HyBi Working Group                                            J. Tamplin
Internet-Draft                                                T. Yoshino
Intended status: Standards Track                            Google, Inc.
Expires: May 16, 2013                                  November 12, 2012


                A Multiplexing Extension for WebSockets
               draft-ietf-hybi-websocket-multiplexing-09

Abstract

   The WebSocket Protocol [RFC6455] requires a new transport connection
   for every WebSocket connection.  This presents a scalability problem
   when many clients connect to the same server, and is made worse by
   having multiple clients running in different tabs of the same user
   agent.  This extension provides a way for separate logical WebSocket
   connections to share an underlying transport connection.

   Please send feedback to the hybi@ietf.org mailing list.

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF 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 May 16, 2013.

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
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must



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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.


Table of Contents

   1.  Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.1.  Physical Connection and Logical Channels . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Conformance Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  Extension Negotiation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   4.  Interaction with other Extensions / Framing Mechanisms . . . .  6
     4.1.  Ordering Extensions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       4.1.1.  Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       4.1.2.  Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   5.  Multiplexed Connections  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   6.  Flow Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     6.1.  New Channel Slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     6.2.  Send Quota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   7.  Framing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   8.  Encapsulation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   9.  Multiplex Control Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
     9.1.  Number Encoding in Multiplex Control Blocks  . . . . . . . 16
     9.2.  AddChannelRequest  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
     9.3.  AddChannelResponse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
     9.4.  FlowControl  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
     9.5.  DropChannel  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
       9.5.1.  Drop Reason Codes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
     9.6.  NewChannelSlot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   10. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
   11. Client Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
   12. Buffering  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
   13. Fairness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
   14. Proxies  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
   15. Timeout  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
   16. Close the Logical Channel  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
   17. Fail the Logical Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
   18. Fail the Physical Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
   19. Operations and Events on Multiplexed Connection  . . . . . . . 39
   20. Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
   21. IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
   22. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
     22.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
     22.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43






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1.  Overview

   This document describes a multiplexing extension for the WebSocket
   Protocol.  With this extension, one TCP connection can provide
   multiple virtual WebSocket connections by encapsulating frames tagged
   with a channel ID.  A client that supports this extension will
   advertise support for it in the client's opening handshake using the
   "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions" header.  If the server supports this
   extension and supports parameters compatible with the client's
   request, it accepts the use of this extension by the
   "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions" header in the server's opening handshake.

1.1.  Physical Connection and Logical Channels

   Under use of this extension, one transport connection is shared by
   multiple application-level instances.  The WebSocket connection which
   lies directly on the TCP connection and negotiated this multiplexing
   extension is called "physical connection".  Virtual WebSocket
   connections established for each application-level instance are
   called "multiplexed connections".  Data channels virtually
   established by ID tagging are called "logical channels".  This
   extension assigns a non-zero ID for each multiplexed connection.
   Each logical channel with a non-zero ID exchanges frames of the
   multiplexed connection with the same ID.  The logical channel with ID
   of 0 exchanges data to control multiplexing.

   Data for different logical channels are distinguished by the logical
   channel ID tag field placed at the head of the message that
   encapsulates the original frame of a multiplex connection.






















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2.  Conformance Requirements

   All diagrams, examples, and notes in this specification are non-
   normative, as are all sections explicitly marked non-normative.
   Everything else in this specification is normative.

   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 [RFC2119].

   Requirements phrased in the imperative as part of algorithms (such as
   "strip any leading space characters" or "return false and abort these
   steps") are to be interpreted with the meaning of the key word
   ("must", "should", "may", etc) used in introducing the algorithm.

   Conformance requirements phrased as algorithms or specific steps MAY
   be implemented in any manner, so long as the end result is
   equivalent.  (In particular, the algorithms defined in this
   specification are intended to be easy to follow, and not intended to
   be performant.)































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3.  Extension Negotiation

   The registered extension token for this extension is "mux".

   To request use of the WebSocket Multiplexing Extension, a client MUST
   include an element with the "mux" extension token as its extension
   identifier in the "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions" header in its opening
   handshake.  The element MAY contain an extension parameter named
   "quota".  The value of the "quota" extension parameter specifies the
   server's send quota for the "Implicitly Opened Connection".

   To accept use of the WebSocket Multiplexing Extension, a server MUST
   include an element with the "mux" extension token in the
   "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions" header in its opening handshake.  The
   element MUST NOT contain any extension parameter.

   A server MAY choose to reject use of the WebSocket Multiplexing
   Extension by not including the element for the extension in the
   "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions" header in its opening handshake.  If any
   elements were listed after the element for the WebSocket Multiplexing
   Extension in the "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions" from the client, they
   MUST also be rejected.





























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4.  Interaction with other Extensions / Framing Mechanisms

   If any extension (e.g. compression) is placed before this extension
   in the "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions" header of the physical connection,
   that extension is applied to multiplexed connections unless otherwise
   noted in the extension's spec.

   If any extension is placed after this extension in the
   "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions" header of the physical connection, that
   extension is applied to frames after multiplexing on the sender side,
   and before demultiplexing on the receiver side unless otherwise noted
   in the extension's spec.

   A client MAY request such an extension for both the physical
   connection and multiplexed connections by placing extension entries
   before and after this multiplexing extension.  In this case, the
   server SHOULD reject at least either of them if it's useless to apply
   the same extension twice.

