RTGWG                                                      N. Zhang, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                             S. Zhang, Ed.
Intended status: Standards Track                              X. Yi, Ed.
Expires: 20 April 2025                                      China Unicom
                                                                 X. Geng
                                                                  H. Shi
                                                                  Huawei
                                                         17 October 2024


           Deep Collaboration between Application and Network
         draft-zhang-rtgwg-collaboration-app-net-01

Abstract

   This document analyzes the necessarity of deep collaboration between
   the application and network.  Besides, the problem, usecase and
   requirement of bidirectional awareness between the application and
   network are discussed.

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 20 April 2025.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2024 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.










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   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
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   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Problem statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.1.  Awareness of network by application . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     3.2.  Awareness of application by network . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.1.  High-speed IoV  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.2.  Massive Data Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.3.  Industrial Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.4.  Sharing and Circulation of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   5.  Requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     5.1.  The ability of network awareness by application . . . . .   6
       5.1.1.  Accurate measurement of network indicators  . . . . .   6
       5.1.2.  Cross cloud measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
       5.1.3.  Obtaining of measured network indicators by
               application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     5.2.  The ability of application awareness by network . . . . .   6
       5.2.1.  Fine grained awareness of application requirements  .   7
       5.2.2.  Computing status awareness of server applications . .   7
   6.  Deployment case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.1.  IoV solution based on application and network
           collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9

1.  Introduction

   In the digital age, users have increasingly high expectations for
   application services, seeking smooth, stable, and high-quality
   experiences anytime and anywhere.  This growing demand has led to the
   emergence of new service scenarios, such as IoV and Industrial
   Internet etc., which have higher and differentiated requirements for
   both network and application services.  These emerging services have



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   also driven the rapid development of technologies like cloud
   computing and big data.  As the scale of network and computing
   resources expands, so does resource consumption.  Currently,
   applications and networks operate independently and are unable to
   interact to ensure flexible and efficient resource scheduling.

   Deep collaboration between applications and networks allows for the
   accurate acquisition of application and network requirements and
   statuses through mutual awareness.  This enables dynamic adjustment
   of resource allocation and scheduling strategies, leading to
   efficient utilization of computing and network resources.
   Ultimately, users benefit from the best possible service experience.
   As technology advances and service scenarios expand, the importance
   of deep collaboration between applications and networks will only
   grow.

2.  Conventions and Definitions

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 RFC2119 [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.  Abbreviations and definitions used in this
   document: *IOAM: In Situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance.
   *IFIT: In-situ Flow Information Telemetry. *TWAMP: Two-Way Active
   Measurement Protocol. *quic: A transport protocal. *DPI: Deep Packet
   Inspection. *ACL: Access Control List. *SDN:
   Software Defined Network. *CATS: Computing-Aware Traffic Steering.

3.  Problem statement

   User                      Server
   +-----+     /-------\     +-----+
   |App x|    /         \    |App x|
   |     |<-->| network |<-->|     |
   |App y|    \         /    |App y|
   +-----+     \-------/     +-----+

   In various scenarios, different applications have different
   transmission requirements for the network.  For example, some
   applications in the IoV scenario have serious requirement for ultra-
   low delay, while some applications in industrial internet have high
   requirement for real time available bandwidth.  If applications and
   networks can achieve deep collaboration, network resources and
   application requirements can be dynamically and accurately matched.
   In this way, not only can the stability and user experience of the
   application be improved, but the utilization efficiency of network
   and computing resources can also be enhanced.

   Deep collaboration between applications and networks must address two
   main issues:



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   1.The precise awareness of network status by applications.

   2.The awareness of application requirements and status by networks.

3.1.  Awareness of network by application

   Applications need to aware network indicators, such as available
   bandwidth, delay, and packet loss, in real-time to dynamically adjust
   data transmission policies.  For example, low-priority packets can be
   dropped to save the resource when the network is congested.  This
   helps save network resources and ensures service continuity and
   efficiency.

3.2.  Awareness of application by network

   To intelligently allocate network resources and schedule computing
   resources, networks need to understand the resource requirements of
   different user applications and be aware of application statuses on
   computing servers.  This enables the network to provide
   differentiated service guarantees for various applications.

