Internet Draft                                    Kwok Ho Chan
Expiration: February 2001                            Nortel Networks
File: draft-ietf-rap-pr-04.txt                    David Durham
                                                     Intel
                                                  Silvano Gai
                                                     Cisco
                                                  Shai Herzog
                                                     IPHighway
                                                  Keith McCloghrie
                                                     Cisco
                                                  Francis Reichmeyer
                                                     PFN
                                                  John Seligson
                                                     Nortel Networks
                                                  Andrew Smith
                                                     No Affiliation
                                                  Raj Yavatkar
                                                     Intel


             COPS Usage for Policy Provisioning (COPS-PR)


                           August 24, 2000



Status of this Memo

  This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
  all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.

  Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
  Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
  other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
  Drafts.

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

  The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
  http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt

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  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

  Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998).  All Rights Reserved.


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Abstract

  This draft describes the use of the COPS protocol [COPS] for
  support of policy provisioning (COPS-PR). This specification is
  independent of the type of policy being provisioned (QoS, Security,
  etc.) but focuses on the mechanisms and conventions used to
  communicate provisioned information between PDPs and PEPs. The
  protocol extensions described in this document do not make any
  assumptions about the policy data model being communicated, but
  describe the message formats and objects that carry the modeled
  policy data.


Conventions used in this document
     The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL
  NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED",  "MAY", and "OPTIONAL"
  in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC-2119].







































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Table of Contents

Abstract............................................................2
Conventions used in this document...................................2
Table of Contents...................................................3
Glossary............................................................4
1. Introduction.....................................................4
1.1. Why COPS for Provisioning?.....................................5
1.2. Interaction between the PEP and PDP............................6
2. Policy Information Base (PIB)....................................7
2.1. Rules for Modifying and Extending PIBs.........................8
2.2. Adding PRCs to, or deprecating from, a PIB.....................8
2.2.1. Adding or Deprecating Attributes of a BER Encoded PRC........8
2.3. COPS Operations Supported for a Provisioned Instance...........9
3. Message Content.................................................10
3.1. Request (REQ)  PEP -> PDP.....................................10
3.2. Decision (DEC)  PDP -> PEP....................................11
3.3. Report State (RPT)  PEP -> PDP................................13
4. COPS-PR Protocol Objects........................................14
4.1. Complete Provisioning Instance Identifier (PRID)..............14
4.2. PRID Prefix(PPRID)............................................15
4.3. Encoded Provisioning Instance Data (EPD)......................16
4.4. Global Provisioning Error Object (GPERR)......................21
4.5. PRC Class Provisioning Error Object (CPERR)...................22
4.6. Error PRID Object (ErrorPRID).................................23
5. COPS-PR Client-Specific Data Formats............................23
5.1. Named Decision Data...........................................23
5.2. ClientSI Request Data.........................................24
5.3. Policy Provisioning Report Data...............................24
5.3.1. Success and Failure Report-Type Data Format.................24
5.3.2. Accounting Report-Type Data Format..........................25
6. Common Operation................................................26
7. Fault Tolerance.................................................28
8. Security Considerations.........................................29
9. IANA Considerations.............................................29
10. Acknowledgements...............................................29
11. References.....................................................30
12. Author Information.............................................31
13. Full Copyright Notice..........................................32















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Glossary

   PRC     Provisioning Class.  A type of policy data.
   PRI     Provisioning Instance.  An instance of a PRC.
   PIB     Policy Information Base.  The database of policy
           information.
   PDP     Policy Decision Point. See [RAP].
   PEP     Policy Enforcement Point. See [RAP].
   PRID    Provisioning Instance Identifier.  Uniquely identifies an
           instance of a PRC.

1. Introduction

   The IETF Resource Allocation Protocol (RAP) WG has defined the
   COPS (Common Open Policy Service) protocol [COPS] as a scalable
   protocol that allows policy servers (PDPs) to communicate policy
   decisions to network devices (PEPs). COPS was designed to support
   multiple types of policy clients.

   COPS is a query/response protocol that supports two common models
   for policy control: Outsourcing and Configuration.

   The Outsourcing model addresses the kind of events at the PEP that
   require an instantaneous policy decision (authorization). In the
   outsourcing scenario, the PEP delegates responsibility to an
   external policy server (PDP) to make decisions on its behalf. For
   example, in COPS Usage for RSVP [COPRSVP] when a RSVP reservation
   message arrives, the PEP must decide whether to admit or reject
   the request. It can outsource this decision by sending a specific
   query to its PDP, waiting for its decision before admitting the
   outstanding reservation.

   The COPS Configuration model (herein described as the Provisioning
   model), on the other hand, makes no assumptions of such direct 1:1
   correlation between PEP events and PDP decisions. The PDP may
   proactively provision the PEP reacting to external events (such as
   user input), PEP events, and any combination thereof (N:M
   correlation). Provisioning may be performed in bulk (e.g., entire
   router QoS configuration) or in portions (e.g., updating a
   DiffServ marking filter).

   Network resources are often provisioned based on relatively static
   SLAs (Service Level Agreements) at network boundaries. While the
   Outsourcing model is dynamically paced by the PEP in real-time,
   the Provisioning model is paced by the PDP in somewhat flexible
   timing over a wide range of configurable aspects of the PEP.







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       Edge Device               Policy Server
       +--------------+          +-----------+     +-----------+
       |              |          |           |     | External  |
       |              |  COPS    |           |     | Events    |
       |   +-----+    |  REQ()   |  +-----+  |     +---+-------+
       |   |     |----|----------|->|     |  |         |
       |   | PEP |    |          |  | PDP |<-|---------+
       |   |     |<---|----------|--|     |  |
       |   +-----+    |   COPS   |  +-----+  |
       |              |   DEC()  |           |
       +--------------+          +-----------+

                    Figure 1: COPS Provisioning Model

   In COPS-PR, policy requests describe the PEP and its configurable
   parameters (rather than an operational event). If a change occurs
   in these basic parameters, an updated request is sent. Hence,
   requests are issued quite infrequently. Decisions are not
   necessarily mapped directly to requests, and are issued mostly
   when the PDP responds to external events or PDP events (policy/SLA
   updates).

   This draft describes the use of the COPS protocol [COPS] for
   support of policy provisioning. This specification is independent
   of the type of policy being provisioned (QoS, Security, etc.).
   Rather, it focuses on the mechanisms and conventions used to
   communicate provisioned information between PDPs and PEPs. The
   data model assumed in this document is based on the concept of
   Policy Information Bases (PIBs) that define the policy data. There
   may be one or more PIBs for given area of policy and different
   areas of policy may have different sets of PIBs.

   In order to support a model that includes multiple PDPs
   controlling non-overlapping areas of policy on a single PEP, the
   client-type specified by the PEP to the PDP is unique for the area
   of policy being managed. A single client-type for a given area of
   policy (eg. QoS) will be used for all PIBs that exist in that
   area.  The client should treat all the COPS-PR client-types it
   supports as non-overlapping and independent namespaces where
   instances MUST NOT be shared.

