Hypertext Transfer Protocol Working Group                    C. Benfield
Internet-Draft                                             July 26, 2015
Intended status: Standards Track
Expires: January 27, 2016


                    Peer-to-peer Extension to HTTP/2
                      draft-benfield-http2-p2p-01

Abstract

   This document introduces a negotiated extension to HTTP/2 that turns
   a single HTTP/2 connection into a bi-directional communication
   channel.

Status of This Memo

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

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on January 27, 2016.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Notational Conventions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Additions to HTTP/2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  SETTINGS_PEER_TO_PEER Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.2.  CLIENT_AUTHORITY Frame  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
       2.2.1.  Payload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
       2.2.2.  Semantics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.3.  HTTP Changes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.4.  Client Behavioral Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.5.  Server Behavioral Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.6.  Other Extensions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   3.  Authority Validation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     4.1.  HTTP/2 Frame Type Registry Update . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     4.2.  HTTP/2 Settings Registry Update . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   5.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   6.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   Appendix A.  Changelog  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8

1.  Introduction

   The HTTP/2 [RFC7540] specification provides an alternative framing
   layer for the semantics of HTTP/1.1 [RFC7231].  This framing layer in
   principle allows for both parties in a HTTP/2 session to send
   requests and responses.  However, the HTTP/2 specification also
   requires that the semantics of HTTP/1.1 be preserved.  This means
   that one party of the conversation is considered the client, and one
   the server.  Only the client may send requests, and only the server
   may send responses.

   This document introduces an extension that can be advertised by a
   HTTP/2 client.  This extension allows both the client and the server
   to send requests and responses.  Essentially, this extension changes
   the protocol such that the notion of 'client' and 'server' are
   defined on a per-stream basis, rather than a per-connection basis.

   The principle of this extension is similar to the Reverse HTTP
   [I-D.lentczner-rhttp] proposal made in 2009.  HTTP/2's framing makes
   this a substantially more flexible extension than Reverse HTTP by
   allowing the client and server to vary on a per-stream basis, rather
   than affecting the whole connection.





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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 RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

2.  Additions to HTTP/2

   This document introduces a new HTTP/2 setting ([RFC7540],
   Section 11.3) and a new HTTP/2 frame type ([RFC7540], Section 11.2),
   to allow for a HTTP/2 client to advertise its support for receiving
   server-initiated streams, and to allow a server to advertise its
   support for receiving client-initiated pushed streams.

   The setting, SETTINGS_PEER_TO_PEER, is a negotiated setting
   ([RFC7540], Section 5.5).

2.1.  SETTINGS_PEER_TO_PEER Setting

   The following new SETTINGS parameters ([RFC7540], Section 6.5.2) are
   defined:

   o  SETTINGS_PEER_TO_PEER (0xTBA): Informs the remote endpoint of
      whether the sender supports the peer-to-peer extension to HTTP/2.
      A value of 1 indicates that the peer-to-peer extension is
      supported.  Any other value, or the absence of this setting,
      indicates that the peer-to-peer extension is not supported.

      This setting MUST NOT be emitted by the server on the HTTP/2
      connection.  If the client receives this setting from the server
      it MUST respond with a connection error ([RFC7540] Section 5.4.1)
      of type PROTOCOL_ERROR.

2.2.  CLIENT_AUTHORITY Frame

   This document introduces the CLIENT_AUTHORITY frame.  This frame MUST
   be emitted by a client after it sends a value of
   SETTINGS_PEER_TO_PEER of 1, and MAY be emitted by a client any time
   after.  The purpose of this frame is to allow a client to advertise
   the authority or authorities for which it is prepared to accept
   requests.

   This frame always applies to a whole connection.  Therefore, the
   stream identifier for CLIENT_AUTHORITY frames MUST be 0.  If a server
   receives a CLIENT_AUTHORITY frame whose stream identifier field is
   anything other than 0, it MUST respond with a connection error
   ([RFC7540] Section 5.4.1) of type PROTOCOL_ERROR.




