CBOR Encoding for HTTPS-based YANG Notifications Transport
draft-chittapragada-netconf-https-notif-cbor-04
| Document | Type | Active Internet-Draft (individual) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Bharadwaja Meherrushi Chittapragada , Siddharth Bhat , Vartika T Rao , Hayyan Arshad , Mohit P. Tahiliani | ||
| Last updated | 2025-11-02 | ||
| RFC stream | Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) | ||
| Intended RFC status | Proposed Standard | ||
| Formats | |||
| Stream | WG state | (None) | |
| Document shepherd | (None) | ||
| IESG | IESG state | I-D Exists | |
| Consensus boilerplate | Yes | ||
| Telechat date | (None) | ||
| Responsible AD | (None) | ||
| Send notices to | (None) |
draft-chittapragada-netconf-https-notif-cbor-04
Network Configuration B. M. Chittapragada
Internet-Draft S. Bhat
Intended status: Standards Track V. T. Rao
Expires: 6 May 2026 H. Arshad
M. P. Tahiliani
National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal
2 November 2025
CBOR Encoding for HTTPS-based YANG Notifications Transport
draft-chittapragada-netconf-https-notif-cbor-04
Abstract
This document extends [I-D.draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif] by
introducing CBOR encoding for YANG notifications over HTTPS Transport
in addition to the existing JSON and XML encoding schemes.
About This Document
This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.
The latest revision of this draft can be found at
https://MeherRushi.github.io/draft-chittapragada-netconf-https-notif-
cbor/draft-chittapragada-netconf-https-notif-cbor.html. Status
information for this document may be found at
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-chittapragada-netconf-https-
notif-cbor/.
Discussion of this document takes place on the Network Configuration
mailing list (mailto:netconf@ietf.org), which is archived at
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/netconf/. Subscribe at
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/netconf/.
Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
https://github.com/MeherRushi/draft-chittapragada-netconf-https-
notif-cbor.
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
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
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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 6 May 2026.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2025 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 (https://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
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provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. CBOR Encoding of the notification(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. Capabilities Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2. Capabilities Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2.1. CBOR using names as keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2.2. CBOR using names as keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3. Relay Notification request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.3.1. CBOR encoding using names as keys . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.3.2. CBOR encoding using SIDs as keys . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.4. Relay Notification Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.5. Implementation Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.6. Implementation: HTTPS Notification CBOR Draft
Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
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1. Introduction
CBOR offers an efficient and compact representation of YANG.
This document introduces a CBOR encoding scheme for event
notifications over HTTPS by using the framework proposed in
[I-D.draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif] which supports transfer of YANG
notifications over HTTPS using JSON and XML encoding schemes.
In [I-D.draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif], the capabilities HTTP-target
resource allows a publisher to retrieve supported encoding formats
via GET requests, while the relay-notification resource enables the
publisher to send YANG notifications via POST requests. These
requests and responses use different content types based on the
selected encoding scheme. This document defines support for using
CBOR encoding defined in section 1 of
[I-D.draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif]
Examples of the GET and POST request and reply encoded in CBOR are
also provided.
2. Terminology
This document uses the following terms defined in Section 2,3 and 4
of [I-D.draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif]:
* Capabilities Resource
* Relay-Notification
* Event Notification
The following term(s) are defined in Subscription to YANG
Notifications [RFC8639]:
* Publisher
* Receiver
* Subscribed Notifications
The following term(s) are defined in Encoding of Data Modeled with
YANG in the Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) [RFC9254]:
* Diagnostic Notifications
* YANG Schema Item iDentifier (or "YANG SID" or simply "SID"):
63-bit unsigned integer used to identify different YANG items.
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3. CBOR Encoding of the notification(s)
YANG notifications can be encoded in CBOR using Names or SIDs in
keys. Notifications encoded using names is similar to JSON encoding
as defined in Section 3.4 and 4.3 of
[I-D.draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif]. Notification encoded using
YANG-SIDs replaces the names of the keys of the CBOR encoded message
with a 63 bit unsigned integer. In this case, the term 'SID' is
defined in Section 3.2 of [RFC9254], and the keys of the encoded data
use SID value as mentioned in 4.3.2 of this document.
3.1. Capabilities Request
The publisher sends a request to the receiver to learn its
capabilities. In the below example, the “Accept” states that the
publisher wants to receive the capabilities response in CBOR but if
not supported then in XML or JSON in that order.