   The examples used in this document are biased toward QoS Policy
   Provisioning in a Differentiated Services (DiffServ) environment.
   However, COPS-PR can be used for other types of provisioning
   policies under the same framework.

  1.1. Why COPS for Provisioning?

   COPS-PR has been designed within a framework that is optimized for
   efficiently provisioning policies across devices, based on the



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   requirements defined in [RAP]. First, COPS-PR allows for efficient
   transport of attributes, large atomic transactions of data, and
   efficient and flexible error reporting. Second, as it has a single
   connection between the policy client and server per area of policy
   control identified by a COPS Client-Type, it guarantees only one
   server updates a particular policy configuration at any given
   time. Such a policy configuration is effectively locked, even from
   local console configuration, while the PEP is connected to a PDP
   via COPS. COPS uses reliable TCP transport and, thus, uses a state
   sharing/synchronization mechanism and exchanges differential
   updates only. If either the server or client are rebooted (or
   restarted) the other would know about it quickly. Last, it is
   defined as a real-time interrupt-driven communications mechanism,
   never requiring polling between the PEP and PDP.

   Additionally, the COPS protocol is already used for policy control
   by outsourcing signaling protocols such as RSVP. It is highly
   desirable to use a single policy control protocol for Quality of
   Service (QoS) mechanisms (if possible), rather than invent a new
   one for each type of policy problem.

   At the same time, useful mechanisms from SNMP were adopted. COPS-
   PR uses a named Policy Information Base (PIB), which can be
   described using the SMI [V2SMI] and encoded using BER [BER] data
   encoding. This allows reuse of experience, knowledge, tools, data
   models, and some code from the SNMP community. In particular, this
   document describes the mechanisms used to transport data modeled
   using the SMI over COPS-PR.

  1.2. Interaction between the PEP and PDP

   When a device boots, it opens a COPS connection to its Primary
   PDP. When the connection is established, the PEP sends information
   about itself to the PDP in the form of a configuration request.
   This information includes client specific information (e.g.,
   hardware type, software release, configuration information).
   During this phase the client may also specify the maximum COPS-PR
   message size supported.

   In response, the PDP downloads all provisioned policies that are
   currently relevant to that device. On receiving the provisioned
   policies, the device maps them into its local QoS mechanisms, and
   installs them. If conditions change at the PDP such that the PDP
   detects that changes are required in the provisioned policies
   currently in effect, then the PDP sends the changes (installs,
   updates, and/or deletes) in policy to the PEP, and the PEP updates
   its local configuration appropriately.

   If, subsequently, the configuration of the device changes (board
   removed, board added, new software installed, etc.) in ways not



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   covered by policies already known to the PEP, then the PEP
   asynchronously sends this unsolicited new information to the PDP
   in an updated configuration request. On receiving this new
   information, the PDP sends to the PEP any additional provisioned
   policies now needed by the PEP, or removes those policies that are
   no longer required.

2. Policy Information Base (PIB)

   The data carried by COPS-PR is a set of policy data. The protocol
   assumes a named data structure, known as a Policy Information Base
   (PIB), to identify the type and purpose of unsolicited policy
   information that is "pushed" from the PDP to the PEP for
   provisioning policy. The PIB name space is common to both the PEP
   and the PDP and data instances within this space are unique within
   the scope of a given Client-Type and Request-State per TCP
   connection between a PEP and PDP. Note that given a device might
   implement multiple COPS Client-Types, a unique instance space is
   to be provided for each separate Client-Type. There is no sharing
   of instance data across the Client-Types implemented by a PEP,
   even if the types of classes being instantiated are the same.

   The PIB can be described as a conceptual tree namespace where the
   branches of the tree represent structures of data or Provisioning
   Classes (PRCs), while the leaves represent various instantiations
   of Provisioning Instances (PRIs). There may be multiple data
   instances (PRIs) for any given data structure (PRC). For example,
   if one wanted to install multiple access control filters, the PRC
   might represent a generic access control filter type and each PRI
   might represent an individual access control filter to be applied.
   The tree might be represented as follows:

             -------+-------+----------+---PRC--+--PRI
                    |       |          |        +--PRI
                    |       |          |
                    |       |          +---PRC-----PRI
                    |       |
                    |       +---PRC--+--PRI
                    |                +--PRI
                    |                +--PRI
                    |                +--PRI
                    |                +--PRI
                    |
                    +---PRC---PRI

                          Figure 2: The PIB Tree

   Instances of the policy classes (PRIs) are each identified by a
   Provisioning Instance Identifier (PRID). A PRID is a name, carried




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   in a COPS <Named ClientSI> or <Named Decision Data> object, which
   identifies a particular instance of a class.


  2.1. Rules for Modifying and Extending PIBs

   As experience is gained with policy management, and as new
   requirements arise, it will be necessary to make changes to PIBs.
   Changes to an existing PIB can be made in several ways.

    (1) Additional PRCs can be added to a PIB or an existing one
        deprecated.

    (2) Attributes can be added to, or deprecated from, an existing
        PRC.

    (3) An existing PRC can be extended or augmented with a new PRC
        defined in another (perhaps enterprise specific) PIB.

   The rules for each of these extension mechanisms is described in
   this sub-section.  All of these mechanisms for modifying a PIB
   allow for interoperability between PDPs and PEPs even when one
   party is using a new version of the PIB while the other is using
   an old version.

  2.2. Adding PRCs to, or deprecating from, a PIB

   A published PIB can be extended with new PRCs by simply revising
   the document and adding additional PRCs.  These additional PRCs
   are easily identified with new PRIDs under the module's PRID
   Prefix.

   In the event that a PEP implementing the new PIB is being
   configured by a PDP implementing the old PIB, the PEP will simply
   not receive any instances of the new PRC.  In the event that the
   PEP is implementing the old PIB and the PDP the new one, the PEP
   may receive PRIs for the new PRC. Under such conditions, the PEP
   MUST return an error to the PDP, and rollback to its previous
   (good) state.

   Similarly, existing PRCs can be deprecated from a PIB.  In this
   case, the PEP ignores any PRIs sent to it by a PDP implementing
   the old (non-deprecated) version of the PIB.  A PDP implementing
   the new version of the PIB simply does not send any instances of
   the deprecated class.

  2.2.1. Adding or Deprecating Attributes of a BER Encoded PRC

   A PIB can be modified to deprecate existing attributes of a PRC or
   add new ones.



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   When deprecating the attributes of a PRC, it must be remembered
   that, with the COPS-PR protocol, the attributes of the PRC are
   identified by their order in the sequence rather than an explicit
   label (or attribute OID).  Consequently, an ASN.1 value MUST be
   sent even for deprecated attributes so that a PDP and PEP
   implementing different versions of the PIB are inter-operable.

