Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                     B. Khasnabish
Request for Comments: 7729                                  ZTE TX, Inc.
Category: Standards Track                                  E. Haleplidis
ISSN: 2070-1721                                     University of Patras
                                                     J. Hadi Salim, Ed.
                                                      Mojatatu Networks
                                                          December 2015


          Forwarding and Control Element Separation (ForCES)
         Logical Functional Block (LFB) Subsidiary Management

Abstract

  Deployment experience has demonstrated the value of using the
  Forwarding and Control Element Separation (ForCES) architecture to
  manage resources other than packet forwarding.  In that spirit, the
  Forwarding Element Manager (FEM) is modeled by creating a Logical
  Functional Block (LFB) to represent its functionality.  We refer to
  this LFB as the Subsidiary Mechanism (SM) LFB.  A Control Element
  (CE) that controls a Forwarding Element's (FE) resources can also
  manage its configuration via the SM LFB.  This document introduces
  the SM LFB class, an LFB class that specifies the configuration
  parameters of an FE.  The configuration parameters include new LFB
  class loading and CE associations; they also provide manipulation of
  debug mechanisms along with a general purpose attribute definition to
  describe configuration information.

Status of This Memo

  This is an Internet Standards Track document.

  This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
  (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
  received public review and has been approved for publication by the
  Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
  Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

  Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
  and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
  http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7729.










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RFC 7729            ForCES LFB Subsidiary Management       December 2015


Copyright Notice

  Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
  document authors.  All rights reserved.

  This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
  Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
  (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
  publication of this document.  Please review these documents
  carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
  to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
  include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
  the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
  described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

  1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
    1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
    1.2.  Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
  2.  Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
    2.1.  High Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
    2.2.  Scalability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
    2.3.  Adding New Resources to an NE . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
    2.4.  New LFB Class Installation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
    2.5.  Logging Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
    2.6.  General-Purpose Attribute Definition  . . . . . . . . . .   7
  3.  Applicability Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
    3.1.  FE Integrated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
    3.2.  Virtual FEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
  4.  SM Library  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
    4.1.  Frame Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
    4.2.  Data Type Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
    4.3.  Metadata Definitions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
    4.4.  SM  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
      4.4.1.  Data Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
      4.4.2.  Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
      4.4.3.  Capabilities  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
      4.4.4.  Events  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
  5.  XML for SM LFB  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
  6.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
  7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
    7.1.  LFB Class Names and LFB Class Identifiers . . . . . . . .  18
  8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
    8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
    8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
  Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20



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1.  Introduction

  Deployment experience has demonstrated the value of using the
  Forwarding and Control Element Separation (ForCES) architecture to
  manage resources other than packet forwarding.  In that spirit, the
  Forwarding Element Manager (FEM) is modeled by creating a Logical
  Functional Block (LFB) to represent its functionality.  We refer to
  this LFB as the Subsidiary Mechanism (SM) LFB.  A Control Element
  (CE) that controls a Forwarding Element's (FE) resources can also
  manage its configuration via the SM LFB.  This document introduces
  the SM LFB class, an LFB that specifies the configuration parameters
  of an FE.

  On a running FE, a CE application may update an FE's runtime
  configuration via the SM LFB instance.




































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                             ForCES Network Element
                            +-------------------------------------+
                            |         +---------------------+     |
                            |         | Control Application |     |
                            |         +--+--------------+---+     |
                            |            |              |         |
                            |            |              |         |
     --------------   Fc    | -----------+--+      +-----+------+ |
     | CE Manager |---------+-|     CE 1    |------|    CE 2    | |
     --------------         | |             |  Fr  |            | |
           |                | +-+---------+-+      +------------+ |
           | Fl             |   |         | Fp        /           |
           |                |   |         +--------+ /            |
           |                |   | Fp               |/             |
           |                |   |                  |              |
           |                |   |         Fp      /|----+         |
           |                |   |       /--------/      |         |
     --------------     Ff  | ---+----------      --------------  |
     | FE Manager |---------+-|     FE 1   |  Fi  |     FE 2   |  |
     --------------         | |            |------|            |  |
                            | --------------      --------------  |
                            |   |  |  |  |          |  |  |  |    |
                            ----+--+--+--+----------+--+--+--+-----
                                |  |  |  |          |  |  |  |
                                |  |  |  |          |  |  |  |
                                  Fi/f                   Fi/f
         Fp: CE-FE interface
         Fr: CE-CE interface
         Fc: Interface between the CE Manager and a CE
         Ff: Interface between the FE Manager and an FE
         Fl: Interface between the CE Manager and the FE Manager
         Fi/f: FE external interface

