One document matched: draft-ietf-ippm-more-twamp-00.xml


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<rfc category="std" docName="draft-ietf-ippm-more-twamp-00" ipr="full3978">
  <front>
    <title abbrev="TWAMP Extensions">More Features for TWAMP</title>

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

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

          <city>Middletown,</city>

          <region>NJ</region>

          <code>07748</code>

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

        <phone>+1 732 420 1571</phone>

        <facsimile>+1 732 368 1192</facsimile>

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

        <uri>http://home.comcast.net/~acmacm/</uri>
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Kaynam Hedayat" initials="K." surname="Hedayat">
      <organization>Brix Networks</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street>285 Mill Road</street>

          <city>Chelmsford</city>

          <region>MA</region>

          <code>01824</code>

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

        <phone>+1</phone>

        <facsimile>+1</facsimile>

        <email>khedayat@brixnet.com</email>

        <uri>http://www.brixnet.com/</uri>
      </address>
    </author>

    <date day="19" month="October" year="2008" />

    <abstract>
      <t>The IETF has completed its work on TWAMP - the Two-Way Active
      Measurement Protocol. This memo describes a simple extension to TWAMP,
      the option to use different security modes in the TWAMP-Control and
      TWAMP-Test protocols.</t>
    </abstract>

    <note title="Requirements Language">
      <t>The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
      "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
      document are to be interpreted as described in <xref
      target="RFC2119">RFC 2119</xref>.</t>
    </note>
  </front>

  <middle>
    <section title="Introduction">
      <t>The IETF has completed its work on the core specification of TWAMP -
      the Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol <xref target="RFC5357"></xref>.
      TWAMP is an extension of the One-way Active Measurement Protocol, OWAMP
      <xref target="RFC4656"></xref>. The TWAMP specification gathered wide
      review as it approached completion, and the by-products were several
      recommendations for new features in TWAMP. There are a growing number
      TWAMP implementations at present, and wide-spread usage is expected.
      There are even devices that are designed to test implementations for
      protocol compliance.</t>

      <t>This memo describes a simple extension for TWAMP, the option to use
      different security modes in the TWAMP-Control and TWAMP-Test
      protocols.</t>

      <t>The relationship between this memo and TWAMP is intended to be an
      update to <xref target="RFC5357"></xref> when published.</t>
    </section>

    <section title="Purpose and Scope">
      <t>The purpose of this memo is to describe and specify an extension for
      TWAMP <xref target="RFC5357"></xref>. The features and extensions were
      vetted before adoption in this memo.</t>

      <t>The scope of the memo is limited to specifications of the
      following:</t>

      <t><list style="symbols">
          <t>Extension of the modes of operation through assignment of one new
          value in the Mode field (see section 3.1 of <xref
          target="RFC4656"></xref>), while retaining backward compatibility
          with TWAMP <xref target="RFC5357"></xref> implementations. This
          value adds the OPTIONAL ability to use different security modes in
          the TWAMP-Control and TWAMP-Test protocols. The motivation for this
          extension is to permit the low packet rate TWAMP-Control protocol to
          utilize a stronger mode of integrity protection than that used in
          the TWAMP-Test protocol.</t>
        </list></t>
    </section>

    <section title="TWAMP Control Extensions">
      <t>TWAMP-Control protocol is a derivative of the OWAMP-Control protocol,
      and coordinates a two-way measurement capability. All TWAMP Control
      messages are similar in format and follow similar guidelines to those
      defined in section 3 of <xref target="RFC4656"></xref> with the
      exceptions described in TWAMP <xref target="RFC5357"></xref>, and in the
      following sections.</t>

      <t>All OWAMP-Control messages apply to TWAMP-Control, except for the
      Fetch Session command.</t>

      <section title="Extended Connection Setup">
        <t>TWAMP connection establishment follows the same procedure defined
        in section 3.1 of <xref target="RFC4656"></xref>. This extended mode
        assigns one new bit position (and value) to allow the Test protocol
        security mode to operate in Unauthenticated mode, while the Control
        protocol operates in Encrypted mode. With this extension, the complete
        set of TWAMP values are as follows:</t>

