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RPC-over-RDMA Extension to Manage Transport Characteristics
draft-dnoveck-nfsv4-rpcrdma-xcharext-02

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Author David Noveck
Last updated 2016-08-18
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draft-dnoveck-nfsv4-rpcrdma-xcharext-02
Network File System Version 4                                  D. Noveck
Internet-Draft                                                       HPE
Intended status: Standards Track                         August 18, 2016
Expires: February 19, 2017

      RPC-over-RDMA Extension to Manage Transport Characteristics
                draft-dnoveck-nfsv4-rpcrdma-xcharext-02

Abstract

   This document specifies an extension to RPC-over-RDMA Version Two.
   The extension enables endpoints of an RPC-over-RDMA connection to
   exchange information which can be used to optimize message transfer.

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 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 February 19, 2017.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 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.  Preliminaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.2.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.3.  Role Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Transport Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.1.  Characteristics Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.2.  Transport Characteristics Groups  . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.3.  Operations Related to Transport Characteristics . . . . .   6
   3.  Initial Transport Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.1.  Receive Buffer Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     3.2.  Requester Remote Invalidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     3.3.  Backward Request Support  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   4.  New Operations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     4.1.  ROPT_INITXCH: Specify Initial Characteristics . . . . . .  11
     4.2.  ROPT_REQXCH: Request Modification of Characteristics  . .  12
     4.3.  ROPT_RESPXCH: Respond to Request to Modify Transport
           Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     4.4.  ROPT_UPDXCH: Update Transport Characteristics . . . . . .  14
   5.  XDR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
     5.1.  Code Component License  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
     5.2.  XDR Proper for Extension  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
   6.  Extensibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     6.1.  Additional Characteristics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     6.2.  Experimental Characteristics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
   Appendix A.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22

1.  Preliminaries

1.1.  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 [RFC2119].

1.2.  Introduction

   This document specifies an extension to RPC-over-RDMA Version Two.
   It allows each participating endpoint on a single connection to
   communicate various characteristics of its implementation, to request
   changes in characteristics of the other endpoint, and to effect

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   changes and notify the other endpoint of changes to these
   characteristics during operation.

   The extension described herein specifies OPTIONAL message header
   types to implement this mechanism.  The means by which the
   implementation support status of these OPTIONAL types is ascertained
   is described in [rpcrmdav2].

   Although this document specifies the new OPTIONAL message header
   types to implement these functions, the precise means by which the
   presence of support for these OPTIONAL functions will be ascertained
   is not described here, as would be done more appropriately by the RFC
   defining a version of RPC-over-RDMA which supports protocol
   extension.

   This document is currently written to conform to the extension model
   for RPC-over-RDMA Version Two as described in [rpcrdmav2].

1.3.  Role Terminology

   A number of different terms are used regarding the roles of the two
   participants in an RPC-over-RMA connection.  Some of these roles last
   for the duration of a connection while others vary from request to
   request or from message to message.

   The roles of the client and server are fixed for the lifetime of the
   connection, with the client defined as the endpoint which initiated
   the connection.

   The roles of requester and responder often parallel those of client
   and server, although this is not always the case.  Most requests are
   made in the forward direction, in which the client is the requester
   and the server is the responder.  However, backward-direction
   requests are possible, in which case the server is the requester and
   the client is the responder.  As a result, clients and servers may
   both act as requesters and responders.

   The roles of sender and receiver vary from message.  With regard to
   the messages described in this document, both the client and the
   server can act as sender and receiver.  With regard to messages used
   to transfer RPC requests and replies, the requester sends requests
   and receives replies while the responder receives requests and sends
   replies.

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2.  Transport Characteristics

2.1.  Characteristics Model

   An initial set of receiver and sender characteristics are specified
   in this document.  An extensible approach is used, allowing new
   characteristics to be defined in future standards track documents.

   Such characteristics are specified using:

   o  A code identifying the particular transport characteristic being
      specified.

   o  A nominally opaque array which contains within it the XDR encoding
      of the specific characteristic indicated by the associated code.