                 Figure 1: ForCES Architectural Diagram

  Figure 1 shows a control application manipulating, at runtime, FE
  configuration via the SM LFB control.  It would appear that this
  control application is playing the part of the FE Manager and thus
  appears as the messaging for Ff (FEM to FE interface) going via the
  standard Fp plane.  However, the SM LFB describes a subset of the
  operations that can be performed over Ff; it does not suggest moving
  away from the Ff interface.

  The SM LFB class describes the configuration parameters of an FE,
  namely the LFB classes it should load, the CEs it should be
  associated with, as well the respective CE IP addresses.
  Additionally, the SM LFB provides a general purpose attribute




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  definition to describe configuration information, as well as the
  ability to manipulate the debug logging mechanism.

  This document assumes that FEs are already booted.  The FE's
  configuration can then be updated at runtime via the SM LFB for
  runtime configuration purposes.  This document does not specify or
  standardize the FEM-FE (Ff) interface as depicted in [RFC3746].  This
  document describes a mechanism with which a CE can instruct the SM
  for FE management using ForCES.

  This work item makes no assumption of whether FE resources are
  physical or virtual.  In fact, the LFB library provided here is
  applicable to both.  Thus, it can also be useful in addressing
  control of virtual FEs where individual FEMs can be addressed to
  control the creation, configuration, and resource assignment of such
  virtual FEs within a physical FE.

1.1.  Requirements Language

  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].

1.2.  Definitions

  This document follows the terminology defined by [RFC3654],
  [RFC3746], [RFC5810], and [RFC5812].  In particular, the reader is
  expected to be familiar with the following terms:

  o  Logical Functional Block (LFB)

  o  Forwarding Element (FE)

  o  Control Element (CE)

  o  ForCES Network Element (NE)

  o  FE Manager (FEM)

  o  CE Manager

  o  ForCES Protocol

  o  ForCES Protocol Layer (ForCES PL)

  o  ForCES Protocol Transport Mapping Layer (ForCES TML)





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2.  Use Cases

  In this section, we present sample use cases to illustrate the need
  and usefulness of the SM LFB.

  All use cases assume that an FE is already booted up and tied to at
  least one CE.  A control application can delete a CE from an FE's
  table of CEs, which instructs the FE to terminate the connection with
  that removed CE.  Likewise, the control application via the master CE
  instructs an FE to establish a ForCES association with a new CE by
  adding a particular CE to the FE's CEs table.

2.1.  High Availability

  Assume an FE associated to only one CE.  At runtime, a CE management
  application may request, for redundancy reasons, that an FE be
  associated to another CE as a backup.  To achieve this goal, the CE
  management application specifies the Control Element ID (CEID) of the
  new backup CE (to be uniquely identified within the NE) and the CE's
  IP address (IPv4 or IPv6).

2.2.  Scalability

  Assume an NE cluster that has FEs connected to multiple CEs, possibly
  in an active backup setup.  Assume that system analytics discover
  that the CE is becoming a bottleneck.  A new CE could be booted and
  some FEs moved to it.  To achieve this goal, the CE management
  application will first ask an FE to connect to a new CE and would
  then instruct that FE to change its master to the new CE as described
  in [RFC7121].

2.3.  Adding New Resources to an NE

  Assume a resource pooling setup with multiple FEs belonging to a
  resource pool all connected to a dormant resource pool CE.  An NE
  system manager by demand could move an FE from the resource pool to a
  working NE by asking it first to connect to a CE on the working NE
  and then asking it to disconnect from the resource pool manager CE.

2.4.  New LFB Class Installation

  A CE can learn, via the DynamicLFBLoading capability of the SM LFB,
  whether an FE is capable of loading new LFB classes.  Provided that
  the FE supports new LFB class loading, the CE can request a new LFB
  to be installed and supported by the FE.






