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HTTP Speed+Mobility
draft-montenegro-httpbis-speed-mobility-01

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Expired".
Authors Rob Trace, Adalberto Foresti, Sandeep Singhal, Osama Mazahir, Henrik Nielsen , Brian Raymor , Ravi Rao, Gabriel Montenegro
Last updated 2012-03-28
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draft-montenegro-httpbis-speed-mobility-01
Network Working Group                                           R. Trace
Internet-Draft                                                A. Foresti
Expires: September 2, 2012                                    S. Singhal
                                                              O. Mazahir
                                                              H. Nielsen
                                                               B. Raymor
                                                                  R. Rao
                                                           G. Montenegro
                                                               Microsoft
                                                                Mar 2012

                          HTTP Speed+Mobility
               draft-montenegro-httpbis-speed-mobility-01

Abstract

   The design of HTTP--how every application and service on the web
   communicates today--can positively impact user experience,
   operational and environmental costs, and even the battery life of the
   devices you carry around.

   Improving HTTP starts with speed.  Apps--not just browsers--should
   get faster too.  More and more, apps are how people access web
   services, in addition to their browser.  Improving HTTP should also
   make mobile better, particularly to ensure great battery life and low
   network cost on constrained devices.  People and their apps should
   stay in control of network access.  Finally, to achieve rapid
   adoption, HTTP 2.0 needs to retain as much compatibility as possible
   with the existing Web infrastructure.  Done right, HTTP 2.0 can help
   people connect their devices and applications to the Internet fast,
   reliably, and securely over a number of diverse networks, with great
   battery life and low cost.

   This document describes "HTTP Speed+Mobility," a proposal for HTTP
   2.0 that emphasizes performance improvements and security while at
   the same time accounting for the important needs of mobile devices
   and applications.  The proposal starts from both the Google SPDY
   protocol and the work the IETF has done around WebSockets.  The
   proposal is not a final product but rather is intended to form a
   baseline for working group discussion.

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

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

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

   This Internet-Draft will expire on September 2, 2012.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 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.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     1.1.  Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       1.1.1.  Maintain existing HTTP semantics . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       1.1.2.  Layered Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       1.1.3.  Use of Existing standards  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       1.1.4.  Client is in control of content  . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       1.1.5.  Network Cost and Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     1.2.  Definitions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     1.3.  Protocol Overview  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   2.  Setting up the session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   3.  Session layer and Framing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     3.1.  WebSocket framing protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     3.2.  WebSocket Keepalive messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     3.3.  WebSocket Close  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     3.4.  WebSocket errors (Session errors)  . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   4.  Streams Layer  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
     4.1.  Modeling SYN_STREAM in a WebSocket frame . . . . . . . . . 14
     4.2.  Compression  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     4.3.  Control Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
       4.3.1.  SYN_STREAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
       4.3.2.  SYN_REPLY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
       4.3.3.  HEADERS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
     4.4.  SPDY frames removed in this proposal . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   5.  HTTP Layering  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     5.1.  Connection Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     5.2.  Use of GOAWAY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     5.3.  Server Push Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   6.  Open Issues for Discussion in the Workgroup  . . . . . . . . . 20
   7.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
   8.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

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1.  Introduction

   Over the course of its almost two decades of existence, the HTTP
   protocol has enabled the web to experience phenomenal growth and
   change the world in more ways than its creators might have imagined.
   HTTP's designers got many design principles right, including
   simplicity and robustness.  These charateristics allow billions of
   devices to support and use HTTP in a multitude of communication
   scenarios.

   Improving HTTP starts with speed.  Web sites have become complex.  A
   single site could comprise hundreds of different elements (from
   images to videos to ads to news feeds and so on) that need to get
   retrieved by the client before the page can be fully displayed.
   Users expect all of this to happen securely and instantly across all
   their devices and applications.  In many scenarios, HTTP fails to
   meet these expectations.  Speed improvements need to apply not only
   for browsers but also for apps.  More and more, apps are how people
   access web services, in addition to their browser.  A key attribute
   of mobile applications is that they may access only a subset of the
   web site's data, relying on local application logic to process the
   data and create a presentation and interaction layer.

