Network Working Group T. Iijima
Internet-Draft K. Toumura
Intended status: Informational H. Okita
Expires: April 19, 2007 Central Research Laboratory,
Hitachi, Ltd.
Y. Atarashi
H. Kimura
Alaxala Networks Co.
October 16, 2006
Experience of NETCONF over SOAP Implementation
draft-iijima-netconf-soap-implementation-00
Status of this Memo
By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.
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 documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts 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.
The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
This Internet-Draft will expire on April 19, 2007.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
Abstract
NETCONF protocol is standardized to be exchanged over SSH, SOAP, or
BEEP. We actually developed network management system based on
NETCONF protocol. For several reasons, we chose SOAP protocol as a
transport protocol of the NETCONF. This document describes why we
chose SOAP as a transport protocol and the insight gained from actual
development.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. NETCONF over SOAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2. Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3. Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Framework of Web service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1. SOAP as a Messaging technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2. WSDL as a Interface Description Language . . . . . . . . . 5
3. The insight from our Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1. SOAP implementation of the NMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.2. SOAP implementation of the Network Equipment . . . . . . . 7
3.2.1. SOAP Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2.2. SOAP Fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4. Security Consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 13
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
1. Introduction
1.1. NETCONF over SOAP
In order to enable network equipment configuration automatically from
network systems, NETCONF is designed to use XML as its description
language since XML is easy to understand for systems. XML is
suitable technology to cope with flexible specification change and it
can make automatic operation possible.
SOAP is also designed to use XML and expected to become indespensable
technology of Web service. For this reason, SOAP is a prospective
technology and suit well with NETCONF protocol.
1.2. Conventions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC2119 [3].
1.3. Motivation
This document describes why SOAP is practical as a transport protocol
of the NETCONF when we develop network management system. And also
this document describes the experience of NETCONF over SOAP
implementation.
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
2. Framework of Web service
SOAP is placed as an indespensable technology of Web service. So if
we use SOAP as a transport protocol of the NETCONF, network
configuration made by NETCONF is achieved on a framework of Web
service. In this section, we describe the overall architecture of
the Web service.
+---+ +-----------+ +----------------+ +--------------+ +--------+
| | | Security | |Reliable Message| | Transaction | | Search |
|XML| | | | | | | | |
| | |WS-Security| | WS-Reliability | |WS-Transaction| | UDDI |
| | | | | | | | +--------+
| | | | | | | | +--------+ +---------+
| | | | | | | | |language| | API |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | WSDL | | JAXM |
| | +-----------+ +----------------+ +--------------+ +--------+ | JAX-RPC |
| | +----------------------------------------------------------+ | .NET |
| | | Fundamental Messaging | | |
| | | | | |
| | | SOAP | | |
+---+ +----------------------------------------------------------+ +---------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Transport |
| |
| HTTP, HTTPS... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Figure 1: Overall architecture of Web service
As depicted in figure 1, peripheral technologies around SOAP/HTTP is
well developed, including security technology. For instance, WS-
Security and WS-Transaction technology are installed on SOAP only by
inserting particular messages in SOAP Header. If we don't choose
SOAP/HTTP as a transport layer of the NETCONF protocol, we have to
develop each surrounding technology from scratch. Hence, in the case
of introducing additional technologies around SOAP, the development
of NETCONF-based network management system is relatively easy when we
choose SOAP as a transport protocol of the NETCONF.
2.1. SOAP as a Messaging technology
SOAP is basically designed to use distributed object scattered around
the internet regardless of platform. Therefore, SOAP is developed as
a messaging technology which uses standardized internet technology
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
such as HTTP and XML.
In addition, SOAP is so flexible that it's easy to incorporate other
technologies. For instance, the notion of session can be easily
incorporated in SOAP by inserting message ID into SOAP Header.
2.2. WSDL as a Interface Description Language
WSDL is designed so as to bind easily with SOAP. WSDL is an
innovative technology for Web service since the development tool
automatically generate interfaces toward Web service by just
importing WSDL into the development tool. Things left to developers
is just to customize the programs by putting generated interfaces
together.
As for the development tool which understands WSDL, useful
technologies are available in the case of SOAP. For instance, Apache
Axis is an interface generator from WSDL as well as widely used SOAP
implementation. If we choose SOAP as a transport protocol, we don't
need to develop interfaces by ourselves owing to the development tool
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
3. The insight from our Implementation
In this section, we describe the architecure of NETCONF
implementation using SOAP as its transport protocol. Figure 2 is the
architecture of the NETCONF implementation using SOAP. In the
following section, we explain the SOAP implementation in both network
management system and network equipment
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Network Management System |
| |
| +--------------------------------------------+ |
| | NETCONF application | |
| +--------------------------------------------+ |
| +--------------------------------------------+ |
| | Java library | |
| +--------------------------------------------+ |
| +--------------------------------------------+ |
| | SOAP Implementation | |
| | | |
| | Apache Axis | |
| +--------------------------------------------+ |
+---------------------|----------^----------------------+
| |
rpc-request | |
/ SOAP | | rpc-reply
| | / SOAP
| |
+---------------------v----------|----------------------+
| +--------------------------------------------+ |
| | SOAP Implementation | |
| +--------------------------------------------+ |
| |
| Network Equipment |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
Figure 2: Architecture of NETCONF implementation using SOAP
3.1. SOAP implementation of the NMS
Several SOAP implementations capable of being installed on NMS are
available today. For instance, Apache Axis is a practical free
software implementation of SOAP implementation when we choose SOAP as
a transport protocol. Rapid parsing in the NMS is realized since
Axis uses SAX as its parser.