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  To load an LFB class on an FE, the CE will have to provide the
  following parameters:

  o  LFB class - The LFB class ID

  o  LFB version - The version of the LFB class

  o  LFB class name - Optional, the LFB name

  o  Parameters - Optional parameters.  These parameters are
     implementation specific.  For example, in one implementation they
     may contain the path where the LFB class implementation resides.

  The parameters are fields that need to be described in documentation,
  depending on the implementation; one example is the location of the
  LFB class to be installed and/or mechanism to download it.  The exact
  detail of the location semantics is implementation specific and out
  of scope of this document.  However, this LFB library provides a
  placeholder, namely the SupportedParameters capability, which will
  host any standardized parameters.

  This document does not standardize these parameters.  It is expected
  that some future document will perform that task.  These parameters
  are placeholders for future use, in order not to redefine the LFB
  class versions each time.  They are simple strings that define the
  parameters supported by the LFB.  The CE is expected to read this
  capability in order to understand the parameters it can use.

2.5.  Logging Mechanism

  The SM LFB class also provides a useful log-level manipulation.
  Experience has proven that the CE may be required to increase or
  decrease the debug levels of parts of the FE, whether that be LFBs,
  portions of LFBs, or generic processing code (all called "modules").
  The module granularity is implementation specific and is not
  discussed in this document.  The debug levels are derived from the
  "syslog Message Severities" registry
  <http://www.iana.org/assignments/syslog-parameters> defined in
  [RFC3164].

2.6.  General-Purpose Attribute Definition

  Experience has shown that a generic attribute name-value pair is
  useful for describing configuration information.  This LFB class
  defines such a generic attribute name-value pair defined as a table
  of attribute name-value pair values.  The attribute name-value pair
  is implementation specific and at the moment there is nothing to
  standardize.  As an example, consider switches that have exactly the



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  same LFB classes and capabilities but need to be used in different
  roles.  A good example would be a switch that could be used either as
  Spine or Top-of-Rack (ToR) in data-center setups.  An attribute that
  defines the role could be retrieved from the FE, which will then
  dictate how it is controlled and configured.  However, as in the case
  of LFB class loading parameters, this LFB class library provides a
  placeholder, namely the SupportedArguments capability, which will
  host any standardized arguments.  This document does not standardize
  these parameters.  The CE is expected to read the SupportedArguments
  capability in order to know what attributes it can use.

3.  Applicability Statement

  Examples of SM usage include, but are not limited to, the following
  two usage scenarios.  These two scenarios are not implementation
  details, but rather depict how the SM class can be used to achieve
  the intended SM for manipulating the configuration of FEs.

3.1.  FE Integrated

  Only one instance of the SM LFB class can exist and is directly
  related to the FE.

3.2.  Virtual FEs

  In the case of the FE software that has hierarchical virtual FEs,
  multiple instances of the SM LFB class can exist, one per each
  virtual FE.

4.  SM Library

4.1.  Frame Definitions

  This LFB class does not define any frames.

















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4.2.  Data Type Definitions

  This library defines the following data types.

  +------------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
  | Data Type  | Type                                 | Synopsis      |
  | Name       |                                      |               |
  +------------+--------------------------------------+---------------+
  | loglevels  | An enumerated char-based atomic data | The possible  |
  |            | type.                                | debug log     |
  |            |                                      | levels.       |
  |            |                                      | Derived from  |
  |            |                                      | syslog.       |
  | LogRowType | A struct containing three            | The logging   |
  |            | components: the LogModule (string),  | module row.   |
  |            | the optional ModuleFilename          |               |
  |            | (string), and the optional           |               |
  |            | DebugLevel, which is one of the      |               |
  |            | enumerated loglevels.                |               |
  | CERow      | A struct that contains three         | A struct that |
  |            | components: the address family of    | defines the   |
  |            | the CE IP (uchar), the CE's IPs      | CE table row. |
  |            | (octetstring[16]), and the CE's ID   |               |
  |            | (uint32).                            |               |
  | LCRowtype  | A struct that contains four          | The LFB Class |
  |            | components: the LFB class ID         | Configuration |
  |            | (uint32), the LFB version            | Definition.   |
  |            | (string[8]), the optional LFB Name   |               |
  |            | (string), and the optional           |               |
  |            | Parameters (string).                 |               |
  | NameVal    | A struct that contains two           | Arbitrary     |
  |            | components: an attribute name        | Name Value    |
  |            | (string) and an attribute value      | struct.       |
  |            | (string).                            |               |
  +------------+--------------------------------------+---------------+

                             FEM Data Types

4.3.  Metadata Definitions

  This LFB does not define any metadata definitions.

