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PPSP Tracker Protocol-Base Protocol (PPSP-TP/1.0)
draft-ietf-ppsp-base-tracker-protocol-10

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 7846.
Authors Rui António dos Santos Cruz , Mario Sera Nunes , Gu Yingjie , Jinwei Xia , Rachel Huang , Joao P. Taveira , Deng Lingli
Last updated 2015-10-15 (Latest revision 2015-09-23)
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
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draft-ietf-ppsp-base-tracker-protocol-10
PPSP                                                         Rui S. Cruz
INTERNET-DRAFT                                            Mario S. Nunes
Intended Status: Standards Track                       IST/INESC-ID/INOV
Expires: March 27, 2016                                       Yingjie Gu
                                                              Jinwei Xia
                                                            Rachel Huang
                                                                  Huawei
                                                         Joao P. Taveira
                                                                IST/INOV
                                                             Deng Lingli
                                                            China Mobile
                                                      September 24, 2015

           PPSP Tracker Protocol-Base Protocol (PPSP-TP/1.0)
                draft-ietf-ppsp-base-tracker-protocol-10

Abstract

   This document specifies the base Peer-to-Peer Streaming Protocol-
   Tracker Protocol (PPSP-TP/1.0), an application-layer control
   (signaling) protocol for the exchange of meta information between
   trackers and peers.  The specification outlines the architecture of
   the protocol and its functionality, and describes message flows,
   message processing instructions, message formats, formal syntax and
   semantics.  The PPSP Tracker Protocol enables cooperating peers to
   form content streaming overlay networks to support near real-time
   Structured Media content delivery (audio, video, associated timed
   text and metadata), such as adaptive multi-rate, layered (scalable)
   and multi-view (3D) videos, in live, time-shifted and on-demand
   modes.

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
   other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
   Drafts.

   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."

 

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   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/1id-abstracts.html

   The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
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Copyright and License Notice

   Copyright (c) 2015 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.

Table of Contents

   1  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     1.1  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     1.2  Design Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       1.2.1  Typical Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       1.2.2  Enrollment and Bootstrap  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   2  Protocol Architecture and Functional View . . . . . . . . . . . 11
     2.1  Messaging Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     2.2  Request/Response model  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     2.3  State Machines and Flows of the Protocol  . . . . . . . . . 13
       2.3.1  Normal Operation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
       2.3.2  Error Conditions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   3  Protocol Specification  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
     3.1  Presentation Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
     3.2  Resource Element Types  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
       3.2.1  Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
       3.2.2  Peer Number Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
       3.2.3  Swarm Action Element  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
       3.2.4  Peer Information Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
       3.2.5  Statistics and Status Information Element . . . . . . . 20
     3.3  Requests and Responses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
       3.3.1  Request Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
       3.3.2  Response Types  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
 

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       3.3.3  Request Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
       3.3.4  Response Element  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
     3.4  PPSP-TP Message Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   4  Protocol Specification: Encoding and Operation  . . . . . . . . 24
     4.1 Requests and Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
       4.1.1  CONNECT Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
         4.1.1.1  Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
       4.1.2  FIND Request  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
         4.1.2.1  Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
       4.1.3  STAT_REPORT Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
         4.1.3.1  Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
     4.2  Response element in response Messages . . . . . . . . . . . 37
     4.3  Error and Recovery conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
     4.4  Parsing of Unknown Fields in Message-body . . . . . . . . . 38
   5  Operations and Manageability  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
     5.1  Operational Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
       5.1.1  Installation and Initial Setup  . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
       5.1.2  Migration Path  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
       5.1.3  Requirements on Other Protocols and Functional
              Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
       5.1.4  Impact on Network Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
       5.1.5  Verifying Correct Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
     5.2  Management Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
       5.2.1  Interoperability  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
       5.2.2  Management Information  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
       5.2.3  Fault Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
       5.2.4  Configuration Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
       5.2.5  Accounting Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
       5.2.6  Performance Management  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
       5.2.7  Security Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
   6  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
     6.1  Authentication between Tracker and Peers  . . . . . . . . . 42
     6.2  Content Integrity protection against polluting
          peers/trackers  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
     6.3  Residual attacks and mitigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
     6.4  Pro-incentive parameter trustfulness  . . . . . . . . . . . 43
   7  Guidelines for Extending PPSP-TP  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
     7.1  Forms of PPSP-TP Extension  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
     7.2  Issues to Be Addressed in PPSP-TP Extensions  . . . . . . . 46
   8  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
     8.1 MIME Type Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
     8.2 PPSP Tracker Protocol Version Number Registry  . . . . . . . 48
   9  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
   10  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
     10.1  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
     10.2  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
   Appendix A.  Revision History  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
 

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1  Introduction

   The Peer-to-Peer Streaming Protocol (PPSP) is composed of two
   protocols: the PPSP Tracker Protocol and the PPSP Peer Protocol.  RFC
   6972 [RFC6972] specifies that the Tracker Protocol should standardize
   the messages between PPSP peers and PPSP trackers and also defines
   the requirements.

   The PPSP Tracker Protocol provides communication between trackers and
   peers, by which peers send meta information to trackers, report
   streaming status and obtain peer lists from trackers.

   The PPSP architecture requires PPSP peers able to communicate with a
   tracker in order to participate in a particular streaming content
   swarm.  This centralized tracker service is used by PPSP peers for
   content registration and location.

   The signaling and the media data transfer between PPSP peers is not
   in the scope of this specification.

   This document describes the base PPSP Tracker protocol and how it
   satisfies the requirements for the IETF Peer-to-Peer Streaming
   Protocol, in order to derive the implications for the standardization
   of the PPSP streaming protocols and to identify open issues and
   promote further discussion.

1.1  Terminology

   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 RFC 2119 [KEYWORDS].

   ABSOLUTE TIME:  Absolute time is expressed as ISO 8601 timestamps,
   using zero UTC offset.  Fractions of a second may be indicated.
   Example for December 25, 2010 at 14h56 and 20.25 seconds: basic
   format 20101225T145620.25Z or extended format 2010-12-
   25T14:56:20.25Z.

   CHUNK:  A Chunk is a basic unit of data organized in P2P streaming
   for storage, scheduling, advertisement and exchange among peers.

   CHUNK ID:  A unique resource identifier for a Chunk.  The identifier
   type depends on the addressing scheme used, i.e., an integer, an
   HTTP-URL and possibly a byte-range, and is described in the MPD.

   CONNECTION TRACKER:  The node running the tracker service to which
   the PPSP peer will connect when it wants to get registered and join
 

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   the PPSP system.

   LEECH:  A Peer that has not yet completed the transfer of all Chunks
   of the media content.

   LIVE STREAMING:  It refers to a scenario where all the audiences
   receive streaming content for the same ongoing event.  It is desired
   that the lags between the play points of the audiences and streaming
   source be small.

   MEDIA PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION (MPD):  Formalized description for a
   media presentation, i.e., describes the structure of the media,
   namely, the Representations, the codecs used, the Chunks, and the
   corresponding addressing scheme.

   METHOD:  The method is the primary function that a request from a
   peer is meant to invoke on a tracker.  The method is carried in the
   request message itself.

   ONLINE TIME:  Online Time shows how long the peer has been in the P2P
   streaming system since it joined.  This value indicates the stability
   of a peer, and can be calculated by the tracker whenever necessary.

   PEER: A Peer refers to a participant in a P2P streaming system that
   not only receives streaming content, but also caches and streams
   streaming content to other participants.

   PEER ID:  The identifier of a Peer such that other Peers, or the
   Tracker, can refer to the Peer by using its ID.  The Peer ID is
   mandatory, can take the form of a universal unique identifier (UUID),
   defined in [RFC4122], and can be bound to a network address of the
   Peer, i.e., an IP address, or a uniform resource identifier/locator
   (URI/URL) that uniquely identifies the corresponding Peer in the
   network.  The Peer ID and any required security certificates are
   obtained from an offline enrollment server.

   PEER LIST: A list of Peers which are in a same SWARM maintained by
   the Tracker.  A Peer can fetch the Peer List of a SWARM from the
   Tracker or from other Peers in order to know which Peers have the
   required streaming content.

   PPSP:  The abbreviation of Peer-to-Peer Streaming Protocols.  PPSP
   refer to the primary signaling protocols among various P2P streaming
   system components, including the Tracker and the Peer.

   PPSP-TP:  The abbreviation of Peer-to-Peer Streaming Protocols -
   Tracker Protocol.

 

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   REPRESENTATION: Structured collection of one or more media
   components.

   REQUEST:  A message sent from a Peer to a Tracker, for the purpose of
   invoking a particular operation.

   RESPONSE:  A message sent from a Tracker to a Peer, for indicating
   the status of a request sent from the Peer to the Tracker.

   SEEDER:  A Peer that holds and shares the complete media content.

   SERVICE PORTAL: A logical entity typically used for client enrollment
   and content information publishing, searching and retrieval. It is
   usually located in a server of content provider.

   SWARM:  A Swarm refers to a group of Peers who exchange data to
   distribute Chunks of the same content (e.g.,  video/audio program,
   digital file, etc.) at a given time.

   SWARM ID:  The identifier of a Swarm containing a group of Peers
   sharing a common streaming content. The Swarm-ID may use a universal
   unique identifier (UUID), e.g., a 64 or 128 bit datum to refer to the
   content resource being shared among peers.

   SUPER-NODE:  A Super-Node is a special kind of Peer deployed by ISPs.
    This kind of Peer is more stable with higher computing, storage and
   bandwidth capabilities than normal Peers.

   TRACKER:  A Tracker refers to a directory service that maintains a
   list of Peers participating in a specific audio/video channel or in
   the distribution of a streaming file.  Also, the Tracker answers Peer
   List queries received from Peers.  The Tracker is a logical component
   which can be centralized or distributed.

   TRANSACTION ID:  The identifier of a REQUEST from the Peer to the
   Tracker.  Used to disambiguate RESPONSES that may arrive in a
   different order of the corresponding REQUESTs.

   VIDEO-ON-DEMAND (VoD):  It refers to a scenario where different
   audiences may watch different parts of the same recorded streaming
   with downloaded content.

1.2  Design Overview

   The functional entities related to PPSP protocols are the Client
   Media Player, the service Portal, the Tracker and the Peers.  The
   complete description of Client Media Player and service Portal is not
 

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   discussed here, as not in the scope the specification.  The
   functional entities directly involved in the PPSP Tracker Protocol
   are trackers and peers (which may support different capabilities).

