IP Performance Metrics
charter-ietf-ippm-04-00

The IP Performance Metrics (IPPM) Working Group develops and maintains standard
metrics that can be applied to the quality, performance, and reliability of
Internet data delivery services and applications. It also develops and
maintains protocols for the measurement of these metrics. These metrics are
designed such that they can be used by network operators, end users, or
independent testing groups. Metrics developed by the IPPM WG are intended to
provide unbiased quantitative performance measurements and not a value
judgement.

The IPPM WG has produced documents that define specific metrics and procedures
for accurately measuring and documenting these metrics. The working group will
continue advancing these metrics along the standards track, using the
guidelines stated in RFC 6576. To the extent possible, these metrics will be
used as the basis for future work on metrics in the WG.

The WG will develop the minimum number of new metrics and models needed to more
accurately quantitatively characterize the network path(s) under test and/or
the performance of transport and application layer protocols on these path(s).
New metric definitions will state how the definition improves on an existing
metric definition, or assesses a property of network performance not previously
covered by a defined metric.

Additional methods will be defined for the composition and calibration of
IPPM-defined metrics, as well as active, passive and hybrid measurement methods
for these metrics. In addition, the WG encourages work which describes the
applicability of metrics and measurement methods, especially to improve
understanding of the tradeoffs involved among active, passive, and hybrid
methods.

The WG may update its core framework RFC 2330 as necessary to accommodate these
activities.

The WG has produced protocols for communication among test equipment to enable
the measurement of the one- and two-way metrics (OWAMP and TWAMP respectively).
These protocols will be advanced along the standards track. The WG will further
develop and improve these protocols. The WG may develop new measurement
protocols as necessary to support new metrics. New metric and protocol
development will focus on the suitability of measurements for automation, in
order to support large-scale measurement efforts.

Agreement about the definitions of metrics and methods of measurement enables
accurate, reproducible, and equivalent results across different
implementations. To this end, the WG will define and maintain a registry of
metric definitions. The WG encourages work which assesses the comparability of
measurements of IPPM metrics with metrics developed elsewhere. The WG also
encourages work which improves the availability of information about the
context in which measurements were taken.

The IPPM WG seeks cooperation with other appropriate standards bodies and
forums to promote consistent approaches and metrics. Within the IETF process,
IPPM metric definitions and measurement protocols will be subject to as
rigorous a scrutiny for usefulness, clarity, and accuracy as other protocol
standards. The IPPM WG will interact with other areas of IETF activity whose
scope intersects with the requirement of these specific metrics. The WG will,
on request, provide input to other IETF working groups on the use and
implementation of these metrics.