Subject: [IPFIX] Comments/suggestions on IPFIX Mediators Drafts -01

From: Nevil Brownlee <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:43:57 +1300

Hi all:

I've at last had time to catch up with the 'Problem Statement'
and 'Framework' drafts for IPFIX mediators.  I have a longish
list of 'editorial' suggestions (see below), and one cautious
comment ..

Both these drafts have Informative references to three drafts
(flow anonymisation, aggregation, and flow selection techniques).
But Internet Drafts are "works in progress," and are supposed
to have short lifetimes - which makes them unsuitable as references
in an RFC.

I agree that all three of these drafts add useful information
to the current Mediators drafts; I wonder whether their 'important
ideas' material could be moved into the Mediators drafts?  That
would be better, I feel, than trying to refer to them as Internet
Drafts.

Cheers, Nevil

Now for the 'editorial' suggestions:
[ s/old/new/  means "substitute new for old text,"
   ?? means "if you think this would be better" ]

Problem Statement Draft:

Page 6, definition of IPFIX Mediation
   current:
       IPFIX Mediation is a function located between Exporting Processes
       and Collecting Processes.  The IPFIX Mediation can be included in
       any IPFIX Devices.  The IPFIX Mediation consists of a set of some
       of functions:

       *  rerouting input Flow Records/Packet Reports to a appropriate
          Collecting Process
   suggested:
       IPFIX Mediation is a function located between Exporting Processes
       and Collecting Processes.  IPFIX Mediation can be included in
       any IPFIX Devices.  IPFIX Mediation consists of a set of some
       of functions:

       *  rerouting input Flow Records/Packet Reports to ab appropriate
          Collecting Process

   current:
       *  changing a transport protocol which carries IPFIX Messages
   suggested:
       *  changing the transport protocol which carries IPFIX Messages

Page 7, definition of Flow-Based Collector Selection
   current:
       Element and then selects Collector for each input Flow Record/
   suggested:
       Element and then selects the Collector(s) for each input Flow Record/

Page 7, definition of IPFIX Proxy
   current:
       An IPFIX Proxy is an IPFIX Mediator that receives IPFIX Messages
       from Original Exporter, and sends IPFIX Messages to one or more
       Collectors.  It may alter a part of IPFIX Message in order to
       comply with IPFIX Protocol specifications.  It may also change
       type of transport protocol, such as UDP, TCP, SCTP and PR-SCTP,
       and convert a legacy protocol message to an IPFIX Message, if
       necessary.
   suggested:
       An IPFIX Proxy is an IPFIX Mediator that receives IPFIX Messages
       from an Original Exporter, and sends IPFIX Messages to one or more
       Collectors.  It may alter a part of an IPFIX Message in order to
       comply with IPFIX Protocol specifications.  It may also change
       the Message's transport protocol, such as UDP, TCP, SCTP and PR-SCTP,
       and may convert a legacy protocol message to an IPFIX Message if
       necessary.

Page 8, definition of IPFIX Masquerading Proxy
   current:
       An IPFIX Masquerading Proxy is an IPFIX Mediator that screens out
       a part of data of input Flow Records/Packet Reports according to
   suggested:
       An IPFIX Masquerading Proxy is an IPFIX Mediator that screens out
       a part of the data in input Flow Records/Packet Reports according to

Page 9, 3.2 Data Retention
   Are there EU standards we could reference to back up this section?

Page 10, section 3.4
   current:
    Recently, several networks seem to have shifted towards integrated
    networks, such as the Internet and MPLS, which includes IPv4, IPv6,
    and VPN traffic.  Flow Records/Packet Reports of these types need to
   suggested:
    Recently, several networks seem to have shifted towards 'integrated'
    technologies such as Internet Protocols and MPLS (which includes 
IPv4, IPv6,
    and VPN traffic).  Flow Records/Packet Reports of these types need to

   current:
    identification data, the RD (Route Distinguisher), ingress IF,
   suggested:
    identification data, the RD (Route Distinguisher), ingress interface,

Page 12, section 4
   s/networks can even be increased/networks could be increased/  ??

   current:
    will increase by approximately 50% per year according to [TRAFGRW].
   suggested:
    is likely to increase by approximately 50% per year [TRAFGRW].

    s\kFlows/s\kFlow/s\

Page 13, section 4.2.1
    s/one way to this/one way to do this/
    s/There is an application/Operators could use one application/

Page 14: section 4.4
    s/aggregation for one or more/aggregation of one or more/

   current:
    o  Space Composition within one Exporter
       In that case, the spatial range is within one Exporters.  For
       example, the Flow Records observed at physical interfaces which
       belong to virtual interface by link aggregation can be composed to
       one Flow Records.
    o  Space Composition within some Exporters
       In that case, the spatial range consists of some different
       Exporters.  For example, the Flow Records observed at same domain,
       such as west area and east area of an ISP network, can be composed
       to one Flow Records.
   suggested:
    o  Space Composition within one Exporter
       In that case, the spatial range is within one Exporter.  For
       example, the Flow Records observed at physical interfaces which
       belong to a virtual interface by link aggregation can be composed 
into
       one-area Flow Records.
    o  Space Composition within several Exporters
       In that case, the spatial range consists of several different
       Exporters.  For example, Flow Records observed in the same domain,
       such as west area and east area of an ISP network, can be composed
       into one-area Flow Records.

   s/exported as merging data/exported as merged data/

Page 16, section 5.5
   s/relayed to single/relayed to a single/
   s/IPFIX Mediators shuts down/IPFIX Mediator shuts down/

Framework Draft

Section 2: Check that definitions match those in Problem Statement
   after 'editing' changes are made!

Page 9:  s/[*]/[*Applications]  ??

Page 10, Figure B:  s/Process (es)/Process(es)/  3 times

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
  Nevil Brownlee                    Computer Science Department | ITS
  Phone: +64 9 373 7599 x88941             The University of Auckland
  FAX: +64 9 373 7453   Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand

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