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TreeDN- Tree-based CDNs for Live Streaming to Mass Audiences
draft-ietf-mops-treedn-00

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Authors Lenny Giuliano , Chris Lenart , Rich Adam
Last updated 2023-01-04
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draft-ietf-mops-treedn-00
MOPS                                                         L. Giuliano
Internet-Draft                                          Juniper Networks
Intended status: Informational                                 C. Lenart
Expires: 8 July 2023                                             Verizon
                                                                 R. Adam
                                                                   GEANT
                                                          4 January 2023

      TreeDN- Tree-based CDNs for Live Streaming to Mass Audiences
                       draft-ietf-mops-treedn-00

Abstract

   As Internet audience sizes for high-interest live events reach
   unprecedented levels and bitrates climb to support 4K/8K/AR, live
   streaming can place a unique type of stress upon network resources.
   TreeDN is a tree-based CDN architecture designed to address the
   distinctive scaling challenges of live streaming to mass audiences.
   TreeDN enables operators to offer Replication-as-a-Service (RaaS) at
   a fraction the cost of traditional, unicast-based CDNs- in some
   cases, at no additional cost to the infrastructure.  In addition to
   efficiently utilizing network resources to deliver existing multi-
   destination traffic, this architecture also enables new types of
   content and use cases that previously weren't possible or
   economically viable using traditional CDN approaches.  Finally,
   TreeDN is a decentralized architecture and a democratizing technology
   for content distribution.

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/.

   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 8 July 2023.

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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2023 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
   and restrictions with respect to this document.  Code Components
   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Applicability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  TreeDN Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.1.  TreeDN Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.2.  TreeDN Native On-Net  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  Replication-as-a-Service (RaaS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   6.  Decentralization/Democratization of Content Sourcing  . . . .   7
   7.  Integration with Unicast  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   8.  Security Consideration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   9.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   10. Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   11. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     11.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     11.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9

1.  Introduction

   Live streaming to mass audiences can impose unique demands on network
   resources.  For example, live sporting events broadcast over the
   Internet to end users has much lower tolerance for long playout
   buffers than typical on-demand video streaming.  Viewers of live
   sporting events have long been conditioned by broadcast television to
   expect to see the content in real time, with only very short buffers
   for broadcast delays to prevent profanity and other objectionable
   content from making on the air (the "seven-second delay").  With
   micro-betting, even this 5-10 second delay can be too long.  By
   comparison, when watching on-demand movies, an extra one- or two-
   minute playout buffer tends to be perfectly acceptable for viewers.
   If playout buffers for live sports are that long, viewers run the

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   risk of being alerted to the game winning score from text messages
   from friends or cheers from the bar across the street, minutes before
   they view it themselves.

   Another unique characteristic of live streaming is join rate.  While
   on-demand video streaming can consume massive amounts of network
   resources, the viewing rates tend to be smooth and predictable.
   Service Providers observe gradual levels of traffic increases over
   the evening hours corresponding to prime-time viewing habits.  By
   comparison, viewing rates of live video streams can more closely
   resemble step functions with much less predictability as mass
   audiences of viewers tune in to watch the game at the same time.

   Previous efforts at more efficient network replication of multi-
   destination traffic have experienced mixed success in terms of
   adoption.  IP multicast is widely deployed on financial networks,
   video distribution networks, L3VPN networks and certain enterprises.
   But most of these deployments are restricted to "walled-garden"
   networks.  Multicast over the global Internet has failed to gain
   traction, as only a very small portion of the Internet is multicast-
   enabled at this time.

   TreeDN is the result of the evolution of network-based replication
   mechanisms based on lessons learned from what has and has not worked
   well in the past.  TreeDN addresses the fundamental issues of what
   has hindered multicast from adoption on the global Internet and
   enables service providers the opportunity to deliver new Replication-
   as-a-Service (RaaS) offerings to content providers, while more
   efficiently utilizing network resources, and thus, improving the
   experience of end users.  Further, by more efficiently supporting
   multi-destination traffic, TreeDN is an architecture that can enable
   new types of content, such as Augmented Reality (AR) live streaming
   to mass audiences, that previously weren't possible or economically
   viable on the Internet due to the inefficiencies of unicast.