4.4.  SM

  The Subsidiary Mechanism LFB is an LFB that standardizes
  configuration of the FE parameters.





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4.4.1.  Data Handling

  The SM LFB does not handle any packets.  Its function is to provide
  the configuration parameters to the CE to be updated at runtime.

4.4.2.  Components

  This LFB class has four components specified.

  The Debug component (ID 1) is a table to support changing of an FE's
  module debug levels.  Changes in an FE's debug table rows will alter
  the debug level of the corresponding module.

  The LFBLoad component (ID 2) is a table of LFB classes that the FE
  loads.  Adding new rows in this table instructs the FE to load new
  LFB classes, and removing rows will unload them when possible.  These
  two actions will, in effect, alter the SupportedLFBs capabilities
  table of FEObject LFB [RFC5812].  Each such row MUST provide (and is
  specified by this library) the LFB class ID.  Optionally, the LFB
  class ID version may be specified, and the FE MUST assume that
  version 1.0 is used when the version is unspecified.

  The AttributeValues component (ID 3) is the AttributeValues table, a
  generic attribute-value pair.

  The CEs (ID 4) is the table of runtime CEs we are asking the FE to be
  able to connect with.  By adding a row in this table, the CE
  instructs the FE to be able to connect with the specified CE.  By
  doing a delete on this table, the CE instructs the FE to terminate
  any connection with that CE.  How the FE interacts with the new CEs
  is dependent on the operations discussed in [RFC7121].

  It is worth noting that the generic attribute-value pairs, the
  LFBload parameters, and the module information are all strings.  To
  cope with string sizes, a CE application can extract that information
  from the component properties as defined in [RFC5812].

4.4.3.  Capabilities

  This LFB provides three capabilities.  The first, DynamicLFBLoading,
  specifies whether this FE supports dynamic loading of new LFB
  classes.  The second, SupportedParameters, is a placeholder and will
  store all the supported parameters for LFB class loading.  The final,
  SupportedAttributes, is also a placeholder and will store all the
  supported attributes for the attribute-value pair table.






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4.4.4.  Events

  This LFB has four events specified.

  Two events reflect CE additions and report to the CE whether an entry
  of the CEs information has been added or deleted.  In both cases, the
  event report constitutes the added or deleted row contents.

  The other two events reflect LFB class loading and notify whether an
  entry of the LFBLoad table is added or deleted.

5.  XML for SM LFB

  <LFBLibrary xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:forces:lfbmodel:1.1"
   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" provides="SM">
    <!-- XXX  -->
    <dataTypeDefs>
      <dataTypeDef>
        <name>loglevels</name>
        <synopsis>The possible debug log levels. Derived from syslog.
        </synopsis>
        <atomic>
          <baseType>char</baseType>
          <specialValues>
            <specialValue value="-1">
              <name>DEB_OFF</name>
              <synopsis> The logs are totally turned off </synopsis>
            </specialValue>
            <specialValue value="0">
              <name>DEB_EMERG</name>
              <synopsis> Emergency level </synopsis>
            </specialValue>
            <specialValue value="1">
              <name>DEB_ALERT</name>
              <synopsis> Alert level </synopsis>
            </specialValue>
            <specialValue value="2">
              <name>DEB_CRIT</name>
              <synopsis> Critical level </synopsis>
            </specialValue>
            <specialValue value="3">
              <name>DEB_ERR</name>
              <synopsis> error level </synopsis>
            </specialValue>
            <specialValue value="4">
              <name>DEB_WARNING</name>
              <synopsis> warning level </synopsis>
            </specialValue>



