| TOC |
|
Independent Session Control Feature
for TWAMP
draft-morton-ippm-twamp-session-cntrl-00
Status of this Memo
By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.
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.”
The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.
The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
This Internet-Draft will expire on January 8, 2009.
Abstract
The IETF is completing its work on TWAMP - the Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol. This memo describes a proposed feature for TWAMP, intended for discussion in the IP Performance Metrics WG. The feature gives the sender the ability to start and stop one or more test sessions using the Session Identifiers.
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 (Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” March 1997.) [RFC2119].
Table of Contents
1.
Introduction
2.
Purpose and Scope
3.
TWAMP Control Extensions
3.1.
Connection Setup with Individual Session Control
3.2.
Start-Sessions Command with Session Control
3.3.
Stop-Sessions Command with Session Control
3.4.
SERVWAIT Timer Operation
3.5.
Additional considerations
4.
TWAMP Test with Individual Session Control
4.1.
Sender Behavior
4.2.
Reflector Behavior
5.
Security Considerations
6.
IANA Considerations
6.1.
Registry Specification
6.2.
Registry Management
6.3.
Experimental Numbers
6.4.
Registry Contents
7.
Acknowledgements
8.
References
8.1.
Normative References
8.2.
Informative References
§
Author's Address
§
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements
| TOC |
1. Introduction
The IETF is completing its work on TWAMP - the Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.), which is an extension to the One-way Active Measurement Protocol, OWAMP [RFC4656] (Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, “A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP),” September 2006.).
This memo describes a new proposed feature for TWAMP, so it can be discussed and interest to take-up the feature assessed. TWAMP (and OWAMP) start all previously requested and accepted test sessions at once. This feature allows the Control-Client to control the test sessions on the basis of their Session Identifier (SID). The feature permits a short duration TWAMP test to start (and stop) during a longer test. For example, this feature permits a specific diagnostic test to begin if intermediate results indicate that the test is warranted.
This feature requires a Mode bit position assignment and the assignment of two new TWAMP command numbers (for the augmented Start and Stop commands).
The relationship between this memo and TWAMP is intended to be an update to the TWAMP RFC when published.
| TOC |
2. Purpose and Scope
The purpose of this memo is to describe an additional function and feature for TWAMP [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.). The feature needs a clear description so it can be discussed and (hopefully) adopted in the IP Performance Metrics Charter.
The scope of the memo is currently limited to specifications of the following features:
- Extension of the modes of operation through assignment of a new value in the Mode field to communicate feature capability and use, the definition of augmented Start Session and Stop Session commands, and the definition of related procedures for TWAMP entities. The motivation for this added feature is the ability to start and stop individual test sessions at will, using a single TWAMP-control connection.
When new features are discussed and reach consensus, they may become chartered work items in IETF IPPM (and may appear in a different memo).
| TOC |
3. TWAMP Control Extensions
TWAMP-Control protocol is a derivative of the OWAMP-Control protocol, and provides two-way measurement capability. TWAMP [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.) uses the Mode field to identify and select specific communication capabilities, and this field is a recognized extension mechanism. The following sections describe one such extension.
| TOC |
3.1. Connection Setup with Individual Session Control
TWAMP connection establishment follows the procedure defined in section 3.1 of [RFC4656] (Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, “A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP),” September 2006.). The Individual Session Control mode requires one new bit position (and value) to identify the ability of the Server/Session-Reflector to start and stop specific sessions (according to their Session Identifier, or SID). This new feature requires an additional TWAMP mode bit assignment as follows:
Value Description Reference/Explanation
0 Reserved
1 Unauthenticated RFC4656, Section 3.1
2 Authenticated RFC4656, Section 3.1
4 Encrypted RFC4656, Section 3.1
8 Unauth. TEST protocol, draft-...-more-twamp (3)
Auth. CONTROL
16 Unauth. TEST protocol, draft-...-more-twamp (4)
Encrypted CONTROL
32 Auth. TEST protocol, draft-...-more-twamp (5)
Encrypted CONTROL
--------------------------------------------------------
zzz Individual Session this memo, bit position (Z)
Control
In the original OWAMP mode field, setting bit positions 0, 1 or 2 indicated the security mode of the Control protocol, and the Test protocol inherited the same mode (see section 4 of [RFC4656] (Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, “A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP),” September 2006.)). In the [I‑D.morton‑ippm‑more‑twamp] (Morton, A. and K. Hedayat, “More Features for TWAMP,” July 2008.) proposal, bit positions (3, 4 or 5) discontinue the inheritance of the security mode in the Test protocol.
The Server sets the new bit position (possibly bit 8) in the Server Greeting message to indicate its capabilities and willingness to control sessions on an individual basis if desired.