   At the core of the speed problem is that HTTP does not allow for out-
   of-order or interleaved responses.  This requires the establishment
   of multiple TCP connections for concurrency (pipelining is formally
   supported by the protocol but is seldom implemented in practice).
   The overhead in terms of additional roundtrips and dealing with TCP
   slow start causes a significant performance penalty.  This leads to a
   variety of issues, such as additional round trips for connection
   setup, slow-start delays, and potentially connection rationing: the
   client may not be able to dedicate too many connections to any single
   server, and the server needs to protect itself from denial-of-service
   attacks.  As a result, users are often disappointed in the perceived
   performance of websites.

   Improving HTTP should also make mobile apps and devices better.  When
   HTTP was first developed mobile communication was virtually non-
   existent, but today the mobile Web is an integral and fast-growing
   part of the Web. The different conditions on mobile communications
   require rethinking of how protocols work.  For example, people want
   their mobile devices to have better battery life.  HTTP 2.0 can help
   decrease the power consumption of network access.  Mobile devices
   also give people a choice of networks with different costs and
   bandwidth limits.  Embedded sensors and clients face similar issues.
   Mobile considerations require that HTTP be network efficient while
   simultaneously being sensitive to the limited power, computation, and
   connectivity capabilities of the client device.  To support mobile

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   devices, HTTP needs to be able to "scale down" to allow clients to
   control the level of data received, the format of that data, and even
   the timing of that data.

1.1.  Overview

   This draft describes our proposal for "HTTP Speed+Mobility".  The
   approach proposed focuses on all the web's end users---emphasizing
   performance improvements while at the same time accounting for the
   important needs of mobile devices and applications.

   The proposal's intended outcome is a protocol that can be quickly and
   widely adopted in the industry, and start delivering real value to
   end users without imposing undue burden on hardware and software
   vendors, as well as administrators of legacy equipment.  Implementors
   should also find it easy to understand due to the familiarity of some
   of its key concepts, which are aligned with innovations that were
   adopted in recent IETF specifications like WebSockets.  Most
   important, the proposal seeks to establish a baseline for working
   group discussion on the potential improvements that would define HTTP
   2.0.

   This HTTP Speed+Mobility proposal adheres to the following
   principles:

   o  Maintain existing HTTP semantics.  The request-response nature of
      the HTTP protocol and semantics of its messages as they traverse
      diverse networks must be preserved.  Any deviation from this
      principle would represent an extension to HTTP and should be
      treated as such.

   o  Maintain the integrity of the layered architecture.

   o  Use existing standards when available to make it easy for the
      protocol to work with the current web infrastructure including
      switches, routers, proxies, load balancers, security systems, DNS
      servers, and NATs.  For example, the proposal reuses the
      WebSockets handshake and framing mechanism to establish a
      bidirectional link that is compatible with existing proxies and
      connection models.

   o  Be as broadly applicable and flexible as the current protocol, and
      keep the client in control of content.  For example, the proposal
      does not mandate the use of TLS or compression, leaving those
      features up to the client to negotiate based on its specific
      security, computation, and communication needs.

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   o  Account for the needs of modern mobile clients, including power
      efficiency and connectivity through costed networks.

   These principles are described in more detail below.

1.1.1.  Maintain existing HTTP semantics

   HTTP at its core is a simple request-response protocol.  The working
   group has clearly stated that it is a goal to preserve the semantics
   of HTTP.  Thus, we believe that the request-response nature of the
   HTTP protocol must be preserved.  The core HTTP 2.0 protocol should
   focus on optimizing these HTTP semantics, while improving the
   transport via a new session layer.  Additional capabilities that
   introduce new communication models like unrequested responses must be
   treated as an extension to the core protocol, and explored separately
   from the core protocol.

1.1.2.  Layered Architecture

   HTTP relies on an in-order, reliable transport to ensure delivery of
   application data.  TCP has almost exclusively provided the reliable,
   ordered delivery of HTTP messages from one computer to another since
   its inception.  TCP accounts for adverse network conditions such as
   congestion, or other unpredictable network behavior.  Any HTTP 2.0
   proposal should leverage the reliable transport and not attempt to
   replicate functions generally accepted as addressed by other layers.

