DECoupled Application Data Enroute (DECADE) Problem Statement
RFC 6646

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                           H. Song
Request for Comments: 6646                                       N. Zong
Category: Informational                                           Huawei
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                  Y. Yang
                                                         Yale University
                                                                R. Alimi
                                                                  Google
                                                               July 2012

     DECoupled Application Data Enroute (DECADE) Problem Statement

Abstract

   Peer-to-peer (P2P) applications have become widely used on the
   Internet today and make up a large portion of the traffic in many
   networks.  In P2P applications, one technique for reducing the
   transit and uplink P2P traffic is to introduce storage capabilities
   within the network.  Traditional caches (e.g., P2P and Web caches)
   provide such storage, but they can be complex (e.g., P2P caches need
   to explicitly support individual P2P application protocols), and do
   not allow users to manage resource usage policies for content in the
   cache.  This document discusses the introduction of in-network
   storage for P2P applications and shows the need for a standard
   protocol for accessing this storage.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6646.

Song, et al.                  Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 6646                DECADE Problem Statement               July 2012

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Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
   2. Terminology and Concepts ........................................3
   3. The Problems ....................................................4
      3.1. P2P Infrastructural Stress and Inefficiency ................4
      3.2. P2P Cache: A Complex Type of In-Network Storage ............5
      3.3. Ineffective Integration of P2P Applications ................6
   4. Usage Scenarios .................................................6
      4.1. BitTorrent .................................................6
      4.2. Content Publisher ..........................................7
   5. Security Considerations .........................................8
      5.1. Denial-of-Service Attacks ..................................8
      5.2. Copyright and Legal Issues .................................8
      5.3. Traffic Analysis ...........................................8
      5.4. Modification of Information ................................8
      5.5. Masquerade .................................................9
      5.6. Disclosure .................................................9
      5.7. Message Stream Modification ................................9
   6. Acknowledgments .................................................9
   7. Informative References .........................................10

1.  Introduction

   Peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, including both P2P streaming and P2P
   file-sharing applications, make up a large fraction of the traffic in
   many Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks today.  One way to
   reduce bandwidth usage by P2P applications is to introduce storage
   capabilities in networks.  Allowing P2P applications to store and
   retrieve data from inside networks can reduce traffic on the last-
   mile uplink, as well as on backbone and transit links.