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ALTO Incremental Updates Using Server-Sent Events (SSE)
draft-ietf-alto-incr-update-sse-07

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 8895.
Expired & archived
Authors Wendy Roome , Y. Richard Yang
Last updated 2018-01-04 (Latest revision 2017-07-03)
Replaces draft-roome-alto-incr-update-sse
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
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Stream WG state WG Document
Document shepherd Vijay K. Gurbani
IESG IESG state Became RFC 8895 (Proposed Standard)
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Send notices to "Vijay Gurbani" <vkg@bell-labs.com>
draft-ietf-alto-incr-update-sse-07
ALTO WG                                                         W. Roome
Internet-Draft                                           Nokia Bell Labs
Intended status: Standards Track                                 Y. Yang
Expires: January 4, 2018                          Tongji/Yale University
                                                            July 3, 2017

        ALTO Incremental Updates Using Server-Sent Events (SSE)
                   draft-ietf-alto-incr-update-sse-07

Abstract

   The Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) [RFC7285] protocol
   provides network related information, called network information
   resources, to client applications so that clients can make informed
   decisions in utilizing network resources.  For example, an ALTO
   server can provide network and cost maps so that an ALTO client can
   use the maps to determine the costs between endpoints when choosing
   communicating endpoints.

   However, the ALTO protocol does not define a mechanism to allow an
   ALTO client to obtain updates to the information resources, other
   than by periodically re-fetching them.  Because some information
   resources (e.g., the aforementioned maps) may be large (potentially
   tens of megabytes), and because only parts of the information
   resources may change frequently (e.g., only some entries in a cost
   map), complete re-fetching can be extremely inefficient.

   This document presents a mechanism to allow an ALTO server to push
   updates to ALTO clients, to achieve two benefits: (1) Updates can be
   immediate, in that the server can send updates as soon as they are
   available; and (2) Updates are incremental, in that if only a small
   section of an information resource changes, the server can send just
   the changes.

Requirements Language

   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 [RFC2119].

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

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   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 January 4, 2018.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2017 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
   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
   2.  Major Changes Since Version -01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   4.  Background  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.1.  Server-Sent Events (SSEs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.2.  JSON Merge Patch  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
       4.2.1.  JSON Merge Patch Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
       4.2.2.  Merge Patch ALTO Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     4.3.  JSON Patch  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
       4.3.1.  JSON Patch Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
       4.3.2.  JSON Patch ALTO Messages  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   5.  Overview of Approach  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   6.  Update Stream Messages: Update and Control Events . . . . . .  12
     6.1.  ALTO Event Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     6.2.  ALTO Update Events  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     6.3.  ALTO Control Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   7.  Update Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     7.1.  Media Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     7.2.  HTTP Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     7.3.  Accept Input Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     7.4.  Capabilities  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16

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     7.5.  Uses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
     7.6.  Response  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
       7.6.1.  Keep-Alive Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
       7.6.2.  Event Sequence Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
       7.6.3.  Cross-Stream Consistency Requirements . . . . . . . .  18
   8.  Update Stream Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     8.1.  URI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     8.2.  Media Type  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     8.3.  HTTP Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     8.4.  Accept Input Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     8.5.  Capabilities & Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
     8.6.  Response  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
   9.  Examples  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
     9.1.  Example: Simple Network and Cost Map Updates  . . . . . .  21
     9.2.  Example: Advanced Network and Cost Map Updates  . . . . .  22
     9.3.  Example: Endpoint Property Updates  . . . . . . . . . . .  25
     9.4.  IRD Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
   10. Client Actions When Receiving Update Messages . . . . . . . .  30
   11. Design Decisions and Discussions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
     11.1.  HTTP/2 Server-Push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
     11.2.  Not Allowing Stream Restart  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
     11.3.  Is Incremental Update Useful for Network Maps? . . . . .  33
     11.4.  Other Incremental Update Message Types . . . . . . . . .  34
     11.5.  Requirements on Future ALTO Services to Use this Design   34
   12. Miscellaneous Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
     12.1.  Considerations for Updates to Filtered Cost Maps . . . .  34
     12.2.  Considerations for Incremental Updates to Ordinal Mode
            Costs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
     12.3.  Considerations Related to SSE Line Lengths . . . . . . .  35
   13. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
     13.1.  Denial-of-Service Attacks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
     13.2.  Spoofed Control Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
     13.3.  Privacy  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
   14. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
   15. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
   Appendix A.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39

1.  Introduction

   The Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) [RFC7285] protocol
   provides network related information called network information
   resources to client applications so that clients may make informed
   decisions in utilizing network resources.  For example, an ALTO
   server provides network and cost maps, where a network map partitions
   the set of endpoints into a manageable number of sets each defined by
   a Provider-Defined Identifier (PID), and a cost map provides directed
   costs between PIDs.  Given network and cost maps, an ALTO client can

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   obtain costs between endpoints by using the network map to get the
   PID for each endpoint, and then using the cost map to get the costs
   between those PIDs.  Such costs can be used by the client to choose
   communicating endpoints with low network costs.

   However, the ALTO protocol does not define a mechanism to allow a
   client to obtain updates to network information resources, other than
   by periodically re-fetching them.  In settings where an information
   resource may be large but only parts of it may change frequently
   (e.g., some entries of a cost map), complete re-fetching can be
   extremely inefficient.

   This document presents a mechanism to allow an ALTO server to push
   incremental updates to ALTO clients.  Integrating server-push and
   incremental updates provides two benefits: (1) updates can be
   immediate, in that the server can send updates as soon as they are
   available; and (2) updates can be small, in that if only a small
   section of an information resource changes, the server can send just
   the changes.

   While primarily intended to provide updates to GET-mode network and
   cost maps, the mechanism defined in this document can also provide
   updates to POST-mode ALTO services such as the endpoint property and
   endpoint cost services.  We intend that the mechanism can also
   support new ALTO services to be defined by future extensions.  We
   discuss the requirements in Section 11.5.

   The rest of this document is organized as follows.  Section 4 gives
   background on the basic techniques used in this design: Server-Sent
   Events to allow server push; JSON merge patch and JSON patch to allow
   incremental updates.  With the background, Section 5 gives a non-
   normative overview of the design.  Section 6 defines individual
   messages in an update stream, and Section 7 defines the overall
   update stream service.  Section 8 defines the update stream control
   service.  Section 9 gives several examples.  Section 10 describes how
   a client should handle incoming updates.  Section 11 and Section 12
   discuss the design decisions behind this update mechanism and other
   considerations.  The remaining sections review the security and IANA
   considerations.

2.  Major Changes Since Version -01

   To RFC editor: This will be removed in the final version.

   o  Added JSON Patch as an alternative incremental delta encoding.

   o  Defined a new "stream control" resource (Section 8) to allow
      clients to add or remove resources from a previously created

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      update stream.  The ALTO server creates a new stream control
      resource for each update stream instance, assigns a unique URI to
      it, and sends the URI to the client as the first event in the
      stream.

   o  The client now assigns a unique client-id to each resource in an
      update stream.  The server puts the client-id in each update event
      for that resource (before, the server used the server's resource-
      id).  This allows a client to use one stream to get updates to two
      different endpoint cost requests (before, that required two
      separate streams).

3.  Terms

4.  Background

   The design requires two basic techniques: server push and encoding of
   incremental changes.  Using existing techniques whenever possible,
   this design uses SSE for server push and JSON merge patch to encode
   incremental changes.  Below we give a non-normative summary of these
   two techniques.

4.1.  Server-Sent Events (SSEs)

   The following is a non-normative summary of Server-Sent Events
   (SSEs); see [SSE] for its normative definition.

   Server-Sent Events enable a server to send new data to a client by
   "server-push".  The client establishes an HTTP ([RFC7230], [RFC7231])
   connection to the server, and keeps the connection open.  The server
   continually sends messages.  Each message has one or more lines,
   where a line is terminated by a carriage-return immediately followed
   by a new-line, a carriage-return not immediately followed by a new-
   line, or a new-line not immediately preceded by a carriage-return.  A
   message is terminated by a blank line (two line terminators in a
   row).

