One document matched: draft-seite-mif-connection-manager-02.txt

Differences from draft-seite-mif-connection-manager-01.txt




Network Working Group                                           P. Seite
Internet-Draft                                   France Telecom - Orange
Intended status: BCP                                            G. Feige
Expires: April 28, 2011                                            Cisco
                                                                T. Melia
                                                          Alcatel-Lucent
                                                              JC. Zuniga
                                                            InterDigital
                                                        October 25, 2010


                    Connection Manager requirements
               draft-seite-mif-connection-manager-02.txt

Abstract

   It is a common practice for multiple interface terminals to use a
   connection manager to perform provisioning domain selection and
   interface configuration.  The concept of connection managers for
   personal computers is well known, and similar logic is now common in
   mobile phones that have multiple radio interfaces [3GPP TS 23.402].
   The Problem Statement document highlights the lack of standardized
   behavior for terminals in regard to managing multiple interfaces and
   their respective properties.  To address this issue, this document
   proposes a set of functional requirements for a generic MIF
   Connection Manager.

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   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."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on April 28, 2011.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.



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   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.


Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Use-cases  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     2.1.  Provisioning domain selection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     2.2.  Reselection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  MIF Connection manager requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     3.1.  Functional architecture  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     3.2.  Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       3.2.1.  Network SAP  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       3.2.2.  User SAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       3.2.3.  Operator SAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       3.2.4.  Cloud SAP  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       3.2.5.  OS SAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       3.2.6.  Execution SAP  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       3.2.7.  Application  SAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
       3.2.8.  Authentication SAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     3.3.  Functions of the connection manager  . . . . . . . . . . . 10
       3.3.1.  Initiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
       3.3.2.  Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
       3.3.3.  Execution function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
         3.3.3.1.  IP connectivity check  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
         3.3.3.2.  IP address and interface mapping . . . . . . . . . 13
         3.3.3.3.  Virtual Interface Configuration  . . . . . . . . . 15
   4.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   5.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   6.  Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   7.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   8.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     8.1.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     8.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20








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1.  Introduction

   As shown in [I-D.ietf-mif-current-practices], it is a common practice
   for multiple interfaces terminals to leverage on a connection manager
   to perform provisioning domain selection and interface configuration.
   The connection manager can make its decision based on user
   preferences, applications inputs or many other criteria.  There are
   various ways to provide information to a connection manager (static
   configuration, user provisioned, out-of- band mechanisms, etc) and a
   large number of possible strategies that a connection manager can
   implement to perform selection.  This variety of situations may lead
   to specific issues, as identified in
   [I-D.ietf-mif-problem-statement].  For instance, issues may rise up
   because connection managers do not behave in the same way depending
   on the operating systems and/or platforms.  High level API may also
   differ across different operating systems and/or platforms.  Also,
   implementation of different connection manager on a same node may
   lead to inconsistencies and unexpected behavior in interface
   selection.

   Obviously, more consistency in connection managers behavior and API
   specifications is needed for applications developers, operators,
   users, etc.  This document addresses this issue by specifying
   functional requirements for a generic connection manager, and
   proposes a functional architecture for the connection manager,
   describing the interfaces and required functions.


2.  Use-cases

2.1.  Provisioning domain selection

   According to [I-D.ietf-mif-current-practices] one of the basic
   operations of the connection manager is the selection of the
   provisioning domain.  This selection comes into play when the MIF
   host bootstraps, or when it discovers a new provisioning domain.
   Such provisioning domains can be:

   o  Domain learned on a Ethernet or 802.11 interface either from DHCP
      or IPV6 RA
   o  Domain associated with a 3GPP enabled interface
   o  Domain associated with a WIMAX enabled interface
   o  Domain associated with any otehr IP level interface over other
      link layer technologies such as bluetooth, 802.15
   Domains are independent one from another and possibly IP addresses /
   prefixes assigned by a domain to a host could overlap.  This is a
   valid configuration that the Connection Manager SHOULD support.  The
   selection could be based on various criteria, among them are:



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   o  preferences provided by the user,
   o  policies provided by network operator,
   o  quality of the radio link,
   o  network resource considerations (i.e. available QoS, IP address
      families, IP connectivity check,...),
   o  Operating system hints (e.g. battery),
   o  and so on...

   In a MIF context, the Connection Manager must handle multiple domains
   simultaneously in particular for host supporting multiple access
   technologies.  In this situation, when the user starts an
   application, the Connection Manager SHOULD select the best domain
   taking into account the application constraints besides
   aforementioned selection criteria.  Among these application
   constraints we can mention for example the access restriction for a
   given application or minimum required quality of service.  By
   default, the Connection Manager MUST select the provisioning domain
   provided by user and/or operator.  If the application is restricted
   to one provisioning domain, the application MUST start on it.  If the
   default provisioning domain is not available, the application cannot
   start.  If the application can run over several provisioning domains,
   the Connection Manager SHOULD select the provisioning domain which
   provides the best quality and/or which satisfy the user preferences,
   operator policies, and service provider preferences, e.g. selection
   of the access with lower cost.  If the user starts more than one
   application on a MIF host, the connection manager SHOULD be able to
   select for each application the most appropriate domain based on
   above mentioned criteria.

2.2.  Reselection

   Once attached, if quality of the link degrades and/or the link
   becomes unavailable and/or other domains with higher preferences
   become available, the Connection Manager SHOULD re-select an
   alternative provisioning domain.

   If IP communication is ongoing and if IP session continuity must be
   provided, the connection manager MAY trigger specific mobility
   management mechanisms (e.g. trigger MIPv6 signalling [RFC3775]) or
   associated configuration operations, e.g. configuration of a logical
   interface for inter-access handover support with PMIPv6 (as proposed
   in [I-D.ietf-netext-logical-interface-support]).

   Reselection may also happen following an attachment failure (at Layer
   2 or 3).  For instance, the connection manager should select an
   alternative provisioning domain if:





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   o  the host fails to get L2 attachment;
   o  the host has managed to get L2 attachment but fails to set up the
      IP connectivity (e.g. cannot obtained a valid IP address);
   o  the host has managed to get L2 attachment and IP connectivity, but
      it has no access to the services (see
      [I-D.ietf-mif-problem-statement] for details on MIF issues).


3.  MIF Connection manager requirement

   This section describes the generic framework of a MIF connection
   connection manager.

3.1.  Functional architecture

   It can be deduced from the use-cases described in Section 2 that a
   connection manager SHOULD support at least three main functions:

   1.  initiation function: it monitors for events which possibly
       required connection management operations.  Events may be related
       to access link characteristics, application hints, user triggers,
       etc.  When detecting an event which may require multiple
       interfaces management operations (e.g. selection of a new
       provisioning domain), the initiation function triggers the
       decision function (see next item).
   2.  decision function: upon triggers and information fired by the
       initiation Function, the decision function makes decision about
       multiple interfaces management (e.g. select the best appropriate
       provisioning domain to be used, source address selection, etc.).
       The decision is also made using local information (e.g. policies,
       user preferences) fetched from a local/remote repository.
   3.  execution function: once the decision made, the decision function
       triggers the execution if required, e.g. attachment to the
       targeted interface interface configuration, control of associated
       mechanisms for communication continuity if needed (e.g.
       configuration of a virtual interface, trigger mobile IP
       procedures, and so on,....).

   An example of a functional architecture of a Connection Manager is
   given on Figure 1.  The Connection Manager supports the functions
   described above and it implements interfaces with all the involved
   actors (e.g., user, application, operator, etc.) and with other
   functional modules on the terminal (i.e., access monitoring, mobility
   management protocol, etc.).  Interface endpoints on the connection
   manager side are called Service Access Points (SAPs).  The following
   figure depicts the required SAPs in order to allow other functional
   modules to interact with the Connection Manager.




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       +------------+    +--------+    +------------+    +------------+
       |User Tools  |    | Appli. |    | policies   |    |Authent.    |
       |            |    |        |    | server     |    | Framework  |
       +-----x------+    +---x----+    +------x-----+    +-----x------+
             |               |                |                |
        _____x____       ____x_____      _____x______    ______x___
    __ / user SAP \____ / Appli SAP\___ / Oper/cloud \__/ Auth. SAP\_
   |   \__________/     \__________/    \____________/  \__________/  |
   |                                                                  |
   |   Connection Manager                                             |
   |                                                                  |
   |          +------------+  get info     +------------+             |
   |          | Decision   | ------------->| Repository |             |
   |          |            | <------------ |            |             |
   |          +------------+  send info    +------------+             |
   |   __________       __________        __________      ________    |
   |_ / 3GPP SAP \____ / Exec. SAP\_____ /WiFi SAP  \____/OS SAP  \___|
      \__________/     \__________/      \__________/    \________/
           x                x                    x           x
           |   +------------x-----------------+  |           |
           |   |  virtual Intf,               |  |     +---- x------+
           |   |  MIP stack, IP stack         |  |     |    OS      |
           |   +------------------------------+  |     +------------+
      +--- x-------+                       +-----x------+
      |3GPP Intf.  |                       |WiFi Intf.  |
      |            |                       |            |
      +------------+                       +------------+



      Figure 1: A functional architecture for the connection manager

3.2.  Interfaces

   This section focuses on the interfaces endpoints on the connection
   manager side.  It is reminded that interface endpoints on the
   connection manager side are called Service Access Points (SAPs).

3.2.1.  Network SAP

   The Network SAP relates to features directly integrated with the link
   layer access technologies and network interface.  For instance, the
   Network SAP should provide the following capabilities:

   o  Switching ON/OFF a specific network interface ( 3GPP APN PDP
      context, 802.11 ESSID, ...).





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   o  Provision the MN with the appropriate Access Point Name (APN) to
      be used to access the 3GPP network (it should be noted that in the
      3GPP context different APNs can be used to access different
      services and that according to EPC specifications there is a one
      to one mapping between one APN and one IP address).
   o  Requesting an active network scan.
   o  Switching on/off a passive network scan (e.g. a scan which does
      not disturb current traffic flows).
   o  An early link loss detection trigger ( e.g. link going down).
      This should be based on local algorithms implemented within the
      monitoring feature of the interfaces.  The Network SAP should have
      the capability to activate a specific supported algorithm as such
      a early link loss detection will vary according to other
      parameters such as the speed of the terminal, the neighboring
      environment of the same technology.
   o  A link lost trigger (e.g. link down).
   o  A Link handover trigger (disconnect and reconnect to the same
      network), this is used currently to verify the IP properties of
      the newly attached base station.
   o  List of neighboring base stations of the same technology and if
      possible of any technology.
   o  QOS: Interface queue packet loss.
   o  Information brought by Layer 2 (e.g.  IEEE 802.21 [802.21]).
   o  Access to information about the connected network provided y
      mechanisms such as 802.11u.

3.2.2.  User SAP

   The User SAP SHOULD allow the user to give his preferences expected
   to influence the interface management, e.g. modification of the
   application profiles, preferred provisioning domain per application,
   etc.  These preferences CAN be stored by the connection manager in a
   local repository.

3.2.3.  Operator SAP

   The Operator SAP provides services between the client and an operator
   which could be either the network operator of any service operator
   over the top.  These services are not integrated within the link
   layer protocols.  If they were, these SAP primitives would then be
   migrated to the Network SAP.  The Operator SAP SHOULD provide the
   following capabilities:

   o  Neighboring information on networks (e.g. 802.21 MIH server
      ([802.21]) or 3GPP ANDSF ([TS23.402]).  Query of neighboring
      environment (e.g. list of neighbor networks).  This could be under
      a map format.  This can also be achieved depending on network
      capabilities by the Network SAP.



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   o  Policy interface for allowing the network to push connection
      policies and flow mobility policies.  These policies COULD be one
      time policies with immediate effect if the network operator wants
      to change the behaviour of the client at once point in time.
      These policies SHOULD only be accepted if the client has agreed to
      such behaviour and not set an override policy with higher

3.2.4.  Cloud SAP

   The cloud SAP is the operator SAP dedicated to Over The Top service
   provider.  Obviously, this SAP is very similar to the operator SAP,
   the interface between MIF host and server uses same mechanisms than
   operator SAP.  But, in this case, services MAY be specific to OTT
   operator.  More specifically:

   o  The Cloud SAP should allow cloud services to request sensor
      information from the client device.
   o  The Cloud SAP should allow a client to send sensor information to
      a cloud server( e.g. location and speed, temperature, humidity,
      available networks and their measured quality, ...).
   o  The cloud SAP could exchange information with Over-the-top
      services (e.g. geolocation).

3.2.5.  OS SAP

   The OS SAP makes interface with terminal Operating system.  This SAP
   could provide the following capabilities:

   o  Notification of IP address network assignment and notification of
      any extra information about this IP address such as the scope of
      an address (locally serviced or anchor based in case the network
      was performing PMIP/GTP services, [RFC3484], [RFC5014]).
      Typically, these informations are needed for the control of
      virtual( CMIP / DSMIP / VPN(Enterprise & I-WLAN ) )/physical(PMIP
      / GTP ) interfaces and source address selection mechanisms.
   o  Notification of DHCP events such as IP address assignment, DHCP
      options such as ANDSF extensions
      ([I-D.das-mipshop-andsf-dhcp-options]).
   o  Power consumption triggers / queries.
   o  Energy status triggers / queries.

3.2.6.  Execution SAP

   The execution SAP allows to command actions on connectivity layers
   (e.g., IP configuration, trigger IP session continuity management
   protocols).  The Execution SAP is tightly integrated with OS features
   and capabilities.  The Execution SAP SHOULD provide the following
   capabilities:



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   o  Provisioning of static IP addresses.
   o  Generation of automatic WEB Auth methods and insertion into the
      routing table of the default route once authentication successful.
   o  DHCP state machine control :
      *  let DHCP know it must wait for default route into routing table
         insertion.
      *  IP address request on demand, in particular for IPv4 addresses.
   o  Control of OS virtual interfaces and binding (bridge or routed
      mode ) to physical interface.

3.2.7.  Application  SAP

   The Application SAP allows to exchange application triggers (e.g.
   application start/stop, notification for QoS requirements) and to
   provide notification of selection decision from the connection
   manager towards applications (i.e., to let the applications change
   their behavior if it is appropriate).  Typically, the Application SAP
   SHOULD:

   o  allow applications to register with the Connection Manager for
      receiving notifications of other SAP interfaces.  The Connection
      Management behaves as a message routing entity in this case with
      rules and filters.  As an example in session persistency an
      application may want to know of a "link going down event" in order
      to anticipate any changes required rather than reacting to a "link
      down" event.
   o  allow applications a feedback mechanism into the Connection
      Manager for giving real time updates on the QOS observed.
   o  Allow applications to query the identity store function within the
      Connection manager and retrieve authentication methods.
   o  Allows some application to provide specific information to feed
      the decision function(e.g.  GPS positioning or velocity).
   o  terminal built in sensors listing and query/trigger of supported
      options.

   it is worth mentioning that the data traffic is exchanged directly
   between the applications and the transport/IP layers, through the
   standard socket, i.e. without traversing the Connection Manager.

3.2.8.  Authentication SAP

   The Authentication SAP provides access to all supported
   authentication protocols in a shared fashion for all interfaces.  For
   instance, these protocols MAY include:

   o  802.1x





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   o  EAP frameworks
   o  WEB based mechanism such as WISPR 1.0 and WISPR 2.0, IPASS, ...

   In addition to network authentication solutions, the Authentication
   SAP can provide shared mechanisms for applications to use Single-
   Sign-On solutions such as Open ID, HTTP digest or any other proposal.

3.3.  Functions of the connection manager

3.3.1.  Initiation

   According to Section 3.1 The decision is made on triggers and the
   parameters provided by the initiation function.  This function SHOULD
   manage, at least, the following triggers:

   o  Access link triggers (via Network SAP): used to compute network
      triggers like "access link is going down", "discover a new access
      link", etc.  This module is likely to implement a technology
      dependant interface towards the network specific layers in order
      to get e.g., radio/QoS measurements.
   o  Application triggers (via Application SAP): application starting
      or closing should trigger the decision process to select the most
      appropriate provisioning domain.
   o  User/Operator hints (via User/Cloud/Operator SAPs): these hints
      may be modification of preferences, operator policies, manual
      selection, etc.

3.3.2.  Decision

   The decision function is the core of the connection manager, it
   consists in two main functional blocks:

   o  Decision Algorithm: when triggered by a given event (e.g..,
      network, user/operator, or applicative), this module selects the
      data path (e.g. provisioning domain, source address, ...). the
      Decision Algorithm consults, if necessary the local policies from
      the repository, and then it makes decision which is transmitted to
      the execution function.
   o  Repository: this function stores static inputs for the decision-
      making process that will be used to feed the selection algorithm .
      For instance, such information can be related to user's
      preferences, operator's policies or application profiles (storing
      application needs, in term of QoS, and per application preferences
      for access).  These information could be provisioned to the
      terminal via out-of-band mechanisms ( e.g., download of policies
      at bootstrapping via link layer mechanisms, during DHCP process
      [I-D.sarikaya-mif-dhcpv6solution] or via 3GPP ANDSF ([TS23.402])).
      Information could be also provisioned through dedicated



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      application, for instance allowing the user to indicate its
      preferences (e.g. manage its list of preferred access network).

   Several criteria could be used to make a decision.  For instance, the
   following criteria COULD be considered:

   o  User Profile (user's rights in terms of QoS, roaming partners
      allowed, etc.).
   o  User/Operator ordered list of preferred Wi-Fi networks.
   o  Access preference based on application type and destination, e.g.
      IPTV is preferred on WLAN when available.
   o  Link Quality: signal strength (assuming radio link), QoS
      (throughput, packet loss, delay, etc.).
   o  Application QoS requirements: throughput required per application
      type/class, maximum accepted packet loss.
   o  Source address selection policy, i.e. the connection manager may
      want to use such interface if IPv6 is available then select the
      source address (e.g. use Global address for Internet destination
      and LLA for on-net services).

3.3.3.  Execution function

   After making a decision, the execution function is triggered, e.g.
   operation for attachment to a new interface, IP connectivity check,
   source address selection, trigger other virtual interface like tunnel
   interface (e.g.  IPSEC) or steer the mobility protocol e.g.  MIPv6
   [RFC3775]), if IP session continuity must be ensured.  Figure 2 shows
   interaction between functions of the generic MIF connection manager.























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     +-----------------+     +-----------------+
     |Event Monitoring |     |policies, address|
     |(e.g. monitoring |     |selection policy,|
     |  access link)   |     |preferences,...  |
     +-----------------+     +-----------------+
           ||                        ||                 ,---------.
           ||                        ||              ,-'           `-.
           \/                        \/             |  Execution      |
        ,---------.              ,---------.        |  (connectivity  |
     ,-'           `-.        ,-'           `-.     |   check,        |
    (    Initiation  |------>(   Decision      )--->|   interface     |
     `-.           ,-'        `-.           ,-'     |   control,      |
        `---------'              `---------'        |   Handover      |
          ^  ^                         | ^          |   management,.. ,
          |  |         fail            | |           `---------------'
          |  +------(e.g. no access<---+ |                      |  |
          |          available)          |                      |  |
          |                              +-- reselection    <---+  |
          |                                due to execution        |
          |                                failure                 |
          |                                                        |
          +---------------- execution completed  <-----------------+


               Figure 2: State machine of connection manager

3.3.3.1.  IP connectivity check

   This sub-function of the execution deals with IP connectivity
   verification (via OS SAP).  This function triggers reselection in
   case of layer 3 failure, during attachment or when a handover happens
   and the layer 2 is still connected.

   Various situations may occur and various mechanisms CAN be used to
   ensure IP connectivity, for example:

   o  While a client moves from one 802.11 access point to another, both
      having the same (E)SSID does not mean they are part of the same
      network.  Hence the client SHOULD verify its IP address
      parameters.  In order to avoid a complete reconfiguration when not
      needed; initial checks can be performed.  Such mechanisms are
      ARPing of the default gateway or PING of that same default
      gateway.  If provisioning domain parameters, such as MAC address
      and IP, are similar then it can be expected the client is on the
      same network and avoid hence a full IP renewal process.
   o  When a client associates to a network it MAY be required to
      authenticate over HTTP and would have limited connectivity
      initially.  Mechanisms are needed to check access to the



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      authentication web portal.
   o  The IP connectivity can be limited if there is a high level of
      layer 2 errors.  When on the edge of a 802.11 cell, the radio
      parameters may be such that small IP packets would go through but
      higher MTU packets would not get through.  In this case a client
      may get an IP address but not be capable of further utilising it.
   o  The end to end IP connectivity could be disturbed.  A mechanism is
      needed which would also differentiate between no connectivity at
      all versus just some disturbed destinations only.

3.3.3.2.  IP address and interface mapping

   In a MIF context, the notion of path is indeed a key issue since even
   a single interface could be providing multiple paths, e.g. in IPv6
   when delivering multiple prefixes.  For example, current IP mobility
   solutions use one IP address for local access and another for
   anchored traffic through a mobility anchor (i.e.  HA or LMA).  The
   mechanism for selecting anyof the available paths SHOULD reside
   within the Connection Manager.

   Selection of a source address MUST at least rely on default address
   selection as per [RFC3484] which defines algorithms for source and
   destination IP address selections.  However, more sophisticated
   selection mechanism COULD also be provided.  For instance, IP flows
   can be mapped independently to different interfaces.  Also, dynamic
   information about the status of an interface CAN be used when
   deciding the best available interface.

   The Connection Manager SHOULD select the path (i.e. source address)
   based on dynamic local information (e.g. access monitoring)and
   current policies (i.e., operator, user, application, etc.).  Once the
   decision is made the execution function MUST configure, in a
   transparent manner for applications, the appropriate mapping of IP
   communication with the selected local interface.

   Information on IP address type (e.g. local, global, assigned to a
   virtual interface, etc.)  MUST be known and used by the Connection
   Manager as an input for path selection.  This information MAY be
   provided by specific extensions to IP address allocation mechanisms
   (e.g.  DHCP, IPCP, RA, or any other).

   A typical example of IP address and interface mapping is the MultiPDN
   Access Connectivity (MAPCON) support currently being specified in
   3GPP.  MAPCON is a 3GPP technology (see Figure 3 and refers to the
   capability of the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network to configure and
   maintain two or more PDN connections for a given mobile device across
   heterogeneous wireless access networks [TS23.402]).  According to
   3GPP, a one to one mapping exists between a PDN connection and an



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   APN.  That is, every time that a terminal requests to activate a
   specific APN (either resolved to the same P-GW or to different P-GWs)
   the network assigns a new IP address (v4, v6 or v4v6).  This APN (or
   IP address) can be configured on a 3GPP network at time T0 and moved
   at time T1 to the WLAN network.  It derives that all the sessions
   associated to this IP address (alias Home Network Prefix) are handed
   over from the 3GPP to the non-3GPP access network.  If the terminal
   has configured two different APNs on the 3GPP access network, after
   the handover procedure takes place it will continue to use one APN
   for each of the available wireless channels.

   In a 3GPP context and from an application perspective, the selection
   of an IP address corresponds to map a specific application to a given
   APN.  In the IETF world the APN concept does not exist and IP address
   selection has been studied in [RFC3484] and [RFC5014].  In particular
   [RFC5014] provides socket API extensions to influence the rules
   specified in [RFC3484] (e.g. prefer a public IPv4 address over a
   private one, prefer a HoA over a CoA).  However, such extensions do
   not consider the particular requirements imposed by 3GPP.

   The use of the CM in the context of the MAPCON scenario simplifies
   the operations executed at the mobile device.  The routing of flows
   to interfaces is achieved by means of the policies reveiced through
   the Operator SAP and not according to the IP address destination.  In
   this sense the routing operations at the MN are extremely simplified
   with respect to the extensive use of multiple interfaces and advance
   routing capabilities.  The granularity for routing can for instance
   be based on prefixes or flows, providing great flexibility to the MN
   configuration and associated CM operations.


                           +----------------------------+
                           |          TCP/UDP           |
    Session to IP       -- |                            |
    Address binding    <   +---(MN-IP1)---(MN-IP2)------+
                        -- |          IP Layer          |
    IP Address(es)      -- |                            |
    binding            <   +----------------------------+
                        -- |       L2     |     L2      |
                           |     (IF#1)   |   (IF#2)    |
                           +--------------+-------------+
                           |       L1     |     L1      |
                           |              |             |
                           +--------------+-------------+

         Figure 3: Connection Manager for MAPCON-enabled terminal





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3.3.3.3.  Virtual Interface Configuration

   Work has been carried out in the NetExt WG to define ways in which a
   Logical Interface can help inter-access handover and IP Flow Mobility
   (IFOM) for Proxy Mobile IPv6
   [I-D.ietf-netext-logical-interface-support].  The NetExt Logical
   Interface terminology is equivalent to the MIF Virtual Interface
   (VIF) terminology.  This VIF allows a mobile node sharing a set of IP
   addresses on multiple physical interfaces.  The same VIF can also
   help other mobility management solutions like 3GPP GPRS Tunnelling
   Protocol (GTP) or DSMIPv6 and it can add benefits to multi-access
   scenarios such as 3GPP Multi Access PDN Connectivity (MAPCON)
   [S2-103593].