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
And also, Axis is not only the SOAP implementation but useful tools
to develop network management system. For instance, Java2WSDL, one
of the Axis's tool, can generates WSDL from Java's class file. After
we develop Java library which can configure network equipment, the
interface toward network equipment can be opened to the public in a
form of WSDL. The another tool called WSDL2Java does the opposite.
We can generate Java library from WSDL file provided from other
vendor. Conclusively, various kinds of benefits can be acquired if
we introduce Axis as a SOAP implementation.
3.2. SOAP implementation of the Network Equipment
SOAP must be implemented also in the network equipmet so as to accept
SOAP messages sent from network management system. Like the NMS,
some free SOAP implementations are availlable. However, in the case
of network equipment, memory capacity might be limited. Therefore
memory saving method might be required when we implement SOAP in the
network equipment.
3.2.1. SOAP Header
SOAP Header is defined as optional. Therefore, when memory capacity
in network equipment is not sufficient, the module which process SOAP
Header can be omitted.
3.2.2. SOAP Fault
SOAP Fault is designed to return errors to clients when malfunction
occurred in servers. However, SAOP Fault is also optional and error
messages can be written in SOAP body as well. So when there's memory
constraint, implementation of SOAP Fault processor is not always
necessary, either. After all, SOAP engine in network equipment is
allowed to have only SOAP body parser.
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 7]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
4. Security Consideration
Security should be considered from 2 angles. One is transport-level
security, and the other is message-level security. Transport-level
security such as encryption of entire message is the matter of SSL/
TLS. However, the message-level security such as partial encryption
of message or signature should be realized by other technologies. To
fulfill that need, WS-security has been defined.
WS-Security is one of the Web service technolgoy and is dependent on
SOAP technology. WS-Security technology can be incorporated by
inserting XML encryption and XML signature into the SOAP header.
Also, WS-Reliability realizes confirmation of sent message and
resending. WS-Reliability is also achieved by inserting particular
messages into SOAP header.
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 8]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
5. IANA Considerations
This document has no actions for IANA.
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 9]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
6. References
6.1. Normative References
[1] Enns, R., "NETCONF Configuration Protocol",
draft-ietf-netconf-prot-12 (work in progress), March 2006.
[2] Goddard, T., "Using the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)
Over the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)",
draft-ietf-netconf-soap-08 (work in progress), March 2006.
6.2. Informative References
[3] Bradner, S. , "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels" , BCP 14 , RFC 2119 , March 1997 .
[4] Paoli, J. , Bray, T. , and C. Sperberg-McQueen , "XML 1.0
Recommendation" , World Wide Web Consortium FirstEdition REC-
xml-19980210 , February 1998 ,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210> .
[5] "Web Services - Axis" .
<http://ws.apache.org/axis/>
[6] "Web Service Description Language (WSDL) 1.1".
<http://www.w3.org/TR/wsdl/>
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 10]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
Authors' Addresses
Iijima Tomoyuki
Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.
1-280 Higashi-Koigakubo
Kokubunji, Tokyo 185-8601
Japan
Phone: +81-42-323-1111
Fax: +81-42-327-7868
Email: tomoyuki.iijima.fg@hitachi.com
Toumura Kunihiko
Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.
1-280 Higashi-Koigakubo
Kokubunji, Tokyo 185-8601
Japan
Phone: +81-42-323-1111
Fax: +81-42-327-7868
Email: kunihiko.toumura.yv@hitachi.com
Hideki Okita
Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.
1-280 Higashi-Koigakubo
Kokubunji, Tokyo 185-8601
Japan
Phone: +81-42-323-1111
Fax: +81-42-327-7868
Email: hideki.okita.pf@hitachi.com
Yoshifumi Atarashi
Alaxala Networks Co.
Shin-Kawasaki Mitsui Bldg.
890 Saiwai-ku Kashimada
Kawasaki, Kanagawa 212-0058
Japan
Phone: +81-44-549-1200
Fax: +81-44-549-1272
Email: atarashi@alaxala.net
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 11]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
Hiroyasu Kimura
Alaxala Networks Co.
Shin-Kawasaki Mitsui Bldg.
890 Saiwai-ku Kashimada
Kawasaki, Kanagawa 212-0058
Japan
Phone: +81-44-549-1200
Fax: +81-44-549-1272
Email: h-kimura@alaxala.net
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 12]
Internet-Draft SOAP implementation October 2006
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
retain all their rights.
This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM 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.
Intellectual Property
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information
on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
http://www.ietf.org/ipr.
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at
ietf-ipr@ietf.org.
Acknowledgment
Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
Administrative Support Activity (IASA).
Iijima, et al. Expires April 19, 2007 [Page 13]
