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BEST CURRENT PRACTICE
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                       B. TrammellRequest for Comments: 7013                                    ETH ZurichBCP: 184                                                       B. ClaiseCategory: Best Current Practice                      Cisco Systems, Inc.ISSN: 2070-1721                                           September 2013Guidelines for Authors and Reviewers ofIP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Information ElementsAbstract   This document provides guidelines for how to write definitions of new   Information Elements for the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)   protocol.  It provides instructions on using the proper conventions   for Information Elements to be registered in the IANA IPFIX   Information Element registry, and provides guidelines for expert   reviewers to evaluate new registrations.Status of This Memo   This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has   received public review and has been approved for publication by the   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on   BCPs is available inSection 2 of RFC 5741.   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained athttp://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7013.Copyright Notice   Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the   document authors.  All rights reserved.   This document is subject toBCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents   (http://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 Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as   described in the Simplified BSD License.Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                 [Page 1]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013Table of Contents1. Introduction ....................................................31.1. Intended Audience and Usage ................................31.2. Overview of Relevant IPFIX Documents .......................42. Terminology .....................................................43. How to Apply IPFIX ..............................................54. Defining New Information Elements ...............................64.1. Information Element Naming .................................74.2. Information Element Data Types .............................74.3. Information Element Numbering ..............................84.4. Ancillary Information Element Properties ...................94.5. Internal Structure in Information Elements .................94.6. Information Element Multiplicity ..........................104.7. Enumerated Values and Subregistries .......................114.8. Reversibility as perRFC 5103 .............................114.9. Avoiding Bad Ideas in Information Element Design ..........115. The Information Element Life Cycle .............................135.1. The Process for Review by the IE-DOCTORS ..................135.2. Revising Information Elements .............................145.3. Deprecating Information Elements ..........................156. When Not to Define New Information Elements ....................166.1. Maximizing Reuse of Existing Information Elements .........166.2. Applying Enterprise-Specific Information Elements .........187. Information Element Definition Checklist .......................188. Applying IPFIX to Non-Flow Applications ........................219. Writing Internet-Drafts for IPFIX Applications .................219.1. Example Information Element Definition ....................229.2. Defining Recommended Templates ............................22   10. A Textual Format for Specifying Information Elements       and Templates .................................................2310.1. Information Element Specifiers ...........................2410.2. Specifying Templates .....................................2610.3. Specifying IPFIX Structured Data .........................2711. Security Considerations .......................................2712. Acknowledgments ...............................................2813. References ....................................................2913.1. Normative References .....................................2913.2. Informative References ...................................29Appendix A. Example Information Element Definitions ...............31A.1. sipResponseStatus ..........................................31A.2. duplicatePacketDeltaCount ..................................31A.3. ambientTemperature .........................................32Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                 [Page 2]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 20131.  Introduction   This document provides guidelines for the definition of new IPFIX   Information Elements beyond those currently in the IANA IPFIX   Information Element Registry [IANA-IPFIX].  Given the self-describing   nature of the data export format used by IPFIX, the definition of new   Information Elements is often sufficient to allow the application of   IPFIX to new network measurement and management use cases.   We intend this document to enable the application of IPFIX to new   areas by experts in the IETF Working Group or Area Directorate, the   IETF community, or organization external to the IETF, concerned with   the technical details of the protocol or application to be measured   or managed using IPFIX.  This expansion occurs with the consultation   of IPFIX experts informally called IE-DOCTORS.  It provides   guidelines both for those defining new Information Elements as well   as the IE-DOCTORS reviewing them.   This document essentially codifies two meta-guidelines: (1) "define   new Information Elements that look like existing Information   Elements" and (2) "don't define Information Elements unless you need   to".1.1.  Intended Audience and Usage   This document is meant for two separate audiences.  For those   defining new Information Elements, it provides specifications and   best practices to be used in deciding which Information Elements are   necessary for a given existing or new application, instructions for   writing the definitions for these Information Elements, and   information on the supporting documentation required for the new   application (up to and including the publication of one or more RFCs   describing it).  For the IPFIX experts appointed as IE-DOCTORS, and   for IANA personnel changing the IANA IPFIX Information Element   Registry [IANA-IPFIX], it defines a set of acceptance criteria   against which these proposed Information Elements should be   evaluated.   This document is not intended to guide the extension of the IPFIX   protocol itself, e.g., through new export mechanisms, data types, or   the like; these activities should be pursued through the publication   of Standards Track RFCs within the IPFIX Working Group.   This document, together with [RFC7012], defines the procedures for   management of the IANA IPFIX Information Element Registry   [IANA-IPFIX].  The practices outlined in this document are intendedTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                 [Page 3]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   to guide experts when reviewing additions or changes to the   Information Elements in the registry under Expert Review (as defined   in [RFC5226]).1.2.  Overview of Relevant IPFIX Documents   [RFC7011] defines the IPFIX protocol, the IPFIX-specific terminology   used by this document, and the data type encodings for each of the   data types supported by IPFIX.   [RFC7012] defines the basis of the IPFIX Information Model, referring   to [IANA-IPFIX] for the specific Information Element definitions.  It   states that new Information Elements may be added to the Information   Model on the basis of Expert Review, delegates the appointment of   experts to an IESG Area Director, and refers to this document for   details on the extension process.  This document is intended to   further codify the best practices to be followed by these experts, in   order to improve the efficiency of this process.   [RFC5103] defines a method for exporting bidirectional Flow   information using IPFIX; this document should be followed when   extending IPFIX to represent information about bidirectional network   interactions in general.  Additionally, new Information Elements   should be annotated for their reversibility or lack thereof as per   this document.   [RFC5610] defines a method for exporting information about   Information Elements inline within IPFIX.  In doing so, it explicitly   defines a set of restrictions, implied in [RFC7011] and [RFC7012], on   the use of data types and semantic; these restrictions must be   observed in the definition of new Information Elements, as inSection 4.4.2.  Terminology   Capitalized terms used in this document that are defined in the   Terminology section of [RFC7011] are to be interpreted as defined   there.   An "application", as used in this document, refers to a candidate   protocol, task, or domain to which IPFIX export, collection, and/or   storage is applied.  By this definition, the IPFIX applicability   statement [RFC5472] defined the initial applications of IPFIX, and   Packet Sampling (PSAMP) [RFC5476] was the first new IPFIX application   after the publication of the IPFIX protocol itself.   "IANA IE registry", as used in this document, unless otherwise noted,   refers to the IANA IPFIX Information Element Registry [IANA-IPFIX].Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                 [Page 4]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 20133.  How to Apply IPFIX   Though originally specified for the export of IP Flow information,   the message format, template mechanism, and data model specified by   IPFIX led to it being applicable to a wide variety of network   management situations.  In addition to Flow information export, for   which it was designed, and packet information export as specified by   PSAMP [RFC5476], any application with the following characteristics   is a good candidate for an IPFIX application:   o  The application's data Flow is fundamentally unidirectional.      IPFIX is a "push" protocol, supporting only the export of      information from a sender (an Exporting Process) to a receiver (a      Collecting Process).  Request-response interactions are not      supported by IPFIX.   o  The application handles discrete event information, or information      to be periodically reported.  IPFIX is particularly well suited to      representing events, which can be scoped in time.   o  The application handles information about network entities.      IPFIX's information model is network-oriented, so network      management applications have many opportunities for information      model reuse.   o  The application requires a small number of arrangements of data      structures relative to the number of records it handles.  The      template-driven self-description mechanism used by IPFIX excels at      handling large volumes of identically structured data, compared to      representations that define structure inline with data (such as      XML).   Most applications meeting these criteria can be supported over IPFIX.   Once it has been determined that IPFIX is a good fit, the next step   is determining which Information Elements are necessary to represent   the information required by the application.  Especially for network-   centric applications, the IANA IE registry may already contain all   the necessary Information Elements (seeSection 6.1 for guidelines on   maximizing Information Element reuse).  In this case, no work within   the IETF is necessary: simply define Templates and start exporting.   It is expected, however, that most applications will be able to reuse   some existing Information Elements, but may need to define some   additional Information Elements to support all their requirements.   In this case, seeSection 4 for best practices to be followed in   defining Information Elements.Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                 [Page 5]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   Optionally, a Working Group or individual contributor may choose to   write an Internet-Draft for publication as an RFC, detailing the new   IPFIX application.  Such an RFC should contain discussion of the new   application, the Information Element definitions as inSection 4, as   well as suggested Templates and examples of the use of those   Templates within the new application as inSection 9.2.Section 10   defines a compact textual Information Element notation to be used in   describing these suggested Templates and/or the use of IPFIX   Structured Data [RFC6313] within the new application.4.  Defining New Information Elements   In many cases, a new application will require nothing more than a new   Information Element or set of Information Elements to be exportable   using IPFIX.  An Information Element meeting the following criteria,   as evaluated by the IE-DOCTORS, is eligible for inclusion in the IANA   IE registry:   o  The Information Element must be unique within the registry, and      its description must represent a substantially different meaning      from that of any existing Information Element.  An existing      Information Element that can be reused for a given purpose should      be reused.   o  The Information Element should contain as little internal      structure as possible.  Instead of representing complex      information by overlaying internal structure on a simple data type      such as octetArray, such information should be represented with      multiple simple Information Elements to be exported in parallel or      using IPFIX Structured Data [RFC6313], as inSection 4.5.  The      internal structure of a proposed IE may be evaluated by the IE-      DOCTORS with an eye toward interoperability and/or backward      compatibility with existing methods of exporting similar data on a      case-by-case basis.   o  Information Elements representing information about proprietary or      nonstandard applications should not be registered in the IANA IE      registry.  These can be represented using enterprise-specific      Information Elements as detailed inSection 3.2 of [RFC7011],      instead.   The definition of new Information Elements requires a descriptive   name, a specification of the data type from the IPFIX Data Type   subregistry in the IANA IE registry (defined in [RFC7012] as itself   extensible via Standards Action as per [RFC5226]), and a human-   readable description written in English.  This section providesTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                 [Page 6]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   guidelines on each of these components of an Information Element   definition, referring to existing documentation such as [RFC7012] as   appropriate.4.1.  Information Element Naming   As the name of an Information Element is the first thing a potential   implementor will use when determining whether it is suitable for a   given application, it is important to be as precise and descriptive   as possible.  Names of Information Elements:   o  must be chosen carefully to describe the use of the Information      Element within the context in which it will be used.   o  must be unique within the IANA IE registry.   o  start with lowercase letters.   o  use capital letters for the first letter of each component except      for the first one (aka "camel case").  All other letters are      lowercase, even for acronyms.  Exceptions are made for acronyms      containing a mixture of lowercase and capital letters, such as      'IPv4' and 'IPv6'.  Examples are "sourceMacAddress" and      "destinationIPv4Address".   In addition, new Information Elements pertaining to a specific   protocol should name the protocol in the first word in order to ease   searching by name (e.g., "sipMethod" for a SIP method, as would be   used in a logging format for SIP based on IPFIX).  Similarly, new   Information Elements pertaining to a specific application should name   the application in the first word.4.2.  Information Element Data Types   IPFIX provides a set of data types covering most primitives used in   network measurement and management applications.  The most   appropriate data type should be chosen for the Information Element   type, IPFIX informationElementDataTypes subregistry at [IANA-IPFIX].   This subregistry may be extended from time to time by a Standards   Action [RFC5226], as defined in [RFC5610].   Information Elements representing an integral value with a natural   width should be defined with the appropriate integral data type.   This applies especially to values taken directly from fixed-width   fields in a measured protocol.  For example, tcpControlBits, the TCP   flags byte, is an unsigned8, and tcpSequenceNumber is an unsigned32.Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                 [Page 7]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   Information Elements representing counters or identifiers should be   defined as signed64 or unsigned64, as appropriate, to maximize the   range of values available; applications can use reduced-size encoding   as defined inSection 6.2 of [RFC7011] in cases where fewer than 2^64   values are necessary.   Information Elements representing time values must be defined with   appropriate precision.  For example, an Information Element for a   time measured at second-level precision should be defined as having a   dateTimeSeconds data type, instead of dateTimeMilliseconds.   Information Elements of type string or octetArray that have length   constraints (fixed length, minimum and/or maximum length) must note   these constraints in their description.   The type of an Information Element must match the type of the data it   represents.  More specifically, information that could be represented   as a string but that better matches one of the other data types   (e.g., an integral type for a number or enumerated type, an address   type for an address) must be represented by the best-matching type,   even if the data was represented using a different type in the   source.  For example, an IPFIX application that exports Options   Template Records mapping IP addresses to additional information about   each host from an external database must use Information Elements of   an address type to represent the addresses, even if the source   database represented these as strings.   Strings and octetArrays must not be used to encode data that would be   more properly represented using multiple Information Elements and/or   IPFIX Structured Data [RFC6313]; seeSection 4.5 for more.   This document does not cover the addition of new Data Types or Data   Type Semantics to the IPFIX protocol.  As such changes have important   interoperability considerations and require implementation on both   Collecting and Exporting Processes, they require a Standards Action   as per [RFC5610].  However, note that the set of primitive types   provided by IPFIX are applicable to almost any appropriate   application, so extending the type system is generally not necessary.4.3.  Information Element Numbering   Each Information Element has a unique identifier in the IANA   registry.   When adding newly registered Information Elements to the IANA IE   registry, IANA should assign the lowest available Information Element   identifier (the value column in [IANA-IPFIX]) in the range 128-32767.Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                 [Page 8]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   Information Elements with identifiers in the range 1-127 are reserved   for compatibility with corresponding fields in NetFlow version 9, as   described in [RFC3954].4.4.  Ancillary Information Element Properties   Information Elements to which special semantics apply should refer to   one of the values in the Information Element Semantics subregistry of   the IANA IE registry, as described inSection 3.2 of [RFC7012],   subject to the restrictions given inSection 3.10 of [RFC5610]; in   other words, the semantics and the type must be consistent.   When defining Information Elements representing a dimensioned   quantity or entity count, the units of that quantity should be   defined in the units field.  This field takes its values from the   IANA Information Element Units subregistry of the IANA IE registry.   If an Information Element expresses a quantity in units not yet in   this subregistry, then the unit must be added to the Units   subregistry at the same time the Information Element is added to the   IANA IE registry.  Note that the Units subregistry as defined in   [RFC5610] is maintained on an Expert Review basis.   Additionally, when the range of values an Information Element can   take is smaller than the range implied by its data type, the range   should be defined within the Information Element's entry in the IANA   IE registry.4.5.  Internal Structure in Information Elements   The definition of Information Elements with an internal structure   that is defined in the Description field is not recommended, except   in the following cases:   1.  The Information Element is a direct copy of a structured entity       in a measured protocol (e.g., the tcpControlBits Information       Element for the flags byte from the TCP header).   2.  The Information Element represents a section of a packet of       protocol entity, in raw form as captured from the wire (e.g., the       mplsLabelStackSection Information Element for the MPLS label       stack).   3.  The Information Element represents a set of flags that are       tightly semantically related, where representing the flags as       separate one-byte booleans would be inefficient, and that should       always appear together in a data record (e.g., the       anonymizationFlags Information Element for specifying optional       features of anonymization techniques).Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                 [Page 9]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   4.  The Information Element contains internal structure by reference       to an external data type or specification containing internal       structure (e.g., a MIME type or URL), for interoperability and       backward-compatibility purposes.   Additional exceptions to the above list should be made through   publication of an RFC.   In other cases, candidate Information Elements with internal   structure should be decomposed into multiple primitive Information   Elements to be used in parallel.  For more complicated semantics,   where the structure is not identical from Data Record to Data Record,   or where there is semantic dependency between multiple decomposed   primitive Information Elements, use the IPFIX Structured Data   [RFC6313] extension instead.   As an example of Information Element decomposition, consider an   application-level identifier called an "endpoint", which represents a   {host, port, protocol} tuple.  Instead of allocating an opaque,   structured "source endpoint" Information Element, the source endpoint   should be represented by three separate Information Elements: "source   address", "source port", "transport protocol".  In this example, the   required Information Elements already exist in the IANA IE registry:   sourceIPv4Address or sourceIPv6Address, sourceTransportPort,   protocolIdentifier.  Indeed, as well as being good practice, this   normalization down to non-structured Information Elements also   increases opportunities for reuse as inSection 6.1.   The decomposition of data with internal structure should avoid the   definition of Information Elements that have a meaning too specific   to be generally useful or that would result in a multitude of   templates to handle different multiplicities.  More information on   multiplicities is given in the following section.4.6.  Information Element Multiplicity   Some Information Elements may represent information with a   multiplicity other than one, i.e., items that may occur multiple   times within the data to be represented in a single IPFIX record.  In   this case, there are several options, depending on the circumstances:   1.  As specified inSection 8 of [RFC7011]: "if an Information       Element is required more than once in a Template, the different       occurrences of this Information Element should follow the logical       order of their treatments by the Metering Process."  In other       words, in cases where the items have a natural order (e.g., the       order in which they occur in the packet), and the multiplicity is       the same for each record, the information can be modeled byTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 10]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013       containing multiple instances of the Information Element       representing a single item within the Template Record describing       the Data Records.   2.  In cases where the items have a variable multiplicity, a       basicList of the Information Element representing a single item       can be used as in the IPFIX Structured Data [RFC6313] extension.   3.  If the multiple-item structure is taken directly from bytes       observed on the wire by the Metering Process or otherwise taken       from the application being measured (e.g., a TCP options stack),       the multiple-item structure can be exported as a variable-length       octetArray Information Element holding the raw content.   Specifically, a new Information Element should not encode any   multiplicity or ordinality information into the definition of the   Information Element itself.4.7.  Enumerated Values and Subregistries   When defining an Information Element that takes an enumerated value   from a set of values that may change in the future, this enumeration   must be defined by an IANA IE registry or subregistry.  For   situations where an existing registry defines the enumeration (e.g.,   the IANA Protocol Numbers registry for the protocolIdentifier   Information Element), that registry must be used.  Otherwise, a new   subregistry of the IANA IPFIX registry must be defined for the   enumerated value, to be modified subject to Expert Review [RFC5226].4.8.  Reversibility as perRFC 5103   [RFC5103] defines a method for exporting bidirectional Flows using a   special Private Enterprise Number to define reverse-direction   variants of IANA Information Elements, and a set of criteria for   determining whether an Information Element may be reversed using this   method.  Since almost all Information Elements are reversible,   [RFC5103] enumerates those Information Elements that were defined at   the time of its publication that are NOT reversible.   New non-reversible Information Elements must contain a note in the   description stating that they are not reversible.4.9.  Avoiding Bad Ideas in Information Element Design   In general, the existence of a similarly defined Information Element   in the IANA IE registry sets a precedent that may be followed to   determine whether a given proposed Information Element "fits" within   the registry.  Indeed, the rules specified by this document could beTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 11]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   interpreted to mean "make new Information Elements that look like   existing Information Elements".  However, for reasons of history,   there are several Information Elements within the IANA IE registry   that do not follow best practices in Information Element design.   These Information Elements are not necessarily so flawed so as to   require deprecation, but they should be explicitly ignored when   looking for guidance as to whether a new Information Element should   be added.  Here we provide a set of representative examples taken   from the IANA IE registry; in general, entries in the IANA IE   registry that do not follow the guidelines in this document should   not be used as examples for new Information Element definitions.   Before registering a new Information Element, it must be determined   that it would be sufficiently unique within the IANA IE registry.   This evaluation has not always been done in the past, and the   existence of the Information Elements defined without this evaluation   should not be taken as an example that such Information Element   definition practices should be followed in the future.  Specific   examples of such Information Elements include initiatorOctets and   responderOctets (which duplicate octetDeltaCount and its reverse per   [RFC5103]) and initiatorPackets and responderPackets (the same, for   packetDeltaCount).   As mentioned inSection 4.2, the type of an Information Element   should match the type of data the Information Element represents.  An   example of how not to do this is presented by the p2pTechnology,   tunnelTechnology, and encryptedTechnology Information Elements: these   represent a three-state enumeration using a String.  The example set   by these Information Elements should not be followed in the   definition of new Information Elements.   As mentioned inSection 4.6, an Information Element definition should   not include any ordinality or multiplicity information.  The only   example of this within the IANA IE registry the following list of   assigned IPFIX Information Elements: mplsTopLabelStackSection,   mplsLabelStackSection2, mplsLabelStackSection3,   mplsLabelStackSection4, mplsLabelStackSection5,   mplsLabelStackSection6 mplsLabelStackSection7,   mplsLabelStackSection8, mplsLabelStackSection9, and   mplsLabelStackSection10.  The only distinction between those almost-   identical Information Elements is the position within the MPLS stack.   This Information Element design pattern met an early requirement of   the definition of IPFIX that was not carried forward into the final   specification -- namely, that no semantic dependency was allowed   between Information Elements in the same Record -- and as such should   not be followed in the definition of new Information Elements.  In   this case, since the size of the MPLS stack will vary from Flow toTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 12]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   Flow, it should be exported using IPFIX Structured Data [RFC6313]   where supported, as a basicList of MPLS label entries, or as a raw   MPLS label stack using the variable-length   mplsLabelStackSection Information Element.5.  The Information Element Life Cycle   Once an Information Element or set of Information Elements has been   identified for a given application, Information Element   specifications in accordance withSection 4 are submitted to IANA to   follow the process for review by the IE-DOCTORS, as defined below.   This process is also used for other changes to the IANA IE registry,   such as deprecation or revision, as described later in this section.5.1.  The Process for Review by the IE-DOCTORS   Requests to change the IANA IE registry or a linked subregistry are   submitted to IANA, which forwards the request to a designated group   of experts (IE-DOCTORS) appointed by the IESG; these are the   reviewers called for by the Expert Review [RFC5226] policy defined   for the IANA IE registry by [RFC7012].  The IE-DOCTORS review the   request for such things as compliance with this document, compliance   with other applicable IPFIX-related RFCs, and consistency with the   currently defined set of Information Elements.   Authors are expected to review compliance with the specifications in   this document to check their submissions before sending them to IANA.   The IE-DOCTORS should endeavor to complete referred reviews in a   timely manner.  If the request is acceptable, the IE-DOCTORS signify   their approval to IANA, which changes the IANA IE registry.  If the   request is not acceptable, the IE-DOCTORS can coordinate with the   requestor to change the request to be compliant.  The IE-DOCTORS may   also choose in exceptional circumstances to reject clearly frivolous   or inappropriate change requests outright.   This process should not in any way be construed as allowing the IE-   DOCTORS to overrule IETF consensus.  Specifically, Information   Elements in the IANA IE registry that were added with IETF consensus   require IETF consensus for revision or deprecation.   Decisions by the IE-DOCTORS may be appealed as inSection 7 of   [RFC5226].Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 13]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 20135.2.  Revising Information Elements   The Information Element status field in the IANA IE registry is   defined in [RFC7012] to allow Information Elements to be 'current' or   'deprecated'.  No Information Elements are as of this writing   deprecated.  [RFC5102] additionally specified an 'obsolete' status;   however, this has been removed on revision as it served no   operational purpose.   In addition, no policy is defined for revising IANA IE registry   entries or addressing errors therein.  To be certain, changes and   deprecations within the IANA IE registry are not encouraged, and   should be avoided to the extent possible.  However, in recognition   that change is inevitable, this section is intended to remedy this   situation.   Changes are initiated by sending a new Information Element definition   to IANA, as inSection 5.1, for an already-existing Information   Element.   The primary requirement in the definition of a policy for managing   changes to existing Information Elements is avoidance of   interoperability problems; IE-DOCTORS must work to maintain   interoperability above all else.  Changes to Information Elements   already in use may only be done in an interoperable way; necessary   changes that cannot be done in a way to allow interoperability with   unchanged implementations must result in deprecation.   A change to an Information Element is held to be interoperable only   when:   1.  it involves the correction of an error that is obviously only       editorial; or   2.  it corrects an ambiguity in the Information Element's definition,       which itself leads to non-interoperability severe enough to       prevent the Information Element's usage as originally defined       (e.g., a prior change to ipv6ExtensionHeaders); or   3.  it expands the Information Element's data type without changing       how it is represented (e.g., changing unsigned32 to unsigned64,       as with a prior change to selectorId); or   4.  it corrects missing information in the Information Element's       definition without changing its meaning (e.g., the explicit       definition of 'quantity' semantics for numeric Information       Elements without a Data Type Semantics value); orTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 14]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   5.  it defines a previously undefined or reserved enumerated value,       or one or more previously reserved bits in an Information Element       with flag semantics; or   6.  it expands the set of permissible values in the Information       Element's range; or   7.  it harmonizes with an external reference that was itself       corrected.   If a change is deemed permissible by the IE-DOCTORS, IANA makes the   change in the IANA IE registry.  The requestor of the change is   appended to the requestor in the registry.   Each Information Element in the IANA IE registry has a revision   number, starting at zero.  Each change to an Information Element   following this process increments the revision number by one.  Since   any revision must be interoperable according to the criteria above,   there is no need for the IANA IE registry to store information about   old revisions.   When a revised Information Element is accepted into the registry, the   date of acceptance of the most recent revision is placed into the   revision Date column of the registry for that Information Element.5.3.  Deprecating Information Elements   Changes that are not permissible by these criteria may only be   handled by deprecation.  An Information Element MAY be deprecated and   replaced when:   1.  the Information Element definition has an error or shortcoming       that cannot be permissibly changed as inSection 5.2; or   2.  the deprecation harmonizes with an external reference that was       itself deprecated through that reference's accepted deprecation       method; or   3.  changes in the IPFIX protocol or its extensions, or in community       understanding thereof, allow the information represented by the       Information Element to be represented in a more efficient or       convenient way.  Deprecation in this circumstance requires a       Standards Action.   A request for deprecation is sent to IANA, which passes it to the IE-   DOCTORS for review, as inSection 5.1.  When deprecating an   Information Element, the Information Element description in the IANATrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 15]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   IE registry must be updated to explain the deprecation, as well as to   refer to any new Information Elements created to replace the   deprecated Information Element.   The revision number of an Information Element is incremented upon   deprecation, and the revision Date updated, as with any revision.   Deprecated Information Elements should continue to be supported by   Collecting Processes, but should not be exported by Exporting   Processes.  The use of deprecated Information Elements should result   in a log entry or human-readable warning at the Exporting and   Collecting Processes.   Names and elementIDs of deprecated Information Elements must not be   reused.6.  When Not to Define New Information Elements   Due to the relatively limited number space of Information Elements in   the IANA IE registry, and the fact that the difficulty of managing   and understanding the registry increases with its size, avoiding   redundancy and clutter in the registry is important in defining new   applications.  New Information Elements should not be added to the   IANA IE registry unless there is an intent to implement and deploy   applications using them; research or experimental applications should   use enterprise-specific Information Elements as inSection 6.2   instead.   The subsections below provide guidelines for reuse of existing   Information Elements, as well as guidelines on using enterprise-   specific Information Elements instead of adding Information Elements   in the IANA IE registry.6.1.  Maximizing Reuse of Existing Information Elements   Whenever possible, new applications should prefer usage of existing   IPFIX Information Elements to the creation of new Information   Elements.  IPFIX already provides Information Elements for every   common Layer 4 and Layer 3 packet header field in the IETF protocol   suite, basic Layer 2 information, basic counters, timestamps and time   ranges, and so on.  When defining a new Information Element similar   to an existing one, reviewers should ensure that the existing one is   not applicable.   Note that this guideline to maximize reuse does not imply that an   Information Element that represents the same information from a   packet as an existing Information Element should not be added to the   IANA IE registry.  For example, consider the ipClassOfServiceTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 16]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   (Element ID 5), ipDiffServCodePoint (Element ID 98), and ipPrecedence   (Element ID 196) Information Elements.  These all represent subsets   of the same field in an IP version 4 packet header, but different   uses of these bits.  The representation in one or another of these   Information Elements contains information in itself as to how the   bits were interpreted by the Metering Process.   On the other hand, simply changing the context in which an   Information Element will be used is insufficient reason for the   definition of a new Information Element.  For example, an extension   of IPFIX to log detailed information about HTTP transactions   alongside network-level information should not define   httpClientAddress and httpServerAddress Information Elements,   preferring instead the use of sourceIPv[46]Address and   destinationIPv[46]Address.   Applications dealing with bidirectional interactions should use   Bidirectional Flow Support for IPFIX [RFC5103] to represent these   interactions.   Existing timestamp and time range Information Elements should be   reused for any situation requiring simple time stamping of an event:   for single observations, the observationTime* Information Elements   from PSAMP are provided, and for events with a duration, the   flowStart* and flowEnd* Information Elements suffice.  This   arrangement allows minimal generic time handling by existing   Collecting Processes and analysis workflows.  New timestamp   Information Elements should ONLY be defined for semantically distinct   timing information (e.g., an IPFIX-exported record containing   information about an event to be scheduled in the future).   In all cases, the use of absolute timestamp Information Elements   (e.g., flowStartMilliseconds) is recommended, as these Information   Elements allow for maximum flexibility in processing with minimal   overhead.  Timestamps based on the Export Time header in the   enclosing IPFIX Message (e.g., flowStartTimeDeltaMicroseconds) MAY be   used if high-precision timing is important, export bandwidth or   storage space is limited, timestamps comprise a relatively large   fraction of record size, and the application naturally groups records   into IPFIX Messages.  Timestamps based on information that must be   exported in a separate Data Record defined by an Options Template   (e.g., flowStartSysUpTime) MAY be used only in the context of an   existing practice of using runtime-defined epochs for the given   application.  New applications should avoid these structures when   possible.Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 17]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 20136.2.  Applying Enterprise-Specific Information Elements   IPFIX provides a mechanism for defining enterprise-specific   Information Elements, as inSection 3.2 of [RFC7011].  These are   scoped to a vendor's or organization's Structure of Management   Information (SMI) Private Enterprise Number, and are under complete   control of the organization assigning them.   For situations in which interoperability is unimportant, new   information should be exported using enterprise-specific Information   Elements instead of adding new Information Elements to the IANA IE   registry.  These situations include:   o  export of implementation-specific information, or   o  export of information supporting research or experiments within a      single organization or closed community, or   o  export of information derived in a commercially sensitive or      proprietary method, or   o  export of information or meta-information specific to a      commercially sensitive or proprietary application.   While work within the IETF generally does not fall into these   categories, enterprise-specific Information Elements are also useful   for pre-standardization testing of a new IPFIX application.  While   performing initial development and interoperability testing of a new   application, the Information Elements used by the application should   not be submitted to IANA for inclusion in the IANA IE registry.   Instead, these experimental Information Elements should be   represented as enterprise-specific until their definitions are   finalized.   As this document contains best practices for defining new Information   Elements, organizations using enterprise-specific Information   Elements are advised to follow the guidelines set forth here even if   not submitting Information Elements for inclusion in the IANA IE   registry.7.  Information Element Definition Checklist   The following three checklists, condensed from the rest of this   document, can be used when defining and reviewing Information   Elements; they refer back to the section of this document from which   they are taken.  These checklists are intended for the definition ofTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 18]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   new Information Elements; revision should follow the process defined   inSection 5.2, and deprecation should follow the process defined inSection 5.3.   Though many of the considerations in this document require the   subjective judgement of Information Element authors, reviewers, and   IANA, certain parts of the process may be made simpler through tool   support.  Items on these checklists that could be easily automated or   assisted by tools are annotated with "(tool support)".  Other items   on these checklists require some level of subjective judgement;   checks for semantic uniqueness may additionally be supported by   textual analysis of descriptions in the future.   Checklist 1 contains conditions that must be met by all proposed   Information Elements:   1.  The name must be unique within the IANA IE registry, and the name       of any current or deprecated Information Element must not be       reused. (Section 4.1) (tool support)   2.  The description must be sufficiently semantically unique within       the IANA IE registry, representing a substantially different       meaning from any current or deprecated Information Element.       (Section 4)   3.  The name must start with a lowercase letter. (Section 4.1) (tool       support)   4.  Names composed of more than one word must use capital letters for       the first letter of each component except for the first one; all       other letters are lowercase, even for acronyms.  Exceptions are       made for acronyms containing a mixture of lowercase and capital       letters, such as 'IPv4' and 'IPv6'. (Section 4.1) (tool support)   5.  The data type must match the type of the data being represented.       (Section 4.2)   6.  Data type semantics must be appropriate for the data type.       (Section 4.4) (tool support)   7.  The Information Element identifier assigned by IANA must be       unique. (Section 4.3) (tool support)   8.  The Information Element must be reviewed for the potential of       information leakage or other misuse that could reduce the       security of the measured system; security considerations specific       to the Information Element must be discussed in the description       or in a supporting RFC.  (Section 11)Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 19]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   Checklist 2 contains conditions that must be met by proposed   Information Elements with certain properties, as noted:   1.  Time values must be defined with appropriate precision.       (Section 4.2)   2.  Strings and octet arrays with length restrictions must note those       length restrictions in their descriptions. (Section 4.2)   3.  Enumerations must refer to an IANA IE registry or subregistry, or       a registry maintained by an external standards organization.  If       no suitable registry or subregistry exists, a new subregistry of       the IPFIX Information Element registry must be created for the       enumeration, to be modified subject to Expert Review [RFC5226].       (Section 4.7)   Checklist 3 contains conditions that should be met by proposed   Information Elements:   1.   The name of an Information Element pertaining to a specific        protocol or application should contain the name of the protocol        or application as the first word. (Section 4.1)   2.   Information Elements representing integral values should use a        data type for the appropriate width for the value.        (Section 4.2)   3.   Information Elements representing counters or identifiers should        be represented as signed64 or unsigned64, unless they are        naturally represented with narrower integral types, as        appropriate. (Section 4.2)   4.   An Information Element should not contain internal structure,        subject to the exceptions inSection 4.5; candidate Information        Elements with internal structure should be decomposed into        multiple Information Elements. (Section 4.5)   5.   An Information Element should not contain multiplicity or        ordinality information within the definition of the Information        Element itself. (Section 4.6)   6.   Data type semantics should be defined, if appropriate.        (Section 4.4) (tool support)   7.   Units should be defined, if appropriate, with new units added to        the Information Element Units subregistry if necessary.        (Section 4.4) (tool support)Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 20]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   8.   Ranges should be defined, if appropriate. (Section 4.4) (tool        support)   9.   Non-reversible Information Elements (see [RFC5103]) should note        non-reversibility in the description. (Section 4.8)   10.  Information Elements to be registered with IANA should be        intended for implementation and deployment on production        networks.8.  Applying IPFIX to Non-Flow Applications   At the core of IPFIX is its definition of a Flow, a set of packets   sharing some common properties crossing an Observation Point within a   certain time window.  However, the reliance on this definition does   not preclude the application of IPFIX to domains that are not   obviously handling Flow data according to this definition.  Most   network management data collection tasks, those to which IPFIX is   most applicable, have at their core the movement of packets from one   place to another; by a liberal interpretation of the common   properties defining the Flow, then, almost any event handled by these   can be held to concern data records conforming to the IPFIX   definition of a Flow.   Non-Flow information defining associations or key-value pairs, on the   other hand, are defined by IPFIX Options Templates.  Here, the   Information Elements within an Options Template Record are divided   into Scope Information Elements that define the key and non-scope   Information Elements that define the values associated with that key.   Unlike Flows, Data Records defined by Options Templates are not   necessarily scoped in time; these Data Records are generally held to   be in effect until a new set of values for a specific set of keys is   exported.  While this mechanism is often used by IPFIX to export   metadata about the collection infrastructure, it is applicable to any   association information.   An IPFIX application can mix Data Records described either type of   template in an IPFIX Message or Message stream, and exploit   relationships among the Flow Keys, values, and Scopes to create   interrelated data structures.  See [RFC5473] for an example   application of this.9.  Writing Internet-Drafts for IPFIX Applications   When a new application is complex enough to require additional   clarification or specification as to the use of the defined   Information Elements, this may be given in an Internet-Draft.Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 21]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   Internet-Drafts for new IPFIX applications are best submitted to a   Working Group with expertise in the area of the new application, or   to the Independent Submission stream.   When defining new Information Elements in an Internet-Draft, the   Internet-Draft should contain a section (or subsection) for each   Information Element, which contains the attributes inSection 4 in   human-readable form.  An example subsection is given below.  These   Information Element descriptions should not assign Information   Element numbers, instead using placeholder identifiers for these   numbers (e.g., "TBD1", "TBD2", "TBD3") and a note to IANA in the IANA   Considerations section to replace those placeholders in the document   with Information Element numbers when the numbers are assigned.  The   use of these placeholder definitions allows references to the numbers   in, e.g., box-and-line diagrams or template definitions as inSection 10.9.1.  Example Information Element Definition   This is an example of an Information Element definition that would   appear in an Internet-Draft.  The name appears in the section title.   Description:   Description goes here.; obligatory   Data Type:   Data type goes here; obligatory   Data Type Semantics:   Data type semantics, if any, go here; optional   Units:   Units, if any, go here; optional   Range:   Range, if not implied by the data type, goes here; optional   References:   References to other RFCs or documents outside the IETF,      in which additional information is given, or which are referenced      by the description, go here; optional   ElementId:   ElementId, if known, or "TBD" if it will be assigned by      IANA and filled in at publication time.9.2.  Defining Recommended Templates   New IPFIX applications should not, in the general case, define fixed   templates for export, as this throws away much of the flexibility   afforded by IPFIX.  However, fixed template export is permissible in   the case that the export implementation must operate in a resource-   constrained environment, and/or that the application is replacing an   existing fixed-format binary export format in a maximally compatibleTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 22]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   way.  In any case, Collecting Processes for such applications should   support the collection Templates with Information Elements in any   order, or Templates with additional Information Elements.   An Internet-Draft clarifying the use of new Information Elements   should include any recommended Template or Options Template Records   necessary for supporting the application, as well as examples of   records exported using these Template Records.  In defining these   Template Records, such Internet-Drafts should mention, subject to   rare exceptions:   1.  that the order of different Information Elements within a       Template is not significant;   2.  that Templates on the wire for the application may also contain       additional Information Elements beyond those specified in the       recommended Template;   3.  that a stream of IPFIX Messages supporting the application may       also contain Data Records not described by the recommended       Templates; and   4.  that any reader of IPFIX Messages supporting the application must       accept these conditions.   Definitions of recommended Template Records for Flow-like   information, where the Flow Key is well-defined, should indicate   which of the Information Elements in the recommended Template are   Flow Keys.   Recommended Templates are defined, for example, in [RFC5476] for   PSAMP packet reports (Section 6.4.1) and extended packet reports   (Section 6.4.2).  Recommended Options Templates are defined   extensively throughout the IPFIX documents, including in the protocol   document itself [RFC7011] for exporting export statistics; in the   file format [RFC5655] for exporting file metadata; and in   intermediate process definitions such as [RFC6235] for intermediate   process metadata.  The discussion in these examples is a good model   for recommended template definitions.10.  A Textual Format for Specifying Information Elements and Templates   Example Templates given in existing IPFIX documents are generally   expressed using bitmap diagrams of the respective Templates.  These   are illustrative of the wire representation of simple Templates, but   not particularly readable for more complicated recommended Templates,   provide no support for rapid implementation of new Templates, and do   not adequately convey the optional nature of ordering and additionalTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 23]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   Information Elements.  Therefore, we define a recommended textual   format for specifying Information Elements and Templates in Internet-   Drafts in this section.   Here we define a simple textual syntax for describing IPFIX   Information Elements and IPFIX Templates, with human readability,   human writability, compactness, and ease of parser/generator   implementation without requiring external XML support as design   goals.  It is intended for use both in human communication (e.g., in   new Internet-Drafts containing higher-level descriptions of IPFIX   Templates, or describing sets of new IPFIX Information Elements for   supporting new applications of the protocol) as well as at runtime by   IPFIX implementations.10.1.  Information Element Specifiers   The basis of this format is the textual Information Element   Specifier, or IESpec.  An IESpec contains each of the four important   aspects of an Information Element: its name, its number, its type,   and its size, separated by simple markup based on various types of   brackets.  Fully qualified IESpecs may be used to specify existing or   new Information Elements within an Information Model, while either   fully qualified or partial IESpecs may be used to define fields in a   Template.   Bare words are used for Information Element names, and each aspect of   information associated with an Information Element is associated with   a type of brackets:   o  () parentheses for Information Element numbers,   o  <> angle brackets for Information Element data types, and   o  [] square brackets for Information Element sizes.   o  {} curly braces contain an optional space-separated list of      context identifiers to be associated with an Information Element,      as described in more detail inSection 10.2   The symbol + is reserved for Information Elements nesting within   structured data elements; these are described inSection 10.3.   Whitespace in IESpecs is insignificant; spaces can be added after   each element in order, e.g., to align columns for better readability.Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 24]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   The basic form of a fully qualified IESpec for an IANA-registered   Information Element is as follows:   name(number)<type>[size]   where 'name' is the name of the Information Element in UTF-8,   'number' is the Information Element as a decimal integer, 'type' is   the name of the data type as in the IANA informationElementDataTypes   registry, and 'size' is the length of the Information Element in   octets as a decimal integer, where 65535 or the string 'v' signifies   a variable-length Information Element. [size] may be omitted.  In   this case, the data type's native or default size is assumed.   The basic form of a fully qualified IESpec for an enterprise-specific   Information Element is as follows:   name(pen/number)<type>[size]   where 'pen' is the Private Enterprise Number as a decimal integer.   A fully qualified IESpec is intended to express enough information   about an Information Element to decode and display Data Records   defined by Templates containing that Information Element.  Range,   unit, semantic, and description information, as in [RFC5610], is not   supported by this syntax.   Example fully qualified IESpecs follow:      octetDeltaCount(1)<unsigned64>[8]      octetDeltaCount(1)<unsigned64> (unsigned64 is natively 8 octets      long)      sourceIPv4Address(8)<ipv4Address>      wlanSSID(146)<string>[v]      sipRequestURI(35566/403)<string>[65535]   A partial IESpec is any IESpec that is not fully qualified; these are   useful when defining templates.  A partial IESpec is assumed to take   missing values from its canonical definition in the IANA IE registry.   At minimum, a partial IESpec must contain a name, or a number.  Any   name, number, or type information given with a partial IESpec must   match the values given in the Information Model; however, size   information in a partial IESpec overrides size information in the   Information Model; in this way, IESpecs can be used to express   reduced-size encoding for Information Elements.Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 25]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   Example partial IESpecs follow:   o  octetDeltaCount   o  octetDeltaCount[4] (reduced-size encoding)   o  (1)   o  (1)[4] (reduced-size encoding; note that this is exactly      equivalent to an Information Element specifier in a Template)10.2.  Specifying Templates   A Template can then be defined simply as an ordered, newline-   separated sequence of IESpecs.  IESpecs in example Templates   illustrating a new application of IPFIX should be fully qualified.   Flow Keys may be optionally annotated by appending the {key} context   to the end of each Flow Key specifier.  A template counting packets   and octets per 5-tuple with millisecond precision in IESpec syntax is   shown in Figure 1.   flowStartMilliseconds(152)<dateTimeMilliseconds>[8]   flowEndMilliseconds(153)<dateTimeMilliseconds>[8]   octetDeltaCount(1)<unsigned64>[8]   packetDeltaCount(2)<unsigned64>[8]   sourceIPv4Address(8)<ipv4Address>[4]{key}   destinationIPv4Address(12)<ipv4Address>[4]{key}   sourceTransportPort(7)<unsigned16>[2]{key}   destinationTransportPort(11)<unsigned16>[2]{key}   protocolIdentifier(4)<unsigned8>[1]{key}      Figure 1: Sample Flow Template in IESpec Syntax   An Options Template is specified similarly.  Scope is specified   appending the {scope} context to the end of each IESpec for a Scope   IE.  Due to the way Information Elements are represented in Options   Templates, all {scope} IESpecs must appear before any non-scope   IESpec.  The Flow Key Options Template defined inSection 4.4 of   [RFC7011] in IESpec syntax is shown in Figure 2.   templateId(145)<unsigned16>[2]{scope}   flowKeyIndicator(173)<unsigned64>[8]      Figure 2: Flow Key Options Template in IESpec SyntaxTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 26]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 201310.3.  Specifying IPFIX Structured Data   IESpecs can also be used to illustrate the structure of the   information exported using the IPFIX Structured Data extension   [RFC6313].  Here, the semantics of the structured data elements are   specified using contexts, and the Information Elements within each   structured data element follow the structured data element, prefixed   with + to show they are contained therein.  Arbitrary nesting of   structured data elements is possible by using multiple + signs in the   prefix.  For example, a basic list of IP addresses with "one or more"   semantics would be expressed using partially qualified IESpecs as   shown in Figure 3.   basicList{oneOrMoreOf}   +sourceIPv4Address(8)[4]      Figure 3: Sample basicList in IESpec Syntax   And an example subTemplateList itself containing a basicList is shown   in Figure 4.   subTemplateList{allOf}   +basicList{oneOrMoreOf}   ++sourceIPv4Address(8)[4]   +destinationIPv4Address(12)[4]      Figure 4: Sample subTemplateList in IESpec Syntax   This describes a subTemplateMultilist containing all of the expressed   set of source-destination pairs, where the source address itself   could be one of any number in a basicList (e.g., in the case of SCTP   multihoming).   The contexts associable with structured data Information Elements are   the semantics, as defined inSection 4.4 of [RFC6313]; a structured   data Information Element without any context is taken to have   undefined semantics.  More information on the application of   structured data is available in [RFC6313].11.  Security Considerations   The IE-DOCTORS must evaluate the security aspects of new Information   Elements in light of the information they could provide to support   potential attacks against the measured network or entities about   which information is exported.  Specific security aspects to evaluate   include whether the exported information contains personally   identifiable information, or information that should be kept   confidential about the described entities (e.g., partial payload, orTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 27]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   configuration information that could be exploited).  This is not to   say that such Information Elements should not be defined, but there   must be an evaluation of the security risk versus the utility of the   exported information for the intended application.  For example, "A   Framework for Packet Selection and Reporting" [RFC5474] concluded inSection 12.3.2 that the hash function's private parameters should not   be exported within IPFIX.   Security considerations specific to an Information Element must be   addressed in the Security Considerations section of the Internet-   Draft describing the Information Element, or in the Information   Element description itself in case the Information Element is not   defined in an Internet-Draft.  Information Elements with specific   security considerations should be described in an Internet-Draft.   For example, the ipHeaderPacketSection in the IPFIX IE registry   mentions: "This Information Element, which may have a variable   length, carries a series of octets from the start of the IP header of   a sampled packet.  With sufficient length, this element also reports   octets from the IP payload, subject to [RFC2804].  See the Security   Considerations section".  Another example can be seen in the "Packet   Sampling (PSAMP) Protocols Specification" [RFC5476]: "In the basic   Packet Report, a PSAMP Device exports some number of contiguous bytes   from the start of the packet, including the packet header (which   includes link layer, network layer, and other encapsulation headers)   and some subsequent bytes of the packet payload.  The PSAMP Device   SHOULD NOT export the full payload of conversations, as this would   mean wiretapping [RFC2804].  The PSAMP Device MUST respect local   privacy laws."12.  Acknowledgments   Thanks to Paul Aitken, Andrew Feren, Dan Romascanu, and David   Harrington for their reviews and feedback.  Thanks as well to Roni   Even and Yoav Nir for their area reviews; and to Pete Resnick, Adrian   Farrel, Stephen Farrell, Stewart Bryant, and Barry Leiba for their   contributions during IESG discussions.  This work is materially   supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under   grant agreement 257315 (DEMONS).Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 28]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 201313.  References13.1.  Normative References   [RFC5103]  Trammell, B. and E. Boschi, "Bidirectional Flow Export              Using IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)",RFC 5103,              January 2008.   [RFC5610]  Boschi, E., Trammell, B., Mark, L., and T. Zseby,              "Exporting Type Information for IP Flow Information Export              (IPFIX) Information Elements",RFC 5610, July 2009.   [RFC5226]  Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an              IANA Considerations Section in RFCs",BCP 26,RFC 5226,              May 2008.   [RFC6313]  Claise, B., Dhandapani, G., Aitken, P., and S. Yates,              "Export of Structured Data in IP Flow Information Export              (IPFIX)",RFC 6313, July 2011.   [RFC7011]  Claise, B., Ed., Trammell, B., Ed., and P. Aitken,              "Specification of the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)              Protocol for the Exchange of Flow Information", STD 77,RFC 7011, September 2013.   [RFC7012]  Claise, B., Ed. and B. Trammell, Ed., "Information Model              for IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)",RFC 7012,              September 2013.13.2.  Informative References   [RFC2804]  IAB IESG, "IETF Policy on Wiretapping",RFC 2804, May              2000.   [RFC3261]  Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston,              A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E.              Schooler, "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol",RFC 3261,              June 2002.   [RFC3954]  Claise, B., "Cisco Systems NetFlow Services Export Version              9",RFC 3954, October 2004.   [RFC5102]  Quittek, J., Bryant, S., Claise, B., Aitken, P., and J.              Meyer, "Information Model for IP Flow Information Export",RFC 5102, January 2008.Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 29]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   [RFC5472]  Zseby, T., Boschi, E., Brownlee, N., and B. Claise, "IP              Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Applicability",RFC 5472,              March 2009.   [RFC5473]  Boschi, E., Mark, L., and B. Claise, "Reducing Redundancy              in IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) and Packet Sampling              (PSAMP) Reports",RFC 5473, March 2009.   [RFC5474]  Duffield, N., Chiou, D., Claise, B., Greenberg, A.,              Grossglauser, M., and J. Rexford, "A Framework for Packet              Selection and Reporting",RFC 5474, March 2009.   [RFC5476]  Claise, B., Johnson, A., and J. Quittek, "Packet Sampling              (PSAMP) Protocol Specifications",RFC 5476, March 2009.   [RFC5560]  Uijterwaal, H., "A One-Way Packet Duplication Metric",RFC5560, May 2009.   [RFC5655]  Trammell, B., Boschi, E., Mark, L., Zseby, T., and A.              Wagner, "Specification of the IP Flow Information Export              (IPFIX) File Format",RFC 5655, October 2009.   [RFC6235]  Boschi, E. and B. Trammell, "IP Flow Anonymization              Support",RFC 6235, May 2011.   [IANA-IPFIX]              IANA, "IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Entities",              <http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipfix>.Trammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 30]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013Appendix A.  Example Information Element Definitions   This section contains a few example Information Element definitions   as they would appear in an Internet-Draft.  Note the conformance of   these examples to the guidelines inSection 4.   The sipResponseStatus Information Element (Appendix A.1) illustrates   the addition of an Information Element representing Layer 7   application information, with a reference to the registry containing   the allowable values.  The duplicatePacketDeltaCount Information   Element (Appendix A.2) illustrates the addition of a new metric, with   a reference to the RFC defining the metric.  The ambientTemperature   Information Element (Appendix A.3) illustrates the addition of a new   measured value outside the area of traditional networking   applications.A.1.  sipResponseStatus   Description:   The SIP Response code as an integer, as in the      Response Codes registry athttp://www.iana.org/assignments/sip-parameters defined in [RFC3261] and amended in subsequent RFCs.      The presence of this Information Element in a SIP Message record      marks it as describing a SIP response; if absent, the record      describes a SIP request.   Data Type:   unsigned16   Data Type Semantics:   identifier   References:   [RFC3261]   ElementId:   TBD1   Replaces Enterprise-Specific Element:  35566 / 412A.2.  duplicatePacketDeltaCount   Description:   The number of uncorrupted and identical additional      copies of each individual packet in the Flow arriving at the      destination since the previous Data Record for this Flow (if any),      as measured at the Observation Point.  This is measured as the      Type-P-one-way-packet-duplication metric defined inSection 3 of      [RFC5560].   Data Type:   unsigned64   Data Type Semantics:   deltaCounterTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 31]

RFC 7013                    IPFIX IE-DOCTORS              September 2013   Units:   packets   References:   [RFC5560]   ElementId:   TBD2A.3.  ambientTemperature   Description:   An ambient temperature observed by measurement      equipment at an Observation Point, positioned such that it      measures the temperature of the surroundings (i.e., not including      any heat generated by the measuring or measured equipment),      expressed in degrees Celsius.   Data Type:   float   Units:   degrees Celsius   Range:   -273.15 - +inf   ElementId:   TBD3Authors' Addresses   Brian Trammell   Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich   Gloriastrasse 35   8092 Zurich   Switzerland   Phone: +41 44 632 70 13   EMail: trammell@tik.ee.ethz.ch   Benoit Claise   Cisco Systems, Inc.   De Kleetlaan 6a b1   1831 Diegem   Belgium   Phone: +32 2 704 5622   EMail: bclaise@cisco.comTrammell & Claise         Best Current Practice                [Page 32]

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