Subject: [ANCP] Enhanced text on ANCP Accounting/Reporting (for ANCP Framework)

From: Francois Le Faucheur <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:22:32 +0100

Hello,

The first part of this message proposes text changes in order to  
bring the accounting related text in line with recent discussions on  
Grey/White lists and Spontaneous Admission Response.

The second part of this message proposes additional text to support a  
new Reporting capability whereby the NAS can query what multicast  
flows are currently being replicated on which AN ports (in particular  
for troubleshooting/monitoring purposes).

We would like to solicit feedback on those two.

Francois & Roberta

=============================================================
text changes to bring the ANCP accounting text in line with recent  
discussions on Grey/White lists and Spontaneous Admission Response:

in Section "3.4.3 Multicast Accounting"

replace:
"
    o  The AN keeps track of when replication starts or stops, and
       reports this information to the NAS for further processing.  In
       this case, ANCP can be used to send the information from the  
AN to
       the NAS.  This can be done with the Information Report message.
       The NAS can then generate the appropriate time and/or volume
       accounting information per Access Loop and per multicast flow, to
       be sent to the accounting system.  The ANCP requirements to
       support this approach are specified in this document.
"
by
"
    o  The AN keeps track of when replication for a given multicast flow
starts or stops and then the AN can convey time and/or volume  
information to
the NAS for further processing. This approach relies on ANCP and is  
discussed below.

The NAS specifies if accounting is needed for a particular multicast  
flow; for Multicast flows whose replication is controlled by the NAS  
(eg those belonging to the Grey list) this can be conveyed in the ANCP
Admission Response message sent from NAS to AN. For Multicast
flows whose replication is controlled by the AN via the White list,  
the AN starts the multicast replication
without querying the NAS and thus the NAS does not send Admission  
Response
message; in this case the need for accounting is conveyed by the NAS  
in the White
list during the White list provisioning phase.

The AN communicates accounting information to the NAS using the  
Information Report message.
In case of very fast channel changes, in order to reduce the number  
of Information Report
messages sent from the AN to the NAS to convey accounting  
information, the AN can consolidate multiple sets of accounting  
information inside a single ANCP message.
Upon receiving the Accounting information from the AN, the NAS can
then generate the appropriate time and/or volume accounting information
per Access port and per multicast flow, to be sent to the accounting
system.

The ANCP requirements to support this use case are specified below in  
this
document.
"

in Section 4.2
Replace
" The ANCP MUST allow the NAS to indicate to the AN when multicast
       accounting information is required for a multicast flow on a
       particular Access Port. "

by
" The ANCP MUST allow the NAS to indicate to the AN when multicast
accounting is needed for a multicast flow on a particular Access  
Port. This information needs to be conveyed inside Admission Response  
for multicast flows whose replication is controlled by NAS, and be  
conveyed inside the White list for multicast flows whose replication  
is controlled by AN"

in Section 4.7.6
Replace:
"The AN must support using ANCP to send information to the NAS
       about when replication starts/stops for the port/multicast flow."
by
"When Accounting is needed for a multicast flow, the AN MUST support  
using
ANCP to send Information Report to the NAS whenever replication
starts/stops for the port/multicast flow. The accounting information  
sent on replication stop
MUST indicate the duration of replication time for a multicast flow  
and the number of replicated octects/packets for a
port/multicast flow.
"

in Section 4.8.6
Replace:
"The NAS must support using ANCP to indicate to the AN whether or
       not multicast accounting information is required for a multicast
       flow on a particular Access Port."
by
"The NAS must support using ANCP to indicate to the AN (in White LIst  
and in Admission Response) whether multicast accounting information  
is required for a multicast
       flow on a particular Access Port and what type ."

replace:
"   The NAS must support using ANCP to receive information about when
       replication starts/stops for a multicast flow on a particular
       Access Port."
by
"   o  The NAS must support using ANCP to receive accounting  
information for a multicast flow on a particular
       Access Port."

=========================================================
additional text to support a Reporting capability whereby the NAS can  
query what multicast flow is current being replicated on which AN  
ports (in particular for troubleshooting/monitoring purposes).

replace:
"3.4.3 Multicast Accounting"
by
"3.4.3 Multicast Accounting and Reporting"

At the end of section 3.4,3, add the following:
"
It is desirable for a NAS to have the capability to asynchronously query
the AN to obtain an instantaneous report status related to multicast
flows currently replicated by the AN. Such a reporting functionality
could be useful for troubleshooting and monitoring purposes.
Three different types of report-query from NAS to AN can be identified:
o "Port Report-Query" in which the NAS queries the AN to know which
flows are currently active on a specific port;
o "Multicast Flow Report-Query" in which the NAS queries the AN to know
on which ports the specified multicast flow is currently active;
o "AN global Report-Query" in which the NAS queries the AN to know all
multicast flows currently active on all AN ports.
"

In section 4.2, add the following:
" o   The ANCP MUST support the ability for the NAS to query the AN,  
and to obtain
a reply, about what multicast flows are currently replicated on a  
given AN port, what AN ports are currently sent replication for a  
given multicast flow, or about what multicast flows are currently  
replicated on every AN port."

In section 4.7.6, add the following:
"
o On receiving a "Port Report-Query" the AN must reply to the
NAS  providing the list of active multicast flows on that specific port
and how long each flow has been replicated since the first IGMP
membership report for that group was received

o On receiving a " Multicast Flow Report-Query " the AN must
reply to the NAS providing the list of ports where this multicast flow
is currently replicated and how long that flow has been replicated on  
each
port since the first IGMP membership report for that group was received.

o On receiving a " AN global Report-Query " the AN must reply
to the NAS  providing the list of all multicast flows currently
replicated on each port and  how long each flow has been replicated
since the first IGMP membership report for that group was received.
"

In section 4.8.6, add the following:
"
  o  The NAS must support using ANCP to query the AN to know which flows
are currently active on a specific port;
   o The NAS must support using ANCP to query the AN to know on which
ports a specific multicast flow is currently active;
o The NAS must support using ANCP to query the AN to know all multicast
flows currently active on all AN ports.
"

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