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INFORMATIONAL
Network Working Group                                        N. BrownleeRequest for Comments: 2924                    The University of AucklandCategory: Informational                                        A. Blount                                                         MetraTech Corp.                                                          September 2000Accounting Attributes and Record FormatsStatus of this Memo   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this   memo is unlimited.Copyright Notice   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.Abstract   This document summarises Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and   International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) documents related to   Accounting.  A classification scheme for the Accounting Attributes in   the summarised documents is presented.  Exchange formats for   Accounting data records are discussed, as are advantages and   disadvantages of integrated versus separate record formats and   transport protocols.  This document discusses service definition   independence, extensibility, and versioning.  Compound service   definition capabilities are described.Table of Contents1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22. Terminology and Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33. Architecture Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44. IETF Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44.1. RADIUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44.1.1. RADIUS Attributes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54.2. DIAMETER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64.2.1. DIAMETER Attributes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74.3. ROAMOPS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84.4. RTFM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84.4.1. RTFM Attributes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94.5. ISDN MIB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104.5.1. ISDN Attributes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104.6. AToMMIB  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114.6.1. AToMMIB Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11Brownlee & Blount            Informational                      [Page 1]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 20004.7. QoS: RSVP and DIFFSERV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124.7.1. QoS: RSVP and DIFFSERV Attributes  . . . . . . . . . . . .135. ITU-T Documents  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135.1. Q.825: Call Detail Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135.2. Q.825 Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146. Other Documents  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186.1. TIPHON: ETSI TS 101 321  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186.2. MSIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197. Accounting File and Record Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197.1. ASN.1 Records  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197.1.1. RTFM and AToMMIB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197.1.2. Q.825  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207.2. Binary Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207.2.1. RADIUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207.2.2. DIAMETER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207.3. Text Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217.3.1. ROAMOPS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218. AAA Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228.1. A Well-defined Set of Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228.2. A Simple Interchange Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239. Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239.1. Record Format vs. Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249.2. Tagged, Typed Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249.2.1. Standard Type Definitions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259.3. Transaction Identifiers  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269.4. Service Definitions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269.4.1. Service Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279.4.2. Versioned Service Definitions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299.4.3. Relationships Among Usage Events . . . . . . . . . . . . .299.4.4. Service Namespace Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3010. Encodings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3011. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3112. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3113. Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3514. Full Copyright Statement  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .361.  Introduction   This document summarises IETF and ITU-T documents related to   Accounting.  