One document matched: draft-camarillo-sipping-exploders-03.txt

Differences from draft-camarillo-sipping-exploders-02.txt

SIPPING Working Group                                       G. Camarillo
Internet-Draft                                                  Ericsson
Expires: August 1, 2004                                    February 2004


    Requirements and Framework for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
                          Exploder Invocation
                draft-camarillo-sipping-exploders-03.txt

Status of this Memo

   By submitting this Internet-Draft, I certify that any applicable
   patent or other IPR claims of which I am aware have been disclosed,
   and any of which I become aware will be disclosed, in accordance with
   RFC 3668.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other
   groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://
   www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.

   The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.

   This Internet-Draft will expire on August 1, 2004.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document describes the need for SIP exploders and provides
   requirements for their invocation. Additionaly, it defines a
   framework which includes all the SIP extensions needed to meet these
   requirements.









Camarillo                Expires August 1, 2004                 [Page 1]

Internet-Draft    Reqs and Framework for SIP Exploders     February 2004


Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   3.  Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   4.  Framework  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     4.1   Carrying URI Lists in SIP  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     4.2   Exploder Processing of URI Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     4.3   Explosion's Results  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   5.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   6.  Acknowledges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   7.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   7.1   Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   7.2   Informational References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . .  8



































Camarillo                Expires August 1, 2004                 [Page 2]

Internet-Draft    Reqs and Framework for SIP Exploders     February 2004


1.  Introduction

   Some applications require that, at a given moment, a SIP [2] UA (User
   Agent) performs a similar transaction with a number of remote UAs.
   For example, an instant messaging application that needs to send a
   particular message (e.g., "Hello folks") to n receivers needs to send
   n MESSAGE requests; one to each receiver.

   When the transacton that needs to be repeated consists of a large
   request, or the number of recipients is high, or both, the access
   network of the UA needs to carry a considerable amount of traffic.
   Completing all the transactions on a low-bandwidth access would
   require a long time. This is unacceptable for a number of
   applications.

   A solution to this problem consists of introducing exploders in the
   network. The task of an exploder is to receive a request from a UA
   and send a number of similar requests to a number of destinations.
   Once the requests are sent, the exploder typically informs the UA
   about their status. Effectively, the exploder behaves as a B2BUA
   (Back-To-Back-User-Agent).

   Note that resource lists, as described in [4], already use SIP
   exploders for SUBSCRIBE transactions. Still, the set of destinations
   needs to be preconfigured using out-of-band mechanisms (e.g., XCAP).

   The Advanced Instant Messaging Requirements for SIP  [5] also
   mentions the need for exploders for MESSAGE transactions:

   "REQ-GROUP-3: It MUST be possible for a user to send to an ad-hoc
   group, where the identities of the recipients are carried in the
   message itself."

   The remainder of this document provides requirements to invoke
   exploders in an efficient manner and a framework that meets these
   requirements.

2.  Terminology

   In this document, the key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED",
   "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT
   RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" are to be interpreted as
   described in BCP 14, RFC 2119 [1] and indicate requirement levels for
   compliant implementations.

3.  Requirements

   This section contains the requirements:



Camarillo                Expires August 1, 2004                 [Page 3]

Internet-Draft    Reqs and Framework for SIP Exploders     February 2004


   1.  The invocation mechanism MUST allow the invoker to provide a list
       of destination URIs to the exploder. This URI list MAY consist of
       one or more URIs.
   2.  The mechanism to provide the URI list to the exploder MUST NOT be
       request specific.
   3.  The invocation mechanism SHOULD NOT require more than one RTT
       (Round-Trip Time).
   4.  An exploder MAY provide services beyond request explosion. That
       is, exploders can be modelled as application servers. For
       example, an exploder handling INVITE requests may behave as a
       conference server and perform media mixing for all the
       participants.
   5.  The interpretation of the meaning of the URI list sent by the
       invoker MUST be at the discretion of the application to which the
       list is sent.
   6.  It MUST be possible for the invoker to find out about the result
       of the operations performed by the application server with the
       URI list. An invoker may, for instance, be interested in the
       status of the transactions initiated by the exploder.
   7.  Exploders MUST NOT perform any request explosion without
       authenticating the invoker.

4.  Framework

   Although Section 3 contains specific requirements for SIP exploders,
   this framework is not restricted to application servers that only
   provide request explosion services. Per requirement number 4, we also
   deal with application servers that provide a particular service that
   includes a request explosion (e.g., a conference server that INVITEs
   several participants which are chosen by a user agent).

4.1  Carrying URI Lists in SIP

   Requirements 1 through 3 indentify the need for a request-independent
   mechanism to provide a SIP exploder with a URI list in a single RTT.
   The mechanism described in [3] meets these three requirements.

   UAs (User Agents) add a "list" SIP and SIPS URI parameter to the
   Request-URI of the request. This "list" parameter points to a body
   part which contains the URI list. The default URI list format for SIP
   entities is the XCAP resource list format defined in [6].

4.2  Exploder Processing of URI Lists

   According to Requirement 4 and 5, exploders can behave as application
   servers. That is, taking a URI list as an input, they can provide
   arbitrary services.




Camarillo                Expires August 1, 2004                 [Page 4]

Internet-Draft    Reqs and Framework for SIP Exploders     February 2004


   So, the interpretation of the URI list by the server depends on the
   service to be provided. For example, for a conference server, the
   URIs in the list may identify the initial set of participants. On the
   other hand, for a MESSAGE exploder, the URIs in the list may identify
   the recipients of an instant message.