1.1.  Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

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2.  Applicability

   While the primary use case mentioned throughout this document is live
   streaming of multimedia content (audio, video, AR, real-time
   telemetry data), the TreeDN architecture is ideal for any content
   that needs to be replicated and delivered to multiple destinations.
   For example, large software file updates (eg, OS upgrades) that need
   to be delivered to many end users in a very short window of time can
   cause significant strain on network resources.  Using TreeDN, this
   use case be handled much more efficiently by the network.

3.  Problem Statement

   The following issues have been the primary challenges for deployment
   of IP multicast over the global Internet:

   *  The "All or Nothing" Problem: IP multicast requires every layer 3
      hop between source and receivers to be multicast-enabled.  To
      achieve ubiquitous availability on the global Internet, this
      essentially means nearly every interface on every router and
      firewall on the Internet must support a multicast routing protocol
      like PIM-SM [RFC7761] or mLDP [RFC6388].  This requirement creates
      a bar to deployment that is practically impossible to overcome.

   *  The "It's Too Complex" Problem: operators have long complained
      that multicast routing protocols like PIM-SM are simply too
      complex, making it costly to design, configure, manage and
      troubleshoot IP multicast in the network.

   *  The "Chicken and Egg" Problem: there's not much multicast content
      because there's not much of a multicast-enabled audience, but
      there's not much of a multicast-enabled audience because there's
      not much multicast content.

   TreeDN is the evolution of network-based replication based on lessons
   learned over decades and is designed to address the problems listed
   above.

4.  TreeDN Architecture

   TreeDN leverages advances in the availability and understanding of
   overlay and underlay networking.  With network overlays, a service
   can be achieved and delivered to end users while recognizing and
   tolerating the practical realities of what is possible over a network
   as diverse as the global Internet.  That is, the replication service
   is available to users and applications regardless of what protocols
   may exist in the underlying networks.

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4.1.  TreeDN Overlays

   One overlay technology that TreeDN leverages is Automatic Multicast
   Tunneling (AMT) [RFC7450].  With AMT, users on unicast-only networks
   (AMT Gateways) can dynamically build tunnels to routers on the
   multicast-enabled part of the network (AMT Relays) and receive
   multicast streams.  The AMT Gateway is a thin software client which
   typically sits on the receiving end host and initiates the tunnel at
   an AMT Relay, which is a tunnel server that typically sits at the
   border of the multicast network.  AMT allows any end host on the
   Internet to receive multicast content regardless of whether their
   local provider supports multicast (aka, "off-net receivers"), which
   addresses the "All or Nothing" Problem.  Links and devices that do
   not support multicast are simply tunneled over- they no longer
   present a barrier to the overall replication service for end users.
   Those networks that do deploy and support multicast, as well as the
   content providers that serve up multicast content, are able to enjoy
   the benefits of efficient replication and delivery.  Further, these
   benefits can serve as incentives for operators who do not yet support
   multicast to enable it on their networks.  Once the cost of carrying
   duplicated unicast tunnels is perceived by those operators to exceed
   the cost of deploying multicast, they are more likely to enable
   multicast on their networks.  In this way, TreeDN effectively
   supports incremental deployment in a way that was not previously
   possible with traditional (non-overlay) multicast networking.
   Finally, AMT also addresses the "Chicken and Egg" Problem, as all end
   hosts on the global Internet that have access to an AMT Relay are
   potential audience members.

   In addition to AMT, other overlay technologies like Locator/ID
   Separation Protocol (LISP) [RFC6830] can be utilized to deliver
   content from multicast-enabled networks to end hosts that are
   separated by portions of the network (at the last/middle/first mile)
   that do not support multicast.

4.2.  TreeDN Native On-Net

   Networks that support multicast provide the native on-net component
   of TreeDN.  The primary requirement of the native on-net is to
   support Source-Specific Multicast (SSM) [RFC4607].  PIM-SSM, which is
   merely a subset of PIM-SM, is the multicast routing protocol
   typically used in SSM.  However, any multicast routing protocol
   capable of supporting SSM can be used as a TreeDN native on-net, such
   as mLDP, GTM [RFC7716] and BGP-based Multicast
   [I-D.ietf-bess-bgp-multicast], or even BGP-MVPN [RFC6513] for those
   operators who carry the global routing table in a VRF.  Likewise, any
   data plane technology that supports SSM, including BIER [RFC8279] and
   SR-P2MP [I-D.ietf-spring-sr-replication-segment] can be used.