        <t><figure>
            <preamble></preamble>

            <artwork><![CDATA[Value  Description             Reference/Explanation
0      Reserved
1      Unauthenticated         RFC4656, Section 3.1
2      Authenticated           RFC4656, Section 3.1
4      Encrypted               RFC4656, Section 3.1
8      Unauth. TEST protocol,  new bit position (3)
       Encrypted CONTROL 
]]></artwork>

            <postamble></postamble>
          </figure></t>

        <t>In the original OWAMP Modes field, setting bit positions 0, 1 or 2
        indicated the security mode of the Control protocol, and the Test
        protocol inherited the same mode (see section 4 of <xref
        target="RFC4656"></xref>). In this extension to TWAMP, setting Modes
        Field bit position 3 SHALL discontinue the inheritance of the security
        mode in the Test protocol, and each protocol’s mode SHALL be as
        specified below. When the desired TWAMP Test protocol mode is
        identical to the Control Session mode, the corresponding Modes Field
        bit (position 0, 1 or 2) SHALL be set. The table below gives the
        various combinations of integrity protection that are permissible in
        TWAMP (with this extension). The Test protocol SHALL use the mode in
        each column corresponding to the Modes Field bit position.</t>

        <t><figure>
            <preamble></preamble>

            <artwork><![CDATA[--------------------------------------------------------
Protocol | Permissible Mode Combinations (Modes bit set)
--------------------------------------------------------
Control  |    Unauth.(0)|  Auth. == Encrypted (1,2,3)
--------------------------------------------------------
         |    Unauth.(0)|         Unauth.  (3)
         -----------------------------------------------
Test     |              |          Auth.(1)    
         -----------------------------------------------
         |              |        Encrypted (2)
--------------------------------------------------------]]></artwork>

            <postamble></postamble>
          </figure></t>

        <t>Note that the TWAMP-Control protocol security measures are
        identical in the Authenticated and Encrypted Modes. Therefore, only
        one new bit position (3) is needed to convey the single mixed security
        mode.</t>

        <t>The value of the Modes Field sent by the Server in the
        Server-Greeting message is the bit-wise OR of the modes (bit
        positions) that it is willing to support during this session. Thus,
        the last four bits of the Modes 32-bit Field are used. The first 28
        bits MUST be zero. A client conforming to this extension of <xref
        target="RFC5357"></xref> MAY ignore the values in the first 28 bits of
        the Modes Field, or it MAY support other features that are
        communicated in these bit positions.</t>

        <t>Other ways in which TWAMP extends OWAMP are described in <xref
        target="RFC5357"></xref>.</t>
      </section>
    </section>

    <section title="Extended TWAMP Test ">
      <t>The TWAMP test protocol is similar to the OWAMP <xref
      target="RFC4656"></xref> test protocol with the exception that the
      Session-Reflector transmits test packets to the Session-Sender in
      response to each test packet it receives. TWAMP <xref
      target="RFC5357"></xref> defines two different test packet formats, one
      for packets transmitted by the Session-Sender and one for packets
      transmitted by the Session-Reflector. As with OWAMP-Test protocol there
      are three security modes: unauthenticated, authenticated, and encrypted.
      This TWAMP extension makes it possible to use TWAMP-Test Unauthenticated
      mode regardless of the mode used in the TWAMP-Control protocol.</t>

      <section title="Sender Behavior">
        <t>This section describes REQUIRED extensions to the behavior of the
        TWAMP Sender.</t>

        <section title="Packet Timings">
          <t>The Send Schedule is not utilized in TWAMP, and there are no
          extensions defined in this memo.</t>
        </section>

        <section title="Packet Format and Content">
          <t>The Session Sender packet format and content MUST follow the same
          procedure and guidelines as defined in section 4.1.2 of <xref
          target="RFC4656"></xref> and section 4.1.2 of <xref
          target="RFC5357"></xref>, with the following exceptions: <list
              style="symbols">
              <t>the Send Schedule is not used, and</t>

