Export of On-Path Delay in IPFIX

Network operators want a statistical delay view of their networks. They want to understand where in the network, for which customer traffic, how much and why delay is being accummlated. In order to answer why and where, delay needs to be reported into device and control-plane context. In order to understand which customer traffic is affected, delay needs to be reported into customer data-plane context. That enables network operators to quickly identify when the control-plane updates the current path with a different next-hop and therefore the forwarding path changes to different nodes and interfaces, how the path delay changes for which customer traffic. With On-Path Telemetry, described in the Network Telemetry Framework and applied in In-situ OAM and Alternate Marking Deployment Framework, the path delay between two endpoints is measured by inserting a timestamp in the packet. On-Path Telemetry can be distinguished between two modes. Passport mode, , where only the last hop in the forwarding path of the On-Path Telemetry domain exposes all the metrics, and postcard mode, , where the metrics are also exposed in the transit nodes. In both modes the forwarding path exposes performance metrics allowing to determine how much delay has been accumulated on which hop. This document defines four new IPFIX Information Elements (IEs), exposing the On-Path delay on IOAM transit and decapsulation nodes, following the postcard mode principles. Since these IPFIX IEs are performance metrics , they must be registered in the "IANA Performance Metric Registry. Following the guidelines for Registered Performance Metric requesters and reviewers , the different characteristics of the performance metrics (Identifier, Name, URI, Status, Requester, Revision, Revision Date, Description, etc) must be clearly specified in the "IANA Performance Metric Registry in order for the results of measurements using the Performance Metrics to be comparable even if they are performed by different implementations and in different networks. These characteristics start by selecting a meaningful name, following the "MetricType_Method_SubTypeMethod_... Spec_Units_Output" naming convention (See Section 7.1.2 of ).

The delay is measured by calculating the difference between the timestamp imposed with On-Path Telemetry in the packet at the IOAM encapsulation node and the timestamp exported in the IPFIX flow record from the IOAM transit and decapsulation nodes. The lowest, highest, mean, and/or the sum of measured path delay can be exported, thanks to the different IPFIX IE specifications.

. . . . D2 . . <--------------------> . . . . D3 . . <-----------------------------------> . . . (H1) ------ (R1) ------- (R2) ------- (R3) -------- (R4) ------ (H2) Host 1 Encapsulation Transit Transit Decapsulation Host 2 Node Node 1 Node 2 Node . . . . ......................................... ]]> On the usecase showed in using On-path Telemetry to export the delay metrics, the node R2 exports the delay D1, the node R3 exports the delay D2 and the decapsulation node R4 exports the total delay D3 using IPFIX.

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here. This document makes use of the terms defined in and . The following terms are used as defined in . IPFIX IPFIX Information Elements (IEs) Flow Record Exporter The following terms are used as defined in . Performance Metric Registered Performance Metric Performance Metrics Registry The following terms are used as defined in . IOAM encapsulation node IOAM transit node IOAM decapsulation node

This section defines and describes the new performance metrics by applying the template defined in Section 11 of .

This section specifies four performance metrics for the Hybrid Type I Passive assessment of IP One-Way Delay, to be registered in the "IANA Performance Metric Registry. All column entries besides the ID, Name, Description, and Output Reference Method categories are the same; thus, this section defines four closely related performance metrics. As a result, IANA has assigned corresponding URLs to each of the four registered performance metrics.

This category includes multiple indexes of the registered performance metrics: the element ID and Metric Name.

IANA has allocated the numeric Identifiers TBD1-4 for the four Named Metric Entries in this section

TBD1: OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Mean TBD2: OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Min TBD3: OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Max TBD4: OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Sum

URL: URL: URL: URL:

This metric assesses the one-way delay of IP packets constituting a single connection between two hosts. We consider the measurement of one-way delay based on a single Observation Point (OP) somewhere in the network. The output is the one-way delay for all successfully forwarded packets expressed as the <statistic> of their conditional delay distribution, where <statistic> is one of: Mean Min Max Sum

IETF

1.0

This category includes columns to prompt the entry of all necessary details related to the metric definition, including the immutable document reference and values of input factors, called "Fixed Parameters".

