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Interface to In-Network Functions (I2INF): Problem Statement
draft-jeong-opsawg-i2inf-problem-statement-00

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Active".
Authors Jaehoon Paul Jeong , Yiwen Chris Shen , Yoseop Ahn , Younghan Kim , Elias P. Duarte Jr.
Last updated 2024-07-22
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draft-jeong-opsawg-i2inf-problem-statement-00
Operations and Management Area Working Group               J. Jeong, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                                   Y. Shen
Intended status: Informational                                    Y. Ahn
Expires: 23 January 2025                         Sungkyunkwan University
                                                                  Y. Kim
                                                     Soongsil University
                                                           E. Duarte Jr.
                                            Federal University of Parana
                                                            22 July 2024

      Interface to In-Network Functions (I2INF): Problem Statement
             draft-jeong-opsawg-i2inf-problem-statement-00

Abstract

   This document specifies the problem statement for Interface to In-
   Network Functions (I2INF) for a user's services involved in both
   networks and applications.  In-Network Functions (INF) include In-
   Network Computing Functions (INCF) in Network Functions
   Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN).  They
   also include In-Network Application Functions (INAF) in Internet-of-
   Things (IoT) Devices, Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV), and Unmanned
   Aerial Vehicles (UAV).  Intent-Based Networking (IBN) can be used to
   realize the user's services consisting of a combination of INFs in a
   target network.  This document analyzes the gap for an IBN-based
   system to perform the user's service and specifies the requirements
   for the I2INF for intelligent service provisioning.

Status of This Memo

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

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 23 January 2025.

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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2024 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
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   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Problem Statement for Interface to In-Network Functions . . .   5
     3.1.  Gap Analysis  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.2.  Intent-Based Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     3.3.  Problem Statemet  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   6.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     6.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     6.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   Appendix A.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   Appendix B.  Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18

1.  Introduction

   Network softwarization is widely used for network services in network
   infrastructure (e.g., 5G mobile networks [TS-23.501]), clouding
   computing, and edge computing.  This network softwarization is
   enabled by the technologies of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV)
   [ETSI-NFV][ETSI-NFV-Release-2] and Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
   [RFC7149].  In addition, Intent-Based Networking (IBN)
   [RFC9315][Survey-IBN-CST-2023] has been intensively researched and
   realized for the last five yearly.  Many end-user devices such as
   smartphones and smart watches are connected to various Internet-of-
   Things (IoT) devices for customer-tailored services.  Recently
   Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs) [AUTOSAR-SDV][Eclipse-SDV][COVESA]
   have been spotlighted as the next-generation user devices after the
   smartphones.  SDVs are intended to use the network softwarization
   technologies such as NFV and SDN.  System components and applications
   in the SDVs are working in the form of containers in a cloud native

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   environment (e.g., Kubernetes [Kubernetes]).

   In this trend, the network automation and management has become more
   important to realize intelligent services for both end users and
   network operators [I-D.jeong-nmrg-ibn-network-management-automation].
   For this network automation and management, an intent of a user
   (e.g., end user and network operator) in the form of either text or
   voice needs to be understood and processed by the service systems.
   Note that an intent is a declarative request for a specific goal
   rather than an imperative request having a series of configuration or
   commands for specific operations.  This intent needs to be translated
   into a network policy and an application policy for the satisfaction
   of the user's service request.  First, the network policy contains
   rules to execute the service's network demands in terms of Quality of
   Service (QoS) such as throughput and delay.  Second, the application
   policy contains rules to execute the service's application demands in
   terms of functionality and timing.  These translated network and
   application polices need to be delivered to appropriate Network
   Functions (NF) in network infrastructure, edge computing, and cloud
   computing.  Thus, an intent of a user's service needs to be
   translated into both a network policy for a network infrastructure
   for a network service and an application policy for a client and a
   server for an application service.

   For example, services for user applications (e.g., video conference)
   need to be accurately configured to and efficiently processed by not
   only Application Functions (AF) like a client (e.g., a video
   conference client) and a server (e.g., a video conference server),
   but also Network Functions (NF) (e.g., video broadcast coordinator)
   in Computing in the Network (COIN)
   [I-D.irtf-coinrg-use-cases][NFV-COIN].

