Quality of Service Attributes for Diameter
draft-ietf-dime-qos-attributes-11.txt

Status of this Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF Contributions published or made publicly available before November 10, 2008. The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process. Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling the copyright in such materials, this document may not be modified outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other than English.

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

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

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

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

This Internet-Draft will expire on August 27, 2009.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2009 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents in effect on the date of publication of this document (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info). Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document.

Abstract

This document extends the IPFilterRule AVP functionality of the Diameter Base protocol and the functionality of the QoS-Filter-Rule AVP defined in RFC 4005. The ability to convey Quality of Service information using the AVPs defined in this document is available to existing and future Diameter applications where permitted by the command ABNF.

Table of Contents

1.  Introduction
2.  Terminology
3.  Rule Sets and Rules
    3.1.  QoS-Resources AVP
    3.2.  Rule AVP
    3.3.  Rule-Precedence AVP
4.  Conditions
    4.1.  Traffic Classifiers
        4.1.1.  Classifier AVP
        4.1.2.  Classifier-ID AVP
        4.1.3.  Protocol AVP
        4.1.4.  Direction AVP
        4.1.5.  From-Spec AVP
        4.1.6.  To-Spec AVP
        4.1.7.  Source and Destination AVPs
        4.1.8.  Header Option AVPs
    4.2.  Time Of Day AVPs
        4.2.1.  Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP
        4.2.2.  Time-Of-Day-Start AVP
        4.2.3.  Time-Of-Day-End AVP
        4.2.4.  Day-Of-Week-Mask AVP
        4.2.5.  Day-Of-Month-Mask AVP
        4.2.6.  Month-Of-Year-Mask AVP
        4.2.7.  Absolute-Start-Time AVP
        4.2.8.  Absolute-End-Time AVP
        4.2.9.  Timezone-Flag AVP
        4.2.10.  Timezone-Offset AVP
5.  Actions
    5.1.  Action AVP
    5.2.  QoS-Profile-Id AVP
    5.3.  QoS-Profile-Template AVP
    5.4.  QoS-Semantics
    5.5.  QoS-Parameters AVP
    5.6.  Excess-Treatment AVP
    5.7.  Excess-Treatment-Action
6.  QoS Capability Indication
7.  Examples
    7.1.  Diameter EAP with QoS Information
    7.2.  Diameter NASREQ with QoS Information
    7.3.  QoS Authorization
    7.4.  Diameter Server Initiated Re-authorization of QoS
    7.5.  Diameter Credit Control with QoS Information
    7.6.  Classifier Examples
    7.7.  QoS Examples
8.  Acknowledgments
9.  Contributors
10.  IANA Considerations
11.  Security Considerations
12.  References
    12.1.  Normative References
    12.2.  Informative References
§  Authors' Addresses

1.  Introduction

This document defines a number of Diameter Quality of Service (QoS) related AVPs that can be used in existing and future Diameter applications where permitted by the ABNF of a command. The IPFilterRule AVP, defined in RFC 3588 [RFC3588] (Calhoun, P., Loughney, J., Guttman, E., Zorn, G., and J. Arkko, “Diameter Base Protocol,” September 2003.), and the QoS-Filter-Rule AVP, defined in RFC 4005 [RFC4005] (Calhoun, P., Zorn, G., Spence, D., and D. Mitton, “Diameter Network Access Server Application,” August 2005.), provide basic support for classification and QoS already. The classification rule syntax is a modified subset of FreeBSD ipfw packet filter implementation. The QoS functionality provided by the IPFilterRule AVP was updated by the QoS-Filter-Rule AVP. The Rule AVP offers an extended way of expressing classification and QoS capabilities.

The structure of a rule in the entire rule set defined in this document consist of a conditions part and corresponding actions. The AVPs responsible for expressing a condition are defined in Section 4 (Conditions). Capabilities to match all or a subset of the data traffic is provided. Additionally, time-based conditions can be expressed based on the functionality offered in Section 4.2 (Time Of Day AVPs). The action part of a rule contains information for handling conflict resolution, such as a priority value for each individual rule within a rule set, and further description regarding QoS related actions.

2.  Terminology

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119] (Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” March 1997.).

3.  Rule Sets and Rules

As mentioned in the introduction the top-level element is the QoS-Resources AVP that encapsulates one or more Rule AVPs.

3.1.  QoS-Resources AVP

The QoS-Resources AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and describes a list of policies.

QoS-Resources ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                1*{ Rule }
                * [ AVP ]

3.2.  Rule AVP

The Rule AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and defines a specific condition and action combination.

                    Rule ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                             [ Rule-Precedence ]

                             ; Condition part of a Rule
                            ; ------------------------

                             [ Classifier ]
                           * [ Time-Of-Day-Condition ]

                            ; Action and Meta-Data
                            ; --------------------

                             [ Action ]

                            ; Info about QoS related Actions
                            ; ------------------------------

                             [ QoS-Semantics ]
                             [ QoS-Profile-Template ]
                             [ QoS-Parameters ]
                             [ Excess-Treatment ]


                            ; Extension Point
                            ; ---------------
                           * [ AVP ]

If the QoS-Profile-Template AVP is not included in the Rule AVP then the default setting is assumed, namely a setting of the Vendor-Id AVP to 0 (for IETF) and the QoS-Profile-Id AVP to zero (0) (for the profile defined in [I‑D.ietf‑dime‑qos‑parameters] (Korhonen, J., Tschofenig, H., and E. Davies, “Quality of Service Parameters for Usage with Diameter,” May 2009.)). Note that the content of the QoS-Parameters are defined in the respective specification defining the QoS parameters. When the Vendor-Id AVP is set to 0 (for IETF) and the QoS-Profile-Id AVP is set to zero (0) then the AVPs included in the QoS-Parameters AVP are the AVPs defined in [I‑D.ietf‑dime‑qos‑parameters] (Korhonen, J., Tschofenig, H., and E. Davies, “Quality of Service Parameters for Usage with Diameter,” May 2009.).

3.3.  Rule-Precedence AVP

The Rule-Precedence AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32 and specifies the execution order of the rules expressed in the QoS-Resources AVP. Rules with equal precedence MAY be executed in parallel if supported by the Resource Management Function. If the Rule-Precedence AVP is absent from the Rule AVP, the rules SHOULD be executed in the order in which they appear in the QoS-Resources AVP. The lower the numerical value of Rule-Precedence AVP, the higher the rule precedence.

4.  Conditions

This section describes the condition part of a rule. Two condition types are introduced by this document: packet classification conditions represented by the Classifier AVP and time of day conditions represented by the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP.

If more than one instance of the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP is present in the Rule AVP, the current time at QoS rule evaluation MUST be within at least one of the time windows specified in one of the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVPs.

When the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP and Classifier AVP are present in the same Rule AVP, both the time of day and packet classification conditions MUST match for the QoS specification action to be applied.

4.1.  Traffic Classifiers

Classifiers are used in many applications to specify how to select a subset of data packets for subsequent treatment as indicated in the action part of a rule. For example in a QoS application, if a packet matches a classifier then that packet will be treated in accordance with a QoS specification associated with that classifier. Figure 1 (Example of a Classifier Architecture) shows a typical deployment.

                                                        +-----------+
                                                       +-----------+|
    +--------+          +-------------+              +------------+||
    |        |   IN     |             |              |            |||
    |        +--------->|             +------------->|            |||
    |Managed |          | Classifying |              | Unmanaged  |||
    |Terminal|   OUT    | Entity      |              | Terminal   |||
    |        |<---------+             |<-------------+            ||+
    |        |          |             |              |            |+
    +--------+          +-------------+              +------------+
                                ^
                                | Classifiers
                                |
                        +------+------+
                        |             |
                        |     AAA     |
                        |             |
                        +-------------+

The managed terminal, the terminal for which the classifiers are being specified is located on the left of the Classifying Entity. The unmanaged terminal, the terminal that receives packets from the Managed terminal or sends packets to the managed terminal is located to the right side of the Classifying Entity.

