CoRE Working Group                                             K. Hartke
Internet-Draft                                   Universitaet Bremen TZI
Intended status: Standards Track                       February 14, 2012
Expires: August 17, 2012


                      Observing Resources in CoAP
                       draft-ietf-core-observe-04

Abstract

   CoAP is a RESTful application protocol for constrained nodes and
   networks.  The state of a resource on a CoAP server can change over
   time.  This document specifies a simple protocol extension for CoAP
   that gives clients the ability to observe such changes.

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
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   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 August 17, 2012.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.1.  Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.2.  Protocol Overview  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.3.  Design Philosophy  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     1.4.  Conformance Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   2.  The Observe Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   3.  Client-side Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     3.1.  Request  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     3.2.  Notifications  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     3.3.  Caching  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     3.4.  Reordering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     3.5.  Cancellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   4.  Server-side Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     4.1.  Request  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     4.2.  Notifications  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     4.3.  Caching  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
     4.4.  Reordering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     4.5.  Retransmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   5.  Intermediaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   6.  Block-wise Transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   7.  Discovery  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   8.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   9.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   10. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   11. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
     11.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
     11.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   Appendix A.  Examples  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
     A.1.  Proxying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
     A.2.  Block-wise Transfer  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
   Appendix B.  Modeling Resources to Tailor Notifications  . . . . . 22
   Appendix C.  Changelog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
   Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
















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1.  Introduction

1.1.  Background

   CoAP [I-D.ietf-core-coap] is an Application Protocol for Constrained
   Nodes/Networks.  It is intended to provide RESTful services [REST]
   not unlike HTTP [RFC2616] while reducing the complexity of
   implementation as well as the size of packets exchanged in order to
   make these services useful in a highly constrained network of
   themselves highly constrained nodes.

   The communication model of REST is that of a client exchanging
   resource representations with an origin server.  The origin server is
   the definitive source for representations of the resources in its
   namespace.  A client interested in a resource sends a request to the
   origin server that returns a response with a representation that is
   current at the time of the request.

   This model does not work well when a client is interested in having a
   current representation of a resource over a period of time.  Existing
   approaches when using HTTP, such as repeated polling or long-polls
   [RFC6202], generate significant complexity and/or overhead and thus
   are less applicable in a constrained environment.

   The protocol specified in this document extends the CoAP core
   protocol with a mechanism to push resource representations from
   servers to interested clients, while still keeping the properties of
   REST.

   Note that there is no intention for this mechanism to solve the full
   set of problems that the existing HTTP solutions solve, or to replace
   publish/subscribe networks that solve a much more general problem
   [RFC5989].

1.2.  Protocol Overview

   The protocol is based on the well-known observer design pattern
   [GOF].

   In this design pattern, components, called _observers_, register at a
   specific, known provider, called the _subject_, that they are
   interested in being notified whenever the subject undergoes a change
   in state.  The subject is responsible for administering its list of
   registered observers.  If multiple subjects are of interest, an
   observer must register separately for all of them.  The pattern is
   typically used when a clean separation between related components is
   required, such as data storage and user interface.




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   Observer           Subject
      |                  |
      |     Register     |
      +----------------->|
      |                  |
      |   Notification   |
      |<-----------------+
      |                  |
      |   Notification   |
      |<-----------------+
      |                  |
      |   Notification   |
      |<-----------------+
      |                  |

                     Figure 1: Observer Design Pattern

   The observer design pattern is realized in CoAP as follows:

   Subject:  In the context of CoAP, the subject is a resource in the
      namespace of a CoAP server.  The state of the resource can change
      over time, ranging from infrequent updates to continuous state
      transformations.

   Observer:  An observer is a CoAP client that is interested in the
      current state of the resource at any given time.

   Registration:  A client registers its interest by sending an extended
      GET request to the server.  In addition to returning a
      representation of the target resource, this request causes the
      server to add the client to the list of observers of the resource.

   Notification:  Whenever the state of a resource changes, the server
      notifies each client registered as observer for the resource.
      Each notification is an additional CoAP response sent by the
      server in reply to the GET request and includes a complete
      representation of the new resource state.

   Figure 2 shows an example of a CoAP client registering and receiving
   three notifications: the first upon registration and then two when
   the state of the resource changes.  Registration request and
   notifications are identified by the presence of the Observe Option
   defined in this document.  Notifications also echo the token
   specified by the client in the request, so the client can easily
   correlate them to the request.