   As per definitions of Computing in the Network (COIN), a Programmable
   Network Device (PND) in an In-Network Computing (INC) environment can
   have multiple kinds of capabilities (i.e., features)
   [I-D.irtf-coinrg-coin-terminology] to work with other PNDs.  PNDs
   from different product lines or vendors can have different
   capabilities for INC functions.  When working togther for a COIN
   system, the PDNs may be unaware of capabilities of others.
   Therefore, it is necessary to define a standard interface for PNDs to
   exchange their capabilities.

   For the configuration and monitoring of Application Functions (AFs)
   for applications and Network Functions (NFs) for network services for
   a given user's service, a standard framework with interfaces is
   required.  There is no standard data model to describe the
   capabilities of AFs and NFs for a user-demanded service.  Also, there
   is no standard data model for a registration interface that is used

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   to register the capabilities of those AFs and NFs with a controller
   for the requested service.  In addition, there are no standard
   interfaces to configure and monitor those AFs and NFs according to a
   user's intent.  In the past, Interface to Network Security Functions
   (I2NSF) was standardized for the control and management of Network
   Security Services with Network Security Functions (NSFs) [RFC8329]
   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-applicability].  This document takes advantage of the
   work of I2NSF for a more general control and management framework for
   intelligent services consisting of AFs and NFs.

   This document specifies the problem statement and use cases for
   Interface to In-Network Functions (I2INF) for In-Network Functions
   (INFs) having different capabilities.  The INFs consist of Network
   Functions (NFs) including PNDs and Application Functions (AFs) in
   order to compose a user's services.  First of all, INFs include In-
   Network Computing Functions (INCF) as NFs within NFV and SDN
   [I-D.irtf-coinrg-use-cases].  Secondly, they also include In-Network
   Application Functions (INAF) as AFs within Internet-of-Things (IoT)
   Devices, Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV), and Unmanned Aerial
   Vehicles (UAV).  Finally, Intent-Based Networking (IBN) can be
   realized with the network services consisting of a combination of
   INFs in a target network.

2.  Terminology

   This document uses the terminology described in [RFC9315], [RFC8329],
   [I-D.irtf-coinrg-coin-terminology], [I-D.irtf-coinrg-use-cases],
   [I-D.jeong-i2nsf-security-management-automation],
   [I-D.jeong-nmrg-ibn-network-management-automation], and
   [I-D.yang-i2nsf-security-policy-translation].  In addition, the
   following terms are defined below:

   *  Intent: A set of operational goals (that a network should meet)
      and outcomes (that a network is supposed to deliver) defined in a
      declarative manner without specifying how to achieve or implement
      them [RFC9315].

   *  Intent-Based System (IBS): A system that enforces an intent from a
      user (or administrator) into a target system (e.g., SDV).  An
      intent can be expressed as a Natural Language (e.g., English) and
      can be translated into a policy (i.e., network policy and
      application policy) by a Natural Language Processing (NLP)
      [USENIX-ATC-Lumi][BERT] [Deep-Learning].  In this document, the
      intent can be translated into the corresponding high policy by an
      intent translator
      [I-D.jeong-i2nsf-security-management-automation].  The high-level
      policy can also be translated into the corresponding low-level
      policy by a policy translator

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      [I-D.yang-i2nsf-security-policy-translation].  The low-level
      policy is dispatched to appropriate Service Functions (SFs).
      Through the monitoring of the SFs, the activity and performance of
      the SFs is monitored and analyzed.  If needed, the rules of the
      high-level or low-level network policy are augmented or new rules
      are generated and configured to appropriate SFs.

   *  Mobile Object (MO): An object that is capable of moving by its
      power source with wireless communication capability such as 5G
      Vehicle-to-Everything (e.g., 5G V2X).  It can be an Internet-of-
      Things (IoT) device, Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV)
      [AUTOSAR-SDV][Eclipse-SDV][COVESA], and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
      (UAV).  An MO is a Programmable Network Device (PND)
      [I-D.irtf-coinrg-coin-terminology] that can be reconfigured for
      different network requirements inside the MO.

   *  In-Network Computing Functions (INCF): The service functions that
      work for computing in the network infrastructure.  They are a
      group of COIN programs [I-D.irtf-coinrg-coin-terminology] to
      provide required computing tasks and functions.

   *  In-Network Application Functions (INAF): The service functions
      that work for applications in Mobile Objects.  They are a group of
      COIN programs [I-D.irtf-coinrg-coin-terminology] to provide
      required application tasks and functions.