   The following XDR types are used by operations that deal with
   transport characteristics:

   <CODE BEGINS>

   typedef xcharid         uint32;

   struct xcharval {
           xcharid         xchv_which;
           opaque          xchv_data<>;
   };

   typedef xcharspec       xcharval<>;

   typedef uint32          xcharsubset<>;

   <CODE ENDS>

   An xcharid specifies a particular transport characteristic.  In order
   to allow easier XDR extension of the set of characteristics by
   concatenating XDR files, specific characteristics are defined as
   const values rather than as elements in an enum.

   An xcharval specifies a value of a particular transport
   characteristic with the particular characteristic identified by
   xchv_which, while the associated value of that characteristic is
   contained within xchv_data.

   While xchv_data is defined as opaque within the XDR, the contents are
   interpreted using the XDR typedef associated with the characteristic
   specified by xchv_which.  The receiver of a message containing an

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   xcharval MUST report an XDR error if the length of xchv_data is such
   that it extends beyond the bounds of the message transferred.

   In cases in which the xcharid specified by xchv_which is understood
   by the receiver, the receiver also MUST report an XDR error if either
   of the following occur:

   o  The nominally opaque data within xchv_data is not valid when
      interpreted using the characteristic-associated typedef.

   o  The length of xchv_data is insufficient to contain the data
      represented by the characteristic-associated typedef.

   Note that no error is to be reported if xchv_which is unknown to the
   receiver.  In that case, that xcharval is not processed and
   processing continues using the next xcharval, if any.

   An xcharspec specifies a set of transport characteristics.  No
   particular ordering of the xcharvals within it is imposed.

   An xcharsubset identifies a subset of the characteristics in a
   previously specified xcharspec.  Each bit in the mask denotes a
   particular element in a previously specified xcharspec.  If a
   particular xcharval is at position N in the array, then bit number N
   mod 32 in word N div 32 specifies whether that particular xcharval is
   included in the defined subset.  Words beyond the last one specified
   are treated as containing zero.

   xcharsubsets are useful in a number of contexts:

   o  In an initial specification of transport characteristics, they
      allow the sender to specify what subset of those are subject to
      later change.

   o  In responding to a request to modify a set of transport
      characteristics, allows the responding endpoint to specify the
      subset of those characteristics that have been performed, have
      been requested, or have been accepted for later change, with
      notification of that change to be done asynchronously.

2.2.  Transport Characteristics Groups

   Transport characteristics are divided into a number of groups

   o  An initial set of transport characteristics defined in this
      document.  See Section 3 for the complete list.

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   o  Additional transport characteristics defined in future standards
      track documents as specified in Section 6.1.

   o  Experimental transport characteristics being explored preparatory
      to being considered for standards track definition.  See the
      description in Section 6.2.

2.3.  Operations Related to Transport Characteristics

   There are a number of operations defined in Section 4 which are used
   to communicate and manage transport characteristics.

   Prime among these is ROPT_INITXCH (defined in Section 4.1 which
   serves as a means by which an endpoints transport characteristics may
   be presented to its peer, typically upon establishing a connection.

   In addition, there are a set of related operations concerned with
   requesting, effecting and reporting changes in transport
   characteristics:

   o  ROPT_REQXCH (defined in Section 4.2 which serves as a way for an
      endpoint to request that a peer change the value of a set of
      transport characteristics.

   o  ROPT_RESPXCH (defined in Section 4.3 is used to report on the
      disposition of each of the individual transport characteristic
      changes requested in a previous ROPT_REQXCH.

   o  ROPT_UPDXCH (defined in Section 4.4 is used to report a change in
      a transport characteristic.  This may be one requested by a
      previous ROPT_REQXCH, or an unsolicited one, not being requested
      by a peer.

   Unlike many other operation types, the above are not used to effect
   transfer of RPC requests but are internal one-way information
   transfers.  However, a ROPT_REQXCH and the corresponding ROPT_RESPXCH
   do constitute an RPC-like remote call.  The other operations are not
   part of a remote call transaction, although one or more asynchronous
   ROPT_UPDXCH operations may result from a ROPT_REQXCH.

3.  Initial Transport Characteristics

   Although the set of transport characteristics is subject to later
   extension, an initial set of transport characteristics is defined
   below in Table 1.