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            <specialValue value="5">
              <name>DEB_NOTICE</name>
              <synopsis>Notice level </synopsis>
            </specialValue>
            <specialValue value="6">
              <name>DEB_INFO</name>
              <synopsis>Info level </synopsis>
            </specialValue>
            <specialValue value="7">
              <name>DEB_DEBUG</name>
              <synopsis>Debug level </synopsis>
            </specialValue>
          </specialValues>
        </atomic>
      </dataTypeDef>
      <dataTypeDef>
        <name>LogRowtype</name>
        <synopsis>The logging module row</synopsis>
        <struct>
          <component componentID="1">
            <name>lmodule</name>
            <synopsis>The LOG Module Name</synopsis>
            <typeRef>string</typeRef>
          </component>
          <component componentID="2">
            <name>filename</name>
            <synopsis>The Module File Name</synopsis>
            <optional/>
            <typeRef>string</typeRef>
          </component>
          <component componentID="3">
            <name>deblvl</name>
            <synopsis>debug level</synopsis>
            <optional/>
            <typeRef>loglevels</typeRef>
          </component>
        </struct>
      </dataTypeDef>
      <dataTypeDef>
        <name>CERow</name>
        <synopsis>The CE Table Row</synopsis>
        <struct>
          <component componentID="1">
            <name>AddressFamily</name>
            <synopsis>The address family</synopsis>
            <atomic>
              <baseType>uchar</baseType>
              <specialValues>



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                <specialValue value="2">
                  <name>IFA_AF_INET</name>
                  <synopsis>IPv4</synopsis>
                </specialValue>
                <specialValue value="10">
                  <name>IFA_AF_INET6</name>
                  <synopsis>IPv6</synopsis>
                </specialValue>
              </specialValues>
            </atomic>
          </component>
          <component componentID="2">
            <name>CEIP</name>
            <synopsis>CE ip v4 or v6(selected by family)</synopsis>
            <typeRef>octetstring[16]</typeRef>
          </component>
          <component componentID="3">
            <name>CEID</name>
            <synopsis>The CE ID</synopsis>
            <optional/>
            <typeRef>uint32</typeRef>
          </component>
        </struct>
      </dataTypeDef>
      <dataTypeDef>
        <name>LCRowtype</name>
        <synopsis>The LFB Class Configuration Definition</synopsis>
        <struct>
          <component componentID="1">
            <name>LFBClassID</name>
            <synopsis>The LFB Class ID</synopsis>
            <typeRef>uint32</typeRef>
          </component>
          <component componentID="2">
            <name>LFBVersion</name>
            <synopsis>The LFB Class Version</synopsis>
            <optional/>
            <typeRef>string</typeRef>
          </component>
          <component componentID="3">
            <name>LFBName</name>
            <synopsis>The LFB Class Name</synopsis>
            <optional/>
            <typeRef>string</typeRef>
          </component>
          <component componentID="4">
            <name>Parameters</name>
            <synopsis>Optional parameters such as where the LFB is



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            located</synopsis>
            <optional/>
            <typeRef>string</typeRef>
          </component>
        </struct>
      </dataTypeDef>
      <dataTypeDef>
        <name>NameVal</name>
        <synopsis>Arbitrary Name Value struct</synopsis>
        <struct>
          <component componentID="1">
            <name>AttrName</name>
            <synopsis>The Attribute Name</synopsis>
            <typeRef>string</typeRef>
          </component>
          <component componentID="2">
            <name>AttrVal</name>
            <synopsis>The Attribute Value</synopsis>
            <typeRef>string</typeRef>
          </component>
        </struct>
      </dataTypeDef>
    </dataTypeDefs>
    <LFBClassDefs>
      <LFBClassDef LFBClassID="19">
        <name>SM</name>
        <synopsis>
           The Subsidiary Management LFB
        </synopsis>
        <version>1.0</version>
        <components>
          <component componentID="1" access="read-write">
            <name>Debug</name>
            <synopsis>A table to support changing of all debug levels
            </synopsis>
            <array type="variable-size">
              <typeRef>LogRowtype</typeRef>
            </array>
          </component>
          <component componentID="2" access="write-only">
            <name>LFBLoad</name>
            <synopsis>An LFB Class to Load</synopsis>
            <array type="variable-size">
              <typeRef>LCRowtype</typeRef>
            </array>
          </component>
          <component componentID="3" access="read-write">
            <name>AttributeValues</name>