   Each line in a message is of the form "field-name: string value".
   Lines with a blank field-name (that is, lines which start with a
   colon) are ignored, as are lines which do not have a colon.  The
   protocol defines three field names: event, id, and data.  If a
   message has more than one "data" line, the value of the data field is
   the concatenation of the values on those lines.  There can be only
   one "event" or "id" line per message.  The "data" field is required;
   the others are optional.

   Figure 1 is a sample SSE stream, starting with the client request.
   The server sends three events and then closes the stream.

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        (Client request)
     GET /stream HTTP/1.1
     Host: example.com
     Accept: text/event-stream

        (Server response)
     HTTP/1.1 200 OK
     Connection: keep-alive
     Content-Type: text/event-stream

     event: start
     id: 1
     data: hello there

     event: middle
     id: 2
     data: let's chat some more ...
     data: and more and more and ...

     event: end
     id: 3
     data: good bye

                      Figure 1: A Sample SSE stream.

4.2.  JSON Merge Patch

4.2.1.  JSON Merge Patch Encoding

   To avoid always sending complete data, a server needs a mechanism to
   encode incremental changes.  This design uses JSON merge patch as the
   mechanism.  Below is a non-normative summary of JSON merge patch; see
   [RFC7396] for the normative definition.

   JSON merge patch is intended to allow applications to update server
   resources via the HTTP PATCH method [RFC5789].  This document adopts
   the JSON merge patch message format to encode the changes, but uses a
   different transport mechanism.

   Informally, a merge patch object is a JSON data structure that
   defines how to transform one JSON value into another.  Specifically,
   JSON merge patch treats the two JSON values as trees of nested JSON
   objects (dictionaries of name-value pairs), where the leaves are
   values other than JSON objects (e.g., JSON arrays, strings, numbers,
   etc.), and the path for each leaf is the sequence of keys leading to
   that leaf.  When the second tree has a different value for a leaf at
   a path, or adds a new leaf, the merge patch tree has a leaf, at that
   path, with the new value.  When a leaf in the first tree does not

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   exist in the second tree, the merge patch tree has a leaf with a JSON
   "null" value.  The merge patch tree does not have an entry for any
   leaf that has the same value in both versions.

   As a result, if all leaf values are simple scalars, JSON merge patch
   is a quite efficient representation of the change.  It is less
   efficient when leaf values are arrays, because JSON merge patch
   replaces arrays in their entirety, even if only one entry changes.

   Formally, the process of applying a merge patch is defined by the
   following recursive algorithm, as specified in [RFC7396]:

     define MergePatch(Target, Patch) {
       if Patch is an Object {
         if Target is not an Object {
           Target = {} # Ignore the contents and
                       # set it to an empty Object
         }
         for each Name/Value pair in Patch {
           if Value is null {
             if Name exists in Target {
               remove the Name/Value pair from Target
             }
           } else {
             Target[Name] = MergePatch(Target[Name], Value)
           }
         }
         return Target
       } else {
         return Patch
       }
     }

   Note that null as the value of a name/value pair will delete the
   element with "name" in the original JSON value.

4.2.2.  Merge Patch ALTO Messages

   Both as examples of JSON merge patch and demonstration of feasibility
   to apply JSON merge patch to ALTO, we look at application of JSON
   merge patch to two key ALTO messages.

4.2.2.1.  Merge Patch Network Map Messages

   Section 11.2.1.6 of [RFC7285] defines the format of a network map
   message.  Here is a simple example:

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     {
       "meta" : {
         "vtag": {
           "resource-id" : "my-network-map",
           "tag" : "da65eca2eb7a10ce8b059740b0b2e3f8eb1d4785"
         }
       },
       "network-map" : {
         "PID1" : {
           "ipv4" : [ "192.0.2.0/24", "198.51.100.0/25" ]
         },
         "PID2" : {
           "ipv4" : [ "198.51.100.128/25" ]
         },
         "PID3" : {
           "ipv4" : [ "0.0.0.0/0" ],
           "ipv6" : [ "::/0" ]
         }
       }
     }

   When applied to that message, the following merge patch update
   message adds the ipv6 prefix "2001:db8:8000::/33" to "PID1", deletes
   "PID2", and assigns a new "tag" to the network map:

     {
       "meta" : {
         "vtag" : {
           "tag" : "a10ce8b059740b0b2e3f8eb1d4785acd42231bfe"
         }
       },
       "network-map": {
         "PID1" : {
           "ipv6" : [ "2001:db8:8000::/33" ]
         },
         "PID2" : null
       }
     }

   Here is the updated network map:

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     {
       "meta" : {
         "vtag": {
           "resource-id" : "my-network-map",
           "tag" : "a10ce8b059740b0b2e3f8eb1d4785acd42231bfe"
         }
       },
       "network-map" : {
         "PID1" : {
           "ipv4" : [ "192.0.2.0/24", "198.51.100.0/25" ],
           "ipv6" : [ "2001:db8:8000::/33" ]
         },
         "PID3" : {
           "ipv4" : [ "0.0.0.0/0" ],
           "ipv6" : [ "::/0" ]
         }
       }
     }

4.2.2.2.  Merge Patch Cost Map Messages

   Section 11.2.3.6 of [RFC7285] defines the format of a cost map
   message.  Here is a simple example:

     {
       "meta" : {
         "dependent-vtags" : [
           {"resource-id": "my-network-map",
            "tag": "a10ce8b059740b0b2e3f8eb1d4785acd42231bfe"
           }
         ],
         "cost-type" : {
           "cost-mode"  : "numerical",
           "cost-metric": "routingcost"
         }
       },
       "cost-map" : {
         "PID1": { "PID1": 1,  "PID2": 5,  "PID3": 10 },
         "PID2": { "PID1": 5,  "PID2": 1,  "PID3": 15 },
         "PID3": { "PID1": 20, "PID2": 15  }
       }
     }

   The following merge patch message updates the example cost map so
   that PID1->PID2 is 9 instead of 5, PID3->PID1 is no longer available,
   and PID3->PID3 is now defined as 1:

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     {
       "cost-map" : {
         "PID1" : { "PID2" : 9 },
         "PID3" : { "PID1" : null, "PID3" : 1 }
       }
     }

   Here is the updated cost map:

     {
       "meta" : {
         "dependent-vtags" : [
           {"resource-id": "my-network-map",
            "tag": "a10ce8b059740b0b2e3f8eb1d4785acd42231bfe"
           }
         ],
         "cost-type" : {
           "cost-mode"  : "numerical",
           "cost-metric": "routingcost"
         }
       },
       "cost-map" : {
         "PID1": { "PID1": 1,  "PID2": 9,  "PID3": 10 },
         "PID2": { "PID1": 5,  "PID2": 1,  "PID3": 15 },
         "PID3": {             "PID2": 15, "PID3": 1  }
       }
     }

4.3.  JSON Patch

4.3.1.  JSON Patch Encoding

   An issue of JSON merge patch is that it does not handle array changes
   well.  JSON Patch [RFC6902] defines a set of operators to modify a
   JSON object.  Below is a non-normative description of JSON patch; see
   [RFC6902] for the normative definition.

4.3.2.  JSON Patch ALTO Messages

   Consider the original network map example in Section 4.2.2.1.  Assume
   that the incremental change is that 192.0.2.0/24 is removed from
   PID1.  Using JSON patch, the patch will be:

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     [
       {"op": "replace",
          "path": "/meta/vtag/tag",
          "value" : "a10ce8b059740b0b2e3f8eb1d4785acd42231bfe"},
       {"op": "remove",
          "path": "/network-map/PID1/ipv4/1"}
     ]

5.  Overview of Approach

   With the background, we now gives a non-normative overview of the
   update mechanism to be defined in this document.