   Conversely, any proposals for enhancing functionality typically
   provided by other layers of the networking stack (e.g., congestion
   control provided by the transport layer) should be brought to the
   attention of, and discussed in, proper IETF forums (e.g., TCPM WG).

   During the HTTPbis charter proposal discussion, the security and
   applications area directors suggested an additional paragraph on
   security work and authentication.  If new work is undertaken in this
   regard, it should be done by existing IETF security groups in this
   area.

1.1.3.  Use of Existing standards

   HTTP 2.0 should prefer models that are compatible with the existing
   Internet and, where possible, reuse existing protocol mechanisms.
   One primary example is in protocol negotiation where the WG should
   avoid a proliferation of methods, and instead consider using the HTTP
   1.1 Upgrade header as it is used in the WebSocket protocol.  This
   will help HTTP 2.0 to be readily deployed on the existing internet,
   and maintain compatibility with existing web sites and client
   environments (such as some educational networks).

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1.1.4.  Client is in control of content

   HTTP is used in a vast array of scenarios and a variety of network
   architectures.  There is no "one size fits all" deployment of HTTP.
   For example, at times it may not be optimal to use compression in
   certain environments.  For constrained sensors from the "Internet of
   things" scenario, CPU resources may be at a premium.  Having a high
   performance but flexible HTTP 2.0 solution will enable
   interoperability for a wider variety of scenarios.  There also may be
   aspects of security that are not appropriate for all implementations.
   Encryption must be optional to allow HTTP 2.0 to meet certain
   scenarios and regulations.  HTTP 2.0 is a universal replacement for
   HTTP 1.X, and there are some instances in which imposing TLS is not
   required (or allowed).  For example, a "random thought of the day"
   web service has very little need for it, nor does a sensor spewing
   out a temperature reading every few seconds.

   Because of the variety of clients on the Internet and the number of
   connection scenarios, clients are in the best position to define what
   content is downloaded.  The browser or app has firsthand information
   on what the user is currently doing and what data is already locally
   available.  For example, most of the browsers in use today have
   powerful caches that should be leveraged to store web elements that
   change infrequently.

   Increasingly, apps, rather than browsers, originate HTTP requests.
   The content retrieved by apps is usually different from that
   downloaded by browsers; in fact, multiple apps may access the same
   content for different purposes.  Each app may access different
   subsets of the server content, with different priorities, and in
   different sequences according to their own rendering requirements and
   user interaction models.  The server cannot always know the needs or
   intents of a particular application.

   HTTP 2.0 proposals should not force the browser or app to download
   content that has not been requested and may already be cached.
   Furthermore, the client must have the option to decline unwanted or
   unneeded content.  Clients need the ability to inform the server
   about cached elements that do not need to be downloaded.  Ideally
   this feedback from the client to the server would allow for
   incremental approval of content to enable an efficient "push"
   extension to deliver the right content, with the right security and
   with the right formatting.

1.1.5.  Network Cost and Power

   Any new protocol for transporting HTTP data on the Internet must also
   take into account the types of systems and devices that use HTTP and

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   how they are connected to the Internet.  The growth of the Internet
   of the next decade (and longer) will be fueled by mobile apps and
   mobile devices, as well as by the cheap, limited-capability devices
   envisioned by the "Internet of Things."  For all these devices, speed
   is only one design tenet: considerations about battery life,
   bandwidth limitations, processor and memory constraints, and various
   policy mandates will also challenge designers and users.  For
   instance, the user of a device connected over mobile broadband may
   need to minimize the amount of data sent in order to conserve
   bandwidth, minimize power usage and monetary cost of communication.
   Furthermore, transmitting the same amount of data may have radically
   different power implications depending on how the transfer is
   structured: for example, when operating over a mobile broadband
   interface it is more efficient to use a single larger transfer than
   to space out the transmission in multiple smaller transfers.
   Multiple transfers may cause multiple radio transitions between low
   and high powered states, causing additional battery drain.