   For some implementations, the VIF is known as the master, and the
   different sub-interfaces that are mapped below it are referred-to as
   slaves.  In most cases, the VIF will map several physical network
   interfaces.  Nevertheless, virtual interfaces themseleves could be
   slaves of a higher level abstracted VIF.

   Figure 4 illustrates the relationship between the connection manager
   and the virtual interface.


                  +---------------------+
                  |      TCP/UDP        |
                  +---------------------+
                  |        IP           |
                  +---------------------+    +------------+
                  |      Virtual        |    | Connection |
                  |      Interface      |<---|  Manager   |
                  +---------------------+    +------------+
                  +---------+ +---------+         ^
                  |   if_1  | |  if_2   |         |
                  |  (WLAN) | | (3GPP)  |<--------+
                  +---------+ +---------+   IF/CM interface


   Figure 4: Connection Manager and Virtual Interface (VIF) relationship

   The connection manager SHOULD control the mapping between the VIF and
   the sub-interfaces.  The mapping control MUST take into account class
   of the IP address, which can differ if:

   o  this IP is learned directly from the network with PMIP/GTP
      service, in which case the IP is on the physical interface and
      must be bridged onto the virtual interface.




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   o  this IP is assigned to a tunnel originating from the virtual
      interface and bound to a physical interface getting an IP address
      allocation from a non PMIP enabled network (e.g; CMIP, DSMIP, VPN)

   In order to support IP flow mobility and other mobility features, the
   VIF MUST accept packets arriving on any of its sub-interfaces, as
   long as the destination IP address is a valid local address.  Also,
   when the link layer technology of the sub-interface encapsulates IP
   packets into frames, the link-layer identifier of the VIF SHOULD be
   used in the link-layer header of frames transmitted over this sub-
   interface.

   Independent flows need to be monitored at the VIF.  Flows can be
   identified by a 5-tuple comprised of source address, destination
   address, source port, destination port and protocol.  Once a flow is
   identified, it SHOULD be mapped to the sub-interface that has first
   been used to perform the packet transmission and reception functions
   for this specific flow.  This mapping SHOULD be kept for the lifespan
   of the flow (e.g.  TCP session).

   For IPv6, the VIF MUST be aware of the hosted prefixes based on the
   received Router Advertisement (RA) messages.  For instance, provided
   that RAs HNP1 are received on interface if1, any packet with source
   address generated using HNP1 SHOULD be forwarded through interface
   if1.  In case packets from a certain flow are suddenly received on a
   different sub-interface, an update to the flow mapping table COULD be
   done so that the corresponding packets are then forwarded though this
   new sub-interface.

   Figure 5 depicts the use of the Virtual Interface in a terminal
   supporting PMIPv6 / GTP advanced mobility features in the network,
   and Figure 6 shows the use of the Virtual Interface in a terminal
   with a DSMIPv6 stack.


















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                                    +----------------------------+
                                    |          TCP/UDP           |
             Session to IP        --|                            |
             Address binding    <   +----------------------------+
                                  --|             IP             |
             IP Address(es)      ---|                            |
             binding           <    +----------(MN-HoA)----------+
                                 ---|     Logical Interface      |
             Logical to             |                            |
             Physical           --> +----------------------------+
             Interface              |  L2  |  L2  |       |  L2  |
             mapping                |(IF#1)|(IF#2)| ..... |(IF#n)|
                                    +------+------+       +------+
                                    |  L1  |  L1  |       |  L1  |
                                    |      |      |       |      |
                                    +------+------+       +------+

   Figure 5: VIF for terminal supporting network-based Proxy Mobile IPv6
                              / 3GPP GTP IFOM


                            +----------------------------+
                            |          TCP/UDP           |
     Session to IP        --|                            |
     Address binding    <   +----------(MN-HoA)----------+
                          --|     IP in IP tunneling     |
     IP Address(es)      ---|                            |
     binding           <    +---(MN-CoA1)---(MN-CoA2)----+
                         ---|         IP Layer           |
                            |                            |
                            +----------------------------+
                            |       L2     |     L2      |
                            |     (IF#1)   |   (IF#2)    |
                            +--------------+-------------+
                            |       L1     |     L1      |
                            |              |             |
                            +--------------+-------------+

               Figure 6: VIF in terminal with DSMIPv6 stack


4.  Security Considerations

   TBD







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5.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no actions for IANA.


