination or list of Information Elements representing
      Observation Points.  For example:

      *  A list of Original Exporter interface(s) (represented by the
         originalExporterIPv4Address or originalExporterIPv6Address, the
         ingressInterface and/or egressInterface Information Elements,
         respectively)

      *  A list of Original Exporter line card (represented by the
         originalExporterIPv4Address or originalExporterIPv6Address, the
         lineCardId Information Elements, respectively)

   Some Information Elements characterizing the Observation Point may be
   added.  For example, the flowDirection Information Element specifies
   the direction of the observation, and, as such, characterizes the
   Observation Point.

   Any combination of the above representations is possible.  For
   example, in case of an Intermediate Aggregation Process, an Original
   Observation Point could be composed of:

   exporterIPv4Address 192.0.2.1
   exporterIPv4Address 192.0.2.2,
     interface ethernet 0, direction ingress
     interface ethernet 1, direction ingress
     interface serial 1, direction egress
     interface serial 2, direction egress
   exporterIPv4Address 192.0.2.3,
     lineCardId 1, direction ingress

          Figure 4: Complex Observation Point Definition Example

   If the Original Observation Point is composed of a list, then the
   IPFIX Structured Data [RFC6313] MUST be used to export it from the
   IPFIX Mediator.

   The most generic way to export the Original Observation Point is to

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 17]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   use a subTemplateMultiList, with the semantic "exactlyOneOf".  Taking
   the previous example, the following encoding can be used:

   Template Record 257: exporterIPv4Address
   Template Record 258: exporterIPv4Address,
                        basicList of ingressInterface, flowDirection
   Template Record 259: exporterIPv4Address, lineCardId, flowDirection

     Figure 5: Complex Observation Point Definition Example: Templates

   The Original Observation Point is modeled with the Data Records
   corresponding to either Template Record 1, Template Record 2, or
   Template Record 3 but not more than one of these ("exactlyOneOf"
   semantic).  This implies that the Flow was observed at exactly one of
   the Observation Points reported.

   When an IPFIX Mediator receives Flow Records containing the Original
   Observation Point Information Element, i.e.
   originalExporterIPv6Address or originalExporterIPv4Address, the IPFIX
   Mediator SHOULD NOT modify its value(s) when composing new Flow
   Records in the general case.  Known exceptions include anonymization
   per [RFC6235] section 7.2.4 and an Intermediate Correlation Process
   rewriting addresses across NAT.  In other words, the Original
   Observation Point should not be replaced with the IPFIX Mediator
   Observation Point.  The daisy chain of (Exporter, Observation Point)
   representing the path the Flow Records took from the Exporter to the
   top Collector in the Exporter - IPFIX Mediator(s) - Collector
   structure model is out of the scope of this specification.

5.1.  originalExporterIPv4Address Information Element

   Description:   The IPv4 address used by the Exporting Process on an
      Original Exporter, as seen by the Collecting Process on an IPFIX
      Mediator.  Used to provide information about the Original
      Observation Points to a downstream Collector.

   Data Type:   ipv4Address

   ElementId:   TBD1

5.2.  originalExporterIPv6Address Information Element

   Description:   The IPv6 address used by the Exporting Process on an
      Original Exporter, as seen by the Collecting Process on an IPFIX
      Mediator.  Used to provide information about the Original
      Observation Points to a downstream Collector.

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 18]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   Data Type:   ipv6Address

   ElementId:   TBD2

6.  Managing Observation Domain IDs

   In any case, the Observation Domain ID of any IPFIX Message
   containing Flow Records relevant to no particular Observation Domain,
   or to multiple Observation Domains, MUST have an Observation Domain
   ID of 0, as in Section 3 above, and section 3.1 of
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis].

   IPFIX Mediators that do not change (Options) Template Records MUST
   maintain a Template Mapping, as detailed in Section 4.1, to ensure
   that the combination of Observation Domain IDs and Template IDs do
   not collide on export.

   For IPFIX Mediators that export New (Options) Template Records, as in
   Section 4.2, there are two options for Observation Domain ID
   management.  The first and simplest of these is to completely
   decouple exported Observation Domain IDs from received Observation
   Domain IDs; the IPFIX Mediator, in this case, comprises its own set
   of Observation Domain(s) independent of the Observation Domain(s) of
   the Original Exporters.

   The second option is to provide or maintain a Template Mapping for
   received (Options) Template Records and exported inferred (Options)
   Template Records, along with the appropriate Observation Domain IDs
   per Transport Session, which ensures that the combination of
   Observation Domain IDs and Template IDs do not collide on export.