The Classifying Entity is responsible for classifying packets that are incoming (IN) from the Managed Terminal or packets outgoing (OUT) to the Managed Terminal.

A Classifier consists of a group of attributes that specify how to match a packet. Each set of attributes expresses values about aspects of the packet - typically the packet header. Different protocols therefore would use different attributes.

In general a Classifier consists of the following:

Identifier:

The identifier uniquely identifies this classifier and may be used to reference the classifier from another structure.

From:

Specifies the rule for matching the protocol specific source address(es) part of the packet.

To:

Specifies the rule for matching the protocol specific destination address(es) part of the packet.

Protocol:

Specifies the matching protocol of the packet.

Direction:

Specifies whether the classifier is to apply to packets flowing from the Managed Terminal (IN) or to packets flowing to the Managed Terminal (OUT), or packets flowing in both direction.

Options:

Attributes or properties associated with each protocol or layer, or various values specific to the header of the protocol or layer. Options allow matching on those values.

Each protocol type will have a specific set of attributes that can be used to specify a classifier for that protocol. These attributes will be grouped under a grouped AVP called a Classifier AVP.

4.1.1.  Classifier AVP

The Classifier AVP (AVP Code TBD) is a grouped AVP that consists of a set of attributes that specify how to match a packet.

Classifier ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
               { Classifier-ID }
               [ Protocol ]
               [ Direction ]
             * [ From-Spec ]
             * [ To-Spec ]
             * [ Diffserv-Code-Point ]
               [ Fragmentation-Flag ]
             * [ IP-Option ]
             * [ TCP-Option ]
               [ TCP-Flags ]
             * [ ICMP-Type ]
             * [ ETH-Option ]
             * [ AVP ]

4.1.2.  Classifier-ID AVP

The Classifier-ID AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type OctetString and uniquely identifies the classifier. Each application will define the uniqueness scope of this identifier, e.g. unique per terminal or globally unique. Exactly one Classifier-ID AVP MUST be contained within a Classifier AVP.

4.1.3.  Protocol AVP

The Protocol AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and specifies the protocol being matched. The attributes included in the Classifier AVP MUST be consistent with the value of the Protocol AVP. Exactly zero or one Protocol AVP may be contained within a Classifier AVP. If the Protocol AVP is omitted from the Classifier, then comparison of the protocol of the packet is irrelevant. The values for this AVP are managed by IANA under the Protocol Numbers registry as defined in [RFC2780] (Bradner, S. and V. Paxson, “IANA Allocation Guidelines For Values In the Internet Protocol and Related Headers,” March 2000.).

4.1.4.  Direction AVP

The Direction AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and specifies in which direction to apply the Classifier. The values of the enumeration are: "IN","OUT","BOTH". In the "IN" and "BOTH" directions, the From-Spec refers to the address of the Managed Terminal and the To-Spec refers to the unmanaged terminal. In the "OUT" direction, the From-Spec refers to the Unmanaged Terminal whereas the To-Spec refers to the Managed Terminal. If the Direction AVP is omitted, the Classifier matches packets flowing in both direction.

  Value | Name and Semantic
  ------+--------------------------------------------------
    0   | IN - The classifier applies to flows from the
        | Managed Terminal.
    1   | OUT - The classifier applies to flows to the
        | Managed Terminal.
    2   | BOTH - The classifier applies to flows both to
        | and from the Managed Terminal.

4.1.5.  From-Spec AVP

The From-Spec AVP (AVP Code TBD) is a grouped AVP that specifies the Source Specification used to match the packet. Zero or more of these AVPs may appear in the Classifier. If this AVP is absent from the Classifier then all packets are matched regardless of the source address. If more than one instance of this AVP appears in the Classifier then the source of the packet can match any From-Spec AVP. The contents of this AVP are protocol specific.

If one instance (or multiple instances) of the IP address AVP (IP-Address, IP-Address-Range, IP-Address-Mask, Use-Assigned-Address) appear in the From-Spec AVP then the source IP address of the packet MUST match one of the addresses represented by these AVPs.

If more that one instance of the layer 2 address AVPs (MAC-Address, MAC-Address-Mask, EUI64-Address, EUI64-Address-Mask) appears in the From-Spec then the the source layer 2 address of the packet MUST match one of the addresses represented in these AVPs.

If more that one instance of the port AVPs (Port, Port-Range) appears in the From-Spec AVP then the source port number MUST match one of the port numbers represented in these AVPs.

If the IP address, MAC address and port AVPs appear in the same From-Spec AVP then the source packet MUST match all the specifications, i.e. match the IP address AND MAC address AND port number.

From-Spec ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
            * [ IP-Address ]
            * [ IP-Address-Range ]
            * [ IP-Address-Mask ]
            * [ MAC-Address ]
            * [ MAC-Address-Mask]
            * [ EUI64-Address ]
            * [ EUI64-Address-Mask]
            * [ Port ]
            * [ Port-Range ]
              [ Negated ]
              [ Use-Assigned-Address ]
            * [ AVP ]

4.1.6.  To-Spec AVP

The To-Spec AVP (AVP Code TBD) is a grouped AVP that specifies the Destination Specification used to match the packet. Zero or more of these AVPs may appear in the Classifier. If this AVP is absent from the Classifier then all packets are matched regardless of the destination address. If more than one instance of this AVP appears in the Classifier then the destination of the packet can match any To-Spec AVP. The contents of this AVP are protocol specific.

If one instance (or multiple instances) of the IP address AVP (IP-Address, IP-Address-Range, IP-Address-Mask, Use-Assigned-Address) appear in the To-Spec AVP then the destination IP address of the packet MUST match one of the addresses represented by these AVPs.

If more that one instance of the layer 2 address AVPs (MAC-Address, MAC-Address-Mask, EUI64-Address, EUI64-Address-Mask) appears in the To-Spec then the the destination layer 2 address of the packet MUST match one of the addresses represented in these AVPs.

If more that one instance of the port AVPs (Port, Port-Range) appears in the To-Spec AVP then the destination port number MUST match one of the port numbers represented in these AVPs.

If the IP address, MAC address and port AVPs appear in the same To-Spec AVP then the destination packet MUST match all the specifications, i.e. match the IP address AND MAC address AND port number.

To-Spec ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
          * [ IP-Address ]
          * [ IP-Address-Range ]
          * [ IP-Address-Mask ]
          * [ MAC-Address ]
          * [ MAC-Address-Mask]
          * [ EUI64-Address ]
          * [ EUI64-Address-Mask]
          * [ Port ]
          * [ Port-Range ]
            [ Negated ]
            [ Use-Assigned-Address ]
          * [ AVP ]

4.1.7.  Source and Destination AVPs

For packet classification the contents of the From-Spec and To-Spec can contain the AVPs listed in the subsections below.

4.1.7.1.  Negated AVP

The Negated AVP (AVP Code TBD) of type Enumerated containing the values of True or False. Exactly zero or one of these AVPs may appear in the From-Spec or To-Spec AVP.

When set to True the meaning of the match is inverted. Addresses other than those in the To-Spec and From-Spec are to be matched instead. When set to False, or when the AVP is not included then the address specified To-Spec and From-Spec AVP are to be matched.

Note that the negation does not impact the port comparisons.

  Value | Name
  ------+--------
    0   | False
    1   | True

4.1.7.2.  IP-Address AVP

The IP-Address AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Address and specifies a single IP address (IPv4 or IPv6) address to match.

4.1.7.3.  IP-Address-Range AVP

The IP-Address-Range AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies an inclusive IP address range.

IP-Address-Range ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                     [ IP-Address-Start ]
                     [ IP-Address-End ]
                   * [ AVP ]

If the IP-Address-Start AVP is not included then the address range starts from the first valid IP address up to and including the specified IP-Address-End address.

If the IP-Address-End AVP is not included then the address range starts at the address specified by the IP-Address-Start AVP and includes all the remaining valid IP addresses.