   For a deprecated attribute, if the PDP is using a BER encoded PIB,
   the PDP MUST send either an ASN.1 value of the correct type, or it
   may send an ASN.1 NULL value.  A PEP that receives an ASN.1 NULL
   for an attribute that is not deprecated SHOULD substitute a
   default value.  If it has no default value to substitute it MUST
   return an error to the PDP.

   When adding new attributes to a PIB, these new attributes must be
   added in sequence after the existing ones.  A PEP that receives a
   PRI with more attributes than it is expecting MUST ignore the
   additional attributes and send a warning back to the PDP.

   A PEP that receives a PRI with fewer attributes than it is
   expecting SHOULD assume default values for the missing attributes.
   It MAY send a warning back to the PDP.  If the missing attributes
   are required and there is no suitable default, the PEP MUST send
   an error back to the PDP.  In all cases the missing attributes are
   assumed to correspond to the last attributes of the PRC.


  2.3. COPS Operations Supported for a Provisioned Instance

   A Provisioning Instance (PRI) typically contains a value for each
   attribute defined for the PRC of which it is an instance and is
   identified uniquely, within the scope of a given COPS Client-Type
   and Request-State on a PEP, by a Provisioning Instance Identifier
   (PRID). The following COPS operations are supported on a PRI:

   o Install - This operation creates or updates a named instance of
     a PRC. It includes two parameters: a PRID object to name the PRI
     and an Encoded Provisioning Instance Data (EPD) object with the
     new/updated values. The PRID value MUST uniquely identify a
     single PRI (i.e. PRID prefix or PRC values are illegal). Updates
     to an existing PRI are achieved by simply reinstalling the same
     PRID with the updated EPD data.

   o Remove - This operation is used to delete an instance of a PRC.
     It includes one parameter, a PRID object, which names either the
     individual PRI to be deleted or a PRID prefix naming one or more
     complete classes of PRIs. Prefix-based deletion supports
     efficient bulk policy removal. The removal of an unknown/non-
     existent PRID SHOULD result in a warning to the PDP (no error).



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3. Message Content

   The COPS protocol provides for different COPS clients to define
   their own "named", i.e. client-specific, information for various
   messages. This section describes the messages exchanged between a
   COPS server (PDP) and COPS Policy Provisioning clients (PEP) that
   carry client-specific data objects. All the COPS messages used by
   COPS-PR conform to the message specifications defined in the COPS
   base protocol [COPS].

   Note: The use of the '*' character represented throughout this
   document is consistent with the ABNF [RFC2234] and means 0 or more
   of the following entities.

3.1. Request (REQ)  PEP -> PDP

   The REQ message is sent by policy provisioning clients to issue a
   'configuration request' to the PDP as specified in the COPS
   Context Object. The Client Handle associated with the REQ message
   originated by a provisioning client MUST be unique for that
   client. The Client Handle is used to identify a specific request
   state. Thus, one client can potentially open several configuration
   request states, each uniquely identified by its handle. Different
   request states are used to isolate similarly named configuration
   information into non-overlapping contexts (or logically isolated
   namespaces). Thus, an instance of named information is unique
   relative to a particular client-type and is unique relative to a
   particular request state for that client-type, even if the
   information was similarly identified in other request states (i.e.
   uses the same PRID). Thus, the Client Handle is also part of the
   instance identification of the communicated configuration
   information.

   The configuration request message serves as a request from the PEP
   to the PDP for provisioning policy data that the PDP may have for
   the PEP, such as access control lists, etc. This includes policy
   the PDP may have at the time the REQ is received as well as any
   future policy data or updates to this data.

   The configuration request message should include provisioning
   client information to provide the PDP with client-specific
   configuration or capability information about the PEP. The
   information provided by the PEP should include client resources
   (e.g. queuing capabilities) and default policy configuration (e.g.
   default role combinations) information as well as incarnation data
   on existing policy. This information typically does not include
   all the information previously installed by a PDP but rather
   should include checksums or shortened references to previously



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   installed information for synchronization purposes. This
   information from the client assists the server in deciding what
   types of policy the PEP can install and enforce. The format of the
   information encapsulated in one or more of the COPS Named ClientSI
   objects is described in section 5. Note that the configuration
   request message is generated and sent to the PDP in response to
   the receipt of a Synchronize State Request (SSQ) message from the
   PDP. Likewise, an updated configuration request message (using the
   same Client Handle value as the original request now being
   updated) may also be generated by the PEP and sent to the PDP at
   any time due to local modifications of the PEP's internal state.
   In this way, the PDP will be synchronized with the PEP's relevant
   internal state at all times.

   The policy information supplied by the PDP MUST be consistent with
   the named decision data defined for the policy provisioning
   client. The PDP responds to the configuration request with a DEC
   message containing any available provisioning policy data.

   The REQ message has the following format:

               <Request> ::= <Common Header>
                              <Client Handle>
                              <Context = config request>
                              *(<Named ClientSI>)
                              [<Integrity>]

   Note that the COPS objects IN-Int, OUT-Int and LDPDecisions are
   not included in a COPS-PR Request.


3.2. Decision (DEC)  PDP -> PEP

   The DEC message is sent from the PDP to a policy provisioning
   client in response to the REQ message received from the PEP. The
   Client Handle MUST be the same Handle that was received in the
   corresponding REQ message.

   The DEC message is sent as an immediate response to a
   configuration request with the solicited message flag set in the
   COPS message header. Subsequent DEC messages may also be sent at
   any time after the original DEC message to supply the PEP with
   additional/updated policy information without the solicited
   message flag set in the COPS message header (as they are
   unsolicited decisions).

   Each DEC message may contain multiple decisions. This means a
   single message can install some policies and delete others. In
   general a single COPS-PR DEC message MUST contain any required
   remove decisions first, followed by any required install



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   decisions. This is used to solve a precedence issue, not a timing
   issue: the remove decision deletes what it specifies, except those
   items that are installed in the same message.

   The DEC message can also be used by the PDP to command the PEP to
   open a new Request State or Delete an existing Request-State as
   identified by the Client-Handle. To accomplish this, COPS-PR
   defines a new flag for the COPS Decision Flags object. The flag
   0x02 is to be used by COPS-PR client-types and is hereafter
   referred to as the "Request-State" flag. An Install decision
   (Decision Flags: Command-Code=Install) with the Request-State flag
   set in the COPS Decision Flags object will cause the PEP to issue
   a new Request with a new Client Handle or else specify the
   appropriate error in a COPS Report message. A Remove decision
   (Decision Flags: Command-Code=Remove) with the Request-State flag
   set in the COPS Decision Flags object will cause the PEP to send a
   COPS Delete Request State (DRQ) message for the Request-State
   identified by the Client Handle in the DEC message. Whenever the
   Request-State flag is set in the COPS Decision Flags object in the
   DEC message, no COPS Named Decision Data object can be included in
   the corresponding decision (as it serves no purpose for this
   decision flag).

