One document matched: draft-ietf-policy-terminology-01.txt

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 Policy Framework Working Group                         A. Westerinen  
 INTERNET-DRAFT                                         J. Schnizlein 
 Category: Informational                                 J. Strassner 
                                                        Cisco Systems 
                                                       Mark Scherling 
                                                                xCert 
                                                            Bob Quinn 
                                                       Celox Networks 
                                                            Jay Perry 
                                                               CPlane 
                                                          Shai Herzog 
                                                           IP Highway 
                                                          An-Ni Huynh 
                                                  Lucent Technologies 
                                                         Mark Carlson 
                                                     Sun Microsystems 
                                                     Steve Waldbusser 
                                                        November 2000 
                                                            
                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                                         
                            Policy Terminology 

                  <draft-ietf-policy-terminology-01.txt> 
                    Friday, November 24, 2000, 12:03 AM 

 Status of this Memo 

  This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with 
  all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026. 

  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 

 Copyright Notice 

  Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved. 





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 Abstract 

  This document is a glossary of policy-related terms.  It provides 
  abbreviations, explanations, and recommendations for use of these 
  terms.  The document takes the approach and format of RFC2828 
  [R2828], which defines an Internet Security Glossary.  The intent is 
  to improve the comprehensibility and consistency of writing that 
  deals with network policy, particularly Internet Standards documents 
  (ISDs). 

    

 Table of Contents 

  1. Introduction.....................................................3 
  2. Explanation of Paragraph Markings................................4 
  3. Terms............................................................4 
  4. Intellectual Property...........................................15 
  5. Acknowledgements................................................16 
  6. Security Considerations.........................................16 
  7. References......................................................16 
  8. Authors' Addresses..............................................18 
  9. Full Copyright Statement........................................20 
    






























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 1. Introduction 

  This document provides abbreviations, definitions, and explanations 
  of terms related to network policy. All definitions are provided in 
  Section 3, with the terms listed in alphabetical order.   

  The intent is to improve the comprehensibility and consistency of 
  Internet Standards documents (ISDs) - i.e., RFCs, Internet-Drafts,  
  and other material produced as part of the Internet Standards  
  Process [R2026]. Benefits across the ISDs are well-stated in the 
  Introduction to RFC2828 [R2828]: 

   o "Clear, Concise, and Easily Understood Documentation" - Requires 
     that the set of terms and definitions be consistent, self-
     supporting and uniform across all ISDs. 

   o Technical Excellence - Where all ISDs use terminology accurately, 
     precisely, and unambiguously. 

   o Prior Implementation and Testing - Requires that terms are used in 
     their plainest form, that private and "made-up" terms are avoided 
     in ISDs, and that new definitions are not created that conflict 
     with established ones.  

   o "Openness, Fairness, and Timeliness" - Where ISDs avoid terms that 
     are proprietary or otherwise favor a particular vendor, or that 
     create a bias toward a particular technology or mechanism. 

  Common and/or controversial policy terms are defined in this draft.  
  These terms are directly related and specific to network policy.  
  This is a "living" document that is expected to grow over the next 
  several months, as the current terms are reviewed and additional 
  words suggested for inclusion.   
   
  Wherever possible, this draft takes definitions from existing ISDs.  
  It should be noted that: 
   
   o Expired Internet-Drafts are not referenced, nor are their 
     terminology and definitions used in this document.   

   o Multiple definitions may exist across the ISDs.  Each definition 
     will be listed, with its source. 

  Where definitions are contradictory, the recommendations of the draft 
  editors are presented.  The draft editors will work with other ISD 
  authors to remove contradictions. 







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 2. Explanation of Paragraph Markings 

  Section 3 marks terms and definitions as follows: 

   o Capitalization: Only terms that are proper nouns are capitalized. 

   o Paragraph Marking: Definitions and explanations are stated in 
     paragraphs that are marked as follows: 

      - "P" identifies basic policy-related terms. 

      - "T" identifies various techniques to create or convey policy-
        related information in a network.  For example, COPS and an 
        "Information Model" are two techniques for communicating and 
        describing policy-related data. 

      - "A" identifies specific Work Groups and general "areas of use" 
        of policy.  For example, AAA and QoS are two "areas of use" 
        where policy concepts are extremely important to their 
        function and operation. 


 3. Terms 

  Note:  In providing policy definitions, other "technology specific" 
  terms (for example, related to Differentiated Services) may be used 
  and referenced.  These non-policy terms will not be defined in this 
  document, and the reader is requested to go to the referenced ISD for 
  additional detail.  

  $ AAA 
     See "Authentication, Authorization, Accounting." 
   
  $ abstraction levels 
     See "policy abstraction." 
   
