Subject: [DMM] FPC Policy - Working Session & Concepts

From: "Bertz, Lyle T [CTO]" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2018 17:14:57 +0000

All,

For tomorrow we'll start the work on Policy.

Concepts.

Policy structure (Policy, Rule, Descriptor and Action) definitions are templates.   They may be complete or require further complementary information, referred to as Settings, to complete them.  Indexed (given a key) structures are referenceable and reusable.

Settings may be provided when one template re-uses another, e.g. when a Policy (template) references a Rule (template), but the model currently limits adding complementary settings to a few key structures in order to reduce system complexity.  Otherwise, the model would look like Policy references Rule with some Settings which references a Descriptor with some Settings and also an Action with some Settings.

Policies may be referenced when creating a Context which indicates that the Client would use a pre-configured policy.  However, it is not unusual for the Client to acquire from a Policy Decision Point a dynamically constructed policy (dynamic policy) and request its installation at the time of Context creation.  What is most likely, however, it is that a Context is modified or is created because of a policy based service request, i.e. usually one that requires Quality of Service such as Voice.   Dynamic policies are *highly customized* as they are often negotiated between endpoints using a protocol such as SDP within a SIP control plane.  As such, these policies are not reusable and effectively disappear when the associated Context is removed.

It is hoped but not guaranteed that the application of Settings will reduce the probability of needing a dynamic policy.   Hence, dynamic policies cannot be dismissed in the architecture.

Complementary settings are provided for DPNs, Installed DPN policies, Interfaces and their protocols as well as Contexts.  Note, we will not discuss in detail these elements but focus on the Policy Information model first.  Other locations may be specified depending upon the outcome of the final draft.

The goal of the system is to ensure that the DPN has sufficient information at the time of packet processing to carry out policy enforcement.

We'll discuss these concepts and details tomorrow.

Lyle

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