Network Working Group                                              Z. Li
Internet-Draft                                                   S. Peng
Intended status: Standards Track                     Huawei Technologies
Expires: April 28, 2022                                 October 25, 2021


               Application-aware Networking (APN) Header
                         draft-li-apn-header-00

Abstract

   This document defines the application-aware networking (APN) header
   which can be used in the different data planes.

Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

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 https://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 April 28, 2022.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2021 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
   (https://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



Li & Peng                Expires April 28, 2022                 [Page 1]


Internet-Draft                 APN Header                   October 2021


   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Terminologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  Application-aware Networking Header . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  APN ID  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  APN Parameters  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9

1.  Introduction

   Application-aware Networking (APN) is introduced in
   [I-D.li-apn-framework] and [I-D.li-apn-problem-statement-usecases].
   APN conveys an attribute along with data packets into network and
   make the network aware of fine-grain user group-level and application
   group-level requirements.

   Such an attribute is acquired, constructed in a structured value, and
   then encapsulated in the packets.  Such structured value is treated
   as an opaque object in the network, to which the network operator
   applies policies in various nodes/service functions along the path
   and provide corresponding services.

   This structured attribute can be encapsulated in various data plane
   adopted within a Network Operator controlled limited domain, e.g.
   MPLS, VXLAN, SR/SRv6 and other tunnel technologies, which waits to be
   further specified.

   This document defines the application-aware networking (APN) header
   which can be used in different data planes.  The typical data plane
   include MPLS data plane and IPv6 data plane..

2.  Terminologies

   APN: Application-aware Networking

   APN Attribute: Application-aware Networking Attribute, including APN
   ID and APN Parameters.  It can be added at the edge devices of an APN
   domain along with the tunnel encapsulation.



Li & Peng                Expires April 28, 2022                 [Page 2]


Internet-Draft                 APN Header                   October 2021


   APN ID: Application-aware Networking ID, including Application Group
   ID and User Group ID.

   APN Para: Application-aware Networking Parameters, including, e.g.,
   network performance parameters.

3.  Application-aware Networking Header

   A common header is defined and can be used in different data planes.
   The common header carries the APN attribute that is composed of APN
   ID and APN parameters.

   This document defines two types of APN ID:

   - Short APN ID: it is 32 bits.

   - Long APN ID: it is 128 bits.

   According to the types of APN ID, two types of APN headers are
   defined.

   Type 1 APN Header:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  APN-ID-Type  |     Flags     |         APN-Para-Type         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                             APN-ID                            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       Intent (Optional)                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                       APN-Para (Optional)                     |
                                ......
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

              Figure 1. APN Header with Short APN ID

   In this type of APN Header, the length of the APN ID (Short APN ID)
   is 32 bits.

   APN-ID-Type: An 8-bit identifier, indicates the type of APN ID.

   Flags: An 8-bit field.  The possible flags will be defined in the
   future version.




Li & Peng                Expires April 28, 2022                 [Page 3]


Internet-Draft                 APN Header                   October 2021


   APN-Para-Type: A 16-bit identifier, specifies which APN parameters
   are specified for the APN ID.  The APN-Para-Type value is a bitmap.
   The packing order of the APN parameters follows the bit order as
   specified in the APN-Para-Type bitmap field.  The following bits are
   defined in this document, with details on each bit described in
   Section 5.

   Bit 0 (Most significant bit) When set, indicates the presence of the
   bandwidth requirement.

   Bit 1 When set, indicates the presence of the delay requirement.

   Bit 2 When set, indicates the presence of the jitter requirement.

   Bit 3 When set, indicates the presence of the packet loss ratio
   requirement.

   APN-ID: A 32-bit identifier.

   Intent: A 32-bit identifier, represents a set of service requirements
   to the network.

   APN-Para: A variable field including APN parameters.  The presence of
   the APN parameters is indicated by the APN-Para-Type.