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   Client              Server
      |                  |
      | GET /temperature |
      |  Observe: 0      |  (registration)
      |    Token: 0x4a   |
      +----------------->|
      |                  |
      |   2.05 Content   |
      |  Observe: 12     |  (notification of the current state)
      |    Token: 0x4a   |
      |  Payload: 22.9 C |
      |<-----------------+
      |                  |
      |   2.05 Content   |
      |  Observe: 44     |  (notification upon a state change)
      |    Token: 0x4a   |
      |  Payload: 22.8 C |
      |<-----------------+
      |                  |
      |   2.05 Content   |
      |  Observe: 60     |  (notification upon a state change)
      |    Token: 0x4a   |
      |  Payload: 23.1 C |
      |<-----------------+
      |                  |

                  Figure 2: Observing a Resource in CoAP

   The client is removed from the list of observers when it is no longer
   interested in the observed resource.  The server can determine the
   client's continued interest from the client's acknowledgement of
   confirmable notifications.  If a client wants to receive
   notifications after it has been removed from the list of observers,
   it needs to register again.  The client can determine that it's still
   on the list of observers from the fact that it receives
   notifications.  The protocol includes clear rules for what to do when
   a client does not receive a notification for some time, or a server
   does not receive acknowledgements.

1.3.  Design Philosophy

   The protocol builds on the architectural elements of REST, which
   include: a server that is responsible for the state and
   representation of the resources in its namespace, a client that is
   responsible for keeping the application state, and the stateless
   exchange of resource representations.  (A server needs to keep track
   of the observers though, similar to how HTTP servers need to keep
   track of the TCP connections from their clients.)  The protocol



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   enables high scalability and efficiency through the support of caches
   and intermediaries that multiplex the interest of multiple clients in
   the same resource into a single association.

   The server is the authority for determining under what conditions
   resources change their state and how often observers are notified.
   The protocol does not offer explicit means for setting up triggers,
   thresholds or other conditions; it is up to the server to expose
   observable resources that change their state in a way that is
   meaningful for the application.  Resources can be parameterized to
   achieve similar effects though; see Appendix B for examples.

   Since bandwidth is in short supply in constrained environments,
   servers must adapt the rate of notifications to each client.  This
   implies that a client cannot rely on observing every single state a
   resource goes through.  Instead, the protocol is designed on the
   principle of _eventual consistency_: it guarantees that if the
   resource does not undergo a new change in state, eventually all
   observers will have a current representation of the last resource
   state.

1.4.  Conformance Requirements

   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.  The Observe Option

         +-----+----------+---------+--------+--------+---------+
         | No. | C/E      | Name    | Format | Length | Default |
         +-----+----------+---------+--------+--------+---------+
         |  10 | Elective | Observe | uint   | 0-2 B  | (none)  |
         +-----+----------+---------+--------+--------+---------+

   The Observe Option, when present, modifies the GET method so it does
   not only retrieve a representation of the current state of the
   resource identified by the request URI, but also requests the server
   to add the client to the list of observers of the resource.  The
   exact semantics are defined in the sections below.  The value of the
   option in a request MUST be zero on transmission and MUST be ignored
   on reception.

   In a response, the Observe Option identifies the message as a
   notification, which implies that the client has been added to the
   list of observers and that the server will notify the client of
   further changes to the resource state.  The option's value is a



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   sequence number that can be used for reordering detection (see
   Section 3.4 and Section 4.4).  The value is encoded as a variable-
   length unsigned integer as defined in Appendix A of RFC XXXX
   [I-D.ietf-core-coap].

   Since the Observe Option is elective, a GET request that includes the
   Observe Option will automatically fall back to a normal GET request
   if the server is unwilling or unable to add the client to the list of
   observers.

   The Observe Option MUST NOT occur more than once in a request or
   response.


3.  Client-side Requirements

3.1.  Request

   A client can register its interest in a resource by issuing a GET
   request that includes an empty Observe Option.  If the server returns
   a 2.xx response that includes an Observe Option as well, the server
   has added the client successfully to the list of observers of the
   target resource and the client will be notified of changes to the
   resource state for as long as the server can assume the client's
   interest.

3.2.  Notifications

   Notifications are additional responses sent by the server in reply to
   the GET request.  Each notification includes an Observe Option with a
   sequence number (see Section 3.4), a Token Option that matches the
   token specified by the client in the GET request, and a payload of
   the same media type as the initial response.

   A notification can be confirmable or non-confirmable (i.e. sent in a
   confirmable or non-confirmable message).  If a client does not
   recognize the token in a notification, it MUST NOT acknowledge the
   message and SHOULD reject it with a RST message.  Otherwise, if the
   notification is confirmable, the client MUST acknowledge it with an
   ACK message as usual.

   An acknowledgement signals to the server that the client is alive and
   interested in receiving further notifications; if the server does not
   receive an acknowledgement in reply to a confirmable notification, it
   will assume that the client is no longer interested and will
   eventually remove it from the list of observers.

   Notifications will have a 2.05 (Content) response code in most cases.



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   They may also have a 2.03 (Valid) response code if the client
   includes an ETag Option in its request (see Section 3.3).  In the
   event that the state of an observed resource is changed in a way that
   would cause a normal GET request to return an error (for example,
   when the resource is deleted), the server will send a notification
   with an error response code (4.xx/5.xx) and empty the list of
   observers of the resource.