   In short, the choice among speed, cost, and power is not a simple
   one.  At times, speed may be the most important consideration.  Other
   times, bandwidth cost or battery life may be the deciding factor.
   HTTP 2.0 must allow developers to optimize for the specific
   constraints of their problem space (which might change over time)
   rather than imposing a monolithic solution to a generic problem.  For
   example, server push is a good optimization for many scenarios where
   content updates to web pages revisited over time are infrequent, the
   client has plenty of bandwidth as well as the needed processing power
   to either handle the updates instantly, or cache them for later
   processing.  On the other hand, it is not likely to be appropriate in
   situations where content is being transmitted over a costed link.
   Neither it will be when the client is running several applications
   that use network bandwidth concurrently, and bursty, server-initiated
   content transmissions would interfere with their smooth operation.
   Rather than forcing developers to choose between using all the
   features of HTTP 2.0 or sticking with HTTP 1.1, it would be better to
   provide mechanisms for developers to fine tune the capabilities of
   HTTP 2.0 to a specific set of requirements.

   In summary, the goals of higher speed, lower cost, lower power may
   often be aligned.  For instance, having less data sent on the wire
   will allow pages to load faster, allow the radio to power down sooner
   and consume less bandwidth.  But given the variety of the scenarios
   where HTTP 2.0 will be used, this will not always be the case.  For
   example, a device whose battery is about to run out, or whose cache
   is near capacity can provide a better user experience by disabling
   server push updates while retaining the other optimizations available
   in HTTP 2.0.  Accordingly, the working group should consider power
   and cost as well as speed.

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1.2.  Definitions

   Client:  The endpoint initiating the WebSocket session.

   Connection:  A transport-level connection between two endpoints.

   Endpoint:  Either the client or server of a connection.

   Frame:  A header-prefixed sequence of bytes sent over a HTTP Speed+
      Mobility WebSocket.

   Server:  The endpoint which did not initiate the WebSocket session.

   Session:  A synonym for a WebSocket.

   Session error:  An error on the WebSocket.

   Stream:  A bi-directional flow of bytes across a virtual channel
      within a HTTP Speed+Mobility session.

   Stream error:  An error on an individual stream.

1.3.  Protocol Overview

   This protocol comprises four parts:

   1.  Setting up a session (Handshake): Uses WebSocket upgrade

   2.  Session maintenance and framing: Uses WebSocket framing,
       including control frames such as keepalive (PING-PONG) and
       WebSocket Close

   3.  Multiplexing within the session: Uses SPDY
       [I-D.mbelshe-httpbis-spdy] stream semantics implemented via a
       WebSocket extension

   4.  HTTP layering: Same as SPDY

   WebSocket provides a standards-based (RFC 6455) model for
   establishing a bi-directional session (or a socket) between a client
   and a server across the web.  The RFC describes the following:

   o  A mechanism to create a session between a client and a server
      (Upgrade) and optionally secure the session using TLS

   o  A light-weight framing model to send data asynchronously and bi-
      directionally within the session

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   o  A set of control messages to keep the session alive (PING-PONG),
      and to close the session (CLOSE)

   o  An extension model to optionally layer semantics such as
      multiplexing and compression

   In keeping with our principle to leverage existing standards where
   possible, this HTTP Speed+Mobility proposal uses WebSocket as the
   session layer between the client and the server.  Using WebSocket as
   a session layer has several advantages.  First, we do not have to
   invent a new set of control messages, since we can use the ones
   defined by the WebSocket standard.  Second, network intermediaries
   (the middleboxes) do not have to be modified to cope with a new
   protocol for establishing and maintaining bidirectional sessions
   across the web.  Finally, clients and servers have the flexibility to
   decide whether they want to secure the session or not.

   Using WebSocket also makes it easy to enable multiplexing within the
   session.  In fact, this proposal takes the concept of streams and the
   stream related control messages as defined in SPDY, and models them
   as a WebSocket extension.  Barring some important issues as noted in
   the issues section, the HTTP layering on streams is identical to what
   was presented in the SPDY proposal.

   Furthermore, this proposal removes all congestion management control
   frames proposed in SPDY, in accordance with the principle of
   preserving a layered architecture.  Instead, any TCP issues raised in
   the SPDY proposal should be submitted to the relevant working group
   for consideration.

