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Deep Collaboration between Application and Network
draft-zhang-rtgwg-collaboration-app-net-00

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Active".
Authors Naihan Zhang , Shuai Zhang , Xinxin Yi , Hang Shi
Last updated 2024-07-08
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draft-zhang-rtgwg-collaboration-app-net-00
RTGWG                                                      N. Zhang, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                             S. Zhang, Ed.
Intended status: Standards Track                              X. Yi, Ed.
Expires: 9 January 2025                                     China Unicom
                                                                  H. Shi
                                                                  Huawei
                                                             8 July 2024

           Deep Collaboration between Application and Network
         draft-zhang-rtgwg-collaboration-app-net-00

Abstract

   This document analyzes the necessity of deep collaboration between
   applications and networks.  It discusses the problems, use cases, and
   requirements for bidirectional awareness between applications and
   networks.

Status of This Memo

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

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

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

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 9 January 2025.

Copyright Notice

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

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   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
   and restrictions with respect to this document.  Code Components
   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Problem statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.1.  Awareness of network by application . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.2.  Awareness of application by network . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.1.  High-speed IoV  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.2.  Other scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     5.1.  The ability of network awareness by application . . . . .   4
       5.1.1.  Accurate measurement of network indicators  . . . . .   4
       5.1.2.  Cross cloud measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
       5.1.3.  Obtaining of measured network indicators by
               application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     5.2.  The ability of application awareness by network . . . . .   5
       5.2.1.  Fine grained awareness of application requirements  .   5
       5.2.2.  Computing status awareness of server applications . .   5
   6.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7

1.  Introduction

   In the digital age, users have increasingly high expectations for
   application services, seeking smooth, stable, and high-quality
   experiences anytime and anywhere. This growing demand has led to the
   emergence of new service scenarios, such as VR/AR and IoV, which have
   higher and differentiated requirements for both network and
   application services. These emerging services have also driven the
   rapid development of technologies like cloud computing and big data.
   As the scale of network and computing resources expands, so does
   resource consumption. Currently, applications and networks operate
   independently and are unable to interact to ensure flexible and
   efficient resource scheduling. Deep collaboration between

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   applications and networks allows for the accurate acquisition of
   application and network requirements and statuses through mutual
   awareness. This enables dynamic adjustment of resource allocation
   and scheduling strategies, leading to efficient utilization of
   computing and network resources. Ultimately, users benefit from the
   best possible service experience. As technology advances and service
   scenarios expand, the importance of deep collaboration between
   applications and networks will only grow.

2.  Conventions and Definitions

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 RFC2119 [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here. 
   Abbreviations and definitions used in this document: 
   *IOAM: In Situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance
   *IFIT: In-situ Flow Information Telemetry. 
   *TWAMP: Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol 
   *quic: A transport protocal. 
   *APN: Application-aware Networking 
   *CATS: Computing-Aware Traffic Steering

3.  Problem statement

   User                      Server
   +-----+     /-------\     +-----+
   |App x|    /         \    |App x|
   |     |<-->| network |<-->|     |
   |App y|    \         /    |App y|
   +-----+     \-------/     +-----+

   Deep collaboration between applications and networks must address two
   main issues: 1.The precise awareness of network status by
   applications. 2.The awareness of application requirements and status
   by networks. This bidirectional awareness enhances application
   stability and user experience while improving the efficiency of
   network and computing resource utilization.

3.1.  Awareness of network by application

   Applications need to monitor network indicators, such as bandwidth,
   delay, and packet loss, in real-time to dynamically adjust data
   transmission policies. This helps save network resources and ensures
   service continuity and efficiency.

3.2.  Awareness of application by network

   To intelligently allocate network resources and schedule computing
   resources, networks need to understand the resource requirements of
   different user applications and be aware of application statuses on
   computing servers. This enables the network to provide
   differentiated service guarantees for various applications.

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4.  Use Cases

4.1.  High-speed IoV

   In high-speed Internet of Vehicles (IoV), vehicles like cars, trains,
   and subways need to communicate with other vehicles, infrastructure,
   or cloud services to run onboard applications.  These applications
   fall into two categories: 1.Applications affecting driving, such as
   autonomous driving, remote control, and intelligent driving services,
   which require extremely low network delay for quick judgments and
   responses. Any delay could lead to serious accidents. 2.Applications
   unrelated to driving, such as voice communications, streaming media,
   and other entertainment services. The diverse applications in high-
   speed IoV have complex requirements for network and computing.
   Therefore, deep collaboration between the network and applications is
   essential for efficient and flexible scheduling of computing and
   network resources.

4.2.  Other scenarios

   TBD

5.  Requirement

5.1.  The ability of network awareness by application

   Applications cannot directly monitor network status but require the
   network to accurately measure and communicate network indicators.

