Extended TCP Options and IPv6 Extension Headers IPFIX Information Elements

1.1. Issues with ipv6ExtensionHeaders Information Element

The specification of ipv6ExtensionHeaders IPFIX IE does not:¶

• Cover the full extension headers' range (Section 4 of [RFC8200]).¶

• Specify the procedure to follow when all bits are exhausted.¶

• Specify a means to export the order and the number of occurences of a given extension header.¶

• Specify how to automatically update the IANA IPFIX registry ([IANA-IPFIX]) when a new value is assigned in [IANA-EH]. Only a frozen set of extension headers can be exported using the ipv6ExtensionHeaders IE.¶

• Specify whether the exported values match the full enclosed values or only up to a limit imposed by hardware or software (e.g., Section 1.1 of [RFC8883]).¶

• Specify how to report the length of IPv6 extension headers.¶

• Optimize the encoding.¶

• Explain the reasoning for reporting values which do not correspond to extension headers (e.g., "Unknown Layer 4 header" or "Payload compression header").¶

Section 3 addresses these issues.¶

1.2. Issues with tcpOptions Information Element

The specification of tcpOptions IPFIX IE does not:¶

• Describe how any observed TCP option in a Flow can be exported using IPFIX. Only TCP options having a kind =< 63 can be exported in a tcpOptions IPFIX IE.¶

• Allow reporting the observed Experimental Identifiers (ExIDs) that are carried in shared TCP options (kind=253 or 254) [RFC6994].¶

• Optimize the encoding.¶

Section 4 addresses these issues.¶

3.1. ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull Information Element

Name:

ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull¶

ElementID:

TBD1¶

Description:

IPv6 extension headers observed in packets of this Flow. The information is encoded in a set of bit fields. For each IPv6 extension header, there is a bit in this set. The bit is set to 1 if any observed packet of this Flow contains the corresponding IPv6 extension header. Otherwise, if no observed packet of this Flow contains the respective IPv6 extension header, the value of the corresponding bit is 0.¶

The IPv6 extension header associated with each bit is provided in [NEW_IPFIX_IPv6EH_SUBREGISTRY]. Bit 0 corresponds to the least-significant bit in the ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull IE while bit 255 corresponds to the most-significant bit of the IE. In doing so, few octets will be needed to encode common IPv6 extension headers when observed in a Flow.¶

The "No Next Header" (59) value is used if there is no upper-layer header in an IPv6 packet. Even if the value is not considered as an extension header as such, the corresponding bit is set in the ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull IE whenever that value is encountered in the Flow.¶

Several extension header chains may be observed in a Flow. These extension headers MAY be aggregated in one single ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull Information Element or be exported in separate ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull IEs, one for each extension header chain.¶

This Information Element SHOULD NOT be exported if ipv6ExtensionHeaderCount Information Element is also present.¶

Abstract Data Type:

unsigned¶

Data Type Semantics:

flags¶

Additional Information:

See the assigned bits to each IPv6 extension header type in [NEW_IPFIX_IPv6EH_SUBREGISTRY].¶

See [IANA-EH] for assigned extension header types.¶

See Section 4 of [RFC8200] for the general definition of IPv6 extension headers.¶

Reference:

This-Document¶

• Note to the RFC Editor: Please replace [NEW_IPFIX_IPv6EH_SUBREGISTRY] with the link to the "ipv6ExtensionHeaders Bits" registry created by [I-D.ietf-opsawg-ipfix-fixes].¶

3.2. ipv6ExtensionHeaderCount Information Element

Name:

ipv6ExtensionHeaderCount¶

ElementID:

TBD2¶

Description:

As per Section 4.1 of [RFC8200], IPv6 nodes must accept and attempt to process extension headers in occurring any number of times in the same packet. This Information Element echoes the order of extension headers and number of consecutive occurrences of the same extension header type in a Flow.¶

If several extension header chains are observed in a Flow, each header chain MUST be exported in a separate ipv6ExtensionHeaderCount IE.¶

The same extension header type may appear several times in an ipv6ExtensionHeaderCount Information Element. For example, if an IPv6 packet of a Flow includes a Hop-by-Hop Options header, a Destination Options header, a Fragment header, and Destination Options header, the ipv6ExtensionHeaderCount Information Element will report two counts of the Destination Options header: the occurrences that are observed before the Fragment header and the occurrences right after the Fragment header.¶