  $ action  
     See "policy action."  
   
  $ Authentication, Authorization, Accounting (AAA) 
     (A) AAA efforts in the IETF have focused on the most widely 
       deployed use of authentication: Remote Authentication Dial In 
       User Service (RADIUS), and its expansion in Diameter (a "radius" 
       pun and not an acronym) [DIAMETER]. Referencing the RADIUS RFC 
       [R2138], a network access server sends dial-user credentials to 
       a AAA server, and receives authentication that the user is who 
       he/she claims along with a set of attribute-value pairs 
       authorizing various service features for that user. 
       Policy is implied in both the authentication, which can be 
       restricted by time of day, number of sessions, calling number, 
       etc., and the attribute-values authorized.  


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  $ CIM 
     See "Common Information Model." 
   
  $ Common Information Model (CIM) 
     (T) An object-oriented information model published by the DMTF 
       (Distributed Management Task Force) [DMTF]. It consists of a 
       Specification detailing the abstract modeling constructs and 
       principles of the Information Model, and a textual language 
       definition to represent the Model. CIM's schemas are defined as 
       a set of files, written in the language of the Specification, 
       with graphical renderings using UML [UML]. Sets of classes and 
       associations represent CIM's Core and Common Models, defining an 
       information model for the "enterprise" - addressing general 
       concepts (in Core), and systems, devices, users, software 
       distribution, the physical environment, networks and policy (in 
       the Common Models). (See also "information model.")  
   
  $ Common Open Policy Service (COPS)  
     (T) A simple query and response TCP-based protocol that can be 
       used to exchange policy information between a Policy Decision 
       Point (PDP) and its clients (Policy Enforcement Points, PEPs). 
       [RFC 2748] (See also "Policy Decision Point" and "Policy 
       Enforcement Point.") 
   
  $ condition  
     See "policy condition."  
   
  $ configuration 
     (P) "Configuration" can be defined from two perspectives: 
       - The set of parameters in network elements and other systems 
          that determine their function and operation. Some parameters 
          are static, such as packet queue assignment and can be 
          predefined and downloaded to a network element.  Others are 
          more dynamic, such as the actions taken by a network device 
          upon the occurrence of some event.   The distinction between 
          static (predefined) "configuration" and the dynamic state of 
          network elements blurs as setting parameters becomes more 
          responsive, and signaling controls greater degrees of a 
          network device's behavior. 
       - A static setup of a network element, done before shipment to 
          a customer and which cannot be modified by the customer.     
     The first is the accepted usage in the Internet community. 

  $ COPS 
     See "Common Open Policy Service." 
   
  $ data model 
     (T) A mapping of the contents of an information model into a form 
       that is specific to a particular type of data store or 
       repository.  A "data model" is basically the rendering of an 
       information model according to a specific set of mechanisms for 



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       representing, organizing, storing and handling data.  It has 
       three parts [DecSupp]: 
       - A collection of data structures such as lists, tables, 
          relations, etc. 
       - A collection of operations that can be applied to the 
          structures such as retrieval, update, summation, etc. 
       - A collection of integrity rules that define the legal states 
          (set of values) or changes of state (operations on values). 
       (See also "information model.") 
       
  $ DEN 
     See "Directory Enabled Networks." 
       
  $ Differentiated Services (DS)  
     (T) The IP header field, called the DS-field. In IPv4, it defines 
       the layout of the ToS (Type of Service) octet; in IPv6, it is 
       the Traffic Class octet. [R2474, DSTERMS] 
     (A) "Differentiated Services" is also an "area of use" for QoS 
       policies. It requires policy to define the correspondence 
       between codepoints in the packet's DS-field and individual per-
       hop behaviors (to achieve a specified per-domain behavior). 
       (See also "Quality of Service.") 
  
  $ diffserv 
     See "Differentiated Services." 
 
  $ Directory Enabled Networks (DEN) 
     (T) A data model that is the LDAP mapping of CIM (the Common 
       Information Model). Its goals are to enable the deployment and 
       use of policy by starting with common service and user concepts 
       (defined in the information model), specifying their 
       mapping/storage in an LDAP-based repository, and using these 
       concepts in vendor/device-independent policy rules. [DMTF] (See 
       also "Common Information Model" and "data model.") 
   
  $ domain 
     See "policy domain." 
   
  $ DS 
     See "Differentiated Services." 
   
  $ filter 
     (T) A set of terms and/or criteria used for the purpose of 
       separating or categorizing. "Filters" are often manipulated and 
       used in network policy.   
       - Packet filters are defined in [FrameworkPIB, DiffServPIB].  
       They specify the criteria for matching a pattern (for example, 
       IP or 802 traffic criteria) to appear in packets belonging to 
       flows, e.g. microflows or behavior aggregates.  Associated with 
       each filter is a permit/deny flag. 
   