For the IP-Address-Range AVP to be valid, the IP-Address-Start AVP MUST contain a value that is less than that of the IP-Address-End AVP.

If the IP-Address-Start AVP is empty then the semantic is equivalent to not having the IP-Address-Start AVP included in the command.

4.1.7.4.  IP-Address-Start AVP

The IP-Address-Start AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Address and specifies the first IP address (IPv4 or IPv6) address of an IP address range.

4.1.7.5.  IP-Address-End AVP

The IP-Address-End AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Address and specifies the last IP address (IPv4 or IPv6) address of an address range.

4.1.7.6.  IP-Address-Mask AVP

The IP-Address-Mask AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies an IP address range using a base IP address and the bit-width of the mask. For example, a range expressed as 192.0.2.0/24 will match all IP addresses from 192.0.2.0 up to and including 192.0.2.255. The bit-width MUST be valid for the type of IP address.

IP-Address-Mask ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                    { IP-Address }
                    { IP-Bit-Mask-Width }
                  * [ AVP ]

4.1.7.7.  IP-Mask-Bit-Mask-Width AVP

The IP-Bit-Mask-Width AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value specifies the width of an IP address bit-mask.

4.1.7.8.  MAC-Address AVP

The MAC-Address AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type OctetString and specifies a single layer 2 address in MAC-48 format. The value is a 6 octets encoding of the address as it would appear in the frame header.

4.1.7.9.  MAC-Address-Mask AVP

The MAC-Address-Mask AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies a set of MAC addresses using a bit mask to indicate the bits of the MAC addresses which must fit to the specified MAC address attribute. For example, a MAC-Address-Mask with the MAC-Address as 00-10-A4-23-00-00 and with a MAC-Address-Mask-Pattern of FF-FF-FF-FF-00-00 will match all MAC addresses from 00-10-A4-23-00-00 up to and including 00-10-A4-23-FF-FF.

MAC-Address-Mask ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                     { MAC-Address }
                     { MAC-Address-Mask-Pattern }
                   * [ AVP ]

4.1.7.10.  MAC-Address-Mask-Pattern AVP

The MAC-Address-Mask-Pattern AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type OctetString. The value is a 6 octets specifying the bit positions of a MAC address, that are taken for matching.

4.1.7.11.  EUI64-Address AVP

The EUI64-Address AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type OctetString and specifies a single layer 2 address in EUI-64 format. The value is a 8 octets encoding of the address as it would appear in the frame header.

4.1.7.12.  EUI64-Address-Mask AVP

The EUI64-Address-Mask AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies a set of EUI64 addresses using a bit mask to indicate the bits of the EUI64 addresses which must fit to the specified EUI64 address attribute. For example, a EUI64-Address-Mask with the EUI64-Address as 00-10-A4-FF-FE-23-00-00 and with a EUI64-Address-Mask-Pattern of FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-00-00 will match all EUI64 addresses from 00-10-A4-FF-FE-23-00-00 up to and including 00-10-A4-FF-FE-23-FF-FF.

EUI64-Address-Mask ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                       { EUI64-Address }
                       { EUI64-Address-Mask-Pattern }
                     * [ AVP ]

4.1.7.13.  EUI64-Address-Mask-Pattern AVP

The EUI64-Address-Mask-Pattern AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type OctetString. The value is a 8 octets specifying the bit positions of a EUI64 address, that are taken for matching.

4.1.7.14.  Port AVP

The Port AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Integer32 in the range of 0 to 65535 and specifies port numbers to match.

4.1.7.15.  Port-Range AVP

The Port-Range AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies an inclusive range of ports.

Port-Range ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
               [ Port-Start ]
               [ Port-End ]
             * [ AVP ]

If the Port-Start AVP is omitted then port 0 is assumed. If the Port-End AVP is omitted then port 65535 is assumed.

If the Port-Start AVP is empty then this is equivalent to not carrying a Port-Start AVP in the command.

4.1.7.16.  Port-Start AVP

The Port-Start AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Integer32 and specifies the first port number of an IP port range.

4.1.7.17.  Port-End AVP

The Port-End AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Integer32 and specifies the last port number of an IP port range.

4.1.7.18.  Use-Assigned-Address AVP

In some scenarios, the AAA does not know the IP address assigned to the Managed Terminal at the time that the Classifier is sent to the Classifying Entity. The Use-Assigned-Address AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated containing the values of True or False. When present and set to True, it represents the IP address assigned to the Managed Terminal.

  Value | Name
  ------+--------
    0   | False
    1   | True

4.1.8.  Header Option AVPs

The Classifier AVP may contain one or more of the following AVPs to match on the various possible IP, TCP or ICMP header options.

4.1.8.1.  Diffserv-Code-Point AVP

The Diffserv-Code-Point AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and specifies the Differentiated Services Field Codepoints to match in the IP header. The values are managed by IANA under the Differentiated Services Field Codepoints registry as defined in [RFC2474] (Nichols, K., Blake, S., Baker, F., and D. Black, “Definition of the Differentiated Services Field (DS Field) in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers,” December 1998.).

4.1.8.2.  Fragmentation-Flag AVP

The Fragmentation-Flag AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and specifies the packet fragmentation flags to match in the IP header.

  Value | Name and Semantic
  ------+------------------------------------------------------------
    0   | Don't Fragment (DF)
    1   | More Fragments (MF)

4.1.8.3.  IP-Option AVP

The IP-Option AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies an IP header option that must be matched.

IP-Option ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
              { IP-Option-Type }
            * [ IP-Option-Value ]
              [ Negated ]
            * [ AVP ]

If one or more IP-Option-Value AVPs are present, one of the values MUST match the value in the IP header option. If the IP-Option-Value AVP is absent, the option type MUST be present in the IP header but the value is wild carded.

The Negated AVP is used in conjunction with the IP-Option-Value AVPs to specify IP header options which do not match specific values. The Negated AVP is used without the IP-Option-Value AVP to specify IP headers which do not contain the option type.

4.1.8.4.  IP-Option-Type AVP

The IP-Option-Type AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and the values are managed by IANA under the IP Option Numbers registry as defined in [RFC2780] (Bradner, S. and V. Paxson, “IANA Allocation Guidelines For Values In the Internet Protocol and Related Headers,” March 2000.).

4.1.8.5.  IP-Option-Value AVP

The IP-Option-Value AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type OctetString and contains the option value that must be matched.

4.1.8.6.  TCP-Option AVP

The TCP-Option AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies a TCP header option that must be matched.

TCP-Option ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
               { TCP-Option-Type }
             * [ TCP-Option-Value ]
               [ Negated ]
             * [ AVP ]

If one or more TCP-Option-Value AVPs are present, one of the values MUST match the value in the TCP header option. If the TCP-Option-Value AVP is absent, the option type MUST be present in the TCP header but the value is wild carded.

The Negated AVP is used in conjunction which the TCP-Option-Value AVPs to specify TCP header options which do not match specific values. The Negated AVP is used without the TCP-Option-Value AVP to specify TCP headers which do not contain the option type.

4.1.8.7.  TCP-Option-Type AVP

The TCP-Option-Type AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and the values are managed by IANA under the TCP Option Numbers registry as defined in [RFC2780] (Bradner, S. and V. Paxson, “IANA Allocation Guidelines For Values In the Internet Protocol and Related Headers,” March 2000.).

4.1.8.8.  TCP-Option-Value AVP

The TCP-Option-Value AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type OctetString and contains the option value that must be matched.

4.1.8.9.  TCP-Flags AVP

The TCP-Flags AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies a set of TCP control flags that must be matched.

TCP-Flags ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
           1* { TCP-Flag-Type }
              [ Negated ]
            * [ AVP ]

If the Negated AVP is not present or present but set to False, the TCP-Flag-Type AVPs specifies which flags MUST be set. If the Negated AVP is set to True, the TCP-Flag-Type AVPs specifies which flags MUST be cleared.

