Subject: Framework PIB questions

From: NOISETTE Yoann FTRD/DMI/CAE <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 11:24:15 +0100

Hi,

Getting recently a new look at the framework PIB, I have some questions
about it :

1) beside the case of synchronisation, when does the PEP send its role
combinations, or, should I ask, how many times ? 

draft-ietf-rap-frameworkpib-04.txt states that 
>>"The PEP reports all its role combinations to the PDP in the initial COPS
request (REQ) message ..."

How must we understand "initial" ? It it for the first request for a given
Handle (leading the PEP to send its role combos for every Request State) or
the first request within the context of a given Client-Type (leading the PEP
to send its roles once within the context of a given Client-Open...)... or
?? 
My first understanding was the PEP sends its roles once per Request-State
context as there is a PIB instance per context. However, I am wondering why
it should proceed so, as once the PDP has the device description (roles,
limitations...), it can use it for all following Request-States. Or is there
a good reason for sending the roles each time (leading however to generating
more traffic) ?  I'm a bit confused...

2) in the given example about roles (§3.1.1), it is assumed that roles can
be changed by the system administrator. I understand this is done directly
on the device embedding the PEP. What are the other means to change the
roles ? Can it be done remotely ? Using COPS ? (this implies that changes
can be applied on a per-interface basis leading each interface to have a
specific role combination equivalent to the SNMP ifIndex). 

3) assuming I have two Request-States (A and B) for a given CT, I have two
non-overlapping PIB instances, one for each RS.
draft-ietf-rap-frameworkpib-04.txt says that

>> 	§ 5.1 "PIB Incarnation Table 
>>	"This table contains exactly one row (corresponding to one PRI) per
context."
>>
>>	§ 6 "-- PIB Incarnation Table   
>>   frwkPibIncarnationTable OBJECT-TYPE 
>>       SYNTAX         SEQUENCE OF FrwkPibIncarnationEntry 
>>       PIB-ACCESS     install-notify  
>>       STATUS         current 
>>       DESCRIPTION 
>>           "This class contains a single provisioning instance per
installed context... "

Does "per context" refers to a COPS context (i.e. a Request-State) meaning
that each incarnation table has one entry for each Request-State opened for
the given CT ? In my example, this would mean the incarnation table
contained in the PIB associated with Request-State A contains informations
about Request-State A and Request-State B... I don't think this approach is
right, could someone confirm this ? 
I'd rather see one incarnation table per PIB instance, containing the
informations for the RS to which this PIB instance is attached...

Thanks for your help.

Yoann

[email-masked]

---

From: "Iliff, Tina" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 16:11:36 +0000

Yoann,

My answers are embedded below preceded by tli>>

Tina Iliff

-----Original Message-----
From: NOISETTE Yoann FTRD/DMI/CAE
[mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 4:24 AM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Framework PIB questions

Hi,

1) beside the case of synchronisation, when does the PEP send its role
combinations, or, should I ask, how many times ? 
tli>>  Each time a PEP sends a REQ it will include the Role Combination in
order to identify the interface for which the configuratio request applies
draft-ietf-rap-frameworkpib-04.txt states that 

How must we understand "initial" ? It it for the first request for a given
Handle (leading the PEP to send its role combos for every Request State) or
the first request within the context of a given Client-Type (leading the PEP
to send its roles once within the context of a given Client-Open...)... or
?? 
tili>>  Initial implies the first Request which the PEP sends after an OPN
(i.e. first REQ per Client-Type)
My first understanding was the PEP sends its roles once per Request-State
context as there is a PIB instance per context. However, I am wondering why
it should proceed so, as once the PDP has the device description (roles,
limitations...), it can use it for all following Request-States. Or is there
a good reason for sending the roles each time (leading however to generating
more traffic) ?  I'm a bit confused...
tli>> You do have a good point...once the PDP has received the Role
Combination once then it may correlate the Role Combination to a Handle and
just use the Handle when it receives further re-requests
2) in the given example about roles (§3.1.1), it is assumed that roles can
be changed by the system administrator. I understand this is done directly
on the device embedding the PEP. What are the other means to change the
roles ? Can it be done remotely ? Using COPS ? (this implies that changes
can be applied on a per-interface basis leading each interface to have a
specific role combination equivalent to the SNMP ifIndex). 

context."
installed context... "

tli>>  Yes, this table will contain an entry for each Request-State
Thanks for your help.

Yoann