   Type 2 APN Header

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  APN-ID-Type  |     Flags     |         APN-Para-Type         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                             APN-ID                            |
   |                                                               |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       Intent (Optional)                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                       APN-Para (Optional)                     |
                                ......
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

              Figure 2. APN Header with Long APN ID





Li & Peng                Expires April 28, 2022                 [Page 4]


Internet-Draft                 APN Header                   October 2021


   In this type of APN Header, the length of the APN ID (Long APN ID) is
   128 bits.

   APN-ID-Type: An 8-bit identifier, indicates the type of APN ID.

   Flags: An 8-bit field.  The possible flags will be defined in the
   future version.

   APN-Para-Type: A 16-bit identifier which specifies which APN
   parameters are specified for the APN ID.  The APN-Para-Type value is
   a bit field.  The following bits are defined in this document, with
   details on each bit described in the Section 4.  The order of packing
   the data fields in each node data element follows the bit order of
   the APN-Para-Type field, as follows:

   Bit 0 (Most significant bit) When set, indicates the presence of the
   bandwidth requirement.

   Bit 1 When set, indicates the presence of the delay requirement.

   Bit 2 When set, indicates the presence of the jitter requirement.

   Bit 3 When set, indicates the presence of the packet loss ratio
   requirement.

   APN-ID: A 128-bit identifier.

   Intent: A 32-bit identifier, represents a set of service requirements
   to the network.

   APN-Para: A variable field including APN parameters.  The presence of
   the APN parameters is indicated by the APN-Para-Type.

4.  APN ID

   The APN ID can be divided into three parts:

   APP-Group-ID: Application Group ID

   USER-Group-ID: User Group ID

   Reserved: The reserved fields.

   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      APP-Group-ID     |    USER-Group-ID    |    Reserved     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 3. Structure of APN-ID



Li & Peng                Expires April 28, 2022                 [Page 5]


Internet-Draft                 APN Header                   October 2021


   The lengths of the APP-Group-ID and the USER-Group-ID are variable.
   Their lengths must be configured and consistent within a specific APN
   domain.

5.  APN Parameters

   In the APN Header, the APN-Para-Type is a bit field to indicate the
   presence of corresponding APN parameters.  When the bit is set, the
   corresponding APN parameter MUST exist in the APN Header.  The length
   of each APN parameter is 32 bits.

   The typical APN parameters are the parameters related with the
   network performance requirements.

   1.  Bandwidth Requirement

   This Bandwidth Requirement parameter indicates the bandwidth
   requirement of the APN traffic.  The format of this parameter is
   shown in the following diagram:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                          Bandwidth                            |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 4. Bandwidth Requirement Parameter

   where:

   Bandwidth: This 32-bit field carries the bandwidth requirement in
   Mbps along the path.

   2.  Delay Requirement

   This Delay Requirement parameter indicates the delay requirement.
   The format of this parameter is shown in the following diagram:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    RESERVED   |                   Delay                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 5. Delay Requirement Parameter

   where:




Li & Peng                Expires April 28, 2022                 [Page 6]


Internet-Draft                 APN Header                   October 2021


   RESERVED: This field is reserved for future use.  It MUST be set to 0
   when sent and MUST be ignored when received.

   Delay: This 24-bit field carries the delay requirements in
   microseconds, encoded as an integer value.  When set to the maximum
   value 16,777,215 (16.777215 sec), then the delay is at least that
   value and may be larger.  This value is the highest delay that can be
   tolerated.

   3.  Delay Variation Requirement

   This Delay Variation Requirement parameter indicates the delay
   requirement.  The format of this parameter is shown in the following
   diagram:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |  RESERVED     |               Delay Variation                 |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 6. Delay Variation Parameter

   where:

   RESERVED: This field is reserved for future use.  It MUST be set to 0
   when sent and MUST be ignored when received.

   Delay Variation: This 24-bit field carries the delay variation
   requirements in microseconds, encoded as an integer value.

