NETMOD Working Group                                           L. Lhotka
Internet-Draft                                                    CZ.NIC
Updates: 6110 (if approved)                               March 21, 2016
Intended status: Standards Track
Expires: September 22, 2016


                 Defining and Using Metadata with YANG
                   draft-ietf-netmod-yang-metadata-07

Abstract

   This document defines a YANG extension statement that allows for
   defining metadata annotations in YANG modules.  The document also
   specifies XML and JSON encoding of annotations and other rules for
   annotating instances of YANG data nodes.

Status of This Memo

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

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

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

   This Internet-Draft will expire on September 22, 2016.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 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
   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.



Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016               [Page 1]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.1.  Keywords  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.2.  Terms Defined in Other Documents  . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.3.  Namespaces and Prefixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     2.4.  Definitions of New Terms  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   3.  Defining Annotations in YANG  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.1.  Example Definition  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   4.  Using Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   5.  The Encoding of Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     5.1.  XML Encoding  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     5.2.  JSON Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
       5.2.1.  Metadata Object and Annotations . . . . . . . . . . .  10
       5.2.2.  Adding Annotations to Anydata, Container and List
               Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
       5.2.3.  Adding Annotations to Anyxml and Leaf Instances . . .  11
       5.2.4.  Adding Annotations to Leaf-list Entries . . . . . . .  12
   6.  Representing Annotations in DSDL Schemas  . . . . . . . . . .  13
   7.  Metadata YANG Module  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   9.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   10. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   11. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
     11.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
     11.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
   Appendix A.  Change Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     A.1.  Changes Between Revisions -06 and -07 . . . . . . . . . .  19
     A.2.  Changes Between Revisions -05 and -06 . . . . . . . . . .  19
     A.3.  Changes Between Revisions -04 and -05 . . . . . . . . . .  19
     A.4.  Changes Between Revisions -03 and -04 . . . . . . . . . .  19
     A.5.  Changes Between Revisions -02 and -03 . . . . . . . . . .  19
     A.6.  Changes Between Revisions -01 and -02 . . . . . . . . . .  19
     A.7.  Changes Between Revisions -00 and -01 . . . . . . . . . .  20
     A.8.  Changes Between draft-lhotka-netmod-yang-metadata-01 and
           draft-ietf-netmod-yang-metadata-00  . . . . . . . . . . .  20
     A.9.  Changes Between draft-lhotka-netmod-yang-metadata-00 and
           -01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20

1.  Introduction

   There is a need to be able to annotate instances of
   YANG [I-D.ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis] data nodes with metadata.  Typical
   use cases are:





Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016               [Page 2]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   o  Complementing regular data model information with instance-
      specific metadata, comments etc.

   o  Providing information about data rendering in user interfaces.

   o  Deactivating a subtree in a configuration datastore while keeping
      the data in place.

   o  Network management protocols often use metadata annotations for
      various purposes in both operation requests and responses.  For
      example, the <edit-config> operation in the NETCONF protocol (see
      section 7.2 of [RFC6241]) uses annotations in the form of XML
      attributes for identifying the location in a configuration
      datastore and the type of the operation.

   However, metadata annotations could potentially lead to
   interoperability problems if they are used in an ad hoc fashion by
   different parties and/or without proper documentation.  A sound
   metadata framework for YANG should therefore satisfy these
   requirements:

   1.  The set of annotations must be extensible in a decentralised
       manner so as to allow for defining new annotations without
       running into the risk of collisions with annotations defined and
       used by others.

   2.  Syntax and semantics of annotations must be documented and the
       documentation must be easily accessible.

   3.  Clients of network management protocols such as NETCONF [RFC6241]
       or RESTCONF [I-D.ietf-netconf-restconf] must be able to discover
       all annotations supported by a given server and identify each of
       them correctly.

   4.  Annotations sent by a server should not break clients that don't
       support them.

   This document proposes a systematic way for defining metadata
   annotations.  For this purpose, YANG extension statement "annotation"
   is defined in the module "ietf-yang-metadata" (Section 7).  Other
   YANG modules importing this module can use the "annotation" statement
   for defining one or more annotations.