   A COPS-PR DEC message MUST be treated as a single "transaction",
   i.e. either all the decisions in a DEC message succeed or they all
   fail. This allows the PDP to delete some policies only if other
   policies can be installed in their place. The DEC message has the
   following format:

   <Decision Message> ::= <Common Header>
                          <Client Handle>
                          *(<Decision>) | <Error>
                          [<Integrity>]


   <Decision> ::= <Context>
                  <Decision: Flags>
                  [<Named Decision Data: Provisioning >]

   Note that the Named Decision Data (Provisioning) object is
   included in a COPS-PR Decision when it is an Install or Remove
   decision with no Decision Flags set. Other types of COPS decision
   data objects (e.g. Stateless, Replacement) are not supported by
   COPS-PR client-types. The Named Decision Data object MUST NOT be
   included in the decision if the Decision Flags object Command-Code
   is NULL (meaning there is no configuration information to install
   at this time) or if the Request-State flag is set in the Decision
   Flags object.





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   For each decision in the DEC message, the PEP performs the
   operation specified in the Command-Code and Flags field in the
   Decision Flags object on the Named Decision Data. For the policy
   provisioning clients, the format for this data is defined in the
   context of the Policy Information Base (see section 5). In
   response to a DEC message, the policy provisioning client sends a
   RPT message with the solicited message flag set back to the PDP to
   inform the PDP of the action taken.


  3.3. Report State (RPT)  PEP -> PDP

   The RPT message is sent from the policy provisioning clients to
   the PDP to report accounting information associated with the
   provisioned policy, or to notify the PDP of changes in the PEP
   (Report-Type = 'Accounting') related to the provisioning client.

   RPT is also used as a mechanism to inform the PDP about the action
   taken at the PEP in response to a DEC message. For example, in
   response to an 'Install' decision, the PEP informs the PDP if the
   policy data is installed (Report-Type = 'Success') or not (Report-
   Type = 'Failure'). Reports that are in response to a DEC message
   MUST set the solicited message flag in their COPS message header.
   In case of a solicited failure, the PEP is expected to rollback to
   its previous (good) state as if the erroneous DEC transaction did
   not occur.

   Reports can also be unsolicited and all unsolicited Reports MUST
   NOT set the solicited message flag in their COPS message header.
   Examples of unsolicited reports include 'Accounting' Report-Types,
   which were not triggered by a specific DEC messages, or 'Failure'
   Report-Types, which indicate a failure in a previously
   successfully installed configuration (note that, in the case of
   such unsolicited failures, the PEP cannot rollback to a previous
   "good" state as it becomes ambiguous under these asynchronous
   conditions what the correct state might be).

   The RPT message may contain provisioning client information such
   as accounting parameters or errors/warnings related to a decision.
   The data format for this information is defined in the context of
   the policy information base (see section 5). The RPT message has
   the following format:

               <Report State> ::= <Common Header>
                                  <Client Handle>
                                  <Report Type>
                                  [<Named ClientSI>]
                                  [<Integrity>]





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4. COPS-PR Protocol Objects

   The COPS Policy Provisioning clients encapsulate several new
   objects within the existing COPS Named Client-specific information
   object and Named Decision Data object. This section defines the
   format of these new objects.

   COPS-PR classifies policy data according to "bindings", where a
   binding consists of a Provisioning Instance Identifier and the
   Provisioning Instance data, encoded within the context of the
   provisioning policy information base (see section 5).

   The format for these new objects is as follows:

           0                1               2                 3
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
   |             Length            |     S-Num     |     S-Type    |
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
   |                   32 bit unsigned integer                     |
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+

   S-Num and S-Type are similar to the C-Num and C-Type used in the
   base COPS objects. The difference is that S-Num and S-Type are
   used only for COPS-PR clients and are encapsulated within the
   existing COPS Named ClientSI or Named Decision Data objects. The
   S-Num identifies the general purpose of the object, and the S-Type
   describes the specific encoding used for the object. All the
   object descriptions and examples in this document use the Basic
   Encoding Rules as the encoding type (S-Type = 1).  Additional
   encodings can be defined for the remaining S-Types in the future
   (for example, an additional S-Type can be used to carry XML string
   based encodings [XML] as an EPD of PRI instance data, where URNs
   identify PRCs [URN] and XPointers would be used for PRIDs).

   Length is a two-octet value that describes the number of octets
   (including the header) that compose the object. If the length in
   octets does not fall on a 32-bit word boundary, padding MUST be
   added to the end of the object so that it is aligned to the next
   32-bit boundary before the object can be sent on the wire. On the
   receiving side, a subsequent object boundary can be found by
   simply rounding up the stated object length of the current object
   to the next 32-bit boundary. The values for the padding MUST be
   all zeros.


  4.1. Complete Provisioning Instance Identifier (PRID)


   S-Num = 1, S-Type = 1 (Complete BER PRID), Length = variable.



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   This object is used to carry the identifier, or PRID, of a
   Provisioning Instance. The identifier is encoded following the
   rules that have been defined for encoding SNMP Object Identifier
   (OID) values. Specifically, PRID values are encoded using the
   Type/Length/Value (TLV) format and initial sub-identifier packing
   that is specified by the binary encoding rules [BER] used for
   Object Identifiers in an SNMP PDU.

           0                1               2                 3
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
   |              Length           | S-Num = PRID  | S-Type = BER  |
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
   ...                                                           ...
   |                     Instance Identifier                       |
   ...                                                           ...
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+

   For example, a (fictitious) PRID equal to 1.3.6.1.2.2.8.1 would be
   encoded as follows (values in hex):

         06 07 2B 06 01 02 02 08 01

   The entire PRID object would be encoded as follows:

         00 0D                        - Length
         01                           - S-Num
         01                           - S-Type (Complete PRID)
         06 07 2B 06 01 02 02 08 01   - Encoded PRID
         00 00 00                     - Padding

   NOTE: When encoding an xxxTable's xxxEntry Object-Type as defined
   by the SMI [V2SMI], the OID will contain all the sub-identifiers
   up to and including the xxxEntry OID but not the columnar
   identifiers for the attributes within the xxxEntry's SEQUENCE. The
   last (suffix) identifier is the INDEX of an instance of an entire
   xxxEntry including its SEQUENCE of attributes encoded in the EPD
   (defined below). This constitutes an instance (PRI) of a class
   (PRC) in terms of the SMI.

   A PRID for a scalar (non-columnar) value's OID is encoded directly
   as the PRC where the instance identifier suffix is always zero as
   there will be only one instance of a scalar value. The EPD will
   then be used to convey the scalar value.


  4.2. PRID Prefix(PPRID)

   Certain operations, such as decision removal, can be optimized by
   specifying a PRID prefix with the intent that the requested



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   operation be applied to all PRIs matching the prefix (for example,
   all instances of the same PRC). PRID prefix objects MUST only be
   used in the COPS protocol <Remove Decision> operation where it may
   be more optimal to perform bulk decision removal using class
   prefixes instead of a sequence of individual <Remove Decision>
   operations. Other COPS operations, e.g. <Install Decision>
   operations always require individual PRID specification.