 MSB                                                                  LSB
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 ...
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |  EH Type#1    |   Count       |...|  EH Type#n      |   Count       |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Abstract Data Type:

unsigned64¶

Additional Information:

See the assigned IPv6 extension header types in [IANA-EH].¶

See [RFC8200] for the general definition of IPv6 extension headers.¶

Reference:

This-Document¶

3.3. ipv6ExtensionHeadersLimit Information Element

Name:

ipv6ExtensionHeadersLimit¶

ElementID:

TBD3¶

Description:

When set to "false", this Information Element indicates that the exported extension headers information (e.g., ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull or ipv6ExtensionHeaderCount) does not match the full enclosed extension headers, but only up to a limit that is typically set by hardware or software.¶

When set to "true", this Information Element indicates that the exported extension header information matches the full enclosed extension headers.¶

Abstract Data Type:

boolean¶

Data Type Semantics:

default¶

Additional Information:

See Section 4 of [RFC8200] for the general definition of IPv6 extension headers.¶

See [RFC8883] for an example of IPv6 packet processing due to limits on extension headers.¶

Reference:

This-Document¶

3.4. ipv6ExtensionHeadersChainLength Information Element

Name:

ipv6ExtensionHeadersChainLength¶

ElementID:

TBD4¶

Description:

In theory, there are no limits on the number of IPv6 extension headers that may be present in a packet other than the path MTU. However, it was regularly reported that IPv6 packets with extension headers are often dropped in the Internet.¶

As discussed in Section 1.2 of [RFC8883], some hardware devices implement a parsing buffer of a fixed size to process packets, including all the headers. When the aggregate length of headers of an IPv6 packet exceeds that size, the packet will be discarded or deferred to a slow path.¶

The ipv6ExtensionHeadersChainLength IE is used to report, in octets, the length of an extension header chain observed in a Flow. The length is the sum of the length of all extension headers of the chain. Exporting such information may help identifying root causes of performance degradation, including packet drops.¶

If several extension header chains are observed in a Flow, each header chain length MUST be exported in a separate ipv6ExtensionHeadersChainLength IE.¶

Abstract Data Type:

unsigned¶

Data Type Semantics:

identifier¶

Units:

octets¶

Additional Information:

See Section 4 of [RFC8200] for the general definition of IPv6 extension headers.¶

See [RFC9098] for an overview of operational implications of IPv6 packets with extension headerss.¶

Reference:

This-Document¶

4.1. tcpOptionsFull Information Element

This section specifies a new IE to cover the full TCP options range.¶

Name:

tcpOptionsFull¶

ElementID:

TBD5¶

Description:

TCP options in packets of this Flow. The information is encoded in a set of bit fields. For each TCP option, there is a bit in this set. The bit is set to 1 if any observed packet of this Flow contains the corresponding TCP option. Otherwise, if no observed packet of this Flow contains the respective TCP option, the value of the corresponding bit is 0.¶

Options are mapped to bits according to their option numbers. TCP option kind 0 corresponds to the least-significant bit in the tcpOptionsFull IE while kind 255 corresponds to the most-significant bit of the IE. This approach allows an observer to export any observed TCP option even if it does support that option and without requiring updating a mapping table.¶

Abstract Data Type:

unsigned¶

Data Type Semantics:

flags¶

Additional Information:

See the assigned TCP option kinds at [IANA-TCP].¶

See [RFC9293] for the general definition of TCP options.¶

Reference:

This-Document¶

4.2. tcpSharedOptionExID16 Information Element

Name:

tcpSharedOptionExID16¶

ElementID:

TBD6¶

Description:

Any observed 2-byte Experiments IDs (ExIDs) in a shared TCP option (Kind=253 or 254) in a Flow. The information is encoded in a set of 16-bit fields. Each 16-bit field carries an observed 2-byte ExID in a shared option.¶

Abstract Data Type:

octetArray¶

Data Type Semantics:

identifier¶

Additional Information:

See assigned ExIDs at [IANA-TCP-EXIDs].¶

See [RFC9293] for the general definition of TCP options.¶

See [RFC6994] for the shared use of experimental TCP Options.¶

Reference:

This-Document¶

4.3. tcpSharedOptionExID32 Information Element

Name:

tcpSharedOptionExID32¶

ElementID:

TBD7¶

Description:

Any observed 4-byte Experiments IDs (ExIDs) in a shared TCP option (Kind=253 or 254) in a Flow. The information is encoded in a set of 32-bit fields. Each 32-bit field carries an observed 4-byte ExID in a shared option.¶

Abstract Data Type:

octetArray¶

Data Type Semantics:

identifier¶

Additional Information:

See assigned ExIDs at [IANA-TCP-EXIDs].¶

See [RFC9293] for the general definition of TCP options.¶

See [RFC6994] for the shared use of experimental TCP Options.¶

Reference:

This-Document¶

5.1. IPv6 Extension Headers

The value of ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull and ipv6ExtensionHeaderCount IEs should be encoded in fewer octets as per the guidelines in Section 6.2 of [RFC7011].¶

If an implementation determines that it includes an extension header that it does not support, then the exact observed code of that extension header will be echoed in the ipv6ExtensionHeaderCount IE (Section 3.2). How an implementation disambiguates between unknown upper-layer protocols vs. extension headers is not IPFIX-specific. Readers may refer, for example, to Section 2.2 of [RFC8883] for a behavior of an intermediate nodes that encounters an unknown Next Header type. It is out of the scope of this document to discuss those considerations.¶

The ipv6ExtensionHeadersLimit IE (Section 3.3) may or may not be present when the ipv6ExtensionHeadersChainLength IE (Section 3.4) is also present as these IEs are targeting distinct properties of extension headers handling.¶

5.2. TCP Options

The value of tcpOptionsFull IE should be encoded in fewer octets as per the guidelines in Section 6.2 of [RFC7011].¶

If a TCP Flow contains packets with a mix of 2-byte and 4-byte Experiment IDs, the same Template Record is used with both tcpSharedOptionExID16 and tcpSharedOptionExID32 IEs.¶

6.1. IPv6 Extension Headers

Figure 1 provides an example of reported values in an ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull IE for an IPv6 Flow in which only the IPv6 Destination Options header is observed. One octet is sufficient to report these observed options. Concretely, the ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull IE will be set to 1.¶

MSB                                                        LSB
                     1                   2     ...25
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 ... 0 1 2 3 4 5
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+...+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|   |0|0|0|0|0|1|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-++-++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+...+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Figure 2 provides another example of reported values in an ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull IE for an IPv6 Flow in which the IPv6 Hop-by-Hop Options, Routing, and Destination Options headers are observed. One octet is sufficient to report these observed options. Concretely, the ipv6ExtensionHeadersFull IE will be set to 35.¶

MSB                                                        LSB
                     1                   2     ...25
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 ... 0 1 2 3 4 5
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+...+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|   |1|0|0|0|1|1|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+...+-+-+-+-+-+-+

6.2. TCP Options

Given TCP kind allocation practices and the option mapping defined in Section 4.1, fewer octers are likely to be used for Flows with common TCP options.¶

Figure 3 shows an example of reported values in a tcpOptionsFull IE for a TCP Flow in which End of Option List, Maximum Segment Size, and Window Scale options are observed. One octet is sufficient to report these observed options. Concretely, the tcpOptionsFull IE will be set to 13.¶

MSB                                                        LSB
                     1                   2     ...25
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 ... 0 1 2 3 4 5
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+...+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|   |0|0|1|1|0|1|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+...+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Let us consider a TCP Flow in which shared options with ExIDs 0x0348 (HOST_ID) [RFC7974], 0x454E (TCP-ENO) [RFC8547], and 0xE2D4C3D9 (Shared Memory communications over RMDA protocol) [RFC7609] are observed. As shown in Figure 4, two TCP shared IEs will be used to report these observed ExIDs:¶

1. The tcpSharedOptionExID16 IE set to 55067982 (i.e., 0x348454E) to report observed 2-byte ExIDs: HOST_ID and TCP-ENO ExIDs.¶

2. The tcpSharedOptionExID32 IE set to 3805594585 (i.e., 0xE2D4C3D9) to report the only observed 4-byte ExID.¶

tcpSharedOptionExID16 IE:

MSB                                                          LSB
                     1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|              0x0348           |             0x454E            |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

tcpSharedOptionExID32 IE:

MSB                                                          LSB
                     1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                           0xE2D4C3D9                          |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+