4.1.8.10.  TCP-Flag-Type AVP

The TCP-Flag-Type AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and specifies a TCP control flag type that must be matched.

  Value | Name and Semantic
  ------+-------------------------------------------
    0   | CWR - Congestion Window Reduced.
    1   | ECE - ECN-Echo. TCP peer is ECN capable.
    2   | URG - URGent pointer field is significant.
    3   | ACK - ACKnowledgment field is significant.
    4   | PSH - Push function.
    5   | RST - Reset the connection.
    6   | SYN - Synchronize sequence numbers.
    7   | FIN - No more data from sender.

4.1.8.11.  ICMP-Type

The ICMP-Type AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies a ICMP message type that must be matched.

ICMP-Type ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
              { ICMP-Type-Number }
            * [ ICMP-Code ]
              [ Negated ]
            * [ AVP ]

If the ICMP-Code AVP is present, the value MUST match that in the ICMP header. If the ICMP-Code AVP is absent, the ICMP type MUST be present in the ICMP header but the code is wild carded.

The Negated AVP is used in conjunction with the ICMP-Code AVPs to specify ICMP codes that do not match specific values. The Negated AVP is used without the ICMP-Code AVP to specify ICMP headers which do not contain the ICMP type. As such, the Negated AVP feature applies to ICMP-Code AVP if the ICMP-Code AVP is present. If the ICMP-Code AVP is absent, the Negated AVP feature applies to the ICMP-Type-Number.

4.1.8.12.  ICMP-Type-Number AVP

The ICMP-Type-Number AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and the values are managed by IANA under the ICMP Type Numbers registry as defined in [RFC2780] (Bradner, S. and V. Paxson, “IANA Allocation Guidelines For Values In the Internet Protocol and Related Headers,” March 2000.).

4.1.8.13.  ICMP-Code AVP

The ICMP-Code AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and the values are managed by IANA under the ICMP Type Numbers registry as defined in [RFC2780] (Bradner, S. and V. Paxson, “IANA Allocation Guidelines For Values In the Internet Protocol and Related Headers,” March 2000.).

4.1.8.14.  ETH-Option AVP

The ETH-Option AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies Ethernet specific attributes.

ETH-Option ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
               { ETH-Proto-Type }
             * [ VLAN-ID-Range ]
             * [ ETH-Priority-Range ]
             * [ AVP ]

4.1.8.15.  ETH-Proto-Type AVP

The Eth-Proto-Type AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies the encapsulated protocol type. ETH-Ether-Type and ETH-SAP are mutually exclusive.

ETH-Proto-Type ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                 * [ ETH-Ether-Type ]
                 * [ ETH-SAP ]
                 * [ AVP ]

4.1.8.16.  ETH-Ether-Type AVP

The ETH-Ether-Type AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type OctetString. The value is a double octet the contains the value of the Ethertype field in the packet to match. This AVP MAY be present in the case of DIX or if SNAP is present at 802.2 but the ETH-SAP AVP MUST NOT be present in this case.

4.1.8.17.  ETH-SAP AVP

The ETH-SAP AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type OctetString. The value is a double octet representing the 802.2 SAP as specified in [IEEE802.2] (IEEE, “IEEE Standard for Information technology, Telecommunications and information exchange between systems, Local and metropolitan area networks, Specific requirements, Part 2: Logical Link Control,” 1998.). The first octet contains the DSAP and the second the SSAP.

4.1.8.18.  VLAN-ID-Range AVP

The VLAN-ID-Range AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies the VLAN range to match. VLAN identities are either specified by a single VLAN-ID according to [IEEE802.1Q] (IEEE, “IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks, Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks,” 2005.) or by a combination of Customer and Service VLAN-IDs according to [IEEE802.1ad] (IEEE, “IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks, Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks, Amendment 4: Provider Bridges,” 2005.).

The single VLAN-ID is represented by the C-VID-Start and C-VID-End AVPs and the S-VID-Start and S-VID-End AVPs SHALL be ommitted in this case. If the VLAN-ID-Range AVP is omitted from the Classifier, then comparison of the VLAN identity of the packet is irrelevant.

VLAN-ID-Range ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                  [ S-VID-Start ]
                  [ S-VID-End ]
                  [ C-VID-Start ]
                  [ C-VID-End ]
                * [ AVP ]

The following is the list of possible combinations of the S-VID-Start and S-VID-End AVPs and their inference:

• If S-VID-Start AVP is present but the S-VID-End AVP is absent, the S-VID-Start AVP value MUST equal the value of the IEEE 802.1ad S-VID bits specified in [IEEE802.1ad] (IEEE, “IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks, Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks, Amendment 4: Provider Bridges,” 2005.) for a successful match.
• If S-VID-Start AVP is absent but the S-VID-End AVP is present, the S-VID-End AVP value MUST equal the value of the IEEE 802.1ad S-VID bits for a successful match.
• If both S-VID-Start and S-VID-End AVPs are present and their values are equal, the S-VID-Start AVP value MUST equal the value of the IEEE 802.1ad S-VID bits for a successful match.
• If both S-VID-Start and S-VID-End AVPs are present and the value of S-VID-End AVP is greater than the value of the S-VID-Start AVP, the value of the IEEE 802.1ad S-VID bits MUST be greater than or equal to the S-VID- Start AVP value and less than or equal to the S-VID-End AVP value for a successful match. If the S-VID-Start and S-VID-End AVPs are specified, then Ethernet packets without IEEE 802.1ad encapsulation MUST NOT match this Classifier.
• If the S-VID-Start and S-VID-End AVPs are omitted, then existence of IEEE802.1ad encapsulation or comparison of the IEEE 802.1ad S-VID bits is irrelevant for this Classifier.

The following is the list of possible combinations of the C-VID-Start and C-VID-End AVPs and their inference:

• If C-VID-Start AVP is present but the C-VID-End AVP is absent, the C-VID-Start AVP value MUST equal the value of the IEEE 802.1ad C-VID bits specified in [IEEE802.1ad] (IEEE, “IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks, Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks, Amendment 4: Provider Bridges,” 2005.) or the IEEE 802.1Q VLAN-ID bits specified in [IEEE802.1Q] (IEEE, “IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks, Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks,” 2005.) for a successful match.
• If C-VID-Start AVP is absent but the C-VID-End AVP is present, the C-VID-End AVP value MUST equal the value of the IEEE 802.1ad C-VID bits or the IEEE 802.1Q VLAN-ID bits for a successful match.
• If both C-VID-Start and C-VID-End AVPs are present and their values are equal, the C-VID-Start AVP value MUST equal the value of the IEEE 802.1ad C-VID bits or the IEEE 802.1Q VLAN-ID bits for a successful match.
• If both C-VID-Start and C-VID-End AVPs are present and the value of C-VID-End AVP is greater than the value of the C-VID-Start AVP, the value of the IEEE 802.1ad C-VID bits or the IEEE 802.1Q VLAN-ID bits MUST be greater than or equal to the C-VID-Start AVP value and less than or equal to the C-VID-End AVP value for a successful match. If the C-VID-Start and C-VID-End AVPs are specified, then Ethernet packets without IEEE 802.1ad or IEEE 802.1Q encapsulation MUST NOT match this Classifier.
• If the C-VID-Start and C-VID-End AVPs are omitted, the comparison of the IEEE 802.1ad C-VID bits or IEEE 802.1Q VLAN-ID bits for this Classifier is irrelevant.

4.1.8.19.  S-VID-Start AVP

The S-VID-Start AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value MUST be in the range from 0 to 4095. The value of this AVP specifies the start value of the range of S-VID VLAN-IDs to be matched.

4.1.8.20.  S-VID-End AVP

The S-VID-End AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value MUST be in the range from 0 to 4095. The value of this AVP specifies the end value of the range of S-VID VLAN-IDs to be matched.

4.1.8.21.  C-VID-Start AVP

The C-VID-Start AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value MUST be in the range from 0 to 4095. The value of this AVP specifies the start value of the range of C-VID VLAN-IDs to be matched.

4.1.8.22.  C-VID-End AVP

The C-VID-End AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value MUST be in the range from 0 to 4095. The value of this AVP specifies the end value of the range of C-VID VLAN-IDs to be matched.

4.1.8.23.  ETH-Priority-Range AVP

The ETH-Priority-Range AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies an inclusive range to match the user_priority parameter specified in [IEEE802.1D] (IEEE, “IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks, Media Access Control (MAC) Bridges,” 2004.). An Ethernet packet containing the user_priority parameter matches this Classifier if the value is greater than or equal to ETH-Low-Priority and less than or equal to ETH-High-Priority. If this AVP is omitted, then comparison of the IEEE 802.1D user_priority parameter for this Classifier is irrelevant.

ETH-Priority-Range ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                     * [ ETH-Low-Priority ]
                     * [ ETH-High-Priority ]
                     * [ AVP ]

4.1.8.24.  ETH-Low-Priority AVP

The ETH-Low-Priority AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value MUST be in the range from 0 to 7.

4.1.8.25.  ETH-High-Priority AVP

The ETH-High-Priority AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value MUST be in the range from 0 to 7.

4.2.  Time Of Day AVPs

In many QoS applications, the QoS specification applied to the traffic flow is conditional upon the time of day when the flow was observed. The following sections define AVPs that can be used to express one or more time windows which determine when a QoS specification is applicable to a traffic flow.

4.2.1.  Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP

The Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and specifies one or more time windows.

Time-Of-Day-Condition ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                          [ Time-Of-Day-Start ]
                          [ Time-Of-Day-End ]
                          [ Day-Of-Week-Mask ]
                          [ Day-Of-Month-Mask ]
                          [ Month-Of-Year-Mask ]
                          [ Absolute-Start-Time ]
                          [ Absolute-End-Time ]
                          [ Timezone-Flag ]
                        * [ AVP ]

For example, a time window for 9am to 5pm (local time) from Monday to Friday would be expressed as:

Time-Of-Day-Condition = {
    Time-Of-Day-Start = 32400;
    Time-Of-Day-End = 61200;
    Day-Of-Week-Mask =
        ( MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY );
    Timezone-Flag = LOCAL;
}

4.2.2.  Time-Of-Day-Start AVP

The Time-Of-Day-Start AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value MUST be in the range from 0 to 86400. The value of this AVP specifies the start of an inclusive time window expressed as the offset in seconds from midnight. If this AVP is absent from the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP, the time window starts at midnight.

4.2.3.  Time-Of-Day-End AVP

The Time-Of-Day-End AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value MUST be in the range from 1 to 86400. The value of this AVP specifies the end of an inclusive time window expressed as the offset in seconds from midnight. If this AVP is absent from the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP, the time window ends one second before midnight.

4.2.4.  Day-Of-Week-Mask AVP

The Day-Of-Week-Mask AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value is a bitmask which specifies the day of the week for the time window to match. This document specifies the following bits:

   Bit  | Name
  ------+------------
    0   | SUNDAY
    1   | MONDAY
    2   | TUESDAY
    3   | WEDNESDAY
    4   | THURSDAY
    5   | FRIDAY
    6   | SATURDAY

The bit MUST be set for the time window to match on the corresponding day of the week. Bit 0 is the most significant bit and unused bits MUST be cleared. If this AVP is absent from the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP, the time windows match on all days of the week.

4.2.5.  Day-Of-Month-Mask AVP

The Day-Of-Week-Month AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value MUST be in the range from 0 to 2147483647. The value is a bitmask which specifies the days of the month where bit 0 represents the first day of the month through to bit 30 which represents the last day of the month. The bit MUST be set for the time window to match on the corresponding day of the month. Bit 0 is the most significant bit and unused bits MUST be cleared. If this AVP is absent from the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP, the time windows match on all days of the month.

4.2.6.  Month-Of-Year-Mask AVP

The Month-Of-Year-Month AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32. The value is a bitmask which specifies the months of the year for the time window to match. This document specifies the following bits:

   Bit  | Name
  ------+-----------
    0   | JANUARY
    1   | FEBRUARY
    2   | MARCH
    3   | APRIL
    4   | MAY
    5   | JUNE
    6   | JULY
    7   | AUGUST
    8   | SEPTEMBER
    9   | OCTOBER
    10  | NOVEMBER
    11  | DECEMBER

The bit MUST be set for the time window to match on the corresponding month of the year. Bit 0 is the most significant bit and unused bits MUST be cleared. If this AVP is absent from the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP, the time windows match during all months of the year.

4.2.7.  Absolute-Start-Time AVP

The Absolute-Start-Time AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Time. The value of this AVP specifies the time in seconds since January 1, 1900, 00:00 UTC when the time window starts. If this AVP is absent from the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP, the time window starts on January 1, 1900, 00:00 UTC.

4.2.8.  Absolute-End-Time AVP

The Time-Of-Day-End AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Time. The value of this AVP specifies the time in seconds since January 1, 1900, 00:00 UTC when the time window ends. If this AVP is absent from the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP, the time window is open-ended.

4.2.9.  Timezone-Flag AVP

The Timezone-Flag AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and indicates whether the time windows are specified in UTC, local time at the managed terminal or as an offset from UTC. If this AVP is absent from the Time-Of-Day-Condition AVP, the time windows are in UTC.

This document defines the following values:

  Value | Name and Semantic
  ------+--------------------------------------------------
    0   | UTC - The time windows are expressed in UTC.
    1   | LOCAL - The time windows are expressed in local
        | time at the Managed Terminal.
    2   | OFFSET - The time windows are expressed as an
        | offset from UTC (see Timezone-Offset AVP).

4.2.10.  Timezone-Offset AVP

The Timezone-Offset AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Integer32. The value of this AVP MUST be in the range from -43200 to 43200. It specifies the offset in seconds from UTC that was used to express Time-Of-Day-Start, Time-Of-Day-End, Day-Of-Week-Mask, Day-Of-Month-Mask and Month-Of-Year-Mask AVPs. This AVP MUST be present if the Timezone-Flag AVP is set to OFFSET.

5.  Actions

This section illustrates the actions associated with a rule. This document only defines QoS specific actions but further actions can be specified as extensions.

5.1.  Action AVP

The Action AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and lists the actions that are associated with the condition part of a rule. The following actions are defined in this document:

   0: drop
   1: shape
   2: police
   2: mark

drop:

All traffic that is met by the condition part of a rule MUST be dropped. This action implements firewalling functionality.

shape:

[RFC2475] (Blake, S., Black, D., Carlson, M., Davies, E., Wang, Z., and W. Weiss, “An Architecture for Differentiated Services,” December 1998.) describes shaping as "the process of delaying packets within a traffic stream to cause it to conform to some defined traffic profile". When the action is set to 'shape', it is expected that the QoS-Parameters AVP carries QoS information to indicate how to shape the traffic indicated in the condition part of the rule.

police:

[RFC2475] (Blake, S., Black, D., Carlson, M., Davies, E., Wang, Z., and W. Weiss, “An Architecture for Differentiated Services,” December 1998.) describes policing as "the process of discarding packets (by a dropper) within a traffic stream in accordance with the state of a corresponding meter enforcing a traffic profile". When the action is set to 'police', it is expected that the QoS-Parameters AVP carries QoS information to describe traffic conforming to a traffic profile. Excess traffic is dropped. Hence, there is no need to include the Excess-Treatement AVP with the Excess-Treatment-Action AVP set to 'drop' as this functionality is implied.

mark:

[RFC2475] (Blake, S., Black, D., Carlson, M., Davies, E., Wang, Z., and W. Weiss, “An Architecture for Differentiated Services,” December 1998.) describes marking as "the process of setting the DS codepoint in a packet based on defined rules". When the action is set to 'mark', it is expected that the QoS-Parameters AVP carries information about the DiffServ marking.