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2.2.1.  Payload

   Each CLIENT_AUTHORITY frame is made up of one or more of the
   following authority segments:

       +----------------------+
       | Authority Length (8) |
       +----------------------+----------------------------------+
       |                      Authority (*)                      |
       +---------------------------------------------------------+

                 Figure 1: Client Authority Frame Payload

   Each segment begins with a one-byte field indicating the length of
   the authority string the client is asserting.  That field is then
   followed by a single authority field.  The authority MUST be sent in
   whatever character encoding is going to be expected by the client on
   receipt of the :authority pseudo-header field.

2.2.2.  Semantics

   Generally speaking, a server or coalescing intermediary has no in-
   band method of validating that a client's authority claims are valid.
   Therefore, a conforming server MUST confirm a client's authority
   claims using some out-of-band method: see Section 3 for more.

   A client MAY send a CLIENT_AUTHORITY frame at any time after the
   HTTP/2 preamble is complete.  Each CLIENT_AUTHORITY frame is
   considered to be a complete list of authorities: therefore, a server
   MUST disregard all prior CLIENT_AUTHORITY frames when a new one is
   received.  Also, servers MUST validate the asserted authorities for
   all CLIENT_AUTHORITY frames, not just the first one.

2.3.  HTTP Changes

   From the perspective of other HTTP RFCs, such as RFC 7231 [RFC7231]
   and RFC 7540 [RFC7540], this extension changes whether a peer is
   considered a 'client' or a 'server' on a per-stream basis, instead of
   a per-connection basis, based on which peer opened the stream and how
   they did so.  If a stream is initiated by a HEADERS frame, the peer
   that sent the HEADERS frame is considered the 'client' for the
   remainder of the lifetime of that stream, while the other peer is
   considered the 'server'.

   Otherwise, the new definition of 'client' and 'server' is preserved
   for the purposes of the PUSH_PROMISE frame ([RFC7540], Section 6.6).
   As a result, whichever peer is considered the 'server' for a given
   stream can push other streams to the 'client' peer.



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   The rest of the requirements of RFC 7231 [RFC7231] are preserved.

2.4.  Client Behavioral Changes

   When a client emits the SETTINGS_PEER_TO_PEER setting with a value of
   1, it is informing the server that it is willing to accept HTTP
   requests from the server, allowing the server to open streams with
   HEADERS frames.  This lifts some of the restrictions of RFC 7540
   [RFC7540] Section 8.

   If a client has sent the SETTINGS_PEER_TO_PEER setting with a value
   of 1, the client MUST NOT reject an attempt by the server to change
   the value of SETTINGS_ENABLE_PUSH to 1.

   If the client, subsequent to sending SETTINGS_PEER_TO_PEER with value
   1, receives from the server a value of SETTINGS_ENABLE_PUSH of 1, it
   MAY open streams by sending PUSH_PROMISE frames.  The client MUST NOT
   send a PUSH_PROMISE frame on a stream that it opened by means of a
   HEADERS frame: only server-initiated streams may be used for sending
   PUSH_PROMISE frames.  All other limitations about PUSH_PROMISE frames
   in RFC 7540 [RFC7540] continue to apply, except that the words
   'server' and 'client' are defined on a per-stream basis.

2.5.  Server Behavioral Changes

   When a server receives the SETTINGS_PEER_TO_PEER setting from the
   client with a value of 1, it MAY at any point afterwards issue a non-
   zero value for SETTINGS_ENABLE_PUSH.  This allows clients to open
   streams with PUSH_PROMISE and also lifts some of the restrictions of
   RFC 7540 [RFC7540] Section 8: specifically those sections that only
   allow servers to send PUSH_PROMISE frames, and only allow clients to
   receive them.