Almes, G., Kalidindi, S., Zekauskas, M., and A. Morton, Ed., "A One-Way Delay Metric for IP Performance Metrics (IPPM)", STD 81, RFC 7679, DOI 10.17487/RFC7679, January 2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7679>. Morton, A. and E. Stephan, "Spatial Composition of Metrics", RFC 6049, DOI 10.17487/RFC6049, January 2011, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6049>. Section 3.4 of provides the reference definition of the singleton (single value) one-way delay metric. Section 4.4 of provides the reference definition expanded to cover a multi-value sample. Note that terms such as "singleton" and "sample" are defined in section 2 of . With the OP typically located between the hosts participating in the IP connection, the one-way delay metric requires one individual measurement between the OP and sourcing host, such that the Spatial Composition of the measurements yields a one-way delay singleton.

Traffic Filters:

This category includes columns for references to relevant sections of the RFC(s) and any supplemental information needed to ensure an unambiguous method for implementations.

The foundational methodology for this metric is defined in section 4 of using the Timestamps option with modifications that allow application at a mid-path OP .

N/A

The Fixed Parameters above give a portion of the Traffic Filter. Other aspects will be supplied as Runtime Parameters (below).

This metric requires a partial sample of all packets that qualify according to the Traffic Filter criteria.

Runtime Parameters are input factors that must be determined, configured into the measurement system, and reported with the results for the context to be complete. The hybrid type I metering parameters must must be reported to provide the complete measurement context. As an example, if the IPFIX metering process is used, then the IPFIX metering process parameters (IPFIX template record used, potential traffic filters, and potential sampling method and parameters) that generates the flow records must be reported to provide the complete measurement context. The IP address of the host in the host A Role (format ipv4&nbhy;address-no-zone value for IPv4 or ipv6-address-no-zone value for IPv6; see section 4 of . The IP address of the host in the host B Role (format ipv4&nbhy;address-no-zone value for IPv4 or ipv6-address-no-zone value for IPv6; see section 4 of . Set at desired value. Set at desired value. Set at desired value. The timestamp when the packet is being received at IOAM encapsulation node. Format depends on On-Path Telemetry implementation. For IOAM, Section 4.4.1 of describes what kind of timestamps are supported. Section 4.4.2.3 and 4.4.2.4 describe where the timestamp is being inserted. For the Enhanced Alternate Marking Method, Section 2 of describes timestamp encoding and granularity.

Launches the IP packet to open the connection. The Role of "host A" is synonymous with the IP address used at host A. Receives the IP packet to open the connection. The Role of "host B" is synonymous with the IP address used at host B. Receives the IP packet to open the connection and encapsulates the timestamp into the packet. The Role of "Encapsulation Node" is synonymous with the timestamp inserted in the packet. Receives the IP packet to open the connection and measures the delay between the timestamp in the packet and the timestamp when the packet was received. Receives the IP packet to open the connection and measures the delay between the timestamp in the packet and the timestamp when the packet was received and removes the IOAM header from the packet.

This category specifies all details of the output of measurements using the metric.

OWDelay Types are discussed in the subsections below.

For all output types: The one-trip delay of one IP packet is a Singleton For each <statistic> Singleton one of the following subsections applies.

The mean SHALL be calculated using the conditional distribution of all packets with a finite value of one-way delay (undefined delays are excluded) -- a single value, as follows: See section 4.1 of for details on the conditional distribution to exclude undefined values of delay, and see section 5 of for background on this analysis choice. See section 4.2.2 of for details on calculating this statistic; see also section 4.2.3 of . The time value of the result is expressed in units of seconds, as a positive value of type decimal64 with fraction digits = 9 (see section 9.3 of ) with a resolution of 0.000000001 seconds (1.0 ns), and with lossless conversion to/from the 64-bit NTP timestamp as per section 6 of .