   *  Interface to In-Network Functions (I2INF): Interfaces that are
      used between a pair of INFs for the interaction for configuration
      and monitoring.

   *  A Framework for Interface to In-Network Functions (I2INF): a
      framework that consists of components and interfaces to configure
      and monitor INFs for various services in the network
      infrastructure and MOs.

3.  Problem Statement for Interface to In-Network Functions

   This section specifies the Gap Analysis, Intent-Based Networking
   (IBN), and Problem Statement for Interface to In-Network Functions
   (I2INF).  First, Figure 1 shows Wireless and Wired Networks in a
   Central Cloud for the I2INF framework having network entities and
   Mobile Objects (MO) to run network functions and application
   functions for a user's service, respectively.  Second, Figure 2 shows
   a VNF-Consensus Architecture in an Edge Cloud in the I2INF framework
   to synchonize the SDN Controllers for flow table information in the
   same Edge Cloud [NFV-COIN].  These networks are assumed for the
   problem space for the I2INF.

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                                  Central Cloud
                   *******************************************
                 *                                             *
                *              +------------------+             *
               *               | Cloud Controller |              *
               *               +------------------+              *
               *                         ^                       *
                *                        |                      *
                 *                       v                     *
                   *******************************************
                    ^                   ^                    ^
                    |                   |                    |
                    V                   V                    V
              +-----------+       +-----------+        +-----------+
              |Edge-Cloud1|       |Edge-Cloud2|        |Edge-Cloud3|
              +-----------+       +-----------+        +-----------+
                    ^                   ^                    ^
                    |                   |                    |
                    V                   V                    V
               +---------+         +---------+         +---------+
               | IP-RSU1 |<------->| IP-RSU2 |<------->| IP-RSU3 |
               +---------+         +---------+         +---------+
                    ^                   ^                    ^
                    :                   :                    :
           +-----------------+ +-----------------+   +-----------------+
           |        : V2I    | |        : V2I    |   |       : V2I     |
           |        v        | |        v        |   |       v         |
+--------+ |   +--------+    | |   +--------+    |   |   +--------+    |
|   MO1  |===> |   MO2  |===>| |   |   MO3  |===>|   |   |   MO4  |===>|
+--------+<...>+--------+<........>+--------+    |   |   +--------+    |
           V2V     ^         V2V        ^        |   |        ^        |
           |       : V2V     | |        : V2V    |   |        : V2V    |
           |       v         | |        v        |   |        v        |
           |  +--------+     | |   +--------+    |   |    +--------+   |
           |  |   MO5  |===> | |   |   MO6  |===>|   |    |   MO7  |==>|
           |  +--------+     | |   +--------+    |   |    +--------+   |
           +-----------------+ +-----------------+   +-----------------+
                 Subnet1              Subnet2              Subnet3
                (Prefix1)            (Prefix2)            (Prefix3)

        <----> Wired Link   <....> Wireless Link   ===> Moving Direction

   Figure 1: Wireless and Wired Networks in Central Cloud for I2INF
                              Framework

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                         Edge Cloud                      Central Cloud
         ******************************************        **********
        *                                          *     *            *
       *                                            *   * +----------+ *
       *  +---------------+   +-----------------+   *   * |  Cloud   | *
       *  | VNF-Consensus |<->| Edge Controller |<->*<->* |Controller| *
       *  +-------^-------+   +--------^--------+   *   * +----------+ *
       *          |                    |            *   *              *
        *         v                    V           *     *            *
         ******************************************        **********
         ^                    ^                    ^
         |                    |                    |
         V                    V                    V
 +---------------+    +---------------+    +---------------+
 |SDN-Controller1|    |SDN-Controller2|    |SDN-Controller3|
 +---------------+    +---------------+    +---------------+
         ^                    ^                    ^
         |                    |                    |
         V                    V                    V
 +---------------+    +---------------+    +---------------+
 |   +-----+     |    |   +-----+     |    |   +-----+     |
 |   | SW1 |     |    |   | SW3 |     |    |   | SW5 |     |
 |   +---^-+     |    |   +---^-+     |    |   +---^-+     |
 |       |       |    |       |       |    |       |       |
 |     +-V---+   |    |     +-V---+   |    |     +-V---+   |
 |     | SW2 |   |    |     | SW4 |   |    |     | SW6 |   |
 |     +-----+   |    |     +-----+   |    |     +-----+   |
 +---------------+    +---------------+    +---------------+
    SDN-Network1         SDN-Network2         SDN-Network3
      (Subnet1)            (Prefix2)            (Prefix3)

 <----> Wired Link

      Figure 2: VNF-Consensus Architecture in Edge Cloud for I2INF
                               Framework

3.1.  Gap Analysis

   In-Network Computing Functions (INCF) are proposed for various
   computing services in the area of COIN on top of network
   softwarization environments of NFV and SDN
   [I-D.irtf-coinrg-use-cases][NFV-COIN].

