Network Working Group                                        Y. Bernet
Request for Comments: 2872                                  R. Pabbati
Category: Standards Track                                    Microsoft
                                                            June 2000


     Application and Sub Application Identity Policy Element for
                            Use with RSVP

Status of this Memo

  This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
  Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
  improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
  Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
  and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

  Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

Conventions used in this document

  The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
  "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED",  "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
  document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

Abstract

  RSVP [RFC 2205] signaling messages typically include policy data
  objects, which in turn contain policy elements. Policy elements may
  describe user and/or application information, which may be used by
  RSVP aware network elements to apply appropriate policy decisions to
  a traffic flow. This memo details the usage of policy elements that
  provide application information.

1. Overview

  RSVP aware network elements may act as policy enforcement points
  (PEPs). These work together with policy decision points (PDPs) to
  enforce QoS policy. Briefly, PEPs extract policy information from
  RSVP signaling requests and compare the information against
  information stored by a PDP in a (possibly remotely located) policy
  database or directory. A policy decision is made based on the results
  of the comparison.






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  One type of policy information describes the application on behalf of
  which an RSVP signaling request is generated. When application policy
  information is available, network administrators are able to manage
  QoS based on application type. So, for example, a network
  administrator may establish a policy that prioritizes known mission-
  critical applications over games.

  This memo describes a structure for a policy element that can be used
  to identify application traffic flows. The policy element includes a
  number of attributes, one of which is a policy locator. This policy
  locator includes the following hierarchically ordered sub-elements
  (in descending levels of hierarchy):

     1. identifier that uniquely identifies the application vendor
     2. identifier of the application
     3. version number of the application
     4. sub-application identifier

  An arbitrary number of sub-application identifiers may be included in
  the policy locator. An example of such an identifier is 'print
  transaction'.

  This memo specifies the structure of the application policy element
  and proposes keywords for the sub-elements at each level of the
  hierarchy. It does not enumerate specific values for the sub-
  elements: such an enumeration is beyond the scope of this memo.

2. Simple Application Identity Policy Element Structure

  General application identity policy elements are defined in
  [RFC2752]. These are policy elements with a P-type of AUTH_APP.
  Following the policy element header is a list of authentication
  attributes.

  The first authentication attribute is of the A-type POLICY_LOCATOR.
  The sub-type of the POLICY_LOCATOR attribute is of type ASCII_DN
  [RFC1779] or UNICODE_DN. The actual attribute data is formatted as an
  X.500 distinguished name (DN), representing a globally unique
  identifier, the application, version number and sub-application in a
  hierarchical structure. The POLICY_LOCATOR attribute contains
  keywords as described in section 2. For further details on the format
  of the POLICY_LOCATOR attribute, see [RFC2752].

  The second authentication attribute is of the A-type CREDENTIAL. The
  sub-type of the CREDENTIAL attribute is of type ASCII_ID or
  UNICODE_ID. The actual attribute data is an ASCII or Unicode string
  representing the application name. This structure is illustrated in
  the following diagram:



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              0              1               2               3
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |    PE Length (8)              |   P-type = AUTH_APP           |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |    Attribute Length           |   A-type =    |  Sub-type =   |
     |                               | POLICY_LOCATOR|   ASCII_DN    |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     | Application policy locator attribute data in X.500 DN format  |
     |                         (see below)                           |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |    Attribute Length           |   A-type =    |  Sub-type =   |
     |                               |   CREDENTIAL  |   ASCII_ID    |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                 Application name as ASCII string              |
     |                         (e.g. SAP.EXE)                        |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

  The following keywords are recommended although others MAY be used:

  Key  Attribute
  --------------
  GUID Globally Unique Identifier (optional)
  APP  Application Name
  VER  Application Version Number
  SAPP Sub Application (optional)

  The following are examples of conformant policy locators:

  "APP=SAP, VER=1.1, SAPP=Print"

  "GUID=http://www.microsoft.com/apps, APP=MyApplication, VER=1.2.3"

  The APP, VER and SAPP attributes SHOULD describe the application to a
  human reader in as unique and unambiguous a way as possible. The GUID
  attribute MAY be used when absolute uniqueness of application
  identification is required and its contents MUST be an identifier
  from a globally-unique source (e.g. domain names as assigned by the
  corresponding registration authorities). Note that publication of the
  chosen identifiers in a suitable format is strongly encouraged.












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3. Security Considerations

  The proposed simple policy element does not guarantee that element is
  indeed associated with the application it claims to be associated
  with. In order to provide such guarantees, it is necessary to sign
  applications. Signed application policy elements may be proposed at a
  future date. Note that, typically, the application policy element
  will be included in an RSVP message with an encrypted and
  authenticated user policy element. A level of security is provided by
  trusting the application policy element only if the user policy
  element is trusted.

  All RSVP integrity considerations apply to the message containing the
  application policy element.

4. References

  [RFC2205] Braden, R., Zhang, L., Berson, L., Herzog, S. and S. Jamin,
            "Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) - Version 1
            Functional Specification", RFC 2205, September 1997.

  [RFC1779] Kille, S., "A String Representation of Distinguished
            Names", RFC 1779, March 1995.

  [RFC2752] Yadav, S., Yavatkar, R., Pabbati, R,. Ford, P., Moore, T.
            and S. Herzog, "Identity Representation for RSVP", RFC
            2752, January 2000.

  [ASCII]   Coded Character Set -- 7-Bit American Standard Code for
            Information Interchange, ANSI X3.4-1986.

  [UNICODE] The Unicode Consortium, "The Unicode Standard, Version
            2.0", Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1996.

  [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
            Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

5.  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to Tim Moore, Shai Mohaban, Andrew Smith, Ulrich Homann and
  other contributors to the IETF's RAP WG for their input.










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6. Authors' Addresses

  Yoram Bernet
  Microsoft
  One Microsoft Way
  Redmond, WA 98052

  Phone: (425) 936-9568
  EMail: [email protected]


  Ramesh Pabbati
  One Microsoft Way
  Redmond, WA 98052

  EMail: [email protected]



































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7.  Full Copyright Statement

  Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

  This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
  others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
  or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
  and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
  kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
  included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
  document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
  the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
  Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
  developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
  copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
  followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
  English.

  The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
  revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

  This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
  "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
  TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
  BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
  HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
  MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Acknowledgement

  Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
  Internet Society.



















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