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   The key benefit of SSM as the native on-net component of TreeDN is
   that it radically simplifies the control plane needed to support
   replication in the network.  This benefit addresses the "It's Too
   Complex" Problem.  Most of the complexity of multicast is eliminated
   in SSM, which reduces the cost of deploying and operating a multicast
   network.  Further rationale for this SSM-only approach can be found
   in ASM Deprecation [RFC8815].

5.  Replication-as-a-Service (RaaS)

   Content providers have traditionally used CDNs to distribute content
   that needs to be delivered to large audiences, essentially
   outsourcing the task of replication to CDN providers.  Most CDNs
   utilize unicast delivery, as multicast is not an option due to its
   lack of general availability on the global Internet.  TreeDN is a CDN
   architecture that leverages tree-based replication to more
   efficiently utilize network resources to deliver simultaneous multi-
   destination traffic.  By leveraging overlay networking to address the
   "All or Nothing" and "Chicken and Egg" Problems and SSM to address
   the "It's Too Complex" Problem, TreeDN avoids the practical issues
   that previously prevented multicast from being a viable option for
   CDN providers.

   TreeDN has several advantages over traditional unicast-based CDN
   approaches.  First, the TreeDN functionality can be delivered
   entirely by the existing network infrastructure.  Specifically, for
   operators with routers that support AMT natively, multicast traffic
   can be delivered directly to end users without the need for
   specialized CDN devices, which typically are servers that need to be
   racked, powered and connected to revenue-generating ports on routers.
   In this way, SPs can offer new RaaS functionality to content
   providers at potentially zero additional cost in new equipment
   (modulo the additional bandwidth consumption).

   Additionally, TreeDN is an open, standards-based architecture based
   on mature, widely implemented protocols.  TreeDN also requires far
   less coordination between the content provider and the CDN operator.
   That is, there are no storage requirements for the data, nor group-
   key management issues since a TreeDN provider merely forwards
   packets.  A TreeDN provider simply needs to have enough accounting
   data (eg, traffic data, number of AMT tunnels, etc) to properly bill
   customers for the service.  By contrast, traditional unicast-based
   CDNs often incorporate proprietary, non-interoperable technologies
   and require significant coordination between the content provider and
   the CDN to handle such things as file storage, data protection and
   key-management.

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6.  Decentralization/Democratization of Content Sourcing

   TreeDN is an inherently decentralized architecture.  This reduces the
   cost for content sourcing, as any host connected to a multicast-
   enabled network, or on a source-capable overlay, can send out a
   single data stream that can be reached by an arbitrarily large
   audience.  By effectively reducing to zero the marginal cost to the
   source of reaching each additional audience member, TreeDN
   democratizes content sourcing on the Internet.

7.  Integration with Unicast

   Since SSM inherently implies unidirectional traffic flows from one to
   many, mechanisms that rely on bidirectional communication between
   receivers and the content provider, such as bespoke advertising,
   telemetry data from receivers detailing end user experience,
   distribution of decryption keys, switching to higher/lower bandwidth
   streams, etc, are not well suited to SSM delivery.  As such, separate
   unicast streams between receivers and content providers may be used
   for this type of "out-of-band" functions while SSM is used to deliver
   the actual content of interest.  Further details on this hybrid
   unicast-multicast model for content delivery are beyond the scope of
   this document.

8.  Security Consideration

   TreeDN is essentially the synthesis of SSM plus overlay networking
   technologies like AMT.  As such, the TreeDN architecture introduces
   no new security threats that aren't already documented in SSM and the
   overlay technologies that comprise it.  Further, RFC 4609 and RFC
   8815 describes the additional security benefits of using SSM instead
   of ASM.

9.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no IANA actions.