   In that table, the columns contain the following information:

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   o  The column labeled "characteristic" identifies the transport
      characteristic described by the current row.

   o  The column labeled "code" specifies the xcharid value used to
      identify this characteristic.

   o  The column labeled "XDR type" gives the XDR type of the data used
      to communicate the value of this characteristic.  This data type
      overlays the nominally opaque field xchv_data in an xcharval.

   o  The column labeled "default" gives the default value for the
      characteristic which is to be assumed by those who do not receive,
      or are unable to interpret, information about the actual value of
      the characteristic.

   o  The column labeled "section" indicates the section (within this
      document) that explains the semantics and use of this transport
      characteristic.

   +--------------------+------+-----------+-----------------+---------+
   | characteristic     | code | XDR type  | default         | section |
   +--------------------+------+-----------+-----------------+---------+
   | Receive Buffer     | 1    | uint32    | 4096            | 3.1     |
   | Size               |      |           |                 |         |
   | Requester Remote   | 2    | bool      | false           | 3.2     |
   | Invalidation       |      |           |                 |         |
   | Backward Request   | 3    | enum      | BKREQSUP_INLINE | 3.3     |
   | Support            |      | bkreqsup  |                 |         |
   +--------------------+------+-----------+-----------------+---------+

                                  Table 1

   Note that there is no explicit indication regarding whether a
   particular characteristic can change or whether a change in the value
   may be requested (see Section 4.2).  Such matters are not addressed
   by the protocol definition.  A partner implementation can always
   request a change but peers MAY reject a request to change a
   characteristic for any reason.  Implementations are always free to
   reject such requests if they cannot or do not wish to effect the
   requested change.

   Either of the following will result in effective rejection requests
   to change specific characteristics:

   o  If an endpoint does not wish to accept request to change
      particular characteristics, it may reject such requests as
      described in Section 4.3.

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   o  If an endpoint does not support the ROPT_REQXCH operation, the
      effect would be the same as if every request to change a set of
      characteristic were rejected.

   With regard to unrequested changes in transport characteristics, it
   is the responsibility of the implementation making the change to do
   so in a fashion that which does not interfere with the other
   partner's continued correct operation (see Section 3.1).

3.1.  Receive Buffer Size

   The Receive Buffer Size specifies the minimum size, in octets, of
   pre-posted receive buffers.  It is the responsibility of the
   participant sending this value to ensure that its pre-posted receives
   are at least the size specified, allowing the participant receiving
   this value to send messages that are of this size.

   <CODE BEGINS>

   const uint32    XCHAR_RBSIZ = 1;
   typedef uint32  xchrbsiz;

   <CODE ENDS>

   The sender may use his knowledge of the receiver's buffer size to
   determine when the message to be sent will fit in the preposted
   receive buffers that the receiver has set up.  In particular,

   o  Requesters may use the value to determine when it is necessary to
      provide a Position-Zero read chunk when sending a request.

   o  Requesters may use the value to determine when it is necessary to
      provide a Reply chunk when sending a request, based on the maximum
      possible size of the reply.

   o  Responders may use the value to determine when it is necessary,
      given the actual size of the reply, to actually use a Reply chunk
      provided by the requester.

   Because there may be pre-posted receives with buffer sizes that
   reflect earlier values of the buffer size characteristic, changing
   this characteristics poses special difficulties:

   o  When the size is being raised, the partner should not be informed
      of the change until all pending receives using the older value
      have been eliminated.

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   o  The size should not be reduced until the partner is aware of the
      need to reduce the size of future sends to conform to this reduced
      value.  To ensure this, such a change should only occur in
      response to an explicit request by the other endpoint (See
      Section 4.2).  The participant making the request should use that
      lower size as the send size limit until the request is rejected
      (See Section 4.3) or an update to a size larger than the requested
      value becomes effective and the requested change is no longer
      pending (See Section 4.4).

3.2.  Requester Remote Invalidation

   The Requester Remote Invalidation characteristic indicates that the
   current endpoint, when in the role of a requester, is prepared for
   the responder to use RDMA Send With Invalidate when replying to an
   RPC-over-RDMA request containing non-empty chuck lists.

   As RPC-over-RDMA is currently used, memory registrations exposed to
   peers are not established by the server and explicit RDMA operations
   are not done to satisfy backward direction requests.  This makes it
   unlikely that servers will present non-default values of the
   XCHAR_REQREMINV characteristic or that clients will take note of that
   value when presented by servers.

   <CODE BEGINS>

   const uint32    XCHAR_REQREMINV = 2;
   typedef bool    xchrreqrem;

   <CODE ENDS>

   When the Requester Remote Invalidate characteristic is set to false,
   a responder MUST use Send to convey RPC reply messages to the
   requester.  When the Requester Remote Invalidate characteristic is
   set to true, a responder MAY use Send With Invalidate instead of Send
   to convey RPC replies to the requester.

   The value of the Requester Remote Invalidate characteristic is not
   likely to change from the value reported by ROPT_INITXCH (see
   Section 4.2).

3.3.  Backward Request Support

   The value of this characteristic is used to indicate a client
   implementation's readiness to accept and process messages that are
   part of backward-direction RPC requests.

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   <CODE BEGINS>

   enum bkreqsup {
           BKREQSUP_NONE    = 0,
           BKREQSUP_INLINE  = 1,
           BKREQSUP_GENL    = 2
   };

   const uint32    XCHAR_BRS = 3;
   typedef bkreqsup xchrbrs;

   <CODE ENDS>

   Multiple levels of support are distinguished:

   o  The value BKREQSUP_NONE indicates that receipt of backward-
      direction requests and replies is not supported.

   o  The value BKREQSUP_INLINE indicates that receipt of backward-
      direction requests or replies is only supported using inline
      messages and that use of explicit RDMA operations for backward
      direction requests or responses is not supported.

   o  The value BKREQSUP_GENL that receipt of backward-direction
      requests or replies is supported in the same ways that forward-
      direction requests or replies typically are.

   The support level of servers can be inferred from the backward-
   direction requests that they issue, assuming that issuing a request
   implicitly indicates support for receiving the corresponding reply.
   On this basis, support for receiving inline replies can be assumed
   when requests without read chunks, write chunks, or Reply chunks are
   issued, while requests with any of these elements allow the client to
   assume that general support for backward-direction replies is present
   on the server.

4.  New Operations

   The proposed new operation are set forth in Table 2 below.  In that
   table, the columns contain the following information:

   o  The column labeled "operation" specifies the particular operation.

   o  The column labeled "code" specifies the value of opttype for this
      operation.

   o  The column labeled "XDR type" gives the XDR type of the data
      structure used to describe the information in this new message

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      type.  This data overlays the nominally opaque field optinfo in an
      RDMA_OPTIONAL message.

   o  The column labeled "msg" indicates whether this operation is
      followed (or not) by an RPC message payload.

   o  The column labeled "section" indicates the section (within this
      document) that explains the semantics and use of this optional
      operation.

   +--------------------------+------+-----------------+-----+---------+
   | operation                | code | XDR type        | msg | section |
   +--------------------------+------+-----------------+-----+---------+
   | Specify Initial          | 1    | optinfo_initxch | No  | 4.1     |
   | Characteristics          |      |                 |     |         |
   | Request Characteristic   | 2    | optinfo_reqxch  | No  | 4.2     |
   | Modification             |      |                 |     |         |
   | Respond to Modification  | 3    | optinfo_respxch | No  | 4.3     |
   | Request                  |      |                 |     |         |
   | Report Updated           | 4    | optinfo_updxch  | No  | 4.4     |
   | Characteristics          |      |                 |     |         |
   +--------------------------+------+-----------------+-----+---------+

                                  Table 2

   Support for all of the operations above is OPTIONAL.  RPC-over-RDMA
   Version Two implementations that receive an operation that is not
   supported MUST respond with RDMA_ERROR message with an error code of
   RDMA_ERR_INVAL_OPTION as specified in [rpcrdmav2]

   The only operation support requirements are as follows:

   o  Implementations which send ROPT_REQXCH messages must support
      ROPT_RESPXCH and ROPT_UPDXCH messages.

   o  Implementations which support ROPT_RESPXCH or ROPT_UPDXCH messages
      must also support ROPT_INITXCH messages.

