Information-Centric Networking (ICN): Content-Centric Networking (CCNx) and Named Data Networking (NDN) Terminology
RFC 8793
Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) B. Wissingh
Request for Comments: 8793 TNO
Category: Informational C. Wood
ISSN: 2070-1721 University of California Irvine
A. Afanasyev
Florida International University
L. Zhang
UCLA
D. Oran
Network Systems Research & Design
C. Tschudin
University of Basel
June 2020
Information-Centric Networking (ICN): Content-Centric Networking (CCNx)
and Named Data Networking (NDN) Terminology
Abstract
Information-Centric Networking (ICN) is a novel paradigm where
network communications are accomplished by requesting named content
instead of sending packets to destination addresses. Named Data
Networking (NDN) and Content-Centric Networking (CCNx) are two
prominent ICN architectures. This document provides an overview of
the terminology and definitions that have been used in describing
concepts in these two implementations of ICN. While there are other
ICN architectures, they are not part of the NDN and CCNx concepts and
as such are out of scope for this document. This document is a
product of the Information-Centric Networking Research Group (ICNRG).
Status of This Memo
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.
This document is a product of the Internet Research Task Force
(IRTF). The IRTF publishes the results of Internet-related research
and development activities. These results might not be suitable for
deployment. This RFC represents the consensus of the Information-
Centric Networking Research Group of the Internet Research Task Force
(IRTF). Documents approved for publication by the IRSG are not a
candidate for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC
7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8793.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2020 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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to this document.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. A Sketch of the Big Picture of ICN
3. Terms by Category
3.1. Generic Terms
3.2. Terms Related to ICN Nodes
3.3. Terms Related to the Forwarding Plane
3.4. Terms Related to Packet Types
3.5. Terms Related to Name Types
3.6. Terms Related to Name Usage
3.7. Terms Related to Data-Centric Security
4. Semantics and Usage
4.1. Data Transfer
4.2. Data Transport
4.3. Lookup Service
4.4. Database Access
4.5. Remote Procedure Call
4.6. Publish/Subscribe
5. IANA Considerations
6. Security Considerations
7. References
7.1. Normative References
7.2. Informative References
Acknowledgments
Authors' Addresses
1. Introduction
Information-centric networking (ICN) is an architecture to evolve the
Internet infrastructure from the existing host-centric design to a
data-centric architecture, where accessing data by name becomes the
essential network primitive. The goal is to let applications refer
to data independently of their location or means of transportation,
which enables native multicast delivery, ubiquitous in-network
caching, and replication of data objects.
As the work on this topic continues to evolve, many new terms are
emerging. The goal of this document is to collect the key terms with
a corresponding definition as they are used in the CCNx and NDN
projects. Among the important documents for these projects are
[RFC8569], [RFC8609], and [NDNTLV]. Other ICN projects such as
[NETINF], [PSIRP], or [MOBILITY-FIRST] are not covered and may be the
subject of other documents.
In this document, to help provide context for the individual defined
terms, we first sketch the bigger picture of an ICN network by
introducing the basic concepts and identifying the major components
of the architecture in Section 2; after which, in Section 3, ICN-
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