The minimum SHALL be calculated using the conditional distribution of all packets with a finite value of one-way delay (undefined delays are excluded) -- a single value, as follows: See section 4.1 of for details on the conditional distribution to exclude undefined values of delay, and see section 5 of for background on this analysis choice. See section 4.3.2 of for details on calculating this statistic; see also section 4.3.3 of . The time value of the result is expressed in units of seconds, as a positive value of type decimal64 with fraction digits = 9 (see section 9.3 of ) with a resolution of 0.000000001 seconds (1.0 ns), and with lossless conversion to/from the 64-bit NTP timestamp as per section 6 of .

The maximum SHALL be calculated using the conditional distribution of all packets with a finite value of one-way delay (undefined delays are excluded) -- a single value, as follows: See section 4.1 of for details on the conditional distribution to exclude undefined values of delay, and see section 5 of for background on this analysis choice. See section 4.3.2 of for a closely related method for calculating this statistic; see also section 4.3.3 of . The formula is as follows:

= FiniteDelay[n] for all n ]]> where all packets n = 1 through N have finite singleton delays. The time value of the result is expressed in units of seconds, as a positive value of type decimal64 with fraction digits = 9 (see section 9.3 of ) with a resolution of 0.000000001 seconds (1.0 ns), and with lossless conversion to/from the 64-bit NTP timestamp as per section 6 of .

The sum SHALL be calculated using the conditional distribution of all packets with a finite value of one-way delay (undefined delays are excluded) -- a single value, as follows: See section 4.1 of for details on the conditional distribution to exclude undefined values of delay, and see section 5 of for background on this analysis choice. See section 4.3.5 of for details on calculating this statistic. However in this case FiniteDelay or MaxDelay MAY be used. The time value of the result is expressed in units of seconds, as a positive value of type decimal64 with fraction digits = 9 (see section 9.3 of ) with a resolution of 0.000000001 seconds (1.0 ns), and with lossless conversion to/from the 64-bit NTP timestamp as per section 6 of .

The <statistic> of one-way delay is expressed in seconds, where <statistic> is one of: Mean Min Max Sum The one-way delay of the IP connection singleton is expressed in seconds.

Passive Measurements at an OP could be calibrated against an Active Measurement at host A where the Active Measurement represents the ground truth.

Current

This RFC

1.0

RFC Date

none

This section defines and describes the new IPFIX IEs. 32-bit unsigned integer that identifies the mean path delay in microseconds, between the IOAM encapsulation node and the local node with the IOAM domain (either an IOAM transit node or an IOAM decapsulation node). 32-bit unsigned integer that identifies the lowest path delay in microseconds, between the IOAM encapsulation node and the local node with the IOAM domain (either an IOAM transit node or an IOAM decapsulation node). 32-bit unsigned integer that identifies the highest path delay in microseconds, between the IOAM encapsulation node and the local node with the IOAM domain (either an IOAM transit node or an IOAM decapsulation node). 64-bit unsigned integer that identifies the sum of the path delay in microseconds, between the IOAM encapsulation node and the local node with the IOAM domain (either an IOAM transit node or an IOAM decapsulation node).

The measured On-Path delay can be aggregated with Flow Aggregation as defined in to the following device and control-plane dimensions to determine: With node id and egressInterface(IE14), on which node which logical egress interfaces have been contributing to how much delay. With node id and egressPhysicalInterface(253), on which node which physical egress interfaces have been contributing to how much delay. With ipNextHopIPv4Address(IE15) or ipNextHopIPv6Address(IE62), the forwarding path to which next-hop IP contributed to how much delay. With mplsTopLabelIPv4Address(IE47) or destinationIPv6Address and srhActiveSegmentIPv6 from , the forwarding path to which MPLS top label IPv4 address or IPv6 destination address and SRv6 active segment contributed to how much delay. BGP communities are often used for setting a path priority or service selection. With bgpDestinationExtendedCommunityList(488) or bgpDestinationCommunityList(485) or bgpDestinationLargeCommunityList(491) which group of prefixes accumulated at which node how much delay. With destinationIPv4Address(13), destinationTransportPort(11), protocolIdentifier (4) and sourceIPv4Address(IE8), the forwarding path delay on each node from each IPv4 source address to a specific application in the network. Taking figure 1 from section 1 as topology example. Below example table shows the aggregated delay per each node, ingressInterface, egressInterface, destinationIPv6Address and srhActiveSegmentIPv6.