   S-Num = 2, S-Type = 1 (BER PRID Prefix), Length = variable.

              0                1               2                 3
    +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
    |              Length           | S-Num = PPRID | S-Type = BER  |
    +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
    ...                                                           ...
    |                          PRID Prefix                          |
    ...                                                           ...
    +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+

   Continuing with the previous example, a PRID prefix that is equal to
   1.3.6.1.2.2 would be encoded as follows (values in hex):

         06 05 2B 06 01 02 02

      The entire PRID object would be encoded as follows:

         00 0B                        - Length
         02                           - S-Num = PRID Prefix
         01                           - S-Type = BER
         06 05 2B 06 01 02 02         - Encoded PRID Prefix
         00                           - Padding


  4.3. Encoded Provisioning Instance Data (EPD)

   S-Num = 3, S-Type = 1, Length = variable.

   This object is used to carry the encoded value of a Provisioning
   Instance. The PRI value, which contains all of the individual values
   of the attributes that comprise the class (which corresponds to the
   SMI xxxEntry Object-Type defining the SEQUENCE of attributes
   comprising a table [V2SMI]), is encoded as a series of TLV sub-
   components. Each sub-component represents the value of a single
   attribute and is encoded following the BER. Note that the ordering
   of non-scalar (multiple) attributes within the EPD is dictated by
   their respective columnar OID suffix when defined in [V2SMI]. Thus,
   the attribute with the smallest columnar OID suffix will appear
   first and the attribute with the highest number columnar OID suffix
   will be last.



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           0                1               2                 3
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
   |             Length            | S-Num = EPD   | S-Type = BER  |
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
   ...                                                           ...
   |                     BER Encoded PRI Value                     |
   ...                                                           ...
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+


   As an example, a fictional definition of a packet filter class could
   be described using the SMI as follows:


   filterIpFilter OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { someExampleOID 1 }

   -- The IP Filter Table

   filterTable OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         SEQUENCE OF FilterEntry
       MAX-ACCESS     not-accessible
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "Filter definitions.  A packet has to match all fields in
           a filter.  Wildcards may be specified for those fields
           that are not relevant."

       ::= { filterIpFilter 1 }

   filterEntry OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         FilterEntry
       MAX-ACCESS     not-accessible
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "An instance of the filter class."

       INDEX { filterIndex }

       ::= { filterTable 1 }

   FilterEntry ::= SEQUENCE {
           filterIndex        INTEGER,
           filterDstAddr      IpAddress,
           filterDstAddrMask  IpAddress,
           filterSrcAddr      IpAddress,
           filterSrcAddrMask  IpAddress,
           filterDscp         Integer32,
           filterProtocol     INTEGER,
           filterDstL4PortMin INTEGER,
           filterDstL4PortMax INTEGER,



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           filterSrcL4PortMin INTEGER,
           filterSrcL4PortMax INTEGER,
           filterPermit       TruthValue
   }

   filterIndex OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         INTEGER
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
        "An integer index to uniquely identify this filter among all
         the filters."

       ::= { filterEntry 1 }

   filterDstAddr OBJECT-TYPE

       SYNTAX         IpAddress
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
        "The IP address to match against the packet's destination IP
        address."

       ::= { filterEntry 2 }

   filterDstAddrMask OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         IpAddress
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
        "A mask for the matching of the destination IP address.
        A zero bit in the mask means that the corresponding bit in
        the address always matches."

       ::= { filterEntry 3 }

   filterSrcAddr OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         IpAddress
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "The IP address to match against the packet's source IP
           address."

       ::= { filterEntry 4 }

   filterSrcAddrMask OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         IpAddress
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write



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       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "A mask for the matching of the source IP address."

       ::= { filterEntry 5 }

   filterDscp OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         INTEGER (-1 | 0..63)
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "The value that the DSCP in the packet can have and
           match. A value of -1 indicates that a specific
           DSCP value has not been defined and thus all DSCP values
           are considered a match."

       ::= { filterEntry 6 }

   filterProtocol OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         INTEGER (0..255)
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "The IP protocol to match against the packet's protocol.
           A value of zero means match all."

       ::= { filterEntry 7 }

   filterDstL4PortMin OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         INTEGER (0..65535)
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "The minimum value that the packet's layer 4 destination
           port number can have and match this filter."

       ::= { filterEntry 8 }

   filterDstL4PortMax OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         INTEGER (0..65535)
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "The maximum value that the packet's layer 4 destination
           port number can have and match this filter."

       ::= { filterEntry 9 }

   filterSrcL4PortMin OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         INTEGER (0..65535)



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       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "The minimum value that the packet's layer 4 source port
           number can have and match this filter."

       ::= { filterEntry 10 }

   filterSrcL4PortMax OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         INTEGER (0..65535)
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "The maximum value that the packet's layer 4 source port
           number can have and match this filter."

       ::= { filterEntry 11 }

   filterPermit OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX         TruthValue
       MAX-ACCESS     read-write
       STATUS         current
       DESCRIPTION
           "If false, the evaluation is negated. That is, a
           valid match will be evaluated as not a match and vice
           versa."

       ::= { filterEntry 12 }


   A fictional instance of the filter class defined above might then
   be encoded as follows:

   02 01 08            :filterIndex/INTEGER/Value = 8
   40 04 C0 39 01 05   :filterDstAddr/IpAddress/Value = 192.57.1.5
   40 04 FF FF FF FF   :filterDstMask/IpAddress/Value = 255.255.255.255
   40 04 00 00 00 00   :filterSrcAddr/IpAddress/Value = 0.0.0.0
   40 04 00 00 00 00   :filterSrcMask/IpAddress/Value = 0.0.0.0
   02 01 FF            :filterDscp/INTEGER/Value = -1 (not used)
   02 01 06            :filterProtocol/INTEGER/Value = 6 (TCP)
   05 00               :filterDstL4PortMin/NULL/not supported
   05 00               :filterDstL4PortMax/NULL/not supported
   05 00               :filterSrcL4PortMin/NULL/not supported
   05 00               :filterSrcL4PortMax/NULL/not supported
   02 01 01            :filterPermit/TruthValue/Value = 1 (true)


   The entire EPD object for this instance would then be encoded as
   follows:




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   00 30                        - Length
   03                           - S-Num = EPD
   01                           - S-Type = BER
   02 01 08                     - filterIndex
   40 04 C0 39 01 05            - filterDstAddr
   40 04 FF FF FF FF            - filterDstMask
   40 04 00 00 00 00            - filterSrcAddr
   40 04 00 00 00 00            - filterSrcMask
   02 01 FF                     - filterDscp
   02 01 06                     - filterProtocol
   05 00                        - filterDstL4PortMin
   05 00                        - filterDstL4PortMax
   05 00                        - filterSrcL4PortMin
   05 00                        - filterSrcL4PortMax
   02 01 01                     - filterPermit

   Note that attributes not supported within a class are still returned
   in the EPD for a PRI. By convention, a NULL value is returned for
   attributes that are not supported. In the previous example, source
   and destination port number attributes are not supported.