For those documents which describe Accounting Attributes   (i.e. quantities which can be measured and reported), an Attribute   Summary is given.  Although several of the documents describe   Attributes which are similar, no attempt is made to identify those   which are the same in several documents.  An extensible   classification scheme for AAA Accounting Attributes is proposed; it   is a superset of the attributes in all the documents summarised.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                      [Page 2]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   Many existing accounting record formats and protocols [RAD-ACT]   [TIPHON] are of limited use due to their single-service descriptive   facilities and lack of extensibility.  While some record formats and   protocols support extensible attributes [RAD-ACT], none provide   identification, type checking, or versioning support for defined   groupings of attributes (service definitions).  This document makes a   case for well-defined services.   Advantages and disadvantages of integrated versus separate record   formats and transport protocols are discussed.  This document   discusses service definition independence, extensibility, and   versioning.  Compound service definition capabilities are described.2.  Terminology and Notation   The following terms are used throughout the document.   Accounting Server      A network element that accepts Usage Events from Service Elements.      It acts as an interface to back-end rating, billing, and      operations support systems.   Attribute-Value Pair (AVP)      A representation for a Usage Attribute consisting of the name of      the Attribute and a value.   Property      A component of a Usage Event.  A Usage Event describing a phone      call, for instance, might have a "duration" Property.   Service      A type of task that is performed by a Service Element for a      Service Consumer.   Service Consumer      Client of a Service Element.  End-user of a network service.   Service Definition      A specification for a particular service.  It is composed of a      name or other identifier, versioning information, and a collection      of Properties.   Service Element      A network element that provides a service to Service Consumers.      Examples include RAS devices, voice and fax gateways, conference      bridges.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                      [Page 3]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   Usage Attribute      A component of a Usage Event that describes some metric of service      usage.   Usage Event      The description of an instance of service usage.3.  Architecture Model   Service Elements provide Services to Service Consumers.  Before,   while, and/or after services are provided, the Service Element   reports Usage Events to an Accounting Server.  Alternately, the   Accounting Server may query the Service Element for Usage Events.   Usage events are sent singly or in bulk.      +------------+       +-----------+              +------------+      |  Service   |<----->|  Service  | Usage Events | Accounting |      |  Consumer  |   +-->|  Element  |------------->|   Server   |      +------------+   |   +-----------+              +------------+                       |      +------------+   |      |  Service   |<--+      |  Consumer  |      +------------+   Accounting Servers may forward Usage Events to other systems,   possibly in other administrative domains.  These transfers are not   addressed by this document.4.  IETF Documents   In March 1999 there were at least 19 Internet Drafts and 8 RFCs   concerned with Accounting.  These are summarised (by working group)   in the following sections.4.1.  RADIUS   The RADIUS protocol [RAD-PROT] carries authentication, authorization   and configuration information between a Network Access Server (NAS)   and an authentication server.  Requests and responses carried by the   protocol are expressed in terms of RADIUS attributes such as User-   Name, Service-Type, and so on.  These attributes provide the   information needed by a RADIUS server to authenticate users and to   establish authorized network service for them.   The protocol was extended to carry accounting information between a   NAS and a shared accounting server.  This was achieved by defining a   set of RADIUS accounting attributes [RAD-ACT].Brownlee & Blount            Informational                      [Page 4]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   RADIUS packets have a short header containing the RADIUS packet type   and authenticator (sixteen octets) and length, followed by a sequence   of (Type, Length, Value) triples, one for each attribute.   RADIUS is very widely used, and a number of significant new   extensions to it have been proposed.  For example [RAD-EXT] discusses   extensions to implement the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)   and the Apple Remote Access Protocol (ARAP).  [RAD-TACC] discusses   extensions to permit RADIUS to interwork effectively with tunnels   using protocols such as PPTP and L2TP.4.1.1.  