4.  Use Cases

4.1.  High-speed IoV

   In high-speed Internet of Vehicles (IoV), vehicles like cars, trains,
   and subways need to communicate with other vehicles, infrastructure,
   or cloud services to run onboard applications.  These applications
   fall into two categories:

   1.Applications affecting driving, such as autonomous driving, remote
   control, and intelligent driving services, which require extremely
   low network delay for quick judgments and responses.  Any delay could
   lead to serious accidents.

   2.Applications unrelated to driving, such as voice communications,
   streaming media, and other entertainment services.

   The diverse applications in high-speed IoV have complex requirements
   for network and computing resources.  Therefore, deep collaboration
   between the network and applications is essential for efficient and
   flexible scheduling of computing and network resources..









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4.2.  Massive Data Transmission

   Massive Data Transmission (MDT) [I-D.liu-rtgwg-mdt-in-high-bdp] is a
   predictable time-efficient application that requires data
   transmission to be completed within a specified time.  This
   application is not sensitive to transmission delay, but requires a
   considerable amount of network resources.

   1.Before starting transmission, different tasks have different
   demands of data size and expected completion time.  This leads to
   differentiated requirements of real-time available bandwidth for
   different tasks..

   2.After the transmission task is initiated, network devices need to
   identify MDT applications and corresponding account information based
   on certain identifiers to perform traffic record.

   At the beginning of data transmission, application and network
   collaboration can ensure the complete delivery of data without
   affecting other services on the existing network.  At the end of data
   transmission, the network needs to accurately perceive MDT
   applications for reasonable billing.

4.3.  Industrial Internet

   There are diverse scenarios in the industrial Internet, such as
   automatic control production, video surveillance, remote robot
   operation, etc.  These applications have different requirements for
   network reliability, bandwidth and latency, etc.

   1.Many industrial control tasks require systems to respond within
   strict time constraints, so automatic control applications have high
   requirements for deterministic network delay.

   2.Video surveillance requires the transmission of a large amount of
   video data and real-time reflection of factory conditions.
   Therefore, the network must have sufficient real-time available
   bandwidth to support the real-time transmission of high-definition
   videos.

   3.Remote robot operation requires real-time transmission of control
   instructions and feedback data, thus requiring ultra-low network
   transmission delay to ensure accuracy and real-time operation.

   Various applications in the industrial Internet have different
   requirements for network resources.  The collaboration between the
   application and network can match the most suitable network resources
   for corresponding applications.



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4.4.  Sharing and Circulation of Data

   Institutions such as enterprises or hospitals may have demand for
   data sharing and circulation, but these data often involve sensitive
   information.. Therefore, it is necessary to classify and identify the
   sensitivity level of data and bring this information to network, so
   that the circulation scope of sensitive data can be controlled.

5.  Requirement

5.1.  The ability of network awareness by application

   Applications cannot directly monitor network status but require the
   network to accurately measure and communicate network indicators.

5.1.1.  Accurate measurement of network indicators

   Network status measurement can be achieved in two ways:

   1.Directly marking the real service message or embedding measurement
   information in it, as with IOAM [RFC9197] and IFIT
   [I-D.song-opsawg-ifit-framework].

   2.Indirectly simulating the service message and periodically
   reporting measurement information, as with TWAMP.

   The first method can reflect network indicators such as delay, packet
   loss, and jitter in real-time, actively detecting service failures.

5.1.2.  Cross cloud measurement

   In cross cloud scenarios, performance testing of traffic between
   cloud is required.

5.1.3.  Obtaining of measured network indicators by application

   To enable application awareness of measurement information, the
   measurement data obtained by the receiver needs to be sent back to
   the sender.  [I-D.gao-quic-network-awareness-ack] defines a QUIC ACK
   frame format to return network indicators to the sender.

5.2.  The ability of application awareness by network

   Network awareness of applications includes understanding application
   requirements and server application statuses to provide the best
   services.





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5.2.1.  Fine grained awareness of application requirements

   The characteristic information of different application needs to be
   obtained by network, including application type and requirement of
   application, etc.  Technologies such as DPI, ACL, and SDN can achieve
   the parsing of application attributes.  Besides, application
   requirement information also needs to be carried into network to
   achieve accurate and fast matching of network resources.

5.2.2.  Computing status awareness of server applications

   The network needs to be aware of the computing status of server
   applications, such as computing capability and load, to guide traffic
   to the optimal computing service node.  The CATS group has conducted
   in-depth research on this issue.  [I-D.ietf-cats-framework] and
   [I-D.yi-cats-hybrid-solution] define several frameworks for computing
   awareness, while [I-D.shi-cats-analysis-of-metric-distribution]
   discusses methods for distributing computing status information.

