draft-ietf-dime-app-design-guide-02.txt   draft-ietf-dime-app-design-guide-01.txt 
Diameter Maintanence and V. Fajardo, Ed. Diameter Maintanence and V. Fajardo, Ed.
Extensions (DIME) Toshiba America Research Inc. Extensions (DIME) Toshiba America Research Inc.
Internet-Draft T. Asveren Internet-Draft T. Asveren
Intended status: Informational Sonus Network Intended status: Informational Sonus Network
Expires: January 7, 2008 H. Tschofenig Expires: December 8, 2007 H. Tschofenig
Nokia Siemens Networks Nokia Siemens Networks
G. McGregor G. McGregor
Alcatel-Lucent Alcatel-Lucent
J. Loughney J. Loughney
Nokia Research Center Nokia Research Center
July 6, 2007 June 6, 2007
Diameter Applications Design Guidelines Diameter Applications Design Guidelines
draft-ietf-dime-app-design-guide-02.txt draft-ietf-dime-app-design-guide-01.txt
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Abstract Abstract
The Diameter Base protocol provides updated rules on how to extend The Diameter Base protocol provides rules on how to extend Diameter
Diameter by modifying and/or deriving from existing applications or and to create new Diameter applications. This is a companion
creating entirely new applications. This is a companion document to document to clarify these rules. This document does not intended to
the Diameter Base protocol which further explains and/or clarify add, remove or change these rules, rather it helps protocol designers
these rules. It is meant as a guidelines document and therefore it to extend Diameter.
does not add, remove or change existing rules.
Table of Contents Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Brief Overview of the Diameter Application Model . . . . . . . 4 3. Diameter Application Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Rules on Extending Diameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4. Rules on Diameter Extensibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4.1. Reusing Existing Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4.1. Rules on Extending Existing Applications . . . . . . . . . 5
4.1.1. Adding a new command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5. Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.1.2. Deleting a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5.1. Diameter Accounting Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.2. Reusing Existing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5.2. Generic Diameter Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.2.1. Adding AVPs to a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5.3. Updating an existing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2.2. Deleting AVPs from a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5.4. Use of optional AVPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3. Reusing Existing AVPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 5.5. Deleting AVPs from a Command ABNF . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5. Rules for new Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 5.6. Justifying the Allocation of Application-Id . . . . . . . 11
5.1. Rules in Allocating new Command Codes . . . . . . . . . . 10 5.7. Use of Application-Id in a Message . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.2. Justifying the Allocation of Application-Id . . . . . . . 11 5.8. Application Specific Session Statemachine . . . . . . . . 11
5.3. Use of Application-Id in a Message . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5.9. System Architecture and Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.4. Application Specific Session Statemachine . . . . . . . . 11 6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.5. End-to-End Applications Capabilities Exchange . . . . . . 12 7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6. Other Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 8. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.1. Diameter Accounting Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.2. Generic Diameter Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 9.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.3. Updating an existing Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 9.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.4. System Architecture and Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 16
8. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
9. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 19
1. Introduction 1. Introduction
The Diameter Base protocol document defines rules on how one would The Diameter Base protocol document defines rules on how one would
extend Diameter (see Section 1.2 of [1]). In the context of this extend Diameter (see Section 1.2 of [1]). In the context of this
document, extending Diameter means one of the following: document, extending Diameter means that a new Diameter application is
being defined which may or may not be based on an existing Diameter
1. A new functionality is being added to an existing Diameter application. A decision to define a new application would mean
application without defining a new application. allocation of a new application ID.
2. A new Diameter application is being defined by reusing an
existing application.
3. A completely new application is being defined that has no
dependencies to any existing applications.
4. A new generic functionality is being defined that can be reused By themselves, the rules defined in the Diameter Base protocol are
across different applications. not necessarily comprehensive enough that one can easily derive good
design decisions from them. The effect of this can be seen in
various attempts to extend Diameter where protocol designers have no
clear answer on whether to even define a new application or not. At
worst, some existing Diameter applications that had purposely been
derived from another existing application resulted in some in-
appropriate design decision in which both applications are no longer
interoperable in certain conditions.
All of these choices are design decisions that can done by any The intent of this document is to influence ongoing and future
combination of reusing existing or defining new commands, AVPs or AVP Diameter application design by providing the following content:
values. The objective of this document is the following:
o Clarify updated Diameter extensibility rules in the Diameter Base o Clarify existing Diameter extensibility rules present in the
Protocol. Diameter Base Protocol.
o Clarify usage of certain Diameter functionality which are not o Clarify usage of certain Diameter functionality which are not
explicitly described in the Diameter Base specification. explicitly described in the Diameter Base specification.
o Discuss design choices and provide guidelines when defining o Discuss design choices when defining new applications.
applications.
o Present tradeoffs of design choices. o Present tradeoffs of design choices.