RADIUS Attributes   Each RADIUS attribute is identified by an 8-bit number, referred to   as the RADIUS Type field.  Up-to-date values of this field are   specified in the most recent Assigned Numbers RFC [ASG-NBR], but the   current list is as follows:   RADIUS Attributes [RAD-PROT]             36  Login-LAT-Group                                            37  Framed-AppleTalk-Link       1  User-Name                         38  Framed-AppleTalk-Network       2  User-Password                     39  Framed-AppleTalk-Zone       3  CHAP-Password       4  NAS-IP-Address                    60  CHAP-Challenge       5  NAS-Port                          61  NAS-Port-Type       6  Service-Type                      62  Port-Limit       7  Framed-Protocol                   63  Login-LAT-Port       8  Framed-IP-Address       9  Framed-IP-Netmask              RADIUS Accounting Attributes      10  Framed-Routing                 [RAD-ACT]      11  Filter-Id      12  Framed-MTU                        40  Acct-Status-Type      13  Framed-Compression                41  Acct-Delay-Time      14  Login-IP-Host                     42  Acct-Input-Octets      15  Login-Service                     43  Acct-Output-Octets      16  Login-TCP-Port                    44  Acct-Session-Id      17  (unassigned)                      45  Acct-Authentic      18  Reply-Message                     46  Acct-Session-Time      19  Callback-Number                   47  Acct-Input-Packets      20  Callback-Id                       48  Acct-Output-Packets      21  (unassigned)                      49  Acct-Terminate-Cause      22  Framed-Route                      50  Acct-Multi-Session-Id      23  Framed-IPX-Network                51  Acct-Link-Count      24  State      25  Class                          RADIUS Extension Attributes      26  Vendor-Specific                [RAD-EXT]      27  Session-Timeout      28  Idle-Timeout                      52  Acct-Input-GigawordsBrownlee & Blount            Informational                      [Page 5]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000      29  Termination-Action                53  Acct-Output-Gigawords      30  Called-Station-Id                 54  Unused      31  Calling-Station-Id                55  Event-Timestamp      32  NAS-Identifier      33  Proxy-State                       70  ARAP-Password      34  Login-LAT-Service                 71  ARAP-Features      35  Login-LAT-Node                    72  ARAP-Zone-Access      73  ARAP-Security      74  ARAP-Security-Data      75  Password-Retry      76  Prompt      77  Connect-Info      78  Configuration-Token      79  EAP-Message      80  Message-Authenticator      84  ARAP-Challenge-Response      85  Acct-Interim-Interval      87  NAS-Port-Id      88  Framed-Pool   RADIUS Tunneling Attributes   [RAD-TACC]      64  Tunnel-Type      65  Tunnel-Medium-Type      66  Tunnel-Client-Endpoint      67  Tunnel-Server-Endpoint      68  Acct-Tunnel-Connection      69  Tunnel-Password      81  Tunnel-Private-Group-ID      82  Tunnel-Assignment-ID      83  Tunnel-Preference      90  Tunnel-Client-Auth-ID      91  Tunnel-Server-Auth-ID4.2.  DIAMETER   The DIAMETER framework [DIAM-FRAM] defines a policy protocol used by   clients to perform Policy, AAA and Resource Control.  This allows a   single server to handle policies for many services.  The DIAMETER   protocol consists of a header followed by objects.  Each object is   encapsulated in a header known as an Attribute-Value Pair (AVP).Brownlee & Blount            Informational                      [Page 6]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   DIAMETER defines a base protocol that specifies the header formats,   security extensions and requirements as well as a small number of   mandatory commands and AVPs.  A new service can extend DIAMETER by   extending the base protocol to support new functionality.   One key differentiator with DIAMETER is its inherent support for   Inter-Server communication.  Although this can be achieved in a   variety of ways, the most useful feature is the ability to "proxy"   messages across a set of DIAMETER servers (known as a proxy chain).   The DIAMETER Accounting Extension document [DIAM-ACT] extends   DIAMETER by defining a protocol for securely transferring accounting   records over the DIAMETER base protocol.  This includes the case   where accounting records may be passed through one or more   intermediate proxies, in accordance with the 'referral broker' model.   The DIAMETER accounting protocol [DIAM-ACT] defines DIAMETER records   for transferring an ADIF record (see below).  It introduces five new   attributes (480..485) which specify the way in which accounting   information is to be delivered between DIAMETER servers.4.2.1.  DIAMETER Attributes   DIAMETER AVPs are identified by a 16-bit number defined in [DIAM-   AUTH].  Since most of the AVPs found in that document were copied   from the RADIUS protocol [RAD-PROT], it is possible to have both   RADIUS and DIAMETER servers read the same dictionary and users files.   