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  $ goal 
     See "policy goal." 
       
  $ information model 
     (T) An abstraction and representation of the entities in a managed 
       environment, their properties, attributes and operations, and 
       the way that they relate to each other. It is independent of 
       any specific repository, application, protocol, or platform.   
       
  $ MIB 
     See "Policy Management Information Base." 
       
  $ MPLS 
     See "Multiprotocol Label Switching." 
   
  $ Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) 
     (T) Integrates a label swapping and switching framework with 
       network layer routing [R2702]. The basic idea involves 
       assigning short fixed length labels to packets at the ingress 
       to an MPLS cloud. Throughout the interior of the MPLS domain, 
       the labels attached to packets are used to make forwarding 
       decisions (usually without recourse to the original packet 
       headers). 
  
  $ outsourced policy  
     (P) An execution model where a policy enforcement device issues a 
       query to delegate a decision for a specific policy event to 
       another component, external to it. For example, in RSVP, the 
       arrival of a new RSVP message to a PEP requires a fast policy 
       decision (not to delay the end-to-end setup). The PEP may use 
       COPS-RSVP to send a query to the PDP, asking for a policy 
       decision. [R2205, R2748] "Outsourced policy" is contrasted with 
       "provisioned policy", but they are not mutually exclusive and 
       operational systems may combine the two. 
  
  $ PCIM 
     See "Policy Core Information Model." 
   
  $ PDP 
     See "Policy Decision Point." 
   
  $ PEP 
     See "Policy Enforcement Point." 
   
  $ PIB 
     See "Policy Information Base." 
   
  $ policy 
     (P) "Policy" can be defined from two perspectives: 
       - A definite goal, course or method of action to guide and 
          determine present and future decisions.  "Policies" are 


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          implemented or executed within a particular context (such as 
          policies defined within a business unit).   
       - Policies as a set of rules to administer, manage, and control 
          access to network resources. [PCIM] 
       Note that these two views are not contradictory since 
       individual rules may be defined in support of business goals. 
       (See also "policy goal", "policy abstraction" and "policy 
       rule.")  
   
  $ policy abstraction  
     (P) Policy can be represented at different levels, ranging from 
       business goals to device-specific configuration parameters. 
       Translation between different levels of "abstraction" may 
       require information, other than policy, such as network and 
       host parameter configuration and capabilities. Various 
       documents and implementations may specify explicit levels of 
       abstraction [for example, DiffPolicy].  However, these do not 
       necessarily correspond to distinct processing entities or the 
       complete set of levels in all environments.  (See also 
       "configuration" and "policy translation.") 
       
  $ policy action  
     (P) Definition of what is to be done to enforce a policy rule, 
       when the conditions of the rule are met.  Policy actions may 
       result in the execution of one or more operations to affect 
       and/or configure network traffic and network resources.   
       - In [PCIM], a rule's actions may be ordered. 
   
  $ policy condition 
     (P) An expression used to determine whether a policy rule's 
       actions should be performed.  When the set of conditions 
       associated with a policy rule evaluates to TRUE, then the rule 
       should be enforced. A condition may be defined as the occurrence 
       of an event, or a computed expression typically consisting of 
       three elements: a variable, an operator and another variable or 
       constant. [QoSModel]  Some of these elements may be implicit in 
       an implementation or protocol. 
       - In [PCIM], a rule's conditions can be expressed as either an 
          ORed set of ANDed sets of statements (disjunctive normal 
          form), or an ANDed set of ORed sets of statements 
          (conjunctive normal form).  Individual condition statements 
          can also be negated. 
         
  $ policy conflict 
     (P) Occurs when the actions of two rules (that are both satisfied 
       simultaneously) contradict each other. The entity implementing 
       the policy would not be able to determine which action to 
       perform. The implementers of policy systems must provide 
       conflict detection and avoidance or resolution mechanisms to 
       prevent this situation.  "Policy conflict" is contrasted with 
       "policy error." 
   


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  $ policy conversion 
     See "policy translation." 
      
  $ Policy Core Information Model (PCIM) 
     (T) An information model describing the basic concepts of policy 
       groups, rules, conditions, actions, repositories and their 
       relationships.  This model is described as a "core" model since 
       it cannot be applied without domain-specific extensions (for 
       example, extensions for QoS or IPsec). PCIM is "core" with 
       respect to the area of policy.  However, it is a "Common Model," 
       with respect to CIM - in that it extends the basic CIM concepts 
       for policy. (See also "Common Information Model") 
       
  $ policy decision 
     (P) Two perspectives of "policy decision" exist: 
       - A "process" perspective that deals with the evaluation of a 
          policy rule's conditions 
       - A "result" perspective that deals with the actions for 
          enforcement, when the conditions of a policy rule are TRUE  
    
  $ Policy Decision Point (PDP) 
     (P) A logical entity that makes policy decisions for itself or for 
       other network elements that request such decisions. [R2753] 
       (See also "policy decision.")  
   