  4.4. Global Provisioning Error Object (GPERR)

   S-Num = 4, S-Type = 1, Length = 8.

            0                1               2                 3
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
   |              Length           | S-Num = GPERR | S-Type = BER  |
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
   |           Error-Code          |       Error Sub-code          |
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+

   The global provisioning error object has the same format as the
   Error object in COPS [COPS], except with C-Num and C-Type replaced
   by the S-Num and S-Type values shown. The global provision error
   object is used to communicate general errors that do not map to a
   specific PRC.

   The following global error codes are defined:

     availMemLow(1)
     availMemExhausted(2)
     unknownASN.1Tag(3)     - The erroneous tag type SHOULD be
                              specified in the Error Sub-Code field.
     maxMsgSizeExceeded(4)  - COPS message (transaction) was too big.
     unknownError(5)
     maxRequestStatesOpen(6)- No more Request-States can be created
                              by the PEP (in response to a DEC



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                              message attempting to open a new
                              Request-State).
     invalidASN.1Length(7)  - An ASN.1 object length was incorrect.
     invalidObjectPad(8)    - Object was not properly padded.
     unknownPIBData(9)      - Some of the data supplied by the PDP is
                              unknown/unsupported by the PEP (but
                              otherwise formatted correctly). PRC
                              specific error codes are to be used to
                              provide more information.
     unknownCOPSPRObject(10)- Sub-code (octet 2) contains unknown
                              object's S-Num and (octet 3) contains
                              unknown object's S-Type.
     malformedDecision(11)  - Decision could not be parsed.



  4.5. PRC Class Provisioning Error Object (CPERR)

   S-Num = 5, S-Type = 1, Length = 8.

            0                1               2                 3
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
   |              Length           | S-Num = CPERR | S-Type = BER  |
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
   |           Error-Code          |       Error Sub-code          |
   +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+

   The class-specific provisioning error object has the same format
   as the Error object in COPS [COPS], except with C-Num and C-Type
   replaced by the S-Num and S-Type values shown. The class-specific
   error object is used to communicate errors relating to specific
   PRCs and MUST have an associated Error PRID Object.


   The following Generic Class-Specific errors are defined:

     priSpaceExhausted(1) -     no more instances may currently be
                                installed in the given class.
     priInstanceInvalid(2) -    the specified class instance is
                                currently invalid prohibiting
                                installation or removal.
     attrValueInvalid(3) -      the specified value for identified
                                attribute is illegal.
     attrValueSupLimited(4) -   the specified value for the identified
                                attribute is legal but not currently
                                supported by the device.
     attrEnumSupLimited(5) -    the specified enumeration for the
                                identified attribute is legal but not
                                currently supported by the device.




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     attrMaxLengthExceeded(6) - the overall length of the specified
                                value for the identified attribute
                                exceeds device limitations.
     attrReferenceUnknown(7) -  the class instance specified by the
                                policy instance identifier does not
                                exist.
     priNotifyOnly(8) -         the class is currently only supported
                                for use by request or report messages
                                prohibiting decision installation.
     unknownPrc(9) -            attempt to install a PRI of a class not
                                supported by PEP.
     tooFewAttrs(10) -          recvd PRI has fewer attributes than
                                required.
     invalidAttrType(11) -      recvd PRI has an attribute of the wrong
                                type.
     deletedInRef(12)  -        deleted PRI is still referenced by
                                other (non) deleted PRIs
     priSpecificError(13) -     the Error Sub-code field contains the
                                PRC specific error code

     Where appropriate (errors 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 above) the error sub-code
      SHOULD identify the OID sub-identifier of the attribute
      associated with the error.

  4.6. Error PRID Object (ErrorPRID)

   S-Num = 6, S-Type = 1 (BER ErrorPRID), Length = variable.

   This object is used to carry the identifier, or PRID, of a
   Provisioning Instance that caused an installation error or could
   not be installed or removed. The identifier is encoded and
   formatted exactly as in the PRID object as described in section
   4.1.


5. COPS-PR Client-Specific Data Formats

   This section describes the format of the named client specific
   information for the COPS policy provisioning client. ClientSI
   formats are defined for Decision message's Named Decision Data
   object, the Request message's Named ClientSI object and Report
   message's Named ClientSI object. The actual content of the data is
   defined by the policy information base for a specific provisioning
   client-type (see below).

  5.1. Named Decision Data

   The formats encapsulated by the Named Decision Data object for the
   policy provisioning client-types depends on the type of decision.
   Install and Remove are the two types of decisions that dictate the



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   internal format of the COPS Named Decision Data object and require
   its presence. Install and Remove refer to the 'Install' and
   'Remove' Command-Code, respectively, specified in the COPS
   Decision Flags Object when no Decision Flags are set. The data, in
   general, is composed of one or more bindings. Each binding
   associates a PRID object and a EPD object. The PRID object is
   always present in both install and remove decisions, the EPD
   object MUST be present in the case of an install decision and MUST
   NOT be present in the case of a remove decision.

   The format for this data is encapsulated within the COPS Named
   Decision Data object as follows:

     <Named Decision Data> ::= <<Install Decision> |
                                 <Remove Decision>>

     <Install Decision>    ::= *(<PRID> <EPD>)

     <Remove Decision>     ::= *(<PRID>|<PPRID>)

   Note that PRID objects in a Remove Decision may specify PRID
   prefix values. Explicit and implicit deletion of installed
   policies is supported by a client. Install Decision data MUST be
   explicit (i.e., PRID prefix values are illegal and MUST be
   rejected by a client).

  5.2. ClientSI Request Data

   The provisioning client request data will use same bindings as
   described above. The format for this data is encapsulated in the
   COPS Named ClientSI object as follows:

   <Named ClientSI: Request> ::= <*(<PRID> <EPD>)>

  5.3. Policy Provisioning Report Data

   The COPS Named ClientSI object is used in the RPT message in
   conjunction with the accompanying COPS Report Type object to
   encapsulate COPS-PR report information from the PEP to the PDP.
   Report types can be 'Success' or 'Failure', indicating to the PDP
   that a particular set of provisioning policies has been either
   successfully or unsuccessfully installed/removed on the PEP, or
   'Accounting'.

  5.3.1. Success and Failure Report-Type Data Format

   Report-types can be 'Success' or 'Failure' indicating to the PDP
   that a particular set of provisioning policies has been either
   successfully or unsuccessfully installed/removed on the PEP. The




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   provisioning report data consists of the bindings described above
   and global and specific error/warning information.

   Specific errors are associated with a particular instance. For a
   'Success' Report-Type, a specific error is an indication of a
   warning related to a specific policy that has been installed, but
   that is not fully implemented (e.g., its parameters have been
   approximated) as identified by the ErrorPRID object. For a
   'Failure' Report-Type, this is an error code specific to a
   binding, again, identified by the ErrorPRID object. Specific
   errors may also include regular <PRID><EPD> bindings to carry
   additional information in a generic manner so that the specific
   errors/warnings may be more verbosely described and associated
   with the erroneous ErrorPRID object.