3.3.  Caching

   As notifications are just additional responses, notifications partake
   in caching as defined by Section 5.6 of RFC XXXX
   [I-D.ietf-core-coap].  Both the freshness model and the validation
   model are supported.  The freshness model also serves as the model
   for the client to determine if it's still on the list of observers or
   if it needs to re-register its interest in the resource.

   A client MAY store a notification like a response in its cache and
   use a stored notification/response that is fresh without contacting
   the origin server.  A notification/response is considered fresh while
   its age is not greater than its Max-Age and no newer notification has
   been received.

   The server will do its best to keep the client up to date with a
   fresh representation of the current resource state.  It will send a
   notification whenever the resource changes, or at latest when the age
   of the last notification becomes greater than its Max-Age.  (Note
   that the notification may not always arrive in time due to network
   latency.)

   The client MAY assume that it's on the list of observers while the
   age of the last notification is not greater than Max-Age.  If the
   client does not receive a notification before the age becomes greater
   than Max-Age, it can assume that it has been removed from the list of
   observers (e.g., due to a loss of server state).  In this case, it
   may need to re-register its interest.

   To make sure it has a fresh representation and/or to re-register its
   interest, a client MAY issue a new GET request with an Observe Option
   at any time.  The GET request SHOULD specify a new token to avoid
   ambiguity.  It is RECOMMENDED that the client does not issue the
   request while it still has a fresh notification.

   When a client has one or more notifications stored, it can use the
   ETag Option in the GET request to give the server an opportunity to
   select a stored response to be used.  The client MAY include an ETag
   Option for each stored response that is applicable.  It needs to keep
   those responses in the cache until it is no longer interested in



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   receiving notifications for the target resource or it issues a new
   GET request with a new set of entity-tags.  Whenever the observed
   resource changes its state to a representation identified by one of
   the ETag Options, the server can select a stored response by sending
   a 2.03 (Valid) notification with an appropriate ETag Option instead
   of a 2.05 (Content) notification.

3.4.  Reordering

   Messages that carry notifications can arrive in a different order
   than they were sent.  Since the goal is eventual consistency (see
   Section 1.3), a client can safely skip a notification that arrives
   later than a newer notification.  For this purpose, the server sets
   the value of the Observe Option in each notification to a sequence
   number.

   A client MAY treat a notification as outdated (not fresh) under the
   following condition:

        (V1 - V2) % (2**16) < (2**15)    and    T2 < (T1 + (2**14))

   where V1 is the value of the Observe Option of the latest valid
   notification received, V2 the value of the Observe Option of the
   present notification, T1 a client-local timestamp of the latest valid
   notification received (in seconds), and T2 a client-local timestamp
   of the present notification.

   Design Note:  The first condition essentially verifies that V2 > V1
      holds in 16-bit sequence number arithmetic [RFC1982].  The second
      condition checks that the time expired between the two incoming
      messages is not so large that the sequence number might have
      wrapped around and the first check is therefore invalid.  (In
      other words, after about 2**14 seconds elapse without any
      notification, the client does not need to check the sequence
      numbers in order to assume an incoming notification is new.)  The
      constants of 2**14 and 2**15 are non-critical, as is the even
      speed or precision of the clock involved.

3.5.  Cancellation

   When a client rejects a notification (confirmable or non-confirmable)
   with a RST message or when it performs a GET request without an
   Observe Option for a currently observed resource, the server will
   remove the client from the list of observers for this resource.  The
   client MAY use either method at any time to indicate that it is no
   longer interested in receiving notifications about a resource.





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4.  Server-side Requirements

4.1.  Request

   A GET request that includes an Observe Option requests the server not
   only to return a representation of the resource identified by the
   request URI, but also to add the client to the list of observers of
   the target resource.  If no error occurs, the server MUST return a
   response with the representation of the current resource state and
   MUST notify the client of subsequent changes to the state as long as
   the client is on the list of observers.

   A server that is unable or unwilling to add the client to the list of
   observers of the target resource MAY silently ignore the Observe
   Option and process the GET request as usual.  The resulting response
   MUST NOT include an Observe Option, the absence of which signals to
   the client that it will not be notified of changes to the resource
   state and, e.g., needs to poll the resource instead.

   If the client is already on the list of observers, the server MUST
   NOT add it a second time but MUST replace or update the existing
   entry.  If the server receives a GET request that does not include an
   Observe Option, it MUST remove the client from the list of observers.

   Two requests relate to the same list entry if both the request URI
   and the source of the requests match.  The source of a request is
   determined by the security mode used (see Section 10 of RFC XXXX
   [I-D.ietf-core-coap]): With NoSec, it is determined by the source IP
   address and UDP port number.  With other security modes, the source
   is also determined by the security context.  Note that Message IDs
   and Token Options MUST NOT be taken into account.