Further action values can be registered, as described in Section 10.4 (Action).

5.2.  QoS-Profile-Id AVP

The QoS-Profile-Id AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Unsigned32 and contains a QoS profile template identifier. An initial QoS profile template is defined with value of 0 and can be found in [I‑D.ietf‑dime‑qos‑parameters] (Korhonen, J., Tschofenig, H., and E. Davies, “Quality of Service Parameters for Usage with Diameter,” May 2009.). The registry for the QoS profile templates is created with the same document.

5.3.  QoS-Profile-Template AVP

The QoS-Profile-Template AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and defines the namespace of the QoS profile (indicated in the Vendor-ID AVP) followed by the specific value for the profile.

The Vendor-Id AVP contains a 32 bit IANA SMI Network Management Private Enterprise Code and the QoS-Profile-Id AVP contains the template identifier assigned by the vendor. The vendor identifier of zero (0) is used for the IETF.

QoS-Profile-Template ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                         { Vendor-Id }
                         { QoS-Profile-Id }
                         * [ AVP ]

5.4.  QoS-Semantics

The QoS-Semantics AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and provides the semantics for the QoS-Profile-Template and QoS-Parameters AVPs in the Rule AVP.

This document defines the following values:

 (0): QoS-Desired
 (1): QoS-Available
 (2): QoS-Reserved
 (3): Minimum-QoS
 (4): QoS-Authorized

The semantic of the QoS parameters depend on the information provided in the list above. The semantics of the different values are as follows:

Object Type    Direction   Semantic
---------------------------------------------------------------------
QoS-Desired     C->S       Please authorize the indicated QoS
QoS-Desired     C<-S       NA
QoS-Available   C->S       Admission Control at interface indicates
                           that this QoS is available. (note 1)
QoS-Available   C<-S       Indicated QoS is available. (note 2)
QoS-Reserved    C->S       Used for reporting during accounting.
QoS-Reserved    C<-S       NA
Minimum-QoS     C->S       Indicates that the client is not
                           interested in authorizing QoS that is
                           lower than Min. QoS.
Minimum-QoS     C<-S       The client must not provide QoS
                           guarantees lower than Min. QoS.
QoS-Authorized  C->S       NA
QoS-Authorized  C<-S       Indicated QoS authorized

Legend:

  C: Diameter client
  S: Diameter server
  NA: Not applicable to this document;
      no semantic defined in this specification

Notes:

 (1) QoS-Available is only useful in relationship with QoS-Desired
     (and optionally with Minimum-QoS).
 (2) QoS-Available is only useful when the AAA server performs
     admission control and knows about the resources in the network.

5.5.  QoS-Parameters AVP

The QoS-Parameters AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type grouped and contains Quality of Service parameters. These parameters are defined in separate documents and depend on the indicated QoS profile template of the QoS-Profile-Template AVP. For an initial QoS parameter specification see [I‑D.ietf‑dime‑qos‑parameters] (Korhonen, J., Tschofenig, H., and E. Davies, “Quality of Service Parameters for Usage with Diameter,” May 2009.).

QoS-Parameters  ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                     * [ AVP ]

5.6.  Excess-Treatment AVP

The Excess-Treatment AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type grouped and indicates how out-of-profile traffic, i.e. traffic not covered by the original QoS-Profile-Template and QoS-Parameters AVPs, is treated. The additional QoS-Profile-Template and QoS-Parameters AVPs carried inside the Excess-Treatment AVP provide information about the QoS treatment of the excess traffic. In case the Excess-Treatment AVP is absent then the treatment of the out-of-profile traffic is left to the discretion of the node performing QoS treatment.

Excess-Treatment ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                     { Excess-Treatment-Action }
                     [ QoS-Profile-Template ]
                     [ QoS-Parameters ]
                     * [ AVP ]

5.7.  Excess-Treatment-Action

The Excess-Treatment-Action AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Enumerated and lists the actions about how the out-of-traffic regarding a specific QoS profile is treated.

   0: drop
   1: shape
   2: mark

drop:

When excess treatment action is set to 'drop', excess traffic is dropped.

shape:

When excess treatment action is set to 'shape', it is expected that the QoS-Parameters AVP carries information on how to shape the excess traffic. For example, the TMOD AVP, defined in [I‑D.ietf‑dime‑qos‑parameters] (Korhonen, J., Tschofenig, H., and E. Davies, “Quality of Service Parameters for Usage with Diameter,” May 2009.), carried inside the QoS-Parameters AVP of the Excess-Treatment AVP indicates how to shape the excess traffic. Note that shaping might cause unbounded queue growth at the shaper and consequently traffic may still get dropped.

mark:

When excess treatment action is set to 'mark', it is expected that the QoS-Parameters AVP carries information about the QoS class. For example, excess traffic may need to get marked differently to the traffic conformant to the traffic profile.

When the Excess-Treatment AVP is omitted then excess treatment is essentially unspecified and there are no guaranted behavior with regard to excess traffic, i.e., a QoS aware node can do what it finds suitable.

Further values can be registered, as described in Section 10.3 (Excess Treatment Action).

6.  QoS Capability Indication

The QoS-Capability AVP (AVP Code TBD) is of type Grouped and contains a list of supported Quality of Service profile templates (and therefore the support of the respective parameter AVPs).

The QoS-Capability AVP may be used for a simple announcement of the QoS capabilities and QoS profiles supported by a peer. It may also be used to negotiate a mutually supported set of QoS capabilities and QoS profiles between two peers. In such a case, handling of failed negotiations is application and/or deployment specific.

QoS-Capability ::= < AVP Header: XXX >
                 1*{ QoS-Profile-Template }
                 * [ AVP ]

The QoS-Profile-Template AVP is defined in Section 5.3 (QoS-Profile-Template AVP).

7.  Examples

This section shows a number of signaling flows where QoS negotiation and authorization is part of the conventional NASREQ, EAP or Credit Control applications message exchanges. The signalling flows for the Diameter QoS Application are described in [I‑D.ietf‑dime‑diameter‑qos] (Sun, D., McCann, P., Tschofenig, H., ZOU), T., Doria, A., and G. Zorn, “Diameter Quality of Service Application,” March 2010.).

7.1.  Diameter EAP with QoS Information

Figure 2 (Example of a Diameter EAP enhanced with QoS Information) shows a simple signaling flow where a NAS (Diameter Client) announces its QoS awareness and capabilities included into the DER message and as part of the access authentication procedure. Upon completion of the EAP exchange, the Diameter Server provides a pre-provisioned QoS profile with the QoS-Semantics in the Rule AVP set to "QoS-Authorized", to the NAS in the final DEA message.

 End                           Diameter                      Diameter
 Host                           Client                         Server
  |                               |                                |
  |        (initiate EAP)         |                                |
  |<----------------------------->|                                |
  |                               | Diameter-EAP-Request           |
  |                               | EAP-Payload(EAP Start)         |
  |                               | QoS-Capability                 |
  |                               |------------------------------->|
  |                               |                                |
  |                               |            Diameter-EAP-Answer |
  |                          Result-Code=DIAMETER_MULTI_ROUND_AUTH |
  |                               |    EAP-Payload(EAP Request #1) |
  |                               |<-------------------------------|
  |         EAP Request(Identity) |                                |
  |<------------------------------|                                |
  :                               :                                :
  :                     <<<more message exchanges>>>               :
  :                               :                                :
  |                               |                                |
  | EAP Response #N               |                                |
  |------------------------------>|                                |
  |                               | Diameter-EAP-Request           |
  |                               | EAP-Payload(EAP Response #N)   |
  |                               |------------------------------->|
  |                               |                                |
  |                               |            Diameter-EAP-Answer |
  |                               |   Result-Code=DIAMETER_SUCCESS |
  |                               |       EAP-Payload(EAP Success) |
  |                               |           (authorization AVPs) |
  |                               |  QoS-Resources(QoS-Authorized) |
  |                               |<-------------------------------|
  |                               |                                |
  |                   EAP Success |                                |
  |<------------------------------|                                |
  |                               |                                |

7.2.  Diameter NASREQ with QoS Information

Figure 3 (Example of a Diameter NASREQ enhanced with QoS Information) shows a similar pre-provisioned QoS signaling as in Figure 2 (Example of a Diameter EAP enhanced with QoS Information) but using the NASREQ application instead of EAP application.