GET /some/path/capabilities HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/cbor, application/xml;0.5, application/json;q=0.9
3.2. Capabilities Response
If the receiver is able to reply using “application/cbor” and
assuming it is only capable of receiving CBOR encoded messages the
response would look like this
3.2.1. CBOR using names as keys
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 4 March 2025 20:33:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/cbor
Diagnostic Notation:
{
"receiver-capabilities": {
"receiver-capability": [
"urn:ietf:capability:https-notif-receiver:encoding:cbor"
]
}
}
CBOR Encoding:
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A1 # map(1)
75 # text(21)
72656365697665722D6361706162696C6974696573 # "receiver-capabilities"
A1 # map(1)
73 # text(19)
72656365697665722D6361706162696C697479 # "receiver-capability"
81 # array(1)
78 36 # text(54)
75726E3A696574663A6361706162696C6974793A68747470732D6E6F7469662D72656365697665723A656E636F64696E673A63626F72 # "urn:ietf:capability:https-notif-receiver:encoding:cbor"
If the receiver is able to reply using “application/cbor” and
assuming it is not capable of receiving cbor, but can receive both
json and xml notifications:
3.2.2. CBOR using names as keys
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 4 March 2025 20:33:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/cbor
Diagnostic Notation:
{
"receiver-capabilities": {
"receiver-capability": [
"urn:ietf:capability:https-notif-receiver:encoding:json",
"urn:ietf:capability:https-notif-receiver:encoding:xml"
]
}
}
CBOR Encoding:
A1 # map(1)
75 # text(21)
72656365697665722D6361706162696C6974696573 # "receiver-capabilities"
A1 # map(1)
73 # text(19)
72656365697665722D6361706162696C697479 # "receiver-capability"
82 # array(2)
78 36 # text(54)
75726E3A696574663A6361706162696C6974793A68747470732D6E6F7469662D72656365697665723A656E636F64696E673A6A736F6E # "urn:ietf:capability:https-notif-receiver:encoding:json"
78 35 # text(53)
75726E3A696574663A6361706162696C6974793A68747470732D6E6F7469662D72656365697665723A656E636F64696E673A786D6C # "urn:ietf:capability:https-notif-receiver:encoding:xml"
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If the receiver is unable to reply using "application/cbor", but is
capable of receiving only cbor then the response might look like
this:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 4 March 2025 20:33:30 GMT
Server: example-server
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/json
{
"receiver-capabilities": {
"receiver-capability": [
"urn:ietf:capability:https-notif-receiver:encoding:cbor"
]
}
}
3.3. Relay Notification request
The publisher sends an HTTP POST request to the "relay-notification"
resource on the receiver with the "Content-Type" header set to
"application/cbor" in case the receiver is CBOR capable and a body
containing the notification encoded in CBOR.
3.3.1. CBOR encoding using names as keys
POST /some/path/relay-notification HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/cbor
Diagnostic notation:
{
"ietf-https-notif:notification": {
"eventTime": "2013-12-21T00:01:00Z",
"example-mod:event" : {
"event-class" : "fault",
"reporting-entity" : { "card" : "Ethernet0" },
"severity" : "major"
}
}
}
Cbor Encoding:
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A1 # map(1)
78 1D # text(29)
696574662D68747470732D6E6F7469663A6E6F74696669636174696F6E # "ietf-https-notif:notification"
A2 # map(2)
69 # text(9)
6576656E7454696D65 # "eventTime"
74 # text(20)
323031332D31322D32315430303A30313A30305A # "2013-12-21T00:01:00Z"
71 # text(17)
6578616D706C652D6D6F643A6576656E74 # "example-mod:event"
A3 # map(3)
68 # text(8)
7365766572697479 # "severity"
65 # text(5)
6D616A6F72 # "major"
6B # text(11)
6576656E742D636C617373 # "event-class"
65 # text(5)
6661756C74 # "fault"
70 # text(16)
7265706F7274696E672D656E74697479 # "reporting-entity"
A1 # map(1)
64 # text(4)
63617264 # "card"
69 # text(9)
45746865726E657430 # "Ethernet0"
3.3.2. CBOR encoding using SIDs as keys
Diagnostic Notation:
{
2601: {
1: "2013-12-21T00:01:00Z",
"example-mod:event" : {
"event-class" : "fault",
"reporting-entity" : { "card" : "Ethernet0" },
"severity" : "major"
}
}
}
The above is assuming the YANG module for event notifications has a
corresponding .sid file with these entries
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"item": [
{
"namespace": "module",
"identifier": "ietf-notification",
"sid": "2600"
},
{
"namespace": "data",
"identifier": "/ietf-notification:notification",
"sid": "2601"
},
{
"namespace": "data",
"identifier": "/ietf-notification:notification/eventTime",
"sid": "2602"
}
]
CBOR Encoding:
A1 # map(1)
19 0A28 # unsigned(2600)
A2 # map(2)
01 # unsigned(1)
74 # text(20)
323031332D31322D32315430303A30313A30305A # "2013-12-21T00:01:00Z"
71 # text(17)
6578616D706C652D6D6F643A6576656E74 # "example-mod:event"
A3 # map(3)
68 # text(8)
7365766572697479 # "severity"
65 # text(5)
6D616A6F72 # "major"
6B # text(11)
6576656E742D636C617373 # "event-class"
65 # text(5)
6661756C74 # "fault"
70 # text(16)
7265706F7274696E672D656E74697479 # "reporting-entity"
A1 # map(1)
64 # text(4)
63617264 # "card"
69 # text(9)
45746865726E657430 # "Ethernet0"
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3.4. Relay Notification Response
The response on success is "204 (No Content)". In case of corrupted
or malformed event, the response is an appropriate HTTP error
response.