   Any request with a method other than GET MUST NOT have a direct
   effect on a list of observers of a resource.  However, such a request
   can have the indirect consequence of causing the server to send an
   error notification which does affect the list of observers (e.g.,
   when a DELETE request is successful and an observed resource no
   longer exists).

4.2.  Notifications

   A client is notified of a resource state change by an additional
   response sent by the server in reply to the GET request.  Each such
   notification response MUST include an Observe Option and MUST echo
   the token specified by the client in the GET request.  If there are
   multiple clients on the list of observers, the order in which they
   are notified is not defined; the server is free to use any method to
   determine the order.



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   A notification SHOULD have a 2.05 (Content) or 2.03 (Valid) response
   code.  However, in the event that the state of a resource changes in
   a way that would cause a normal GET request to return an error (for
   example, if the resource is deleted), the server SHOULD notify the
   client by sending a notification with an appropriate error response
   code (4.xx/5.xx) and MUST empty the list of observers of the
   resource.

   The media type used in a notification MUST be the same as the one
   used in the initial response to the GET request.  If the server is
   unable to continue sending notifications using this media type, it
   SHOULD send a 5.00 (Internal Server Error) notification and MUST
   empty the list of observers of the resource.

   A notification can be sent as a confirmable or a non-confirmable
   message.  The message type used is typically application-dependent
   and MAY be determined by the server for each notification
   individually.  For example, for resources that change in a somewhat
   predictable or regular fashion, notifications can be sent in non-
   confirmable messages; for resources that change infrequently,
   notifications can be sent in confirmable messages.  The server can
   combine these two approaches depending on the frequency of state
   changes and the importance of individual notifications.

   The acknowledgement of a confirmable notification implies the
   client's continued interest in being notified.  If the client rejects
   a confirmable or non-confirmable notification with a RST message, the
   server MUST remove the client from the list of observers.

4.3.  Caching

   The Max-Age Option of a notification SHOULD be set to a value that
   indicates when the server will send the next notification.  For
   example, if the server sends a notification every 30 seconds, a Max-
   Age Option with value 30 should be included.  The server MAY send a
   new notification before Max-Age ends and MUST send a new notification
   at latest when Max-Age ends.  If the client does not receive a new
   notification before Max-Age ends, it will assume that it was removed
   from the list of observers (e.g., due to a loss of server state) and
   may issue a new GET request to re-register its interest.

   It may not always be possible to predict when the server will send
   the next notification, for example, when a resource does not change
   its state in regular intervals.  In this case, the server SHOULD set
   Max-Age to a good approximation.  The value is a trade-off between
   increased usage of bandwidth and the risk of stale information.
   Smaller values lead to more notifications and more GET requests,
   while greater values result in network or device failures being



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   detected later and data becoming stale.

   The client can include a set of entity-tags in its request using the
   ETag Option.  When the observed resource changes its state and the
   origin server is about to send a 2.05 (Content) notification, then,
   whenever that notification has an entity-tag in the set of entity-
   tags specified by the client, the server MAY send a 2.03 (Valid)
   response with an appropriate ETag Option instead.  The server MUST
   NOT assume that the recipient has any response stored other than
   those identified by the entity-tags in the most recent GET request
   for the resource.

4.4.  Reordering

   Because messages can get reordered, the client needs a way to
   determine if a notification arrived later than a newer notification.
   For this purpose, the server MUST set the value of the Observe Option
   in each notification to the 16 least-significant bits of a strictly
   increasing sequence number.  The sequence number MAY start at any
   value.  The server MUST NOT reuse the same option value with the same
   client, token and resource within approximately 2**16 seconds
   (roughly 18.2 hours).

   Implementation Note:  A simple implementation that satisfies the
      requirements is to use a timestamp (in seconds) provided by the
      device's clock, or a 16-bit unsigned integer variable that is
      incremented every second and wraps around every 2**16 seconds.  It
      is not necessary that the clock reflects the correct local time or
      that it ticks exactly every second.  Note that, on average, a
      server cannot send more than one notification per second per
      client, token and resource.

4.5.  Retransmission

   In CoAP, confirmable messages are retransmitted in exponentially
   increasing intervals for a certain number of attempts until they are
   acknowledged by the client.  In the context of observing a resource,
   it is undesirable to continue transmitting the representation of a
   resource state when the state has changed in the meantime.

   When a server is in the process of delivering a confirmable
   notification and is waiting for an acknowledgement, and it wants to
   notify the client of a state change using a new confirmable message,
   it MUST stop retransmitting the old notification and SHOULD attempt
   to deliver the new notification with the number of attempts remaining
   from the old notification.  When the last attempt to retransmit a
   confirmable message with a notification for a resource times out, the
   server SHOULD remove the client from the list of observers and MAY



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   additionally remove the client from the lists of observers of all
   resources in its namespace.

   The server SHOULD use a number of retransmit attempts
   (MAX_RETRANSMIT) such that removing a client from the list of
   observers before Max-Age ends is avoided.