  $ policy domain 
     (P) A contiguous portion of an Internet over which a consistent 
       set of [..] policies are administered in a coordinated fashion. 
       [R2474] This definition of a policy domain does not preclude 
       multiple sources of policy creation within an organization, but 
       does require that the resultant policies be coordinated.  The 
       definition given in RFC 2474 for Differentiated Services is 
       very close to that of a security domain, defined in [SPSL].  In 
       [SPSL], it is stated:  "A security domain is defined as a 
       connected set of network entities that are protected by policy 
       enforcement points (PEP) placed on every communication path 
       going through the perimeter of the domain.  Every policy 
       enforcement point of the domain works to enforce the common set 
       of security policies associated with the domain."   
   
  $ policy enforcement 
     (P) The execution of a policy decision. 
   
  $ Policy Enforcement Point (PEP) 
     (P) A logical entity that enforces policy decisions. [R2753] (See 
       also "policy enforcement.")  
   
  $ policy error 
     (P) "Policy errors" occur when attempts to enforce policy actions 
       fail, whether due to temporary state or permanent mismatch 
       between the policy actions and the device enforcement 
       capabilities.  This is contrasted with "policy conflict."  

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  $ policy goal 
     (P) Goals are the business objectives or desired state intended to 
       be maintained by a policy system. As the highest level of 
       abstraction of policy, these goals are most directly described 
       in business rather than technical terms. For example, a goal 
       might state that a particular application operate on a network 
       as though it had its own dedicated network, despite using a 
       shared infrastructure. 'Policy goals' can include the objectives 
       of a service level agreement, as well as the assignment of 
       resources to applications or individuals. A policy system may be 
       created that automatically strives to achieve a goal through 
       feedback regarding whether the goal (such as a service level) is 
       being met. 
       
  $ Policy Information Base (PIB)  
     (T) Collections of related PRovisioning Classes (PRCs), defined as 
       a module. [FrameworkPIB] (See also "PRovisioning Class") 
  
  $ Policy Management Information Base (MIB)  
     (T) Collections of policy-related managed objects, defined as a 
       module and accessed via an SNMP framework.  [PolicyMIB] 
  
  $ policy mapping 
     See "policy translation." 
   
  $ policy negotiation 
     (P) Exposing the desired or appropriate part of a policy to 
       another domain. This is necessary to support partial 
       interconnection between domains, which are operating with 
       different sets of policies.  The need for "policy negotiation" 
       is described in the IPsec Policy Working Group charter [IPSP]:  
       "4) adopt or develop a policy exchange and negotiation 
       protocol. The protocol must be capable of: i) discovering 
       policy servers, ii) distributing and negotiating security 
       policies, and; iii) resolving policy conflicts in both 
       intra/inter domain environments."  
   
  $ policy repository 
     (P) "Policy repository" can be defined from three perspectives: 
       - A specific data store that holds policy rules, their 
          conditions and actions, and related policy data.  A directory 
          would be an example of such a store. 
       - A logical container representing the administrative scope and 
          naming of policy rules, their conditions and actions, and 
          related policy data. A QoS policy domain would be an example 
          of such a container. [QoSModel]  
       - In [PCIM], a more restrictive definition than the prior one 
          exists. PolicyRepository is a model abstraction representing 
          an administratively defined, logical container for reusable 
          policy conditions and policy actions. 
  



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  $ policy request 
     (P) Sent by a PEP to a PDP, it is more accurately qualified as a 
       "policy decision request." [R2753] (See also "policy 
       decision.") 
   
  $ policy rule 
     (P) A basic building block of a policy-based system. It is the 
       binding of a set of actions to a set of conditions - where the 
       conditions are evaluated to determine whether the actions are 
       performed. [PCIM]   
       
  $ policy server 
     (P) A marketing term whose definition is imprecise.  Originally, 
       [R2753] referenced a "policy server."  As the RFC evolved, this 
       term became more precise and known as the Policy Decision Point 
       (PDP).  Today, the term is used in marketing and other 
       literature to refer specifically to a PDP, or for any entity 
       that uses/services policy. 
   