   The building block of the update mechanism defined in this document
   is update stream resources (defined in Section 7), where each update
   stream resource (or update stream for short) is a POST-mode service
   through which an ALTO server returns a continuous sequence of update
   messages (defined in Section 6) to an ALTO client.  An update stream
   can provide updates to both GET-mode resources, such as ALTO network
   and cost maps, and POST-mode resources, such as ALTO endpoint
   property services.

   Although an update stream may update one or more ALTO resources, each
   update message updates only one resource, and is sent as a Server-
   Sent Event (SSE), as defined by [SSE].  An update message is either a
   full replacement or an incremental change.  A full-replacement update
   uses the JSON message format defined by the ALTO protocol.  There can
   be multiple incremental update mechanisms.  The current design
   achieves incremental-update using JSON merge patch ([RFC7396]) or
   JSON patch ([RFC6902]) to describe the changes to the resource.
   Future documents may define additional mechanisms for delta encoding.
   The ALTO server decides when to send update messages, and whether to
   send full replacements or incremental updates.  These decisions can
   vary from resource to resource and from update to update.

   An ALTO server may offer any number of update stream resources, for
   any subset of the server's resources.  An ALTO server's Information
   Resource Directory (IRD) defines the update stream resources, and
   declares the set of resources for which each update stream provides
   updates.  The server selects the resource set for each stream.  It is
   recommended that if a resource depends on one or more other
   resource(s) (indicated with the "uses" attribute defined in
   [RFC7285]), these other resource(s) should also be part of that
   stream.  Thus the update stream for a cost map should also provide
   updates for the network map on which that cost map depends.

   When an ALTO client requests an update stream resource, the client
   establishes a new persistent connection to the server.  The server

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   responds by sending an event with the URI of a stream-control
   resource for this update stream.  The control URI allows a client to
   modify the newly-created update stream.  For example, the client can
   ask the server to send update events for additional resources, to
   stop sending update events for previously requested resources, or to
   gracefully stop and close the update stream altogether.

   A client may request any number of update streams simultaneously.
   Because each update stream consumes resources on the server, a server
   may require client authorization/authentication, limit the number of
   open update streams, close inactive streams, or redirect a client to
   another server.

6.  Update Stream Messages: Update and Control Events

   We now define the details of ALTO incremental update.  Specifically,
   an update stream consists of a stream of update events (Section 6.2)
   and control events (Section 6.3).

6.1.  ALTO Event Format

   Update and control events have the same basic structure.  The data
   field is a JSON object, and the event field contains the media type
   of the data field, and an optional client id.  Update events use the
   client id to identify the ALTO resource to which the update message
   applies.  Client ids MUST follow the rules for ALTO ResourceIds (see
   {10.2} of [RFC7285].  Client ids MUST be unique within an update
   stream, but need not be globally unique.  For example, if a client
   requests updates for both a cost map and its network map, the client
   might assign id "1" to the network map and "2" to the cost map.
   Alternatively, the client could use the ALTO resource ids for those
   two maps.

   JSON specifications use the type ClientId for a client-id.

   The two sub-fields of the event field are encoded as comma-separated
   strings:

         media-type [ ',' client-id ]

   Note that media type names may not contain a comma (character code
   0x2c).

   Note that an update stream does not use the SSE "id" field.

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6.2.  ALTO Update Events

   An update event is sent when a monitored resource changes.  The data
   is either a complete specification of the resource, or else a patch
   object (either JSON merge patch or JSON patch) describing the changes
   from the last version.  We will refer to these as full-replacement
   and patch messages, respectively.  The data objects in full-
   replacement messages are defined by [RFC7285]; examples are network
   and cost map messages.  They have the media types defined in that
   document.  The data objects in merge patch messages are defined by
   [RFC7396], and they have the media type "application/merge-
   patch+json", as defined by [RFC7396].  The data objects in patch
   messages are defined by [RFC6902], and they have the media type
   "application/json-patch+json", as defined by [RFC6902].

   Figure 2 shows some examples of ALTO update events:

     event: application/alto-networkmap+json,1
     data: { ... full network map message ... }

     event: application/alto-costmap+json,2
     data: { ... full cost map message ... }

     event: application/merge-patch+json,2
     data: { ... merge patch update for the cost map ... }

                 Figure 2: Examples of ALTO update events.

6.3.  ALTO Control Events

   Control events have the media type "application/alto-
   updatestreamcontrol+json", and the data is of type
   UpdateStreamControlEvent:

     object {
        [String     control-uri;]
        [String     remove<1..*>;]
     } UpdateStreamControlEvent;

   The "control-uri" field is the URI of the stream control resource for
   this update stream (see Section 8).  The ALTO server MUST send a
   control event with that URI as the first event in an update stream.

   The "remove" field is a list of client-ids of resources for which the
   server will no longer send updates.  The server sends this event
   after processing a stream control request to remove those resources
   (Section 7.6.2).

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7.  Update Stream

   An update stream returns a stream of SSE messages, as defined in
   Section 6.  An ALTO server's IRD (Information Resource Directory) MAY
   define one or more update stream resources, which clients use to
   request new update stream instances.

   When a server creates a new update stream, it also creates a new
   stream control service for that update stream.  A client uses the
   stream control service to remove resources from the update stream
   instance, or to request updates for additional resources.  A client
   cannot obtain the stream control service through the IRD.  Instead,
   the first event that the server sends to the client has the URI for
   the associated control service (see Section 6.3.

   Section 8 describes the stream control service.

7.1.  Media Type

   The media type of an ALTO update stream resource is "text/event-
   stream", as defined by [SSE].

7.2.  HTTP Method

   An ALTO update stream is requested using the HTTP POST method.

7.3.  Accept Input Parameters

   An ALTO client specifies the parameters for the new update stream by
   sending an HTTP POST body with the media type "application/alto-
   updatestreamparams+json".  That body contains a JSON Object of type
   UpdateStreamReq, where:

     object {
        [AddUpdatesReq   add;]
        [ClientId        remove<0..*>;]
     } UpdateStreamReq;

     object-map {
        ClientId -> AddUpdateReq;
     } AddUpdatesReq;

     object {
        String       resource-id;
        [String      tag;]
        [Boolean     incremental-updates;]
        [Object      input;]
     } AddUpdateReq;

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   The "add" field specifies the resources for which the client wants
   updates, and has one entry for each resource.  The client creates a
   unique client-id (Section 6.1) for each such resource, and uses those
   client-ids as the keys in the "add" field.

   An update stream request MUST have an "add" field specifying one or
   more resources.  If it does not, the server MUST return an
   E_INVALID_FIELD_VALUE error response (see Section 8.5.2 of
   [RFC7285]), and MUST close the stream without sending any events.

   The "resource-id" field is the resource-id of an ALTO resource, and
   MUST be in the update stream's "uses" list (see Section 7.5).  If any
   resource-id is invalid, or is not associated with this update stream,
   the server MUST return an E_INVALID_FIELD_VALUE error response (see
   Section 8.5.2 of [RFC7285]), and MUST close the stream without
   sending any events.

   If the resource-id is a GET-mode resource with a version tag (or
   "vtag"), as defined in Sections 6.3 and 10.3 of [RFC7285], and if the
   client has previously retrieved a version of that resource from the
   server, the client MAY set the "tag" field to the tag part of the
   client's version of that resource.  If that version is not current,
   the server MUST send a full-replacement update before sending any
   incremental updates, as described in Section 7.6.2.  If that version
   is still current, the ALTO server MAY omit the initial full-
   replacement update.

   If the "incremental-updates" field for a resource-id is "true", the
   server MAY send incremental update events for this resource-id
   (assuming the server supports incremental updates for that resource;
   see Section 7.4).  If the "incremental-updates" field is "false", the
   ALTO server MUST NOT send incremental update events for that
   resource.  In this case, whenever a change occurs, the server MUST
   send a full-replacement update instead of an incremental update.  The
   server MAY wait until more changes are available, and send a single
   full-replacement update with those changes.  Thus an ALTO client
   which declines to accept incremental updates may not get updates as
   quickly as a client which does.

   The default for "incremental-updates" is "true", so to suppress
   incremental updates, the client MUST explicitly set "incremental-
   updates" to "false".  Note that the client cannot suppress full-
   replacement update events.

