RFC 6480
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| RFC 6480 | |
|---|---|
| Number | 6480 |
| Title | Policy-Based Management for the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) |
| Authors | RSVP Working Group |
| Organization | Internet Engineering Task Force |
| Published | February 2012 |
RFC 6480
RFC 6480 is an informational document published by the Internet Engineering Task Force that surveys policy-based management mechanisms applicable to the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP). The document synthesizes prior work from standards track efforts, operational deployments, and research projects, situating RSVP policy considerations alongside related protocols and management frameworks. It aims to clarify how administrative policies interact with RSVP signaling, admission control, and resource allocation across heterogeneous networks.
Introduction
This RFC provides an overview of policy concepts for RSVP within the context of protocol control and network administration, referencing work from the Internet Protocol community, the IETF Operations and Management Area, and the IETF Policy Framework Working Group. It connects RSVP policy issues to broader standardization efforts such as Differentiated Services, Integrated Services, and the Next Steps in Signaling initiatives, while acknowledging prior experimental deployments in environments led by organizations like Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, and research labs at Bell Labs and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
Background and Purpose
The document situates RSVP policy requirements against historical developments including the evolution of Integrated Services (IntServ), the motivation from real-time multimedia applications such as those standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force RTP/RTCP community and multimedia consortia like MPEG. It draws on policy management concepts developed within the IETF Policy Framework and relates to administrative models implemented by vendors including Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei. The purpose is to consolidate terminology, identify policy decision points, and explain how policy servers and policy decision points integrate with RSVP components such as reservation agents and admission control modules, referencing operational practices from institutions like Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University.
Specification and Content Highlights
RFC 6480 catalogs policy-related interfaces, message flows, and decision points for RSVP compatible with architectural principles from the IETF Internet Architecture Board and the IETF Routing Research Group. It highlights mappings between policy elements and RSVP constructs such as PATH and RESV messages, and discusses interactions with AAA systems like Diameter and RADIUS. The document addresses policy server placement, policy decision point logic, and policy enforcement mechanisms compatible with network elements from vendors including Nokia and Arista Networks. It also references applicable management protocols and data models developed by the IETF NETCONF and IETF SNMP communities, and links RSVP policy functions to service orchestration efforts by industry groups such as Open Networking Foundation.
Implementation and Deployment
RFC 6480 surveys implementation experience from commercial and academic deployments, mentioning implementations in router platforms by Cisco Systems and research implementations at institutions like UC Berkeley and ETH Zurich. It reports integration strategies with access control systems used in carrier networks run by operators such as AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, and discusses operational challenges observed in multiservice backbones operated by Verizon and cloud providers like Amazon Web Services. The document outlines recommended deployment patterns for policy servers and describes interaction models for peering scenarios familiar to Regional Internet Registries and Internet Exchange Points.
Security Considerations
The RFC examines security implications of policy-based RSVP control, assessing threats common to signaling protocols identified by the IETF Network Working Group and countermeasures consistent with guidance from the IETF Security Area. It considers authentication and authorization mechanisms, referencing AAA protocols including Kerberos, OAuth 2.0, and Diameter, and discusses the need for integrity protection, replay protection, and secure key management as practiced in standards by IEEE 802.1X and the IETF TLS working group. The section also addresses potential denial-of-service vectors in RSVP deployments observed in operational networks run by carriers like Sprint and mitigation techniques used in large-scale networks such as those of Google and Facebook.
Reception and Impact
As an informational survey, RFC 6480 has been cited by subsequent IETF efforts addressing signaling, resource management, and policy frameworks, influencing design discussions in working groups related to autonomic networking and network virtualization. Its consolidation of RSVP policy topics has been used by academic researchers at institutions like University of Cambridge and KAIST and by vendors participating in standards influenced by organizations including the European Telecommunications Standards Institute and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project. While RSVP adoption in large-scale public Internet deployments remained limited compared to alternatives, RFC 6480 served as a reference for controlled environments such as enterprise, carrier, and research testbeds operated by GENI and GÉANT.