   The COIN Use Cases Document in [I-D.irtf-coinrg-use-cases] proposes
   four kinds of use cases for In-Network Computing.  Its use cases are
   (i) Providing New COIN Experiences, (ii) Supporting New COIN Systems,
   (iii) Improving Existing COIN Capabilities, and (iv) Enabling New
   COIN Capabilities.

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   1.  For Providing New COIN Experiences, the document describes mobile
       application offloading and Extended Reality (XR) and immersive
       media.

   2.  For Supporting New COIN Systems, the document describes In-
       Network Control, Time-Sensitive Application, Large Volume
       Applications, and Industrial Safety.

   3.  For Improving Existing COIN Capabilities, the document describes
       Content Delivery Networks (CDN), Compute-Fabric-as-a-Service
       (CFaaS), and Virtual Networks Programming (e.g., P4 programs and
       OpenFlow rules).

   4.  For Enabling New COIN Capabilities, the document describes
       Distributed AI Training among distributed endpoints for large-
       scale problems.

   The NFV-COIN Paper in [NFV-COIN] proposes three kinds of use cases
   for In-Network Computing.  Its use cases are (i) NFV Failure
   Detection, (ii) Virtual Network Function (VNF) Consensus, and (iii)
   NFV Reliable Broadcast.

   1.  NFV Failure Detection is that an NFV-based failure detector gets
       monitoring data from SDN Switches via SDN Controller and detects
       the failure of communication links.  This failure detector can
       work within the SDN Controller by sacrificing the performance
       (e.g., CPU usage) of the SDN Controller.

   2.  VNF Consensus is that a VNF-Consensus service performs the
       sychronization of the control planes of multiple SDN Controllers.
       This consensus service does not require any modification of both
       the data plane at SDN switches and SDN control plane (e.g.,
       OpenFlow).  Through the consensus service, if a new rule is
       configured by an SDN Controller, this rule is distributed to all
       the other SDN Controllers through the VNF-Consensus.

   3.  NFV Reliable Broadcast is that an NFV-based broadcast (NFV-
       RBCast) performs reliable and in-order delivery of broadcasted
       data packets.  This reliable and in-order broadcast for
       applications is provisioned by NFV-RBCast using a VNF-Sequencer.
       A flow using the NFV-RBCast service lets a forwarding rule be
       installed at SDN Switches through an SDN Controller.  All the
       packets of the flow are forwarded to the VNF-Sequencer via the
       SDN Controller.  The VNF-Sequencer inserts a sequence number into
       each of those forwarded packets, and sends them to the
       destination hosts running an RBCast application.

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   Functionalities of each service needs to be decomposed into AFs and
   NFs in edge computing.  The generation and configuration of those AFs
   and NFs are needed by a service coordinator for COIN-based network
   services.  However, a framework and interfaces are missing and not
   standardized for the life cycle management for the COIN-based network
   services.

3.2.  Intent-Based Networking

   According to the life cycle design of IBN [RFC9315], Figure 3 shows
   the life cycle of an Intent-Based System (IBS) for the intent
   management for network entities and MOs.  It divides the life cycle
   into three spaces, namely MO User Space, Translation & IBS Space, and
   Network Operations (Ops) & Application (App) Space.  Each space is
   further divided into two sections, fulfillment and assurance.  The
   fulfillment section pipelines the steps (i.e., intent input,
   translation/refinement, learning/planning/rendering, and
   configuration/provisioning) toward the final SFs such as Network
   Functions (NFs) and Application Functions (AFs) in MOs.  The
   assurance section monitors final results of the intent fulfillment to
   validate and analyze the resulted NFs and applications for MOs.

