Network Working Group A. Morton
Internet-Draft AT&T Labs
Intended status: Standards Track October 25, 2010
Expires: April 28, 2011
RFC 4148 and the IPPM Metrics Registry are Obsolete
draft-morton-ippm-rfc4148-obsolete-02
Abstract
This memo recommends that RFC 4148, the IP Performance Metrics (IPPM)
Registry be reclassified as Historic, and the IANA IPPM Metrics
Registry itself be withdrawn from use. The current registry
structure has been found to be insufficiently detailed to uniquely
identify IPPM metrics. Despite apparent efforts to find current or
even future users, no one has responded to the third quarter of 2010
call for interest in the RFC 4148 registry.
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
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This Internet-Draft will expire on April 28, 2011.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Recommendation to Reclassify RFC 4148 and Withdraw the
corresponding IANA registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
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1. Introduction
The IP Performance Metrics (IPPM) framework [RFC2330] describes
several ways to record options and metric parameter settings, in
order to account for sources of measurement variability. For
example, Section 13 of[RFC2330] describes the notion of "Type P" so
that metrics can be specified in general, but the specifics (such as
payload length in octets and protocol type) can replace P to
disambiguate the results.
When the IPPM Metric Registry [RFC4148] was designed, the variability
of the Type P notion, and the variability possible with the many
metric parameters (see Section 4.1 of [RFC2679] ) was not fully
appreciated. Further, some of the early metric definitions only
indicate Poisson streams [RFC2330] (see the metrics in [RFC2679],
[RFC2680], and [RFC3393]), but later work standardized the methods
for Periodic Stream measurements [RFC3432], adding to the variability
possible when characterizing a metric exactly.
It is not believed to be feasible or even useful to register every
possible combination of Type P, metric parameters, and Stream
parameters using the current structure of the IPPM Metric Registry.
The IPPM Metrics Registry is believed to have very few, if any users.
Evidence of this provided by the fact that one registry entry was
syntactically incorrect for months after [RFC5644] was published.
The text ":=" was used for the metrics in that document instead of
"::=". It took eight months before someone complained that a parser
found the error. Even the original registry author agrees that the
current registry is not efficient, and has submitted a proposal to
effectively create a new registry
[draft-stephan-ippm-registry-ext-00, work in progress].
Despite apparent efforts to find current or even future users, no one
has responded to the third quarter of 2010 call for interest in the
RFC 4148 registry. Therefore, the IETF could now declare the
registry Historic without any further reservations.
When a registry is declared Historic, it simply prevents IANA from
registering new objects, in this case new metrics. So, even if a
registry user was eventually found, they could continue to use the
current registry and its contents will continue to be available.
2. Recommendation to Reclassify RFC 4148 and Withdraw the corresponding
IANA registry
Due to the ambiguities between the current metrics registrations and
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the metrics used, and the apparent minimal adoption of the registry
in practice, this memo RECOMMENDS that:
o the IETF reclassify [RFC4148] as Historic
o the IANA withdraw the current IPPM Metrics Registry
It is assumed that parties who wish to establish a replacement
registry function will work to specify such a registry.
3. Security Considerations
This memo and its recommendations have no known impact on the
security of the Internet (especially if there is a zombie apocalypse
on the day it is published; humans will have many more security
issues to worry about stemming from the rise of the un-dead).
4. IANA Considerations
Metrics defined in IETF are typically registered in the IANA IPPM
METRICS REGISTRY as described in initial version of the registry
[RFC4148]. However, areas for improvement of this registry have been
identified, and the registry structure has to be revisited when there
is consensus to do so.
The current consensus is to withdraw the IPPM Metrics Registry, as
originally described in [RFC4148].
5. Acknowledgements
Henk Uijterwaal suggested additional rationale for the recommendation
in this memo.
6. References
6.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC2330] Paxson, V., Almes, G., Mahdavi, J., and M. Mathis,
"Framework for IP Performance Metrics", RFC 2330,
May 1998.
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[RFC2679] Almes, G., Kalidindi, S., and M. Zekauskas, "A One-way
Delay Metric for IPPM", RFC 2679, September 1999.
[RFC2680] Almes, G., Kalidindi, S., and M. Zekauskas, "A One-way
Packet Loss Metric for IPPM", RFC 2680, September 1999.
[RFC3393] Demichelis, C. and P. Chimento, "IP Packet Delay Variation
Metric for IP Performance Metrics (IPPM)", RFC 3393,
November 2002.
[RFC3432] Raisanen, V., Grotefeld, G., and A. Morton, "Network
performance measurement with periodic streams", RFC 3432,
November 2002.
[RFC4148] Stephan, E., "IP Performance Metrics (IPPM) Metrics
Registry", BCP 108, RFC 4148, August 2005.
[RFC5644] Stephan, E., Liang, L., and A. Morton, "IP Performance
Metrics (IPPM): Spatial and Multicast", RFC 5644,
October 2009.
6.2. Informative References
[....] "None", .
Author's Address
Al Morton
AT&T Labs
200 Laurel Avenue South
Middletown,, NJ 07748
USA
Phone: +1 732 420 1571
Fax: +1 732 368 1192
Email: acmorton@att.com
URI: http://home.comcast.net/~acmacm/
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