NSIS Working Group                                    B. Sarikaya (Ed.)
Internet Draft
Document:draft-sarikaya-nsis-wiredreqs-00.txt
Category: Standards track                                       Alcatel
                                                          November 2001



          QoS Signaling Protocol Requirements for Wired Networking
                    draft-sarikaya-nsis-wiredreqs-00.txt


Status of this Memo

   This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
   all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.

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Abstract

   A set of requirements are stated for a signaling protocol for QoS on
   wired networks. The requirements are classified into the categories
   of general and security related.


Table of Contents

Status of this Memo............................................ ..1
Abstract....................................................... ..1
Table of Contents............................................. ...2
1. Introduction................................................ ..2
2. Terms....................................................... ..2
3. General Requirements.............................. .. .. .. .. 3
4  Security, Reliability and Privacy Related Requirements.........4
5. References.................................................. ..4
6  Author' Address....................... . ................ .. ..5



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1. Introduction
   This document states the requirements for a QoS signaling protocol.
   The requirements developed are from wired networks. The requirements
   are taken from the edge and core network component point of view. The
   requirements from Mobile IP point of view are stated in [1]. Some
   additional requirements are stated in [2] for cellular RAN resource
   allocation issues.




2. Terms

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED",  "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC-2119 [3].


3. General Requirements

   Signaling for QoS and path setup must interact with routing. You
   cannot layer signaling on routing or routing on signaling. We have L2
   mechanisms for signaling but no routing, and L3 mechanisms for
   routing, but no signaling. So we must think recursively about
   planning and topology.

   A receiver should be able to control what it receives
   from the network, and it should be able to do this without having to
   cooperate with the sender.  This is important for handling Denial-of-
   Service attacks.

   Notification of errors in a previously set up path should be fast and
   the protocol should enable fast rerouting of paths.

   The real scalability problem is "manageability":
      - need to shrink the number of reservations to be managed;
      - need to avoid manual configuration;
      - need to interface with policy and accounting;
      - need good measurements and instrumentation.
   This implies that no "manual configuration", a smaller number of
   states, the use of policy, and having good measurement
   instrumentation are the requirements for the new signaling protocol.

   There is a need to support signaling for large numbers of call
   reservations where the bandwidth for signaling is restricted.
   Signaling for 2000-3000 calls per second using end-to-end signaling
   over low-bit-rate hops is one such requirement.  We need resource
   reservations to support audio and video pipes. The network has
   multiple millions of end points and is bandwidth-limited at the
   edges.  The reservations have to be hard end-to-end reservations.

   The new signaling protocol should be capable of things like setting
   up paths independent of what routing says on the global scale.

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   Signaling state should be able to dip into the path of IP packets and
   dip out. The end system should not have to be involved. We need the
   ability to transparently carry objects such as pricing detail.

   The protocol should be a lightweight protocol.

   Signaling protocols have different time scale requirements
   (milliseconds, microseconds, seconds etc). Knowing the time scale
   requirement may solve the problem by enabling dynamic policies that
   can be very fast, minimize complexity and are centrally controlled.
   A good requirement is the development of a generic QoS mechanism
   similar to RSVP which is quite generic, unlike Intserv, which has two
   specific QoS mechanisms. Generic service will rely only on "frame"
   and is protocol agnostic.

   We need to be flexible in our approach.  There is no one protocol
   that is right for all purposes.  For example, a signaling protocol
   involving an end user must be very fast.  But reliability/redundancy
   issues are more important for a signaling protocol between backbone
   routers.

   Signaling should not destroy the good quality of service that raw IP
   networks already have.  i.e., it must still be possible for things to
   be done between consenting end systems without requiring them to
   first have a conversation with the network about their intentions.

   There should be a strict decoupling between protocol and the
   information it is carrying.

   Signaling should work over all kinds of networks, e.g., high error
   networks, asymmetric networks, slow networks, broadcast networks and
   unidirectional networks.

   The protocol needs to be simple. A simple protocol stands the chance
   of succeeding better than a complex one.

3.1 Stateful versus Stateless

   The tradeoff is between stateful versus stateless protocols. We do
   have the  capability of building stateless protocols - and that
   should be the requirement.

   We need both sender-oriented and receiver-oriented protocols.  We
   need both soft state and hard state protocols, and protocols with in-
   between state (e.g., "ice cream state", that starts off hard and
   softens over time), especially for voice over IP.

3.2 Midcom

   Any signaling protocol we design needs to be able to handle signaling
   to or from middleboxes in transport layer e.g. firewalls and NATs.
   Either the middlebox needs to be aware of applications or vice versa.
   We've been doing the former -- it doesn't scale, things break, etc.

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   Data and control paths are separated in applications. But in many
   cases the control path is mediated by some third party (e.g. an ALG
   or a Call Center or something).  Whatever we do here needs to be
   aware of that fact.

   Concealing the network topology from the end user is nice, if/when it
   is possible.  But midcom requires exposing network topology to
   applications. We need on-the-path signaling, without exposing
   topology to the edge host.

3.3 SIP and Domains

   As the experience of SIP shows, for any QoS signaling to be widely
   deployed and be useful for an extended time, extensibility of the
   signaling protocol to accommodate new communication events and modes
   is important.

   In an end-to-end QoS delivery involving a cascade of differentiated
   services domain, issues of inter- and intra-domain signaling is
   important. The events in these two domains are by no means
   independent. It is clear that end-to-end signaling mechanisms are
   affected by intra- and inter-domain routing, admission control, AAA
   functions. It is also possible that the end-to-end path may include
   non-differentiated services domains. Any signaling QoS must strive
   to be simple and yet flexible enough to directly or indirectly
   interact with these events.

4. Security, Reliability and Privacy Related Requirements

   The signaling protocol has to ensure security and integrity of
   packets, and it  must be able to signal the security requirements for
   packets.

   Privacy and anonymity need to be taken into account.  We should be
   able to deal with multiple "presentations" of an individual.

   There is a need for simple authentication. We need "extremely
   lightweight authentication."

   We need to be able to do secure and reliable signaling for anycast
   groups.

Acknowledgements.

   The requirements stated in this document originate largely from the
   requirements stated by people who attended NSIS BOF at IETF 50 in
   Minneapolis, USA.

5. References





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                 QoS signaling Protocol Requirements    November 2001



   1 Chaskar, H., "Requirements of a QoS Solution for Mobile IP", draft-
      ietf-mobileip-qos-requirements-01.txt, work-in-progress, August
      2001.
   2 Partain, D., et al., "Cellular RAN Resource Issues", draft-
      westberg-rmd-cellular-issues-00.txt, work-in-progress, June 2001.
   3  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
      Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997




7. Author's Address

   The working group can be contacted via the current chair:


      John Loughney
      Nokia Research Center
      PO Box 407
      FIN-00045 Nokia Group
      Finland
      Email: john.loughney@nokia.com


   Questions about this memo can also be directed to:



      Behcet Sarikaya
      Network Strategy Group, Mobile Networking Team
      Alcatel USA M/S CTO2
      1201 E. Campbell Rd.
      Richardson, TX 75081-1936 USA
      Email: behcet.sarikaya@alcatel.com
      Phone: (972) 996-5075 Fax: (972) 996 5174


















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