   At the SIP level, this implies that the behavior of application
   servers receiving requests with URI lists SHOULD be specified on a
   per method basis. Examples of such specifications are
   [draft-camarillo-sipping-adhoc-conferencing-00.txt] for INVITE,
   [draft-garcia-sipping-message-exploder-00.txt] for MESSAGE, and
   [draft-camarillo-sipping-adhoc-simple-00.txt] for SUBSCRIBE.

4.3  Explosion's Results

   According to requirement 6, user agents should have a way to obtain
   information about the operations performed by the application server.
   Since these operations are service specific, the way user agents are
   kept informed is also service specific. For example, a user agent
   establishing an adhoc conference with an INVITE with a URI list may
   discover which participants were successfully brought in into the
   conference by using the conference package [8].

5.  Security Considerations

   Security plays an important role in the implementation of any
   exploder. By definition, and exploder takes one request in and sends
   a potentially large number of them out. Attackers may attempt to use
   exploders as traffic amplifiers to launch DoS attacks. In addition,
   malicious users may attempt to use exploders to distribute
   unsolicited messages (i.e., SPAM) or to make unsolicited VoIP calls.
   This section provides guidelines to avoid these attacks.

   Exploders MUST NOT perform any request explosion for an unauthorized
   user. So, exploders MUST authenticate users and check whether they
   are authorized to request the exploder's services before performing
   any request explosion.

   Even though the previous rule keeps unauthorized users from using
   exploders, authorized users may still launch attacks using a
   exploder. If an exploder is used to send unsolicited requests to one
   or several destinations, it should be possible to track down the
   sender of such requests. To do that, exploders MAY provide
   information about the identity of the original sender of the request
   in their outgoing requests. Exploders can use Authenticated Identity
   Bodies (AIB) [7] or P-Asserted-Identity header fields [9] to provide
   this information. Furthermore, it is RECOMMENDED that exploders keep
   a log of all the transactions they handle (for a reasonable period of



Camarillo                Expires August 1, 2004                 [Page 5]

Internet-Draft    Reqs and Framework for SIP Exploders     February 2004


   time), so that SPAMMERS can be tracked down.

   The previous rule allows exploders to track down attackers once an
   attack has taken place. Nevertheless, it is often desirable to
   prevent the attack in the first place, instead of taking measures
   afterwards. Providing the identify of the original sender in outgoing
   requests is not enough to prevent attacks because victims may consist
   of non-SIP nodes which would not be able to decline SIP requests
   using SIP error responses.

   Exploders MUST NOT explode a request to a destination which has not
   agreed to receive requests from the exploder beforehand. Users can
   agree to receive requests from an exploder in several ways, such as
   filling a web page, sending an email, or signing a contract.
   Additionally, users MUST be able to further describe the explosions
   they are willing to receive. For example, a user may only want to
   receive explosions performed by a particular exploder on behalf of a
   particular user. Effectively, these rules make URI lists used by
   exploders opt-in.

   Exploders MAY have policies that limit the number of URIs in the
   list, as a very long list could be used in a denial of service attack
   to place a large burden on the exploder to send a large number of SIP
   requests.

   Requirement 7, which states that exploders need to authenticate
   requesters of request explosions, and the previous rules apply to
   exploders in general. In addition, specifications dealing with
   individual methods MUST describe the security issues that relate to
   each particular method.

6.  Acknowledges

   Duncan Mills and Miguel A. Garcia-Martin supported the idea of 1 to n
   MESSAGEs. Jon Peterson provided useful comments.

7.  References

7.1  Normative References

   [1]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
        Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [2]  Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A.,
        Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M. and E. Schooler, "SIP:
        Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261, June 2002.





Camarillo                Expires August 1, 2004                 [Page 6]

Internet-Draft    Reqs and Framework for SIP Exploders     February 2004


7.2  Informational References

   [3]  Camarillo, G., "Providing a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
        Application Server with a  List of URIs",
        draft-camarillo-sipping-uri-list-01 (work in progress), February
        2004.

   [4]  Roach, A., Rosenberg, J. and B. Campbell, "A Session Initiation
        Protocol (SIP) Event Notification Extension for  Resource
        Lists", draft-ietf-simple-event-list-04 (work in progress), June
        2003.

   [5]  Rosenberg, J., "Advanced Instant Messaging Requirements for the
        Session Initiation Protocol  (SIP)",
        draft-rosenberg-simple-messaging-requirements-01 (work in
        progress), February 2004.

   [6]  Rosenberg, J., "An Extensible Markup Language (XML)
        Configuration Access Protocol (XCAP)  Usage for Presence Lists",
        draft-ietf-simple-xcap-list-usage-02 (work in progress),
        February 2004.

   [7]  Peterson, J., "SIP Authenticated Identity Body (AIB) Format",
        draft-ietf-sip-authid-body-02 (work in progress), July 2003.

   [8]  Rosenberg, J. and H. Schulzrinne, "A Session Initiation Protocol
        (SIP) Event Package for Conference State",
        draft-ietf-sipping-conference-package-03 (work in progress),
        February 2004.

   [9]  Jennings, C., Peterson, J. and M. Watson, "Private Extensions to
        the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for Asserted Identity
        within Trusted Networks", RFC 3325, November 2002.


Author's Address

   Gonzalo Camarillo
   Ericsson
   Hirsalantie 11
   Jorvas  02420
   Finland

   EMail: Gonzalo.Camarillo@ericsson.com







Camarillo                Expires August 1, 2004                 [Page 7]

Internet-Draft    Reqs and Framework for SIP Exploders     February 2004


Intellectual Property Statement

   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
   made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information
   on the IETF's procedures with respect to rights in IETF Documents can
   be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
   this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at
   ietf-ipr@ietf.org.


Disclaimer of Validity

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
   INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
   INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.


Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). This document is subject
   to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and
   except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.


Acknowledgment

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.




Camarillo                Expires August 1, 2004                 [Page 8]