5.1.1.  Accurate measurement of network indicators

   Network status measurement can be achieved in two ways: 1.Directly
   marking the real service message or embedding measurement information
   in it, as with IOAM [RFC9197] and IFIT
   [I-D.song-opsawg-ifit-framework]. 2.Indirectly simulating the service
   message and periodically reporting measurement information, as with
   TWAMP.  The first method can reflect network indicators such as
   delay, packet loss, and jitter in real-time, actively detecting
   service failures.

5.1.2.  Cross cloud measurement

   In cross cloud scenarios, performance testing of traffic between
   cloud is required.

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5.1.3.  Obtaining of measured network indicators by application

   To enable application awareness of measurement information, the
   measurement data obtained by the receiver needs to be sent back to
   the sender. [I-D.gao-quic-network-awareness-ack] defines a QUIC ACK
   frame format to return network indicators to the sender.

5.2.  The ability of application awareness by network

   Network awareness of applications includes understanding user
   application requirements and server application statuses to provide
   the best user services.

5.2.1.  Fine grained awareness of application requirements

   Traditional methods of application awareness involve application
   recognition and labeling.  Application recognition identifies the
   application to which the traffic belongs, while labeling marks the
   service requirements of the traffic.  However, these methods lack
   precision. [I-D.li-rtgwg-apn-framework] defines an APN framework
   that carries application-aware information, including APN ID and/or
   APN parameters, in packets.  This facilitates service provisioning,
   fine-grained traffic steering, and network resource adjustment.

5.2.2.  Computing status awareness of server applications

   The network needs to be aware of the computing status of server
   applications, such as computing capability and load, to guide traffic
   to the optimal computing service node. The CATS group has conducted
   in-depth research on this issue. [I-D.ietf-cats-framework] and
   [I-D.yi-cats-hybrid-solution] define several frameworks for computing
   awareness, while [I-D.shi-cats-analysis-of-metric-distribution]
   discusses methods for distributing computing status information.

6.  Security Considerations

   TBD

7.  IANA Considerations

   TBD

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

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

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

8.2.  Informative References

   [RFC9197]  Brockners, F., Ed., Bhandari, S., Ed., and T. Mizrahi,
              Ed., "Data Fields for In Situ Operations, Administration,
              and Maintenance (IOAM)", RFC 9197, DOI 10.17487/RFC9197,
              May 2022, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9197>.

   [I-D.song-opsawg-ifit-framework]
              Song, H., Qin, F., Chen, H., Jin, J., and J. Shin,
              "Framework for In-situ Flow Information Telemetry", Work
              in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-song-opsawg-ifit-
              framework-21, 23 October 2023,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-song-opsawg-
              ifit-framework-21>.

   [I-D.yi-cats-hybrid-solution]
              Yi, X., Pang, R., and H. Shi, "Hybrid Computing and
              Network Awareness and Routing Solution for CATS", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-yi-cats-hybrid-solution-
              02, 22 October 2023,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-yi-cats-
              hybrid-solution-02>.

   [I-D.gao-quic-network-awareness-ack]
              xing, G., Han, M., Ruan, Z., and H. Shi, "QUIC network
              awareness Acknowledgements", Work in Progress, Internet-
              Draft, draft-gao-quic-network-awareness-ack-00, 3 July
              2024, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-gao-
              quic-network-awareness-ack-00>.

   [I-D.li-rtgwg-apn-framework]
              Li, Z., Peng, S., Voyer, D., Li, C., Liu, P., Cao, C., and
              G. S. Mishra, "Application-aware Networking (APN)
              Framework", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-li-
              rtgwg-apn-framework-00, 4 March 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-li-rtgwg-apn-
              framework-00>.

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   [I-D.ietf-cats-framework]
              Li, C., Du, Z., Boucadair, M., Contreras, L. M., and J.
              Drake, "A Framework for Computing-Aware Traffic Steering
              (CATS)", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
              cats-framework-02, 30 April 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-cats-
              framework-02>.

   [I-D.shi-cats-analysis-of-metric-distribution]
              Shi, H., Du, Z., Yi, X., and T. Yang, "Design analysis of
              methods for distributing the computing metric", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-shi-cats-analysis-of-
              metric-distribution-02, 1 March 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-shi-cats-
              analysis-of-metric-distribution-02>.

Authors' Addresses

   Naihan Zhang (editor)
   China Unicom
   Beijing
   China
   Email: zhangnh12@chinaunicom.cn

   Shuai Zhang (editor)
   China Unicom
   Beijing
   China
   Email: zhangs366@chinaunicom.cn

   Xinin Yi (editor)
   China Unicom
   Beijing
   China
   Email: yixx3@chinaunicom.cn

   Hang Shi
   Huawei
   Beijing
   China
   Email: shihang9@huawei.com

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