   Global errors are not tied to a specific ErrorPRID. In a 'Success'
   RPT message, a global error is an indication of a general warning
   at the PEP level (e.g., memory low). In a 'Failure' RPT message,
   this is an indication of a general error at the PEP level (e.g.,
   memory exhausted).

   In the case of a 'Failure' Report-Type the PEP MUST report at
   least the first error and SHOULD report as many errors as
   possible. In this case the PEP MUST roll-back its configuration to
   the last good transaction before the erroneous Decision message
   was received.

   The format for this data is encapsulated in the COPS Named
   ClientSI object as follows:

   <Named ClientSI: Report> ::= <[<GPERR>] *(<report>)>

   <report> ::= <ErrorPRID> <CPERR> *(<PRID><EPD>)


  5.3.2. Accounting Report-Type Data Format

   Additionally, reports can be used to carry accounting information
   when specifying the 'Accounting' Report-Type. This accounting report
   message will typically carry statistical or event information
   related to the installed configuration for use at the PDP. This
   information is encoded as one or more <PRID><EPD> bindings that
   generally describe the accounting information being reported from
   the PEP to the PDP.

   The format for this data is encapsulated in the COPS Named ClientSI
   object as follows:

   <Named ClientSI: Report> ::= <*(<PRID><EPD>)>




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   NOTE: RFC 2748 defines an optional Accounting-Timer (AcctTimer)
   object for use in the COPS Client-Accept message. Periodic
   accounting reports for COPS-PR clients are also obligated to be
   paced by this timer. Periodic accounting reports SHOULD NOT be
   generated by the PEP more frequently than the period specified by
   the COPS AcctTimer. Thus, the period between new accounting
   reports SHOULD be greater-than or equal-to the period specified
   (if specified) in the AcctTimer. If no AcctTimer object is
   specified by the PDP, then there are no constraints imposed on the
   PEP's accounting interval.


6. Common Operation

   This section describes, in general, typical exchanges between a
   PDP and Policy Provisioning COPS client.

   First, a TCP connection is established between the client and
   server and the PEP sends a Client-Open message specifying a COPS-
   PR client-type (use of the ClientSI object within the Client-Open
   message is currently undefined for COPS-PR clients). If the PDP
   supports the specified provisioning client-type, the PDP responds
   with a Client-Accept (CAT) message. If the client-type is not
   supported, a Client-Close (CC) message is returned by the PDP to
   the PEP, possibly identifying an alternate server that is known to
   support the policy for the provisioning client-type specified.

   After receiving the CAT message, the PEP can send requests to the
   server. The REQ from a policy provisioning client contains a COPS
   'Configuration Request' context object and, optionally, any
   relevant named client specific information from the PEP. The
   information provided by the PEP should include available client
   resources (e.g., supported classes/attributes) and default policy
   configuration information as well as incarnation data on existing
   policy. The configuration request message from a provisioning
   client serves two purposes. First, it is a request to the PDP for
   any provisioning configuration data which the PDP may currently
   have that is suitable for the PEP, such as access control filters,
   etc., given the information the PEP specified in its REQ. Also,
   the configuration request effectively opens a channel that will
   allow the PDP to asynchronously send policy data to the PEP, as
   the PDP decides is necessary, as long as the PEP keeps its request
   state open (ie. As long as the PEP does not send a DRQ with the
   request state's Client Handle). This asynchronous data may be new
   policy data or an update to policy data sent previously. Any
   relevant changes to the PEP's internal state can be communicated
   to the PDP by the PEP sending an updated REQ message. The PEP is
   free to send such updated REQ messages at any time after a CAT
   message to communicate changes in its local state.




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   After the PEP sends a REQ, if the PDP has Policy Provisioning
   policy configuration information for the client, that information
   is returned to the client in a DEC message containing the Policy
   Provisioning client policy data within the COPS Named Decision
   Data object and specifying an "Install" Command-Code in the
   Decision Flags object. If no filters are defined, the DEC message
   will simply specify that there are no filters using the "NULL
   Decision" Command-Code in the Decision Flags object. As the PEP
   MUST specify a Client Handle in the request message, the PDP MUST
   process the Client Handle and copy it in the corresponding
   decision message. A DEC message MUST be issued by the PDP with the
   Solicited Message Flag set in the COPS message header, regardless
   of whether or not the PDP has any configuration information for
   the PEP at the time of the request. This is to prevent the PEP
   from timing out the REQ and deleting the Client Handle.

   The PDP can then add new policy data or update/delete existing
   configurations by sending subsequent unsolicited DEC message(s) to
   the PEP, with the same Client Handle. Previous configurations
   installed on the PEP are updated by the PDP by simply re-
   installing the same instance of configuration information again
   (effectively overwriting the old data). The PEP is responsible for
   removing the Client handle when it is no longer needed, for
   example when an interface goes down, and informing the PDP that
   the Client Handle is to be deleted via the COPS DRQ message.

   For Policy Provisioning purposes, access state, and access
   requests to the policy server can be initiated by other sources
   besides the PEP. Examples of other sources include attached users
   requesting network services via a web interface into a central
   management application, or H.323 servers requesting resources on
   behalf of a user for a video conferencing application. When such a
   request is accepted, the edge device affected by the decision (the
   point where the flow is to enter the network) needs to be informed
   of the decision. Since the PEP in the edge device did not initiate
   the request, the specifics of the request, e.g. flowspec, packet
   filter, and PHB to apply, needs to be communicated to the PEP by
   the PDP. This information is sent to the PEP using the Decision
   message containing Policy Provisioning Named Decision Data objects
   in the COPS Decision object as specified. Any updates to the state
   information, for example in the case of a policy change or call
   tear down, is communicated to the PEP by subsequent unsolicited
   DEC messages containing the same Client Handle and the updated
   Policy Provisioning request state. Updates can specify that policy
   data is to be installed, deleted, or updated (re-installed).

   PDPs may also command the PEP to open a new Request State or
   delete an exiting one by issuing a decision with the Decision
   Flags object's Request-State flag set. If the command-code is
   "install", then the PDP is commanding the PEP to create a new



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   Request State, and therefore issue a new REQ message specifying a
   new Client Handle or otherwise issue a "Failure" RPT specifying
   the appropriate error condition. Each request state represents an
   independent and logically non-overlapping namespace, identified by
   the Client Handle, on which transactions (a.k.a. configuration
   installations, deletions, updates) may be performed. Other
   existing Request States will be unaffected by the new request
   state as they are independent (thus, no instances of configuration
   data within one Request State can be affected by DECs for another
   Request State as identified by the Client Handle). If the command-
   code is "Remove", then the PDP is commanding the PEP to delete the
   existing Request-State specified by the DEC message's Client
   Handle, thereby causing the PEP to issue a DRQ message for this
   Handle.