   If the resource is a POST-mode service which requires input, the
   client MUST set the "input" field to a JSON Object with the
   parameters that resource expects.  If the "input" field is missing or
   invalid, the ALTO server MUST return the same error response that

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   that resource would return for missing or invalid input (see
   [RFC7285]).  In this case, the server MUST close the update stream
   without sending any events.  If the inputs for several POST-mode
   resources are missing or invalid, the server MUST pick one error
   response and return it.

   The "remove" field is used in stream control requests (see
   Section 8), and is not allowed in the update stream request.  If the
   "remove" field exists, the server MUST return an
   E_INVALID_FIELD_VALUE error response (see Section 8.5.2 of
   [RFC7285]), and MUST close the stream without sending any events.

7.4.  Capabilities

   The capabilities are defined by an object of type
   UpdateStreamCapabilities:

     object {
       IncrementalUpdateMediaTypes incremental-update-media-types;
     } UpdateStreamCapabilities;

     object-map {
        ResourceID -> String;
     } IncrementalUpdateMediaTypes;

   If this update stream can provide incremental update events for a
   resource, the "incremental-update-media-types" field has an entry for
   that resource-id, and the value is the media-type of the incremental
   update message.  Normally this will be "application/merge-
   patch+json", "application/json-patch+json", or "application/merge-
   patch+json,application/json-patch+json", because, as described in
   Section 6, they are the only incremental update event types defined
   by this document.  However future extensions may define other types
   of incremental updates.

7.5.  Uses

   The "uses" attribute MUST be an array with the resource-ids of every
   resource for which this stream can provide updates.

   This set may be any subset of the ALTO server's resources, and may
   include resources defined in linked IRDs.  However, it is RECOMMENDED
   that the ALTO server select a set that is closed under the resource
   dependency relationship.  That is, if an update stream's "uses" set
   includes resource R1, and resource R1 depends on ("uses") resource
   R0, then the Update Stream's "uses" set should include R0 as well as
   R1.  For example, an update stream for a cost map SHOULD also provide
   updates for the network map upon which that cost map depends.

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7.6.  Response

   The response is a stream of SSE update events.  Section 6 defines the
   events, and [SSE] defines how they are encoded into a stream.

   An ALTO server SHOULD send updates only when the underlying values
   change.  However, it may be difficult for a server to guarantee that
   in all circumstances.  Therefore a client MUST NOT assume that an SSE
   update event represents an actual change.

   There are additional requirements on the server's response, as
   described below.

7.6.1.  Keep-Alive Messages

   In an SSE stream, any line which starts with a colon (U+003A)
   character is a comment, and an ALTO client MUST ignore that line
   ([SSE]).  As recommended in [SSE], an ALTO server SHOULD send a
   comment line (or an event) every 15 seconds to prevent clients and
   proxy servers from dropping the HTTP connection.

7.6.2.  Event Sequence Requirements

   o  The first event MUST be a control event with the URI of the stream
      control service (Section 8) for this update stream (Section 6.3).

   o  As soon as possible after the client initiates the connection, the
      ALTO server MUST send a full-replacement update event for each
      resource-id requested by the client.  The only exception is for a
      GET-mode resource with a version tag.  In this case the server MAY
      omit the initial full-replacement event for that resource if the
      "tag" field the client provided for that resource-id matches the
      tag of the server's current version.

   o  If this stream provides updates for resource-ids R0 and R1, and if
      R1 depends on R0, then the ALTO server MUST send the update for R0
      before sending the related update for R1.  For example, suppose a
      stream provides updates to a network map and its dependent cost
      maps.  When the network map changes, the ALTO server MUST send the
      network map update before sending the cost map updates.

   o  If this stream provides updates for resource-ids R0 and R1, and if
      R1 depends on R0, then the ALTO server SHOULD send an update for
      R1 as soon as possible after sending the update for R0.  For
      example, when a network map changes, the ALTO server SHOULD send
      update events for the dependent cost maps as soon as possible
      after the update event for the network map.

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   o  When the client uses the stream control service to stop updates
      for one or more resources (Section 8), the ALTO server MUST send a
      control event (Section 6.3) whose "remove" field has the client-
      ids of those resources.  If the client uses the stream control
      service to terminate all active resources and close the stream,
      the server MUST send a control event whose "remove" field has the
      client-ids of all active resources.

7.6.3.  Cross-Stream Consistency Requirements

   If several clients create multiple update streams for updates to the
   same resource, the server MUST send the same updates to all of them.
   However, the server MAY pack data items into different patch events,
   as long as the net result of applying those updates is the same.

   For example, suppose two different clients create update streams for
   the same cost map, and suppose the ALTO server processes three
   separate cost point updates with a brief pause between each update.
   The server MUST send all three new cost points to both clients.  But
   the server MAY send a single patch event (with all three cost points)
   to one client, while sending three separate patch events (with one
   cost point per event) to the other client.

   A server MAY offer several different update stream resources that
   provide updates to the same underlying resource (that is, a resource-
   id may appear in the "uses" field of more than one update stream
   resource).  In this case, those update stream resources MUST return
   the same update data.

8.  Update Stream Control

   An update stream control service allows a client to remove resources
   from the set of resources that are monitored by an update stream, or
   add additional resources to that set.  The service also allows a
   client to gracefully shutdown an update stream.

   The stream control service is not obtained from the ALTO server's
   IRD.  Instead, when a client requests a new update stream, the server
   creates a new control service for that stream, and sends its URI to
   the client as the first event in the update stream (Section 7.6.2).

   As described below, each control request adds resources to the set of
   monitored resources, or removes previously added resources, or does
   both.  Each control request is a separate HTTP request; the client
   MAY NOT stream multiple control requests in one HTTP request.
   However, if the client and server support HTTP Keep-Alive
   ([RFC7230]), the client MAY send multiple HTTP requests on the same
   TCP/IP connection.

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8.1.  URI

   The URI for a stream control service, by itself, MUST uniquely
   specify the update stream instance which it controls.  The server
   MUST NOT use other properties of an HTTP request, such as cookies or
   the client's IP address, to determine the update stream.
   Furthermore, a server MUST NOT re-use a control service URI once the
   associated update stream has been closed.

   The client MUST evaluate a non-absolute control URI (for example, a
   URI without a host, or with a relative path) in the context of the
   URI used to create the update stream.  The controller's host MAY be
   different from the update stream's host.

   It is expected that the server will assign a unique stream id to each
   update stream instance, and will embed that id in the associated
   stream control URI.  However, the exact mechanism is left to the
   server.  Clients MUST NOT attempt to deduce a stream id from the
   control URI.

   To prevent an attacker from forging a stream control URI and sending
   bogus requests to disrupt other update streams, stream control URIs
   SHOULD contain sufficient random redundancy to make it difficult to
   guess valid URIs.

8.2.  Media Type

   An ALTO stream control response does not have a specific media type.
   If a request is successful, the server returns an HTTP "204 No
   Content" response.  If a request is unsuccessful, the server returns
   an ALTO error response (Section 8.5.2 of [RFC7285])

8.3.  HTTP Method

   An ALTO update stream control request uses the POST method.

8.4.  Accept Input Parameters

   A stream control service accepts the same input media type and input
   parameters as the update stream service (Section 7.3).  The only
   difference is that a stream control service also accepts the "remove"
   field.

   If specified, the "remove" field is an array of client-ids the client
   previously added to this update stream.  An empty "remove" array is
   equivalent to a list of all currently active resources; the server
   responds by removing all resources and closing the stream.

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   A client MAY use the "add" field to add additional resources.
   However, the client MUST assign a unique client-id to each resource.
   Client-ids MUST be unique over the lifetime of this update stream: a
   client MUST NOT re-use a previously removed client-id.