The backward compatibility that DIAMETER offers is intended to   facilitate deployment.  To this end, DIAMETER inherits the RADIUS   attributes, and adds only a few of its own.   In the list below attribute numbers which are used for RADIUS   attributes but not for DIAMETER are indicated with a star (*).   RADIUS attributes used by DIAMETER are not listed again here.   The DIAMETER attributes are:       4      (unassigned, *)      17      (unassigned)      21      (unassigned)      24      (unassigned, *)      25      (unassigned, *)      27      (unassigned, *)      32      (unassigned, *)      33      (unassigned, *)     280      Filter-Rule     281      Framed-Password-PolicyBrownlee & Blount            Informational                      [Page 7]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000     480      Accounting-Record-Type     481      ADIF-Record     482      Accounting-Interim-Interval     483      Accounting-Delivery-Max-Batch     484      Accounting-Delivery-Max-Delay     485      Accounting-Record-Number     600      SIP-Sequence     601      SIP-Call-ID     602      SIP-To     603      SIP-From4.3.  ROAMOPS   [ROAM-IMPL] reviews the design and functionality of existing roaming   implementations.  "Roaming capability" may be loosely defined as the   ability to use any one of multiple Internet service providers (ISPs),   while maintaining a formal customer-vendor relationship with only   one.  One requirement for successful roaming is the provision of   effective accounting.   [ROAM-ADIF] proposes a standard accounting record format, the   Accounting Data Interchange Format (ADIF), which is designed to   compactly represent accounting data in a protocol-independent manner.   As a result, ADIF may be used to represent accounting data from any   protocol using attribute value pairs (AVPs) or variable bindings.   ADIF does not define accounting attributes of its own.  Instead, it   gives examples of accounting records using the RADIUS accounting   attributes.4.4.  RTFM   The RTFM Architecture [RTFM-ARC] provides a general method of   measuring network traffic flows between "metered traffic groups".   Each RTFM flow has a set of "address" attributes, which define the   traffic groups at each of the flow's end-points.   As well as address attributes, each flow has traffic-related   attributes, e.g. times of first and last packets, counts for packets   and bytes in each direction.   RTFM flow measurements are made by RTFM meters [RTFM-MIB] and   collected by RTFM meter readers using SNMP.  The MIB uses a   "DataPackage" convention, which specifies the attribute values to be   read from a flow table row.  The meter returns the values for eachBrownlee & Blount            Informational                      [Page 8]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   required attribute within a BER-encoded sequence.  This means there   is only one object identifier for the whole sequence, greatly   reducing the number of bytes required to retrieve the data.4.4.1.  RTFM Attributes   RTFM attributes are identified by a 16-bit attribute number.   The RTFM Attributes are:    0  Null    1  Flow Subscript                Integer    Flow table info    4  Source Interface              Integer    Source Address    5  Source Adjacent Type          Integer    6  Source Adjacent Address       String    7  Source Adjacent Mask          String    8  Source Peer Type              Integer    9  Source Peer Address           String   10  Source Peer Mask              String   11  Source Trans Type             Integer   12  Source Trans Address          String   13  Source Trans Mask             String   14  Destination Interface         Integer    Destination Address   15  Destination Adjacent Type     Integer   16  Destination Adjacent Address  String   17  Destination AdjacentMask      String   18  Destination PeerType          Integer   19  Destination PeerAddress       String   20  Destination PeerMask          String   21  Destination TransType         Integer   22  Destination TransAddress      String   23  Destination TransMask         String   26  Rule Set Number               Integer    Meter attribute   27  Forward Bytes                 Integer    Source-to-Dest counters   28  Forward Packets               Integer   29  Reverse Bytes                 Integer    Dest-to-Source counters   30  Reverse Packets               Integer   31  First Time                    Timestamp  Activity times   32  Last Active Time              Timestamp   33  Source Subscriber ID          String     Session attributes   34  Destination Subscriber ID     String   35  Session ID                    StringBrownlee & Blount            Informational                      [Page 9]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   36  Source Class                  Integer    "Computed" attributes   37  Destination Class             Integer   38  Flow Class                    Integer   39  Source Kind                   Integer   40  Destination Kind              Integer   41  Flow Kind                     Integer   50  MatchingStoD                  Integer    PME variable   51  v1                            Integer    Meter Variables   52  v2                            Integer   53  v3                            Integer   54  v4                            Integer   55  v5                            Integer   65-127 "Extended" attributes             (to be defined by the RTFM working group)4.5.  