This document requests IANA to create new performance metrics under the "Performance Metrics" registry with the values defined in section 2.

This document requests IANA to create new IPFIX IEs (see table 3) under the "IPFIX Information Elements" registry available at "IANA Performance Metric Registry and assign the following initial code points.

Note to the RFC-Editor: Please replace TBD5 - TBD8 with the values allocated by IANA Please replace the [RFC-to-be] with the RFC number assigned to this document

Name:: PathDelayMeanDeltaMicroseconds

ElementID:: TBD5

Description:: This Information Element identifies the mean path delay between the IOAM encapsulation node and the local node with the IOAM domain (either an IOAM transit node or an IOAM decapsulation node) in microseconds, according to OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Mean in the IANA Performance Metric Registry

Abstract Data Type:: unsigned32

Data Type Semantics:: deltaCounter

Reference:: [RFC-to-be], OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Mean in the IANA Performance Metric Registry.

Name:: PathDelayMinDeltaMicroseconds

ElementID:: TBD6

Description:: This Information Element identifies the lowest path delay between the IOAM encapsulation node and the local node with the IOAM domain (either an IOAM transit node or an IOAM decapsulation node) in microseconds, according to the OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Min in the IANA Performance Metric Registry.

Abstract Data Type:: unsigned32

Data Type Semantics:: deltaCounter

Reference:: [RFC-to-be], OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Min in the IANA Performance Metric Registry.

Name:: PathDelayMaxDeltaMicroseconds

ElementID:: TBD7

Description:: This Information Element identifies the highest path delay between the IOAM encapsulation node and the local node with the IOAM domain (either an IOAM transit node or an IOAM decapsulation node) in microseconds, according to OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Max in the IANA Performance Metric Registry.

Abstract Data Type:: unsigned32

Data Type Semantics:: deltaCounter

Reference:: [RFC-to-be], OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Max in the IANA Performance Metric Registry.

Name:: PathDelaySumDeltaMicroseconds

ElementID:: TBD8

Description:: This Information Element identifies the sum of the path delay between the IOAM encapsulation node and the local node with the IOAM domain (either an IOAM transit node or an IOAM decapsulation node) in microseconds, according to OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Sum in the IANA Performance Metric Registry.

Abstract Data Type:: unsigned64

Data Type Semantics:: deltaCounter

Reference:: [RFC-to-be], OWDelay_HybridType1_Passive_IP_RFC[RFC-to-be]_Seconds_Sum in the IANA Performance Metric Registry.

The same recommendation as defined in section 4.5 of for IPFIX applies in terms of clock precision to this document as well.

The mean (average) path delay can be calculated by dividing the PathDelaySumDeltaMicroseconds(TBD5) by the packetDeltaCount(2) at the IPFIX data collection in order to offload the IPFIX Exporter from calculating the mean for every Flow at export time.

Unsigned64 has been chosen as type for PathDelaySumDeltaMicroseconds to support cases with large delay numbers and where many packets are being accounted. As an example, a specific flow record with path delay of 100 microseconds can not observe more than 42949 packets without overflowing the unsigned32 counter. The procedure described in Section 6.2 of could be applied to reduce network bandwidth between the IPFIX Exporter and Collector if unsigned32 would be large enough without wrapping around.