   4.  Packet Loss Ratio Requirement

   This Packet Loss Ration Requirement parameter indicates the delay
   requirement.  The format of this parameter is shown in the following
   diagram:

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    RESERVED   |                    Packet Loss Ratio          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 7. Packet Loss Ratio Sub-TLV

   where:





Li & Peng                Expires April 28, 2022                 [Page 7]


Internet-Draft                 APN Header                   October 2021


   RESERVED: This field is reserved for future use.  It MUST be set to 0
   when sent and MUST be ignored when received.

   Packet Loss Ratio: This 24-bit field carries packet loss ratio
   requirement in packets per second.  This value is the highest packet-
   loss ratio that can be tolerated.

6.  IANA Considerations

   The types of APN ID used in the APN header need to be allocated by
   IANA.

   Type | Description

   -------------------------------------------------------------

   TBD1 | Type of the Short APN ID

   TBD2 | Type of the Long APN ID

7.  Security Considerations

   The Security Considerations described in
   [I-D.li-apn-problem-statement-usecases] and
   [I-D.peng-apn-security-privacy-consideration] can be referred to.

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

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

   [RFC8200]  Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6
              (IPv6) Specification", STD 86, RFC 8200,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8200, July 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8200>.

8.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-spring-srv6-network-programming]
              Filsfils, C., Garvia, P. C., Leddy, J., Voyer, D.,
              Matsushima, S., and Z. Li, "Segment Routing over IPv6
              (SRv6) Network Programming", draft-ietf-spring-srv6-
              network-programming-28 (work in progress), December 2020.




Li & Peng                Expires April 28, 2022                 [Page 8]


Internet-Draft                 APN Header                   October 2021


   [I-D.li-6man-hbh-fwd-hdr]
              Li, Z., Peng, S., and G. Mishra, "Hop-by-Hop Forwarding
              Options Header", draft-li-6man-hbh-fwd-hdr-01 (work in
              progress), February 2021.

   [I-D.li-apn-framework]
              Li, Z., Peng, S., Voyer, D., Li, C., Liu, P., Cao, C.,
              Mishra, G., Ebisawa, K., Previdi, S., and J. N. Guichard,
              "Application-aware Networking (APN) Framework", draft-li-
              apn-framework-03 (work in progress), May 2021.

   [I-D.li-apn-problem-statement-usecases]
              Li, Z., Peng, S., Voyer, D., Xie, C., Liu, P., Qin, Z.,
              Mishra, G., Ebisawa, K., Previdi, S., and J. N. Guichard,
              "Problem Statement and Use Cases of Application-aware
              Networking (APN)", draft-li-apn-problem-statement-
              usecases-04 (work in progress), June 2021.

   [I-D.liu-apn-edge-usecase]
              Liu, P., Du, Z., Peng, S., and Z. Li, "Use cases of
              Application-aware Networking (APN) in Edge Computing",
              draft-liu-apn-edge-usecase-03 (work in progress), June
              2021.

   [I-D.peng-apn-security-privacy-consideration]
              Peng, S., Li, Z., Voyer, D., Li, C., Liu, P., and C. Cao,
              "APN Security and Privacy Considerations", draft-peng-apn-
              security-privacy-consideration-02 (work in progress), June
              2021.

   [I-D.zhang-apn-acceleration-usecase]
              Zhang, S., Cao, C., Peng, S., and Z. Li, "Use cases of
              Application-aware Networking (APN) in Game Acceleration",
              draft-zhang-apn-acceleration-usecase-02 (work in
              progress), June 2021.

   [RFC3272]  Awduche, D., Chiu, A., Elwalid, A., Widjaja, I., and X.
              Xiao, "Overview and Principles of Internet Traffic
              Engineering", RFC 3272, DOI 10.17487/RFC3272, May 2002,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3272>.

Authors' Addresses









Li & Peng                Expires April 28, 2022                 [Page 9]


Internet-Draft                 APN Header                   October 2021


   Zhenbin Li
   Huawei Technologies
   Beijing  100095
   China

   Email: lizhenbin@huawei.com


   Shuping Peng
   Huawei Technologies
   Beijing  100095
   China

   Email: pengshuping@huawei.com





































Li & Peng                Expires April 28, 2022                [Page 10]