6.  Contributors

   The following people contributed to this document:

      Lucian Suciu
      France telecom - Orange
      lucian.suciu@orange-ftfroup.com

      Patrice Nivagiolli
      Cisco
      pnivaggi@cisco.com


7.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to acknowledge (in no specific order) Sri
   Gundavelli, Hidetoshi Yokota, Hui Deng and Dapeng Liu for all the
   fruitful discussions on this topic.


8.  References

8.1.  Informative References

   [RFC3484]  Draves, R., "Default Address Selection for Internet
              Protocol version 6 (IPv6)", RFC 3484, February 2003.

8.2.  Informative References

   [802.21]   IEEE, "IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area
              Networks - Part 21: Media Independent Handover Services",
              IEEE LAN/MAN Std 802.21-2008, January 2009.", 2010, <
              http://www.ieee802.org/21/private/Published%20Spec/
              802.21-2008.pdf>.

   [I-D.cao-mif-analysis]
              Laganier, J., Montenegro, G., Korhonen, J., Savolainen,
              T., and Z. Cao, "MIF Current Practice Analysis",
              draft-cao-mif-analysis-01 (work in progress), July 2010.

   [I-D.das-mipshop-andsf-dhcp-options]
              Das, S. and G. Bajko, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
              (DHCPv4 and DHCPv6) Options for Access Network Discovery



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              and Selection Function(ANDSF) Discovery",
              draft-das-mipshop-andsf-dhcp-options-07 (work in
              progress), October 2010.

   [I-D.ietf-mif-current-practices]
              Wasserman, M. and P. Seite, "Current Practices for
              Multiple Interface Hosts",
              draft-ietf-mif-current-practices-05 (work in progress),
              October 2010.

   [I-D.ietf-mif-problem-statement]
              Blanchet, M. and P. Seite, "Multiple Interfaces and
              Provisioning Domains Problem Statement",
              draft-ietf-mif-problem-statement-08 (work in progress),
              October 2010.

   [I-D.ietf-netext-logical-interface-support]
              Melia, T. and S. Gundavelli, "Logical Interface Support
              for multi-mode IP Hosts",
              draft-ietf-netext-logical-interface-support-01 (work in
              progress), October 2010.

   [I-D.melia-netext-logical-interface-support]
              Melia, T., Gundavelli, S., Yokota, H., and C. Bernardos,
              "Logical Interface Support for multi-mode IP Hosts",
              draft-melia-netext-logical-interface-support-01 (work in
              progress), July 2010.

   [I-D.sarikaya-mif-dhcpv6solution]
              Sarikaya, B., Xia, F., and P. Seite, "DHCPv6 Extension for
              Configuring Hosts with Multiple Interfaces",
              draft-sarikaya-mif-dhcpv6solution-04 (work in progress),
              July 2010.

   [RFC3775]  Johnson, D., Perkins, C., and J. Arkko, "Mobility Support
              in IPv6", RFC 3775, June 2004.

   [RFC5014]  Nordmark, E., Chakrabarti, S., and J. Laganier, "IPv6
              Socket API for Source Address Selection", RFC 5014,
              September 2007.

   [RFC5213]  Gundavelli, S., Leung, K., Devarapalli, V., Chowdhury, K.,
              and B. Patil, "Proxy Mobile IPv6", RFC 5213, August 2008.

   [S2-103593]
              3GPP, "S2-103593 - Virtual Interface Support on UE  -
              Requirements and Properties", 2010.




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   [TS23.402]
              3GPP, "3GPP TS 23.402; Architecture enhancements for non-
              3GPP accesses", 2010.


Authors' Addresses

   Pierrick Seite
   France Telecom - Orange
   4, rue du Clos Courtel, BP 91226
   Cesson-Sevigne  35512
   France

   Email: pierrick.seite@orange-ftgroup.com


   Gaetan Feige
   Cisco
   11 rue Camille Desmoulin
   Issy les Moulineaux  92782
   France

   Email: gfeige@cisco.com


   Telemaco Melia
   Alcatel-Lucent
   Route de Villejust
   Nozay  91620
   France

   Phone: +33672662903
   Email: telemaco.melia@alcatel-lucent.com


   Juan-Carlos Zuniga
   InterDigital
   1000 Sherbrooke W
   Montreal, QC
   Canada

   Email: juancarlos.zuniga.interdigital.com









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