This document is applicable in IOAM to the Edge-to-Edge and Direct Exporting Option-Type. In case of Edge-to-Edge Option-Type, as described in Section 4.6 of , by setting bits 2 and 3, timestamps can be encoded as defined in Section 4.4.2.3 and 4.4.2.4 of . In case of Direct Exporting Option-Type, as described in Section 2 of , by setting Extension-Flags 2 and 3, timestamps can be encoded as defined in Section 4.4.2.3 and 4.4.2.4 of . For the Enhanced Alternate Marking Method, Section 2 of defines that within the metaInfo a nano second timestamp can be encoded in the encapsulation node and be read at the intermediate and decapsulation node to calculate the on-path delay. defines how this can be appied to the IPv6 data-plane and defines how this can be appied to the Segment Routing Header in SRv6.

There are no significant extra security considerations regarding the allocation of these new IPFIX IEs compared to .

Note to the RFC-Editor: Please remove this section before publishing.

INSA Lyon implemented the following IEs as part of a prototype in the FD.io VPP (Vector Packet Processing) platform: PathDelayMeanDeltaMicroseconds PathDelayMaxDeltaMicroseconds PathDelayMinDeltaMicroseconds PathDelaySumDeltaMicroseconds The open source code can be obtained here: and was validated at the IETF 116 hackathon.

Huawei implemented the following IEs as part of a a production implementation in the VRP platform: PathDelayMeanDeltaMicroseconds PathDelayMaxDeltaMicroseconds PathDelayMinDeltaMicroseconds PathDelaySumDeltaMicroseconds The implementation was validated at the IETF 116 hackathon.

NTT Com implemented the following IEs in the Fluvia Exporter: PathDelayMeanDeltaMicroseconds PathDelayMaxDeltaMicroseconds PathDelayMinDeltaMicroseconds PathDelaySumDeltaMicroseconds The open source code can be obtained here: and was validated at the IETF 118 hackathon.

Paolo Lucente implemented the IE PathDelayMeanDeltaMicroseconds by dividing IE PathDelaySumDeltaMicroseconds by IE packetDeltaCount in the open source Network Telemetry data collection project pmacct. The source code can be obtained here: and was validated at the IETF 116 hackathon.

The authors would like to thank Al Morton, Greg Mirsky and Giuseppe Fioccola for their review and valuable comments.

IANA Performance Metric Registry INSA Lyon, FD.io VPP implementation NTT Com, Fluvia Exporter Paolo Lucente, Pmacct open source Network Telemetry Data Collection

This appendix represents two different encodings for the newly introduced IEs. Taking figure 1 from section 1 as topology example. Below example Table 4 shows the aggregated delay with ingressInterface, egressInterface, destinationIPv6Address and srhActiveSegmentIPv6.

With encoding in Figure 1, the mean (average) path delay is calculated on the exporting node. Ingress interface => ingressInterface Egress interface => egressInterface IPv6 destination address => destinationIPv6Address Active SRv6 Segment => srhIPv6ActiveSegment Packet Delta Count => packetDeltaCount Minimum One-Way Delay => PathDelayMinDeltaMicroseconds (TBD6) Maximum One-Way Delay => PathDelayMaxDeltaMicroseconds (TBD7) Mean One-Way Delay => PathDelayMeanDeltaMicroseconds (TBD5)

The data set is represented as follows:

With encoding in Figure 3, the mean (average) path delay is calculated on the IPFIX data collection. Ingress interface => ingressInterface Egress interface => egressInterface IPv6 destination address => destinationIPv6Address Active SRv6 Segment => srhIPv6ActiveSegment Packet Delta Count => packetDeltaCount Minimum One-Way Delay => PathDelayMinDeltaMicroseconds (TBD6) Maximum One-Way Delay => PathDelayMaxDeltaMicroseconds (TBD7) Sum of One-Way Delay => PathDelaySumDeltaMicroseconds (TBD8)

The data set is represented as follows: