Subject: [AAA-WG]: ISSUE: Session Definition

From: Mark Eklund <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 17:43:10 -0500 (EST)

Submitter name: Mark Eklund
Submitter email address: [email-masked]
Date first submitted: 5-Nov-01
Reference:
Document: base
Comment type: Editorial
Priority: 1
Section: 1.3
Rationale/Explanation of issue:

Past experience with dialup has shown that there are differing
opinions on the definition of a session.  For example, some would
consider a session to begin after the user authenticated.  Others
would consider the authentication a part of the session.

PROBLEM: The drafts are lacking a concise and unambiguous definition
of "session" that we can all systems-architect and code to.  An
airtight definition is important to ensure predictable and consistent
interoperability among vendors' implementations of Diameter
applications.

Requested change:

Modify the wording of the definition of Session and add definitions
for Sub-session and Multi-session.  These definitions are as follows:

 Session
      A session is a related progression of events devoted to a
      particular activity.  Each application SHOULD provide guidelines
      as to when a session begins and ends.  All Diameter packets with
      the same Session-Identifier are considered to be part of the
      same session.

 Sub-session
      A sub-session represents a logical break in the activity of a
      single session.  These changes in sessions are tracked with the
      Accounting-Sub-Session-Id.  An example of a session divided into
      several sub-sessions would be a dial-up connection in which the
      pre-authentication activity (call setup, resource allocation,
      etc.), interactive login, and PPP communication would all be
      sub-sessions.

 Multi-session
      A multi-session represents a logical linking of several parallel
      sessions.  Multi-sessions are tracked by using the
      Accounting-Multi-Session-Id.  An example of a multi-session
      would be a MLP bundle.  Each leg of the bundle would be a
      session while the entire bundle would be a multi-session.

-mark