   For example, if we have a compression extension called foo-compress,
   the client sends

       Sec-WebSocket-Extensions: foobar, mux, foobar

   in the client's opening handshake of the physical connection to
   request use of the foobar extension for both physical and multiplexed
   connections.  Then, the server would send back

       Sec-WebSocket-Extensions: mux, foobar

   to apply the foobar extension after multiplexing, or

       Sec-WebSocket-Extensions: foobar, mux

   to apply the foobar extension to multiplexed connections.

4.1.  Ordering Extensions

4.1.1.  Efficiency

   Where to apply a compression extension makes difference to resource
   consumption and flexibility.  Compression algorithms often use some
   memory to keep its context.  Some of compression extensions may keep
   using the same context for all the messages on the same connection.

   If such a compression extension is applied to the physical
   connection, intermediaries that want to demultiplex or multiplex the
   connection need to decompress (before demultiplexing) and recompress



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   (before multiplexing again) all the frames.

   If such an compression extension is applied to each multiplexed
   connection, we can control to which multiplexed connection we apply
   the compression, so we can avoid applying compression to multiplexed
   connections transferring incompressible data.  Intermediaries that
   want to demultiplex can forward payload leaving it untouched.
   However, compressing each multiplexed connection is expensive in
   terms of memory consumption.

4.1.2.  Security

   If any history-based compression extension such as DEFLATE is applied
   to the physical connection that is tunneled over Transport Layer
   Security (TLS) [RFC2818], it may spoil TLS's confidentiality [CRIME].
   If the client may run malicious script such as a web browser, it MUST
   NOT request use of the multiplexing extension and such a compression
   extension in the order by which the compression extension is applied
   to the physical connection side.
































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5.  Multiplexed Connections

   The multiplexing extension maintains separate logical channels, each
   of which provides fully the logical equivalent of an independent
   WebSocket connection, including separate handshake headers.  If the
   multiplexing extension is successfully negotiated, one multiplexed
   connection is automatically established, and the headers on the
   opening handshake of the physical connection are automatically taken
   to mean ones for the multiplexed connection.  It's called "Implicitly
   Opened Connection".  It's served by the logical channel with ID of 1
   which is also implicitly opened on completion of the opening
   handshake.  New logical channels are added by the client issuing the
   AddChannelRequest multiplex control block (note that only the client
   may initiate new WebSocket connections), including any handshake
   headers which do not have the same value as the client's opening
   handshake of the physical connection.  The server's
   AddChannelResponse likewise includes any handshake headers which are
   different from the server's opening handshake of the physical
   connection Channel 0 (control channel) is reserved for multiplex
   control blocks and does not contain Payload Data from any multiplexed
   connection.  A client which attempts to add a channel to an existing
   connection that is not accepted by the server SHOULD attempt to open
   a new underlying connection and open a new WebSocket connection on
   it.

   Once the multiplexing extension is negotiated on a connection, all
   frames of multiplexed connection MUST be prefixed with a channel ID
   number and encapsulated into binary messages.  The channel ID is
   assigned by the client on issuing an AddChannelRequest.

   A receiver MAY process frames for different non-control channels in
   parallel.  A receiver MUST process frames for the control channel
   exclusively.

   A receiver MUST _Fail the Physical Connection_ if any of these rules
   are violated by the sender.















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6.  Flow Control

6.1.  New Channel Slot

   A client has a pool of slots called "new channel slots".  It's
   initialized to be empty on establishment of the physical connection.

   A NewChannelSlot multiplex control block sent by the server adds
   slots to the pool.

   Each slot has a non-negative integer value called "initial send
   quota".  Its function is explained in the later subsection.

   When sending an AddChannelRequest, the client MUST pick the oldest
   new channel slot from the pool and remove it from the pool.  If there
   are no slots in the pool, the client MUST NOT issue an
   AddChannelRequest.  An endpoint MUST _Fail the Logical Channel_ with
   drop reason code of 2007 when it's clear that the other peer violates
   this.

   A server can regulate the rate of AddChannelRequests by not
   replenishing the pool.

6.2.  Send Quota

   For each logical channel with non-zero ID, server and client are
   respectively given a non-negative integer value called "send quota".

   For the logical channel created for the "Implicitly Opened
   Connection", the client's "send quota" is initialized to 0 on
   establishment of the physical connection.  The server's "send quota"
   for the channel is initialized on sending its opening handshake for
   the physical connection.  The "quota" extension parameter attached to
   the extension token for this multiplexing extension in the client's
   opening handshake for the physical connection specifies the initial
   value.  If the "quota" extension parameter is not specified, the
   initial value is set to 0.  The extension parameter has the initial
   value on its parameter value side as a non-negative integer in
   decimal.

   For a logical channel added by issuing an AddChannelRequest, a client
   gets "send quota" equal to the "initial send quota" value on the "new
   channel slot" picked for the AddChannelRequest on sending it.

   For a logical channel added by accepting an AddChannelRequest, a
   server gets "send quota" of 0 on sending the corresponding
   AddChannelResponse.




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   When an endpoint receives a FlowControl for a logical channel, its
   "send quota" for the channel gets replenished.

   An endpoint MUST NOT send a frame on a logical channel with non-zero
   ID while the "send quota" of the endpoint for the channelis less than
   the cost of the frame.  The cost of a frame is sum of the following
   two values:

   o  The length of the "Payload data" of the frame.

   o  Per-message extra cost.  It's 1 if the frame is the first fragment
      of a message.  Otherwise, it's 0.

   An endpoint MUST _Fail the Logical Channel_ with drop reason code of
   3005 when it's clear that the other peer violates this.

   When a frame is sent on a logical channel with non-zero ID, the
   length of the "Payload data" of the frame is subtracted from the
   "send quota" of the endpoint for the channel.