   End                                             Diameter
   Host               NAS                            Server
    |                  |                              |
    |  Start Network   |                              |
    |  Attachment      |                              |
    |<---------------->|                              |
    |                  |                              |
    |                  |AA-Request                    |
    |                  |NASREQ-Payload                |
    |                  |QoS-Capability                |
    |                  +----------------------------->|
    |                  |                              |
    |                  |                     AA-Answer|
    |            Result-Code=DIAMETER_MULTI_ROUND_AUTH|
    |                NASREQ-Payload(NASREQ Request #1)|
    |                  |<-----------------------------+
    |                  |                              |
    | Request          |                              |
    |<-----------------+                              |
    |                  |                              |
    :                  :                              :
    :          <<<more message exchanges>>>           :
    :                  :                              :
    | Response #N      |                              |
    +----------------->|                              |
    |                  |                              |
    |                  |AA-Request                    |
    |                  |NASREQ-Payload ( Response #N )|
    |                  +----------------------------->|
    |                  |                              |
    |                  |                     AA-Answer|
    |                  |  Result-Code=DIAMETER_SUCCESS|
    |                  |          (authorization AVPs)|
    |                  | QoS-Resources(QoS-Authorized)|
    |                  |<-----------------------------+
    |                  |                              |
    | Success          |                              |
    |<-----------------+                              |
    |                  |                              |

7.3.  QoS Authorization

Figure 4 (Example of an Authorization-Only Message Flow) shows an example of authorization only QoS signaling as part of the NASREQ message exchange. The NAS provides the Diameter server with the "QoS-Desired" QoS-Semantics AVP included in the QoS-Resources AVP. The Diameter server then either authorizes the indicated QoS or rejects the request and informs the NAS about the result. In this scenario the NAS does not need to include the QoS-Capability AVP in the AAR message as the QoS-Resources AVP implicitly does the same and also the NAS is authorizing a specific QoS profile, not a pre-provisioned one.

    End                                            Diameter
    Host               NAS                          Server
     |                  |                              |
     |                  |                              |
     |  QoS Request     |                              |
     +----------------->|                              |
     |                  |                              |
     |                  |AA-Request                    |
     |                  |Auth-Request-Type=AUTHORIZE_ONLY
     |                  |NASREQ-Payload                |
     |                  |QoS-Resources(QoS-Desired)    |
     |                  +----------------------------->|
     |                  |                              |
     |                  |                     AA-Answer|
     |                  |       NASREQ-Payload(Success)|
     |                  | QoS-Resources(QoS-Authorized)|
     |                  |<-----------------------------+
     |  Accept          |                              |
     |<-----------------+                              |
     |                  |                              |
     |                  |                              |
     |                  |                              |

7.4.  Diameter Server Initiated Re-authorization of QoS

Figure 5 (Example of a Server-initiated Re-Authorization Procedure) shows a message exchange for a Diameter server initiated QoS re-authorization procedure. The Diameter server sends the NAS a RAR message requesting re-authorization for an existing session and the NAS acknowledges it with a RAA message. The NAS is aware of its existing QoS profile and information for the ongoing session that the Diameter server requested for re-authorization. Thus, the NAS must initiate re-authorization of the existing QoS profile. The re-authorization procedure is the same as in Figure 4 (Example of an Authorization-Only Message Flow).

   End                                             Diameter
   Host               NAS                            Server
    |                  |                              |
    |                  |                              |
    :                  :                              :
    :          <<<Initial Message Exchanges>>>         :
    :                  :                              :
    |                  |                              |
    |                  |                   RA-Request |
    |                  |<-----------------------------+
    |                  |                              |
    |                  |RA-Answer                     |
    |                  |Result-Code=DIAMETER_SUCCESS  |
    |                  +----------------------------->|
    |                  |                              |
    |                  |                              |
    |                  |AA-Request                    |
    |                  |NASREQ-Payload                |
    |                  |Auth-Request-Type=AUTHORIZE_ONLY
    |                  |QoS-Resources(QoS-Desired)    |
    |                  +----------------------------->|
    |                  |                              |
    |                  |                     AA-Answer|
    |                  |  Result-Code=DIAMETER_SUCCESS|
    |                  |          (authorization AVPs)|
    |                  | QoS-Resources(QoS-Authorized)|
    |                  |<-----------------------------+
    |                  |                              |

7.5.  Diameter Credit Control with QoS Information

In this case the User is charged as soon as the Service Element (CC client) receives the service request. In this case the client uses the "QoS-Desired" QoS-Semantics parameter in the QoS-Resources AVP that it sends to the Accounitng server. The server responds with a "QoS-Available" QoS-Semantics parameter in the QoS-Resources AVP

                     Service Element
  End User            (CC Client)           B           CC Server
     |                     |                |                |
     |(1) Service Request  |                |                |
     |-------------------->|                |                |
     |                     |(2)  CCR (event, DIRECT_DEBITING,|
     |                     |     QoS-Resources(QoS-desired)) |
     |                     |-------------------------------->|
     |                     |(3)  CCA (Granted-Units, QoS-    |
     |                     |     Resources(QoS-Authorized))  |
     |                     |<--------------------------------|
     |(4) Service Delivery |                |                |
     |<--------------------|                |                |
     |(5) Begin service    |                |                |
     |<------------------------------------>|                |
     |                     |                |                |
     .                     .                .                .
     .                     .                .                .

7.6.  Classifier Examples

Example: Classify all packets from hosts on subnet 192.0.2.0/24 to ports 80, 8090 or 443 on web servers 192.0.2.123, 192.0.2.124, 192.0.2.125.

Classifier = {
    Classifier-Id = "web_svr_example";
    Protocol = TCP;
    Direction = OUT;
    From-Spec = {
        IP-Address-Mask = {
            IP-Address = 192.0.2.0;
            IP-Bit-Mask-Width = 24;
        }
    }
    To-Spec = {
        IP-Address = 192.0.2.123;
        IP-Address = 192.0.2.124;
        IP-Address = 192.0.2.125;
        Port = 80;
        Port = 8080;
        Port = 443;
    }
}

Example: Any SIP signalling traffic from a device with a MAC address of 01:23:45:67:89:ab to servers with IP addresses in the range 192.0.2.90 to 192.0.2.190.

Classifier = {
    Classifier-Id = "web_svr_example";
    Protocol = UDP;
    Direction = OUT;
    From-Spec = {
        MAC-Address = 01:23:45:67:89:ab;
    }
    To-Spec = {
        IP-Address-Range = {
            IP-Address-Start = 192.0.2.90;
            IP-Address-End = 192.0.2.190;
        }
        Port = 5060;
        Port = 3478;
        Port-Range = {
            Port-Start = 16348;
            Port-End = 32768;
        }
    }
}

7.7.  QoS Examples

The following high level description aims to illustrate the interworking between the Diameter QoS AVPs defined in this document and the QoS parameters defined in [I‑D.ietf‑dime‑qos‑parameters] (Korhonen, J., Tschofenig, H., and E. Davies, “Quality of Service Parameters for Usage with Diameter,” May 2009.).

Consider the following example where a rule should be installed that limits traffic to 1 Mbit/sec and where out-of-profile traffic shall be dropped.The Classifers are ignored in this example.

This would require the Action AVP to be set to 'police' (which also implies the Excess-Treatment-Action AVP to be set to 'drop' and explicitly including the Excess-Treatment-Action AVP is not necessary). The QoS-Parameters AVP carries the Bandwidth AVP indicating the 1 Mbit/sec limit.