10.  Acknowledgements

   Many thanks to those who have contributed to building and operating
   the first TreeDN network on the Internet, including Pete Morasca,
   William Zhang, Lauren Delwiche, Natalie Landsberg, Wayne Brassem,
   Jake Holland, Andrew Gallo, Casey Russell, Janus Varmarken, Csaba
   Mate, Frederic Loui, Max Franke, Todor Moskov and Erik Herz.  The
   writing of this document to describe the TreeDN architecture was
   inspired by a conversation with Dino Farinacci and Mike McBride.
   Thanks also to Jeff Haas and Vinod Kumar for their thoughtful reviews
   and suggestions.

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11.  References

11.1.  Normative References

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

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B. and RFC Publisher, "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs
              Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, May 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

11.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-bess-bgp-multicast]
              Zhang, Z. J., Giuliano, L., Patel, K., Wijnands, I.,
              Mishra, M. P., and A. Gulko, "BGP Based Multicast", Work
              in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-bess-bgp-
              multicast-04, 7 January 2022,
              <https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-ietf-bess-bgp-
              multicast-04.txt>.

   [I-D.ietf-spring-sr-replication-segment]
              Voyer, D., Filsfils, C., Parekh, R., Bidgoli, H., and Z.
              J. Zhang, "SR Replication Segment for Multi-point Service
              Delivery", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
              spring-sr-replication-segment-10, 20 October 2022,
              <https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-ietf-spring-sr-
              replication-segment-10.txt>.

   [RFC4607]  Holbrook, H., Cain, B., and RFC Publisher, "Source-
              Specific Multicast for IP", RFC 4607,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4607, August 2006,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4607>.

   [RFC6388]  Wijnands, IJ., Ed., Minei, I., Ed., Kompella, K., and B.
              Thomas, "Label Distribution Protocol Extensions for Point-
              to-Multipoint and Multipoint-to-Multipoint Label Switched
              Paths", RFC 6388, DOI 10.17487/RFC6388, November 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6388>.

   [RFC6513]  Rosen, E., Ed., Aggarwal, R., Ed., and RFC Publisher,
              "Multicast in MPLS/BGP IP VPNs", RFC 6513,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6513, February 2012,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6513>.

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   [RFC6830]  Farinacci, D., Fuller, V., Meyer, D., Lewis, D., and RFC
              Publisher, "The Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP)",
              RFC 6830, DOI 10.17487/RFC6830, January 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6830>.

   [RFC7450]  Bumgardner, G. and RFC Publisher, "Automatic Multicast
              Tunneling", RFC 7450, DOI 10.17487/RFC7450, February 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7450>.

   [RFC7716]  Zhang, J., Giuliano, L., Rosen, E., Ed., Subramanian, K.,
              Pacella, D., and RFC Publisher, "Global Table Multicast
              with BGP Multicast VPN (BGP-MVPN) Procedures", RFC 7716,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7716, December 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7716>.

   [RFC7761]  Fenner, B., Handley, M., Holbrook, H., Kouvelas, I.,
              Parekh, R., Zhang, Z., Zheng, L., and RFC Publisher,
              "Protocol Independent Multicast - Sparse Mode (PIM-SM):
              Protocol Specification (Revised)", STD 83, RFC 7761,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7761, March 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7761>.

   [RFC8279]  Wijnands, IJ., Ed., Rosen, E., Ed., Dolganow, A.,
              Przygienda, T., and S. Aldrin, "Multicast Using Bit Index
              Explicit Replication (BIER)", RFC 8279,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8279, November 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8279>.

   [RFC8815]  Abrahamsson, M., Chown, T., Giuliano, L., Eckert, T., and
              RFC Publisher, "Deprecating Any-Source Multicast (ASM) for
              Interdomain Multicast", BCP 229, RFC 8815,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8815, August 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8815>.

Authors' Addresses

   Lenny Giuliano
   Juniper Networks
   2251 Corporate Park Drive
   Herndon,  20171
   United States of America
   Email: lenny@juniper.net

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   Chris Lenart
   Verizon
   22001 Loudoun County Parkway
   Ashburn,  95134
   United States of America
   Email: chris.lenart@verizon.com

   Rich Adam
   GEANT
   City House
   126-130 Hills Road
   Cambridge
   CB2 1PQ
   United Kingdom
   Email: richard.adam@geant.org

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