If the Control-Client intends to control sessions on an individual basis, it MUST set the mode bit corresponding to that mode in the Setup Response message.
| TOC |
3.2. Start-Sessions Command with Session Control
Having requested one or more test sessions and received affirmative Accept-Session responses, an OWAMP client MAY start the execution of the requested test sessions by sending a Start-Sessions message to the server.
The format of this message is as follows:
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 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 7 | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ + | MBZ (7 octets) | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | Number of Sessions | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | First SID (16 octets) | | | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | remaining SIDs (16 octets each) | | | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | HMAC (16 octets) | | | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
The Number of sessions field indicates the count of sessions that this Start command applies to. The SID is as defined in OWAMP (and TWAMP) section 3.5 [RFC4656] (Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, “A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP),” September 2006.).
The Server MUST respond with a Start-Ack message (which SHOULD be sent as quickly as possible). Start-Ack messages have the format defined in section 3.7 of [RFC4656] (Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, “A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP),” September 2006.).
The Control Client MUST NOT send a subsequent Start Sessions command until an outstanding message is acknowledged with a Start-Ack message.
| TOC |
3.3. Stop-Sessions Command with Session Control
The Stop-Sessions command can only be issued by the Control-Client. The message MUST contain at least one SID. The message is terminated with a single block HMAC, to complete the Stop-Sessions Command.
Thus, the TWAMP Stop-Sessions command for individual session control is constructed as follows:
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 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | 8 | Accept | MBZ | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | Number of Sessions | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | First SID (16 octets) | | | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | remaining SIDs (16 octets each) | | | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | MBZ (8 octets) | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | | HMAC (16 octets) | | | | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
The Number of sessions field indicates the count of sessions that this Stop command applies to. The SID is as defined in OWAMP (and TWAMP) section 3.5 [RFC4656] (Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, “A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP),” September 2006.).
| TOC |
3.4. SERVWAIT Timer Operation
Section 3.1 of [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.) describes the operation of the optional SERVWAIT timer. In normal TWAMP operation, the Server suspends monitoring the SERVWAIT timer while test sessions are in progress. When the Individual Session Control feature is utilized, this suspension is extended to cover the time when ANY test session is in progress.
Thus, the Server SHALL suspend monitoring control connection activity after receiving any Start-Sessions command, and SHALL resume after receiving a Stop-Sessions command for all corresponding SIDs (and no test sessions are in-progress).
| TOC |
3.5. Additional considerations
The value of the Modes field sent by the Server (in the Server Greeting message) is the bit-wise OR of the mode values that it is willing to support during this session.
If this feature is adopted, the last seven bits of the Modes 32-bit field are used. The first 25 bits MUST be zero. A client conforming to this version of the specification MUST ignore the values in the first 25 bits of the Modes value. (This way, the bits are available for future protocol extensions.)
Other ways in which TWAMP extends OWAMP are described in [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.).
| TOC |
4. TWAMP Test with Individual Session Control
The TWAMP test protocol is similar to the OWAMP [RFC4656] (Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, “A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP),” September 2006.) test protocol with the exception that the Session-Reflector transmits test packets to the Session-Sender in response to each test packet it receives. TWAMP [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.) defines two different test packet formats, one for packets transmitted by the Session-Sender and one for packets transmitted by the Session-Reflector. As with OWAMP-Test protocol there are three security modes: unauthenticated, authenticated, and encrypted. Unauthenticated mode has one test packet format, while authenticated and encrypted modes use another (common) format.
| TOC |
4.1. Sender Behavior
The individual session control feature requires that the sender MUST manage test sessions according to their SID. Otherwise, the sender behavior is as describe in section 4.1 of [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.).
| TOC |
4.2. Reflector Behavior
The TWAMP Reflector follows the procedures and guidelines in section 4.2 of [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.), with the following additional functions required by this feature:
- The session reflector MUST manage test sessions according to their SID.
- Packets for a specific session/SID not received within the Timeout (following the Stop-Session command) MUST be ignored by the Reflector. The Session-Reflector MUST NOT generate a test packet to the Session-Sender for packets that are ignored.
- If the optional REFWAIT timer is implemented, it SHOULD be enforced when any test session is in-progress (started and not stopped).
| TOC |
5. Security Considerations
These extended modes of operation permit stronger integrity protection on the TWAMP-Control protocol while simultaneously emphasizing accuracy or efficiency on the TWAMP-Test protocol, thus enhancing overall security when compared to the previous options.
The security considerations that apply to any active measurement of live networks are relevant here as well. See the security considerations in[RFC4656] (Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, “A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP),” September 2006.) and [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.).
| TOC |
6. IANA Considerations
This memo requests assignment of one mode bit position/value to the IANA registry for the TWAMP Mode field, and describes behavior when the new mode is used. This field is a recognized extension mechanism for TWAMP.
