One document matched: draft-ietf-ippm-lmap-path-00.xml


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<?rfc text-list-symbols="o*+-"?>
<rfc category="std" docName="draft-ietf-ippm-lmap-path-00" ipr="trust200902"
     obsoletes="" updates="">
  <front>
    <title abbrev="LMAP Reference Path">A Reference Path and Measurement
    Points for LMAP</title>

    <author fullname="Marcelo Bagnulo" initials="M." surname="Bagnulo">
      <organization abbrev="UC3M">Universidad Carlos III de
      Madrid</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street>Av. Universidad 30</street>

          <city>Leganes</city>

          <region>Madrid</region>

          <code>28911</code>

          <country>SPAIN</country>
        </postal>

        <phone>34 91 6249500</phone>

        <email>marcelo@it.uc3m.es</email>

        <uri>http://www.it.uc3m.es</uri>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Trevor Burbridge" initials="T." surname="Burbridge">
      <organization abbrev="BT">British Telecom</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street>Adastral Park, Martlesham Heath</street>

          <city>IPswitch</city>

          <country>ENGLAND</country>
        </postal>

        <email>trevor.burbridge@bt.com</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Sam Crawford" initials="S." surname="Crawford">
      <organization abbrev="SamKnows">SamKnows</organization>

      <address>
        <email>sam@samknows.com</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Phil Eardley" initials="P." surname="Eardley">
      <organization abbrev="BT">British Telecom</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street>Adastral Park, Martlesham Heath</street>

          <city>IPswitch</city>

          <country>ENGLAND</country>
        </postal>

        <email>philip.eardley@bt.com</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Al Morton" initials="A." surname="Morton">
      <organization abbrev="AT&T Labs">AT&T Labs</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street>200 Laurel Avenue South</street>

          <city>Middletown, NJ</city>

          <country>USA</country>
        </postal>

        <email>acmorton@att.com</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <date day="8" month="July" year="2013"/>

    <abstract>
      <t>This document defines a reference path for Large-scale Measurement of
      Broadband Access Performance (LMAP) and measurement points for commonly
      used performance metrics.</t>
    </abstract>
  </front>

  <middle>
    <section title="Introduction">
      <t>This document defines a reference path for Large-scale Measurement of
      Broadband Access Performance (LMAP). The series of IP Performance
      Metrics (IPPM) RFCs have developed terms that are generally useful for
      path description (section 5 of <xref target="RFC2330"/>). There are a
      limited number of additional terms needing definition here, and they
      will be defined in this memo.</t>

      <t>The reference path is usually needed when attempting to communicate
      precisely about the components that comprise the path, often in terms of
      their number (hops) and geographic location. This memo takes the path
      definition further, by establishing a set of measurement points along
      the path and ascribing a unique designation to each point. This topic
      has been previously developed in section 5.1 of <xref
      target="RFC3432"/>, and as part of the updated framework for composition
      and aggregation, section 4 of <xref target="RFC5835"/> (which may also
      figure in the LMAP work effort). Section 4.1 of <xref target="RFC5835"/>
      defines the term "measurement point".</t>

      <t>Measurement points and the paths they cover are often described in
      general terms, like "end-to-end", "user-to-user", or "access". These
      terms are insufficient for scientific method: What is an end? Where is a
      user located? Is the home network included?</t>

      <t>The motivation for this memo is to provide an unambiguous framework
      to describe measurement coverage, or scope of the reference path. This
      is an essential part of the metadata to describe measurement results.
      Measurements conducted over different path scopes are not a valid basis
      for performance comparisons.</t>
    </section>

    <section title="Purpose and Scope">
      <t>The scope of this memo is to define a reference path for LMAP
      activities with sufficient level of detail to determine the location of
      different measurement points without ambiguity.</t>

      <t>The bridge between the reference path and specific network
      technologies (with differing underlying architectures) is within the
      scope of this effort. Both wired and wireless technologies are
      in-scope.</t>