   If the client attempts to send a PUSH_PROMISE frame on a stream that
   was opened by the client (by sending a HEADERS frame), the server
   MUST treat this event as a connection error ([RFC7540] Section 5.4.1)
   of type PROTOCOL_ERROR.

2.6.  Other Extensions

   When this extension is deployed with other extensions to HTTP/2, the
   behaviour of this extension does not change.  All other extensions
   that refer to 'client' or 'server' SHOULD be treated as though those
   terms apply on a per-stream basis.

   If other extensions apply 'server' or 'client' to the whole
   connection (e.g.  for settings in SETTINGS frames, which are sent on




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   stream 0), then both peers SHOULD be considered clients and both
   peers should be considered servers.

3.  Authority Validation

   Generally speaking, a server or coalescing intermediary has no in-
   band method of validating that a client's authority claims are valid.
   Therefore, a conforming server MUST confirm a client's authority
   claims using some out-of-band method.

   This specification does not lay out in detail any proposed mechanism
   for doing this validation, as the best approach may vary from
   deployment to deployment.  However, some options include:

   o  validating authorities against a TLS certificate presented by the
      client during TLS handshake.

   o  confirming that a reverse DNS lookup for the client IP returns the
      authority asserted by the client.

   o  a static list of IP addresses trusted for a given authority.

   The only requirement is that a server MUST implement some form of
   validation, and then MUST treat any attempt by a client to assert an
   authority that it cannot validate as a connection error ([RFC7540]
   Section 5.4.1) of type PROTOCOL_ERROR.

4.  IANA Considerations

4.1.  HTTP/2 Frame Type Registry Update

   This document updates the HTTP/2 Frame Type registry ([RFC7540],
   Section 11.2).  The entries in the following table are registered by
   this document.

                 +------------------+------+-------------+
                 | Name             | Code | Section     |
                 +------------------+------+-------------+
                 | CLIENT_AUTHORITY | TBD  | Section 2.2 |
                 +------------------+------+-------------+

4.2.  HTTP/2 Settings Registry Update

   This document updates the registry for HTTP/2 Settings ([RFC7540],
   Section 11.4).  The entries in the following table are registered by
   this document.





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           +--------------+------+---------------+-------------+
           | Name         | Code | Initial Value | Section     |
           +--------------+------+---------------+-------------+
           | PEER_TO_PEER | TBD  | 0             | Section 2.1 |
           +--------------+------+---------------+-------------+

5.  Acknowledgements

   Thanks to Fedor Indutny for the original idea, and Amos Jeffries,
   Mike Bishop, and Ilari Liusvaara for their follow-up.

   Thanks also to Tyrel Souza, Donald Stufft, and Paul Kehrer for
   proofreading.

   Thanks to David Reid for pointing out the Reverse HTTP proposal
   [I-D.lentczner-rhttp].

   Thanks to Amos Jeffries for proposing an advertised extension, rather
   than a negotiated one.

6.  References

6.1.  Normative References

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

   [RFC7231]  Fielding, R., Ed. and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext Transfer
              Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content", RFC 7231, DOI
              10.17487/RFC7231, June 2014,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7231>.

   [RFC7540]  Belshe, M., Peon, R., and M. Thomson, Ed., "Hypertext
              Transfer Protocol Version 2 (HTTP/2)", RFC 7540, DOI
              10.17487/RFC7540, May 2015,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7540>.

6.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.lentczner-rhttp]
              Lentczner, M. and D. Preston, "Reverse HTTP", draft-
              lentczner-rhttp-00 (work in progress), March 2009.







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Appendix A.  Changelog

   (This appendix to be deleted by the RFC Editor.)

   Since -00:

   o  Clarified the semantics behind multiple CLIENT_AUTHORITY frames.

   o  Removed the requirement for servers to issue
      SETTINGS_PEER_TO_PEER, instead allowing the extension to be purely
      client-advertised.

Author's Address

   Cory Benfield

   Email: cory@lukasa.co.uk


































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