These guidelines are necessary since the existing rules do not cover Note that it is not always possible to offer a complete and concise
the ambiguity that exist when some of the design choices overlap. A answer to certain design choices. There is, however, the belief that
typical example would be deciding between item one(1) and two(2) at a minimum, this document can be used as a guide to Diameter
above when an application designer requires a new application extensibility.
functionality which has many things in common with an existing
application. Certain ambiguous aspects of such cases was not
foreseen in the existing extensibility rules; i.e., use of optional
AVPs to differentiate new functionality in the old application versus
defining a new application and importing the existing set of
commands. In this example, it was only based on collective
experiences of application designers that the decision to create a
new application (item two(2)) is now seen as the cleanest approach.
Along with the gained experience however, additional bad practices
have developed as well. Continuing the example above, the decision
to create a new application would result in the allocation of a new
application ID which often times is foreseen as cumbersome by
application designers because of the lengthy process. Designers
therefore tend to circumvent the better approach leading to many
compromises in the design that eventually lead to interoperability
issues (See Section 5.1).
The basic issue is that the rules defined in the Diameter Base
protocol are not comprehensive enough that one can easily derive good
design decisions from them. The effect of this can be seen in
various attempts to extend Diameter applications where designers have
no clear answer on whether to even define a new application or not.
At worst, some existing Diameter applications that had purposely been
derived from another existing application resulted in some in-
appropriate design decision where both the existing application and
the derived applications are no longer interoperable under certain
conditions. Note that it is not always possible to offer a complete
and concise answer to certain design choices but at the least, this
document can be used as a guide to Diameter extensibility.
2. Terminology 2. Terminology
This document reuses the terminology used in [1]. This document reuses the terminology used in [1].
3. Brief Overview of the Diameter Application Model 3. Diameter Application Model
As it is currently interpreted and practiced, the Diameter Base As it is currently interpreted and practiced, the Diameter Base
protocol is a two-layer protocol. The lower layer is mainly protocol is a two-layer protocol. The lower layer is mainly
responsible for managing connections between neighboring peers and responsible for managing connections between neighboring peers and
for message routing. The upper layer is where the Diameter for message routing. The upper layer is where the Diameter
applications reside. This model is inline with a Diameter node applications reside. This model is inline with a Diameter node
having an application layer and a peer-to-peer delivery layer. The having an application layer and a peer-to-peer delivery layer. The
Diameter Base protocol document completely defines the architecture Diameter Base protocol document completely defines the architecture
and behavior of the message delivery layer and then provides the and behavior of the message delivery layer and then provides the
framework for designing Diameter applications on the application framework for designing Diameter applications on the application
layer. This framework includes definitions of application sessions layer. This framework includes definitions of application sessions
and accounting support (see Section 8 and 9 of [1]). The remainder and accounting support (see Section 8 and 9 of [1]). The remainder
of this document also treats a Diameter node as a single instance of of this document also treats a Diameter node as a single instance of
a Diameter message delivery layer and one or more Diameter a Diameter message delivery layer and one or more Diameter
applications using it. applications using it.
4. Rules on Extending Diameter 4. Rules on Diameter Extensibility
Extending Diameter can mean the reuse of commands, AVPs and AVP
values in any combination for the purpose of inheriting the features
of an existing Diameter applications. This section discusses the
rules on how such reuse can be done.
When reusing existing applications, the requirements of the new
applications are typically not completely unique and there are
existing application's that can be reused to solve some or all of the
application requirements. Therefore, there is a greater likelihood
of ambiguity on how much of the existing application can be reused,
to what extent and what the implications for both the new and
existing application. To broadly categorize, the rules for reusing
existing applications can be either:
1. Minimal - which typically means adding optional AVPs to existing
commands.
2. Invasive - where addition or deletion of commands and/or AVPs,
and/or AVP values.
Because it can fundamentally change the application, the latter
approach has strict repercussions. Specifically, it would result in
the definition of a new application and therefore allocation of a new
application ID is required. Discussion about the specific Diameter
Base protocol rules associated with this approach are covered
subsequent sections.