   An endpoint SHOULD NOT delay replenishment of the other peer's "send
   quota" for a logical channel when it has more room for accepting new
   data for the channel.




























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7.  Framing

   The multiplexing extension uses binary messages to transfer both data
   for controlling multiplexing and data of multiplexed connections.
   Binary messages have the logical channel ID tag field at the head of
   them.  Logical channel ID of 0 is designated for control channel
   where multiplex control blocks are exchanged.  Non-zero logical
   channel IDs are used for non-control channels transferring data for
   multiplexed connections.

   The ID in the logical channel ID tag field is encoded as variable
   number of bytes (1, 2, 3 or 4 octets), as follows:

      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
     +-+-------------+
     |0|Channel ID(7)|
     +-+-------------+

      0                   1
      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
     +-+-+---------------------------+
     |1|0|      Channel ID (14)      |
     +-+-+---------------------------+

      0                   1                   2
      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3
     +-+-+-+-----------------------------------------+
     |1|1|0|             Channel ID (21)             |
     +-+-+-+-----------------------------------------+

      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
     +-+-+-+---------------------------------------------------------+
     |1|1|1|                     Channel ID (29)                     |
     +-+-+-+---------------------------------------------------------+

   This encoding is also used by multiplex control blocks where they
   need to specify the ID of the objective channel.

   A field using this encoding is considered to be invalid when more
   than the minimal number of bytes necessary to represent the integer
   is used.

   Unless any other negotiated extension defines a meaning for them,
   endpoints MUST NOT send any data message other than "binary".  When
   an endpoint received such a frame, it MUST _Fail the Physical
   Connection_ with drop reason code of 2001.




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   When an endpoint received a binary message with an incomplete or
   invalid logical channel ID tag field at the head of the message,
   _Fail the Physical Connection_ with drop reason code of 2002.

   See Section 8 (non-control channel) and Section 9 (control channel)
   for more details on fields that follow the logical channel ID tag
   field.












































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8.  Encapsulation

   This extension encapsulates each frame of a multiplexed connection
   into a binary message with Payload Data obtained by concatenating the
   following data in the order they are listed:

   1.  The logical channel ID tag field representing the ID of the
       logical channel for the multiplexed connection.

   2.  FIN, RSV1, RSV2, RSV3 and opcode of the original frame.

   3.  Unmasked "Payload Data" of the original 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
     +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     |                   Logical channel ID tag                      |
     |                         (8/16/24/32)                          |
     + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
     |             Logical channel ID tag continued                  |
     +-+-+-+-+-------+-----------------------------------------------+
     |F|R|R|R| opcode|         Payload Data of original frame        |
     |I|S|S|S|  (4)  |                                               |
     |N|V|V|V|       |                                               |
     | |1|2|3|       |                                               |
     +-+-+-+-+-------+ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
     :         Payload Data of original frame continued ...          :
     + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
     :         Payload Data of original frame continued ...          :
     +---------------------------------------------------------------+

   These messages are called encapsulating messages.

   A receiver MUST restore the original frame from the data and deliver
   to the corresponding multiplexed connection based on the ID in the
   logical channel ID tag field in the order they are received.

   This extension MAY change the fragmentation of the original message
   before encapsulation in order to insert multiplex control blocks or
   adjust the amount of data to flush along with flow control.

   When received an encapsulated frame with non continuation data opcode
   though the last data message of that logical channel has not yet been
   terminated by a fragment with the FIN bit set, the endpoint MUST
   _Fail the Logical Channel_ with drop reason code of 3009.

   When received an encapsulated frame with the continuation opcode



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   though there's no preceding message that has not yet been terminated
   on that logical channel, the endpoint MUST _Fail the Logical Channel_
   with drop reason code of 3009.

   On logical channels, control messages MAY also be fragmented.
   Fragmented control messages MUST be delivered to the corresponding
   multiplexed connection after receiving all fragments and
   defragmenting them.  For non-first fragments of a control message,
   the continuation opcode (%x0) MUST be used for the opcode field as
   well as data messages.  Fragments for any other message MUST NOT be
   injected between fragments of a control message on the same logical
   channel.  When a demultiplexer received an encapsulated frame with a
   control opcode and the FIN bit unset, it MUST process encapsulated
   frames on the same logical channel with the continuation opcode
   following the encapsulated frame as fragments of the control message
   until it encounters one with the FIN bit set.  When a demultiplexer
   encountered any encapsulated frame whose opcode is not continuation
   injected between fragments of a control message on the same logical
   channel, the endpoint MUST _Fail the Logical Channel_ with drop
   reason code of 3009.

   To allow for adjustment of fragmentation, this multiplexing extension
   MUST NOT be used after any extension that does any of the followings:

   o  Require frame boundary on its output to be preserved.

   o  Use the "Extension data" field or any of the reserved bits on the
      WebSocket header as per-frame attribute.

   Intermediaries that doesn't understand the WebSocket Multiplexing
   Extension MAY fragment the encapsulating messages.

   When received a binary message with a non-zero logical channel ID of
   an inactive channel (e.g. no channel has been opened for the logical
   channel ID, or the channel has been closed (by a DropChannel or an
   AddChannelResponse with the failure bit set) and not yet reopened),
   the endpoint MUST ignore the message.

   When received a binary message with a non-zero logical channel ID
   which contains no octets in its payload after octets for the logical
   channel ID tag field, the endpoint _Fail the Physical Connection_
   with drop reason code of 2003.









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9.  Multiplex Control Blocks

   A binary message with the logical channel ID of 0 contains zero or
   more multiplex control blocks in "Payload data".