   The benefits of defining the metadata annotations in a YANG module
   are the following:

   o  Each annotation is bound to a YANG module name and namespace URI.
      This makes its encoding in instance documents (both XML and JSON)



Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016               [Page 3]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


      straightforward and consistent with the encoding of YANG data node
      instances.

   o  Annotations defined in IETF standard-track documents are
      indirectly registered through IANA in the "YANG Module Names"
      registry [RFC6020].

   o  Annotations are included in the data model.  YANG compilers and
      tools supporting a certain annotation can thus take them into
      account and modify their behavior accordingly.

   o  Semantics of an annotation are defined in the "description" and
      "reference" statements.

   o  An annotation can be declared as conditional by using the "if-
      feature" statement.

   o  The type of each annotation is explicitly specified; any YANG
      built-in or derived type that is available for leaf or leaf-list
      data nodes may be specified for annotations as well.

   In the XML encoding, XML attributes are a natural instrument for
   attaching annotations to data node instances.  This document
   deliberately adopts some restrictions in order to remain compatible
   with the XML encoding of YANG data node instances and limitations of
   XML attributes.  Specifically,

   o  annotations can only be scalar values;

   o  annotations cannot be attached to a whole list or leaf-list
      instance, only to individual list or leaf-list entries.

   Due to the rules for YANG extensions (see sec. 6.3.1 in
   [I-D.ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis]), annotation definitions posit
   relatively weak conformance requirements.  The alternative of
   introducing a new built-in YANG statement for defining annotations
   was considered, but it was seen as a major change to the language
   that is inappropriate for YANG 1.1, which was chartered as a
   maintenance revision.  After evaluating real-life usage of metadata
   annotations, it is conceivable that such a new built-in statement
   might be added in a future revision of YANG.

2.  Terminology








Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016               [Page 4]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


2.1.  Keywords

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

2.2.  Terms Defined in Other Documents

   The following terms are defined in [RFC6241]:

   o  capability,

   o  client,

   o  datastore,

   o  message,

   o  protocol operation,

   o  server.

   The following terms are defined in [I-D.ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis]:

   o  action,

   o  anydata,

   o  anyxml,

   o  built-in type,

   o  container,

   o  data model,

   o  data node,

   o  data tree,

   o  derived type,

   o  extension,

   o  leaf,

   o  leaf-list,




Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016               [Page 5]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   o  list,

   o  module,

   o  RPC input and output.

   The following terms are defined in [W3C.REC-xml-infoset-20040204]:

   o  attribute,

   o  document,

   o  element.

   The following terms are defined in [W3C.REC-xml-names11-20060816]:

   o  local name,

   o  namespace name,

   o  prefix,

   o  qualified name.

   The following terms are defined in [RFC7159]:

   o  array,

   o  member,

   o  object,

   o  primitive type.

2.3.  Namespaces and Prefixes

   In the following text, XML element names and YANG extension
   statements are always written with explicit namespace prefixes that
   are assumed to be bound to URI references as shown in Table 1.












Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016               [Page 6]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


        +--------+------------------------------------------------+
        | Prefix | URI Reference                                  |
        +--------+------------------------------------------------+
        | elm    | http://example.org/example-last-modified       |
        | md     | urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-yang-metadata |
        | rng    | http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0            |
        +--------+------------------------------------------------+

     Table 1: Used namespace prefixes and corresponding URI references

2.4.  Definitions of New Terms

   o  annotation: a single item of metadata that is attached to YANG
      data node instances.

   o  metadata: additional information that complements a data tree.

   o  metadata object: an object in JSON encoding that contains all
      annotations attached to a given data node instance.

3.  Defining Annotations in YANG

   Metadata annotations are defined by YANG extension statement
   "md:annotation".  This YANG language extension is defined in the
   module "ietf-yang-metadata" (Section 7).

   Substatements of "md:annotation" are shown in Table 2.  They are all
   core YANG statements, and the numbers in the second column refer to
   the corresponding section in [I-D.ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis] where each
   statement is described.