   The PEP MUST acknowledge a DEC message and specify what action was
   taken by sending a RPT message with a "Success" or "Failure"
   Report-Type object with the Solicited Message Flag set in the COPS
   message header. This serves as an indication to the PDP that the
   requestor (e.g. H.323 server) can be notified whether the request
   has been accepted by the network or not. If the PEP needs to
   reject the DEC operation for any reason, a RPT message is sent
   with a Report-Type with the value "Failure" and optionally a
   Client Specific Information object specifying the policy data that
   was rejected. Under such solicited report failure conditions, the
   PEP MUST always rollback to its previously installed (good) state
   as if the DEC never occurred. The PDP is then free to modify its
   decision and try again.

   The PEP can report to the PDP the current status of any installed
   request state when appropriate. This information is sent in a
   Report-State (RPT) message with the "Accounting" flag set. The
   request state that is being reported is identified via the
   associated Client Handle in the report message.

   Finally, Client-Close (CC) messages are used to cancel the
   corresponding Client-Open message. The CC message informs the
   other side that the client-type specified is no longer supported.

7. Fault Tolerance

   When communication is lost between PEP and PDP, the PEP attempts
   to re-establish the TCP connection with the PDP it was last
   connected to. If that server cannot be reached, then the PEP
   attempts to connect to a secondary PDP, assumed to be manually
   configured (or otherwise known) at the PEP.

   When a connection is finally re-established with a PDP, the PEP
   sends a OPN message with a <LastPDPAddr> object providing the
   address of the most recent PDP for which it is still caching



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   decisions. If no decisions are being cached on the PEP (due to
   reboot or TTL timeout of state) the PEP MUST NOT include the last
   PDP address information. Based on this object, the PDP may request
   the PEP to re-synch its current state information (by issuing a
   COPS SSQ message). If, after re-connecting, the PDP does not
   request synchronization, the client can assume the server
   recognizes it and the current state at the PEP is correct, so a
   REQ message need not be sent. Still, any state changes which
   occurred at the PEP that the PEP could not communicate to the PDP
   due to communication having been lost, MUST be reported to the PDP
   via the PEP sending an updated REQ message. Whenever re-
   synchronization is requested, the PEP MUST reissue any REQ
   messages for all known Request-States and the PDP MUST issue DEC
   messages to delete either individual PRIDs or prefixes as
   appropriate to ensure a consistent known state at the PEP.

   While the PEP is disconnected from the PDP, the active request-
   state at the PEP is to be used for policy decisions. If the PEP
   cannot re-connect in some pre-specified period of time, all
   installed Request-States are to be deleted and their associated
   Handles removed. The same holds true for the PDP; upon detecting a
   failed TCP connection, the time-out timer is started for all
   Request-States associated with the PEP and these states are
   removed after the administratively specified period without a
   connection.

8. Security Considerations

   The use of COPS for Policy Provisioning introduces no new security
   issues over the base COPS protocol [COPS]. The security mechanisms
   described in that document will also be deployed in a COPS-PR
   environment.

9. IANA Considerations

   COPS for Policy Provisioning follows the same IANA considerations
   for COPS objects as the base COPS protocol [COPS]. COPS-PR does,
   however, introduce a new object number space in its S-Num and S-
   Type. Additional S-Num and S-Types can only be added using the
   IETF Consensus rule as defined in [IANA] (note that the S-Type
   value of 2 is reserved for transport of XML encoded data).
   Likewise, additional Global Provisioning error codes for COPS-PR
   can only be added with IETF Consensus.

10. Acknowledgements

   This document has been developed with active involvement from a
   number of sources. The authors would specifically like to
   acknowledge the valuable input given by Michael Fine, Scott Hahn,
   and Carol Bell.



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11. References

[COPS]    Boyle, J., Cohen, R., Durham, D., Herzog, S., Raja, R.,
          Sastry, A., "The COPS (Common Open Policy Service)
          Protocol", IETF RFC 2748, Proposed Standard, January 2000.

[RAP]     Yavatkar, R., et al., "A Framework for Policy Based
          Admission Control", IETF RFC 2753, January 2000.

[COPRSVP] Boyle, J., Cohen, R., Durham, D., Herzog, S., Raja, R.,
          Sastry, A., "COPS usage for RSVP", IETF RFC 2749, Proposed
          Standard, January 2000.

[ASN1]    Information processing systems - Open Systems
          Interconnection, "Specification of Abstract Syntax Notation
          One (ASN.1)", International Organization for
          Standardization, International Standard 8824, December
          1987.

[BER]     Information processing systems - Open Systems
          Interconnection - Specification of Basic Encoding Rules for
          Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1), International
          Organization for Standardization. International Standard
          8825, (December, 1987).

[RFC2475] Blake, S., Black, D., Carlson, M., Davies, E., Wang, Z.,
          Weiss, W., "An Architecture for Differentiated Service,"
          RFC 2475, December 1998.

[V2SMI]    McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D., Schoenwaelder, J., Case, J.,
          Rose, M. and S. Waldbusser, "Structure of Management
          Information Version 2(SMIv2)", STD 58, RFC 2578, April
          1999.

[RFC2234] Crocker, D., Overell, P., " Augmented BNF for Syntax
          Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997.

[IANA]    Alvestrand, H. and Narten, T., "Guidelines for writing an
          IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 2434,
          October 1998.

[URN]     Moats, R., "Uniform Resource Names (URN) Syntax", RFC 2141,
          May 1997.

[XML]     World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), "Extensible Markup
          Language (XML)," W3C Recommendation, February, 1998,
          http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210.






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12. Author Information

Shai Herzog                         IPHighway Inc.
Phone: (201) 585-0800               Parker Plaza, 16th Floor
Email: Herzog@iphighway.com         400 Kelby St.
                                    Fort-Lee, NJ 07024

Francis Reichmeyer                  PFN, Inc.
(617) 494 9980                      University Park at MIT
franr@pfn.com                       26 Landsdowne Street
                                    Cambridge, MA 02139

Kwok Ho Chan                        Nortel Networks, Inc.
Phone: (978) 288-8175               600 Technology Park Drive
EMail: khchan@nortelnetworks.com    Billerica, MA 01821


David Durham                        Intel
Phone: (503) 264-6232               2111 NE 25th Avenue
Email: david.durham@intel.com       Hillsboro, OR 97124


Raj Yavatkar
Phone: (503) 264-9077
Email: raj.yavatkar@intel.com

Silvano Gai                         Cisco Systems, Inc.
Phone: (408) 527-2690               170 Tasman Dr.
Email: sgai@cisco.com               San Jose, CA 95134-1706

Keith McCloghrie
Phone: (408) 526-5260
Email: kzm@cisco.com

Andrew Smith
415 345 1827 fax
ah_smith@pacbell.net

John Seligson                       Nortel Networks, Inc.
Phone: (408) 495-2992               4401 Great America Parkway
Email:jseligso@nortelnetworks.com   Santa Clara, CA 95054












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13. Full Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.

The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.





























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