      <t>The purpose is to create an efficient way to describe the location of
      the measurement point(s) used to conduct a particular measurement so
      that the measurement result will adequately described in this regard.
      This should serve many measurement uses, including diagnostic (where the
      same metric may be measured over many different path scopes) and
      comparative (where the same metric may be measured on different network
      infrastructures).</t>
    </section>

    <section title="Terms and Definitions">
      <t>This section defines key terms and concepts for the purposes of this
      memo.</t>

      <section title="Reference Path">
        <t>A reference path is a serial combination of routers, switches,
        links, radios, and processing elements that comprise all the network
        elements traversed by each packet between the source and destination
        hosts. The reference path is intended to be equally applicable to all
        networking technologies, therefore the components are generically
        defined, but their functions should have a clear counterpart or be
        obviously omitted in any network technology.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Subscriber">
        <t>An entity possessing one or more hosts participating in an Internet
        access service.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Dedicated Component (Links or Nodes)">
        <t>All resources of a Dedicated component (typically a link or node on
        the Reference Path) are allocated to serving the traffic of an
        individual Subscriber. Resources include transmission time-slots,
        queue space, processing for encapsulation and address/port
        translation, and others. A Dedicated component can affect the
        performance of the Reference Path, or the performance of any sub-path
        where the component is involved.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Shared Component (Links or Nodes) ">
        <t>A component on the Reference Path is designated a Shared component
        when the traffic associated with multiple Subscribers is served by
        common resources.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Resource Transition Point">
        <t>A point between Dedicated and Shared components on a Reference Path
        that may be a point of significance, and is identified as a transition
        between two types of resources.</t>
      </section>
    </section>

    <section title="Reference Path">
      <t>This section defines a reference path for Internet Access.</t>

      <t><figure align="center">
          <artwork><![CDATA[Subsc. -- Private -- Private -- Access -- Intra IP -- GRA -- Transit
device     Net #1     Net #2    Demarc.    Access     GW     GRA GW


... Transit -- GRA -- Service -- Private -- Private -- Destination 
    GRA GW     GW     Demarc.    Net #n     Net #n+1   Host

]]></artwork>

          <postamble>GRA = Globally Routable Address, GW = Gateway</postamble>
        </figure></t>

      <t>The following are descriptions of reference path components that may
      not be clear from their name alone.</t>

      <t><list style="symbols">
          <t>Subsc. (Subscriber) device - This is a host that normally
          originates and terminates communications conducted over the IP
          packet transfer service.</t>

          <t>Private Net #x - This is a network of devices owned and operated
          by the Internet Access Service Subscriber. In some configurations,
          one or more private networks and the device that provides the Access
          Service Demarcation point are collapsed in a single device (and
          ownership may shift to the service provider), and this should be
          noted as part of the path description.</t>

          <t>Access (Service) Demarcation point - this varies by technology
          but is usually defined as the Ethernet interface on a residential
          gateway or modem where the scope of access packet transfer service
          begins and ends. In the case of a WiFi Service, this would be an Air
          Interface within the intended service boundary (e.g., walls of the
          coffee shop). The Demarcation point may be within an integrated
          endpoint using an Air Interface (e.g., LTE UE). Ownership may not
          affect the demarcation point; a Subscriber may own all equipment on
          their premises, but it is likely that the service provider will
          certify such equipment for connection to their access network, or a
          third-party will certify standards compliance.</t>

          <t>Intra IP Access - This is the first point in the access
          architecture beyond the Access Service Demarc. where a globally
          routable IP address is exposed and used for routing. In
          architectures that use tunneling, this point may be equivalent to
          the GRA GW. This point could also collapse to the device providing
          the Access Service Demarc., in principle. Only one Intra IP Access
          point is shown, but they can be identified in any access or transit
          network.</t>

          <t>GRA GW - the point of interconnection between the access
          administrative domain and the rest of the Internet, where routing
          will depend on the GRAs in the IP header.</t>

          <t>Transit GRA GW - Networks that intervene between the Subscriber's
          Access network and the Destination Host's network are designated
          "transit" and involve two GRA GW.</t>
        </list>Use of multiple IP address families in the measurement path
      must be noted, as the conversions between IPv4 and IPv6 certainly
      influence the visibility of a GRA for each family.</t>

      <t>In the case that a private address space is used throughout an access
      architecture, then the Access Service Demarc. and the Intra IP Access
      points must use the same address space and be separated by the shared
      and dedicated access link infrastructure, such that a test between these
      points produces a useful assessment of access performance.</t>
    </section>

    <section title="Measurement Points">
      <t>A key aspect of measurement points, beyond the definition in section
      4.1 of <xref target="RFC5835"/>, is that the innermost IP header and
      higher layer information must be accessible through some means. This is
      essential to measure IP metrics. There may be tunnels and/or other
      layers which encapsulate the innermost IP header, even adding another IP
      header of their own.</t>

      <t>In general, measurement points cannot always be located exactly where
      desired. However, the definition in <xref target="RFC5835"/> and the
      discussion in section 5.1 of <xref target="RFC3432"/> indicate that
      allowances can be made: for example, deterministic errors that can be
      quantified are ideal.</t>

      <t>The Figure below illustrates the assignment of measurement points to
      selected components of the reference path.</t>

      <t><figure align="center">
          <artwork><![CDATA[Subsc. -- Private -- Private -- Access -- Intra IP -- GRA -- Transit
device     Net #1     Net #2    Demarc.    Access     GW     GRA GW
mp000                            mp100      mp150    mp190    mp200


... Transit -- GRA -- Service -- Private -- Private -- Destination 
    GRA GW     GW     Demarc.    Net #n     Net #n+1   Host
    mpX90     mp890   mp800                            mp900     

]]></artwork>

          <postamble>GRA = Globally Routable Address, GW = Gateway</postamble>
        </figure></t>

      <t>The numbering for measurement points (mpNNN) allows for considerable
      local use of unallocated numbers.</t>

      <t>Notes:</t>

      <t><list style="symbols">
          <t>Some use the terminology "on-net" and "off-net" when referring to
          Internet Service Provider (ISP) measurement coverage. With respect
          to the reference path, tests between mp100 and mp190 are
          "on-net".</t>

          <t>Widely deployed broadband access measurements have used
          pass-through devices<xref target="SK"/> (at the subscriber's
          location) directly connected to the service demarcation point: this
          would be located at mp100.</t>

          <t>The networking technology used at all measurement points must be
          indicated, especially the interface standard and configured
          speed.</t>

          <t>If it can be shown that a link connecting to a measurement point
          has reliably deterministic or negilgible performance, then the
          remote end of the connecting link is an equivalent point for some
          methods of measurement (To Be Specified Elsewhere). In any case, the
          presence of such a link must be reported.</t>

          <t>Many access network architectures have a traffic aggregation
          point (e.g., CMTS or DSLAM) between mp100 and mp150. We designate
          this point mp120, but it won't currently fit in the figure.</t>

          <t>A Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) deployed in the Subscriber's access
          network would be positioned between mp100 and mp190, and the egress
          side of the CGN will typically be designated mp150.</t>

          <t>In the case that a private address space is used in an access
          architecture, then mp100 may need to use the same address space as
          its remote measurement point counterpart, so that a test between
          these points produces a useful assessment of network performance.
          Tests between mp000 and mp100 could use private address space, and
          when the egress side of a CGN is at mp150, then the private address
          side of the CGN could be designated mp149 for tests with mp100.</t>

          <t>Measurement points at Transit GRA GWs are numbered mpX00 and
          mpX90, where X is the lowest positive integer not already used in
          the path.</t>
        </list></t>
    </section>

    <section title="Translation Between Ref. Path and Tech. X ">
      <t>This section and those that follow are intended to provide a more
      exact mapping between particular network technologies and the reference
      path.</t>

      <t>We provide an example for 3G Cellular access below.</t>

      <figure align="center">
        <artwork><![CDATA[Subscriber -- Private -- Access Srvc ----------- GRA --- Transit ... 
device         Net #1      Demarc.                GW     GRA GW
mp000                       mp100                mp190    mp200

|_____________UE______________|___RAN+Core____|___GGSN__|
     

]]></artwork>

        <postamble>GRA = Globally Routable Address, GW = Gateway, UE = User
        Equipment, RAN = Radio Access Network, GGSN = Gateway GPRS Support
        Node.</postamble>
      </figure>

      <t/>

      <t>We next provide a few examples of DSL access. Consider first the case
      where: <list style="symbols">
          <t>The Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) is a NAT device that is
          configured with a public IP address.</t>

          <t>The CPE is a home router that has also an incorporated a WiFi
          access point and this is the only networking device in the home
          network, all endpoints attach directly to the CPE though the WiFi
          access.</t>
        </list> We believe this is a fairly common configuration in some parts
      of the world and fairly simple as well.</t>

      <t>This case would map into the defined reference measurement points as
      follows:</t>

      <t><figure align="center">
          <artwork><![CDATA[Subsc. -- Private -- Private -- Access -- Intra IP -- GRA -- Transit
device     Net #1     Net #2    Demarc.    Access     GW     GRA GW
mp000                            mp100      mp150    mp190    mp200
|--UE--|------------CPE/NAT--------|-------|BRAS-|------|
                                   |----Access Network--|
			]]></artwork>

          <postamble>GRA = Globally Routable Address, GW = Gateway</postamble>
        </figure></t>

      <t>Consider next the case where: <list style="symbols">
          <t>The Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) is a NAT device that is
          configured with a private IP address.</t>

          <t>There is a Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) located deep into the Access
          ISP network.</t>

          <t>The CPE is a home router that has also an incorporated a WiFi
          access point and this is the only networking device in the home
          network, all endpoints attach directly to the CPE though the WiFi
          access.</t>
        </list> We believe is becoming a fairly common configuration in some
      parts of the world.</t>

      <t>This case would map into the defined reference measurement points as
      follows:</t>

      <t><figure align="center">
          <artwork><![CDATA[Subsc. -- Private -- Private -- Access -- Intra IP -- GRA -- Transit
device     Net #1     Net #2    Demarc.    Access     GW     GRA GW
mp000                            mp100      mp150    mp190    mp200
|--UE--|------------CPE/NAT--------|------|-CGN-|------|
                                   |---Access Network--|                   
			]]></artwork>

          <postamble>GRA = Globally Routable Address, GW = Gateway</postamble>
        </figure></t>
    </section>

    <section title="Security considerations">
      <t>Specification of a Reference Path and identification of measurement
      points on the path represent agreements among interested parties, and
      they present no threat to the readers of this memo or to the Internet
      itself.</t>
    </section>

    <section title="IANA Considerations">
      <t>TBD</t>
    </section>

    <section title="Acknowledgements">
      <t>Thanks to Matt Mathis for review and comments.</t>
    </section>
  </middle>

  <back>
    <references title="Normative References">
      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.2330'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.3432'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.2681'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.6673'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.1035'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.5905'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.2679'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.2680'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.3393'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.5481'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.5835'?>
    </references>

    <references title="Informative References">
      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.4148'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.6248'?>

      <reference anchor="SK">
        <front>
          <title>Test Methodology White Paper</title>

          <author fullname="S, Crawford" initials="Sam" surname="Crawford">
            <!---->

            <organization abbrev="Boeing">Boeing Computer
            Services</organization>
          </author>

          <date month="July" year="2011"/>
        </front>

        <seriesInfo name="SamKnows Whitebox Briefing Note"
                    value="http://www.samknows.com/broadband/index.php"/>
      </reference>
    </references>
  </back>
</rfc>

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