3.5. Implementation Status
This section records the status of known implementations of the
specification defined by this document at the time of posting. The
information is provided to assist the IETF in evaluating the maturity
and implementability of the specification. This section will be
removed prior to publication as an RFC.
3.6. Implementation: HTTPS Notification CBOR Draft Implementation
* _Organization_: National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK),
Surathkal
* _Implementation Name / Web Page_: HTTPS Notification CBOR Draft
Implementation https://github.com/MeherRushi/https-notif-draft-
impl (https://github.com/MeherRushi/https-notif-draft-impl)
* _Description_: This implementation provides a Python-based
prototype of the mechanism defined in this document for
transporting YANG notifications over HTTPS using JSON, XML and
CBOR encoding. It supports name-based CBOR encoding and includes
basic publisher and receiver roles to demonstrate end-to-end
message exchange.
* _Maturity Level_: Prototype
* _Coverage_:
- Capabilities discovery via HTTP GET to /capabilities
- Event publication via HTTP POST to /relay-notification
- Support for name-based CBOR encoding as described in this
document
* _Version Compatibility_: The implementation is based on draft-
ietf-netconf-https-notif-15 and draft-chittapragada-netconf-https-
notif-cbor-03.
* _Licensing_: Freely distributable under an MIT-style license.
* _Implementation Experience_:
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- Developed and demonstrated at IETF 121 and 122 Hackathon.
- Worked toward enabling CBOR encoding in the libyang library as
part of the hackathon effort (slides
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/123/materials/slides-123-
hackathon-sessd-adding-cbor-support-in-libyang-00)).
- Evaluated CBOR efficiency compared to JSON and XML in
constrained environments.
- Built tooling to simulate and measure notification transfer
behavior over varying network conditions.
- Diagnostic encoding examples used for validation of CBOR
structures.
* _Contact Information_:
- Bharadwaja Meherrushi Chittapragada
(meher.211cs216@nitk.edu.in)
- Vartika T Rao (vartikatrao.211it077@nitk.edu.in)
- Siddharth Bhat (sidbhat.211ee151@nitk.edu.in)
- Hayyan Arshad (hayyanarshad.211cs222@nitk.edu.in)
* _Last Updated_: July 24, 2025
4. Security Considerations
Addition of the CBOR encoding introduces no specific security
exposures or risks other that the ones mentioned in [RFC9254] and
[I-D.draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif] (An HTTPS-based Transport for
YANG Notifications)
5. IANA Considerations
This document requests that IANA include an additional entry in the
“Capabilities for HTTPS Notification Receivers” registry, defined in
[I-D.draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif]. The following entry is added:
Record:
URN: urn:ietf:params:yang-notif:https-capability:encoding:cbor
Reference: RFC XXXX:An HTTPS-based Transport for YANG Notifications
Description: Identifies support for CBOR-encoded notifications.
6. References
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6.1. Normative References
[I-D.draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif]
Jethanandani, M. and K. Watsen, "An HTTPS-based Transport
for YANG Notifications", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif-15, 1 February 2024,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-netconf-
https-notif-15>.
[RFC8639] Voit, E., Clemm, A., Gonzalez Prieto, A., Nilsen-Nygaard,
E., and A. Tripathy, "Subscription to YANG Notifications",
RFC 8639, DOI 10.17487/RFC8639, September 2019,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8639>.
[RFC8949] Bormann, C. and P. Hoffman, "Concise Binary Object
Representation (CBOR)", STD 94, RFC 8949,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8949, December 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8949>.
[RFC9254] Veillette, M., Ed., Petrov, I., Ed., Pelov, A., Bormann,
C., and M. Richardson, "Encoding of Data Modeled with YANG
in the Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR)",
RFC 9254, DOI 10.17487/RFC9254, July 2022,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9254>.
6.2. Informative References
[RFC3553] Mealling, M., Masinter, L., Hardie, T., and G. Klyne, "An
IETF URN Sub-namespace for Registered Protocol
Parameters", BCP 73, RFC 3553, DOI 10.17487/RFC3553, June
2003, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3553>.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support of Kent Watsen and Mahesh
Jethanandani, the authors of [I-D.draft-ietf-netconf-https-notif] for
their guidance and support provided to draft this document.
Authors' Addresses
Bharadwaja Meherrushi Chittapragada
National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal
Email: meherrushi2@gmail.com
Siddharth Bhat
National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal
Email: siddharth.bhat10@gmail.com
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Vartika T Rao
National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal
Email: vartikatrao@gmail.com
Hayyan Arshad
National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal
Email: hayyanhamnah@gmail.com
Mohit P. Tahiliani
National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal
Email: tahiliani@nitk.edu.in
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