The former approach, although simple, has pitfalls. The problems
arise when there is a tendency by applications designers to keep
adding optional AVPs to existing command so they can circumvent the
rules associated with the latter approach. Specifically, some
designers want to circumvent the standardization process associated
with these rules and not necessarily the rules themselves. The
pitfalls associated with this approach is described further in
Section 4.2.1. Additionally, if designers choose this approach, all
of the functionality of the existing application will be inherited
even if the new usage has no intent of using some of the existing
features.
4.1. Reusing Existing Applications
This section discusses the reuse of existing applications by adding
and/or deleting commands from the application. This scenario is
categorize as "Invasive" in Section 4 and would always result in the
creation of new applications when the rules are applied.
4.1.1. Adding a new command
The rules are strict in this case. Adding a command to an
application is not allowed and doing so will force a definition of a
new application. However, if this is the intent, then the new
application can be created by defining a new command for an existing
application or importing an existing command from another application
so as to inherit some or all of the functionality of that
application. In the former case, the decision is straight forward
since this is typically a result of adding new functionality that
does not yet exist. See Section 5.1 for rules on how to allocate new
command codes for new applications. The latter case would result in
a new application but it has a more subtle issue such as deciding
whether importing of commands and functionality is really better than
simply using the existing application as it is in conjunction with
any new application.
A typical example would be the Diameter MIPv6 split scenario (see
[2]) in which several application models would have been possible
during the design phase; one model would reuse existing Diameter EAP
application combined with a new Diameter MIPv6 application to form a
complete authentication and authorization scheme and another would be
to reuse Diameter EAP like commands within the new Diameter MIPv6
application to accomplish the same result. In this case, the latter
model was chosen which would permit the reuse of commands and/or AVPs
from one application to another. Other applications such as Diameter
QoS (see [3]) would likely face similar decisions.
In general, it is difficult to come to a hard and fast guideline so a
case by case study of each application requirement should be applied.
Before adding or importing a command, application designers should
consider the following:
o Can the new functionality be fulfilled by creating a new
application independent from the existing applications ? In this
case, a deployment architecture could be designed such that both
old and new application can work independent of but cooperating
with each other.
o Can the existing application be reused as is without fundamental
changes; i.e. a non-mandatory optional AVP is sufficient to
indicate support for new optional functionality if any. There are
pitfalls to this as well. See Section 4.2.1
o Care should be taken to avoid a liberal method of importing many The general theme of Diameter extensibility is to reuse AVPs, AVP
commands that results in a monolithic and hard to manage values, commands and applications as much as possible. However,
application which supports many different functionality. there are also rules for extending Diameter as specified in Section
1.2 of [1]. As is, the rules apply to the scenario where one is
trying to define a new Diameter application. Defining a new Diameter
application can be done by:
o Will the new feature or functionality refers only to semantic or Defining a completely new application
statemachine changes in the application requiring extra message
round-trips ? In such cases, definition of new commands may not
be necessary and use of existing commands maybe sufficient.
o Reuse of existing applications would result in a distributed
environment which may not be conducive to certain requirements of
the applications; i.e. security and or deployment difficulties -
because of Diameter routing, messages for different applications
providing service to the same user may end up in different servers
would then need to be co-related. This could mean extra signaling
between application servers. A typical example would be the
initial proposal for Diameter MIPv6 split scenario (see [2]) where
authorization and authentication is separated.
Note that accounting commands normally require special treatment and This case applies to applications which have requirements that
would not necessarily fall into this category. See Section 6.1. cannot be filled by existing applications and would require
definition of new command(s), AVPs and AVP values. Typically,
there is little ambiguity about the decision to create these types
of applications. Some examples are the interfaces defined for the
IP Multimedia Subsystem of 3GPP, i.e.; Cx/Dx ([2] and [3]), Sh
([4] and [5]) etc . Though some decisions may be clear, designers
should also consider certain aspects of the application itself.
Some of these are described in Section 5. Applications design
should also follow the theme of Diameter extensibility which
advocates reuse of AVPs and AVP values as much as possible even in
newly defined commands. In certain cases where accounting will be
used, the models described in Section 5.1 should be considered.
4.1.2. Deleting a command Extending an existing application
Although this is not typical, deleting an command from an existing In this case, the requirements of the new applications are not
application is fundamentally changing the application. In general, completely unique and there are existing application's that can be
the implications of this approach is the same as Section 4.1.1 reused to solve some or all of the application requirements.
regardless of whether new commands will also be added to the Thus, there is a greater likelihood of ambiguity on how much of
resulting application. In general, it is unusual to delete an the existing application can be reused, to what extent and what
existing command from an existing for the sake of deleting it or the the implications for both the new and existing application.
functionality it represents. This design decision would normally be Section 4.1 discusses some of the issues in this case.
an indication of a flawed designed. An exception might be if the
intent of the deletion is to create a newer version of the same
application which is somehow simpler than the previous version. In
that case, the considerations in Section 6.3 should apply instead.