   If a request has any error, the server MUST NOT add or remove any
   resources from the associated update stream.  In particular,

   o  Each "add" request must satisfy the requirements in Section 7.3.
      If not, the server MUST return the error response defined in
      Section 7.3.

   o  As described in Section 7.6.2, for each "add" request, the ALTO
      server MUST send a full-replacement update event for that resource
      before sending any incremental updates.  The only exception is for
      a GET-mode resource with a version tag.  In this case the server
      MAY omit the full-replacement event for that resource if the "tag"
      field the client provided matches the server's current version.

   o  The server MUST return an E_INVALID_FIELD_VALUE error if a client-
      id in the "remove" field was not added in a prior request.  Thus
      it is illegal to "add" and "remove" the same client-id in the same
      request.  However, it is legal to remove a client-id twice.

   o  The server MUST return an E_INVALID_FIELD_VALUE error if a client-
      id in the "add" field has been used before in this stream.

   o  The server MUST return an E_INVALID_FIELD_VALUE error if the
      request has a non-empty "add" field and a "remove" field with an
      empty list of client-ids (to replace all active resources with a
      new set, the client MUST explicitly enumerate the client-ids to be
      removed).

   o  If the associated update stream has been closed, the server MUST
      return either an ALTO E_INVALID_FIELD_VALUE error, or else an HTTP
      error, such as "404 Not Found".

8.5.  Capabilities & Uses

   None (Stream control services do not appear in the IRD).

8.6.  Response

   If a request is successful, the server returns an HTTP "204 No
   Content" response with no data.  If there are any errors, the server
   MUST return the appropriate error code, and MUST NOT add or remove
   any resources from the update stream.  Thus control requests are
   atomic: they cannot partially succeed.

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   The server MUST process the "add" field before the "remove" field.
   If the request removes all active resources without adding any
   additional resources, the server MUST close the update stream.  Thus
   an update stream cannot have zero resources.

   Whenever a server removes resources as a result of a stream control
   request, the server MUST send the corresponding "remove" Control
   Events (Section 6.3) on the update stream.  If one control request
   removes several resources, the server MAY send one Control Event for
   all those resources, or a separate event for each removed resource,
   or any combination thereof.

9.  Examples

9.1.  Example: Simple Network and Cost Map Updates

   Here is an example of a client's request and the server's immediate
   response, using the update stream resource "update-my-costs" defined
   in the IRD in Section 9.4.  The client requests updates for the
   network map and "routingcost" cost map, but not for the "hopcount"
   cost map.  The client uses the server's resource-ids as the client-
   ids.  Because the client does not provide a "tag" for the network
   map, the server must send a full update for the network map as well
   as for the cost map.  The client does not set "incremental-updates"
   to "false", so it defaults to "true".  Thus server will send patch
   updates for the cost map, but not for the network map, because this
   update stream resource does not provide incremental updates for the
   network map.

     POST /updates/costs HTTP/1.1
     Host: alto.example.com
     Accept: text/event-stream,application/alto-error+json
     Content-Type: application/alto-updatestreamparams+json
     Content-Length: ###

     { "add": {
         "my-network-map": {
           "resource-id": "my-network-map"
           },
         "my-routingcost-map": {
           "resource-id": "my-routingcost-map"
         }
       }
     }

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     HTTP/1.1 200 OK
     Connection: keep-alive
     Content-Type: text/event-stream

     event: application/alto-updatestreamcontrol+json
     data: {"control-uri":
     data: "http://alto.example.com/updates/streams/3141592653589"}

     event: application/alto-networkmap+json,my-network-map
     data: { ... full network map message ... }

     event: application/alto-costmap+json,my-routingcost-map
     data: { ... full routingcost cost map message ... }

   After sending those events immediately, the ALTO server will send
   additional events as the maps change.  For example, the following
   represents a small change to the cost map:

     event: application/merge-patch+json,my-routingcost-map
     data: {"cost-map": {"PID1" : {"PID2" : 9}}}

   If a major change to the network map occurs, the ALTO server MAY
   choose to send full network and cost map messages rather than patch
   messages:

     event: application/alto-networkmap+json,my-network-map
     data: { ... full network map message ... }

     event: application/alto-costmap+json,my-routingcost-map
     data: { ... full cost map message ... }

9.2.  Example: Advanced Network and Cost Map Updates

   This example is similar to the previous one, except that the client
   requests updates for the "hopcount" cost map as well as the
   "routingcost" cost map, and provides the current version tag of the
   network map, so the server is not required to send the full network
   map update event at the beginning of the stream.  In this example,
   the client uses the client-ids "net", "routing" and "hops" for those
   resources.  The ALTO server sends the stream id and the full cost
   maps, followed by updates for the network map and cost maps as they
   become available:

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     POST /updates/costs HTTP/1.1
     Host: alto.example.com
     Accept: text/event-stream,application/alto-error+json
     Content-Type: application/alto-updatestreamparams+json
     Content-Length: ###

     { "add": {
         "net": {
           "resource-id": "my-network-map".
           "tag": "a10ce8b059740b0b2e3f8eb1d4785acd42231bfe"
           },
         "routing": {
           "resource-id": "my-routingcost-map"
           },
         "hops": {
           "resource-id": "my-hopcount-map"
         }
       }
     }

     HTTP/1.1 200 OK
     Connection: keep-alive
     Content-Type: text/event-stream

     event: application/alto-updatestreamcontrol+json
     data: {"control-uri":
     data: "http://alto.example.com/updates/streams/2718281828459"}

     event: application/alto-costmap+json,routing
     data: { ... full routingcost cost map message ... }

     event: application/alto-costmap+json,hops
     data: { ... full hopcount cost map message ... }

        (pause)

     event: application/merge-patch+json,routing
     data: {"cost-map": {"PID2" : {"PID3" : 31}}}

     event: application/merge-patch+json,hops
     data: {"cost-map": {"PID2" : {"PID3" : 4}}}

   If the client wishes to stop receiving updates for the "hopcount"
   cost map, the client can send a "remove" request on the stream
   control URI:

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     POST /updates/streams/2718281828459" HTTP/1.1
     Host: alto.example.com
     Accept: text/plain,application/alto-error+json
     Content-Type: application/alto-updatestreamparams+json
     Content-Length: ###

     {
       "remove": [ "hops" ]
     }

     HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
     Content-Length: 0

         (stream closed without sending data content)

   The ALTO server sends a "remove" control event on the original
   request stream to inform the client that updates are stopped for that
   resource:

     event: application/alto-updatestreamcontrol+json
     data: { "remove": ["hops"] }

   If the client no longer needs any updates, and wishes to shut the
   update stream down gracefully, the client can send a "remove" request
   with an empty array:

     POST /updates/streams/2718281828459" HTTP/1.1
     Host: alto.example.com
     Accept: text/plain,application/alto-error+json
     Content-Type: application/alto-updatestreamparams+json
     Content-Length: ###

     {
       "remove": [ ]
     }

     HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
     Content-Length: 0

         (stream closed without sending data content)

   The ALTO server sends a final "remove" control event on the original
   request stream to inform the client that all updates are stopped, and
   then closes the stream:

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     event: application/alto-updatestreamcontrol+json
     data: { "remove": ["net", "routing"] }

         (server closes stream)

9.3.  Example: Endpoint Property Updates

   As another example, here is how a client can request updates for the
   property "priv:ietf-bandwidth" for one set of endpoints, and
   "priv:ietf-load" for another.  The ALTO server immediately sends
   full-replacement messages with the property values for all endpoints.
   After that, the server sends update events for the individual
   endpoints as their property values change.

