A Vocabulary of Path Properties
draft-enghardt-panrg-path-properties-02

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PANRG                                                        T. Enghardt
Internet-Draft                                                 TU Berlin
Intended status: Informational                           C. Kraehenbuehl
Expires: January 9, 2020                                     ETH Zuerich
                                                           July 08, 2019

                    A Vocabulary of Path Properties
                draft-enghardt-panrg-path-properties-02

Abstract

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

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   Copyright (c) 2019 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
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Enghardt & Kraehenbuehl  Expires January 9, 2020                [Page 1]
Internet-Draft               Path Properties                   July 2019

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9

1.  Introduction

   Because the current Internet provides an IP-based best-effort bit
   pipe, hosts have little information about paths to other hosts.  A
   Path Aware Network exposes information about one or multiple paths
   through the network to hosts 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 host 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
      varies based on the goal, as a baseline, a path selection