   A server MAY choose to skip a notification if it knows that it will
   send another notification soon (e.g., when the state is changing
   frequently).  Similarly, it MAY choose to send a notification more
   than once.  For example, when state changes occur in bursts, the
   server can skip some notifications, send the notifications in non-
   confirmable messages, and make sure that the client observes the
   latest state change after the burst by repeating the last
   notification in a confirmable message.


5.  Intermediaries

   A client may be interested in a resource in the namespace of an
   origin server that is reached through one or more CoAP-to-CoAP
   intermediaries.  In this case, the client registers its interest with
   the first intermediary towards the origin server, acting as if it was
   communicating with the origin server itself as specified in
   Section 3.  It is the task of this intermediary to provide the client
   with a current representation of the target resource and send
   notifications upon changes to the target resource state, much like an
   origin server as specified in Section 4.

   To perform this task, the intermediary SHOULD make use of the
   protocol specified in this document, taking the role of the client
   and registering its own interest in the target resource with the next
   hop.  If the next hop does not return a response with an Observe
   Option, the intermediary MAY resort to polling the next hop, or MAY
   itself return a response without an Observe Option.  Note that the
   communication between each pair of hops is independent, i.e. each hop
   in the server role MUST determine individually how many notifications
   to send, of which type, and so on.  Each hop MUST generate its own
   values for the Observe Option, and MUST set the value of the Max-Age
   Option according to the age of the local current representation.

   Because a client (or an intermediary in the client role) can only be
   once in the list of observers of a resource at a server (or an
   intermediary in the server role) -- it is useless to observe the same
   resource multiple times -- an intermediary MUST observe a resource
   only once, even if there are multiple clients for which it observes
   the resource.




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   Note that an intermediary is not required to have a client to observe
   a resource; an intermediary MAY observe a resource, for instance,
   just to keep its own cache up to date.

   See Appendix A.1 for examples.


6.  Block-wise Transfers

   Resources observed by clients may be larger than can be comfortably
   processed or transferred in one CoAP message.  CoAP provides a block-
   wise transfer mechanism to address this problem
   [I-D.ietf-core-block].  The following rules apply to the combination
   of block-wise transfers with notifications.

   As with basic GET transfers, the client can indicate its desired
   block size in a Block2 Option in the GET request.  If the server
   supports block-wise transfers, it SHOULD take note of the block size
   for all notifications/responses resulting from the GET request (until
   the client is removed from the list of observers or the server
   receives a new GET request from the client).

   When sending a 2.05 (Content) notification, the server always sends
   all blocks of the representation, suitably sequenced by its
   congestion control mechanism, even if only some of the blocks have
   changed with respect to a previous value.  The server performs the
   block-wise transfer by making use of the Block2 Option in each block.
   When reassembling representations that are transmitted in multiple
   blocks, the client MUST NOT combine blocks carrying different Observe
   Option values, or blocks that have been received more than
   approximately 2**14 seconds apart.

   See Appendix A.2 for an example.


7.  Discovery

   A web link [RFC5988] to a resource accessible by the CoAP protocol
   MAY indicate that the server encourages the observation of this
   resource by including the target attribute "obs".  This is
   particularly useful in link-format documents
   [I-D.ietf-core-link-format].

   This target attribute is used as a flag, and thus it has no value
   component -- a value given for the attribute MUST NOT be given for
   this version of the specification and MUST be ignored if present.
   The target attribute "obs" MUST NOT be given more than once for this
   version of the specification.



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8.  Security Considerations

   The security considerations of RFC XXXX [I-D.ietf-core-coap] apply.

   Note that the considerations about amplification attacks are somewhat
   amplified when observing resources.  In NoSec mode, a server MUST
   therefore strictly limit the number of notifications that it sends
   between receiving acknowledgements that confirm the actual interest
   of the client in the data; i.e., any notifications sent in non-
   confirmable messages MUST be interspersed with confirmable messages.
   (An attacker may still spoof the acknowledgements if the confirmable
   messages are sufficiently predictable.)

   As with any protocol that creates state, attackers may attempt to
   exhaust the resources that the server has available for maintaining
   the list of observers for each resource.  Servers MAY want to access-
   control this creation of state.  As degraded behavior, the server can
   always fall back to processing the request as a normal GET request
   (without an Observe Option) if it is unwilling or unable to add a
   client to the list of observers of a resource, including if system
   resources are exhausted or nearing exhaustion.

   Intermediaries MUST be careful to ensure that notifications cannot be
   employed to create a loop.  A simple way to break any loops is to
   employ caches for forwarding notifications in intermediaries.


9.  IANA Considerations

   The following entries are added to the CoAP Option Numbers registry:

                     +--------+---------+-----------+
                     | Number | Name    | Reference |
                     +--------+---------+-----------+
                     |     10 | Observe | [RFCXXXX] |
                     +--------+---------+-----------+


10.  Acknowledgements

   Carsten Bormann was an original author of this draft and is
   acknowledged for significant contribution to this document.