     POST /updates/properties HTTP/1.1
     Host: alto.example.com
     Accept: text/event-stream
     Content-Type: application/alto-updatestreamparams+json
     Content-Length: ###

     { "add": {
         "props-1": {
           "resource-id": "my-props",
           "input": {
             "properties" : [ "priv:ietf-bandwidth" ],
             "endpoints" : [
               "ipv4:198.51.100.1",
               "ipv4:198.51.100.2",
               "ipv4:198.51.100.3"
             ]
           }
         },
         "props-2": {
           "resource-id": "my-props",
           "input": {
             "properties" : [ "priv:ietf-load" ],
             "endpoints" : [
               "ipv6:2001:db8:100::1",
               "ipv6:2001:db8:100::2",
               "ipv6:2001:db8:100::3",
             ]
           }
         },
       }
     }

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     HTTP/1.1 200 OK
     Connection: keep-alive
     Content-Type: text/event-stream

     event: application/alto-updatestreamcontrol+json
     data: {"control-uri":
     data: "http://alto.example.com/updates/streams/1414213562373"}

     event: application/alto-endpointprops+json,props-1
     data: { "endpoint-properties": {
     data:     "ipv4:198.51.100.1" : { "priv:ietf-bandwidth": "13" },
     data:     "ipv4:198.51.100.2" : { "priv:ietf-bandwidth": "42" },
     data:     "ipv4:198.51.100.3" : { "priv:ietf-bandwidth": "27" }
     data:  } }

     event: application/alto-endpointprops+json,props-2
     data: { "endpoint-properties": {
     data:     "ipv6:2001:db8:100::1" : { "priv:ietf-load": "8" },
     data:     "ipv6:2001:db8:100::2" : { "priv:ietf-load": "2" },
     data:     "ipv6:2001:db8:100::3" : { "priv:ietf-load": "9" }
     data:  } }

        (pause)

     event: application/merge-patch+json,props-1
     data: { "endpoint-properties":
     data:   {"ipv4:198.51.100.1" : {"priv:ietf-bandwidth": "3"}}
     data: }

        (pause)

     event: application/merge-patch+json,props-2
     data: { "endpoint-properties":
     data:   {"ipv6:2001:db8:100::3" : {"priv:ietf-load": "7"}}
     data: }

   If the client needs the "bandwidth" property for additional
   endpoints, the client can send a "add" request on the stream control
   URI:

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     POST /updates/streams/1414213562373" HTTP/1.1
     Host: alto.example.com
     Accept: text/plain,application/alto-error+json
     Content-Type: application/alto-updatestreamparams+json
     Content-Length: ###

     { "add": {
         "props-3": {
           "resource-id": "my-props",
           "input": {
             "properties" : [ "priv:ietf-bandwidth" ],
             "endpoints" : [
               "ipv4:198.51.100.4",
               "ipv4:198.51.100.5",
             ]
           }
         },
         "props-4": {
           "resource-id": "my-props",
           "input": {
             "properties" : [ "priv:ietf-load" ],
             "endpoints" : [
               "ipv6:2001:db8:100::4",
               "ipv6:2001:db8:100::5",
             ]
           }
         },
       }
     }

     HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
     Content-Length: 0

         (stream closed without sending data content)

   The ALTO server sends full replacement events for the two new
   resources, followed by incremental updates for all four requests as
   they arrive:

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     event: application/alto-endpointprops+json,props-3
     data: { "endpoint-properties": {
     data:     "ipv4:198.51.100.4" : { "priv:ietf-bandwidth": "25" },
     data:     "ipv4:198.51.100.5" : { "priv:ietf-bandwidth": "31" },
     data:  } }

     event: application/alto-endpointprops+json,props-4
     data: { "endpoint-properties": {
     data:     "ipv6:2001:db8:100::4" : { "priv:ietf-load": "6" },
     data:     "ipv6:2001:db8:100::5" : { "priv:ietf-load": "4" },
     data:  } }

        (pause)

     event: application/merge-patch+json,props-3
     data: { "endpoint-properties":
     data:   {"ipv4:198.51.100.5" : {"priv:ietf-bandwidth": "15"}}
     data: }

        (pause)

     event: application/merge-patch+json,props-2
     data: { "endpoint-properties":
     data:   {"ipv6:2001:db8:100::2" : {"priv:ietf-load": "9"}}
     data: }

        (pause)

     event: application/merge-patch+json,props-4
     data: { "endpoint-properties":
     data:   {"ipv6:2001:db8:100::4" : {"priv:ietf-load": "3"}}
     data: }

9.4.  IRD Example

   Here is an example of an IRD that offers two update stream services.
   The first provides updates for the network map, the "routingcost" and
   "hopcount" cost maps, and a filtered cost map resource.  The second
   update stream provides updates to the endpoint properties service.

   Note that this IRD defines two filtered cost map resources.  They use
   the same cost types, but "my-filtered-cost-map" accepts cost
   constraint tests, while "my-simple-filtered-cost-map" does not.  To
   avoid the issues discussed in Section 12.1, the update stream
   provides updates for the second, but not the first.

     "my-network-map": {

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       "uri": "http://alto.example.com/networkmap",
       "media-type": "application/alto-networkmap+json",
     },
     "my-routingcost-map": {
       "uri": "http://alto.example.com/costmap/routingcost",
       "media-type": "application/alto-costmap+json",
       "uses": ["my-networkmap"],
       "capabilities": {
         "cost-type-names": ["num-routingcost"]
       }
     },
     "my-hopcount-map": {
       "uri": "http://alto.example.com/costmap/hopcount",
       "media-type": "application/alto-costmap+json",
       "uses": ["my-networkmap"],
       "capabilities": {
         "cost-type-names": ["num-hopcount"]
       }
     },
     "my-filtered-cost-map": {
       "uri": "http://alto.example.com/costmap/filtered/constraints",
       "media-type": "application/alto-costmap+json",
       "accepts": "application/alto-costmapfilter+json",
       "uses": ["my-networkmap"],
       "capabilities": {
         "cost-type-names": ["num-routingcost", "num-hopcount"],
         "cost-constraints": true
       }
     },
     "my-simple-filtered-cost-map": {
       "uri": "http://alto.example.com/costmap/filtered/simple",
       "media-type": "application/alto-costmap+json",
       "accepts": "application/alto-costmapfilter+json",
       "uses": ["my-networkmap"],
       "capabilities": {
         "cost-type-names": ["num-routingcost", "num-hopcount"],
         "cost-constraints": false
       }
     },
     "my-props": {
       "uri": "http://alto.example.com/properties",
       "media-type": "application/alto-endpointprops+json",
       "accepts": "application/alto-endpointpropparams+json",
       "capabilities": {
         "prop-types": ["priv:ietf-bandwidth"]
       }
     },
     "update-my-costs": {

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       "uri": "http://alto.example.com/updates/costs",
       "media-type": "text/event-stream",
       "accepts": "application/alto-updatestreamparams+json",
       "uses": [
          "my-network-map",
          "my-routingcost-map",
          "my-hopcount-map",
          "my-simple-filtered-cost-map"
       ],
       "capabilities": {
         "incremental-update-media-types": {
           "my-routingcost-map": application/merge-patch+json",
           "my-hopcount-map": "application/merge-patch+json"
         }
       }
     },
     "update-my-props": {
       "uri": "http://alto.example.com/updates/properties",
       "media-type": "text/event-stream",
       "uses": [ "my-props" ],
       "accepts": "application/alto-updatestreamparams+json",
       "capabilities": {
         "incremental-update-media-types": {
           "my-props": "application/merge-patch+json"
         }
       }
     }

10.  Client Actions When Receiving Update Messages

   In general, when a client receives a full-replacement update message
   for a resource, the client should replace the current version with
   the new version.  When a client receives a patch update message for a
   resource, the client should apply those patches to the current
   version of the resource.

   However, because resources can depend on other resources (e.g., cost
   maps depend on network maps), an ALTO client MUST NOT use a dependent
   resource if the resource on which it depends has changed.  There are
   at least two ways a client can do that.  We will illustrate these
   techniques by referring to Network and cost map messages, although
   these techniques apply to any dependent resources.

   Note that when a network map changes, the ALTO server MUST send the
   network map update message before sending the updates for the
   dependent cost maps (see Section 7.6.2).

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   One approach is for the ALTO client to save the network map update
   message in a buffer, and continue to use the previous network map,
   and the associated cost maps, until the client receives the update
   messages for all dependent cost maps.  The client then applies all
   network and cost map updates atomically.