   Finally, this proposal regards server push as being outside of the
   scope of HTTP 2.0 because it is not in line with existing HTTP
   semantics.  Having said that, given the relevance of server push with
   mobility and in anticipation of such an extension, this proposal does
   offer some thoughts on server push in section 5.

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2.  Setting up the session

   The opening handshake is the standard WebSocket handshake based on
   HTTP Upgrade.  To advertise support for the HTTP 2.0 extension, the
   client request MUST include the "http2" extension token in the |Sec-
   WebSocket-Extensions| header in its opening handshake:

        GET /chat HTTP/1.1
        Host: server.example.com
        Upgrade: websocket
        Connection: Upgrade
        Origin: http://example.com
        Sec-WebSocket-Key: dGhlIHNhbXBsZSBub25jZQ==
        Sec-WebSocket-Version: 13
        Sec-WebSocket-Extensions: http2

   To accept the HTTP 2.0 extension requested by the client, the server
   MUST include the "http2" extension token in the |Sec-WebSocket-
   Extensions| header in its opening handshake.  Otherwise, the client
   MUST fail the WebSocket connection:

        HTTP/1.1 101 Switching Protocols
        Upgrade: websocket
        Connection: Upgrade
        Sec-WebSocket-Accept: s3pPLMBiTxaQ9kYGzzhZRbK+xOo=
        Sec-WebSocket-Extensions: http2

   For more details, please refer to [RFC6455].

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3.  Session layer and Framing

   At the end of an HTTP upgrade as described above, the bi-directional
   WebSocket between the client and the server becomes the new session
   layer.  In keeping with the principle around re-using existing
   standards, the session layer for HTTP Speed+Mobility uses the
   WebSocket base framing protocol for both data frames and control
   frames.

3.1.  WebSocket framing protocol

   Once connected, the client and server can exchange framed messages
   using the framing protocol shown below.  For more details, please
   refer to RFC6455.

      0                   1                   2                   3
      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
     +-+-+-+-+-------+-+-------------+-------------------------------+
     |F|R|R|R| opcode|M| Payload len |    Extended payload length    |
     |I|S|S|S|  (4)  |A|     (7)     |             (16/64)           |
     |N|V|V|V|       |S|             |   (if payload len==126/127)   |
     | |1|2|3|       |K|             |                               |
     +-+-+-+-+-------+-+-------------+ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
     |     Extended payload length continued, if payload len == 127  |
     + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +-------------------------------+
     |                               |Masking-key, if MASK set to 1  |
     +-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
     | Masking-key (continued)       |          Payload Data         |
     +-------------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
     :                     Payload Data continued ...                :
     + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
     |                     Payload Data continued ...                |
     +---------------------------------------------------------------+

3.2.  WebSocket Keepalive messages

   Keepalive messages in WebSocket are modeled using the ping and pong
   control frames.

   The Ping frame contains an opcode of 0x9.  Upon receipt of a Ping
   frame, an endpoint MUST send a Pong frame in response, unless it
   already received a Close frame.  A Ping frame may serve either as a
   keepalive or as a means to verify that the remote endpoint is still
   responsive.

   The Pong frame contains an opcode of 0xA.  A Pong frame is sent in
   response to a Ping frame.  A Pong frame MAY be sent unsolicited.
   This serves as a unidirectional heartbeat.  A response to an

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   unsolicited Pong frame is not expected.

   For more details, please see [RFC6455].

3.3.  WebSocket Close

   Closing a session uses the standard WebSocket close handshake as
   defined in [RFC6455].  The GOAWAY control frame in SPDY is replaced
   by the WebSocket Close control frame.  GOAWAY specific data is mapped
   as follows:

   o  Status Code is replaced with the status code in the WebSocket
      Close frame.  For example:

      *  OK (0) is replaced by 1000 (normal closure)

      *  PROTOCOL_ERROR (1) is replaced by 1002 (protocol error)

   o  Last-good-stream-id is carried as extension data in the WebSocket
      Close frame.