         IBS User     :            Translation/          : Network Ops/
           Space      :             IBS Space            :  App Space
 Fulfill              :                                  :
        +----------+  :  +------------+   +------------+ : +-----------+
        |Recognize/|---->| Translate/ |-->|   Learn/   |-->| Configure/|
        | Generate |  :  |   Refine   |   |   Plan/    | : | Provision |
        | Intent   |<----|            |   |   Render   | : |           |
        +----------+  :  +------------+   +------------+ : +-----------+
             ^        :                         ^        :       |
 ............|..................................|................|.....
             |        :                    +----------+  :       v
             |        :                    | Validate |  :  +----------+
             |        :                    +----^-----+<----| Monitor/ |
 Assure      |        :                         |        :  | Observe  |
         +--------+   :  +----------+      +----------+<----|          |
         | Report |<-----| Abstract |<-----| Analyze/ |  :  +----------+
         +--------+   :  +----------+      | Aggregate|  :
                      :                    +----------+  :

         Figure 3: The Life Cycle of IBS for Intent Management

   The life cycle in Figure 3 is so conceptual for the implementation of
   an IBS.  It needs to be concretized in the form of a framework with
   interfaces among components in the framework.  The data models of an
   intent, a network policy, and an application policy should be

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   specified by either YANG [RFC6020][RFC7950] or YAML [YAML] to make
   messages that will be delivered to target components via a message
   delivery protocol, such as NETCONF [RFC6241], RESTCONF [RFC8040], and
   REST API [REST].

3.3.  Problem Statemet

   The goal of an Intent-Based System (IBS) is to enforce the service
   corresponding to a user's intent with an appropriate application in a
   target network in terms of functionality and quality
   [RFC9315][RFC8329] [I-D.jeong-i2nsf-security-management-automation]
   [I-D.jeong-nmrg-ibn-network-management-automation].  To achieve this
   goal, first of all, an intent needs to be translated into both a
   network policy and an application policy by an intent translator
   [I-D.jeong-nmrg-ibn-network-management-automation]
   [I-D.yang-i2nsf-security-policy-translation].  Then these network
   policy and application policy needs to delivered to a network
   controller and an application controller, respectively.  The network
   controller further translates the network policy into the network
   rules to be sent to the network entities (i.e., NFs).  In the same
   way, the application controller further translates the application
   policy into the application rules to be sent to the application
   entities (i.e., AFs).

   For the translation of either an intent or a policy, the capabilities
   of NFs and AFs should be registered with databases (e.g., NF database
   and AF database).  Thus, a capability data model for such NFs and AFs
   should be specified in advance
   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-capability-data-model].  Also, a registration
   interface is required for a vendor for either an NF or an AF to
   register its NF or AF with the corresponding database such as the NF
   database and the AF database, respectively
   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-registration-interface-dm].  Therefore, a data model
   for this registration interface should be specified to make a
   registration message for the Vendor's Management System (VMS)
   [RFC8329].

   An IBS user needs an interface to deliver its intent to an IBS
   controller (e.g.., Cloud Controller in Figure 1) having an intent
   translator, which translates the intent into a network policy and an
   application policy, and a dispatcher, which dispatches the policies
   to appropriate destinations (e.g, NF controller and AF controller).
   This interface is called a Customer-Facing Interface (CFI) for the
   IBS user [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-consumer-facing-interface-dm].  A data model
   for the Customer-Facing Interface should be specified.

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   Both an NF controller and an AF controller need an interface to
   deliver the network rules and the application rules to the
   appropriate NFs and the appropriate AFs, respectively.  This
   interface is called a Service Function-Facing Interface (SFI) for
   both the NF controller and the AF controller
   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-nsf-facing-interface-dm].

   For the assurance of the intent in the target network and
   application, the collection and analysis of monitoring data from the
   NFs and AFs is required.  A Monitoring Interface
   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-nsf-monitoring-data-model] is an interface to collect
   monitoring data from either an NF or an AF to a data collector (e.g.,
   IBS analyzer [I-D.lingga-i2nsf-analytics-interface-dm]
   [TS-23.288][TS-29.520]).  For the further actions, the analysis
   results of the NF and the AF should be reported to the NF controller
   and the AF controller, respectively.  An Analytics Interface is an
   interface to deliver analysis results to either an NF controller or
   an AF controller [I-D.lingga-i2nsf-analytics-interface-dm].

