Next Steps in Signaling (NSIS): Framework
RFC 4080

Received changes through RFC Editor sync (changed abstract to 'The Next Steps in Signaling (NSIS) working group is considering protocols for signaling information about a data flow along its path in the network. The NSIS suite of protocols is envisioned to support various signaling applications that need to install and/or manipulate such state in the network. Based on existing work on signaling requirements, this document proposes an architectural framework for these signaling protocols.

This document provides a model for the network entities that take part in such signaling, and for the relationship between signaling and the rest of network operation. We decompose the overall signaling protocol suite into a generic (lower) layer, with separate upper layers for each specific signaling application. This memo provides information for the Internet community.')

[Ballot discuss]
The security discussions all focus on channel security, with a little bit of text on authorization.  My concern is availability -- signaling messages, especially hop-by-hop signaling messages, are very expensive for routers.  I worry about denial of service attacks on a network via very frequent application-induced messages.  (The other obvious attack -- requesting too much service -- is easier to deal with, and is, presumably, addressed by the authorization discussion.)