4.1.  ROPT_INITXCH: Specify Initial Characteristics

   The ROPT_INITXCH message type allows an RPC-over-RDMA participant,
   whether client or server, to indicate to its partner relevant
   transport characteristics that the partner might need to be aware of.

   The message definition for this operation is as follows:

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   <CODE BEGINS>

   const uint32     ROPT_INITXCH = 1;

   struct optinfo_initxch {
           xcharspec       optixch_start;
           xcharsubset     optixch_nochg;
   };

   <CODE ENDS>

   All relevant transport characteristics that the sender is aware of
   should be included in optixch_start.  Since support of this request
   is OPTIONAL, and since each of the characteristics is OPTIONAL as
   well, the sender cannot assume that the receiver will necessarily
   take note of these characteristics and so the sender should be
   prepared for cases in which the partner continues to assume that the
   default value for a particular characteristic is still in effect.

   The subset of transport characteristic specified by optixch_nochg is
   not expected to change during the lifetime of the connection.

   Generally, a participant will send a ROPT_INITXCH message as the
   first message after a connection is established.  Given that fact,
   the sender should make sure that the message can be received by
   partners who use the default Receive Buffer Size.  The connection's
   initial receive buffer size is typically 1KB, but it depends on the
   initial connection state of the RPC-over-RDMA version in use.  See
   [rpcrdmav2] for details.

   Those receiving an ROPT_INITXCH may encounter characteristics that
   they do not support or are unaware of.  In such cases, these
   characteristics are simply ignored without any error response being
   generated.

4.2.  ROPT_REQXCH: Request Modification of Characteristics

   The ROPT_REQXCH message type allows an RPC-over-RDMA participant,
   whether client or server, to request of its partner that relevant
   transport characteristics be changed.

   The partner need not change the characteristics as requested by the
   sender but if it does support the message type, it will generate a
   ROPT_RESPXCH message, indicating the disposition of the request.

   The message definition for this operation is as follows:

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   <CODE BEGINS>

   const uint32     ROPT_REQXCH = 2;

   struct optinfo_reqxch {
           xcharspec       optreqxch_want;
   };

   <CODE ENDS>

   The xcharspec optreqxch_want is a set of transport characteristics
   together with the desired values requested by the sender.

4.3.  ROPT_RESPXCH: Respond to Request to Modify Transport
      Characteristics

   The ROPT_RESPXCH message type allows an RPC-over-RDMA participant to
   respond to a request to change characteristics by its partner,
   indicating how the request was dealt with.

   The message definition for this operation is as follows:

   <CODE BEGINS>

   const uint32     ROPT_RESPXCH = 3;

   struct optinfo_respxch {
           xcharsubset     optrespxch_done;
           xcharsubset     optrespxch_rej;
           xcharsubset     optrespxch_pend;
   };

   <CODE ENDS>

   The rdma_xid field of this message must match that used in the
   ROPT_REQXCH message to which this message is responding.

   The optrespxch_done field indicates which of the requested transport
   characteristic changes have been immediately effected.  For each such
   characteristic, the receiver is entitled to conclude that the
   requested change has been made and that future transmissions may be
   made based on the new value.

   The optrespxch_rej field indicates which of the requested transport
   characteristic changes have been rejected by the sender.  This may be
   because of any of the following reasons:

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   o  The particular characteristic specified is not known or supported
      by the receiver of the ROPT_REQXCH message.

   o  The implementation receiving the ROPT_REQXCH message does not
      support modification of this characteristic.

   o  The implementation receiving the ROPT_REQXCHG message has rejected
      the modification for another reason.

   The optrespxch_pend field indicates which of the requested transport
   characteristic modifications remain pending, since they were neither
   rejected nor effected immediately.  The receiver can expect the
   modification to be effected by a later ROPT_UPDXCH message, although
   there is no way to determine when this will happen.  For each
   characteristic bit set in this field, one or more ROPT_UPXCH can be
   expected, the last of which will have optupdxch_pendclr flag set.