   In some cases where the IPFIX Message Header can't contain a
   consistent Observation Domain for the entire IPFIX Message, but the
   Flow Records exported from the IPFIX Mediator should anyway contain
   the Observation Domain of the Original Exporter, the (Options)
   Template Record must contain the originalObservationDomainId
   Information Element.  When an IPFIX Mediator receives Flow Records
   containing the originalObservationDomainId Information Element, the
   IPFIX Mediator MUST NOT modify its value(s) when composing new Flow
   Records with the originalObservationDomainId Information Element.

6.1.  originalObservationDomainId Information Element

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 19]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   Description:   The Observation Domain ID reported by the Exporting
      Process on an Original Exporter, as seen by the Collecting Process
      on an IPFIX Mediator.  Used to provide information about the
      Original Observation Domain to a downstream Collector.

   Data Type:   unsigned32

   Data Type Semantics:   identifier

   ElementId:   TBD3

7.  Timing Considerations

   The IPFIX Message Header "Export Time" field is the time in seconds
   since 0000 UTC Jan 1, 1970, at which the IPFIX Message leaves the
   IPFIX Mediator.  However, in the specific case of an IPFIX Mediator
   containing an Intermediate Conversion Process, the IPFIX Mediator MAY
   keep the export time received from the incoming Transport Session.

   It is RECOMMENDED that IPFIX Mediators handle time using absolute
   timestamps (e.g. flowStartSeconds, flowStartMilliseconds,
   flowStartNanoseconds), which are specified relative to the UNIX epoch
   (00:00 UTC 1 Jan 1970), where possible, rather than relative
   timestamps (e.g. flowStartSysUpTime, flowStartDeltaMicroseconds),
   which are specified relative to protocol structures such as system
   initialization or message export time.

   The latter are difficult to manage for two reasons.  First, they
   require constant translation, as the system initialization time of an
   intermediate system and the export time of an intermediate message
   will change across mediation operations.  Further, relative
   timestamps introduce range problems.  For example, when using the
   flowStartDeltaMicroseconds and flowEndDeltaMicroseconds Information
   Elements [iana-ipfix-assignments], the Data Record must be exported
   within a maximum of 71 minutes after its creation.  Otherwise, the
   32-bit counter would not be sufficient to contain the flow start time
   offset.  Those time constraints might be incompatible with some of
   the application requirements of some Intermediate Processes.

   Intermediate Processes MUST NOT assume that received records appear
   in flowStartTime, flowEndTime, or observationTime order.  An
   Intermediate Process processing timing information (e.g., an
   Intermediate Aggregation Process) MAY ignore records that are
   significantly out of order, in order to meet application-specific
   state and latency requirements, but SHOULD report that records were
   dropped.

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 20]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   When an Intermediate Process aggregates information from different
   Flow Records, the timestamps on exported records SHOULD be the
   minimum of the start times and the maximum of the end times in the
   general case.  However, if the Flow Records do not overlap, i.e. if
   there is a time gap between the times in the Flow Records, then the
   report may be inaccurate.  The IPFIX Mediator is only reporting what
   it knows, on the basis of the information made available to it - and
   there may not have been any data to observe during the gap.  Then
   again, if there is an overlap in timestamps, there's the potential of
   double-accounting: different Observation Points may have observed the
   same traffic simultaneously.  Therefore, as there is not a single
   rule that fits all different situations, a complete specification of
   the precise rules of applying Flow Record timestamps at IPFIX
   Mediators is out of the scope of this document.

   Note that [I-D.ietf-ipfix-a9n] provides additional specifications for
   handling of timestamps at an Intermediate Aggregation Process.

8.  Transport Considerations

   SCTP [RFC4960] using the PR-SCTP extension specified in [RFC3758]
   MUST be implemented by all compliant IPFIX Mediator implementations.
   TCP [RFC0793] MAY also be implemented by IPFIX Mediator compliant
   implementations.  UDP [RFC0768] MAY also be implemented by compliant
   IPFIX Mediator implementations.  Transport-specific considerations
   for IPFIX Exporters as specified in sections 8.3, 8.4, 9.1, 9.2, and
   10 of [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis] apply to IPFIX Mediators
   as well.

