Group Communication for the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP)
RFC 7390

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                    A. Rahman, Ed.
Request for Comments: 7390              InterDigital Communications, LLC
Category: Experimental                                      E. Dijk, Ed.
ISSN: 2070-1721                                         Philips Research
                                                            October 2014

  Group Communication for the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP)

Abstract

   The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is a specialized web
   transfer protocol for constrained devices and constrained networks.
   It is anticipated that constrained devices will often naturally
   operate in groups (e.g., in a building automation scenario, all
   lights in a given room may need to be switched on/off as a group).
   This specification defines how CoAP should be used in a group
   communication context.  An approach for using CoAP on top of IP
   multicast is detailed based on existing CoAP functionality as well as
   new features introduced in this specification.  Also, various use
   cases and corresponding protocol flows are provided to illustrate
   important concepts.  Finally, guidance is provided for deployment in
   various network topologies.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for examination, experimental implementation, and
   evaluation.

   This document defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
   community.  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/rfc7390.

Rahman & Dijk                 Experimental                      [Page 1]
RFC 7390              Group Communication for CoAP          October 2014

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 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 (http://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
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   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  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.1.  Background  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.2.  Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.3.  Conventions and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   2.  Protocol Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.1.  IP Multicast Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.2.  Group Definition and Naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     2.3.  Port and URI Configuration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     2.4.  RESTful Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     2.5.  Request and Response Model  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     2.6.  Membership Configuration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
       2.6.1.  Background  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
       2.6.2.  Membership Configuration RESTful Interface  . . . . .  11
     2.7.  Request Acceptance and Response Suppression Rules . . . .  17
     2.8.  Congestion Control  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
     2.9.  Proxy Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
     2.10. Exceptions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
   3.  Use Cases and Corresponding Protocol Flows  . . . . . . . . .  22
     3.1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     3.2.  Network Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     3.3.  Discovery of Resource Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
     3.4.  Lighting Control  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26
     3.5.  Lighting Control in MLD-Enabled Network . . . . . . . . .  30
     3.6.  Commissioning the Network Based on Resource Directory . .  31
   4.  Deployment Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
     4.1.  Target Network Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
     4.2.  Networks Using the MLD Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
     4.3.  Networks Using RPL Multicast without MLD  . . . . . . . .  33
     4.4.  Networks Using MPL Forwarding without MLD . . . . . . . .  34