3.4.  WebSocket errors (Session errors)

   The SPDY proposal details session errors and determines that a GOAWAY
   frame MUST be sent when that happens.  For the HTTP Speed+Mobility
   protocol, closing a session MUST use the WebSocket Close frame as
   described in section 3.3 of this document.

   For best performance, it is expected that clients will not close open
   TCP connections until the user closes the HTTP app or navigates away
   from all web pages referencing a connection, or until the server
   closes the connection.  Servers are encouraged to leave connections
   open for as long as possible, but can terminate idle connections if
   necessary.

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4.  Streams Layer

   Once the session is established, HTTP Speed+Mobility allows creating
   streams to send and receive HTTP data.  The stream operations and
   semantics are borrowed directly from SPDY.  As noted earlier,
   WebSocket is the protocol used for framing data that is sent and
   received within the session (and consequently each stream).  Stream
   operations (such as SYN_STREAM) are modeled using a WebSocket
   extension.

4.1.  Modeling SYN_STREAM in a WebSocket frame

   The SYN_STREAM frame is carried as extension data (as seen in section
   3.1) in a binary data frame.  The opcode is set to 0x2.  A possible
   future refinement is for SYN_STREAM to use a control opcode reserved
   for WebSocket extensions as defined in section 5.8 Extensibility in
   RFC6455.

   The payload length is the length of the "Extension data" (which is
   the length of the SYN_STREAM frame) + length of "Application data
   (zero for SYN_STREAM).  In other words, the payload length is as
   shown below:

   o  Control (1 bit)

   o  Version (15 bits)

   o  Type (16 bits)

   o  Flags (8 bits)

   o  Length (24 bits)

   o  Length of SYN_STREAM specific data

   The "Payload data" is defined as "Extension data" concatenated with
   "Application data."  The payload data for a SYN_STREAM frame consists
   of the SYN_STREAM frame (shown below) tunneled "as-is" in the
   Extension data of the WebSocket frame.

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+------------------------------------+
|1|    version    |         1        |
+------------------------------------+
|  Flags (8)  |  Length (24 bits)    |
+------------------------------------+
|X|           Stream-ID (31bits)     |
+------------------------------------+
|X| Associated-To-Stream-ID (31bits) |
+------------------------------------+
| Pri|Unused | Slot |                |
+-------------------+                |
| Number of Name/Value pairs (int32) |   <+
+------------------------------------+    |
|     Length of name (int32)         |    | This section is the "Name/Value
+------------------------------------+    | Header Block", and is compressed
|           Name (string)            |    | unless opted out.
+------------------------------------+    |
|     Length of value  (int32)       |    |
+------------------------------------+    |
|          Value   (string)          |    |
+------------------------------------+    |
|           (repeats)                |   <+

   A Multiplexing Extension for WebSockets
   [draft-tamplin-hybi-google-mux] is being designed in the HyBi working
   group that also defines a multiplexing model.  There is an
   opportunity to converge these designs for use by both WebSockets and
   HTTP Speed+Mobility.

4.2.  Compression

   Throughout this document, header compression is enabled by default.
   However, either the client or the server may opt out of using
   compression when transmitting headers.  This opt out model is
   described with added flags in the SYN_STREAM, HEADERS and SYN_REPLY
   frames.

4.3.  Control Frames

   The following set of stream-related control frames are taken directly
   from SPDY.

   o  SYN_STREAM

   o  SYN_REPLY

   o  RST_STREAM

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   o  HEADERS

   All of the frames are identical to SPDY with the few additions
   described below:

4.3.1.  SYN_STREAM

   In addition, this protocol adds two new flags: one to make
   Compression opt out, and one to make Server Push opt in.

   o  0x04= FLAG_NO_HEADER_COMPRESSION: indicates the Name/Value header
      block is not compressed.

   o  0x08 = FLAG_PUSH_ALLOWED: a stream created with this flag allows
      the server to push related responses in separate unidirectional
      streams.  This flag MUST only be sent by the client.

4.3.2.  SYN_REPLY

   In addition, this protocol adds one new flag, to allow opting out of
   compression.

   o  0x04= FLAG_NO_HEADER_COMPRESSION: indicates the Name/Value header
      block is not compressed

4.3.3.  HEADERS

   In addition, this protocol adds one new flag, to allow opting out of
   compression.

   o  0x02= FLAG_NO_HEADER_COMPRESSION: indicates the the Name/Value
      header block is not compressed.