6.  Deployment case

6.1.  IoV solution based on application and network collaboration

   The IoV solution based on application and network collaboration has
   been deployed and validated for the first time in Hebei, China.  In
   this solution, the CATS, IFIT and identification technology were used
   to achieve deep collaboration between application and network, which
   provided high quality and more flexible solution for high-speed IoV.
   Firstly, the hybrid CATS scheme used in this solution comprehensively
   considered computing and network status for service selection and
   path computation, which provided high quality computing service with
   the optimal service site and optimal forwarding path for vehicle
   terminal applications.  Secondly, IFIT and innovative in-cloud
   virtual router [I-D.hy-srv6ops-sfc-in-cloud-uc] technology were used
   to achieve end-to-end network performance awareness.  Thirdly,
   identification technology was used to identify multiple application
   types, so that the differentiated service scheduling and assurance
   have been achieved.

7.  Security Considerations

   TBD

8.  IANA Considerations

   TBD

9.  References



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9.1.  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>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

9.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.liu-rtgwg-mdt-in-high-bdp]
              Ying, "Use Cases and Requirements of Massive Data
              Transmission(MDT) in High Bandwidth-delay Product (BDP)
              Network", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-liu-
              rtgwg-mdt-in-high-bdp-01, 5 July 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-liu-rtgwg-
              mdt-in-high-bdp-01>.

   [RFC9197]  Brockners, F., Ed., Bhandari, S., Ed., and T. Mizrahi,
              Ed., "Data Fields for In Situ Operations, Administration,
              and Maintenance (IOAM)", RFC 9197, DOI 10.17487/RFC9197,
              May 2022, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9197>.

   [I-D.song-opsawg-ifit-framework]
              Song, H., Qin, F., Chen, H., Jin, J., and J. Shin,
              "Framework for In-situ Flow Information Telemetry", Work
              in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-song-opsawg-ifit-
              framework-21, 23 October 2023,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-song-opsawg-
              ifit-framework-21>.

   [I-D.yi-cats-hybrid-solution]
              Yi, X., Pang, R., and H. Shi, "Hybrid Computing and
              Network Awareness and Routing Solution for CATS", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-yi-cats-hybrid-solution-
              03, 24 July 2024, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-yi-cats-hybrid-solution-03>.

   [I-D.gao-quic-network-awareness-ack]
              xing, G., Han, M., Ruan, Z., and H. Shi, "QUIC network
              awareness Acknowledgements", Work in Progress, Internet-
              Draft, draft-gao-quic-network-awareness-ack-00, 3 July
              2024, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-gao-
              quic-network-awareness-ack-00>.




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   [I-D.ietf-cats-framework]
              Li, C., Du, Z., Boucadair, M., Contreras, L. M., and J.
              Drake, "A Framework for Computing-Aware Traffic Steering
              (CATS)", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
              cats-framework-03, 17 September 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-cats-
              framework-03>.

   [I-D.shi-cats-analysis-of-metric-distribution]
              Shi, H., Du, Z., Yi, X., and T. Yang, "Design analysis of
              methods for distributing the computing metric", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-shi-cats-analysis-of-
              metric-distribution-03, 16 October 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-shi-cats-
              analysis-of-metric-distribution-03>.

   [I-D.hy-srv6ops-sfc-in-cloud-uc]
              He, T. and X. Yi, "Use Cases and Requirements for Service
              Function Chaining based on SRv6 in cloud.", Work in
              Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-hy-srv6ops-sfc-in-cloud-
              uc-00, 17 October 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/api/v1/doc/document/draft-
              hy-srv6ops-sfc-in-cloud-uc/>.

Authors' Addresses

   Naihan Zhang (editor)
   China Unicom
   Beijing
   China
   Email: zhangnh12@chinaunicom.cn


   Shuai Zhang (editor)
   China Unicom
   Beijing
   China
   Email: zhangs366@chinaunicom.cn


   Xinxin Yi (editor)
   China Unicom
   Beijing
   China
   Email: yixx3@chinaunicom.cn






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   Xuesong Geng
   Huawei
   Beijing
   China
   Email: gengxuesong@huawei.com


   Hang Shi
   Huawei
   Beijing
   China
   Email: shihang9@huawei.com







































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