   The data models for capability and interfaces can be contructed by
   either YANG [RFC6020][RFC7950] or YAML [YAML].  The message delivery
   protocol for the interfaces can be one among NETCONF [RFC6241],
   RESTCONF [RFC8040], and REST API [REST].

4.  IANA Considerations

   This document does not require any IANA actions.

5.  Security Considerations

   The same security considerations for the Interface to Network
   Security Functions (I2NSF) Framework [RFC8329] are applicable to the
   Intent-Based System this document.

6.  References

6.1.  Normative References

   [RFC6020]  Bjorklund, M., Ed., "YANG - A Data Modeling Language for
              the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)", RFC 6020,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6020, October 2010,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6020>.

   [RFC6241]  Enns, R., Ed., Bjorklund, M., Ed., Schoenwaelder, J., Ed.,
              and A. Bierman, Ed., "Network Configuration Protocol
              (NETCONF)", RFC 6241, DOI 10.17487/RFC6241, June 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6241>.

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   [RFC7149]  Boucadair, M. and C. Jacquenet, "Software-Defined
              Networking: A Perspective from within a Service Provider
              Environment", RFC 7149, DOI 10.17487/RFC7149, March 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7149>.

   [RFC7950]  Bjorklund, M., Ed., "The YANG 1.1 Data Modeling Language",
              RFC 7950, DOI 10.17487/RFC7950, August 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7950>.

   [RFC8040]  Bierman, A., Bjorklund, M., and K. Watsen, "RESTCONF
              Protocol", RFC 8040, DOI 10.17487/RFC8040, January 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8040>.

   [RFC8329]  Lopez, D., Lopez, E., Dunbar, L., Strassner, J., and R.
              Kumar, "Framework for Interface to Network Security
              Functions", RFC 8329, DOI 10.17487/RFC8329, February 2018,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8329>.

   [RFC9315]  Clemm, A., Ciavaglia, L., Granville, L. Z., and J.
              Tantsura, "Intent-Based Networking - Concepts and
              Definitions", RFC 9315, DOI 10.17487/RFC9315, October
              2022, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9315>.

   [RFC9365]  Jeong, J., Ed., "IPv6 Wireless Access in Vehicular
              Environments (IPWAVE): Problem Statement and Use Cases",
              RFC 9365, DOI 10.17487/RFC9365, March 2023,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9365>.

6.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.jeong-nmrg-ibn-network-management-automation]
              Jeong, J. P., Ahn, Y., Kim, Y., and J. Jung-Soo, "Intent-
              Based Network Management Automation in 5G Networks", Work
              in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-jeong-nmrg-ibn-network-
              management-automation-04, 22 April 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-jeong-nmrg-
              ibn-network-management-automation-04>.

   [I-D.irtf-coinrg-coin-terminology]
              Hong, J., Kunze, I., Wehrle, K., Trossen, D., Montpetit,
              M., de Foy, X., Griffin, D., and M. Rio, "Terminology for
              Computing in the Network", Work in Progress, Internet-
              Draft, draft-irtf-coinrg-coin-terminology-01, 10 July
              2023, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-irtf-
              coinrg-coin-terminology-01>.

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   [I-D.irtf-coinrg-use-cases]
              Kunze, I., Wehrle, K., Trossen, D., Montpetit, M., de Foy,
              X., Griffin, D., and M. Rio, "Use Cases for In-Network
              Computing", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-irtf-
              coinrg-use-cases-05, 23 February 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-irtf-coinrg-
              use-cases-05>.

   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-applicability]
              Jeong, J. P., Hyun, S., Ahn, T., Hares, S., and D. Lopez,
              "Applicability of Interfaces to Network Security Functions
              to Network-Based Security Services", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-i2nsf-applicability-18, 16
              September 2019, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-ietf-i2nsf-applicability-18>.

   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-capability-data-model]
              Hares, S., Jeong, J. P., Kim, J. T., Moskowitz, R., and Q.
              Lin, "I2NSF Capability YANG Data Model", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-i2nsf-capability-data-model-32,
              23 May 2022, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-
              ietf-i2nsf-capability-data-model-32>.

   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-registration-interface-dm]
              Hyun, S., Jeong, J. P., Roh, T., Wi, S., and J. Jung-Soo,
              "I2NSF Registration Interface YANG Data Model for NSF
              Capability Registration", Work in Progress, Internet-
              Draft, draft-ietf-i2nsf-registration-interface-dm-26, 10
              May 2023, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-
              ietf-i2nsf-registration-interface-dm-26>.