4.2. Reusing Existing Commands 4.1. Rules on Extending Existing Applications
This section deals with a little more granularity than Section 4.1. The Diameter base protocol provides a clear set of rules on when one
Specifically, it discusses rules in adding and/or deleting AVPs from should define a new Diameter application. In the context of this
an existing command of an existing application. Unlike Section 4.1, document, the rules are:
the cases in this section may not necessarily result in the creation
of new application(s). In some cases, there are a lot of ambiguity.
So design considerations have been outline to ease the decision
making process.
4.2.1. Adding AVPs to a command Adding an AVP to a command ABNF of an existing application
Based on the rules in [1], AVPs that are added to an existing command The rules are strict in the case where the AVP(s) to be added is
can be categorized into: mandatory. As defined in [1], a mandatory AVP is an AVP that has
o Mandatory to understand AVPs. As defined in [1], these are AVPs its M-bit flag set which requires a receiver to understand,
which has their M-bit flag set which means Diameter nodes that correctly interpret and process the AVP when it is present in a
receives these AVPs has to understand not only their values but message. This rule is independent of whether the AVP is defined
their semantics and usage as well. This is regardless of whether as required or optional to exist in a message. As long as the AVP
these AVPs are required or optional to appear in the command; as will added to a messages' ABNF then this rule will apply.
specified by the commands ABNF.
o Non-mandatory AVPs that are also optional in the commands ABNF.
The rules are strict in the case where the AVPs to be added is The mandatory AVP rules applies to AVP(s) that either already
mandatory. A mandatory cannot be added to or deleted from an exist in the same or in another application or the AVP(s) are yet
existing command. [1] states that doing so would require the to be defined. The ambiguity arises when trying to decide whether
definition of a new application. This falls into the "Invasive" the AVP(s) should be mandatory or not. There are several
category described in Section 4. Despite the clarity of the rule, questions that application designers should contemplate when
ambiguity still arises when trying to decide whether a new AVP being trying to decide:
added should be mandatory to begin with. There are several questions
that application designers should contemplate when trying to decide:
o Does the AVPs change the state machine of the application ? * Does the AVP(s) change the state machine of the application ?
o Would the presence of the AVPs cause additional message round- * Would the presence of the AVP(s) cause additional message
trips; effectively changing the state machine of the application ? round-trips; effectively changing the state machine of the
application ?
o Will the AVP be used to fulfill new required functionality ? * Will the AVP be used to fulfill new required functionality ?
o Would the AVP be used to differentiate between old and new * Would the AVP be used to differentiate between old and new
versions of the same application ? versions of the same application ?
o Will it have duality in meaning; i.e., be used to carry * Will it have duality in meaning; i.e., be used to carry
application related information as well as be used to indicate application related information as well as be used to indicate
that the message is for a new application ? that the message is for a new application ?
If one or more of the above conditions are true, the AVP is consider These questions are not comprehensive in any way but in all cases
mandatory. These questions are not comprehensive in any way but in the semantics of the application must change to justify the use of
all cases the semantics of the application must change to justify the
use of mandatory AVPs.
The rules are less restrictive when adding Non-mandatory, optional
AVPs. This falls into the "Minimal" category described in Section 4.
However, care should also be taken when opting for optional AVPs
instead of mandatory AVPs simply to avoid the process of creating a
new applications. Optional AVPs that answers any of the questions
above also have consequences. Some of the issues associated with
using optional AVPs are:
o Use of optional AVPs with intersecting meaning; one AVP has
partially the same usage and/or meaning as another AVP. The
presence of both can lead to confusion.
o An optional AVPs with dual purpose; i.e.; to carry applications
data as well as to indicate support for one or more features.
This has a tendency to introduce interpretation issues.
o Use of optional AVPs with a minimum occurrence of one(1) in the
command ABNF. This is generally contradictory. Application
designers should not use this scheme to circumvent definition of
mandatory AVPs. mandatory AVPs.