  $ policy translation 
     (P) The transformation of a policy from a representation and/or 
       level of abstraction, to another representation or level of 
       abstraction.  For example, it may be necessary to convert PIB 
       data to a command line format.  In this "conversion," the 
       translation to the new representation is likely to require a 
       change in the level of abstraction (becoming more or less 
       specific).  Although these are logically distinct tasks, they 
       are (in most cases) blurred in the act of 
       translating/converting/mapping.  Therefore, this is also known 
       as "policy conversion" or "policy mapping."    
       
  $ PolicyGroup 
     (T) An abstraction in the Policy Core Information Model [PCIM]. It 
       is a class representing a container, aggregating either policy 
       rules or other policy groups. It allows the grouping of rules 
       into a Policy, and the refinement of high-level Policies to 
       lower-level or different (i.e., converted or translated) peer 
       groups.   
   
  $ PolicyRepository 
     (T) An abstraction in the Policy Core Information Model [PCIM].  
       It is a class representing an administratively defined, logical 
       container for reusable policy conditions and policy actions.  
       (See also "policy repository.") 
   
  $ PRC 
     See "PRovisioning Class." 
   
  $ PRI 
     See "PRovisioning Instance." 
   
  

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  $ provisioned policy
     (P) An execution model where network elements are pre-configured, 
       based on policy, prior to processing events.  Configuration is 
       pushed to the network device, e.g., based on time of day or at 
       initial booting of the device.  The focus of this model is on 
       the distribution of configuration information, and is 
       exemplified by Differentiated Services [R2475].  Based on 
       events received, devices use downloaded (pre-provisioned) 
       mechanisms to implement policy. "Provisioned policy" is 
       contrasted with "outsourced policy." 
   
  $ PRovisioning Class (PRC)  
     (T) An ordered set of attributes representing a type of policy 
       data. PRCs are defined in PIB modules (encoded using SPPI) and 
       registered in the Object Identifier tree. Instances of each PRC 
       are organized in tables, similar to conceptual tables in SMIv2. 
       [R2578, FrameworkPIB] (See also "Structure of Policy 
       Provisioning Information" and "Policy Information Base") 
     The acronym, PRC, has evolved from "policy rule class" to 
       "provisioning class." The reason for the change is that a 
       discrepancy existed between the use of the words, "policy rule" 
       in the PRC context versus other uses in PCIM and the industry.  
       In the latter, rules are If/Then statements - a binding of 
       conditions to actions. PRCs are not "rules" by this definition, 
       but the encoding of (network-wide) configuration information 
       for a device. 
       
  $ PRovisioning Instance (PRI)  
     (T) An instantiation of a PRovisioning Class. [FrameworkPIB] (See 
       also "PRovisioning Class") 
       
  $ QoS  
     See "Quality of Service." 
    
  $ Quality of Service (QoS) 
     (A) At a high level of abstraction, "Quality of Service" refers to 
       the ability to deliver network services according to the 
       parameters specified in a Service Level Agreement.  "Quality" 
       is characterized by service availability, delay, jitter, 
       throughput and packet loss ratio.  At a network resource level, 
       "Quality of Service" refers to a set of capabilities that allow 
       a service provider to prioritize traffic, control bandwidth, 
       and network latency.  There are two different approaches to 
       "Quality of Service" on IP networks: Integrated Services 
       [R1633], and Differentiated Service [R2475]. Integrated 
       Services require policy control over the creation of signaled 
       reservations, which provide specific quantitative end-to-end 
       behavior for a (set of) flow(s). In contrast, Differentiated 
       Services require policy to define the correspondence between 
       codepoints in the packet's DS-field and individual per-hop 
       behaviors (to achieve a specified per-domain behavior).  A 



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       maximum of 64 per-hop behaviors limit the number of classes of 
       service traffic that can be marked at any point in a domain.  
       These classes of service signal the treatment of the packets 
       with respect to various QoS aspects, such as flow priority and 
       packet drop precedence.  Policy controls the set of 
       configuration parameters for each class in Differentiated 
       Service, and the admission conditions for reservations in 
       Integrated Services. (See also "policy abstraction" and 
       "Service Level Agreement.") 
    
  $ Resource reSerVation Protocol (RSVP)  
     (T) A setup protocol designed for an Integrated Services Internet, 
       to reserve network resources for a path. [R2205]  And, a 
       signaling mechanism for managing application traffic's QoS in a 
       Differentiated Service network. [DCLASS] 
 
  $ role   
     (P) "Role" is defined from three perspectives: 
       - A business position or function, to which people and logical 
          entities are assigned [X.500] 
       - The labeled endpoints of a UML (Unified Modeling Language) 
          association.  Quoting from [UML], "When a class participates 
          in an association, it has a specific role that it plays in 
          that relationship; a role is just the face the class at the 
          near end of the association presents to the class at the 
          other end of the association."  The Policy Core Information 
          Model [PCIM] uses UML to depict its class hierarchy.  
          Relationships/associations are significant in the model. 
       -  An administratively specified characteristic of a managed 
          element (for example, an interface). It is a selector for 
          policy rules and PRovisioning Classes (PRCs), to determine 
          the applicability of the rule/PRC to a particular managed 
          element. [PolicyMIB, PCIM, FrameworkPIB, DiffServPIB] 
       Only the latter definition is directly related to network 
       policy.      
         
  $ role combination  
     (P) An unordered set of roles that characterize managed elements 
       and indicate the applicability of policy rules and PRovisioning 
       Classes (PRCs).  A policy system uses the set of roles reported 
       by the managed element to determine the correct rules/PRCs to be 
       sent for enforcement.  That determination may examine all 
       applicable policy rules identified by the role combination, its 
       sub-combinations and the individual roles in the combination 
       [PCIM], or may require that PRCs explicitly match the role 
       combination specified for the managed element [FrameworkPIB, 
       DiffServPIB].  The final set of rules/PRCs for enforcement are 
       defined by the policy system, as appropriate for the specified 
       role combination of the managed element. 
   




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  $ RSVP 
     See "Resource reSerVation Protocol." 
   
  $ rule 
     See "policy rule."  
   
  $ schema 
     (T) Two different perspectives of schema are defined: 
       - A set of rules that determines what data can be stored in a 
          database or directory service [DirServs] 
       - A collection of data models that are each bound to the same 
          type of repository.  
       The latter is the preferred and recommended one for ISDs. (See 
       also "data model.") 
   
  $ Security Policy Specification Language (SPSL)  
     (T) A language designed to express security policies, security 
       domains, and the entities that manage those policies and 
       domains. It supports policies for packet   filtering, IP 
       Security (IPsec), and IKE exchanges, but may be extended to 
       express other types of policies. [SPSL] 

  $ service 
     (P) The behavior or functionality of a network element or host 
       [DMTF, R2216]. Quoting from RFC 2216 [R2216], in order to 
       completely specify a "service", one must define the "functions 
       to be performed . . ., the information required . . . to 
       perform these functions, and the information made available by 
       the element to other elements of the system."  Policy can be 
       used to configure a "service" on a network element or host, 
       invoke its functionality, and/or coordinate services in an 
       interdomain or end-to-end environment.   
  
  $ Service Level Agreement (SLA) 
     (P) The documented result of a negotiation between a 
       customer/consumer and a provider of a service, that specifies 
       the levels of availability, serviceability, performance, 
       operation or other attributes of the service. (See also 
       "Service Level Objective.") 
   
  $ Service Level Objective (SLO) 
     (P) Partitions an SLA into individual metrics and operational 
       information to enforce and/or monitor the SLA.  "Service Level 
       Objectives" may be defined as part of an SLA, or in a separate 
       document. It is a set of parameters and their values. The 
       actions of enforcing and reporting monitored compliance can be 
       implemented as one or more policies. (See also "Service Level 
       Agreement.") 
   
  $ Service Level Specification (SLS) 
     (P) Specifies handling of customer's traffic by a network 
       provider. It is negotiated between a customer and the provider, 
       and (for DiffServ) defines a set of parameters (such as  

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       specific Code Points and the Per-Hop-Behavior, profile 
       characteristics and treatment of the traffic for those Code 
       Points) and their values. An SLS is a combination of an 
       SLA (a negotiated agreement) and its SLOs (the individual 
       metrics and operational data to enforce).  [DSTERMS] (See also 
       "Service Level Agreement" and "Service Level Objective.") 
   
  $ SLA 
     See "Service Level Agreement." 
   
  $ SLO 
     See "Service Level Objective." 
       
  $ SLS 
     See "Service Level Specification." 
   
  $ SMIv2 
     See "Structure of Management Information." 
   
  $ SPPI 
     See "Structure of Policy Provisioning Information." 
   
  $ SPSL 
     See "Security Policy Specification Language." 
   
  $ Structure of Policy Provisioning Information (SPPI) 
     (T) An adapted subset of SNMP's Structure of Management 
       Information (SMIv2) that is used to encode collections of 
       related PRovisioning Classes as a PIB. [R2578, SPPI] (See also 
       "Policy Information Base" and "PRovisioning Class") 
  
  $ Structure of Management Information, version 2 (SMIv2)  
     (T) An adapted subset of OSI's Abstract Syntax Notation One, ASN.1 
       (1988) used to encode collections of related objects as SNMP 
       Management Information Base (MIB) modules. [R2578] 
   
  $ subject 
     (P) An entity, or collection of entities, which originates a 
       request, and is verified as authorized/not authorized to 
       perform that request.  
   
  $ target 
     (P) An entity, or collection of entities, which is affected by a 
       policy. For example, the "targets" of a policy to reconfigure a 
       network device are the individual services that are updated and 
       configured.    

 4. Intellectual Property 

  The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any 
  intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to 
  pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in 

  
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  this document or the extent to which any license under such rights 
  might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it 
  has made any effort to identify any such rights.  Information on the 
  IETF's procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and 
  standards-related documentation can be found in BCP-11. 

  Copies of claims of rights made available for publication 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 Secretariat. 

  The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any 
  copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary 
  rights which may cover technology that may be required to practice 
  this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF Executive 
  Director. 


 5. Acknowledgements 

  This document builds on the work of previous terminology drafts.  The 
  authors of these drafts were Fran Reichmeyer, Dan Grossman, John 
  Strassner, Ed Ellesson and Matthew Condell.  Also, definitions for 
  the general concepts of policy and policy rule include input from 
  Predrag Spasic.  Very helpful comments and suggestions were received 
  from Juergen Schoenwaelder and Jon Sapiera. 


 6. Security Considerations 

  This document only defines policy-related terms. It does not describe 
  in detail the vulnerabilities of, threats to, or mechanisms that 
  protect specific policy implementations or policy-related Internet 
  protocols. 


 7. References 

  [DCLASS] Format of the RSVP DCLASS Object.  Internet Draft, draft-
     ietf-issll-dclass-01.txt, Y. Bernet.  October 1999. 
   
  [DecSupp] Building Effective Decision Support Systems.  R. Sprague, 
      and E. Carleson.  Prentice Hall, 1982. 

  [DIAMETER] DIAMETER Framework Document.  Internet Draft, draft-
      calhoun-diameter-framework-08.txt, P. Calhoun, G. Zorn, P. Pan, 
      and H. Akhtar.  June 2000. 
    
  [DiffPolicy] The DiffServ Policy MIB.  Internet Draft, draft-ietf-
      snmpconf-diffpolicy-02.txt, H. Hazewinkel and D. Partain.  June 
      2000.   


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  [DiffServPIB] Differentiated Services Quality of Service Policy 
      Information Base.  Internet Draft, draft-ietf-diffserv-pib-
      01.txt, M. Fine, K. McCloughrie, J. Seligson, K. Chan, S. Hahn, 
      A. Smith, and F. Reichmeyer.  July 2000. 
                             
  [DirServs] Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services.  T. 
      Howes, M. Smith, and G. Good.  MacMillan Technical Publications, 
      1999. 

  [DMTF] Common Information Model (CIM) Schema, version 2.4.  
      Distributed Management Task Force, Inc. August, 2000.  The 
      components of the CIM v2.4 schema are available via links on the 
      following DMTF web page: 
      http://www.dmtf.org/spec/cim_schema_v24.html.  

  [DSTERMS] New Terminology for Diffserv.  Internet Draft, draft-ietf-
      diffserv-new-terms-03.txt, D. Grossman.  November 1999. 

  [FrameworkPIB] Framework Policy Information Base.  Internet Draft, 
      draft-ietf-rap-frameworkpib-02.txt, M. Fine, K. McCloughrie, J. 
      Seligson, K. Chan, S. Hahn, R. Sahita, A. Smith, and F. 
      Reichmeyer. September 2000. 
    
  [IPSP] IP Security Policy (ipsp) Working Group Charter.  February 
      2000. http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/ipsp-charter.html. 
    
  [PCIM] Policy Core Information Model - Version 1 Specification.  
      Internet Draft, draft-ietf-policy-core-info-model-08.txt, B. 
      Moore, E. Ellison, J. Strassner, and A. Westerinen.  October 
      2000.  
    
  [PolicyMIB] Policy Based Management MIB.  Internet Draft, draft-ietf-
      snmpconf-pm-03.txt, S. Waldbusser, J. Saperia and T. Hongal.  
      October 2000. 
    
  [QoSModel] Policy Framework QoS Information Model.  Internet Draft, 
      draft-ietf-policy-qos-info-model-01.txt, Y. Snir, Y. Ramberg, J. 
      Strassner, and R. Cohen. April 2000. 
    
  [R1633] Integrated Services in the Internet Architecture: An 
      Overview.  R. Braden, D. Clark, and S. Shenker.  June 1994.  

  [R2026] The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3.  S. Bradner.  
      October 1996. 
    
  [R2138] Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS).  C. 
      Rigney, A. Rubens, W. Simpson, and S. Willens.  April 1997. 
    
  [R2205] Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) -- Version 1 Functional 
      Specification.  R. Braden, L. Zhang, S. Berson, S. Herzog, and S. 
      Jamin. September 1997. 



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  [R2401] Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol.  S. Kent, 
      and R. Atkinson.  November 1998. 
    
  [R2409] The Internet Key Exchange (IKE).  D. Harkins, and D. Carrel.  
      November 1998. 
    
  [R2474] Definition of the Differentiated Services Field (DS Field) 
      in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers.  K. Nichols, S. Blake, F. Baker, 
      and D. Black.  December 1998. 
    
  [R2475] An Architecture for Differentiated Service.  S. Blake, D. 
      Black, M. Carlson, E. Davies, Z. Wang, and W. Weiss.  December 
      1998. 

  [R2578] Structure of Management Information Version 2 (SMIv2).  K. 
      McGloughrie, D. Perkins, J. Schoenwaelder, J. Case, M. Rose, and 
      S. Waldbusser.  April 1999. 
    
  [R2702] Requirements for Traffic Engineering Over MPLS.  D. Awduche, 
      J. Malcolm, J. Agogbua, M. O'Dell, and J. McManus.  September 
      1999.  
                                                        
  [R2748] The COPS (Common Open Policy Service) Protocol.  D. Durham, 
      J. Boyle, R. Cohen, S. Herzog, R. Rajan, and A. Sastry.  January 
      2000. 
    
  [R2753] A Framework for Policy-based Admission Control.  R. 
      Yavatkar, D. Pendarakis, and R. Guerin.  January 2000. 
    
  [R2828] Internet Security Glossary.  R. Shirey.  May 2000. 
  
  [SPPI] Structure of Policy Provisioning Information (SPPI).  
      Internet Draft, draft-ietf-rap-sppi-02.txt, K. McCloughrie, M. 
      Fine, J. Seligson, K. Chan, S. Chan, R. Sahita, A. Smith, and F. 
      Reichmeyer.  September 2000. 
    
  [SPSL] Security Policy Specification Language.  Internet Draft, 
     draft-ietf-ipsp-spsl-00.txt, M. Condell, C. Lynn, and J. Zao.  
     March 2000. 
    
  [UML] The Unified Modeling Language User Guide.  G. Booch, J. 
     Rumbaugh, and I. Jacobson.  Addison-Wesley, 1999.  
    
  [X.500] Data Communications Networks Directory, Recommendations 
     X.500-X.521, Volume VIII - Fascicle VIII.8.  CCITT, IXth Plenary 
     Assembly, Melbourne.  November 1988. 


 

 



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 8. Authors' Addresses 

  Andrea Westerinen 
      Cisco Systems, Bldg 20 
      725 Alder Drive 
      Milpitas, CA 95035 
      E-mail:  andreaw@cisco.com  
    
  John Schnizlein  
      Cisco Systems 
      9123 Loughran Road 
      Fort Washington, MD  20744 
      E-mail:  john.schnizlein@cisco.com  
    
  John Strassner 
      Cisco Systems, Bldg 20 
      725 Alder Drive 
      Milpitas, CA 95035 
      E-mail:  johns@cisco.com 
    
  Mark Scherling 
      Xcert International Inc. 
      Suite 300 
      505 Burrard Street 
      Vancouver, BC 
      V7X 1M3     
      E-mail:  mscherling@xcert.com  
    
  Bob Quinn 
      Celox Networks 
      One Cabot Road 
      Hudson, MA  01749 
      E-mail:  bquinn@celoxnetworks.com 
    
  Jay Perry  
      CPlane, Inc. 
      5150 El Camino Real - B-31 
      Los Altos, CA 94022 
      E-mail:  jay@cplane.com 
    
  Shai Herzog  
      IPHighway  
      55 New York Avenue 
      Framingham, MA  01701 
      E-mail:  herzog@iphighway.com 
    
  An-Ni Huynh  
     Lucent Technologies 
     2139 Route 35  
     Holmdel, NJ 07733 
     E-mail:  ahuynh@lucent.com 
    
    

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  Mark Carlson  
     Sun Microsystems 
     2990 Center Green Court South 
     Boulder, CO 80301 
     Email:  mark.carlson@sun.com  

  Steve Waldbusser 
     Email: waldbusser@nextbeacon.com 
       

 9. Full Copyright Statement 

  Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved. 

  This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to 
  others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it 
  or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published 
  and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any 
  kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are 
  included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this 
  document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing 
  the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other 
  Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of 
  developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for 
  copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be 
  followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than 
  English. 

  The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be 
  revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns. 

  This document and the information contained herein is provided on an 
  "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING 
  TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS 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. 

















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