   SCTP SHOULD be used in deployments where IPFIX Mediators and
   Collectors are communicating over links that are susceptible to
   congestion.  SCTP is capable of providing any required degree of
   reliability.  TCP MAY be used in deployments where IPFIX Mediators
   and Collectors communicate over links that are susceptible to
   congestion, but SCTP is preferred due to its ability to limit back
   pressure on Exporters and its message versus stream orientation.  UDP
   MAY be used, although it is not a congestion-aware protocol.
   However, in this case, the IPFIX traffic between IPFIX Mediator and
   Collector MUST run in an environment where IPFIX traffic has been
   provisioned for, or is contained through some other means.

9.  Collecting Process Considerations

   Any Collecting Process compliant with
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis] can receive IPFIX Messages from
   an IPFIX Mediator.  If the IPFIX Mediator uses IPFIX Structured Data

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 21]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   [RFC6313] to export Original Exporter Information as in Section 5,
   the Collecting Process MUST support [RFC6313].

10.  Specific Reporting Requirements

   IPFIX provides Options Templates for the reporting on the reliability
   of processes within the IPFIX Architecture.  As each Mediator
   includes at least one IPFIX Exporting Process, they SHOULD use the
   Exporting Process Reliability Statistics Options Template, as
   specified in [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis].

   Analogous to the Metering Process Reliability Statistics Options
   Template, also specified in [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis],
   Mediators SHOULD implement the Intermediate Process Reliability
   Statistics Options Template, specified in the subsection below.

   The Flow Keys Options Template, as specified in
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis], may require special handling at
   an IPFIX Mediator as described below.

   In addition, each Intermediate Process may have its own specific
   reporting requirements (e.g.  Anonymization Records as in [RFC6235],
   or the Aggregation Counter Distribution Options Template as in
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-a9n]); these SHOULD be implemented as necessary as
   described in the specification for each Intermediate Process.

10.1.  Intermediate Process Reliability Statistics Template

   The Intermediate Process Statistics Options Template specifies the
   structure of a Data Record for reporting Intermediate Process
   statistics.  It SHOULD contain the following Information Elements;
   the intermediateProcessId Information Element is defined in
   Section 10.3, and the ignoredRecordTotalCount Information Element is
   defined in Section 10.4:

   +-------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
   | IE                      | Description                             |
   +-------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
   | observationDomainId     | An identifier of the Observation Domain |
   | [scope]                 | (of messages exported by this           |
   |                         | Mediator), locally unique to the        |
   |                         | Intermediate Process, to which this     |
   |                         | statistics record applies.              |
   | intermediateProcessId   | An identifier for the Intermediate      |
   | [scope]                 | Process to which this statistics record |
   |                         | applies.                                |

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 22]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   | ignoredRecordTotalCount | The total number of Data Records        |
   |                         | received but not processed by the       |
   |                         | Intermediate Process.                   |
   | time first record       | The timestamp of the first record that  |
   | ignored                 | was ignored by the Intermediate         |
   |                         | Process.  For Data Records containing   |
   |                         | timestamp ranges, this SHOULD be taken  |
   |                         | from the start timestamp of the range;  |
   |                         | for data records containing no timing   |
   |                         | information, this SHOULD be taken from  |
   |                         | the Export Time in the message header   |
   |                         | of the containing IPFIX Message.  For   |
   |                         | this timestamp, any of the following    |
   |                         | timestamp can be used:                  |
   |                         | observationTimeSeconds,                 |
   |                         | observationTimeMilliseconds,            |
   |                         | observationTimeMicroseconds, or         |
   |                         | observationTimeNanoseconds.             |
   | time last record        | The timestamp of the last record that   |
   | ignored                 | was ignored by the Intermediate         |
   |                         | Process.  For Data Records containing   |
   |                         | timestamp ranges, this SHOULD be taken  |
   |                         | from the end timestamp of the range;    |
   |                         | for data records containing no timing   |
   |                         | information, this SHOULD be taken from  |
   |                         | the Export Time in the message header   |
   |                         | of the containing IPFIX Message.  For   |
   |                         | this timestamp, any of the following    |
   |                         | timestamp can be used:                  |
   |                         | observationTimeSeconds,                 |
   |                         | observationTimeMilliseconds,            |
   |                         | observationTimeMicroseconds, or         |
   |                         | observationTimeNanoseconds.             |
   +-------------------------+-----------------------------------------+

10.2.  Flow Key Options Template

   The Flow Keys Option Template specifies the structure of a Data
   Record for reporting the Flow Keys of reported Flows.  A Flow Keys
   Data Record extends a particular Template Record that is referenced
   by its templateId identifier.  The Template Record is extended by
   specifying which of the Information Elements contained in the
   corresponding Data Records describe Flow properties that serve as
   Flow Keys of the reported Flow.  This Options Template is defined in
   section 4.4 of [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis], and SHOULD be
   used by Mediators for export as defined there.