ISDN MIB   The ISDN MIB [ISDN-MIB] defines a minimal set of managed objects for   SNMP-based management of ISDN terminal interfaces.  It does not   explicitly define anything related to accounting, however it does   define isdnBearerChargedUnits as      The number of charged units for the current or last connection.      For incoming calls or if charging information is not supplied by      the switch, the value of this object is zero.   This allows for an ISDN switch to convert its traffic flow data (such   as Call Connect Time) into charging data.4.5.1.  ISDN Attributes   The relevant object in the MIB is the ISDN bearer table, which has   entries in the following form:   IsdnBearerEntry ::=       SEQUENCE {           isdnBearerChannelType           INTEGER,           isdnBearerOperStatus            INTEGER,           isdnBearerChannelNumber         INTEGER,           isdnBearerPeerAddress           DisplayString,           isdnBearerPeerSubAddress        DisplayString,           isdnBearerCallOrigin            INTEGER,           isdnBearerInfoType              INTEGER,           isdnBearerMultirate             TruthValue,           isdnBearerCallSetupTime         TimeStamp,Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 10]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000           isdnBearerCallConnectTime       TimeStamp,           isdnBearerChargedUnits          Gauge32           }4.6.  AToMMIB   The "ATM Accounting Information MIB" document [ATM-ACT] describes a   large set of accounting objects for ATM connections.  An   administrator may select objects from this set using a selector of   the form (subtree, list) where "subtree" specifies an object   identifier from the AToMMIB.  For each subtree there is a table   holding values for each ATM connection.  The required connections are   indicated by setting bits in "list", which is an octet string.  For   example, the set containing the number of received cells for the   first eight ATM connections would be selected by   (atmAcctngReceivedCells, 0xFF).   The Connection-Oriented Accounting MIB document [ATM-COLL] defines a   MIB providing managed objects used for controlling the collection and   storage of accounting information for connection-oriented networks   such as ATM.  The accounting data is collected into files for later   retrieval via a file transfer protocol.  Records within an accounting   file are stored as BER strings [ASN1,BER].4.6.1.  AToMMIB Attributes   Accounting data objects within the AToMMBIB are identified by the   last integer in their object identifiers.   The ATM accounting data objects are:      1   atmAcctngConnectionType      2   atmAcctngCastType      3   atmAcctngIfName      4   atmAcctngIfAlias      5   atmAcctngVpi      6   atmAcctngVci      7   atmAcctngCallingParty      8   atmAcctngCalledParty      9   atmAcctngCallReference     10   atmAcctngStartTime     11   atmAcctngCollectionTime     12   atmAcctngCollectMode     13   atmAcctngReleaseCause     14   atmAcctngServiceCategory     15   atmAcctngTransmittedCells     16   atmAcctngTransmittedClp0Cells     17   atmAcctngReceivedCellsBrownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 11]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000     18   atmAcctngReceivedClp0Cells     19   atmAcctngTransmitTrafficDescriptorType     20   atmAcctngTransmitTrafficDescriptorParam1     21   atmAcctngTransmitTrafficDescriptorParam2     22   atmAcctngTransmitTrafficDescriptorParam3     23   atmAcctngTransmitTrafficDescriptorParam4     24   atmAcctngTransmitTrafficDescriptorParam5     25   atmAcctngReceiveTrafficDescriptorType     26   atmAcctngReceiveTrafficDescriptorParam1     27   atmAcctngReceiveTrafficDescriptorParam2     28   atmAcctngReceiveTrafficDescriptorParam3     29   atmAcctngReceiveTrafficDescriptorParam4     30   atmAcctngReceiveTrafficDescriptorParam5     31   atmAcctngCallingPartySubAddress     32   atmAcctngCalledPartySubAddress     33   atmAcctngRecordCrc164.7.  QoS: RSVP and DIFFSERV   As we move towards providing more than simple "best effort"   connectivity, there has been a tremendous surge of interest in (and   work on) protocols to provide managed Quality of Service for Internet   sessions.  This is of particular interest for the provision of   "Integrated Services", i.e. the transport of audio, video, real-time,   and classical data traffic within a single network infrastructure.   