           +--------------+---------------------+-------------+
           | substatement | RFC 6020bis section | cardinality |
           +--------------+---------------------+-------------+
           | description  | 7.21.3              | 0..1        |
           | if-feature   | 7.20.2              | 0..n        |
           | reference    | 7.21.4              | 0..1        |
           | status       | 7.21.2              | 0..1        |
           | type         | 7.6.3               | 1           |
           | units        | 7.3.3               | 0..1        |
           +--------------+---------------------+-------------+

                Table 2: Substatements of "md:annotation".

   An annotation carries a single value.  The type substatement, which
   MUST be present, takes as an argument the name of an existing built-
   in or derived type, and the value of the annotation MUST match this
   type.  See Section 7.4 of [I-D.ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis] for details.



Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016               [Page 7]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   An annotation can be made conditional by using one or more "if-
   feature" statements; the annotation is then supported only by servers
   that advertise the corresponding feature.

   The semantics and usage rules for an annotation SHOULD be fully
   specified in "description", "reference" and "units" statements.

   An annotation MUST NOT change the data tree semantics defined by
   YANG.  For example, it is illegal to define and use an annotation
   that allows for overriding uniqueness of leaf-list entries.

   The "status" statement can be used exactly as for YANG data nodes.

   A YANG module containing one or more "md:annotation" extension
   statements SHOULD NOT be used for defining data nodes or groupings.
   Also, derived types, identities and features SHOULD NOT be defined in
   such a module unless they are used by the definitions of annotations
   in that module.

3.1.  Example Definition

   The following module defines the "last-modified" annotation:

   module example-last-modified {
     namespace "http://example.org/example-last-modified";
     prefix "elm";
     import ietf-yang-types {
       prefix "yang";
     }
     import ietf-yang-metadata {
       prefix "md";
     }
     md:annotation last-modified {
       type yang:date-and-time;
       description
         "This annotation contains date and time when the
          annotated instance was last modified (or created).";
     }
   }

4.  Using Annotations

   By advertising a YANG module in which a metadata annotation is
   defined using the "md:annotation" statement, a server indicates that
   it is prepared to handle that annotation according to the
   annotation's definition.  That is, an annotation advertised by the
   server may be attached to an instance of a data node defined in any
   YANG module that is implemented by the server.



Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016               [Page 8]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   Depending on its semantics, an annotation may have an effect only in
   certain data trees and/or on instances of specific data nodes types.

   A client MUST NOT add a specific annotation to data node instances if
   the server didn't advertise it.

   Due care has to be exercised when introducing annotations in network
   management systems in order to avoid interoperability problems and
   software failures caused by a client that does not understand the
   annotations' semantics.  Generally, it is safe for a server to use
   annotations in the following cases:

   o  An annotation is an integral part of a built-in or negotiated
      protocol capability.

   o  An annotation contains auxiliary information that is not critical
      for protocol operation.

   o  The client explicitly asks the server, e.g., via a parameter of a
      protocol operation request, for including an annotation in the
      response.

5.  The Encoding of Annotations

   XML attributes are a natural choice for encoding metadata in XML
   instance documents.  For JSON [RFC7159], there is no generally
   established method for encoding metadata.  This document thus
   introduces a special encoding method that is consistent with the JSON
   encoding of YANG data node instances as defined
   in [I-D.ietf-netmod-yang-json].

5.1.  XML Encoding

   Metadata annotations are added to XML-encoded instances of YANG data
   nodes as XML attributes according to these rules:

   o  The local name of the attribute SHALL be the same as the name of
      the annotation specified in the argument of the corresponding
      "md:annotation" statement.

   o  The namespace of the attribute SHALL be identified by the URI that
      appears as the argument of the "namespace" statement in the YANG
      module where the annotation is defined.  It is RECOMMENDED that
      the prefix specified by the "prefix" statement in the same module
      is used in the qualified name of the attribute.






Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016               [Page 9]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   o  The attribute value SHALL be encoded in the same way as the value
      of a YANG leaf instance having the same type,
      see [I-D.ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis], sec. 9.