   Thanks to Daniele Alessandrelli, Jari Arkko, Peter Bigot, Angelo
   Castellani, Gilbert Clark, Esko Dijk, Thomas Fossati, Brian Frank,
   Cullen Jennings, Salvatore Loreto, Charles Palmer and Zach Shelby for
   helpful comments and discussions that have shaped the document.




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   Klaus Hartke was funded by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.


11.  References

11.1.  Normative References

   [I-D.ietf-core-block]
              Bormann, C. and Z. Shelby, "Blockwise transfers in CoAP",
              draft-ietf-core-block-07 (work in progress), January 2012.

   [I-D.ietf-core-coap]
              Shelby, Z., Hartke, K., Bormann, C., and B. Frank,
              "Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP)",
              draft-ietf-core-coap-08 (work in progress), October 2011.

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

   [RFC5988]  Nottingham, M., "Web Linking", RFC 5988, October 2010.

11.2.  Informative References

   [GOF]      Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R., and J. Vlissides,
              "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented
              Software", Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, USA,
              November 1994.

   [I-D.ietf-core-link-format]
              Shelby, Z., "CoRE Link Format",
              draft-ietf-core-link-format-11 (work in progress),
              January 2012.

   [REST]     Fielding, R., "Architectural Styles and the Design of
              Network-based Software Architectures", 2000, <http://
              www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm>.

   [RFC1982]  Elz, R. and R. Bush, "Serial Number Arithmetic", RFC 1982,
              August 1996.

   [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.

   [RFC5989]  Roach, A., "A SIP Event Package for Subscribing to Changes
              to an HTTP Resource", RFC 5989, October 2010.

   [RFC6202]  Loreto, S., Saint-Andre, P., Salsano, S., and G. Wilkins,



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              "Known Issues and Best Practices for the Use of Long
              Polling and Streaming in Bidirectional HTTP", RFC 6202,
              April 2011.


Appendix A.  Examples

         Observed   CLIENT  SERVER     Actual
     t   State         |      |         State
         ____________  |      |  ____________
     1                 |      |
     2    unknown      |      |       18.5 C
     3                 +----->|                  Header: GET 0x43011633
     4                 | GET  |                   Token: 0x4a
     5                 |      |                Uri-Path: temperature
     6                 |      |                 Observe: 0
     7                 |      |
     8                 |      |
     9   ____________  |<-----+                  Header: 2.05 0x64451633
    10                 | 2.05 |                   Token: 0x4a
    11    18.5 C       |      |                 Observe: 9
    12                 |      |                 Max-Age: 15
    13                 |      |                 Payload: "18.5 C"
    14                 |      |
    15                 |      |  ____________
    16   ____________  |<-----+                  Header: 2.05 0x54457b50
    17                 | 2.05 |       19.2 C      Token: 0x4a
    18    19.2 C       |      |                 Observe: 16
    29                 |      |                 Max-Age: 15
    20                 |      |                 Payload: "19.2 C"
    21                 |      |

      Figure 3: A client registers and receives a notification of the
                   current state and upon a state change

















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         Observed   CLIENT  SERVER     Actual
     t   State         |      |         State
         ____________  |      |  ____________
    22                 |      |
    23    19.2 C       |      |       19.2 C
    24                 |      |  ____________
    25                 | X----+                  Header: 2.05 0x54457b51
    26                 | 2.05 |       19.7 C      Token: 0x4a
    27                 |      |                 Observe: 25
    28                 |      |                 Max-Age: 15
    29                 |      |                 Payload: "19.7 C"
    30                 |      |
    31   ____________  |      |
    32                 +----->|                  Header: GET 0x43011633
    33    19.2 C       | GET  |                   Token: 0xb2
    34    (stale)      |      |                Uri-Path: temperature
    35                 |      |                 Observe: 0
    36                 |      |
    37                 |      |
    38   ____________  |<-----+                  Header: 2.05 0x55457b52
    39                 | 2.05 |                   Token: 0xb2
    40    19.7 C       |      |                 Observe: 38
    41                 |      |                 Max-Age: 15
    42                 |      |                    ETag: 0x78797a7a79
    43                 |      |                 Payload: "19.7 C"
    44                 |      |

           Figure 4: The client re-registers after Max-Age ends























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         Observed   CLIENT  SERVER     Actual
     t   State         |      |         State
         ____________  |      |  ____________
    45                 |      |
    46    19.7 C       |      |       19.7 C
    47                 |      |
    48                 |      |  ____________
    49                 |    CRASH
    50                 |
    51                 |
    52                 |      |
    53   ____________  |      |  ____________
    54                 +----->|                  Header: GET 0x44011634
    55    19.7 C       | GET  |       20.0 C      Token: 0xf9
    56    (stale)      |      |                Uri-Path: temperature
    57                 |      |                 Observe: 0
    58                 |      |                    ETag: 0x78797a7a79
    59                 |      |
    60                 |      |
    61   ____________  |<-----+                  Header: 2.05 0x64451634
    62                 | 2.05 |                   Token: 0xf9
    63    20.0 C       |      |                 Observe: 61
    64                 |      |                 Max-Age: 15
    65                 |      |                 Payload: "20.0 C"
    66                 |      |
    67                 |      |  ____________
    68   ____________  |<-----+                  Header: 2.03 0x5543aa0c
    69                 | 2.03 |       19.7 C      Token: 0xf9
    70    19.7 C       |      |                 Observe: 68
    71                 |      |                    ETag: 0x78797a7a79
    72                 |      |                 Max-Age: 15
    73                 |      |

        Figure 5: The client re-registers and gives the server the
                  opportunity to select a stored response
















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A.1.  Proxying

   CLIENT  PROXY  SERVER
      |      |      |
      |      +----->|     Header: GET 0x44015fb8
      |      | GET  |      Token: 0x1a
      |      |      |   Uri-Host: sensor.example
      |      |      |   Uri-Path: status
      |      |      |    Observe: 0
      |      |      |
      |      |<-----+     Header: 2.05 0x64455fb8
      |      | 2.05 |      Token: 0x1a
      |      |      |    Observe: 42
      |      |      |    Max-Age: 60
      |      |      |    Payload: "ready"
      |      |      |
      +----->|      |     Header: GET 0x42011633
      | GET  |      |      Token: 0x9a
      |      |      |  Proxy-Uri: coap://sensor.example/status
      |      |      |
      |<-----+      |     Header: 2.05 0x62451633
      | 2.05 |      |      Token: 0x9a
      |      |      |    Max-Age: 53
      |      |      |    Payload: "ready"
      |      |      |
      |      |<-----+     Header: 2.05 0x544505fc0
      |      | 2.05 |      Token: 0x1a
      |      |      |    Observe: 135
      |      |      |    Max-Age: 60
      |      |      |    Payload: "busy"
      |      |      |
      +----->|      |     Header: GET 0x42011634
      | GET  |      |      Token: 0x9b
      |      |      |  Proxy-Uri: coap://sensor.example/status
      |      |      |
      |<-----+      |     Header: 2.05 0x62451634
      | 2.05 |      |      Token: 0x9b
      |      |      |    Max-Age: 49
      |      |      |    Payload: "busy"
      |      |      |

    Figure 6: A proxy observes a resource to keep its cache up to date









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   CLIENT  PROXY  SERVER
      |      |      |
      +----->|      |     Header: GET 0x43011635
      | GET  |      |      Token: 0x6a
      |      |      |  Proxy-Uri: coap://sensor.example/status
      |      |      |    Observe: 0
      |      |      |
      |<- - -+      |     Header: 0x60001635
      |      |      |
      |      +----->|     Header: GET 0x4401af90
      |      | GET  |      Token: 0xaa
      |      |      |   Uri-Host: sensor.example
      |      |      |   Uri-Path: status
      |      |      |    Observe: 0
      |      |      |
      |      |<-----+     Header: 2.05 0x6445af90
      |      | 2.05 |      Token: 0xaa
      |      |      |    Observe: 67
      |      |      |    Max-Age: 60
      |      |      |    Payload: "ready"
      |      |      |
      |<-----+      |     Header: 2.05 0x4445af94
      | 2.05 |      |      Token: 0x6a
      |      |      |    Observe: 17346
      |      |      |    Max-Age: 60
      |      |      |    Payload: "ready"
      |      |      |
      +- - ->|      |     Header: 0x6000af94
      |      |      |
      |      |<-----+     Header: 2.05 0x54455a20
      |      | 2.05 |      Token: 0xaa
      |      |      |    Observe: 157
      |      |      |    Max-Age: 60
      |      |      |    Payload: "busy"
      |      |      |
      |<-----+      |     Header: 2.05 0x5445af9b
      | 2.05 |      |      Token: 0x6a
      |      |      |    Observe: 17436
      |      |      |    Max-Age: 60
      |      |      |    Payload: "busy"
      |      |      |

          Figure 7: A client observes a resource through a proxy








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A.2.  Block-wise Transfer

   CLIENT  SERVER
      |      |
      +----->|     Header: GET 0x43011636
      | GET  |      Token: 0xfb
      |      |   Uri-Path: status-icon
      |      |    Observe: 0
      |      |
      |<-----+     Header: 2.05 0x65451636
      | 2.05 |      Token: 0xfb
      |      |     Block2: 0/1/128
      |      |    Observe: 62354
      |      |    Max-Age: 60
      |      |    Payload: [128 bytes]
      |      |
      |<-----+     Header: 2.05 0x5545af9c
      | 2.05 |      Token: 0xfb
      |      |     Block2: 1/0/128
      |      |    Observe: 62354
      |      |    Max-Age: 60
      |      |    Payload: [27 bytes]
      |      |
      |<-----+     Header: 2.05 0x5545af9d
      | 2.05 |      Token: 0xfb
      |      |     Block2: 0/1/128
      |      |    Observe: 62444
      |      |    Max-Age: 60
      |      |    Payload: [128 bytes]
      |      |
      |<-----+     Header: 2.05 0x5545af9e
      | 2.05 |      Token: 0xfb
      |      |     Block2: 1/0/128
      |      |    Observe: 62444
      |      |    Max-Age: 60
      |      |    Payload: [27 bytes]
      |      |

       Figure 8: A server sends two notifications of two blocks each


Appendix B.  Modeling Resources to Tailor Notifications

   A server may want to provide notifications that respond to very
   specific conditions on some state.  This is best done by modeling the
   resources that the server exposes according to these needs.

   For example, for a CoAP server with an attached temperature sensor,



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   o  the server could, in the simplest form, expose a resource
      <coap://server/temperature> that changes its state every second to
      the current temperature measured by the sensor;

   o  the server could, however, also expose a resource
      <coap://server/temperature/felt> that changes its state to "cold"
      when the temperature drops below a preconfigured threshold, and to
      "warm" when the temperature exceeds a second, higher threshold;

   o  the server could expose a parameterized resource
      <coap://server/temperature/critical?above=45> that changes its
      state to the current temperature if the temperature exceeds the
      specified value, and changes its state to "OK" when the
      temperature drops below; or

   o  the server could expose a parameterized resource <coap://server/
      temperature?query=select+avg(temperature)+from+
      Sensor.window:time(30sec)> that accepts expressions of arbitrary
      complexity and changes its state accordingly.

   In any case, the client is notified about the current state of the
   resource whenever the state of the appropriately modeled resource
   changes.  By designing resources that change their state on certain
   conditions, it is possible to notify the client only when these
   conditions occur instead of continuously supplying it with
   information it doesn't need.  With parametrized resources, this is
   not limited to conditions defined by the server, but can be extended
   to arbitrarily complex conditions defined by the client.  Thus, the
   server designer can choose exactly the right level of complexity for
   the application envisioned and devices used, and is not constrained
   to a "one size fits all" mechanism built into the protocol.


Appendix C.  Changelog

   Changes from ietf-03 to ietf-04:

   o  Removed the "Max-OFE" Option.

   o  Allowed RST in reply to non-confirmable notifications.

   o  Added a section on cancellation.

   o  Updated examples.

   Changes from ietf-02 to ietf-03:





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   o  Separated client-side and server-side requirements.

   o  Fixed uncertainty if client is still on the list of observers by
      introducing a liveliness model based on Max-Age and a new option
      called "Max-OFE" (#174).

   o  Simplified the text on message reordering (#129).

   o  Clarified requirements for intermediaries.

   o  Clarified the combination of block-wise transfers with
      notifications (#172).

   o  Updated examples to show how the state observed by the client
      becomes eventually consistent with the actual state on the server.

   o  Added examples for parameterization of observable resource.

   Changes from ietf-01 to ietf-02:

   o  Removed the requirement of periodic refreshing (#126).

   o  The new "Observe" Option replaces the "Lifetime" Option.

   o  Introduced a new mechanism to detect message reordering.

   o  Changed 2.00 (OK) notifications to 2.05 (Content) notifications.

   Changes from ietf-00 to ietf-01:

   o  Changed terminology from "subscriptions" to "observation
      relationships" (#33).

   o  Changed the name of the option to "Lifetime".

   o  Clarified establishment of observation relationships.

   o  Clarified that an observation is only identified by the URI of the
      observed resource and the identity of the client (#66).

   o  Clarified rules for establishing observation relationships (#68).

   o  Clarified conditions under which an observation relationship is
      terminated.

   o  Added explanation on how clients can terminate an observation
      relationship before the lifetime ends (#34).




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   o  Clarified that the overriding objective for notifications is
      eventual consistency of the actual and the observed state (#67).

   o  Specified how a server needs to deal with clients not
      acknowledging confirmable messages carrying notifications (#69).

   o  Added a mechanism to detect message reordering (#35).

   o  Added an explanation of how notifications can be cached,
      supporting both the freshness and the validation model (#39, #64).

   o  Clarified that non-GET requests do not affect observation
      relationships, and that GET requests without "Lifetime" Option
      affecting relationships is by design (#65).

   o  Described interaction with block-wise transfers (#36).

   o  Added Resource Discovery section (#99).

   o  Added IANA Considerations.

   o  Added Security Considerations (#40).

   o  Added examples (#38).


Author's Address

   Klaus Hartke
   Universitaet Bremen TZI
   Postfach 330440
   Bremen  D-28359
   Germany

   Phone: +49-421-218-63905
   Fax:   +49-421-218-7000
   Email: hartke@tzi.org














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