   When an Intermediate Process exports Data Records containing

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 23]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   different Flow Keys from those received from the Original Exporter,
   and the Original Exporter sent a Flow Keys Options record to the
   IPFIX Mediator, the IPFIX Mediator MUST export a Flow Keys Options
   record defining the the new set of Flow Keys.

10.3.  intermediateProcessId Information Element

   Description:   An identifier of an Intermediate Process that is
      unique per IPFIX Device.  Typically, this Information Element is
      used for limiting the scope of other Information Elements.  Note
      that process identifiers may be assigned dynamically; ie., and
      Intermediate Process may be re-started with a different ID.

   Data Type:   unsigned32

   Data Type Semantics:   identifier

   ElementId:   TBD4

10.4.  ignoredRecordTotalCount Information Element

   Description:   The total number of received Data Records that the
      Intermediate Process did not process since the (re-)initialization
      of the Intermediate Process; includes only Data Records not
      examined or otherwise handled by the Intermediate Process due to
      resource constraints, not Data Records which were examined or
      otherwise handled by the Intermediate Process but which merely do
      not contribute to any exported Data Record due to the operations
      performed by the Intermediate Process.

   Data Type:   unsigned64

   Data Type Semantics:   totalCounter

   ElementId:   TBD5

11.  Configuration Management

   In general, using IPFIX Mediators to combine information from
   multiple Original Exporters requires a consistent configuration of
   the Metering Processes behind these Original Exporters.  The details
   of this consistency are specific to each Intermediate Process.
   Consistency of configuration should be verified out of band, with the
   MIB modules ([RFC6615] and [RFC6727]) or with the Configuration Data
   Model for IPFIX and PSAMP [RFC6728]

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 24]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

12.  Security Considerations

   As they act as both IPFIX Collecting Processes and Exporting
   Processes, the Security Considerations for IPFIX Protocol
   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis] also apply to IPFIX Mediators.
   The Security Considerations for IPFIX Files [RFC5655] also apply to
   IPFIX Mediators that write IPFIX Files or use them for internal
   storage.  However, there are a few specific considerations that IPFIX
   Mediator implementations must also take into account.

   By design, IPFIX Mediators are "men-in-the-middle": they intercede in
   the communication between an Original Exporter (or another upstream
   IPFIX Mediator) and a downstream Collecting Process.  This has two
   important implications for the level of confidentiality provided
   across an IPFIX Mediator, and the ability to protect data integrity
   and Original Exporter authenticity across an IPIIX Mediator.  These
   are addressed in more detail in the Security Considerations for IPFIX
   Mediators in [RFC6183].

   Note that, while IPFIX Mediators can use the exporterCertificate and
   collectorCertificate Information Elements defined in [RFC5655] as
   described in section 9.3 of [RFC6183] to export information about
   X.509 identities in upstream TLS-protected Transport Sessions, this
   mechanism cannot be used to provide true end-to-end assertions about
   a chain of IPFIX Mediators: any IPFIX Mediator in the chain can
   simply falsify the information about upstream Transport Sessions In
   situations where information about the chain of mediation is
   important, it must be determined out of band.

13.  IANA Considerations

   This document specifies n new IPFIX Information Elements,
   originalExporterIPv4Address in Section 5.1,
   originalExporterIPv6Address in Section 5.2, and
   originalObservationDomainId in Section 6.1, to be added to the IPFIX
   Information Element registry [iana-ipfix-assignments].  [IANA NOTE:
   please add the three Information Elements as specified in the
   references subsections, and change TBD1, TBD2, and TBD3 in this
   document to reflect the assigned identifiers.]

14.  Acknowledgments

   We would like to thank the IPFIX contributors, specifically Paul
   Aitken for his thorough review and Rahul Patel for his feedback and
   comments.  This work is materially supported by the European Union
   Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement 257315 (DEMONS).

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 25]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

15.  References

15.1.  Normative References

   [RFC0768]  Postel, J., "User Datagram Protocol", STD 6, RFC 768,
              August 1980.

   [RFC0793]  Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol", STD 7,
              RFC 793, September 1981.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC3758]  Stewart, R., Ramalho, M., Xie, Q., Tuexen, M., and P.
              Conrad, "Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP)
              Partial Reliability Extension", RFC 3758, May 2004.

   [RFC4960]  Stewart, R., "Stream Control Transmission Protocol",
              RFC 4960, September 2007.