In a second, more complex scenario, we consider traffic marking with DiffServ. In-profile traffic (of 5 Mbits/sec in our example) shall be associated with a particular PHB-Class "X". Out-of-profile traffic shall belong to a different PHB-Class, in our example "Y".

This configuration would require the Action AVP to be set to 'mark'. The QoS-Parameters AVPs for the traffic conforming of the profile contains two AVPs, namely the TMOD-1 AVP and the PHB-Class AVP. The TMOD-1 AVP describes the traffic characteristics, namely 5 Mbit/sec, and the PHB-Class AVP is set to class "X". Then, the Excess-Treatment AVP has to be included with the Excess-Treatment-Action AVP set to 'mark' and the QoS-Parameters AVP to carry another PHB-Class AVP indicating PHB-Class AVP setting to class "Y".

8.  Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Victor Fajardo, Tseno Tsenov, Robert Hancock, Jukka Manner, Cornelia Kappler, Xiaoming Fu, Frank Alfano, Tolga Asveren, Mike Montemurro, Glen Zorn, Avri Doria, Dong Sun, Tina Tsou, Pete McCann, Georgios Karagiannis, Elwyn Davies, Max Riegel and Yong Li for their comments. We thank Victor Fajardo for his job as PROTO document shepherd.

9.  Contributors

Max Riegel contributed the VLAN sections.

10.  IANA Considerations

10.1.  AVP Codes

IANA is requested to allocate AVP codes for the following AVPs that are defined in this document.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                       AVP  Section                 |
| Attribute Name                        Code Defined     Data Type   |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|QoS-Resources                          TBD    3.1       Grouped     |
|Rule                                   TBD    3.2       Grouped     |
|Classifier                             TBD    4.1.1     Grouped     |
|Classifier-ID                          TBD    4.1.2     OctetString |
|Protocol                               TBD    4.1.3     Enumerated  |
|Direction                              TBD    4.1.4     Enumerated  |
|From-Spec                              TBD    4.1.5     Grouped     |
|To-Spec                                TBD    4.1.6     Grouped     |
|Negated                                TBD    4.1.7.1   Enumerated  |
|IP-Address                             TBD    4.1.7.2   Address     |
|IP-Address-Range                       TBD    4.1.7.3   Grouped     |
|IP-Address-Start                       TBD    4.1.7.4   Address     |
|IP-Address-End                         TBD    4.1.7.5   Address     |
|IP-Address-Mask                        TBD    4.1.7.6   Grouped     |
|IP-Mask-Bit-Mask-Width                 TBD    4.1.7.7   Unsigned32  |
|MAC-Address                            TBD    4.1.7.8   OctetString |
|MAC-Address-Mask                       TBD    4.1.7.9   Grouped     |
|MAC-Address-Mask-Pattern               TBD    4.1.7.10  OctetString |
|EUI64-Address                          TBD    4.1.7.11  OctetString |
|EUI64-Address-Mask                     TBD    4.1.7.12  Grouped     |
|EUI64-Address-Mask-Pattern             TBD    4.1.7.13  OctetString |
|Port                                   TBD    4.1.7.14  Integer32   |
|Port-Range                             TBD    4.1.7.15  Grouped     |
|Port-Start                             TBD    4.1.7.16  Integer32   |
|Port-End                               TBD    4.1.7.17  Integer32   |
|Use-Assigned-Address                   TBD    4.1.7.18  Enumerated  |
|Diffserv-Code-Point                    TBD    4.1.8.1   Enumerated  |
|Fragmentation-Flag                     TBD    4.1.8.2   Enumerated  |
|IP-Option                              TBD    4.1.8.3   Grouped     |
|IP-Option-Type                         TBD    4.1.8.4   Enumerated  |
|IP-Option-Value                        TBD    4.1.8.5   OctetString |
|TCP-Option                             TBD    4.1.8.6   Grouped     |
|TCP-Option-Type                        TBD    4.1.8.7   Enumerated  |
|TCP-Option-Value                       TBD    4.1.8.8   OctetString |
|TCP-Flags                              TBD    4.1.8.9   Grouped     |
|TCP-Flag-Type                          TBD    4.1.8.10  Enumerated  |
|ICMP-Type                              TBD    4.1.8.11  Grouped     |
|ICMP-Type-Number                       TBD    4.1.8.12  Enumerated  |
|ICMP-Code                              TBD    4.1.8.13  Enumerated  |
|ETH-Option                             TBD    4.1.8.14  Grouped     |
|ETH-Proto-Type                         TBD    4.1.8.15  Grouped     |
|ETH-Ether-Type                         TBD    4.1.8.16  OctetString |
|ETH-SAP                                TBD    4.1.8.17  OctetString |
|VLAN-ID-Range                          TBD    4.1.8.18  Grouped     |
|S-VID-Start                            TBD    4.1.8.19  Unsigned32  |
|S-VID-End                              TBD    4.1.8.20  Unsigned32  |
|C-VID-Start                            TBD    4.1.8.21  Unsigned32  |
|C-VID-End                              TBD    4.1.8.22  Unsigned32  |
|ETH-Priority-Range                     TBD    4.1.8.23  Grouped     |
|ETH-Low-Priority                       TBD    4.1.8.24  Unsigned32  |
|ETH-High-Priority                      TBD    4.1.8.25  Unsigned32  |
|Time-Of-Day-Condition                  TBD    4.2.1     Grouped     |
|Time-Of-Day-Start                      TBD    4.2.2     Unsigned32  |
|Time-Of-Day-End                        TBD    4.2.3     Unsigned32  |
|Day-Of-Week-Mask                       TBD    4.2.4     Unsigned32  |
|Day-Of-Month-Mask                      TBD    4.2.5     Unsigned32  |
|Month-Of-Year-Mask                     TBD    4.2.6     Unsigned32  |
|Absolute-Start-Time                    TBD    4.2.7     Time        |
|Absolute-End-Time                      TBD    4.2.8     Time        |
|Timezone-Flag                          TBD    4.2.9     Enumerated  |
|Timezone-Offset                        TBD    4.2.10    Integer32   |
|Action                                 TBD    5.1       Grouped     |
|QoS-Profile-Id                         TBD    5.2.1     Unsigned32  |
|QoS-Profile-Template                   TBD    5.2.2     Grouped     |
|QoS-Semantics                          TBD    5.2.3     Enumerated  |
|QoS-Parameters                         TBD    5.2.4     Grouped     |
|Rule-Precedence                        TBD    5.2.5     Unsigned32  |
|Excess-Treatment                       TBD    5.2.6     Grouped     |
|Excess-Treatment-Action                TBD    5.2.7     Unsigned32  |
|QoS-Capability                         TBD    6         Grouped     |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

10.2.  QoS-Semantics IANA Registry

IANA is also requested to allocate a registry for the QoS-Semantics AVP. The following values are allocated by this specification.

            (0): QoS-Desired
            (1): QoS-Available
            (2): QoS-Reserved
            (3): Minimum-QoS
            (4): QoS-Authorized

A specification is required to add a new value to the registry.

10.3.  Excess Treatment Action

IANA is also requested to allocate a registry for the Excess-Treatment-Action AVP. The following values are allocated by this specification:

               (0): drop
               (1): shape
               (2): mark

A specification is required to add a new value to the registry.

10.4.  Action

IANA is also requested to allocate a registry for the Action AVP. The following values are allocated by this specification:

   0: drop
   1: shape
   2: police
   2: mark

A specification is required to add a new value to the registry.

11.  Security Considerations

This document describes the extension of Diameter for conveying Quality of Service information. The security considerations of the Diameter protocol itself have been discussed in RFC 3588 [RFC3588] (Calhoun, P., Loughney, J., Guttman, E., Zorn, G., and J. Arkko, “Diameter Base Protocol,” September 2003.). Use of the AVPs defined in this document MUST take into consideration the security issues and requirements of the Diameter Base protocol.

12.  References

12.1. Normative References

12.2. Informative References

Authors' Addresses