RTGWG N. Zhang, Ed. Internet-Draft S. Zhang, Ed. Intended status: Standards Track X. Yi, Ed. Expires: 9 January 2025 China Unicom H. Shi Huawei 8 July 2024 Deep Collaboration between Application and Network draft-zhang-rtgwg-collaboration-app-net-00 Abstract This document analyzes the necessity of deep collaboration between applications and networks. It discusses the problems, use cases, and requirements for bidirectional awareness between applications and networks. Status of This Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on 9 January 2025. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2024 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. Zhang, et al. Expires 9 January 2025 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Deep Collaboration between APP and NET July 2024 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://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 Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Problem statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3.1. Awareness of network by application . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3.2. Awareness of application by network . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4. Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4.1. High-speed IoV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4.2. Other scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5. Requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5.1. The ability of network awareness by application . . . . . 4 5.1.1. Accurate measurement of network indicators . . . . . 4 5.1.2. Cross cloud measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5.1.3. Obtaining of measured network indicators by application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5.2. The ability of application awareness by network . . . . . 5 5.2.1. Fine grained awareness of application requirements . 5 5.2.2. Computing status awareness of server applications . . 5 6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1. Introduction In the digital age, users have increasingly high expectations for application services, seeking smooth, stable, and high-quality experiences anytime and anywhere. This growing demand has led to the emergence of new service scenarios, such as VR/AR and IoV, which have higher and differentiated requirements for both network and application services. These emerging services have also driven the rapid development of technologies like cloud computing and big data. As the scale of network and computing resources expands, so does resource consumption. Currently, applications and networks operate independently and are unable to interact to ensure flexible and efficient resource scheduling. Deep collaboration between Zhang, et al. Expires 9 January 2025 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Deep Collaboration between APP and NET July 2024 applications and networks allows for the accurate acquisition of application and network requirements and statuses through mutual awareness. This enables dynamic adjustment of resource allocation and scheduling strategies, leading to efficient utilization of computing and network resources. Ultimately, users benefit from the best possible service experience. As technology advances and service scenarios expand, the importance of deep collaboration between applications and networks will only grow. 2. Conventions and Definitions The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 RFC2119 [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here. Abbreviations and definitions used in this document: *IOAM: In Situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance *IFIT: In-situ Flow Information Telemetry. *TWAMP: Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol *quic: A transport protocal. *APN: Application-aware Networking *CATS: Computing-Aware Traffic Steering 3. Problem statement User Server +-----+ /-------\ +-----+ |App x| / \ |App x| | |<-->| network |<-->| | |App y| \ / |App y| +-----+ \-------/ +-----+ Deep collaboration between applications and networks must address two main issues: 1.The precise awareness of network status by applications. 2.The awareness of application requirements and status by networks. This bidirectional awareness enhances application stability and user experience while improving the efficiency of network and computing resource utilization. 3.1. Awareness of network by application Applications need to monitor network indicators, such as bandwidth, delay, and packet loss, in real-time to dynamically adjust data transmission policies. This helps save network resources and ensures service continuity and efficiency. 3.2. Awareness of application by network To intelligently allocate network resources and schedule computing resources, networks need to understand the resource requirements of different user applications and be aware of application statuses on computing servers. This enables the network to provide differentiated service guarantees for various applications. Zhang, et al. Expires 9 January 2025 [Page 3] Internet-Draft Deep Collaboration between APP and NET July 2024 4. Use Cases 4.1. High-speed IoV In high-speed Internet of Vehicles (IoV), vehicles like cars, trains, and subways need to communicate with other vehicles, infrastructure, or cloud services to run onboard applications. These applications fall into two categories: 1.Applications affecting driving, such as autonomous driving, remote control, and intelligent driving services, which require extremely low network delay for quick judgments and responses. Any delay could lead to serious accidents. 2.Applications unrelated to driving, such as voice communications, streaming media, and other entertainment services. The diverse applications in high- speed IoV have complex requirements for network and computing. Therefore, deep collaboration between the network and applications is essential for efficient and flexible scheduling of computing and network resources. 4.2. Other scenarios TBD 5. Requirement 5.1. The ability of network awareness by application Applications cannot directly monitor network status but require the network to accurately measure and communicate network indicators. 5.1.1. Accurate measurement of network indicators Network status measurement can be achieved in two ways: 1.Directly marking the real service message or embedding measurement information in it, as with IOAM [RFC9197] and IFIT [I-D.song-opsawg-ifit-framework]. 2.Indirectly simulating the service message and periodically reporting measurement information, as with TWAMP. The first method can reflect network indicators such as delay, packet loss, and jitter in real-time, actively detecting service failures. 5.1.2. Cross cloud measurement In cross cloud scenarios, performance testing of traffic between cloud is required. Zhang, et al. Expires 9 January 2025 [Page 4] Internet-Draft Deep Collaboration between APP and NET July 2024 5.1.3. Obtaining of measured network indicators by application To enable application awareness of measurement information, the measurement data obtained by the receiver needs to be sent back to the sender. [I-D.gao-quic-network-awareness-ack] defines a QUIC ACK frame format to return network indicators to the sender. 5.2. The ability of application awareness by network Network awareness of applications includes understanding user application requirements and server application statuses to provide the best user services. 5.2.1. Fine grained awareness of application requirements Traditional methods of application awareness involve application recognition and labeling. Application recognition identifies the application to which the traffic belongs, while labeling marks the service requirements of the traffic. However, these methods lack precision. [I-D.li-rtgwg-apn-framework] defines an APN framework that carries application-aware information, including APN ID and/or APN parameters, in packets. This facilitates service provisioning, fine-grained traffic steering, and network resource adjustment. 5.2.2. Computing status awareness of server applications The network needs to be aware of the computing status of server applications, such as computing capability and load, to guide traffic to the optimal computing service node. The CATS group has conducted in-depth research on this issue. [I-D.ietf-cats-framework] and [I-D.yi-cats-hybrid-solution] define several frameworks for computing awareness, while [I-D.shi-cats-analysis-of-metric-distribution] discusses methods for distributing computing status information. 6. Security Considerations TBD 7. IANA Considerations TBD 8. References 8.1. Normative References Zhang, et al. Expires 9 January 2025 [Page 5] Internet-Draft Deep Collaboration between APP and NET July 2024 [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997, . [RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, May 2017, . 8.2. Informative References [RFC9197] Brockners, F., Ed., Bhandari, S., Ed., and T. Mizrahi, Ed., "Data Fields for In Situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (IOAM)", RFC 9197, DOI 10.17487/RFC9197, May 2022, . [I-D.song-opsawg-ifit-framework] Song, H., Qin, F., Chen, H., Jin, J., and J. Shin, "Framework for In-situ Flow Information Telemetry", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-song-opsawg-ifit- framework-21, 23 October 2023, . [I-D.yi-cats-hybrid-solution] Yi, X., Pang, R., and H. Shi, "Hybrid Computing and Network Awareness and Routing Solution for CATS", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-yi-cats-hybrid-solution- 02, 22 October 2023, . [I-D.gao-quic-network-awareness-ack] xing, G., Han, M., Ruan, Z., and H. Shi, "QUIC network awareness Acknowledgements", Work in Progress, Internet- Draft, draft-gao-quic-network-awareness-ack-00, 3 July 2024, . [I-D.li-rtgwg-apn-framework] Li, Z., Peng, S., Voyer, D., Li, C., Liu, P., Cao, C., and G. S. Mishra, "Application-aware Networking (APN) Framework", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-li- rtgwg-apn-framework-00, 4 March 2024, . Zhang, et al. Expires 9 January 2025 [Page 6] Internet-Draft Deep Collaboration between APP and NET July 2024 [I-D.ietf-cats-framework] Li, C., Du, Z., Boucadair, M., Contreras, L. M., and J. Drake, "A Framework for Computing-Aware Traffic Steering (CATS)", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf- cats-framework-02, 30 April 2024, . [I-D.shi-cats-analysis-of-metric-distribution] Shi, H., Du, Z., Yi, X., and T. Yang, "Design analysis of methods for distributing the computing metric", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-shi-cats-analysis-of- metric-distribution-02, 1 March 2024, . Authors' Addresses Naihan Zhang (editor) China Unicom Beijing China Email: zhangnh12@chinaunicom.cn Shuai Zhang (editor) China Unicom Beijing China Email: zhangs366@chinaunicom.cn Xinin Yi (editor) China Unicom Beijing China Email: yixx3@chinaunicom.cn Hang Shi Huawei Beijing China Email: shihang9@huawei.com Zhang, et al. Expires 9 January 2025 [Page 7]