              <t>the Sessions-Sender MUST support the mixed security mode
              (Unauthenticated TEST, Encrypted CONTROL,value 8, bit position
              3) defined in section 3.1 of this memo.</t>
            </list></t>
        </section>
      </section>

      <section title="Reflector Behavior">
        <t>The TWAMP Reflector is REQUIRED to follow the procedures and
        guidelines in section 4.2 of <xref target="RFC5357"></xref>, with the
        following extensions:</t>

        <t><list style="symbols">
            <t>the Sessions-Reflector MUST support the mixed security mode
            (Unauthenticated TEST, Encrypted CONTROL,value 8, bit position 3)
            defined in section 3.1 of this memo.</t>
          </list></t>
      </section>
    </section>

    <section anchor="Security" title="Security Considerations">
      <t>The extended mixed-mode of operation permits stronger
      security/integrity protection on the TWAMP-Control protocol while
      simultaneously emphasizing accuracy or efficiency on the TWAMP-Test
      protocol, thus making it possible to increase overall security when
      compared to the previous options.</t>

      <t>The security considerations that apply to any active measurement of
      live networks are relevant here as well. See <xref
      target="RFC4656"></xref> and <xref target="RFC5357"></xref>.</t>
    </section>

    <section anchor="IANA" title="IANA Considerations">
      <t>This memo adds three security mode combinations to the OWAMP-Control
      specification<xref target="RFC4656"> </xref>, and describes behavior
      when the new modes are used. This memo requests creation an IANA
      registry for the TWAMP Mode field. This field is a recognized extension
      mechanism for TWAMP.</t>

      <section title="Registry Specification">
        <t>IANA is requested to create a TWAMP-Modes registry. TWAMP-Modes are
        specified in TWAMP Server Greeting messages and Set-up Response
        messages consistent with section 3.1 of <xref
        target="RFC4656"></xref>, and extended by this memo. Modes are
        indicated by setting bits in the 32-bit Modes Field. Thus, this
        registry can contain a total of 32 possible bit positions and
        corresponding values.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Registry Management">
        <t>Because the TWAMP-Modes registry can contain only thirty-two
        values, and because TWAMP is an IETF protocol, this registry must be
        updated only by "IETF Consensus" as specified in <xref
        target="RFC2434"></xref>(an RFC documenting registry use that is
        approved by the IESG). For the Modes registry, we expect that new
        features will be assigned using monotonically increasing bit positions
        and in the range [0-31] and the corresponding values, unless there is
        a good reason to do otherwise.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Experimental Numbers">
        <t>No experimental values are currently assigned for the Modes
        Registry.</t>
      </section>

      <section title="Initial Registry Contents">
        <t>TWAMP Modes Registry<figure>
            <preamble></preamble>

            <artwork><![CDATA[Value  Description             Semantics Definition
0      Reserved

1      Unauthenticated         RFC4656, Section 3.1

2      Authenticated           RFC4656, Section 3.1

4      Encrypted               RFC4656, Section 3.1

8      Unauth. TEST protocol,  this document, Section 3.1
       Encrypted CONTROL 
]]></artwork>

            <postamble></postamble>
          </figure></t>
      </section>
    </section>

    <section anchor="Acknowledgements" title="Acknowledgements">
      <t>The authors would like to thank Len Ciavattone for helpful review and
      comments.</t>
    </section>
  </middle>

  <back>
    <references title="Normative References">
      <?rfc include="reference.RFC.2119"?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.4656'?>

      <?rfc ?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.2434'?>

      <?rfc include='reference.RFC.5357'?>

      <?rfc ?>

      <?rfc ?>
    </references>

    <references title="Informative References">
      <?rfc ?>

      <reference anchor="x">
        <front>
          <title></title>

          <author fullname="" surname="">
            <organization></organization>
          </author>

          <date month="" year="" />
        </front>
      </reference>
    </references>
  </back>
</rfc>

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