   The Client Media Player is a logical entity providing direct
   interface to the end user at the client device, and includes the
   functions to select, request, decode and render contents.  The Client
   Media Player may interface with the local peer application using
   request and response standard formats for HTTP Request and Response
   messages [RFC2616].

   The service Portal is a logical entity typically used for client
   enrollment and content information publishing, searching and
   retrieval.

   A Peer corresponds to a logical entity (typically in a user device)
   that actually participates in sharing a media content.  Peers are
   organized in (various) swarms corresponding each swarm to the group
   of peers streaming a certain content at any given time.

   The Tracker is a logical entity that maintains the lists of peers
   storing Chunks for a specific Live media channel or on-demand media
   streaming content, answers queries from peers and collects
   information on the activity of peers.  While a Tracker may have an
   underlying implementation consisting of more than one physical node,
   logically the Tracker can most simply be thought of as a single
   element, and in this document it will be treated as a single logical
   entity.

   The Tracker Protocol is not used to exchange actual content data
   (either on-demand or Live streaming) with peers, but information
   about which peers can provide the content.

1.2.1  Typical Use Cases

   When a peer wants to receive streaming of a selected content (Leech
   mode):

   1. Peer connects to a Connection Tracker and joins a Swarm.
   2. Peer acquires a list of other peers in the Swarm from the
      Connection Tracker.
   3. [Peer Protocol] Peer exchanges its content availability with the
      peers on the obtained peer list.
   4. [Peer Protocol] Peer identifies the peers with desired content.
   5. [Peer Protocol] Peer requests content from the identified peers.

 

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   When a peer wants to share streaming contents (Seeder mode) with
   other peers:

   1. Peer connects to the Connection Tracker.
   2. Peer sends information to the Connection Tracker about the swarms
      it belongs to (joined swarms).

   After having been disconnected due to some termination condition, a
   Peer can resume previous activity by connecting and re-joining the
   corresponding Swarm(s).

1.2.2  Enrollment and Bootstrap

   In order to be able to bootstrap in the P2P network, a peer must
   first obtain a Peer ID (identifier of the peer) and any required
   security certificates or authorization tokens from an enrollment
   service (end-user registration).  The specification of the format of
   the Peer ID is not in the scope of this document.

   +--------+      +--------+     +--------+    +---------+  +--------+
   | Player |      | Peer_1 |     | Portal |    | Tracker |  | Peer_2 |
   +--------+      +--------+     +--------+    +---------+  +--------+
       |                |               |              |           |
   (a) |--Page request----------------->|              |           |
       |<--------------Page with links--|              |           |
       |--Select stream (MPD Request)-->|              |           |
       |<--------------------OK+MPD(x)--|              |           |
   (b) |--Start/Resume->|--CONNECT(join x)------------>|           |
       |<-----------OK--|<----------------OK+Peerlist--|           |
       |                |                              |           |
       |--Get(Chunk)--->|<---------- (Peer protocol) ------------->|
       |<--------Chunk--|<---------------------------------Chunks--|
       :                :               :              :           :
       |                |--STAT_REPORT---------------->|           |
       |                |<-------------------------OK--|           |
       :                :               :              :           :
       |                |--FIND----------------------->|           |
       |                |<----------------OK+Peerlist--|           |
       :                :               :              :           :
       |--Get(Chunk)--->|<---------- (Peer protocol) ------------->|
       |<--------Chunk--|<---------------------------------Chunks--|
       :                :               :              :           :

       Figure 1:  A typical PPSP session for streaming a content.

   To join an existing P2P streaming service and to participate in
   content sharing, any Peer must first locate a Tracker.

 

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   As illustrated in Figure 1, a P2P streaming session may be initiated
   starting at point (a), with the Client Media Player browsing for the
   desired content in order to request it (to the local Peer_1 in the
   figure), or resume a previously initiated stream, but starting at
   point (b). For this example, the Peer_1 is in mode LEECH.

   At point (a) in Figure 1, the Client Media Player accesses the Portal
   and selects the content of interest. The Portal returns the Media
   Presentation Description (MPD) file that includes information about
   the address of one or more Trackers (that can be grouped by tiers of
   priority) which are controlling the Swarm x for that media content
   (e.g., content x).

   With the information from the MPD the Client Media Player is able to
   trigger the start of the streaming session, requesting to the local
   Peer_1 the Chunks of interest.

   The PPSP streaming session is then started (or resumed) at Peer_1 by
   sending a PPSP-TP CONNECT message to the Tracker in order to join
   Swarm x. The Tracker will then return the OK response message
   containing a peer list, if the CONNECT message is successfully
   accepted. From that point onwards every Chunk request is addressed by
   Peer_1 to its neighbors (Peer_2 in Figure 1) using the PPSP Peer
   Protocol, returning the received Chunks to the Client Media Player.

   Once CONNECTed, Peer_1 needs to periodically report its status and
   statistics data to the Tracker using a PPSP-TP STAT_REPORT message.

   If Peer_1 needs to refresh its neighborhood (for example, due to
   churn) it will send a PPSP-TP FIND message (with the desired scope)
   to the Tracker.

   Peers that are only SEEDERs (i.e., serving contents to other peers),
   as are the typical cases of service provider P2P edge caches and/or
   Media Servers, trigger their P2P streaming sessions for contents x,
   y, z... (Figure 2), not from Media Player signals, but from some
   "Start" activation signal received from the service provider
   provisioning mechanism.  In this particular case the Peer starts or
   resumes all its streaming sessions just by sending a PPSP-TP CONNECT
   message to the Tracker (Figure 2), in order to "join" all the
   requested swarms.

   Periodically, the Peer also report its status and statistics data to
   the Tracker using a PPSP-TP STAT_REPORT message.

 

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                +---------+                     +---------+
                |  Seeder |                     | Tracker |
                +---------+                     +---------+
                     |                               |
              Start->|--CONNECT (join x,y,z)-------->|
                     |<--------------------------OK--|
                     :                               :
                     |                               |
                     |--STAT_REPORT----------------->|
                     |<--------------------------Ok--|
                     :                               :
                     |                               |
                     |--STAT_REPORT----------------->|
                     |<--------------------------Ok--|
                     :                               :

       Figure 2:  A typical PPSP session for a streaming Seeder.

   The specification of the mechanisms used by the Client Media Player
   (or provisioning process) and the Peer to signal start/resume streams
   or request media chunks, obtain a Peer ID, security certificates or
   tokens are not in the scope of this document.

2  Protocol Architecture and Functional View

   The PPSP Tracker Protocol architecture is intended to be compatible
   with the web infrastructure.  PPSP-TP is designed with a layered
   approach i.e., a PPSP-TP Request/Response layer, a Message layer and
   a Transport layer.  The PPSP-TP Request/Response layer deals with the
   interactions between Tracker and Peers using Request and Response
   codes (see Figure 3).

                    +----------------------+
                    |      Application     |
                    +----------------------+
                    |  Request/Response    |  PPSP-TP
                    |----------------------|
                    |   (HTTP) Message     |
                    +----------------------+
                    |       TRANSPORT      |
                    +----------------------+

                Figure 3:  Abstract layering of PPSP-TP.

   The Message layer deals with the framing format, for encoding and
   transmitting the data through the underlying transport protocol, as
   well as the asynchronous nature of the interactions between Tracker
   and peers.
 

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   The Transport layer is responsible for the actual transmission of
   requests and responses over network transports, including the
   determination of the connection to use for a request or response
   message when using a connection-oriented transport like TCP
   [RFC0793], or TLS [RFC5246] over it.

2.1  Messaging Model

   The messaging model of PPSP-TP aligns with HTTP protocol and the
   semantics of its messages, currently in version 1.1 [RFC2616], but
   intended to support future versions of HTTP.  The exchange of
   messages of PPSP-TP is envisioned to be performed over a stream-
   oriented reliable transport protocol, like TCP [RFC0793].

2.2  Request/Response model

   PPSP-TP uses a REST-Like (Representational State Transfer) design
   [Fielding] with the goal of leveraging current HTTP implementations
   and infrastructure, as well as familiarity with existing REST-like
   services in popular use.  PPSP-TP messages use the UTF-8 character
   set [RFC3629] and are either requests from peers to a tracker
   service, or responses from a tracker service to peers.  The Request
   and Response semantics are carried as entities (header and body) in
   messages which correspond to either HTTP request methods or HTTP
   response codes, respectively.

   PPSP-TP uses the HTTP POST method to send parameters in requests.
   PPSP-TP messages use JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) [RFC7159] to
   encode message bodies.

   Requests are sent, and responses returned to these requests.  A
   single request generates a single response (neglecting fragmentation
   of messages in transport).

   The Request Messages of the base protocol are listed in Table 1:

                    +------------------------------+
                    | PPSP-TP/1.0 Request Messages |
                    +------------------------------+
                    | CONNECT                      |
                    | FIND                         |
                    | STAT_REPORT                  |
                    +------------------------------+

                       Table 1:  Request Messages

 

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   CONNECT:  This Request message is an "action signal" used when a Peer
      registers in the Tracker (or if already registered) to notify it
      about the participation in named swarm(s).  The Tracker records
      the Peer ID, connect-time (referenced to the absolute time), peer
      IP addresses (and associated location information), link status
      and Peer Mode for the named swarm(s).  The Tracker also changes
      the content availability of the valid named swarm(s), i.e.,
      changes the peers lists of the corresponding swarm(s) for the
      requester Peer ID.  On receiving a CONNECT message, the Tracker
      first checks the peer mode type (SEED/LEECH) for the specified
      swarm(s) and then decides the next steps (more details are
      referred in section 4.1)

   FIND:  This Request message is an "action signal" used by peers to
      request to the Tracker, whenever needed, a list of peers active in
      the named swarm.  On receiving a FIND message, the Tracker finds
      the peers, listed in content status of the specified swarm that
      can satisfy the requesting peer's requirements, returning the list
      to the requesting Peer. To create the peer list, the Tracker may
      take peer status, capabilities and peers priority into
      consideration.  Peer priority may be determined by network
      topology preference, operator policy preference, etc.

   STAT_REPORT:  This Request message is an "information signal" that
      allows an active Peer to send status (and optionally statistic
      data) to the Tracker to signal continuing activity.  This request
      message MUST be sent periodically to the Tracker while the Peer is
      active in the system.

2.3  State Machines and Flows of the Protocol

   The state machine for the tracker is very simple, as shown in
   Figure 4.  Peer ID registrations represent a dynamic piece of state
   maintained by the network.