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            <synopsis>Table of general purpose SM attribute Values
            </synopsis>
            <array type="variable-size">
              <typeRef>NameVal</typeRef>
            </array>
          </component>
          <component componentID="4" access="write-only">
            <name>CEs</name>
            <synopsis>Table of CEs we are asking the FE to associate
             with</synopsis>
            <array type="variable-size">
              <typeRef>CERow</typeRef>
            </array>
          </component>
        </components>
        <!---->
        <capabilities>
          <capability componentID="10">
            <name>DynamicLFBLoading</name>
           <synopsis>This capability specifies whether this FE supports
             dynamic loading of new LFBs</synopsis>
            <typeRef>boolean</typeRef>
          </capability>
          <capability componentID="11">
            <name>SupportedParameters</name>
            <synopsis>This capability contains all the supported
             parameters</synopsis>
            <array type="variable-size">
              <typeRef>string</typeRef>
            </array>
          </capability>
          <capability componentID="12">
            <name>SupportedAttributes</name>
            <synopsis>This capability contains all the supported
             attributes names</synopsis>
            <array type="variable-size">
              <typeRef>string</typeRef>
            </array>
          </capability>
        </capabilities>
        <events baseID="20">
          <event eventID="1">
            <name>CEAdded</name>
            <synopsis>An CE has been added</synopsis>
            <eventTarget>
              <eventField>CEs</eventField>
            </eventTarget>
            <eventCreated/>



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            <eventReports>
              <eventReport>
                <eventField>CEs</eventField>
                <eventSubscript>_CEIDsrowid_</eventSubscript>
              </eventReport>
            </eventReports>
          </event>
          <event eventID="2">
            <name>CEDeleted</name>
            <synopsis>An CE has been deleted</synopsis>
            <eventTarget>
              <eventField>CEs</eventField>
              <eventSubscript>_CEIDsrowid_</eventSubscript>
            </eventTarget>
            <eventDeleted/>
            <eventReports>
              <eventReport>
                <eventField>CEs</eventField>
                <eventSubscript>_CEIDsrowid_</eventSubscript>
              </eventReport>
            </eventReports>
          </event>
          <event eventID="3">
            <name>LFBLoaded</name>
            <synopsis>An LFB has been loaded</synopsis>
            <eventTarget>
              <eventField>LFBLoad</eventField>
            </eventTarget>
            <eventCreated/>
            <eventReports>
              <eventReport>
                <eventField>LFBLoad</eventField>
                <eventSubscript>_LFBLoadrowid_</eventSubscript>
              </eventReport>
            </eventReports>
          </event>
          <event eventID="4">
            <name>LFBUnloaded</name>
            <synopsis>An CE has been unloaded</synopsis>
            <eventTarget>
              <eventField>LFBLoad</eventField>
              <eventSubscript>_LFBLoadrowid_</eventSubscript>
            </eventTarget>
            <eventDeleted/>
            <eventReports>
              <eventReport>
                <eventField>LFBLoad</eventField>
                <eventSubscript>_LFBLoadrowid_</eventSubscript>



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              </eventReport>
            </eventReports>
          </event>
        </events>
      </LFBClassDef>
    </LFBClassDefs>
  </LFBLibrary>

                      Figure 2: FEM XML LFB Library

6.  Security Considerations

  This document does not alter the ForCES model [RFC5812] or the ForCES
  protocol [RFC5810].  As such, it has no impact on their security
  considerations.  This document simply defines the operational
  parameters and capabilities of an LFB that manage the SM for loading
  LFBs and create new connections between FEs and CEs.

  On the issue of trust, a designer should take into account that the
  CE that creates new connections to CEs is either:

  o  The FE manager that is responsible for managing the FEs, or

  o  An already associated CE

  In both of these cases, the entity making the connections should
  already be trusted to perform such activities.  If the entity making
  the connections is faulty, rogue, or hacked, there is no way for the
  FE to know this, and it will perform any action that the CE requests.
  Therefore, this document does not attempt to analyze the security
  issues that may arise from misuse of the SM LFB.  Any such issues, if
  they exist, and mitigation strategies are for the designers of the
  particular SM implementation, not the general mechanism.

  The reader is also referred to the ForCES framework [RFC3746]
  document, particularly Section 8, for an analysis of potential
  threats introduced by ForCES and how the ForCES architecture
  addresses them.













