A Vocabulary of Path Properties
draft-enghardt-panrg-path-properties-01

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PANRG                                                        T. Enghardt
Internet-Draft                                                 TU Berlin
Intended status: Informational                           C. Kraehenbuehl
Expires: September 12, 2019                                  ETH Zuerich
                                                          March 11, 2019

                    A Vocabulary of Path Properties
                draft-enghardt-panrg-path-properties-01

Abstract

   This document defines and categorizes information about Internet
   paths that an entity, such as an endpoint, might have or want to
   have.  This information is expressed as properties of paths between
   two endpoints.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on September 12, 2019.

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   Copyright (c) 2019 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Domain Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   4.  Backbone Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   5.  Dynamic Properties  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   6.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   8.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9

1.  Introduction

   Because the current Internet provides an IP-based best-effort bit
   pipe, endpoints have little information about paths to other
   endpoints.  A Path Aware Network exposes information about one or
   multiple paths through the network to endpoints or the network
   infrastructure.

   It is impossible to provide an exhaustive list of path properties, as
   with every new technology and protocol, novel properties might become
   relevant.  In this document, we specify a set of path properties
   which might be useful in the following use cases: Traffic policies,
   network monitoring, and path selection.

   o  Traffic policies: Entities such as network operators or end users
      may want to define traffic policies leveraging path awareness.
      Such policies can allow or disallow sending traffic over specific
      networks or nodes, select an appropriate protocol depending on the
      capabilities of the on-path devices, or adjust protocol parameters
      to an existing path.  An example of a traffic policy is a video
      streaming application choosing an (initial) video quality based on
      the achievable data rate, or the monetary cost of the link using a
      volume-based or flat-rate cost model.  Another example is an
      enterprise network where all traffic has to go through a firewall,
      in which case the endpoint needs to be aware of on-path firewalls.

   o  Network monitoring: Network operators can use path properties
      (e.g., measured by on-path devices), to observe Quality of Service
      (QoS) characteristics of recent end-user traffic, and identify
      potential problems with their network early on, before the end-
      user complains.

   o  Path selection: In some cases, entities can choose to use a
      certain path (or subset of paths) from a set of paths to achieve a
      specific goal.  As the possible benefits of a well chosen path

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