This memo also requests assignment of two command numbers in the TWAMP-Control Command Number registry, and describes the use of the new commands. The command number field is a recognized extension mechanism for TWAMP.
| TOC |
6.1. Registry Specification
IANA has created a TWAMP-Modes registry (as requested in [I‑D.morton‑ippm‑more‑twamp] (Morton, A. and K. Hedayat, “More Features for TWAMP,” July 2008.)). TWAMP-Modes are specified in TWAMP Server Greeting messages and Set-up Response messages, as described in section 3.1 of [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.), consistent with section 3.1 of [RFC4656] (Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, “A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP),” September 2006.), and extended by this memo. Modes are indicated by setting bits in the 32-bit Modes field. Thus, this registry can contain a total of 32 possible values.
IANA has also created a TWAMP-Control Command Number registry. TWAMP-Control commands are specified by the first octet in TWAMP-Control messages as specified in section 3.5 of [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.), and augmented by this memo. This registry may contain sixteen possible values.
| TOC |
6.2. Registry Management
Because the TWAMP-Control Command Number registry can contain only sixteen values, TWAMP-Modes can only contain thirty-two values, and because TWAMP is an IETF protocol, these registries must be updated only by "IETF Consensus" as specified in [RFC2434] (Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, “Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs,” October 1998.)(an RFC documenting registry use that is approved by the IESG). Management of these registries is described in section 8.2 of [I‑D.ietf‑ippm‑twamp] (Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” August 2008.) and [I‑D.morton‑ippm‑more‑twamp] (Morton, A. and K. Hedayat, “More Features for TWAMP,” July 2008.).
This memo proposes assignment of values 7 and 8.
| TOC |
6.3. Experimental Numbers
One experimental value has been assigned in the TWAMP-Control Command Number registry.
No additional experimental values are assigned in the TWAMP-Modes registry.
| TOC |
6.4. Registry Contents
TWAMP-Control Command Number Registry
Value Description Semantics Definition
0 Reserved
1 Forbidden
2 Start-Sessions RFC4656, Section 3.7
3 Stop-Sessions RFC4656, Section 3.8
4 Reserved
5 Request-TW-Session draft-ietf-ippm-twamp, Section 3.5
6 Experimentation draft-ietf-ippm-twamp, Section 8.3
------------------------------------------------------------------
7 Start-Sessions with this memo, Section 3.2
Individ. Session Cntrl.
8 Stop-Sessions with this memo, Section 3.3
Individ. Session Cntrl.
TWAMP-Modes Registry
Value Description Reference/Explanation
0 Reserved
1 Unauthenticated RFC4656, Section 3.1
2 Authenticated RFC4656, Section 3.1
4 Encrypted RFC4656, Section 3.1
8 Unauth. TEST protocol, draft-...-more-twamp (3)
Auth. CONTROL
16 Unauth. TEST protocol, draft-...-more-twamp (4)
Encrypted CONTROL
32 Auth. TEST protocol, draft-...-more-twamp (5)
Encrypted CONTROL
--------------------------------------------------------
zzz Individual Session this memo, Section 3.1
Control bit position (Z)
| TOC |
7. Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Murtaza Chiba for suggesting this feature.
| TOC |
8. References
| TOC |
8.1. Normative References
| [I-D.ietf-ippm-twamp] | Babiarz, J., “A Two-way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP),” draft-ietf-ippm-twamp-09 (work in progress), August 2008 (TXT). |
| [I-D.morton-ippm-more-twamp] | Morton, A. and K. Hedayat, “More Features for TWAMP,” draft-morton-ippm-more-twamp-02 (work in progress), July 2008 (TXT). |
| [RFC2119] | Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997 (TXT, HTML, XML). |
| [RFC2434] | Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, “Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs,” BCP 26, RFC 2434, October 1998 (TXT, HTML, XML). |
| [RFC4656] | Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, “A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP),” RFC 4656, September 2006 (TXT). |
| TOC |
8.2. Informative References
| [x] | “.” |
| TOC |
Author's Address
| Al Morton | |
| AT&T Labs | |
| 200 Laurel Avenue South | |
| Middletown,, NJ 07748 | |
| USA | |
| Phone: | +1 732 420 1571 |
| Fax: | +1 732 368 1192 |
| Email: | acmorton@att.com |
| URI: | http://home.comcast.net/~acmacm/ |
| TOC |
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright © The IETF Trust (2008).
This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.
This document and the information contained herein are provided on an “AS IS” basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY, THE IETF TRUST AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Intellectual Property
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr.
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org.