   Alternatively, the client MAY update the network map immediately.  In
   this case, the client MUST mark each dependent cost map as
   temporarily invalid, and MUST NOT use that map until the client
   receives a cost map update message with the new network map version
   tag.  Note that the client MUST NOT delete the cost maps, because the
   server may send patch update messages.

   The ALTO server SHOULD send updates for dependent resources in a
   timely fashion.  However, if the client does not receive the expected
   updates, the client MUST close the update stream connection, discard
   the dependent resources, and reestablish the update stream.  The
   client MAY retain the version tag of the last version of any tagged
   resources, and give those version tags when requesting the new update
   stream.  In this case, if a version is still current, the ALTO server
   will not re-send that resource.

   Although not as efficient as possible, this recovery method is simple
   and reliable.

11.  Design Decisions and Discussions

11.1.  HTTP/2 Server-Push

   HTTP/2 ([RFC7540]) provides a Server Push facility.  Although the
   name implies that it might be useful for sending asynchronous updates
   from the server to the client, in reality Server Push is not well
   suited for that task.  To see why it is not, here is a quick summary
   of HTTP/2.

   HTTP/2 allows a client and server to multiplex many HTTP requests and
   responses over a single TCP connection.  The requests and responses
   can be interleaved on a block by block basis, avoiding the head-of-
   line blocking problem encountered with the Keep-Alive mechanism in
   HTTP/1.1.  Server Push allows the server to send a resource (an
   image, a CSS file, a javascript file, etc.) to the client before the
   client explicitly requests it.  A server can only push cacheable GET-
   mode resources.  By pushing a resource, the server implicitly tells
   the client, "Add this resource to your cache, because a resource you
   have requested needs it."

   One approach for using Server Push for ALTO updates is for the server
   to send each update event as a separate Server Push item, and let the

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   client apply those updates as they arrive.  Unfortunately there are
   several problems with that approach.

   First, HTTP/2 does not guarantee that pushed resources are delivered
   to the client in the order they were sent by the client, so each
   update event would need a sequence number, and the client would have
   to re-sequence them.

   Second, an HTTP/2-aware client library will not necessarily inform a
   client application when the server pushes a resource.  Instead, the
   library might cache the pushed resource, and only deliver it to the
   client when the client explicitly requests that URI.

   But the third problem is the most significant: Server Push is
   optional, and can be disabled by any proxy between the client and the
   server.  This is not a problem for the intended use of Server Push:
   eventually the client will request those resources, so disabling
   Server Push just adds a delay.  But this means that Server Push is
   not suitable for resources which the client does not know to request.

   Thus we do not believe HTTP/2 Server Push is suitable for delivering
   asynchronous updates.  Hence we have chosen to base ALTO updates on
   HTTP/1.1 and SSE.

11.2.  Not Allowing Stream Restart

   If an update stream is closed accidentally, when the client
   reconnects, the server must resend the full maps.  This is clearly
   inefficient.  To avoid that inefficiency, the SSE specification
   allows a server to assign an id to each event.  When a client
   reconnects, the client can present the id of the last successfully
   received event, and the server restarts with the next event.

   However, that mechanism adds additional complexity.  The server must
   save SSE messages in a buffer, in case clients reconnect.  But that
   mechanism will never be perfect: if the client waits too long to
   reconnect, or if the client sends an invalid id, then the server will
   have to resend the complete maps anyway.

   Furthermore, this is unlikely to be a problem in practice.  Clients
   who want continuous updates for large resources, such as full Network
   and cost maps, are likely to be things like P2P trackers.  These
   clients will be well connected to the network; they will rarely drop
   connections.

   Mobile devices certainly can and do drop connections, and will have
   to reconnect.  But mobile devices will not need continuous updates
   for multi-megabyte cost maps.  If mobile devices need continuous

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   updates at all, they will need them for small queries, such as the
   costs from a small set of media servers from which the device can
   stream the currently playing movie.  If the mobile device drops the
   connection and reestablishes the update stream, the ALTO server will
   have to retransmit only a small amount of redundant data.

   In short, using event ids to avoid resending the full map adds a
   considerable amount of complexity to avoid a situation which we
   expect is very rare.  We believe that complexity is not worth the
   benefit.

   The Update Stream service does allow the client to specify the tag of
   the last received version of any tagged resource, and if that is
   still current, the server need not retransmit the full resource.
   Hence clients can use this to avoid retransmitting full network maps.
   cost maps are not tagged, so this will not work for them.  Of course,
   the ALTO protocol could be extended by adding version tags to cost
   maps, which would solve the retransmission-on-reconnect problem.
   However, adding tags to cost maps might add a new set of
   complications.

11.3.  Is Incremental Update Useful for Network Maps?

   It is not clear whether incremental updates (that is, patch updates)
   are useful for network maps.  For minor changes, such as moving a
   prefix from one PID to another, they can be useful.  But more
   involved changes to the network map are likely to be "flag days":
   they represent a completely new network map, rather than a simple,
   well-defined change.

   At this point we do not have sufficient experience with ALTO
   deployments to know how frequently network maps will change, or how
   extensive those changes will be.  For example, suppose a link goes
   down and the network uses an alternative route.  This is a frequent
   occurrence.  If an ALTO server models that by moving prefixes from
   one PID to another, then network maps will change frequently.
   However, an ALTO server might model that as a change in costs between
   PIDs, rather than a change in the PID definitions.  If a server takes
   that approach, simple routing changes will affect cost maps, but not
   network maps.

   So while we allow a server to use patch on network maps, we do not
   require the server to do so.  Each server may decide on its own
   whether to use patch for network maps.

   This is not to say that network map updates are not useful.  Clearly
   network maps will change, and update events are necessary to inform
   clients of the new map.  Further, there maybe another incremental

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   update encoding that is better suited for updating Networks Maps; see
   the discussions in the next section.

11.4.  Other Incremental Update Message Types

   Other JSON-based incremental update formats may be introduced in the
   future.  The update events defined in this document have the media-
   type of the update data.  Hence, this update mechanism could easily
   be extended to allow servers to use additional encoding for
   incremental updates.

   Although we allow both JSON patch and JSON merge patch, we think that
   JSON merge patch is clearly superior to JSON Patch for describing
   incremental updates to cost maps, Endpoint Costs, and Endpoint
   Properties.  For these data structures, JSON merge patch is more
   space-efficient, as well as simpler to apply; we see no advantage to
   allowing a server to use JSON Patch for those resources.

   The case is not as clear for incremental updates to network maps.
   For example, suppose a prefix moves from one PID to another.  JSON
   Patch could encode that as a simple insertion and deletion, while
   merge patch would have to replace the entire array of prefixes for
   both PIDs.  On the other hand, to process a JSON Patch update, the
   client would have to retain the indexes of the prefixes for each PID.
   Logically, the prefixes in a PID are an unordered set, not an array;
   aside from handling updates, a client has no need to retain the array
   indexes of the prefixes.  Hence to take advantage of JSON Patch for
   network maps, clients would have to retain additional, otherwise
   unnecessary, data.

11.5.  Requirements on Future ALTO Services to Use this Design

12.  Miscellaneous Considerations

12.1.  Considerations for Updates to Filtered Cost Maps

   If an update stream provides updates to a Filtered cost map which
   allows constraint tests, then a client MAY request updates to a
   Filtered cost map request with a constraint test.  In this case, when
   a cost changes, the server MUST send an update if the new value
   satisfies the test.  If the new value does not, whether the server
   sends an update depends on whether the previous value satisfied the
   test.  If it did not, the server SHOULD NOT send an update to the
   client.  But if the previous value did, then the server MUST send an
   update with a "null" value, to inform the client that this cost no
   longer satisfies the criteria.

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   An ALTO server can avoid such issues by offering update streams only
   for filtered cost maps which do not allow constraint tests.