   For example, the "last-modified" annotation defined in Section 3.1
   may be encoded as follows:

   <foo xmlns:elm="http://example.org/example-last-modified"
        elm:last-modified="2015-09-16T10:27:35+02:00">
     ...
   </foo>

5.2.  JSON Encoding

   The JSON metadata encoding defined in this section has the following
   properties:

   1.  The encoding of YANG data node instances as defined in
       [I-D.ietf-netmod-yang-json] does not change.

   2.  Namespaces of metadata annotations are encoded in the same way as
       namespaces of YANG data node instances, see
       [I-D.ietf-netmod-yang-json].

5.2.1.  Metadata Object and Annotations

   All metadata annotations assigned to a YANG data node instance are
   encoded as members (name/value pairs) of a single JSON object,
   henceforth denoted as the metadata object.  The placement and name of
   this object depends on the type of the data node as specified in the
   following subsections.

   The name of a metadata annotation (as a member of the metadata
   object) has the following ABNF syntax [RFC5234], where the production
   for "identifier" is defined in sec. 13 of
   [I-D.ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis]

   annotation-name = identifier ":" identifier

   where the left identifier is the name of the YANG module in which the
   annotation is defined, and the identifier on the right is the name of
   the annotation specified in the argument of the corresponding
   "md:annotation" statement.

   Note that unlike member names of YANG data node instances in JSON
   encoding (see sec. 4 in [I-D.ietf-netmod-yang-json]), for annotations
   the explicit namespace identifier (module name) must always be
   present.



Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 10]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   The value of a metadata annotation SHALL be encoded in exactly the
   same way as the value of a YANG leaf node having the same type as the
   annotation, see [I-D.ietf-netmod-yang-json], sec. 6.

5.2.2.  Adding Annotations to Anydata, Container and List Entries

   For a data node instance that is encoded as a JSON object (i.e., a
   container, list entry, or anydata node), the metadata object is added
   as a new member of that object with the name "@".

   Examples:

   o  "cask" is a container or anydata node:

   "cask": {
     "@": {
       "example-last-modified:last-modified":
         "2015-09-16T10:27:35+02:00"
     },
     ...
   }

   o  "seq" is a list whose key is "name", annotation "last-modified" is
      added only to the first entry:

   "seq": [
     {
       "@": {
         "example-last-modified:last-modified":
             "2015-09-16T10:27:35+02:00"
       },
       "name": "one",
       ...
     },
     {
       "name": "two",
       ...
     }
   ]

5.2.3.  Adding Annotations to Anyxml and Leaf Instances

   For an anyxml or leaf instance, the metadata object is added as a
   sibling name/value pair whose name is the symbol "@" concatenated
   with the name of the leaf or anyxml member that is being annotated.
   The namespace part (module name) is included if and only if it is in
   the name of the annotated member.




Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 11]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   Examples:

   o  "flag" is a leaf node of the "boolean" type defined in module
      "foo", and we assume the namespace name has to be expressed in its
      JSON encoding:

   "foo:flag": true,
   "@foo:flag": {
     "example-last-modified:last-modified":
       "2015-09-16T10:27:35+02:00"
   }

   o  "stuff" is an anyxml node:

   "stuff": [1, null, "three"],
   "@stuff": {
     "example-last-modified:last-modified":
       "2015-09-16T10:27:35+02:00"
   }

5.2.4.  Adding Annotations to Leaf-list Entries

   For a leaf-list entry, which is represented as a JSON array with
   values of a primitive type, annotations may be assigned to one or
   more entries by adding a name/array pair as a sibling of the leaf-
   list entry, where the name is symbol "@" concatenated with the name
   of the leaf-list that is being annotated, and the value is a JSON
   array whose i-th element is the metadata object with annotations
   assigned to the i-th entry of the leaf-list entry, or null if the
   i-th entry has no annotations.

   Trailing null values in that array, i.e., those following the last
   non-null metadata object, MAY be omitted.