               --------------------------------------------
              /                                            \
             |  +------------+    +=========+    +======+   |
              \-| TERMINATED |<---| STARTED |<---| INIT |<-/
                +------------+    +=========+    +======+
                 (Transient)                         \- (start tracker)

                   Figure 4:  Tracker State Machine

   When there are no peers connected in the Tracker, the state machine
   is in the INIT state.

   When the "first" Peer connects for registration with its Peer ID, the
 

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   state machine moves from INIT to STARTED.  As long as there is at
   least one active registration of a Peer ID, the state machine remains
   in the STARTED state.  When the "last" Peer ID is removed, the state
   machine transitions to TERMINATED.  From there, it immediately
   transitions back to the INIT state.  Because of that, the TERMINATED
   state here is transient.

   Once in STARTED state, each Peer is instantiated (per Peer ID) in the
   Tracker state machine with a dedicated transaction state machine
   (Figure 5), which is deleted when the Peer ID is removed.

               --------------------------------------------
              /                                            \
             |  +------------+    +=========+    +======+   |
              \-| TERMINATED |<---| STARTED |<---| INIT |<-/
                +------------+    +=========+    +======+
                 (Transient)           | (1)        \- (start tracker)
                                       V
                   +-----------+   +-------+  rcv CONNECT
       (Transient) | TERMINATE |   | START |  --------------- (1)
                   +-----------+   +-------+  strt init timer
   rcv FIND              ^             |
   rcv STAT_REPORT       |             |
   on registration error |             v
   on action error       |      +------------+
   ---------------- (A)  +<-----| PEER       | (Transient)
   stop init timer       |      | REGISTERED |
   snd error             |      +------------+
                         |            |
                         |            |   process swarm actions
                         |            |   --------------------- (2)
   on CONNECT Error (B)  |            |   snd OK (PeerList)
   on timeout       (C)  |           /    stop init timer
   ----------------      |          /     strt track timer
   stop track timer      |         /
   clean peer info       |        |
   del registration      |        |             rcv FIND
   snd error (B)          \       |     ----    --------------- (3)
                    ----   \      |   /      \  snd OK (PeerList)
                  /      \  \     |  |        | rst track timer
   rcv CONNECT   |  (4)   |  |    |  |        |
   -----------   |        v  |    v  v        | rcv STAT_REPORT
   snd OK         \     +==============+     /  --------------- (3)
   rst track timer  ----|   TRACKING   |----    snd OK response
                        +==============+        rst track timer

   Figure 5:  Per-Peer-ID Transaction State Machine and Flow Diagram

 

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   Unlike the Tracker state machine, which exists even when no Peer IDs
   are registered, the "per-Peer-ID" transaction state machine is
   instantiated only when the Peer ID starts registration in the
   tracker, and is deleted when the Peer ID is de-registered/removed.
   This allows for an implementation optimization whereby the tracker
   can destroy the objects associated with the "per-Peer-ID" transaction
   state machine once it enters the TERMINATE state (Figure 5).

   When a new Peer ID is added, the corresponding "per-Peer-ID" state
   machine is instantiated, and it moves into the PEER REGISTERED state.
   Because of that, the START state here is transient.

   When the Peer ID is no longer bound to a registration, the "per-Peer-
   ID" state machine moves to the TERMINATE state, and the state machine
   is destroyed.

   During the lifetime of streaming activity of a peer, the instantiated
   "per-Peer-ID" transaction state machine progresses from one state to
   another in response to various events.  The events that may
   potentially advance the state include:

      o  Reception of CONNECT, FIND and STAT_REPORT messages, or
      o  Timeout events.

   The state diagram in Figure 5 illustrates state changes, together
   with the causing events and resulting actions.  Specific error
   conditions are not shown in the state diagram.

2.3.1  Normal Operation

   On normal operation the process consists of the following steps:

   1) When a Peer wants to access the system it needs to register on a
      tracker by sending a CONNECT message asking for the swarm(s) it
      wants to join.  This request from a new Peer ID triggers the
      instantiation in the Tracker of a "per-Peer-ID" State Machine. In
      the START state of the new "per-Peer-ID" SM, the Tracker registers
      the Peer ID and associated information (IP addresses), starts the
      "init timer" and moves to PEER REGISTERED state.

   2) In PEER REGISTERED state, if Peer ID is valid, the Tracker either
      a) processes the requested action(s) for the valid swarm
      information contained in the CONNECT request and in case of
      success the tracker stops the "init timer", starts the "track
      timer" and sends the response to the Peer (the response MAY
      contain the appropriate list of peers for the joining swarm(s), as
      detailed in section 4.1, or b) moves the valid FIND request to
      TRACKING state.
 

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   3) In TRACKING state, STAT_REPORT or FIND messages received from that
      Peer ID will reset the "track timer" and are respectively
      responded with a) a successful condition, b) a successful
      condition containing the appropriate list of peers for the named
      swarm (section 4.2).

   4) While TRACKING, a CONNECT message received from that Peer ID with
      valid swarm actions information (section 4.1.1) resets the "track
      timer" and is responded with a successful condition.

2.3.2  Error Conditions

      Peers MUST NOT generate protocol elements that are invalid.
      However, several situations of a Peer may lead to abnormal
      conditions in the interaction with the Tracker.  The situations
      may be related with Peer malfunction or communications errors. The
      Tracker reacts to the abnormal situations depending on its current
      state related to a Peer ID, as follows:

   A) At PEER REGISTERED state, when a CONNECT Request only contains
      invalid swarm actions (section 6.1.1), the Tracker responds with
      error code 403 Forbidden, deletes the registration, transition to
      TERMINATE state for that Peer ID and the SM is destroyed.

      At the PEER REGISTERED state, if the Peer ID is considered invalid
      (in the case of a CONNECT request or in the case of FIND or
      STAT_REPORT requests received from an unregistered Peer ID), the
      Tracker responds with either error codes authentication required
      or Forbidden (described in section 4.3), transitions to TERMINATE
      state for that Peer ID and the SM is destroyed.

   B) At the TRACKING state (while the "track timer" has not expired)
      receiving a CONNECT message from that Peer ID with invalid swarm
      actions (section 5.1) is considered an error condition.  The
      Tracker responds with error code Forbidden (described in
      section 4.3), stops the "track timer", deletes the registration,
      transitions to TERMINATE state for that Peer ID and the SM is
      destroyed.

   C) In TRACKING state, without receiving messages from the Peer, on
      timeout (track timer) the Tracker cleans all the information
      associated with the Peer ID in all swarms it was joined, deletes
      the registration, transitions to TERMINATE state for that Peer ID
      and the SM is destroyed.

   NOTE:  These situations may correspond to malfunctions at the Peer or
   to malicious conditions.  As preventive measure, the Tracker proceeds
   to TERMINATE state for that Peer ID.
 

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3  Protocol Specification

3.1  Presentation Language

   PPSP-TP uses a REST-Like design, encoding the requests and responses
   using JSON [RFC7159].  For a generalization of the definition of
   protocol elements and fields, their types and structures, this
   document uses a C-style notation, similar to the presentation
   language used to define TLS [RFC5246], turning the definitions for
   JSON objects extensible.

   A JSON object consists of name/value pairs.  The JSON names of the
   pairs are indicated with "".  In this presentation language, comments
   begin with "//", and the "ppsp_tp_string_t" and "ppsp_tp_integer_t"
   types are used to indicate the JSON string and number, respectively.
   Optional fields are enclosed in "[ ]" brackets.  An array is
   indicated by two numbers in angle brackets, <min..max>, where "min"
   indicates the minimal number of values and "max" the maximum.  An "*"
   is used to denote a no upper bound value for "max".

3.2  Resource Element Types

   This section details the format of PPSP-TP resource element types.

3.2.1  Version

   For both requests and responses, the version of PPSP-TP being used
   MUST be indicated by the attribute version, defined as follows:

      ppsp_tp_integer_t ppsp_tp_version_t = 1

   The defined value for ppsp_tp_version_t is listed in Table 2

     +----------------------------------------------------------+
     | ppsp_tp_version_t |  Description                         |
     +----------------------------------------------------------+
     | 0                 |  Reserved                            |
     | 1                 |  Protocol specified in this document |
     | 2-255             |  Unassigned                          |
     +----------------------------------------------------------+

            Table 2:  PPSP Tracker Protocol Version Numbers

3.2.2  Peer Number Element

   The PeerNum element is a scope selector in requests and MAY contain
   the attribute ability_nat to inform the Tracker on the preferred type
   of peers to be returned in a peer list, related to their NAT
 

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   traversal situation.

   The PeerNum element is a scope selector that MAY be present in
   CONNECT and FIND requests.

   This element contains the attribute peer_count to indicate the
   maximum number of peers in the returned peer list.  Peer_count should
   be less than 30 in this specification.  The other 4 attributes, i.e.,
   ability_nat, concurrent_links, online_time and upload_bandwidth_level
   MAY be also contained in this element to inform the Tracker on the
   preferred type of peers to be returned in a peer list:

   o ability_nat is used to indicate the preferred NAT traversal
     situation of these peers.

   o concurrent_links means the preferred concurrent connectivity level.

   o online_time represents the preferred availability or online
     duration degree for the requested peers.

   o upload_bandwidth_level is the preferred upload bandwidth capability
     of these peers.

   The definition of the scope selector element and attributes is
   defined as follows:

      Object {
              ppsp_tp_integer_t   peer_count;
              [ppsp_tp_string_t   ability_nat = "NO_NAT"
                                              | "STUN"
                                              | "TURN";]
              [ppsp_tp_string_t   concurrent_links = "NORMAL"
                                                   | "LOW"
                                                   | "HIGH";]
              [ppsp_tp_string_t   online_time = "NORMAL" | "HIGH";]
              [ppsp_tp_string_t   upload_bandwidth_level = "NORMAL"
                                                         | "HIGH";]
      } ppsp_tp_peer_num_t;

3.2.3  Swarm Action Element

   The swarm action element identifies the action(s) to be taken in the
   named swarm(s) as well as the corresponding Peer Mode (if the peer is
   LEECH or SEEDER in that swarm).

 

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      Object {
              ppsp_tp_string_t  swarm_id;   //Swarm Identifier
              ppsp_tp_string_t  action = "JOIN"
                                        |"LEAVE"; // Action type of
                                                  // the CONNECT
                                                  // message
              ppsp_tp_string_t  peer_mode = "SEED"
                                          | "LEECH"; // Mode of Peer
                                                     // participating
                                                     // in this swarm
      } ppsp_tp_swarm_action_t;

3.2.4  Peer Information Elements

   The Peer information elements provides network identification
   information of peers.  A Peer information consists of peer identifier
   and the IP related addressing information.

      Object {
              ppsp_tp_string_t    peer_id;
              ppsp_tp_peer_addr_t peer_addr;
      }ppsp_tp_peer_info_t;

   The ppsp_tp_peer_addr_t element includes the IP address and port,
   with a few optional attributes related with connection type and
   network location (in terms of ASN) as well as, optionally, the
   identifier of the Peer Protocol being used.

      Object {
              ppsp_tp_ip_address       ip_address;
              ppsp_tp_integer_t        port;
              ppsp_tp_integer_t        priority;
              ppsp_tp_string_t         type = "HOST"
                                            | "REFLEXIVE"
                                            | "PROXY";
             [ppsp_tp_string_t         connection = "3G"
                                                  | "ADSL"
                                                  | "LTE"
                                                  | "ETHER";]
             [ppsp_tp_string_t         asn;]
             [ppsp_tp_peer_protocol_t  peer_protocol;]
      } ppsp_tp_peer_addr_t;

   The semantics of ppsp_tp_peer_addr_t attributes are listed in
   Table 3:

 

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      +----------------------+----------------------------------+
      | Element or Attribute | Description                      |
      +----------------------+----------------------------------+
      |      ip_address      | IP Address information           |
      |      port            | IP service port value            |
      |      priority        | The priority of this interface   |
      |      type            | Describes the address for NAT    |
      |                      | traversal, which can be HOST     |
      |                      | REFLEXIVE or PROXY               |
      |      connection      | Access type (3G, ADSL, etc.)     |
      |      asn             | Autonomous System Number         |
      |      peerProtocol    | PPSP Peer Protocol supported     |
      +----------------------+----------------------------------+

              Table 3:  Semantics of ppsp_tp_peer_addr_t.

   In this document, IP address is specified as ppsp_tp_addr_value.  The
   exact characters and format depend on address_type:

   o The IPv4 address is encoded as specified by the IPv4address rule in
     Section 3.2.2 of [RFC3986].

   o The IPv6 address is encoded as specified in section 4 of [RFC5952].

      Object {
              ppsp_tp_string_t   address_type;
              ppsp_tp_addr_value address;
      } ppsp_tp_ip_address;

   The Peer Information in responses is grouped in a
   ppsp_tp_peer_group_t element:

      Object {
              ppsp_tp_peer_info_t peer_info<1..*>;
      } ppsp_tp_peer_group_t;

3.2.5  Statistics and Status Information Element

   The statistics element (stat) is used to describe several properties
   relevant to the P2P network.  These properties can be related with
   stream statistics and peer status information.  Each stat element
   will correspond to a property type and several stat blocks can be
   reported in a single STAT_REPORT message, corresponding to some or
   all the swarms the peer is actively involved.  This specification
   only defines the property type "STREAM_STATS".

 

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   The definition of the statistic element and attributes is as follows:

      Object {
             ppsp_tp_string_t  swarm_id;
             ppsp_tp_integer_t uploaded_bytes;
             ppsp_tp_integer_t downloaded_bytes;
             ppsp_tp_integer_t available_bandwidth;
             ppsp_tp_integer_t concurrent_links;
      } stream_stats;

   The semantics of stream_stats attributes are listed in Table 4:

      +----------------------+----------------------------------+
      | Element or Attribute | Description                      |
      +----------------------+----------------------------------+
      | swarm_id             | Swarm Identifier                 |
      | uploaded_bytes       | Bytes sent to swarm              |
      | downloaded_bytes     | Bytes received from swarm        |
      | available_bandwidth  | Upstream Bandwidth available     |
      | concurrent_links     | The number of concurrent links   |
      +----------------------+----------------------------------+

                  Table 4:  Semantics of stream_stats.

   The Stat Information is grouped in the ppsp_tp_stat_group_t element:

      Object {
         ppsp_tp_string_t     type = "STREAM_STATS"; // property type
         stream_stats         stat<1..*>;
      } ppsp_tp_stat_group_t

   Other properties may be defined, related for example with incentives
   and reputation mechanisms like "peer online time", or connectivity
   conditions like physical "link status", etc.

   For that purpose, the Stat element may be extended to provide
   additional specific information for new properties, elements or
   attributes (guidelines in section 7).

3.3  Requests and Responses

   This section defines the structure of PPSP-TP requests and responses.

3.3.1  Request Types

   The request type includes CONNECT, FIND and STAT_REPORT, defined as
 

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   follows:

      ppsp_tp_string_t ppsp_tp_request_type_t = "CONNECT"
                                              | "FIND"
                                              | "STAT_REPORT";

3.3.2  Response Types

   Response type corresponds to the response method type of the message,
   defined as follows:

      JSONValue ppsp_tp_response_type_t = 0x00    // SUCCESSFUL
                                        | 0x01;   // FAILED

3.3.3  Request Element

   The Request element MUST be present in requests and corresponds to
   the request method type for the message.

   The generic definition of a request element is the following:

      Object {
              [ppsp_tp_peer_num_t      peer_num;]
              [ppsp_tp_peer_addr_t     peer_addr<1..*>;]
              ppsp_tp_swarm_action_t   swarm_action<1..*>;
      } ppsp_tp_request_connect;

      Object {
              ppsp_tp_string_t         swarm_id;
             [ppsp_tp_peer_num_t       peer_num;]
      } ppsp_tp_request_find;

      Object {
              ppsp_tp_version_t        version;
              ppsp_tp_request_type_t   request_type;
              ppsp_tp_string_t         transaction_id;
              ppsp_tp_string_t         peer_id;
              JSONValue request_data = ppsp_tp_req_connect  connect
                                     | ppsp_tp_req_find     find
                                     | ppsp_tp_stat_group_t stat_report;
      } ppsp_tp_request;

   A request element consists the version of PPSP tracker protocol, the
   request type, a transaction identifier and the identifier of the
   requesting peer, as well as the requesting body, i.e., request_data.
   The request_data MUST be correctly set to the corresponding element
 

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   based on the request type (see Table 5).

          +----------------------+----------------------+
          | request_type         | request_data         |
          +----------------------+----------------------+
          | "CONNECT"            | "connect"            |
          | "FIND"               | "find"               |
          | "STAT_REPORT"        | "stat_report"        |
          +----------------------+----------------------+

   Table 5:  The relationship between request_type and request_data.

3.3.4  Response Element

   The generic definition of a response element is the following:

      Object {
              ppsp_tp_version_t             version;
              ppsp_tp_response_type_t       response_type;
              ppsp_tp_interger_t            error_code;
              ppsp_tp_string_t              transaction_id;
             [ppsp_tp_peer_addr_t           peer_addr;]
             [ppsp_tp_swarm_action_result_t swarm_result<1..*>;]
      } ppsp_tp_response;

   A response element consists the version of PPSP tracker protocol, the
   response type, the error code, a transaction identifier, and
   optionally the public address of the requesting peer and one or
   multiple swarm action result elements.  Normally, swarm action result
   elements SHOULD be set and error_code MUST be set to 0 when
   response_type is 0x00.  Swarm action result elements SHOULD NOT be
   set when error_code is 0x01. Detailed selection of error_code is
   introduced in Section 4.3;

      Object {
          ppsp_tp_string_t           swarm_id;
          ppsp_tp_response_type_t    result;
          [ppsp_tp_peer_group_t      peer_group;]
      }ppsp_tp_swarm_action_result_t;

   A swarm action result element is the result information for a peer to
   request the tracker to have some actions towards the swarm. It
   contains a swarm identifier which globally indicates the swarm, the
   result for the peer of this action which it could be CONNECT ("JOIN"
   or "LEAVE"), FIND or STAT_REQPORT, and optionally one peer group
   element. The attribute result indicates the operation result of the
   corresponding request. When the response element is corresponding to
 

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   the STAT_REPORT request, or the result attribute is set to 0x01, the
   peer group element SHOULD NOT be set.

 

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3.4  PPSP-TP Message Element

   PPSP-TP messages (requests or responses) are designed to have a
   similar structure with a root field named "PPSPTrackerProtocol"
   containing meta information and data pertaining to a request or a
   response.

   The base type of PPSP-TP message is defined as follows:

      Object {
              JSONValue PPSPTrackerProtocol = ppsp_tp_request  Request
                                            | ppsp_tp_response Response;
      } ppsp_tp_message_root;

4  Protocol Specification: Encoding and Operation

   PPSP-TP is a message-oriented request/response protocol.  PPSP-TP
   messages use a text type encoding in JSON [RFC7159], which MUST be
   indicated in the Content-Type field in HTTP/1.1 [RFC2616], specifying
   the application/ppsp-tracker+json media type for all PPSP-TP request
   parameters and responses.

   Implementations MUST support the "https" URI scheme [RFC2818] and
   Transport Layer Security (TLS) [RFC5246].

   For deployment scenarios where Peer (Client) authentication is
   desired at the Tracker, HTTP Digest Authentication MUST be supported,
   with TLS Client Authentication as the preferred mechanism, if
   available.

   Upon reception, a message is examined to ensure that it is properly
   formed.  The receiver MUST check that the HTTP message itself is
   properly formed, and if not, appropriate standard HTTP errors MUST be
   generated.

   PPSP-TP uses the HTTP POST method to send parameters in requests to
   provide information resources that are the function of one or more of
   those input parameters.  Input parameters are encoded in JSON in the
   HTTP entity body of the request.

   The section describes the operation of the three types of Requests of
   PPSP-TP and provides some examples of usage.

 

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4.1 Requests and Responses

4.1.1  CONNECT Request

   This method is used when a peer registers to the system and/or
   requests swarm actions.  The peer MUST properly set the Request type
   to CONNECT, generate and set the transaction_ids, set the peer_id and
   MUST include swarms the peer is interested in, followed by the
   corresponding action type and peer mode.

   o When a peer already possesses a content and agrees to share it to
     others, it should set the action type to the value JOIN, as well as
     set the peer mode to SEED during its start (or re-start) period.

   o When a peer makes a request to join a swarm to consume content, it
     should set the action type to the value JOIN, as well as set the
     peer mode to LEECH during its start (or re-start) period.

   In the above cases, the peer can provide optional information on the
   addresses of its network interface(s), for example, the priority,
   type, connection and ASN.

   When a peer plans to leave a previously joined swarm, it should set
   action type to LEAVE, regardless of the peer mode.

   When receiving a well-formed CONNECT Request message, the Tracker
   MAY, when applicable, start by pre-processing the peer authentication
   information (provided as Authorization scheme and token in the HTTP
   message) to check whether it is valid and that it can connect to the
   service, then proceed to register the peer in the service and perform
   the swarm actions requested.  In case of success a Response message
   with a corresponding response value of SUCCESSFUL will be generated.

   The valid sets of number of swarms whose action type is combined with
   peer mode for the CONNECT Request logic are enumerated in Table 6
   (referring to the Tracker "per-Peer-ID" state machine in
   Section 2.3).

 

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   +-----------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+
   | Swarm     | peer_mode |  action | Initial  | Final     | Request  |
   | Number    |  value    |  value  |  State   | State     | validity |
   +-----------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------|
   |     1     |  LEECH    |  JOIN   |  START   | TRACKING  |  Valid   |
   +-----------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+
   |     1     |  LEECH    |  LEAVE  |  START   | TERMINATE | Invalid  |
   +-----------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+
   |     1     |  LEECH    |  LEAVE  | TRACKING | TERMINATE |  Valid   |
   +-----------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+
   |     1     |  LEECH    |  JOIN   |  START   | TERMINATE | Invalid  |
   |     1     |  LEECH    |  LEAVE  |          |           |          |
   +-----------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+
   |     1     |  LEECH    |  JOIN   | TRACKING | TRACKING  |  Valid   |
   |     1     |  LEECH    |  LEAVE  |          |           |          |
   +-----------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+
   |     N     |  SEED     |  JOIN   |  START   | TRACKING  |  Valid   |
   +-----------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+
   |     N     |  SEED     |  JOIN   | TRACKING | TERMINATE | Invalid  |
   +-----------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+
   |     N     |  SEED     |  LEAVE  | TRACKING | TERMINATE |  Valid   |
   +-----------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+

     Table 6:  Validity of action combinations in CONNECT Request.

   In the CONNECT Request multiple swarm action elements
   ppsp_tp_swarm_action_t could be contained.  Each contains the request
   for action and the peer_mode of the peer.  The peer_mode attribute
   MUST be set to the type of participation of the peer in the swarm
   (SEED or LEECH).

   The CONNECT message MAY contain multiple peer_addr elements with
   attributes ip_address, port, priority and type (if PPSP-ICE [RFC5245]
   NAT traversal techniques are used), and optionally connection, asn
   and peer_protocol corresponding to each of the network interfaces the
   peer wants to advertise.

   The element peer_num indicates to the tracker the number of peers to
   be returned in a list corresponding to the indicated properties,
   being ability_nat for NAT traversal (considering that PPSP-ICE NAT
   traversal techniques may be used), and optionally concurrent_links,
   online_time and upload_bandwidth_level for the preferred
   capabilities.  If STUN-like function is enabled in the tracker, the
   response MAY include the peer reflexive address.

   The element transaction_id MUST be present in requests to uniquely
   identify the transaction.  Responses to completed transactions use
   the same transaction_id as the request they correspond to.
 

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   The Response MUST include peer_addr data of the requesting peer
   public IP address.  If STUN-like function is enabled in the tracker,
   the peer_addr includes the attribute type with a value of REFLEXIVE,
   corresponding to the transport address "candidate" of the peer.  The
   swarm_result MAY also include peer_addr data corresponding to the
   Peer IDs and public IP addresses of the selected active peers in the
   requested swarm.  The tracker MAY also include the attribute asn with
   network location information of the transport address, corresponding
   to the Autonomous System Number of the access network provider of the
   referenced peer.

   In case the peer_mode is SEED, the tracker responds with a SUCCESSFUL
   response and enters the peer information into the corresponding swarm
   activity.  In case the peer_mode is LEECH (or if the peer Seeder
   includes a peer_num element in the request) the tracker will search
   and select an appropriate list of peers satisfying the conditions set
   by the requesting peer.  The peer list returned MUST contain the Peer
   IDs and the corresponding IP Addresses.  To create the peer list, the
   tracker may take peer status and network location information into
   consideration, to express network topology preferences or Operators'
   policy preferences, with regard to the possibility of connecting with
   other IETF efforts such as ALTO [RFC7285].

   IMPLEMENTATION NOTE: If no peer_num attributes are present in the
   request the tracker MAY return a random sample from the peer
   population.

4.1.1.1  Example

   The following example of a CONNECT Request corresponds to a peer that
   wants to start (or re-start) sharing its previously streamed contents
   (peerMode is of SEED).

   Note for this case that the peer also requests from the Tracker an
   appropriate list of peers (PeerNum element) already active in the
   swarm, i.e., a list of 15 peers having STUN capabilities in terms of
   NAT.  In the case of a Super-Node peer of an ISP, the CONNECT request
   would be similar but, optionally not including the peer_num element:

 

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      POST / HTTP/1.1
      Host: tracker.example.com
      Content-Length: 494
      Content-Type: application/ppsp-tracker+json
      Accept: application/ppsp-tracker+json

      {
        "PPSPTrackerProtocol": {
          "version":              1,
          "request_type":         "CONNECT",
          "transaction_id"        "12345",
          "peer_id":              "656164657220",
          "connect":{
              "peer_num": {
                  "peer_count":        15,
                  "ability_nat":       "STUN",
                  "concurrent_links": "NORMAL",
                  "online_time": "NORMAL",
                  "upload_bandwidth_level": "NORMAL"
              },
              "peer_addr": {
                     "ip_address": {
                          "address_type":     "ipv4",
                          "address":          "192.0.2.2"
                     },
                     "port":         80,
                     "priority":     1,
                     "type":         "HOST",
                     "connection":   "ETHER",
                     "asn":          "45645"
              },
              "Swarm_action": {
                  "swarm_id":       "1111",
                  "action":         "JOIN",
                  "peer_mode":      "SEED"
              },
              "Swarm_action": {
                  "swarm_id":       "2222",
                  "action":         "JOIN",
                  "peer_mode":      "SEED"
              }
          }
        }
      }

   Another example of the message-body of a CONNECT Request corresponds
   to a peer (PeerMode is LEECH, meaning that the peer is not in
   possession of the content) requesting join to a swarm, in order to
 

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   start receiving the stream, and providing optional information on the
   addresses of its network interface(s):

      {
        "PPSPTrackerProtocol": {
          "version":               1,
          "request_type":          "CONNECT",
          "transaction_id"         "12345.0",
          "peer_id":               "656164657221",
          "connect":{
              "peer_num": {
                  "peer_count":        5,
                  "ability_nat":       "STUN",
                  "concurrent_links": "NORMAL",
                  "online_time":      "NORMAL",
                  "upload_bandwidth_level": "NORMAL"
               },
               "peer_addr": {
                     "ip_address": {
                          "address_type":     "ipv4",
                          "address":          "192.0.2.2"
                     },
                     "port":         80,
                     "priority":     1,
                     "type":         "HOST",
                     "connection":   "ETHER",
                     "asn":          "3256546"
               },
               "peer_addr": {
                     "ip_address":{
                         "address_type":     "ipv6",
                         "address":          "2001:db8::2"
                     },
                     "port":         80,
                     "priority":     2,
                     "type":         "HOST",
                     "connection":   "3G",
                     "asn":          "34563456",
                     "peer_protocol": "PPSP-PP"
               },
               "swarm_action": {
                  "swarm_id":       "1111",
                  "action":         "JOIN",
                  "peer_mode":      "LEECH"
               }
          }
      }

 

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   The next example of a CONNECT Request corresponds to a peer "leaving"
   a previously joined swarm and requesting join to a new swarm. This is
   the typical example of a user watching a live channel but then
   deciding to switch to a different one:

      {
        "PPSPTrackerProtocol": {
          "version":              1,
          "request_type":         "CONNECT",
          "TransactionID":        "12345",
          "peer_id":              "656164657221",
          "connect":{
              "peer_num": {
                  "peer_count":        5,
                  "ability_nat":       "STUN",
                  "concurrent_links":  "NORMAL",
                  "online_time":       "NORMAL",
                  "upload_bandwidth_level": "NORMAL"
              },
              "swarm_action": {
                  "swarm_id":          "1111",
                  "action":            "LEAVE",
                  "peer_mode":         "LEECH"
              },
              "swarm_action": {
                  "swarm_id":          "2222",
                  "action":            "JOIN",
                  "@peer_mode":        "LEECH"
              }
         }
      }

   The next example illustrates the Response for the previous example of
   CONNECT Request where the peer requested two swarm actions and not
   more than 5 other peers, receiving from the Tracker a peer list with
   only 2 two other peers in the swarm "2222":

 

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      HTTP/1.1 200 OK
      Content-Length: 1342
      Content-Type: application/ppsp-tracker+json

      {
        "PPSPTrackerProtocol": {
          "version":               1,
          "response_type":         0x00,
          "error_code":            0,
          "transaction_id":        "12345",
          "peer_addr": {
              "ip_address": {
                  "address_type":     "ipv4",
                  "address":          "198.51.100.1"
              },
              "port":          80,
              "priority":      1,
              "asn":           "64496"
         },
         "swarm_result": {
              "swarm_id":        "2222",
              "result":          0x00,
              "peer_group": {
                  "peer_info": {
                      "peer_id":    "956264622298",
                      "peer_addr": {
                          "ip_address": {
                              "address_type":     "ipv4",
                              "address":          "198.51.100.22"
                          },
                          "port":          80,
                          "priority":      2,
                          "type":          "REFLEXIVE",
                          "connection":    "ADSL",
                          "asn":           "64496",
                          "peer_protocol": "PPSP-PP"
                      }
                  },
                  "peer_info": {
                      "peer_id":    "3332001256741",
                      "peer_addr": {
                          "ip_address": {
                              "address_type":     "ipv4",
                              "address":          "198.51.100.201"
                          },
                          "port":          80,
                          "priority":      2,
                          "type":          "REFLEXIVE",
 

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                          "connection":    "ADSL",
                          "asn":           "64496",
                          "peer_protocol": "PPSP-PP"
                      }
                  }
             }
         }
      }

4.1.2  FIND Request

   This method allows peers to request to the tracker, whenever needed,
   a new peer list for the swarm.

   The FIND request MAY include a peer_number element to indicate to the
   tracker the maximum number of peers to be returned in a list
   corresponding to the indicated conditions set by the requesting peer,
   being ability_nat for NAT traversal (considering that PPSP-ICE NAT
   traversal techniques may be used), and optionally concurrent_links,
   online_time and upload_bandwidth_level for the preferred
   capabilities.

   When receiving a well-formed FIND Request the tracker processes the
   information to check if it is valid.  In case of success a response
   message with a Response value of SUCCESSFUL will be generated and the
   tracker will search out the list of peers for the swarm and select an
   appropriate peer list satisfying the conditions set by the requesting
   peer. The peer list returned MUST contain the Peer IDs and the
   corresponding IP Addresses.

   The tracker may take peers' ability and popularity of the requested
   content into consideration.  For example, the tracker could select
   peers with higher ability than the current peers that provide the
   content if the content is relatively popular (see Section 5.1.1); and
   the tracker could also select peers with lower ability than the
   current peers that provide the content when the content is relatively
   uncommon.  The tracker may take network location information into
   consideration as well, to express network topology preferences or
   Operators' policy preferences, with regard to the possibility of
   connecting with other IETF efforts such as ALTO [RFC7285].

   The Response MUST include peer_group element that includes the public
   IP addresses of the selected active peers in the swarm.

   The peer_group list MUST contain the Peer IDs and the corresponding
   IP Addresses, MAY also include the attribute asn with network
   location information of the transport address, corresponding to the
   Autonomous System Number of the access network provider of the
 

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   referenced peer.

   The tracker MAY also include the attribute asn with network location
   information of the transport addresses of the peers, corresponding to
   the Autonomous System Numbers of the access network provider of each
   peer in the list.

   The response MAY also include peer_addr element that includes the
   requesting peer public IP address.  If STUN-like function is enabled
   in the tracker, the peer_addr includes the attribute type with a
   value of REFLEXIVE, corresponding to the transport address
   "candidate" of the peer.

   IMPLEMENTATION NOTE: If no peer_num attributes are present in the
   request the tracker MAY return a random sample from the peer
   population.

4.1.2.1  Example

   An example of the message-body of a FIND Request, where the peer
   requests to the Tracker an list of not more than 5 peers in the swarm
   "1111" conforming to the characteristics expressed (concurrent links,
   online time, and upload bandwidth level) is the following:

      {
        "PPSPTrackerProtocol": {
            "version":             1,
            "request_type":        "FIND",
            "transaction_id":      "12345",
            "peer_id":             "656164657221",
            "swarm_id":            "1111",
            "peer_num": {
                "peer_count":        5,
                "ability_nat":       "STUN",
                "concurrent_links":  "HIGH",
                "online_time":       "NORMAL",
                "upload_bandwidth_level":    "NORMAL"
            }
        }
      }

   An example of the message-body of a Response for the above FIND
   Request, including the requesting peer public IP address information,
   is the following:

 

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      {
        "PPSPTrackerProtocol": {
            "version":             1,
            "response_type":       0x00,
            "error_code":          0,
            "transaction_id":      "12345",
            "swarm_result": {
                "swarm_id":        "1111",
                "result":          0x00,
                "peer_group": {
                    "peer_info": {
                        "peer_id":    "656164657221",
                        "peer_addr": {
                            "ip_address": {
                                "address_type":     "ipv4",
                                "address":          "198.51.100.1"
                            },
                            "port":          80,
                            "priority":      1,
                            "type":          "REFLEXIVE",
                            "connection":    "3G",
                            "asn":           "64496"
                        }
                    },
                    "peer_info": {
                        "peer_id":    "956264622298",
                        "peer_addr": {
                            "ip_address": {
                                "address_type":     "ipv4",
                                "address":          "198.51.100.22"
                            },
                            "port":          80,
                            "priority":      1,
                            "type":          "REFLEXIVE",
                            "connection":    "3G",
                            "asn":           "64496"
                        }
                    },
                    "peer_info": {
                        "peer_id":    "3332001256741",
                        "peer_addr": {
                            "ip_address": {
                                "address_type":     "ipv4",
                                "address":          "198.51.100.201"
                            },
                            "port":          80,
                            "priority":      1,
                            "type":          "REFLEXIVE",
 

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                            "connection":    "3G",
                            "asn":           "64496"
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
      }

4.1.3  STAT_REPORT Request

   This method allows peers to send status and statistic data to
   trackers.  The method is initiated by the peer, periodically while
   active.

   The peer MUST set the request_type to "STAT_REPORT", set the peer_id
   with the identifier of the peer, and generate and set the
   transaction_id.

   The report MAY include multiple statistics elements describing
   several properties relevant to a specific swarm.  These properties
   can be related with stream statistics and peer status information,
   including uploaded_bytes, downloaded_bytes, available_bandwidth,
   concurrent_links and etc.

   Other properties may be defined (guidelines in Section 7.1) related
   for example, with incentives and reputation mechanisms.  In case no
   Statistics Group is included, the STAT_REPORT is used as a "keep-
   alive" message to prevent the tracker from de-registering the peer
   when "track timer" expires.

   If the request is valid the tracker processes the received
   information for future use, and generates a response message with a
   Response value of SUCCESSFUL.

   The response MUST have the same transaction_id value as the request.

 

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4.1.3.1  Example

   An example of the message-body of a STAT_REPORT Request is:

      {
        "PPSPTrackerProtocol": {
            "version":             1,
            "request_type":        "STAT_REPORT",
            "transaction_id":      "12345",
            "peer_id":             "656164657221",
            "stat_report": {
                "type":  "STREAM_STATS",
                "Stat": {
                      "swarm_id":              "1111",
                      "uploaded_bytes":        512,
                      "downloaded_bytes":      768,
                      "available_bandwidth":   1024000,
                      "concurrent_links":      5
                }
            }
        }
      }

   An example of the message-body of a Response for the START_REPORT
   Request is:

      {
        "PPSPTrackerProtocol": {
            "version":              1,
            "response_type":        0x00,
            "error_code":           0,
            "transaction_id":       "12345",
            "swarm_result": {
                "swarm_id":     "1111",
                "result":       0x00
            }
        }
      }

 

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4.2  Response element in response Messages

   Table 7 indicates the response type and corresponding semantics.

              +--------------------+---------------------+
              | Response Type      | Semantics           |
              |                    |                     |
              +--------------------+---------------------+
              | 0x00               |   SUCCESSFUL        |
              | 0x01               |   FAILED            |
              +--------------------+---------------------+

          Table 7:  Semantics for the Value of Response Type.

   SUCCESSFUL: indicates that the request has been processed properly
   and the desired operation has completed.  The body of the response
   message includes the requested information and MUST include the same
   transaction_id of the corresponding request.

      In CONNECT Request:  returns information about the successful
      registration of the peer and/or of each swarm action requested.
      MAY additionally return the list of peers corresponding to the
      action attribute requested.

      In FIND Request:  returns the list of peers corresponding to the
      requested scope.

      In STAT_REPORT Request:  confirms the success of the requested
      operation.

   FAILED: indicates that the request has not been processed properly.

4.3  Error and Recovery conditions

   If the peer fails to read the tracker response, the same Request with
   identical content, including the same transaction_id, SHOULD be
   repeated, if the condition is transient.

   The transaction_id on a Request can be reused if and only if all of
   the content is identical, including Date/Time information.  Details
   of the retry process (including time intervals to pause, number of
   retries to attempt, and timeouts for retrying) are implementation
   dependent.

   The tracker SHOULD be prepared to receive a Request with a repeated
   transaction_id.

   Error situations resulting from the Normal Operation or from abnormal
 

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   conditions (Section 2.3.2) MUST be responded with response_type set
   to 0x01 and with the adequate response codes, as described here:

   o If the message is found to be incorrectly formed, the receiver MUST
     respond with a 400 (Bad Request) error_code with an empty message-
     body (no peer_addr and swarm_result attributes).

   o If the version number of the protocol is for a version the receiver
     does not supports, the receiver MUST respond with a 401
     (Unsupported Version Number) error_code with an empty message-body
     (no peer_addr and swarm_result attributes).

   o In the PEER REGISTERED and TRACKING states of the tracker, certain
     requests are not allowed (Section 2.3.2).  The tracker MUST respond
     with a 402 (Forbidden) error_code with an empty message-body (no
     peer_addr and swarm_result attributes).

   o If the tracker is unable to process a Request message due to
     unexpected condition, it SHOULD respond with a 403 (Internal Server
     Error) response with an empty message-body (no peer_addr and
     swarm_result attributes).

   o If the tracker is unable to process a Request message for being in
     an overloaded state, it SHOULD respond with a 404 (Service
     Unavailable) error_code with an empty message-body (no peer_addr
     and swarm_result attributes).

   o If authentication is required for the peer to make the request, the
     tracker SHOULD respond with a 405 (Authentication Required)
     error_code with an empty message-body (no peer_addr and
     swarm_result attributes).

4.4  Parsing of Unknown Fields in Message-body

   This document only details object fields used by this specification.
   Extensions may include additional fields within JSON objects defined
   in this document.  PPSP-TP implementations MUST ignore unknown fields
   when processing PPSP-TP messages.

 

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5  Operations and Manageability

   This section provides the operational and managements aspects that
   are required to be considered in implementations of the PPSP Tracker
   Protocol. These aspects follow the recommendations expressed in
   RFC 5706 [RFC5706].

5.1  Operational Considerations

   The PPSP-TP provides communication between trackers and peers and is
   conceived as a "client-server" mechanism, allowing the exchange of
   information about the participant peers sharing multimedia streaming
   contents.

   The "serving" component, i.e., the Tracker, is a logical entity that
   can be envisioned as a centralized service (implemented in one or
   more physical nodes), or a fully distributed service.

   The "client" component can be implemented at each peer participating
   in the streaming of contents.

5.1.1  Installation and Initial Setup

   Content providers wishing to use PPSP for content distribution should
   setup at least a PPSP Tracker and a service Portal (public web
   server) to publish links of the content descriptions, for access to
   their on-demand or live original contents sources.  Content/Service
   providers should also create conditions to generate Peer IDs and any
   required security certificates, as well as Chunk IDs and Swarm IDs
   for each streaming content.  The configuration processes for the PPSP
   Tracking facility, the service Portal and content sources are not
   standardized, enabling all the flexibility for implementers.

   The Swarm IDs of available contents, as well as the addresses of the
   PPSP Tracking facility, can be distributed to end-users in various
   ways, but it is common practice to include both the Swarm ID and the
   corresponding PPSP Tracker addresses (as URLs) in the MPD of the
   content, which is obtainable (a link) from the service Portal.

   The available contents could have different importance attribute
   values to indicate whether the content is popular or not.  However,
   it is a totally implementation design and outside of this
   specification.  For example, the importance attribute values of the
   contents could be set by content providers when distributing them or
   could be determined by the tracker based on the statistics of the
   requests from the peers that request the content.  The tracker could
   set a upper threshold to decide that the content is popular enough
   when the importance attribute value is higher than the upper
 

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   threshold.  And the tracker could also set a lower threshold to
   decide that the content is uncommon enough when the importance
   attribute value is lower than the lower threshold.

   End-users browse and search for the desired contents in the service
   Portal, selecting by clicking the links of the corresponding MPDs.
   This action typically launches the Client Media Player (with PPSP
   awareness) which will then, using PPSP-TP, contact the PPSP Tracker
   to join the corresponding swarm and obtain the transport addresses of
   other PPSP peers in order to start streaming the content.

5.1.2  Migration Path

   Since there is no previous standard protocol providing similar
   functionality, this specification does not detail a migration path.

5.1.3  Requirements on Other Protocols and Functional Components

   For security reasons, when using PPSP Peer protocol with PPSP-TP, the
   mechanisms described in Section 6.1 should be observed.

5.1.4  Impact on Network Operation

   As the messaging model of PPSP-TP aligns with HTTP protocol and the
   semantics of its messages, the impact on Network Operation is similar
   to using HTTP.

5.1.5  Verifying Correct Operation

   The correct operation of PPSP-TP can be verified both at the Tracker
   and at the peer by logging the behavior of PPSP-TP.  Additionally,
   the PPSP Tracker collects the status of the peers including peer's
   activity, and such information can be used to monitor and obtain the
   global view of the operation.

5.2  Management Considerations

   The management considerations for PPSP-TP are similar to other
   solutions using HTTP for large-scale content distribution.  The PPSP
   Tracker can be realized by geographically distributed tracker nodes
   or multiple server nodes in a data center.  As these nodes are akin
   to WWW nodes, their configuration procedures, detection of faults,
   measurement of performance, usage accounting and security measures
   can be achieved by standard solutions and facilities.

5.2.1  Interoperability

   Interoperability refers to allowing information sharing and
 

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   operations between multiple devices and multiple management
   applications.  For PPSP-TP, distinct types of devices host PPSP-TP
   servers (Trackers) and clients (Peers).  Therefore, support for
   multiple standard schema languages, management protocols and
   information models, suited to different purposes, was considered in
   the PPSP-TP design.  Specifically, management functionality for PPSP-
   TP devices can be achieved with Simple Network Management Protocol
   (SNMP) [RFC3410], syslog [RFC5424] and NETCONF [RFC6241].

5.2.2  Management Information

   PPSP Trackers may implement SNMP management interfaces, namely the
   Application Management MIB [RFC2564] without the need to instrument
   the Tracker application itself. The channel, connections and
   transaction objects of the the Application Management MIB can be used
   to report the basic behavior of the PPSP Tracker service.

   The Application Performance Measurement MIB (APM-MIB) [RFC3729] and
   the Transport Performance Metrics MIB (TPM-MIB) [RFC4150] can be used
   with PPSP-TP, providing adequate metrics for the analysis of
   performance for transaction flows in the network, in direct
   relationship to the transport of PPSP-TP.

   The Host Resources MIB [RFC2790] can be used to supply information on
   the hardware, the operating system, and the installed and running
   software on a PPSP Tracker host.

   The TCP-MIB [RFC4022] can additionally be considered for network
   monitoring.

   Logging is an important functionality for PPSP-TP server (Tracker)
   and client (Peer), done via syslog [RFC5424].

5.2.3  Fault Management

   As PPSP Tracker failures can be mainly attributed to host or network
   conditions, the facilities previously described for verifying the
   correct operation of PPSP-TP and the management of PPSP Tracker
   servers, appear sufficient for PPSP-TP fault monitoring.

5.2.4  Configuration Management

   PPSP Tracker deployments, when realized by geographically distributed
   tracker nodes or multiple server nodes in a data center,  may benefit
   from a standard way of replicating atomic configuration updates over
   a set of server nodes.  This functionality can be provided via
   NETCONF [RFC6241].

 

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5.2.5  Accounting Management

   PPSP-TP implementations, namely for content provider environments,
   can benefit from accounting standardization efforts as defined in
   [RFC2975], in terms of resource consumption data, for the purposes of
   capacity and trend analysis, cost allocation, auditing, and billing.

5.2.6  Performance Management

   Being transaction-oriented, PPSP-TP performance, in terms of
   availability and responsiveness, can be measured with the facilities
   of the APM-MIB [RFC3729] and the TPM-MIB [RFC4150].

5.2.7  Security Management

   Standard SNMP notifications for PPSP Tracker management and syslog
   messages [RFC5424] can be used, to alert operators to the conditions
   identified in the security considerations (Section 6).

   The statistics collected about the operation of PPSP-TP can be used
   for detecting attacks, such as the receipt of malformed messages,
   messages out of order, or messages with invalid timestamps.

6  Security Considerations

   P2P streaming systems are subject to attacks by malicious/unfriendly
   peers/trackers that may eavesdrop on signaling, forge/deny
   information/knowledge about streaming content and/or its
   availability, impersonating to be another valid participant, or
   launch DoS attacks to a chosen victim.

   No security system can guarantee complete security in an open P2P
   streaming system where participants may be malicious or
   uncooperative.  The goal of security considerations described here is
   to provide sufficient protection for maintaining some security
   properties during the tracker-peer communication even in the face of
   a large number of malicious peers and/or eventual distrustful
   trackers (under the distributed tracker deployment scenario).

   Since the protocol uses HTTP to transfer signaling most of the same
   security considerations described in RFC 2616 also apply [RFC2616].

6.1  Authentication between Tracker and Peers

   To protect the PPSP-TP signaling from attackers pretending to be
   valid peers (or peers other than themselves) all messages received in
   the tracker SHOULD be received from authorized peers.  For that
   purpose a peer SHOULD enroll in the system via a centralized
 

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   enrollment server.  The enrollment server is expected to provide a
   proper Peer ID for the peer and information about the authentication
   mechanisms.  The specification of the enrollment method and the
   provision of identifiers and authentication tokens is out of scope of
   this specification.

   A channel-oriented security mechanism should be used in the
   communication between peers and tracker, such as the Transport Layer
   Security (TLS) to provide privacy and data integrity.

   Due to the transactional nature of the communication between peers
   and tracker the method for adding authentication and data security
   services can be the OAuth 2.0 Authorization [RFC6749] with bearer
   token, which provides the peer with the information required to
   successfully utilize an access token to make protected requests to
   the tracker [RFC6750].

6.2  Content Integrity protection against polluting peers/trackers

   Malicious peers may declaim ownership of popular content to the
   tracker but try to serve polluted (i.e., decoy content or even
   virus/trojan infected contents) to other peers.

   This kind of pollution can be detected by incorporating integrity
   verification schemes for published shared contents.  As content
   chunks are transferred independently and concurrently, a
   correspondent chunk-level integrity verification MUST be used,
   checked with signed fingerprints received from authentic origin.

6.3  Residual attacks and mitigation

   To mitigate the impact of Sybil attackers, impersonating a large
   number of valid participants by repeatedly acquiring different peer
   identities, the enrollment server SHOULD carefully regulate the rate
   of peer/tracker admission.

   There is no guarantee that peers honestly report their status to the
   tracker, or serve authentic content to other peers as they claim to
   the tracker.  It is expected that a global trust mechanism, where the
   credit of each peer is accumulated from evaluations for previous
   transactions, may be taken into account by other peers when selecting
   partners for future transactions, helping to mitigate the impact of
   such malicious behaviors.  A globally trusted tracker MAY also take
   part of the trust mechanism by collecting evaluations, computing
   credit values and providing them to joining peers.

6.4  Pro-incentive parameter trustfulness

 

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   Property types for STAT_REPORT messages may consider additional pro-
   incentive parameters (guidelines for extension in Section 7), which
   can enable the tracker to improve the performance of the whole P2P
   streaming system.  Trustworthiness of these pro-incentive parameters
   is critical to the effectiveness of the incentive mechanisms.
   Furthermore, both the amount of uploaded and downloaded data should
   be reported to the tracker to allow checking if there is any
   inconsistency between the upload and download report, and establish
   an appropriate credit/trust system.

   One such solution could be a reputation-incentive mechanism, based on
   the notions of reputation, social awareness and fairness.  The
   mechanism would promote cooperation among participants (via each
   peer's reputation) based on the history of past transactions, such
   as, count of chunk requests (sent, received) in a swarm, contribution
   time of the peer, cumulative uploaded and downloaded content, JOIN
   and LEAVE timestamps, attainable rate, etc.

   Alternatively, exchange of cryptographic receipts signed by receiving
   peers can be used to attest to the upload contribution of a peer to
   the swarm, as suggested in [Contracts].

7  Guidelines for Extending PPSP-TP

   Extension mechanisms allow designers to add new features or to
   customize existing features of a protocol for different operating
   environments [RFC6709].

   Extending a protocol implies either the addition of features without
   changing the protocol itself or the addition of new elements creating
   new versions of an existing schema and therefore new versions of the
   protocol.

   In PPSP-TP it means that an extension MUST NOT alter an existing
   protocol schema as the changes would result in a new version of an
   existing schema, not an extension of an existing schema, typically
   non-backwards-compatible.

   Additionally, a designer MUST remember that extensions themselves MAY
   also be extensible.

   Extensions MUST adhere to the principles described in this section in
   order to be considered valid.

   Extensions MAY be documented as Internet-Draft and RFC documents if
   there are requirements for coordination, interoperability, and broad
   distribution.

 

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   Extensions need not be published as Internet-Draft or RFC documents
   if they are intended for operation in a closed environment or are
   otherwise intended for a limited audience.

7.1  Forms of PPSP-TP Extension

   In PPSP-TP two extension mechanisms can be used: a Request-Response
   Extension or a Protocol-level Extension.

   o  Request-Response Extension: Adding elements or attributes to an
      existing element mapping in the schema is the simplest form of
      extension.  This form should be explored before any other.  This
      task can be accomplished by extending an existing element mapping.

      For example, an element mapping for the Statistics Group can be
      extended to include additional elements needed to express status
      information about the activity of the peer, such as OnlineTime for
      the Stat element.

   o  Protocol-level Extension: If there is no existing element mapping
      that can be extended to meet the requirements and the existing
      PPSP-TP Request and Response message structures are insufficient,
      then extending the protocol should be considered in order to
      define new operational Requests and Responses.

      For example, to enhance the level of control and the granularity
      of the operations, a new version of the protocol with new messages
      (JOIN, DISCONNECT), a retro-compatible change in semantics of an
      existing CONNECT Request/Response and an extension in STAT_REPORT
      could be considered.

      As illustrated in Figure 6, the peer would use an enhanced CONNECT
      Request to perform the initial registration in the system.  Then
      it would JOIN a first swarm as SEEDER, later JOIN a second swarm
      as LEECH, and then DISCONNECT from the latter swarm but keeping as
      SEEDER for the first one.  When deciding to leave the system, the
      peer DISCONNECTs gracefully from it:

 

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                 +--------+                     +---------+
                 |  Peer  |                     | Tracker |
                 +--------+                     +---------+
                     |                               |
                     |--CONNECT--------------------->|
                     |<--------------------------OK--|
                     |--JOIN(swarm_a;SEED)---------->|
                     |<--------------------------OK--|
                     :                               :
                     |--STAT_REPORT(activity)------->|
                     |<--------------------------Ok--|
                     :                               :
                     |--JOIN(swarm_b;LEECH)--------->|
                     |<-----------------OK+PeerList--|
                     :                               :
                     |--STAT_REPORT(ChunkMap_b)----->|
                     |<--------------------------Ok--|
                     :                               :
                     |--DISCONNECT(swarm_b)--------->|
                     |<--------------------------Ok--|
                     :                               :
                     |--STAT_REPORT(activity)------->|
                     |<--------------------------Ok--|
                     :                               :
                     |--DISCONNECT------------------>|
                     |<---------------------Ok(BYE)--|

     Figure 6: Example of a session for a PPSP-TP extended version.

7.2  Issues to Be Addressed in PPSP-TP Extensions

   There are several issues that all extensions should take into
   consideration.

   -  Overview of the Extension:  It is RECOMMENDED that extensions to
      PPSP-TP have a protocol overview section that discusses the basic
      operation of the extension. The most important processing rules
      for the elements in the message flows SHOULD also be mentioned.

   -  Backward Compatibility:  One of the most important issues to
      consider is whether the new extension is backward compatible with
      the base PPST-TP.

   -  Syntactic Issues:  Extensions that define new Request/Response
      methods SHOULD use all capitals for the method name, keeping with
      a long-standing convention in many protocols, such as HTTP. Method
      names are case sensitive in PPSP-TP.  Method names SHOULD be
      shorter than 16 characters and SHOULD attempt to convey the
 

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      general meaning of the Request or Response.

   -  Semantic Issues:  PPSP-TP extensions MUST clearly define the
      semantics of the extensions.  Specifically, the extension MUST
      specify the behaviors expected from both the Peer and the Tracker
      in processing the extension, with the processing rules in temporal
      order of the common messaging scenario.

      Processing rules generally specify actions to be taken on receipt
      of messages and expiration of timers.

      The extension SHOULD specify procedures to be taken in exceptional
      conditions that are recoverable.  Handling of unrecoverable errors
      does not require specification.

   -  Security Issues:  Being security an important component of any
      protocol, designers of PPSP-TP extensions need to carefully
      consider security requirements, namely authorization requirements
      and requirements for end-to-end integrity.

   -  Examples of Usage:  The specification of the extension SHOULD give
      examples of message flows and message formatting and include
      examples of messages containing new syntax.  Examples of message
      flows should be given to cover common cases and at least one
      failure or unusual case.

8  IANA Considerations

8.1 MIME Type Registry

   This document defines registry for application/ppsp-tracker+json
   media types.

   Type name:  application

   Subtype name:  ppsp-tracker+json

   Required parameters:  n/a

   Optional parameters:  n/a

   Encoding considerations:  Encoding considerations are identical to
   those specified for the "application/json" media type.  See
   [RFC7159].

   Security considerations: See Section 6.

   Interoperability considerations:  This document specifies format of
 

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   conforming messages and the interpretation thereof.

   Published specification:  This document.

   Applications that use this media type:  PPSP trackers and peers
   either stand alone or embedded within other applications.

   Additional information:

      Magic number(s):  n/a

      File extension(s):  This document uses the MIME type to refer to
      protocol messages, therefore it does not requires a file
      extension.

      Macintosh file type code(s):  n/a

   Person & email address to contact for further information:  See
   Authors' Addresses section.

   Intended usage:  COMMON

   Restrictions on usage:  none

   Author:  See Authors' Addresses section.

   Change controller:  IESG (iesg@ietf.org)

8.2 PPSP Tracker Protocol Version Number Registry

   Registry name is "PPSP Tracker Protocol Version Number Registry".
   Values are integers in the range 0-255, with initial assignments and
   reservations given in Table 2.

9  Acknowledgments

   The authors would like to thank many people for for their help and
   comments, particularly: Zhang Yunfei, Liao Hongluan, Roni Even, Dave
   Cottlehuber, Bhumip Khasnabish, Wu Yichuan, Peng Jin, Chi Jing, Zong
   Ning, Song Haibin, Chen Wei, Zhijia Chen, Christian Schmidt, Lars
   Eggert, David Harrington, Henning Schulzrinne, Kangheng Wu, Martin
   Stiemerling, Jianyin Zhang, Johan Pouwelse, Riccardo Petrocco and
   Arno Bakker.

   Rui Cruz, Mario Nunes and Joao Taveira were partially supported by
   the SARACEN project [SARACEN], a research project of the European
   Union 7th Framework Programme (contract no. ICT-248474).

 

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   The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors
   and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the
   official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of
   the SARACEN project, the European Commission, Huawei or China Mobile.

10  References

10.1  Normative References

   [RFC0793]  Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol", STD 7,
              RFC 793, September 1981.

   [KEYWORDS] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC3629]  Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
              10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003.

10.2  Informative References

   [RFC2564]  Kalbfleisch, C., Krupczak, C., Presuhn, R., and J.
              Saperia, "Application Management MIB", RFC 2564, May 1999.

   [RFC2616]  Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H.,
              Masinter, L., Leach, P., and T. Berners-Lee, "Hypertext
              Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2616, June 1999.

   [RFC2790]  Waldbusser, S. and P. Grillo, "Host Resources MIB",
              RFC 2790, March 2000.

   [RFC2818]  Rescorla, E., "HTTP Over TLS", RFC 2818, May 2000.

   [RFC2975]  Aboba, B., Arkko, J., and D. Harrington, "Introduction to
              Accounting Management", RFC 2975, October 2000.

   [RFC3410]  Case, J., Mundy, R., Partain, D., and B. Stewart,
              "Introduction and Applicability Statements for Internet-
              Standard Management Framework", RFC 3410, December 2002.

   [RFC3729]  Waldbusser, S., "Application Performance Measurement MIB",
              RFC 3729, March 2004.

   [RFC3986]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
              Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,
              RFC 3986, January 2005.

   [RFC4022]  Raghunarayan, R., Ed., "Management Information Base for
 

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              the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)", RFC 4022, March
              2005.

   [RFC4122]  Leach, P., Mealling, M., and R. Salz, "A Universally
              Unique IDentifier (UUID) URN Namespace", RFC 4122, July
              2005.

   [RFC4150]  Dietz, R. and R. Cole, "Transport Performance Metrics
              MIB", RFC 4150, August 2005.

   [RFC5245]  Rosenberg, J., "Interactive Connectivity Establishment
              (ICE): A Protocol for Network Address Translator (NAT)
              Traversal for Offer/Answer Protocols", RFC 5245, April
              2010.

   [RFC5246]  Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
              (TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246, August 2008.

   [RFC5424]  Gerhards, R., "The Syslog Protocol", RFC 5424, March 2009.

   [RFC5706]  Harrington, D., "Guidelines for Considering Operations and
              Management of New Protocols and Protocol Extensions",
              RFC 5706, November 2009.

   [RFC5952]  Kawamura, S. and M. Kawashima, "A Recommendation for IPv6
              Address Text Representation", RFC 5952, August 2010.

   [Fielding] Fielding, R., "Architectural Styles and the Design of
              Network-based Software Architectures", University of
              California, Irvine, Dissertation 2000, 2000.
   [SARACEN] "SARACEN Project Website",
              http://www.saracen-p2p.eu/.

   [Contracts] Piatek, M., Venkataramani, A., Yang, R., Zhang, D. and A.
              Jaffe, "Contracts: Practical Contribution Incentives for
              P2P Live Streaming", in NSDI '10: USENIX Symposium on
              Networked Systems Design and Implementation, April 2010.

 

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Appendix A.  Revision History

   -00     2013-02-14 Initial version.
   -01     2013-02-14 Minor revision.
   -02     2013-10-21 Minor revision.
   -03     2013-12-31 Major revision
       +   Introduced a generalization of the protocol specification
           using a C-style notation.
       -   removed all examples of protocol message encoding in XML
   -04     2014-07-01 Minor Revision
       -   removed Appendix referencing the use of HTTP
       +   refined the presentation language specification to include
           protocol elements definitions.
   -05     2014-07-04 Minor Revision
   -06     2014-10-27 Minor Revision
   -07     2014-12-12 Major Revision
       +   introduced a text-based (JSON) protocol encoding with
           examples for all the messages
       +   corrections in the specifications of protocol elements
       +   section 5 specification of protocol elements semantics
       +   introduced a IANA MIME Type registry
   -08     2015-01-08  Major Revision
       *   merge sections 5 and 4 with section 3; renumbered all other
       +   refined the protocol elements definitions for consistency
           with the JSON data structures
       +   revised protocol messages encoding examples
       +   additional IANA registry for protocol version
       *   editorial corrections
   -09     (2015-3-27) Major Revision
       +   Add concurrent_link in the stream_stats specification.
       +   Remove "PROXY" value from "ability_nat" specification.
       +   Dividing attributes by "," in the example
       *   editorial corrections
   -10     (Current version) Major Revision
       +   Update dates

 

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Authors' Addresses

   Rui Santos Cruz
   IST/INESC-ID/INOV
   Phone: +351.939060939
   Email: rui.cruz@ieee.org

   Mario Serafim Nunes
   IST/INESC-ID/INOV
   Rua Alves Redol, n.9
   1000-029 LISBOA, Portugal
   Phone: +351.213100256
   Email: mario.nunes@inov.pt

   Rachel Huang
   Huawei
   Email: rachel.huang@huawei.com

   Jinwei Xia
   Huawei
   Nanjing, Baixia District  210001, China
   Phone: +86-025-86622310
   Email: xiajinwei@huawei.com

   Joao P. Taveira
   IST/INOV
   Email: joao.silva@inov.pt

   Deng Lingli
   China Mobile
   Email: denglingli@chinamobile.com

   Gu Yingjie
   Email: guyingjie@gmail.com

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