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HTTP/2 Encoded Data
draft-kerwin-http2-encoded-data-03

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Author Matthew Kerwin
Last updated 2014-08-18
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draft-kerwin-http2-encoded-data-03
Network Working Group                                          M. Kerwin
Internet-Draft
Intended status: Standards Track                         August 19, 2014
Expires: February 20, 2015

                          HTTP/2 Encoded Data
                   draft-kerwin-http2-encoded-data-03

Abstract

   This document introduces new frame types for transporting encoded
   data in HTTP/2, and an associated error code.

Status of This Memo

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

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

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

   This Internet-Draft will expire on February 20, 2015.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 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
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   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.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Notational Conventions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Additions to HTTP/2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     2.1.  ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.2.  ENCODED_DATA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
       2.2.1.  Fragmentation and Segments  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     2.3.  DATA_ENCODING_ERROR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   3.  Encoding Schemes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     5.1.  HTTP/2 Frame Type Registry Update . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     5.2.  HTTP/2 Error Code Registry Update . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     5.3.  HTTP/2 Encoding Schemes Registry  . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   6.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9

1.  Introduction

   This document introduces a mechanism for applying encoding,
   particularly compression, to data transported between two HTTP/2
   endpoints, analogous to Transfer-Encoding in HTTP/1.1 [RFC7230].

1.1.  Notational Conventions

   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 [RFC2119].

2.  Additions to HTTP/2

   This document introduces two new HTTP/2 frame types
   ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2], Section 11.2) and a new HTTP/2 error code
   ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2], Section 7), to allow the application of
   encoding, particularly compression, to data.

   Note that while encoding some or all data in a stream might affect
   the total length of the corresponding HTTP message body, the
   "content-length" header, if present, should continue to reflect the
   total length of the unencoded data.  This is particularly relevant
   when detecting malformed messages ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2],
   Section 8.1.2.5).

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2.1.  ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA

   An ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame (type code=0xTBA) is used to indicate
   the sender's ability and willingness to receive ENCODED_DATA frames
   that are encoded using the schemes identified in its payload.

   The payload length of an ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame MUST be an exact
   multiple of 16 bits (2 bytes).  An endpoint that receives an
   ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame with an odd length MUST treat this as a
   connection error ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2], Section 5.4.1) of type
   PROTOCOL_ERROR.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    | Encoding (8)  |   Rank (8)    | ...
    +---------------+---------------+-------------------------------+

                     ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA Frame Payload

   The ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame contains zero or more tuples comprising
   the following fields:

   o  Encoding: An 8-bit identifier which identifies the encoding being
      advertised (see Section 3).

   o  Rank: An 8-bit integer value.

   The rank fulfils the same role as in the HTTP/1.1 TE header
   ([RFC7230], Section 4.3).  The rank value is an integer in the range
   0 through 255, where 1 is the least preferred and 255 is the most
   preferred; a value of 0 means "not acceptable".

   An endpoint that receives an ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame containing an
   {encoding,rank} tuple with an unknown or unsupported encoding
   identifier MUST ignore that tuple.

   Each ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame fully replaces the set of tuples sent
   in a previous frame; if an encoding identifier is omitted from a
   subsequent ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame it is deemed "not acceptable".

   An endpoint may advertise support for an encoding scheme and later
   decide that it no longer supports that scheme.  After sending an
   ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA that omits the encoding identifier in question,
   or includes it with a rank of 0, the endpoint SHOULD continue to
   accept ENCODED_DATA frames using that scheme for a reasonable amount
   of time to account for encoded frames that are already in flight.

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   The ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame does not define any flags, and is not
   subject to flow control.

2.2.  ENCODED_DATA

   ENCODED_DATA frames (type code=0xTBA) are semantically identical to
   DATA frames ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2], Section 6.1), but have an
   encoding applied to their payload.  Significantly, ENCODED_DATA
   frames are subject to flow control ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2],
   Section 5.2).

   Any encoding or decoding context for an ENCODED_DATA frame is unique
   to that frame.