4.4.  SPDY frames removed in this proposal

   This proposal simplifies the session control messages to remove items
   that are redundant to WebSockets control frames, break compatibility
   with existing HTTP semantics, or implement concepts best addressed at
   the transport layer.  The reasons for the deletions are outlined as
   follows:

   SETTINGS:  The information in the settings control message are
      concepts best reserved for the transport layer.

   PING:  WebSockets already has a keepalive mechanism in Ping / Pong.
      Other functions, such as RTT estimation, are associated with flow
      control, which is a function of the transport layer.

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   GOAWAY:  Replaced with the WebSockets Close Frame which is documented
      in sections 5.5.1 and 7 of WebSockets [RFC 6455]

   WINDOW_UPDATE:  Flow control is a function of the transport layer.

   CREDENTIAL:  This is removed from HTTP Speed+Mobility because we
      believe it is not compatible with options such as TLS SNI.  For
      this proposal, a session MUST only target one origin as described
      in [RFC6454].

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5.  HTTP Layering

   This proposal adopts the HTTP integration model used by SPDY.  The
   request-response semantics would be the same as well as stateless
   authentication.

   The places where HTTP Speed+Mobility differs from SPDY are a result
   of its relationship with WebSockets and the removal of the CREDENTIAL
   frame.

   While not addressed in this proposal, stateful authentication is
   something that can be added to the proposal and is captured in the
   Open Issues for Discussion section.

   Lastly Section 5.3 articulates some thoughts on server push and
   discusses mechanisms to allow control from the client.

5.1.  Connection Management

   By default, and because it reuses the WebSocket handshake, HTTP
   Speed+Mobility uses port 80 for unsecured connections and port 443
   for connections tunneled over Transport Layer Security (TLS)
   [RFC2818].

   Clients SHOULD attempt to use a single HTTP Speed+Mobility connection
   to a given origin [RFC6454].  The server MUST be able to handle
   multiple connections from the same client and MUST be able to handle
   concurrent establishments and disconnects.  As noted above, a client
   MUST only send requests for a single origin over a HTTP Speed+
   Mobility connection.

   For a secure connection, if the client provides a Server Name
   Indication (SNI) extension during TLS handshake then all subsequent
   SYN_STREAM messages on that connection MUST specify a Host
   specification that exactly matches the server name provided in the
   SNI [RFC4366].  If the server receives a SYN_STREAM with a non-
   matching Host specification then it MUST respond with a 400 Bad
   Request.  If the client receives a SYN_STREAM with a non-matching
   Host specification then it MUST issue a stream error.

5.2.  Use of GOAWAY

   HTTP Speed+Mobility replaces the GOAWAY message with a WebSockets
   CLOSE message per section 2.2 of this document.  The last-stream-ID
   is included in the CLOSE message as extension data to provide the
   opportunity for graceful server shutdown.

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5.3.  Server Push Transactions

   The HTTP Speed+Mobility protocol does not enable server push by
   default, requiring instead that the client explicitly request it
   using the FLAG_PUSH_ALLOWED flag in the SYN_STREAM frame sent from
   the client to the server.  Server push is a new concept introduced in
   SPDY wherein a server pushes content to a client even if the client
   may not have requested it.  We have disabled server push by default
   because it violates two of our design principles, namely preserving
   HTTP semantics and keeping the client in control of content.

   Server push, as described in the SPDY proposal, has the limitation
   that the client cannot communicate its push requirements to the
   server.  The result is that the server may push content to the client
   which is already cached locally, or to a client with a full cache,
   thereby causing unnecessary cache evictions.  Furthermore, the server
   does not have sufficient context to know whether the access is coming
   from a browser or an app.  We see a trend toward "tailored" apps,
   where each app may access different subsets of the server content,
   with different priorities, and in different sequences according to
   their own rendering requirements and user interaction models.  For
   small devices as defined in the "internet of things", it is likely
   that there will be devices that run highly specialized apps to
   consume exactly what they need given limited cache space.  In all of
   these scenarios, server push would result in needless traffic to the
   client resulting in bandwidth consumption and reduction in battery
   life.