      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
     +---------------+
     |Channel ID of 0|
     +---------------+
     |1st multiplex  |
     :control block  :
     |               |
     +---------------+
     |2nd multiplex  |
     :control block  :
     |               |
     +---------------+
     |...            |
     :               :
     |               |
     +---------------+

   Putting multiple control blocks into one WebSocket message saves
   framing overhead.

   Each multiplex control block has fields as follows:

      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
     +-----+---------+
     | Opc |         |
     +-----+         :
     | Opc specific  :
     : data          :
     |               |
     +---------------+

   Opc

      A multiplex control opcode as defined in the following
      subsections.  Opc of 5-7 are reserved for future use.

   Opc specific data

      Data interpreted according to that opcode.

   Each of the following subsections describes one multiplex control
   opcode and how to interpret opc specific data for that opcode.




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   If any reserved opcode is set to opc, the endpoint MUST _Fail the
   Physical Connection_ with drop reason code of 2004.

   If any truncated multiplex control block is found, the endpoint MUST
   _Fail the Physical Connection_ with drop reason code of 2005 unless
   _Fail the Physical Connection_ is already done for any other error.

   RSVs in the field diagrams of multiplex control blocks in this
   section means reserved bits.  If any multiplex control block with any
   of the reserved bits set is found, the endpoint MUST _Fail the
   Physical Connection_ with drop reason code of 2005 unless _Fail the
   Physical Connection_ is already done for any other error.

   An endpoint MAY process one or more multiplex control blocks without
   any error that are in the same message together with one with an
   error.  This means that an endpoint doesn't have to inspect all the
   blocks in the received message before starting processing blocks.  An
   endpoint MAY also skip processing multiplex control blocks without
   any error that are in the same message together with one with an
   error.

9.1.  Number Encoding in Multiplex Control Blocks

   In addition to the logical channel ID encoding defined in the
   Section 7, we reuse the number encoding defined for payload length in
   the Section 5.2 of [RFC6455] for multiplex control blocks with a
   little modification.  We call this number encoding "1/3/9 number
   encoding".  Integers up to 0x7D MUST be encoded into 1 octet field
   containing the integer as is.  Integers from 0x7E to 0xFFFF MUST be
   encoded into an octet of 0x7E followed by two octets containing the
   integer in network byte order.  Integers from 0x10000 to
   0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF MUST be encoded into an octet of 0x7F followed by
   eight octets containing the integer in network byte order.  A field
   using the 1/3/9 number encoding is considered to be invalid when any
   of the following conditions is violated.

   o  The most significant bit of the first octet MUST be 0.

   o  The minimal number of bytes necessary to represent the integer
      MUST be used.

   o  If the first byte is 0x7F, the most significant bit of the next
      octet MUST be 0.

   When received a multiplex control block with an invalid field using
   the 1/3/9 number encoding, the endpoint MUST _Fail the Physical
   Connection_ with drop reason code of 2005 unless _Fail the Physical
   Connection_ is already done for any other error.



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9.2.  AddChannelRequest

   AddChannelRequest is sent only by clients to create a new logical
   channel, as if a new WebSocket connection were received on a separate
   transport connection.

   When a client received an AddChannelRequest, it MUST _Fail the
   Physical Connection_ with drop reason code of 2005 unless _Fail the
   Physical Connection_ is already done for any other error.

   Multiplex control opcode of AddChannelRequest is 0.

   AddChannelRequest has fields as follows:

      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
     +-+-+-+-----+---+
     |0|0|0| RSV |Enc|
     +-+-+-+-----+---+
     |Objective      |
     :channel ID     :
     |(1-4 octet)    |
     +---------------+
     |Handshake size |
     :(1-9 octet)    :
     |               |
     +---------------+
     |Handshake      |
     :               :
     |               |
     +---------------+

   Enc

      Handshake encoding type:

      0 - identity

         The client's handshake data in the handshake field are sent
         as-is without any special encoding or compression applied, and
         constitute the complete set of a Request-Line, headers and the
         CRLF after the last header that would have been sent on opening
         handshake.

      1 - delta-encoded

         The client's handshake data in the handshake field are delta-
         encoded, where any header that is not given is assumed to have
         the same value as that given on the current delta base.



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         The delta base is initialized to the client's opening handshake
         of the physical connection but after modifying some headers as
         follows:

         +  Remove the token for this extension and following ones from
            "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions".  After this step,
            "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions" contains only extensions applied
            to the multiplexed connection.

         +  Remove Upgrade, Sec-WebSocket-Key and Sec-WebSocket-Version
            header.  They are not meaningful under multiplexing.

         Every time, an AddChannelRequest where Enc field is identity is
         received, the delta base is updated to its handshake after this
         modification.  The Request-Line MUST be sent regardless if it's
         the same as one in the delta base or not.

         For multiple headers with the same header name, multiplexer and
         demultiplexer MUST preserve the order in which they appeared.
         If any header which had multiple header lines in the delta-base
         is inherited, a demultiplexer MUST recover them in the same
         order they appeared in the delta-base.

         A header with an empty value means that the header is not
         inherited from the delta base.  If there were multiple headers
         with the specified name, none of them is inherited.  When to
         send valueless headers, identity encoding MUST be used.

      2-3 - reserved

         Reserved for future use.

      An endpoint MUST _Fail the Physical Connection_ with drop reason
      code of 2010 if any of reserved type is specified.

   Objective channel ID

      The ID of the logical channel objective to this operation.
      Encoding is the same as one used for the logical channel ID tag
      field.  An endpoint MUST _Fail the Physical Connection_ with drop
      reason code of 2005 if this field is invalid.