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |Pad Length? (8)|
    +---------------+
    | Encoding (8)  |
    +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+
    |                            Data (*)                         ...
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+
    |                           Padding (*)                       ...
    +---------------------------------------------------------------+

                        ENCODED_DATA Frame Payload

   The ENCODED_DATA frame contains the following fields:

   o  Pad Length: An 8-bit field containing the length of the frame
      padding in units of octets.  This field is optional and is only
      present if the PADDED flag is set.

   o  Encoding: An 8-bit identifier which identifies the encoding that
      has been applied to the Data field (see Section 3).

   o  Data: Encoded application data.  The amount of encoded data is the
      remainder of the frame payload after subtracting the length of the
      other fields that are present.

   o  Padding: Padding octets that contain no application semantic
      value.  Padding octets MUST be set to zero when sending and
      ignored when receiving.

   The ENCODED_DATA frame defines the following flags:

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   o  "END_STREAM" (0x1): Bit 1 being set indicates that this frame is
      the last that the endpoint will send for the identified stream.
      Setting this flag causes the stream to enter one of the "half
      closed" states or the "closed" state ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2],
      Section 5.1).

   o  "PADDED" (0x8): Bit 4 being set indicates that the Pad Length
      field is present.

   o  "SEGMENT_CONTINUES" (0x10): Bit 5 being set indicates that the
      current segment continues after the current frame
      ([I-D.kerwin-http2-segments], Section 2).  Intermediaries MUST NOT
      coalesce frames across a segment boundary and MUST preserve
      segment boundaries when forwarding frames.

      The SEGMENT_CONTINUES flag MUST NOT be set on any frames unless
      the remote endpoint has indicated support by sending a
      SETTINGS_USE_SEGMENTS setting ([I-D.kerwin-http2-segments],
      Section 3) with a value of 1.

   On receiving an ENCODED_DATA frame, an intermediary MAY decode the
   data and forward it in one or more DATA frames.  If the downstream
   peer does not support the encoding scheme used in the received frame,
   as advertised in an ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame, the intermediary MUST
   decode the data and either: forward it in one or more DATA frames, or
   encode it with a scheme supported by the downstream peer and forward
   it in one or more ENCODED_DATA frames.

   An ENCODED_DATA frame MUST NOT be sent on a connection before
   receiving an ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame.  A sender MUST NOT apply an
   encoding that has not first been advertised by the peer in an
   ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA frame, or was advertised with a rank of 0.
   Endpoints that receive a frame with an encoding they do not recognise
   or support MUST treat this as a connection error of type
   PROTOCOL_ERROR.

   If an endpoint detects that the payload of an ENCODED_DATA frame is
   incorrectly encoded it MUST treat this as a stream error (see
   [I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2], Section 5.4.2) of type DATA_ENCODING_ERROR
   (Section 2.3).

   ENCODED_DATA frames are subject to flow control and can only be sent
   when a stream is in the "open" or "half closed (remote)" states.  The
   entire ENCODED_DATA frame payload is included in flow control,
   including the encoded data, and Pad Length and Padding fields if
   present.  If an ENCODED_DATA frame is received whose stream is not in
   "open" or "half closed (local)" state, the recipient MUST respond

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   with a stream error ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2], Section 5.4.2) of type
   STREAM_CLOSED.

2.2.1.  Fragmentation and Segments

   Traversing a network segment with small frame size restrictions
   introduces the risk of fragmenting an encoded stream.  This can be
   avoided using segments, as defined in [I-D.kerwin-http2-segments].

   An intermediary MAY coalesce multiple adjacent ENCODED_DATA and DATA
   frames if all of the frames, with the optional exception of the final
   frame in the sequence, have the SEGMENT_CONTINUES flag set.  The
   coalesced payload MAY be subsequently emitted in any combination of
   ENCODED_DATA and DATA frames.  The payloads of any resulting
   ENCODED_DATA frame MUST be correctly encoded according to those
   frames' encodings; note that this could require the payloads of the
   original frames to be decoded and subsequently re-encoded into the
   new frames, rather than simply concatenated.

2.3.  DATA_ENCODING_ERROR

   The following new error code is defined:

   o  "DATA_ENCODING_ERROR" (0xTBA): The endpoint detected that its peer
      sent an ENCODED_DATA frame with an invalid encoding.

3.  Encoding Schemes

   The following encoding schemes are defined:

   o  "ENCODING_COMPRESS" (1): The compress coding is an adaptive
      Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) coding [Welch] that is commonly produced by
      the UNIX file compression program "compress".

   o  "ENCODING_ZLIB" (2): The zlib coding is a "zlib" data format
      [RFC1950] containing a "deflate" compressed data stream [RFC1951]
      that uses a combination of the Lempel-Ziv (LZ77) compression
      algorithm and Huffman coding.

   o  "ENCODING_GZIP" (3): The gzip coding is an LZ77 coding with a 32
      bit CRC that is commonly produced by the gzip file compression
      program [RFC1952].