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RFC 7729            ForCES LFB Subsidiary Management       December 2015


7.  IANA Considerations

7.1.  LFB Class Names and LFB Class Identifiers

  LFB classes defined by this document belong to LFBs defined by
  Standards Track RFCs.  The registration procedure is Standards Action
  for the range 0 to 65535 and First Come First Served with any
  publicly available specification for identifiers over 65535
  [RFC5226].  This specification registers the following LFB class name
  and LFB class identifier in the "Logical Functional Block (LFB) Class
  Names and Class Identifiers" registry:

  +------------+--------+---------+-----------------------+-----------+
  | LFB Class  |  LFB   |   LFB   |      Description      | Reference |
  | Identifier | Class  | Version |                       |           |
  |            |  Name  |         |                       |           |
  +------------+--------+---------+-----------------------+-----------+
  |     19     |   SM   |   1.0   |      An SM LFB to     |  RFC 7729 |
  |            |        |         |      standardize      |   (this   |
  |            |        |         | subsidiary management | document) |
  |            |        |         |   for ForCES Network  |           |
  |            |        |         |        Elements       |           |
  +------------+--------+---------+-----------------------+-----------+

     Logical Functional Block (LFB) Class Name and Class Identifier

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

  [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
             Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
             DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
             <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

  [RFC5810]  Doria, A., Ed., Hadi Salim, J., Ed., Haas, R., Ed.,
             Khosravi, H., Ed., Wang, W., Ed., Dong, L., Gopal, R., and
             J. Halpern, "Forwarding and Control Element Separation
             (ForCES) Protocol Specification", RFC 5810,
             DOI 10.17487/RFC5810, March 2010,
             <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5810>.

  [RFC5812]  Halpern, J. and J. Hadi Salim, "Forwarding and Control
             Element Separation (ForCES) Forwarding Element Model",
             RFC 5812, DOI 10.17487/RFC5812, March 2010,
             <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5812>.





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RFC 7729            ForCES LFB Subsidiary Management       December 2015


  [RFC7121]  Ogawa, K., Wang, W., Haleplidis, E., and J. Hadi Salim,
             "High Availability within a Forwarding and Control Element
             Separation (ForCES) Network Element", RFC 7121,
             DOI 10.17487/RFC7121, February 2014,
             <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7121>.

8.2.  Informative References

  [RFC3164]  Lonvick, C., "The BSD Syslog Protocol", RFC 3164,
             DOI 10.17487/RFC3164, August 2001,
             <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3164>.

  [RFC3654]  Khosravi, H., Ed. and T. Anderson, Ed., "Requirements for
             Separation of IP Control and Forwarding", RFC 3654,
             DOI 10.17487/RFC3654, November 2003,
             <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3654>.

  [RFC3746]  Yang, L., Dantu, R., Anderson, T., and R. Gopal,
             "Forwarding and Control Element Separation (ForCES)
             Framework", RFC 3746, DOI 10.17487/RFC3746, April 2004,
             <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3746>.

  [RFC5226]  Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
             IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226,
             DOI 10.17487/RFC5226, May 2008,
             <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5226>.

























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Acknowledgments

  The authors would like to thank Damascene Joachimpillai, Joel
  Halpern, Chuanhuang Li, and many others for their discussions and
  support.

  The authors are grateful to Joel Halpern for shepherding this
  document.  The authors would also like to thank Alia Atlas for taking
  on the role of sponsoring this document.  Finally, thanks to Juergen
  Schoenwaelder for his operational directorate's review and Alexey
  Melnikov for his security review.

Authors' Addresses

  Bhumip Khasnabish
  ZTE TX, Inc.
  55 Madison Avenue, Suite 160
  Morristown, New Jersey  07960
  United States

  Phone: +001-781-752-8003
  Email: [email protected], [email protected]
  URI:   http://tinyurl.com/bhumip/


  Evangelos Haleplidis
  University of Patras
  Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  Patras  26500
  Greece

  Email: [email protected]


  Jamal Hadi Salim (editor)
  Mojatatu Networks
  Suite 200, 15 Fitzgerald Road
  Ottawa, Ontario  K2H 9G1
  Canada

  Email: [email protected]










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