Subject: [i2rs] draft-ietf-i2rs-ephemeral-state-09, Ephemeral-REQ-08 comments

From: Jeffrey Haas <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2016 12:12:55 -0400

Per discussion at the interim today:

Ephemeral-REQ-08 points 6 and 7 currently contain the following:

   6.  ephemeral state overwriting of configuration state MUST be
       controlled by the following policy knobs (as defined by
       [I-D.ietf-i2rs-architecture] section 6.3 and 6.3.1):

       *  ephemeral configuration overwrites local configuration (true/
          false; normal value: true), and

       *  Update of local configuration value supersedes and overwrites
          the ephemeral configuration (true/false; normal value: false).

   7.  The ephemeral overwriting to local configuration described in (6)
       above is considered to be the composite of all ephemeral values
       by all clients.  Some may consider this approach as a single pane
       of glass for ephemeral state.

The issue I believe we have here is that such arbitration/policy of whether
local configuration state overrides ephemeral configuration or vice-versa may be
controlled via configuration of the Agent rather than protocol behavior.
Ephemeral-REQ-08 is covering netconf behaviors.

I would suggest the following:

Insert a new Ephemeral-REQ prior to the current -08.

Ephemeral-REQ-XXX:
Ephemeral configuration state could override overlapping local configuration
state, or vice-versa.  Implementations MUST provide a mechanism to choose
which takes precedence.  This mechanism MUST include local configuration
(policy) and MAY be provided via the I2RS protocol mechanisms.

-- Jeff