   Handshake size

      The size of the handshake field encoded by the 1/3/9 number
      encoding.





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   Handshake

      The client's opening handshake as defined in Section 4 of RFC 6455
      [RFC6455] for the new multiplexed connection.  Upgrade, Sec-
      WebSocket-Key and Sec-WebSocket-Version header are excluded.  This
      field is encoded using the encoding specified by the Enc field.
      An endpoint MUST _Fail the Physical Connection_ with drop reason
      code of 2009 if any problem is found in parsing this field.

   If the logical channel ID specified by an AddChannelRequest is in use
   (including 0 for the control channel), it MUST _Fail the Physical
   Connection_ with drop reason code of 2006.

   To accept an AddChannelRequest, the endpoint MUST send an
   AddChannelResponse with the failure bit unset and the objective
   channel ID field set to the objective channel ID specified in the
   AddChannelRequest.  In this case, the channel becomes active.

   To respond to an AddChannelRequest with status meaning handshake
   failure, the endpoint MUST send an AddChannelResponse with the
   failure bit set and its objective channel ID field set to the
   objective channel ID specified in the AddChannelRequest.  In this
   case, the channel stays inactive.

   An endpoint MAY reject an AddChannelRequest also by doing _Fail the
   Logical Channel_ with drop reason code of 3000.  In this case, the
   channel stays inactive.

   A server MAY delay responding to an AddChannelRequest and proceed to
   process subsequent multiplex control blocks or frames for multiplexed
   connections.

   Channel ID assignment is done by client side.  A client MAY use any
   algorithm to choose logical channel IDs for new channels.  Note that
   logical channel ID assignment might be changed by intermediaries, so
   it's not guaranteed that the value of logical channel ID is the same
   on the other peer.

   Different from non-multiplexed WebSocket connection, a client MAY
   send frames of multiplexed connections except for "Implicitly Opened
   Connection" before receiving AddChannelResponse as far as there's
   sufficient send quota.  In case the AddChannelRequest fails, those
   frames are discarded by the other peer.  This doesn't mean that users
   of this protocol such as the WebSocket API are required to allow
   their users to send frames before receiving the server's opening
   handshake.





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9.3.  AddChannelResponse

   AddChannelResponse is sent only by servers in response to the
   AddChannelRequest.

   When a server received an AddChannelResponse, it MUST _Fail the
   Physical Connection_ with drop reason code of 2005 unless _Fail the
   Physical Connection_ is already done for any other error.

   Multiplex control opcode of the AddChannelResponse is 1.

   AddChannelResponse has fields as follows:

      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
     +-+-+-+-+---+---+
     |0|0|1|F|RSV|Enc|
     +-+-+-+-+---+---+
     |Objective      |
     :channel ID     :
     |(1-4 octet)    |
     +---------------+
     |Handshake size |
     :(1-9 octet)    :
     |               |
     +---------------+
     |Handshake      |
     :               :
     |               |
     +---------------+

   F

      Failure bit.

      If the failure bit is not set, then the server has accepted the
      AddChannelRequest.  The handshake field MUST contain a response to
      the request made by the AddChannelRequest, In this case, the
      channel becomes active.

      If the failure bit is set, then the server has rejected the
      AddChannelRequest and this SHOULD be treated exactly the same as
      if a separate connection was attempted and the connection was
      closed after receiving the server's handshake.  Enc MUST be set to
      identity in this case.  The handshake field MUST contain a
      response to the request made by the AddChannelRequest.  In this
      case, the channel stays inactive.  The sender of the
      AddChannelResponse with the failure bit set doesn't have to send a
      DropChannel following the AddChannelResponse.



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   Enc

      Encoding type.

      Types are the same as ones defined for the AddChannelRequest
      opcode (but replacing "AddChannelRequest" with
      "AddChannelResponse", and "Request-Line" with "Response-Line").

      The delta base is initialized to the server's opening handshake of
      the physical connection but after modifying some headers as
      follows:

      *  Remove the token for this extension and following ones from
         "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions".  After this step,
         "Sec-WebSocket-Extensions" contains only extensions applied to
         the multiplexed connection.

      *  Remove Upgrade and Sec-WebSocket-Accept header.  They are not
         meaningful under multiplexing.


      An endpoint MUST _Fail the Physical Connection_ with drop reason
      code of 2012 if any of reserved type is specified.

   Objective channel ID

      Same as one in the AddChannelRequest.  If an inactive channel is
      specified, the endpoint MUST ignore this AddChannelResponse.

      An endpoint MUST _Fail the Physical Connection_ with drop reason
      code of 2005 if this field is invalid.

   Handshake size

      The size of the handshake field encoded by the 1/3/9 number
      encoding.

   Handshake

      The server's opening handshake as defined in Section 4 of RFC 6455
      [RFC6455] for this multiplexed connection.  Upgrade and Sec-
      WebSocket-Accept header are excluded because they are not
      meaningful under multiplexing.  This field is encoded using the
      encoding specified by the Enc field.

      An endpoint MUST _Fail the Physical Connection_ with drop reason
      code of 2011 if any problem is found in parsing this field.




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   If the server's opening handshake is validated, the client MUST take
   this as _The WebSocket Connection is Established_.

9.4.  FlowControl

   FlowControl is used to replenish the other peer's send quota for the
   specified logical channel.

   Multiplex control opcode of FlowControl is 2.

   FlowControl has fields as follows.

      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
     +-+-+-+---------+
     |0|1|0|   RSV   |
     +-+-+-+---------+
     |Objective      |
     :channel ID     :
     |(8-32 bit)     |
     +---------------+
     |Replenished    |
     :send quota     :
     |(1-9 octet)    |
     +---------------+

   Objective channel ID

      Same as one in the AddChannelRequest.  If an inactive channel is
      specified, the endpoint MUST ignore this FlowControl.  An endpoint
      MUST _Fail the Physical Connection_ with drop reason code of 2005
      if this field is invalid.

   Replenished quota

      The number of bytes the receiver can have outstanding towards the
      sender of the FlowControl message.  It's encoded by the 1/3/9
      number encoding.

   An endpoint MUST _Fail the Logical Channel_ with drop reason code of
   3006 if its send quota for the channel exceeds 0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
   when the replenished quota is added.  The endpoint MAY delay this
   _Fail the Logical Channel_ operation to process following multiplex
   control blocks and encapsulating messages that don't affect the
   logical channel.  When received a FlowControl with an invalid value
   in the replenished quota field, the endpoint MUST _Fail the Physical
   Connection_ as specified above rather than taking it as overflow.





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9.5.  DropChannel

   DropChannel is used to close a logical channel.

   Multiplex control opcode of DropChannel is 3.

   DropChannel has fields as follows:

      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
     +-+-+-+---------+
     |0|1|1|   RSV   |
     +-+-+-+---------+
     |Objective      |
     :channel ID     :
     |(1-4 octet)    |
     +---------------+
     |Reason size    |
     :(1-9 octet)    :
     |               |
     +---------------+
     |Reason         |
     :               :
     |               |
     +---------------+

   Objective channel ID

      Same as one in the AddChannelRequest.  An endpoint MUST _Fail the
      Physical Connection_ with drop reason code of 2005 if this field
      is invalid.

   Reason size

      The size of the reason field encoded by the 1/3/9 number encoding.
      A DropChannel block with 1-octet reason field MUST be considered
      as a truncated multiplex control block.

   Reason

      The reason of closure.  Reason MAY be empty.  If reason is not
      empty, the first two bytes MUST be a 2-byte unsigned integer (in
      network byte order) representing a drop reason code.  Following
      the 2-byte integer, reason MAY contain UTF-8-encoded human
      readable drop reason phrase.

   When an endpoint received a DropChannel for an active non-control
   channel, the endpoint MUST tear down the logical channel, and the
   application instance that used the logical channel MUST treat this as



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   closure of underlying transport.

   When an endpoint received a DropChannel in response to an
   AddChannelRequest, the endpoint MUST abort creation of the logical
   channel, and the application instance that requested creation of the
   logical channel MUST treat this as closure of underlying transport
   without receiving reply for the creation request.

   When an endpoint sent or received a DropChannel for an active non-
   control channel, the endpoint MUST mark the channel as inactive.  If
   the endpoint is server and it has not already sent a DropChannel for
   the channel, it MUST send a DropChannel with drop reason code of 3008
   so that the client can mark the ID of the channel available for a new
   AddChannelRequest.

   Once received a DropChannel for a non-control channel, the ID of the
   logical channel becomes available again for a new AddChannelRequest.

9.5.1.  Drop Reason Codes

   Drop reason codes are 4 digit unsigned integers.

   1000-1999 are for normal closure on a logical channel without any
   multiplexing level error.  These codes are used for dropping non-
   control channels.

   1000 Normal closure

      DropChannel with this drop reason code is commonly sent when
      _Close the WebSocket Connection_ is made on the multiplexed
      connection.

   2000-2999 are for errors that _Fail the Physical Connection_.  These
   codes are used for dropping the control channel.

   2000 Physical connection failed

      Used if a more specific error is not available.

   2001 Invalid encapsulating message

      Received a data message with non binary opcode.

   2002 Channel ID is truncated or invalid

      Received an encapsulating message with a logical channel ID which
      is truncated or invalid.




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   2003 Encapsulated frame is truncated

      Received an encapsulating message that contains only the logical
      channel ID tag field with non-zero value.

   2004 Unknown multiplex control opcode

      Encountered a multiplex control block with unknown multiplex
      opcode.

   2005 Invalid multiplex control block

      Encountered an invalid multiplex control block.  E.g. objective
      channel ID is truncated, reserved bit is raised.

   2006 Channel already exists

      Received an AddChannelRequest for an active logical channel.

   2007 New channel slot violation

      Received an AddChannelRequest though the other peer has no new
      channel slot.

   2008 New channel slot overflow

      Received a NewChannelSlot that overflows the number of new channel
      slots.

   2009 Bad request

      Received an AddChannelRequest with a malformed handshake.

   2010 Unknown request encoding

      Received an AddChannelRequest with an unknown encoding type.

   2011 Bad response

      Received an AddChannelResponse with a malformed handshake.

   2012 Unknown response encoding

      Received an AddChannelResponse with an unknown encoding type.

   3000-3999 are for errors that _Fail the Logical channel_.  These
   codes are used for dropping non-control channels.




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   3000 Logical channel failed

      Used if a more specific error is not available.

   3005 Send quota violation

      Received an encapsulating message exceeding send quota.

   3006 Send quota overflow

      Received a FlowControl that overflows send quota.

   3007 Idle timeout

      Terminating an idle logical channel.

   3008 DropChannel acknowledged

      Used for a DropChannel sent in response to received DropChannel.
      When a server received a DropChannel and it hasn't sent any
      DropChannel for that logical channel, the server MUST send a
      DropChannel with this reason code so that the client can release
      the channel ID and reuse it for a new AddChannelRequest safely.

   3009 Bad fragmentation

      Received an encapsulating message with bad fragmentation that
      cannot be delivered to the corresponding multiplexed connection.

   4000-4999 are for requesting the other peer to take some actions.
   These codes are used for dropping non-control channels.

   4001 Use another physical connection

      The server is requesting the client to open a new physical
      connection and use it than adding any more logical channel until
      receiving a NewChannelSlot.  A client received this reason code
      SHOULD NOT issue an AddChannelRequest on this physical connection
      until receiving a NewChannelSlot.

   4002 Busy

      The server is requesting the client to stop issuing an
      AddChannelRequest until receiving a NewChannelSlot.  A client
      received this reason code SHOULD NOT issue an AddChannelRequest on
      this physical connection until receiving a NewChannelSlot.





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9.6.  NewChannelSlot

   NewChannelSlot is sent only by servers to add new slots to the
   client's new channel pool.

   When a server received an NewChannelSlot, it MUST _Fail the Physical
   Connection_ with drop reason code of 2005 unless _Fail the Physical
   Connection_ is already done for any other error.

   Multiplex control opcode of NewChannelSlot is 4.

   NewChannelSlot has fields as follows:

      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
     +-+-+-+-------+-+
     |1|0|0|  RSV  |F|
     +-+-+-+-------+-+
     |Number of slots|
     :(1-9 octet)    :
     |               |
     +---------------+
     |Initial send   |
     :quota          :
     |(1-9 octet)    |
     +---------------+

   F

      Fallback bit.

      If the fallback bit is false, normal slot is added.

      If the fallback bit is true, fallback suggestion slot is added.
      Number of slots field and initial quota field MUST be 0 for
      fallback suggestion slot.  When a client encounters a fallback
      suggestion slot, it MUST open a new physical connection and use it
      than adding any more logical channel on this physical connection
      until any normal slot is available.

      When received a NewChannelSlot block with the fallback bit set and
      any of the number of slots field or the initial quota field is not
      zero, the endpoint MUST _Fail the Physical Connection_ with drop
      reason code of 2005 unless _Fail the Physical Connection_ is
      already done for any other error.







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   Number of slots

      The number of slots to add.  It's encoded by the 1/3/9 number
      encoding.  This value MAY be 0 when it makes sense.

   Initial quota

      The initial quota each of slots added by this NewChannelSlot gets.
      It's encoded by the 1/3/9 number encoding.

   When a client received a NewChannelSlot, the client MUST add new
   slots of the specified number.  Each of new slots gets the specified
   initial send quota.






































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10.  Examples

   _This section is non-normative._

   The examples below assume the handshake has already completed and the
   multiplexing extension was negotiated.  Quotes are for clarity.

   Frames of encapsulating messages from client to server MUST be
   masked.  The examples below are not masked for simplicity.

   0x82 0x0d 0x01 0x81 "Hello world"

      This is a non-fragmented text message of "Hello world" on logical
      channel 1 encapsulated into a non-fragmented encapsulating
      message.

   0x82 0x07 0x01 0x01 "Hello" 0x82 0x08 0x01 0x80 " world"

      This is a text message of "Hello world" fragmented into two frames
      of "Hello" and " world" on logical channel 1 encapsulated into two
      non-fragmented encapsulating messages.  A multiplexer may change
      fragmentation of a message before encapsulation like this so that
      frames of other logical channels (including the control channel)
      can be injected in the middle of the message.

   0x82 0x07 0x01 0x01 "Hello" 0x82 0x05 0x02 0x81 "bye" 0x82 0x08 0x01
   0x80 " world"

      This example shows how data for two logical channels are
      interleaved.  There're three non-fragmented encapsulating
      messages.  As explained in the previous example, the text message
      of "Hello world" is split into two frames before encapsulation.
      The first and third frame in this example contain each of the two
      fragments of the text message of "Hello world" on logical channel
      1.  The second frame contains a non-fragmented text message of
      "bye" on logical channel 2.

   0x82 0x04 0x01 0x01 "Te" 0x82 0x04 0x01 0x09 "Pi" 0x82 0x04 0x01 0x80
   "ng" 0x82 0x04 0x01 0x80 "xt"

      A ping message "Ping" is injected in the middle of a text message
      "Text" on the original connection.  The multiplexer fragmented the
      ping message due to some reason into two fragments.

   0x02 0x07 0x01 0x81 "Hello" 0x80 0x06 " world"

      Encapsulating messages output from the multiplexer can be
      fragmented by intermediaries without knowledge of the Multiplexing



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      Extension.  This is an example of a fragmented encapsulating
      message.  It's equivalent to the first example as a message.

   0x82 0x16 0x00 0x01 0x02 0x12 "GET / HTTP/1.1" 0x0d 0x0a 0x0d 0x0a

      This is a message on the control channel carrying one
      AddChannelRequest.  The first two octets are the WebSocket
      headers.  The 3rd octet is logical channel ID field of 0.  The 4th
      octet has opcode, RSV and Enc field.  Objective channel ID is 2.
      The handshake is delta-encoded.









































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11.  Client Behavior

   When a client is asked to _Establish a WebSocket Connection_ by some
   WebSocket application instance, it MAY choose to share an existing
   WebSocket connection if all of the following are true:

   o  the multiplexing extension was successfully negotiated on that
      connection

   o  the scheme portions of the URIs match exactly

   o  the host portions of the URIs either match exactly or resolve to
      the same IP address (TBD: consider DNS rebind attacks)

   o  the port portions of the URIs (either explicit or implied by the
      scheme) match exactly

   o  the connection has an availablle logical channel ID

   If the client chooses to share the existing WebSocket connection with
   multiplexing, it sends an AddChannelRequest as described above.  If
   the AddChannelRequest is accepted, WebSocket frames may be sent over
   that logical channel as normal.  If the server rejects the
   AddChannelRequest, the client SHOULD attempt to open a new physical
   WebSocket connection (for example, in a shared hosting environment a
   server may not be prepared to multiplex connections from different
   customers despite having a single IP address for them).
























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12.  Buffering

   There will be lots of small frames sent in this protocol
   (particularly replenishing send quotas), so a sender SHOULD attempt
   to aggregate multiplex control blocks into larger WebSocket frames.
   For data frames, a sender also SHOULD attempt to aggregate fragments
   into one packet of the underlying transport.  However, care must be
   taken to avoid introducing excessive latency - the exact heuristics
   for delaying in order to aggregate blocks is TBD.










































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13.  Fairness

   A multiplexing implementation MUST ensure reasonable fairness among
   the logical channels.  This is accomplished in several ways:

   Receiver side

   o  The receiver MAY limit the send quota of a logical channel by not
      replenishing it to make sure that any logical channel doesn't
      dominate the connection.

   o  Send quota for one logical channel SHOULD be determined
      considering the processing capacity (buffer size, processing
      power, throughput, etc.) of that logical channel.  For example,
      when a logical channel with excess load cannot drain data from the
      connection smoothly, the other logical channels get stuck even
      when they have room of processing capacity.  Unless there's
      special need to give such a big quota for the channel, such
      condition just makes overall performance low.

   Sender side

   o  The sender MUST use a fair mechanism for selecting which logical
      channel's data to send in the next WebSocket message.  Simple
      implementations may choose a round-robin scheduler, while more
      advanced implementations may adjust priority based on the amount
      or frequency of data sent by each logical channel.

   o  The sender MUST fragment a large message into smaller frames to
      prevent a large message in a logical channel occupying the
      physical connection and thus delaying messages in other logical
      channels.



















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14.  Proxies

   Proxies which do not multiplex/demultiplex are not affected by the
   presence of this extension -- they simply process WebSocket frames as
   usual.  Proxies which filter or monitor WebSocket traffic will need
   to understand the multiplexing extension in order to extract the data
   from logical connections or to terminate individual logical
   connections when policy is violated.  Proxies which actively
   multiplex connections or demultiplex them (for example, a mobile
   network might have a proxy which aggregates WebSocket connections at
   a single cell to conserve bandwidth to the main gateway) will require
   additional configuration (perhaps including the client) that is
   outside the scope of this document.






































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15.  Timeout

   When all the logical channels are closed, each endpoint MAY _Start
   the WebSocket Closing Handshake_ on the physical connection.  Such
   _Start the WebSocket Closing Handshake_ operation SHOULD be delayed
   assuming the physical connection may be reused after some idle
   period.












































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16.  Close the Logical Channel

   To _Close the Logical Channel_, an endpoint MUST send a DropChannel
   multiplex control block with drop reason code of 1000.















































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17.  Fail the Logical Channel

   To _Fail the Logical Channel_, an endpoint MUST send a DropChannel
   multiplex control block with drop reason code in the range of 3000-
   3999, tear down the logical channel, and the application instance
   that used the logical channel MUST treat this as closure of
   underlying transport.












































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18.  Fail the Physical Connection

   To _Fail the Physical Connection_, an endpoint MUST send a
   DropChannel multiplex control block with objective channel ID of 0
   and drop reason code in the range of 2000-2999, and then _Fail the
   WebSocket Connection_ on the physical connection with status code of
   1011.












































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19.  Operations and Events on Multiplexed Connection

   When an endpoint is asked to perform any operation defined in the
   WebSocket Protocol except for _Close the WebSocket Connection_ by
   some application instance, the endpoint MUST perform the operation on
   the corresponding logical channel.

   Any event on a logical channel except for _The WebSocket Connection
   is Closed_, MUST be taken as one for the corresponding application
   instance.

   When an endpoint is asked to do _Close the WebSocket Connection_ by
   some application instance, it MUST perform _Close the Logical
   Channel_ on the corresponding logical channel.

   When a DropChannel is received, or the physical connection is closed,
   it MUST be taken as _The WebSocket Connection is Closed_ event for
   the corresponding application instance(s).

   What to set to _Extension In Use_ for each multiplexed connection is
   TBD.






























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20.  Security Considerations

   A client MUST be prepared to receive a NewChannelSlot with huge value
   on the number of slots field.

   As noted in the Section 4.1.2, be careful in using combination of any
   compression extensions and this extension.












































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21.  IANA Considerations

   This specification is registering a value of the Sec-WebSocket-
   Extension header field in accordance with Section 11.4 of the
   WebSocket protocol [RFC6455] as follows:

   Extension Identifier

      mux

   Extension Common Name

      Multiplexing Extension for WebSockets

   Extension Definition

      This document

   Known Incompatible Extensions

      None






























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22.  References

22.1.  Normative References

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

   [RFC2818]  Rescorla, E., "HTTP Over TLS", RFC 2818, May 2000.

   [RFC6455]  Fette, I. and A. Melnikov, "The WebSocket Protocol",
              RFC 6455, December 2011.

22.2.  Informative References

   [CRIME]    Rizzo, J. and T. Duong, "The CRIME attack", Ekoparty 2012,
              September 2012.



































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Internet-Draft   A Multiplexing Extension for WebSockets   November 2012


Authors' Addresses

   John A. Tamplin
   Google, Inc.

   Email: jat@jaet.org


   Takeshi Yoshino
   Google, Inc.

   Email: tyoshino@google.com







































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