   The subsets of characteristics specified by optrespxch_done,
   optrespxch_rej, optrespxch_pend should not overlap and, when ored
   together, should cover the entire set of characteristics specified by
   optreqxch_want in the corresponding request.

4.4.  ROPT_UPDXCH: Update Transport Characteristics

   The ROPT_UPDXCH message type allows an RPC-over-RDMA participant to
   notify the other participant that a change to the transport
   characteristics has occurred.

   This may be because:

   o  A change requested by a ROPT_REQXCH message, has, after some
      delay, been effected.

   o  The sender has decided, independently, to modify the transport
      characteristic and is notifying the receiver of this change.

   One should pay particular attention to the fact that there is no
   there no way to tie a message reporting a change to the specific
   request which asked for the change.  In particular, the rdma_xid
   field in this message is independent of that for any earlier
   ROPT_REQXCH message.

   The message definition for this operation is as follows:

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   <CODE BEGINS>

   const uint32     ROPT_UPDXCH = 4;

   struct optinfo_updxch {
           xcharval        optupdxch_now;
           bool            optupdxch_pendclr;
   };

   <CODE ENDS>

   optupdxch_now defines the new characteristic value to be used.

   optupdxch_pendclr, if true, indicates that a previous request to
   update the characteristic specified by optupdxch_now.xchv_which is no
   longer to be considered pending.  This may be set true even if the
   characteristic value is not changed from the previous value.

   Some instances of ROPT_UPDXCH are the result of a previous a previous
   ROPT_REQXCH while others are unsolicited.  This distinction relates
   to the setting of optupdxch_pendclr as follows:

   o  If a characteristic update is unsolicited, then optupdxch_pendclr
      will always be false.

   o  If a characteristic update is prompted by a previous ROPT_REQXCH
      and optupdxch_pendclr is true, then the current message indicates
      the (asynchronous) completion of that previous change request.

      In this case the disposition of the change request can be
      determined using optupdxch_now.  If the value is that requested by
      the associated ROPT_REQXCH then the request was successful, while
      if the value is unchanged from the original value, the change can
      be considered rejected.

      In cases in which the characteristic has a range of values,
      intermediate value are possible, indicating a partial satisfaction
      of the original request.

   o  If a characteristic update is prompted by a previous ROPT_REQXCH
      and optupdxch_pendclr is false, then the current message does not
      indicate completion of a previous change request.

      In such cases, the characteristic value indicates the current
      value of the characteristic, which the receiver is entitled to
      rely upon, just as would have been the case if the change had been
      unsolicited.

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      Nevertheless, the change request is still active and will remain
      so until a ROPT_UPDXCH with optupdxch_pendclr is received.

5.  XDR

   This section contains an XDR [RFC4506]  description of the proposed
   extension.

   This description is provided in a way that makes it simple to extract
   into ready-to-use form.  The reader can apply the following shell
   script to this document to produce a machine-readable XDR description
   of extension which can be combined with XDR for the base protocol to
   produce an XDR that combines the base protocol with the optional
   extensions.

   <CODE BEGINS>

   #!/bin/sh
   grep '^ *///' | sed 's?^ /// ??' | sed 's?^ *///$??'

   <CODE ENDS>

   That is, if the above script is stored in a file called "extract.sh"
   and this document is in a file called "ext.txt" then the reader can
   do the following to extract an XDR description file for this
   extension:

   <CODE BEGINS>

   sh extract.sh < ext.txt > charext.x

   <CODE ENDS>

5.1.  Code Component License

   Code components extracted from this document must include the
   following license text.  When the extracted XDR code is combined with
   other complementary XDR code which itself has an identical license,
   only a single copy of the license text need be preserved.