12.2.  Considerations for Incremental Updates to Ordinal Mode Costs

   For an ordinal mode cost map, a change to a single cost point may
   require updating many other costs.  As an extreme example, suppose
   the lowest cost changes to the highest cost.  For a numerical mode
   cost map, only that one cost changes.  But for an ordinal mode cost
   map, every cost might change.  While this document allows a server to
   offer incremental updates for ordinal mode cost maps, server
   implementors should be aware that incremental updates for ordinal
   costs are more complicated than for numerical costs, and clients
   should be aware that small changes may result in large updates.

   An ALTO server can avoid this complication by only offering full
   replacement updates for ordinal cost maps.

12.3.  Considerations Related to SSE Line Lengths

   SSE was designed for events that consist of relatively small amounts
   of line-oriented text data, and SSE clients frequently read input one
   line-at-a-time.  However, an update stream sends full cost maps as
   single events, and a cost map may involve megabytes, if not tens of
   megabytes, of text.  This has implications for both the ALTO server
   and Client.

   First, SSE clients might not be able to handle a multi-megabyte data
   "line".  Hence it is RECOMMENDED that an ALTO server limit data lines
   to at most 2,000 characters.

   Second, some SSE client packages read all the data for an event into
   memory, and then present it to the client as a single character
   array.  However, a client computer may not have enough memory to hold
   the entire JSON text for a large cost map.  Hence an ALTO client
   SHOULD consider using an SSE library which presents the event data in
   manageable chunks, so the client can parse the cost map incrementally
   and store the underlying data in a more compact format.

13.  Security Considerations

13.1.  Denial-of-Service Attacks

   Allowing persistent update stream connections enables a new class of
   Denial-of-Service attacks.  A client might create an unreasonable
   number of update stream connections, or add an unreasonable number of
   client-ids to one update stream.  To avoid those attacks, an ALTO
   server MAY choose to limit the number of active streams, and reject

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   new requests when that threshold is reached.  A server MAY also chose
   to limit the number of active client-ids on any given stream, or
   limit the total number of client-ids used over the lifetime of a
   stream, and reject any stream control request which would exceed
   those limits.  In these cases, the server SHOULD return the HTTP
   status "503 Service Unavailable".

   While this technique prevents update stream DoS attacks from
   disrupting an ALTO server's other services, it does make it easier
   for a DoS attack to disrupt the update stream service.  Therefore a
   server may prefer to restrict update stream services to authorized
   clients, as discussed in Section 15 of [RFC7285].

   Alternatively an ALTO server MAY return the HTTP status "307
   Temporary Redirect" to redirect the client to another ALTO server
   which can better handle a large number of update streams.

13.2.  Spoofed Control Requests

   An outside party which can read the update stream response, or which
   can observe stream control requests, can obtain the control URI and
   use that to send a fraudulent "remove" requests, thus disabling
   updates for the valid client.  This can be avoided by encrypting the
   update stream and stream control requests (see Section 15 of
   [RFC7285]).  Also, the ALTO server echoes the "remove" requests on
   the update stream, so the valid client can detect unauthorized
   requests.

13.3.  Privacy

   This extension does not introduce any privacy issues not already
   present in the ALTO protocol.

14.  IANA Considerations

   This document defines two new media-types, "application/alto-
   updatestreamparams+json", as described in Section 7.3, and
   "application/alto-updatestreamcontrol+json", as described in
   Section 6.3.  All other media-types used in this document have
   already been registered, either for ALTO, JSON merge patch, or JSON
   patch.

   Type name:  application

   Subtype name:  alto-updatestreamparams+json

   Required parameters:  n/a

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   Optional parameters:  n/a

   Encoding considerations:  Encoding considerations are identical to
      those specified for the "application/json" media type.  See
      [RFC7159].

   Security considerations:  Security considerations relating to the
      generation and consumption of ALTO Protocol messages are discussed
      in Section 13 of this document and Section 15 of [RFC7285].

   Interoperability considerations:  This document specifies format of
      conforming messages and the interpretation thereof.

   Published specification:  Section 7.3 of this document.

   Applications that use this media type:  ALTO servers and ALTO clients
      either stand alone or are embedded within other applications.

   Additional information:

      Magic number(s):  n/a

      File extension(s):  This document uses the mime type to refer to
         protocol messages and thus does not require a file extension.

      Macintosh file type code(s):  n/a

   Person & email address to contact for further information:  See
      Authors' Addresses section.

   Intended usage:  COMMON

   Restrictions on usage:  n/a

   Author:  See Authors' Addresses section.

   Change controller:  Internet Engineering Task Force
      (mailto:iesg@ietf.org).

   Type name:  application

   Subtype name:  alto-updatestreamcontrol+json

   Required parameters:  n/a

   Optional parameters:  n/a

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   Encoding considerations:  Encoding considerations are identical to
      those specified for the "application/json" media type.  See
      [RFC7159].

   Security considerations:  Security considerations relating to the
      generation and consumption of ALTO Protocol messages are discussed
      in Section 13 of this document and Section 15 of [RFC7285].

   Interoperability considerations:  This document specifies format of
      conforming messages and the interpretation thereof.

   Published specification:  Section 6.3 of this document.

   Applications that use this media type:  ALTO servers and ALTO clients
      either stand alone or are embedded within other applications.

   Additional information:

      Magic number(s):  n/a

      File extension(s):  This document uses the mime type to refer to
         protocol messages and thus does not require a file extension.

      Macintosh file type code(s):  n/a

   Person & email address to contact for further information:  See
      Authors' Addresses section.

   Intended usage:  COMMON

   Restrictions on usage:  n/a

   Author:  See Authors' Addresses section.

   Change controller:  Internet Engineering Task Force
      (mailto:iesg@ietf.org).

15.  References

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

   [RFC5789]  Dusseault, L. and J. Snell, "PATCH Method for HTTP",
              RFC 5789, March 2010.

   [RFC6902]  Bryan, P. and M. Nottingham, "JavaScript Object Notation
              (JSON) Patch", RFC 6902, April 2013.

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   [RFC7159]  Bray, T., "The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data
              Interchange Format", RFC 7159, March 2014.

   [RFC7285]  Almi, R., Penno, R., Yang, Y., Kiesel, S., Previdi, S.,
              Roome, W., Shalunov, S., and R. Woundy, "Application-Layer
              Traffic Optimization (ALTO) Protocol", RFC 7285, September
              2014.

   [RFC7230]  Fielding, R. and J. Reschke, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol
              (HTTP/1.1): Message Syntax and Routing", RFC 7230, June
              2014.

   [RFC7231]  Fielding, R. and J. Reschke, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol
              (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content", RFC 7231, June 2014.

   [RFC7232]  Fielding, R. and J. Reschke, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol
              (HTTP/1.1): Conditional Requests", RFC 7232, June 2014.

   [RFC7233]  Fielding, R. and J. Reschke, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol
              (HTTP/1.1): Range Requests", RFC 7233, June 2014.

   [RFC7234]  Fielding, R., Nottingham, M., and J. Reschke, "Hypertext
              Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Caching", RFC 7234, June
              2014.

   [RFC7235]  Fielding, R. and J. Reschke, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol
              (HTTP/1.1): Authentication", RFC 7235, June 2014.

   [RFC7396]  Hoffman, P. and J. Snell, "JSON Merge Patch", RFC 7396,
              October 2014.

   [RFC7540]  Belshe, M., Peon, R., and M. Thomson, "Hypertext Transfer
              Protocol Version 2 (HTTP/2)", RFC 7540, May 2015.

   [SSE]      Hickson, I., "Server-Sent Events (W3C)", W3C
              Recommendation 03 February 2015, February 2015.

Appendix A.  Acknowledgments

   Thank you to Xiao Shi (Yale University) for his contributions to an
   earlier version of this document.

Authors' Addresses

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   Wendy Roome
   Nokia Bell Labs
   600 Mountain Ave, Rm 3B-324
   Murray Hill, NJ  07974
   USA

   Phone: +1-908-582-7974
   Email: wendy@wdroome.com

   Y. Richard Yang
   Tongji/Yale University
   51 Prospect St
   New Haven  CT
   USA

   Email: yang.r.yang@gmail.com

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