4.  Security Considerations

   Further to the Use of Compression in HTTP/2
   ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2], Section 10.6), intermediaries MUST NOT
   apply compression to DATA frames, or alter the compression of

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   ENCODED_DATA frames other than decompressing, unless additional
   information is available that allows the intermediary to identify the
   source of data.  In particular, frames that are not compressed cannot
   be compressed, and frames that are separately compressed can only be
   merged into a single compressed frame if they occupy the same
   segment.

5.  IANA Considerations

   This document updates the registries for frame types and error codes
   in the "Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 2 Parameters" section.
   This document also establishes a new registry for HTTP/2 encoding
   scheme codes.  This new registry is entered into the "Hypertext
   Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 2 Parameters" section.

5.1.  HTTP/2 Frame Type Registry Update

   This document updates the "HTTP/2 Frame Type" registry
   ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2], Section 11.2).  The entries in the
   following table are registered by this document.

   +---------------------+------+-------------+
   | Frame Type          | Code | Section     |
   +---------------------+------+-------------+
   | ACCEPT_ENCODED_DATA | TBD  | Section 2.1 |
   | ENCODED_DATA        | TBD  | Section 2.2 |
   +---------------------+------+-------------+

5.2.  HTTP/2 Error Code Registry Update

   This document updates the "HTTP/2 Error Code" registry
   ([I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2], Section 11.4).  The entries in the
   following table are registered by this document.

   +---------------------+------+----------------------+---------------+
   | Name                | Code | Description          | Specification |
   +---------------------+------+----------------------+---------------+
   | DATA_ENCODING_ERROR | TBD  | Invalid encoding     | Section 2.3   |
   |                     |      | detected             |               |
   +---------------------+------+----------------------+---------------+

5.3.  HTTP/2 Encoding Schemes Registry

   This document establishes a registry for encoding scheme codes.  The
   "HTTP/2 Encoding Schemes" registry manages an 8-bit space.  The
   "HTTP/2 Encoding Schemes" registry operates under either of the "IETF
   Review" or "IESG Approval" policies [RFC5226] for values between 0x00

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   and 0xef, with values between 0xf0 and 0xff being reserved for
   experimental use.

   New entries in this registry require the following information:

   o  Frame Type: A name or label for the encoding scheme.

   o  Code: The 8-bit code assigned to the encoding scheme.

   o  Specification: A reference to a specification that includes a
      description of the encoding scheme.

   An initial set of encoding scheme code registrations can be found in
   Section 3.

6.  Acknowledgements

   Thanks to Keith Morgan for his advice, input, and editorial
   contributions.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [I-D.ietf-httpbis-http2]
              Belshe, M., Peon, R., and M. Thomson, "Hypertext Transfer
              Protocol version 2", draft-ietf-httpbis-http2-14 (work in
              progress), July 2014.

   [I-D.kerwin-http2-segments]
              Kerwin, M., "HTTP/2 Segments", draft-kerwin-
              http2-segments-00 (work in progress), July 2014.

   [RFC1950]  Deutsch, L. and J-L. Gailly, "ZLIB Compressed Data Format
              Specification version 3.3", RFC 1950, May 1996.

   [RFC1951]  Deutsch, P., "DEFLATE Compressed Data Format Specification
              version 1.3", RFC 1951, May 1996.

   [RFC1952]  Deutsch, P., Gailly, J-L., Adler, M., Deutsch, L., and G.
              Randers-Pehrson, "GZIP file format specification version
              4.3", RFC 1952, May 1996.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

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   [RFC5226]  Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
              IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226,
              May 2008.

   [Welch]    Welch, T., "A Technique for High-Performance Data
              Compression", IEEE Computer 17(6), June 1984.

7.2.  Informative References

   [RFC7230]  Fielding, R. and J. Reschke, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol
              (HTTP/1.1): Message Syntax and Routing", RFC 7230, June
              2014.

Author's Address

   Matthew Kerwin

   Email: matthew@kerwin.net.au
   URI:   http://matthew.kerwin.net.au/

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