   For example, in the following leaf-list instance with four entries,
   the "last-modified" annotation is added to the second and third entry
   in the following way:

   "bibliomod:folio": [6, 3, 7, 8],
   "@bibliomod:folio": [
     null,
     { "example-last-modified:last-modified":
         "2015-06-18T17:01:14+02:00"
     },
     { "example-last-modified:last-modified":
         "2015-09-16T10:27:35+02:00"
     }
   ]



Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 12]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


6.  Representing Annotations in DSDL Schemas

   [RFC6110] defines the standard mapping of YANG data models to
   Document Schema Definition Languages (DSDL) [ISO.19757-1].  This
   section specifies the mapping for the extension statement
   "md:annotation" (Section 7), which enables validation of XML instance
   documents containing metadata annotations.

   The first step of the DSDL mapping procedure, i.e., the
   transformation of the YANG data model to the hybrid schema (see
   sec. 6 in [RFC6110]), is modified as follows:

   1.  If the data model contains at least one "md:annotation"
       statement, then a RELAX NG named pattern definition MUST be added
       as a child of the root <rng:grammar> element in the hybrid
       schema.  It is RECOMMENDED to use the name "__yang_metadata__"
       for this named pattern.

   2.  A reference to the named pattern described in item 1 MUST be
       included as a child of every <rng:element> pattern that
       corresponds to an anydata, container, leaf, leaf-list or list
       data node.

   3.  Every metadata annotation definition in the form

       md:annotation ARGUMENT {
         ...
       }

       is mapped to the following RELAX NG pattern:

       <rng:optional>
         <rng:attribute name="PREFIX:ARGUMENT">
           ...
         </rng:attribute>
       </rng:optional>

       where PREFIX is the prefix bound to the namespace URI of the YANG
       module that contains the "md:annotation" statement.  The above
       pattern SHALL be inserted as a child of the named pattern
       described in item 1.

   4.  Substatements of "md:annotation" SHALL be mapped to children of
       the "rng:attribute" pattern exactly as described in sec. 10 of
       [RFC6110].

   For example, the named pattern (item 1), when constructed only for
   the "last-modified" annotation, will have the following definition:



Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 13]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   <rng:define name="__yang_metadata__">
     <rng:optional>
       <rng:attribute name="elm:last-modified">
         <rng:ref name="ietf-yang-types__date-and-time"/>
       </rng:attribute>
     </rng:optional>
   </rng:define>

   Every "rng:element" pattern that corresponds to an anydata,
   container, leaf, list or leaf-list data node will then contain a
   reference to the above named pattern, for example

   <rng:element name="foo:bar">
     <rng:ref name="__yang_metadata__"/>
     ...
   </rng:element>

   Note that it is not necessary to use such a reference for
   "rng:element" patterns corresponding to anyxml data nodes because
   they already permit any XML attributes to be attached to their
   instances.

   The second step of the DSDL mapping procedure, i.e., the
   transformation of the hybrid schema to RELAX NG, Schematron and DSRL
   schemas, is unaffected by the inclusion of "md:annotation".

7.  Metadata YANG Module

   RFC Editor: In this section, replace all occurrences of 'XXXX' with
   the actual RFC number and all occurrences of the revision date below
   with the date of RFC publication (and remove this note).

   RFC Editor: Also please replace all occurrences of 'RFC 6020bis' with
   the actual RFC number that will be assigned to
   [I-D.ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis].

   <CODE BEGINS> file "ietf-yang-metadata@2016-03-21.yang"

   module ietf-yang-metadata {

     namespace "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-yang-metadata";

     prefix "md";

     organization
       "IETF NETMOD (NETCONF Data Modeling Language) Working Group";

     contact



Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 14]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


       "WG Web:   <http://tools.ietf.org/wg/netmod/>
        WG List:  <mailto:netmod@ietf.org>

        WG Chair: Lou Berger
                  <mailto:lberger@labn.net>

        WG Chair: Juergen Schoenwaelder
                  <mailto:j.schoenwaelder@jacobs-university.de>

        WG Chair: Kent Watsen
                  <mailto:kwatsen@juniper.net>

        Editor:   Ladislav Lhotka
                  <mailto:lhotka@nic.cz>";

     description
       "This YANG module defines an extension statement that allows for
        defining metadata annotations.

        Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as
        authors of the code. All rights reserved.

        Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
        without modification, is permitted pursuant to, and subject to
        the license terms contained in, the Simplified BSD License set
        forth in Section 4.c of the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions
        Relating to IETF Documents
        (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info).

        This version of this YANG module is part of RFC XXXX
        (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfcXXXX); see the RFC itself for
        full legal notices.";

     revision 2016-03-21 {
       description
         "Initial revision.";
       reference
         "RFC XXXX: Defining and Using Metadata with YANG";
     }

     extension annotation {
       argument name;
       description
         "This extension allows for defining metadata annotations in
          YANG modules. The 'md:annotation' statement can appear only at
          the top level of a YANG module or submodule, i.e. it becomes a
          new alternative in the ABNF production rule for 'body-stmts'
          (sec. 14 in RFC 6020bis).



Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 15]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


          The argument of the 'md:annotation' statement defines the name
          of the annotation. Syntactically it is a YANG identifier as
          defined in RFC 6020bis, sec. 6.2.

          An annotation defined with this extension statement inherits
          the namespace and other context from the YANG module in which
          it is defined.

          Data type of the annotation value is specified in the same way
          as for a leaf data node using the 'type' statement.

          Semantics of the annotation and other documentation can be
          specified using the following standard YANG substatements (all
          are optional): 'description', 'if-feature', 'reference',
          'status', and 'units'.

          A server announces support for a particular annotation by
          including the module in which the annotation is defined among
          the advertised YANG modules (e.g., in NETCONF hello message or
          yang-library). The annotation then can be attached to any
          instance of data node defined in any YANG module that is
          advertised by the server.

          XML and JSON encoding of annotations is defined in
          RFC XXXX.";
     }
   }

   <CODE ENDS>

8.  IANA Considerations

   RFC Editor: In this section, replace all occurrences of 'XXXX' with
   the actual RFC number and all occurrences of the revision date below
   with the date of RFC publication (and remove this note).

   This document registers a URI in the "IETF XML registry" [RFC3688].
   Following the format in RFC 3688, the following registration has been
   made.

   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   URI: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-yang-metadata

   Registrant Contact: The NETMOD WG of the IETF.

   XML: N/A, the requested URI is an XML namespace.
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------




Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 16]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   This document registers a YANG module in the "YANG Module Names"
   registry [RFC6020].

   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   name:         ietf-yang-metadata
   namespace:    urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-yang-metadata
   prefix:       md
   reference:    RFC XXXX
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

9.  Security Considerations

   This document introduces a mechanism for defining metadata
   annotations in YANG modules and attaching them to instances of YANG
   data nodes.  By itself, this mechanism represents no security threat.
   Security implications of a particular annotation defined using this
   mechanism MUST be duly considered and documented in the the
   annotation's definition.

   An annotation SHOULD be subject to the same or stricter access
   control rules as the data node instance to which the annotation is
   attached.  It is RECOMMENDED that security-sensitive or privacy-
   sensitive data be modeled as regular YANG data nodes rather than
   annotations.

10.  Acknowledgments

   The author wishes to thank Andy Bierman, Martin Bjorklund, Benoit
   Claise, Juergen Schoenwaelder, and Kent Watsen for their helpful
   comments and suggestions.

11.  References

11.1.  Normative References

   [I-D.ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis]
              Bjorklund, M., "The YANG 1.1 Data Modeling Language",
              draft-ietf-netmod-rfc6020bis-11 (work in progress),
              February 2016.

   [I-D.ietf-netmod-yang-json]
              Lhotka, L., "JSON Encoding of Data Modeled with YANG",
              draft-ietf-netmod-yang-json-09 (work in progress), March
              2016.







Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 17]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


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

   [RFC3688]  Mealling, M., "The IETF XML Registry", BCP 81, RFC 3688,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC3688, January 2004,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3688>.

   [RFC5234]  Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.