   [RFC5655]  Trammell, B., Boschi, E., Mark, L., Zseby, T., and A.
              Wagner, "Specification of the IP Flow Information Export
              (IPFIX) File Format", RFC 5655, October 2009.

   [RFC6313]  Claise, B., Dhandapani, G., Aitken, P., and S. Yates,
              "Export of Structured Data in IP Flow Information Export
              (IPFIX)", RFC 6313, July 2011.

   [RFC6615]  Dietz, T., Kobayashi, A., Claise, B., and G. Muenz,
              "Definitions of Managed Objects for IP Flow Information
              Export", RFC 6615, June 2012.

   [RFC6727]  Dietz, T., Claise, B., and J. Quittek, "Definitions of
              Managed Objects for Packet Sampling", RFC 6727,
              October 2012.

   [RFC6728]  Muenz, G., Claise, B., and P. Aitken, "Configuration Data
              Model for the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) and
              Packet Sampling (PSAMP) Protocols", RFC 6728,
              October 2012.

   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis]
              Claise, B. and B. Trammell, "Specification of the IP Flow
              Information eXport (IPFIX) Protocol for the Exchange of
              Flow Information", draft-ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis-06
              (work in progress), February 2013.

   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-information-model-rfc5102bis]

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 26]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

              Claise, B. and B. Trammell, "Information Model for IP Flow
              Information eXport (IPFIX)",
              draft-ietf-ipfix-information-model-rfc5102bis-10 (work in
              progress), February 2013.

   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-flow-selection-tech]
              D'Antonio, S., Zseby, T., Henke, C., and L. Peluso, "Flow
              Selection Techniques",
              draft-ietf-ipfix-flow-selection-tech-13 (work in
              progress), February 2013.

   [I-D.ietf-ipfix-a9n]
              Trammell, B., Wagner, A., and B. Claise, "Flow Aggregation
              for the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Protocol",
              draft-ietf-ipfix-a9n-08 (work in progress), November 2012.

15.2.  Informative References

   [RFC3917]  Quittek, J., Zseby, T., Claise, B., and S. Zander,
              "Requirements for IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)",
              RFC 3917, October 2004.

   [RFC3954]  Claise, B., "Cisco Systems NetFlow Services Export Version
              9", RFC 3954, October 2004.

   [RFC5470]  Sadasivan, G., Brownlee, N., Claise, B., and J. Quittek,
              "Architecture for IP Flow Information Export", RFC 5470,
              March 2009.

   [RFC5472]  Zseby, T., Boschi, E., Brownlee, N., and B. Claise, "IP
              Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Applicability", RFC 5472,
              March 2009.

   [RFC5476]  Claise, B., Johnson, A., and J. Quittek, "Packet Sampling
              (PSAMP) Protocol Specifications", RFC 5476, March 2009.

   [RFC5610]  Boschi, E., Trammell, B., Mark, L., and T. Zseby,
              "Exporting Type Information for IP Flow Information Export
              (IPFIX) Information Elements", RFC 5610, July 2009.

   [RFC5982]  Kobayashi, A. and B. Claise, "IP Flow Information Export
              (IPFIX) Mediation: Problem Statement", RFC 5982,
              August 2010.

   [RFC6183]  Kobayashi, A., Claise, B., Muenz, G., and K. Ishibashi,
              "IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Mediation: Framework",
              RFC 6183, April 2011.

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 27]
Internet-Draft               IPFIX MED-PROTO               February 2013

   [RFC6235]  Boschi, E. and B. Trammell, "IP Flow Anonymization
              Support", RFC 6235, May 2011.

   [iana-ipfix-assignments]
              Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, "IP Flow Information
              Export Information Elements
              (http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipfix/ipfix.xml)".

   [POSIX.1]  IEEE, "IEEE 1003.1-2008 - IEEE Standard for Information
              Technology - Portable Operating System Interface".

Authors' Addresses

   Benoit Claise
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   De Kleetlaan 6a b1
   1831 Diegem
   Belgium

   Phone: +32 2 704 5622
   Email: bclaise@cisco.com

   Atsushi Kobayashi
   NTT Information Sharing Platform Laboratories
   3-9-11 Midori-cho
   Musashino-shi, Tokyo 180-8585
   Japan

   Phone: +81 422 59 3978
   Email: akoba@nttv6.net

   Brian Trammell
   Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
   Gloriastrasse 35
   8092 Zurich
   Switzerland

   Phone: +41 44 632 70 13
   Email: trammell@tik.ee.ethz.ch

Claise, et al.           Expires August 29, 2013               [Page 28]