   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-consumer-facing-interface-dm]
              Jeong, J. P., Chung, C., Ahn, T., Kumar, R., and S. Hares,
              "I2NSF Consumer-Facing Interface YANG Data Model", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-i2nsf-consumer-
              facing-interface-dm-31, 15 May 2023,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-i2nsf-
              consumer-facing-interface-dm-31>.

   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-nsf-facing-interface-dm]
              Kim, J. T., Jeong, J. P., Jung-Soo, J., Hares, S., and Q.
              Lin, "I2NSF Network Security Function-Facing Interface
              YANG Data Model", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-
              ietf-i2nsf-nsf-facing-interface-dm-29, 1 June 2022,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-i2nsf-
              nsf-facing-interface-dm-29>.

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   [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-nsf-monitoring-data-model]
              Jeong, J. P., Lingga, P., Hares, S., Xia, L., and H.
              Birkholz, "I2NSF NSF Monitoring Interface YANG Data
              Model", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
              i2nsf-nsf-monitoring-data-model-20, 1 June 2022,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-i2nsf-
              nsf-monitoring-data-model-20>.

   [I-D.lingga-i2nsf-analytics-interface-dm]
              Lingga, P., Jeong, J. P., and Y. Choi, "I2NSF Analytics
              Interface YANG Data Model", Work in Progress, Internet-
              Draft, draft-lingga-i2nsf-analytics-interface-dm-03, 7
              February 2024, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-lingga-i2nsf-analytics-interface-dm-03>.

   [I-D.jeong-i2nsf-security-management-automation]
              Jeong, J. P., Lingga, P., Jung-Soo, J., Lopez, D., and S.
              Hares, "Security Management Automation of Cloud-Based
              Security Services in I2NSF Framework", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-jeong-i2nsf-security-management-
              automation-07, 7 February 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-jeong-i2nsf-
              security-management-automation-07>.

   [I-D.yang-i2nsf-security-policy-translation]
              Jeong, J. P., Lingga, P., and J. Yang, "Guidelines for
              Security Policy Translation in Interface to Network
              Security Functions", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
              draft-yang-i2nsf-security-policy-translation-16, 7
              February 2024, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-yang-i2nsf-security-policy-translation-16>.

   [YAML]     Ingerson, B., Evans, C., and O. Ben-Kiki, "Yet Another
              Markup Language (YAML) 1.0",
              Available: https://yaml.org/spec/history/2001-05-26.html,
              October 2023.

   [TS-23.501]
              "System Architecture for the 5G System (5GS)", Available:
              https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/
              SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=3144, September
              2023.

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   [TS-28.312]
              "Intent Driven Management Services for Mobile Networks",
              Available:
              https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/
              SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=3554, September
              2023.

   [TR-28.812]
              "Study on Scenarios for Intent Driven Management Services
              for Mobile Networks", Available:
              https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/
              SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=3553, December
              2020.

   [TS-23.288]
              "Architecture Enhancements for 5G System (5GS) to Support
              Network Data Analytics Services", Available:
              https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/
              SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=3579, September
              2023.

   [TS-29.520]
              "Network Data Analytics Services", Available:
              https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/
              SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=3355, September
              2023.

   [ETSI-NFV] "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Architectural
              Framework", Available:
              https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/
              nfv/001_099/002/01.02.01_60/gs_nfv002v010201p.pdf,
              December 2014.

   [ETSI-NFV-Release-2]
              "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) Release 2;
              Management and Orchestration; Architectural Framework
              Specification", Available:
              https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/
              nfv/001_099/006/02.01.01_60/gs_nfv006v020101p.pdf, January
              2021.

   [NFV-COIN] Venancio, G., Turchetti, R., and E. Duarte Jr., "NFV-COIN:
              Unleashing The Power of In-Network Computing with
              Virtualization Technologies", SBC Journal of Internet
              Services and Applications, Available: https://journals-
              sol.sbc.org.br/index.php/jisa/article/view/2342, December
              2022.

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   [REST]     Fielding, R. and R. Taylor, "Principled Design of the
              Modern Web Architecture", ACM Transactions on Internet
              Technology, Vol. 2, Issue 2,,
              Available: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/514183.514185,
              May 2002.