   We believe that for server push to be truly effective, HTTP 2.0
   requires a feedback model enabling an app to give context to the
   server about its push needs.  This proposal does not formally define
   such a mechanism.  One way to enable this capability is for a client
   to include identifiers for content it already has in its cache, and
   send this as a hint in a SYN_STREAM message.  The server could now
   use this information to only push deltas to that known cached
   content.

   This is an area that requires significant working group discussion.
   Given the principle around maintaining existing HTTP semantics, we
   need to determine in the working group if server push should remain a
   part of HTTP 2.0.

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6.  Open Issues for Discussion in the Workgroup

   During the drafting of this proposal a number of question came up
   that warrant deeper investigation.  This is by no means a complete
   list of discussions around HTTP 2.0 but simply the current list of
   issues that the authors of this document wanted to explore further in
   the Working Group

   Streams Issues:

   o  SPDY defines max and min control frame size but does not define
      what size to start with or how to discover what the endpoint can
      support.  SPDY defines that an endpoint receiving a SYN that is
      too large must sent a RST with an error FRAME_TOO_LARGE.  In order
      to maintain compression context, does the large SYN need to be
      decompressed?

   o  Interleaving Headers and data needs more definition.  How does a
      server process a header before it is fully delivered?

   HTTP Issues:

   o  Are mixed origin requests allowed?  How does this work with TLS
      and SNI?

   o  What are the changes to the stream layer to naturally enable
      stateful authentication?

   o  How can we support chunked encoding.

   o  Do we want to support HTTP trailers?

   Optimizations:

   o  There is potential optimization between the WebSockets Op codes
      and the Stream frames.  This needs more investigation.

   o  There is potential optimization with adding settings to the
      WebSockets upgrade handshake (compression, push, header size,
      etc.)

   o  Investigate options for implementing a message for a client to
      inform server push of cache contents.

   Server Push issues:

   o  Should server push stay in HTTP 2.0 or be defined in a different
      specification?

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   o  How can a client describe its cached content or indicate its
      content needs, to facilitate efficient server push behavior

   o  Should server push negotiation be done as part of the WebSocket
      handshake rather than inside SYN_STREAM?

   Compression issues:

   o  Should header compression be negotiated at a session level as part
      of the WebSocket handshake rather than transmitted on a per packet
      basis?

   Security Issues:

   o  Is there a DDOS possibility with the way stateful authentication
      is specified?

   o  How does interleaving requests for cross origin content over TLS
      work?  Are there vulnerabilities there?

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7.  Acknowledgements

   Thanks to the following individuals who have also contributed with
   discussions and text: Dave Thaler, Ivan Pashov, Jitu Padhye, Jean
   Paoli, Michael Champion, NK Srinivas, Sharad Agarwal and Rob Mauceri.

   This document incorporates materials from
   http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-mbelshe-httpbis-spdy-00.

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8.  Normative References

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

   [RFC2616]  Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H.,
              Masinter, L., Leach, P., and T. Berners-Lee, "Hypertext
              Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2616, June 1999.

   [I-D.mbelshe-httpbis-spdy]
              Belshe, M. and R. Peon, "SPDY Protocol",
              draft-mbelshe-httpbis-spdy-00 (work in progress),
              February 2012.

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Authors' Addresses

   Rob Trace
   Microsoft

   Email: Rob.Trace@microsoft.com

   Adalberto Foresti
   Microsoft

   Email: aforesti@microsoft.com

   Sandeep Singhal
   Microsoft

   Email: Sandeep.Singhal@microsoft.com

   Osama Mazahir
   Microsoft

   Email: OsamaM@microsoft.com

   Henrik Frystyk Nielsen
   Microsoft

   Email: HenrikN@microsoft.com

   Brian Raymor
   Microsoft

   Email: Brian.Raymor@microsoft.com

   Ravi Rao
   Microsoft

   Email: RaviRao@microsoft.com

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   Gabriel Montenegro
   Microsoft

   Email: Gabriel.Montenegro@microsoft.com

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