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   <CODE BEGINS>

   /// /*
   ///  * Copyright (c) 2010, 2016 IETF Trust and the persons
   ///  * identified as authors of the code.  All rights reserved.
   ///  *
   ///  * The author of the code is: D. Noveck.
   ///  *
   ///  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with
   ///  * or without modification, are permitted provided that the
   ///  * following conditions are met:
   ///  *
   ///  * - Redistributions of source code must retain the above
   ///  *   copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
   ///  *   following disclaimer.
   ///  *
   ///  * - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
   ///  *   copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
   ///  *   following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
   ///  *   materials provided with the distribution.
   ///  *
   ///  * - Neither the name of Internet Society, IETF or IETF
   ///  *   Trust, nor the names of specific contributors, may be
   ///  *   used to endorse or promote products derived from this
   ///  *   software without specific prior written permission.
   ///  *
   ///  *   THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS
   ///  *   AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
   ///  *   WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
   ///  *   IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
   ///  *   FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO
   ///  *   EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
   ///  *   LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
   ///  *   EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
   ///  *   NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
   ///  *   SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
   ///  *   INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
   ///  *   LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
   ///  *   OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING
   ///  *   IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF
   ///  *   ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
   ///  */

   <CODE ENDS>

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5.2.  XDR Proper for Extension

   <CODE BEGINS>

   ///
   ////*
   /// * Basic transport characteristic types
   /// */
   ///typedef xcharid         uint32;
   ///
   ///struct xcharval {
   ///        xcharid         xchv_which;
   ///        opaque          xchv_data<>;
   ///};
   ///
   ///typedef xcharspec       xcharval<>;
   ///
   ///typedef xcharsubset     uint32<>;
   ///
   ////*
   /// * Transport characteristic codes
   /// */
   ///const uint32    XCHAR_RBSIZ = 1;
   ///const uint32    XCHAR_REQREMINV = 2;
   ///const uint32    XCHAR_BRS = 3;
   ///
   ////*
   /// * Other transport characteristic types
   /// */
   ///enum bkreqsup {
   ///        BKREQSUP_NONE    = 0,
   ///        BKREQSUP_INLINE  = 1,
   ///        BKREQSUP_GENL    = 2
   ///};
   ///
   ////*
   /// * Transport characteristic typedefs
   /// */
   ///typedef uint32   xchrbsiz;
   ///typedef bool     xchrreqrem;
   ///typedef bkreqsup xchrbrs;
   ///
   ////*
   /// * Optional operation codes
   /// */
   ///const uint32     ROPT_INITXCH = 1;
   ///const uint32     ROPT_REQXCH = 2;

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   ///const uint32     ROPT_RESPXCH = 3;
   ///const uint32     ROPT_UPDXCH = 4;
   ///
   ////*
   /// * Optional operation message structures
   /// */
   ///struct optinfo_initxch {
   ///        xcharspec       optixch_start;
   ///        xcharsubset     optixch_nochg;
   ///};
   ///
   ///struct optinfo_reqxch {
   ///        xcharspec       optreqxch_want;
   ///};
   ///
   ///struct optinfo_respxch {
   ///        xcharsubset     optrespxch_done;
   ///        xcharsubset     optrespxch_rej;
   ///        xcharsubset     optrespxch_pend;
   ///};
   ///
   ///struct optinfo_updxch {
   ///        xcharval        optupdxch_now;
   ///        bool            optupdxch_pendclr;
   ///};

   <CODE ENDS>

6.  Extensibility

6.1.  Additional Characteristics

   The set of transport characteristics is designed to be extensible.
   As a result, once new characteristics are defined in standards track
   documents, the operations defined in this document may reference
   these new transport characteristics, as well as the ones described in
   this document.

   A standards track document defining a new transport characteristic
   should include the following information paralleling that provided in
   this document for the transport characteristics defined herein.

   o  The xcharid value used to identify this characteristic.

   o  The XDR typedef specifying the form in which the characteristic
      value is communicated.

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   o  A description of the transport characteristic that is communicated
      by the sender of ROPT_INITXCH and ROPT_UPDXCH and requested by the
      sender of ROP_REQXCH.

   o  An explanation of how this knowledge could be used by the
      participant receiving this information.

   o  Information giving rules governing possible changes of values of
      this characteristic.