   [USENIX-ATC-Lumi]
              Jacobs, A., Pfitscher, R., Ribeiro, R., Ferreira, R.,
              Granville, L., Willinger, W., and S. Rao, "Hey, Lumi!
              Using Natural Language for Intent-Based Network
              Management", USENIX Annual Technical Conference,
              Available:
              https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc21/presentation/
              jacobs, July 2021.

   [BERT]     Devlin, J., Chang, M., Lee, K., and K. Toutanova, "BERT:
              Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for
              Language Understanding", NAACL-HLT Conference,
              Available: https://aclanthology.org/N19-1423.pdf, June
              2019.

   [Deep-Learning]
              Goodfellow, I., Bengio, Y., and A. Courville, "Deep
              Learning", Publisher: The MIT Press,
              Available: https://www.deeplearningbook.org/, November
              2016.

   [AUTOSAR-SDV]
              "AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform", Available: 
              https://www.autosar.org/standards/adaptive-platform, March
              2024.

   [Eclipse-SDV]
              "Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle Working Group Charter",
              Available: https://www.eclipse.org/org/workinggroups/sdv-
              charter.php, March 2024.

   [COVESA]   "Connected Vehicle Systems Alliance",
              Available: https://covesa.global/, March 2024.

   [Kubernetes]
              "Kubernetes: Cloud Native Computing Platform",
              Available: https://kubernetes.io/, March 2024.

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   [Survey-IBN-CST-2023]
              Leivadeas, A. and M. Falkner, "A Survey on Intent-Based
              Networking",
              Available: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9925251,
              March 2023.

Appendix A.  Acknowledgments

   This work was supported by Institute of Information & Communications
   Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) grant funded by the Korea
   Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) (No.  RS-2024-00398199).

   This work was supported in part by Institute of Information &
   Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) grant funded
   by the Korea Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) (No. 2022-0-01015,
   Development of Candidate Element Technology for Intelligent 6G Mobile
   Core Network).

Appendix B.  Contributors

   This document is made by the group effort of OPWAWG, greatly
   benefiting from inputs and texts by Linda Dunbar (Futurewei), Yong-
   Geun Hong (Daejeon University), and Joo-Sang Youn (Dong-Eui
   University).  The authors sincerely appreciate their contributions.

   The following are coauthors of this document:

   Mose Gu
   Department of Computer Science & Engineering
   Sungkyunkwan University
   2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-Gu
   Suwon
   Gyeonggi-Do
   16419
   Republic of Korea
   Phone: +82 31 299 4106
   Email: rna0415@skku.edu
   URI:   http://iotlab.skku.edu/people-Moses-Gu.php

   Juwon Hong
   Department of Computer Science & Engineering
   Sungkyunkwan University
   2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-Gu
   Suwon
   Gyeonggi-Do
   16419
   Republic of Korea

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   Phone: +82 31 299 4106
   Email: hongju2024@skku.edu
   URI:   http://iotlab.skku.edu/people-Joo-Won-Hong.php

Authors' Addresses

   Jaehoon Paul Jeong (editor)
   Department of Computer Science and Engineering
   Sungkyunkwan University
   2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-Gu
   Suwon
   Gyeonggi-Do
   16419
   Republic of Korea
   Phone: +82 31 299 4957
   Email: pauljeong@skku.edu
   URI:   http://iotlab.skku.edu/people-jaehoon-jeong.php

   Yiwen Shen
   Department of Computer Science and Engineering
   Sungkyunkwan University
   2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-Gu
   Suwon
   Gyeonggi-Do
   16419
   Republic of Korea
   Phone: +82 31 299 4106
   Email: chrisshen@skku.edu
   URI:   https://chrisshen.github.io

   Yoseop Ahn
   Department of Computer Science and Engineering
   Sungkyunkwan University
   2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-Gu
   Suwon
   Gyeonggi-Do
   16419
   Republic of Korea
   Phone: +82 31 299 4106
   Email: ahnjs124@skku.edu
   URI:   http://iotlab.skku.edu/people-Ahn-Yoseop.php

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   Younghan Kim
   School of Electronic Engineering
   Soongsil University
   369, Sangdo-ro, Dongjak-gu
   Seoul
   06978
   Republic of Korea
   Email: younghak@ssu.ac.kr

   Elias P. Duarte Jr.
   Department of Computer Science and Engineering
   Federal University of Parana
   Brazil
   Email: elias@inf.ufpr.br

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