   [RFC6020]  Bjorklund, M., Ed., "YANG - A Data Modeling Language for
              the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)", RFC 6020,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6020, October 2010,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6020>.

   [RFC6110]  Lhotka, L., Ed., "Mapping YANG to Document Schema
              Definition Languages and Validating NETCONF Content",
              RFC 6110, DOI 10.17487/RFC6110, February 2011,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6110>.

   [RFC7159]  Bray, T., Ed., "The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data
              Interchange Format", RFC 7159, DOI 10.17487/RFC7159, March
              2014, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7159>.

   [W3C.REC-xml-infoset-20040204]
              Cowan, J. and R. Tobin, "XML Information Set (Second
              Edition)", World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation REC-
              xml-infoset-20040204, February 2004,
              <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xml-infoset-20040204>.

   [W3C.REC-xml-names11-20060816]
              Bray, T., Hollander, D., Layman, A., and R. Tobin,
              "Namespaces in XML 1.1 (Second Edition)", World Wide Web
              Consortium Recommendation REC-xml-names11-20060816, August
              2006,
              <http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/REC-xml-names11-20060816>.

11.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-netconf-restconf]
              Bierman, A., Bjorklund, M., and K. Watsen, "RESTCONF
              Protocol", draft-ietf-netconf-restconf-10 (work in
              progress), March 2016.




Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 18]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   [ISO.19757-1]
              International Organization for Standardization, "Document
              Schema Definition Languages (DSDL) - Part 1: Overview",
              ISO/IEC 19757-1, November 2004.

   [RFC6241]  Enns, R., Ed., Bjorklund, M., Ed., Schoenwaelder, J., Ed.,
              and A. Bierman, Ed., "Network Configuration Protocol
              (NETCONF)", RFC 6241, DOI 10.17487/RFC6241, June 2011,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6241>.

Appendix A.  Change Log

   RFC Editor: Remove this section upon publication as an RFC.

A.1.  Changes Between Revisions -06 and -07

   o  Added sentence in Sec. 9 (Stephen Farrell's suggestion).

A.2.  Changes Between Revisions -05 and -06

   o  Added explanation of why a YANG extension is used rather than a
      built-in statement.

A.3.  Changes Between Revisions -04 and -05

   o  Clarification regarding the type of an annotation.

A.4.  Changes Between Revisions -03 and -04

   o  Added explanation of what "top level of a module" means.

A.5.  Changes Between Revisions -02 and -03

   o  Section 4 was considerably simplified, also because member names
      starting with "@" are now permitted by
      [I-D.ietf-netmod-yang-json].

A.6.  Changes Between Revisions -01 and -02

   o  The "type" statement became mandatory.

   o  Terminology section was extended.

   o  The annotation "inactive" defined in the example module was
      replaced with "last-modified" that is supposedly less
      controversial.





Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 19]


Internet-Draft                YANG Metadata                   March 2016


   o  Introduction now states limitation due to XML attribute
      properties.

   o  A recommendation was added to define annotations in a module by
      themselves.

   o  Section "Using Annotations" was added.

   o  An example for "anyxml" was added.

   o  RFC 6241 was moved to informative references.

A.7.  Changes Between Revisions -00 and -01

   o  Define JSON encoding for annotations attached to 'anydata' nodes.

A.8.  Changes Between draft-lhotka-netmod-yang-metadata-01 and draft-
      ietf-netmod-yang-metadata-00

   o  References to RFC 6020 were changed to the 6020bis I-D.

   o  Text about RFC 2119 key words was added to "ietf-yang-metadata"
      module description.

A.9.  Changes Between draft-lhotka-netmod-yang-metadata-00 and -01

   o  Encoding of annotations for anyxml nodes was changed to be the
      same as for leafs.  This was necessary because anyxml value now
      needn't be an object.

   o  It is stated that "md:annotation" statement defines only the
      syntax of an annotation.

   o  Allowed "if-feature" as a substatement of "md:annotation".

Author's Address

   Ladislav Lhotka
   CZ.NIC

   Email: lhotka@nic.cz










Lhotka                 Expires September 22, 2016              [Page 20]