   The definition of transport characteristic structures is such as to
   make it easy to assign unique values.  There is no requirement that a
   continuous set of values be used and implementations should not rely
   on all such values being small integers.  A unique value should be
   selected when the defining document is first published as an internet
   draft.  When the document becomes a standards track document working
   group should insure that:

   o  The xcharids specified in the document do not conflict with those
      currently assigned or in use by other pending working group
      documents defining transport characteristics.

   o  The xcharids specified in the document do not conflict with the
      range reserved for experimental use, as defined in Section 6.2.

   Documents defining new characteristics fall into a number of
   categories.

   o  Those defining new characteristics and explaining (only) how they
      affect use of existing message types.

   o  Those defining new OPTIONAL message types and new characteristics
      applicable to the operation of those new message types.

   o  Those defining new OPTIONAL message types and new characteristics
      applicable both to new and existing message types.

   When additional transport characteristics are proposed, the review of
   the associated standards track document should deal with possible
   security issues raised by those new transport characteristics.

6.2.  Experimental Characteristics

   Given the design of the transport characteristics data structure, it
   possible to use the operations to implement experimental, possibly
   unpublished, transport characteristics.

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   xcharids in the range from 4,294,967,040 to 4,294,967,295 are
   reserved for experimental use and these values should not be assigned
   to new characteristics in standards track documents.

   When values in this range are used there is no guarantee if
   successful interoperation among independent implementations.

7.  Security Considerations

   Like other fields that appear in each RPC-over-RDMA header,
   characteristic information is sent in the clear on the fabric with no
   integrity protection, making it vulnerable to man-in-the-middle
   attacks.

   For example, if a man-in-the-middle were to change the value of the
   Receive buffer size or the Requester Remote Invalidation boolean, it
   could reduce connection performance or trigger loss of connection.
   Repeated connection loss can impact performance or even prevent a new
   connection from being established.  Recourse is to deploy on a
   private network or use link-layer encryption.

8.  IANA Considerations

   This document does not require any actions by IANA.

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

   [bidir]    Lever, C., "Size-Limited Bi-directional Remote Procedure
              Call On Remote Direct Memory Access Transports", April
              2016, <http://www.ietf.org/id/
              draft-ietf-nfsv4-rpcrdma-bidirection-02.txt>.

              Work in progress.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC4506]  Eisler, M., Ed., "XDR: External Data Representation
              Standard", STD 67, RFC 4506, DOI 10.17487/RFC4506, May
              2006, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4506>.

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   [rfc5666bis]
              Lever, C., Ed., Simpson, W., and T. Talpey, "Remote Direct
              Memory Access Transport for Remote Procedure Call", May
              2016, <http://www.ietf.org/id/
              draft-ietf-nfsv4-rfc5666bis-07.txt>.

              Work in progress.

   [rpcrdmav2]
              Lever, C., Ed. and D. Noveck, "RPC-over-RDMA Version Two",
              June 2016, <http://www.ietf.org/id/
              draft-cel-nfsv4-rpcrdma-version-two-01.txt>.

              Work in progress.

9.2.  Informative References

   [RFC5662]  Shepler, S., Ed., Eisler, M., Ed., and D. Noveck, Ed.,
              "Network File System (NFS) Version 4 Minor Version 1
              External Data Representation Standard (XDR) Description",
              RFC 5662, DOI 10.17487/RFC5662, January 2010,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5662>.

   [RFC5666]  Talpey, T. and B. Callaghan, "Remote Direct Memory Access
              Transport for Remote Procedure Call", RFC 5666,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5666, January 2010,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5666>.

Appendix A.  Acknowledgments

   The author gratefully acknowledges the work of Brent Callaghan and
   Tom Talpey producing the original RPC-over-RDMA Version One
   specification [RFC5666] and also Tom's work in helping to clarify
   that specification.

   The author also wishes to thank Chuck Lever for his work resurrecting
   NFS support for RDMA in [rfc5666bis] and for his helpful review of
   and suggestions for this document.

   The extract.sh shell script and formatting conventions were first
   described by the authors of the NFSv4.1 XDR specification [RFC5662].

Author's Address

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   David Noveck
   Hewlett Packard Enterprise
   165 Dascomb Road
   Andover, MA  01810
   USA

   Phone: +1 781-572-8038
   Email: davenoveck@gmail.com

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