All of these practices generally result in interoperability problems However, care should also be taken when opting for optional AVPs
so they should be avoided as much as possible. instead of mandatory AVPs simply to avoid allocating new
applications. Optional AVPs that fall into any of the categorical
4.2.2. Deleting AVPs from a command questions above would have consequences. See Section 5.4 for
details.
Although this scenario is not as common, the deletion of AVPs from a
command ABNF is significant when trying to extend an existing
application. Deletion can again be categorized between mandatory and
non-mandatory optional AVPs described in Section 4.2.1.
In the unlikely event that an application designer would require that
mandatory AVPs must be deleted then it constitutes a fundamental
change to an existing application. Though not specified in [1],
deletion of mandatory would require the definition of a new
application since it dictates changes in the behavior and semantics
of an application.
Instead of deleting commands, a better alternative would be to define
a new command that would represent the new behavior. Reusing the
same command code for different use cases can lead to more confusion
since the command will have different semantics depending on usage.
This is especially true to base protocol commands (session related
commands, ASR/ASA, STR/STA, RAR/RAA defined in [1]) where they are
being used by many different applications.
The deletion of an optional AVP may not necessarily indicate
allocation of a new application. Deletion of non-mandatory optional
AVPs with a zero(0) minimum occurrence in the commands ABNF would not
require a new application. In the case where an optional AVP has a
minimum occurrence of at least one(1) in the commands ABNF, then
deletion of the AVP would effectively change the behavior of the
application. It would be similar to the deletion of mandatory AVPs.
Such cases are highly dubious to begin with since those AVPs already
exhibits properties of mandatory AVPs. Extra consideration should be
given as to why it was not defined as mandatory in the first place
and that decision may have to be corrected as well.
In other cases, it is recommended that application designers reuse
the command ABNF without modification and simply ignore (but not
delete) any optional AVP that will not be used. This is to maintain
compatibility with existing applications that will not know about the
new functionality as well as maintain the integrity of existing
dictionaries.
4.3. Reusing Existing AVPs
This section deals with even more granularity than Section 4.1 and
Section 4.2. Specifically, it discusses rules in adding, deleting or
modifying the specified values of an AVP. The rules state that
modifying the value of an AVP is allowed only if it does not change
the semantics of the AVP and the application using it. Otherwise,
the change can be consider "Invasive" as described in Section 4 and
require definition of a new application. Note that designers should
consider Section 5.2 when contemplating on these types of changes.
Typically, the data types of the AVPs in question are scalar in
nature and each ordinal value represent a specific semantic behavior
of the application. An example is CC-Request-Type AVP of [4].
Adding, deleting or modifying known values of this AVP can modify the
behavior of the application itself. Additionally, the mandatory and
optional AVPs rules are inherited from Section 4.2. So this affects
the decision for defining new applications as well.
5. Rules for new Applications
The general theme of Diameter extensibility is to reuse commands,
AVPs and AVP values as much as possible. However, some of the
extensibility rules described in the previous section also apply to
scenarios where a designer is trying to define a completely new
Diameter application.
This section discusses the case where new applications have
requirements that cannot be filled by existing applications and would
require definition of completely new commands, AVPs and/or AVP
values. Typically, there is little ambiguity about the decision to
create these types of applications. Some examples are the interfaces
defined for the IP Multimedia Subsystem of 3GPP, i.e.; Cx/Dx ([5] and
[6]), Sh ([7] and [8]) etc.
Application design should also follow the theme of Diameter
extensibility which in this case may mean importing of existing AVPs
and AVP values for any newly defined commands. In certain cases
where accounting will be used, the models described in Section 6.1
should also be considered. Though some decisions may be clear,
designers should also consider certain aspects of defining a new
application. Some of these are described in following sections.
5.1. Rules in Allocating new Command Codes
[Editor's note: The expert review process for command code allocation
is being introduced to hasten the allocation process itself.
Hopefully this will lessen the tendency to circumvent this process.
The core rules for this process will be introduced in rfc3588bis and
full description will be added in this section in the next rev of
this document]
5.2. Justifying the Allocation of Application-Id
Application designers should avoid justifying the allocation of an
application ID for each new functionality or any change that is made
to an existing application. Proliferation of application ID can lead
to confusion and an in-efficient use of the application ID
namespaces. Application designers should always use Section 4 as a
basis for justifying allocation of a new application ID.
5.3. Use of Application-Id in a Message
When designing new applications, designers should specify that the
application ID carried in all session level messages must be the
application ID of the application using those messages. This
includes the session level messages defined in base protocol, i.e.,
RAR/RAA, STR/STA, ASR/ASA