Two approaches to this have emerged so far:   -  the Integrated Services architecture (intserv) [IIS-ARC], with its      accompanying signaling protocol, RSVP [RSVP-ARC], and RSVP's      Common Open Policy Service protocol, COPS [RAP-COPS]   -  the Differentiated Services architecture (diffserv) [DSRV-ARC]   RSVP is a signaling protocol that applications may use to request   resources from the network.  The network responds by explicitly   admitting or rejecting RSVP requests.  Certain applications that have   quantifiable resource requirements express these requirements using   intserv parameters [IIS-SPEC].   Diffserv networks classify packets into one of a small number of   aggregated flows or "classes", based on the diffserv codepoint (DSCP)   in the packet's IP header.  At each diffserv router, packets are   subjected to a "per-hop behavior" (PHB), which is invoked by the   DSCP.  Since RSVP is purely a requirements signalling protocol it can   also be used to request connections from a diffserv network [RS-DS-   OP].Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 12]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 20004.7.1.  RSVP and DIFFSERV Attributes   A set of parameters for specifying a requested Quality of Service are   given in [IIS-SPEC].  These have been turned into accounting   attributes within RTFM [RTFM-NEWA] and within the RSVP MIB [RSVP-   MIB].   The RTFM QoS attributes are:        98      QoSService        99      QoSStyle       100      QoSRate       101      QoSSlackTerm       102      QoSTokenBucketRate       103      QoSTokenBucketSize       104      QoSPeakDataRate       105      QoSMinPolicedUnit       106      QoSMaxPolicedUnit   The RSVP MIB contains a large number of objects, arranged within the   following sections:       General Objects       Session Statistics Table       Session Sender Table       Reservation Requests Received Table       Reservation Requests Forwarded Table       RSVP Interface Attributes Table       RSVP Neighbor Table   The Session tables contain information such as the numbers of senders   and receivers for each session, while the Reservation Requests tables   contain details of requests handled by the RSVP router.  There are   too many objects to list here, but many of them could be used for   accounting.  In particular, RSVP Requests contain the specification   of the service parameters requested by a user; these, together with   the actual usage data for the connection make up an accounting record   for that usage.5.  ITU-T Documents5.1.  Q.825: Call Detail Recording   ITU-T Recommendation Q.825 specifies how CDRs (Call Detail Records)   are produced and managed in Network Elements for POTS, ISDN and IN   (Intelligent Networks).   Uses of Call Detail information for various purposes are discussed.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 13]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   Each call produces one or more records describing events that   occurred during the life of a call.  Data may be produced in real   time (single CDRs), near real-time (blocks of CDRs), or as batch   files of CDRs.   The information model for Call Detail Recording is formally described   in terms of an Entity-Relationship model, and an object model   specified in terms of GDMO templates (Guidelines for the Definition   of Managed Objects).  Note that this model includes the ways in which   CDRs are transported from the (NE) Network Element where they are   generated to the OS (Operations System) where they are used.5.2.  Q.825 Attributes   The following attributes are defined.  The explanations given are   very brief summaries only, see [Q-825] for the complete text.   1  accessDelivery        Indicates that the call was delivered to the called subscriber   2  accountCodeInput        Account code (for billing), supplied by subscriber.  78  additionalParticipantInfo        (No details given)   5  b-PartyCategory        Subscriber category for called subscriber.   4  bearerService        Bearer capability information (only for ISDN calls).  13  cDRPurpose        Reason for triggering this Call Data Record.  70  callDetailDataId        Unique identifier for the CallDetailData object.  79  callDuration        Duration of call   6  callIdentificationNumber        Identification number for call; all records produced for this        call have the same callIdenfificationNumber.  73  callStatus        Identifies whether the call was answered or not.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 14]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   9  calledPartyNumber        Telephone number of the called subscriber (may be a        "diverted-to" or "translated" number.   7  callingPartyCategory        Calling subscriber category.   8  callingPartyNumber        Telephone number of the calling party.  10  callingPartyNumberNotScreened        An additional, user-provided (not screened) number to the        calling party.  11  callingPartyType        Calling subscriber type.  74  carrierId        Carrier ID to which the call is sent.  12  cause        Cause and location value for the termination of the call.  14  chargedDirectoryNumber        Charged directory number (where the charged participant        element can't indicate the number).  16  chargedParticipant        Participant to be charged for the usage.  15  chargingInformation        Charging information generated by a Network Element which is        capable of charging.  17  configurationMask        Time consumption, e.g. from B-answer to termination time,        between partial call records, etc.  18  conversationTime        Time consumption from B-answer to end of call.  19  creationTriggerList        List of trigger values which will create Call Detail data        objects.  75  dPC        Destination point code (for analysis purposes).Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 15]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000  20  dataValidity        Indicates that the NE is having problems, contents of the        generated Call Detail record is not reliable.  23  durationTimeACM        Time consumption from seizure until received ACM.  21  durationTimeB-Answer        Time consumption from seizure until B-answer.  22  durationTimeNoB-Answer        Time from seizure to termination when no B-answer was        received.  25  exchangeInfo        Identity of exchange where Call Detail record was generated.  26  fallbackBearerService        Fallback bearer capability information for a call.  27  glare        Indicates if a glare condition was encountered.  31  iNServiceInformationList        Contains information about the use of IN (Intelligent Network)        services.  32  iNSpecificInformation        Contains information about the use of one IN service.  33  iSUPPreferred        Indicate whether an ISUP preference was requested.  28  immediateNotificationForUsageMetering        Indicates that the Call Detail records requires        immediate data transfer to the Operations System.  34  maxBlockSize        Maximum number of Call Detail records in a block.  35  maxTimeInterval        Maximum latency allowable for near-real-time Call Detail        data delivery.  36  networkManagementControls        Indicates which Traffic Management Control has affected        the call.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 16]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000  37  networkProviderId        Indicates the Network Provider for whom the CDR is generated.  76  oPC        Originating point code for a failed call (for analysis        purposes).  38  operatorSpecific1AdditionalNumber  40  operatorSpecific2AdditionalNumber  42  operatorSpecific3AdditionalNumber        Operator-defined additional participant information.  39  operatorSpecific1Number  41  operatorSpecific2Number  43  operatorSpecific3Number        Operator-defined participant information.  44  originalCalledNumber        Telephone number of the original called party.  45  partialGeneration        Included if the CDR (Call Detail record) output is partial.        Such CDRs have a field indicating their partial record number.  77  participantInfo        (No details given).  46  percentageToBeBilled        Percentage to be billed when normal billing rules are        not to be followed.  47  periodicTrigger        Defines the intervals at which the CDR file should be created.  48  personalUserId        Internationally unique personal User Identity (for UPT calls).  49  physicalLineCode        Identifies the call subscriber's physical line.  50  progress        Describes an event which occurred during the life of a call.  51  queueInfo        Used to record usage of queueing resources with IN calls.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 17]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000  52  receivedDigits        The digits dialed by the subscriber.  (Normally only included        for customer care purposes).  53  recordExtensions        Information elements added by network operators and/or        manufacturers in addition to the standard ones above.6.  Other Documents6.1.  TIPHON: ETSI TS 101 321   TIPHON [TIPHON] is an XML-based protocol, carried by HTTP, which   handles accounting and authorization requests and responses.   The following are elements selected from TIPHON's DTD that are used   for accounting.   <!ELEMENT Currency (#PCDATA)> <!ELEMENT Amount (#PCDATA)>       Identifies a numeric value.  Expressed using the period (.) as a       decimal separator with no punctuation as the thousands separator.   <!ELEMENT CallId (#PCDATA)>       Contains a call's H.323 CallID value, and is thus used to       uniquely identify individual calls.   <!ELEMENT Currency (#PCDATA)>       Defines the financial currency in use for the parent element.   <!ELEMENT DestinationInfo type ( e164 | h323 | url | email |                                    transport | international |                                    national | network | subscriber |                                    abbreviated | e164prefix )       Gives the primary identification of the destination for a call.   <!ELEMENT Increment (#PCDATA)>       Indicates the number of units being accounted.   <!ELEMENT Service EMPTY>       Indicates a type of service being priced, authorized, or       reported.  An empty Service element indicates basic Internet       telephony service, which is the only service type defined by       V1.4.2 of the specification.  The specification notes that "Later       revisions of this standard are expected to specify more enhanced       service definitions to represent quality of service,       availability, payment methods, etc."Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 18]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   <!ELEMENT DestinationInfo type ( e164 | h323 | url | email |                                    transport | international |                                    national | network | subscriber |                                    abbreviated | e164prefix)       Gives the primary identification of the source of a call.   <!ELEMENT Timestamp (#PCDATA)>       A restricted form of [ISO-DATE] that indicates the time at which       the component was generated.   <!ELEMENT TransactionId (#PCDATA)>       Contains an integer, decimal valued identifier assigned to a       specific authorized transaction.   <!ELEMENT Unit (#PCDATA)>       Indicates the units by which pricing is measured or usage       recorded.  It shall contain one of the following values:           s      seconds           p      packets (datagrams)           byte   bytes   <!Element UsageDetail ( Service, Amount, Increment, Unit ) >       Collects information describing the usage of a service.6.2.  MSIX   MSIX [MSIX-SPEC] is an XML-based protocol transported by HTTP that is   used to make accounting service definitions and transmit service   usage information.  As its service definitions are parameterized and   dynamic, it makes no definition of services or attributes itself, but   allows implementors to make their own.  It specifies only the base   data types that attributes may take: STRING, UNISTRING, INT32, FLOAT,   DOUBLE, BOOLEAN, TIMESTAMP.7.  Accounting File and Record Formats7.1.  ASN.1 Records7.1.1.  RTFM and AToMMIB   RTFM and AToMMIB use ASN.1 Basic Encoding Rules (BER) to encode lists   of attributes into accounting records.  RTFM uses SNMP to retrieve   such records as BER strings, thus avoiding having to have an object   identifier for every object.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 19]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   AToMMIB carries this a stage further by defining an accounting file   format in ASN.1 and making it available for retrieval by a file   transfer protocol, thereby providing a more efficient alternative to   simply retrieving the records using SNMP.7.1.2.  Q.825   A Q.825 Call Record is an ASN.1 SET containing a specified group of   the Q.825 attributes.  Call records would presumably be encoded as   BER strings before being collected for later processing.7.2.  Binary Records7.2.1.  RADIUS   Radius packets carry a sequence of attributes and their values, as   (Type, Length, Value) triples.  The format of the value field is one   of four data types.      string   0-253 octets      address  32 bit value, most significant octet first.      integer  32 bit value, most significant octet first.      time     32 bit value, most significant octet first -- seconds               since 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.  The standard               Attributes do not use this data type but it is presented               here for possible use within Vendor-Specific attributes.7.2.2.  DIAMETER   Each DIAMETER message consists of multiple AVP's that are 32-bit   aligned, with the following format:      0                   1                   2                   3      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      |                           AVP Code                            |      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      |          AVP Length           |     Reserved        |P|T|V|R|M|      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      |                        Vendor ID (opt)                        |      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      |                           Tag (opt)                           |      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      |    Data ...      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 20]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000      Code         The AVP Code identifies the attribute uniquely.  If the Vendor-         Specific bit is set, the AVP Code is allocated from the         vendor's private address space.         The first 256 AVP numbers are reserved for backward         compatibility with RADIUS and are to be interpreted as per         RADIUS [RAD-PROT].  AVP numbers 256 and above are used for         DIAMETER, which are allocated by IANA.      AVP Length         A 16-bit field contains the total object length in bytes.         Must always be a multiple of 4, and at least 8.      AVP Flags         P                      Protected bit         T                      Tag bit         V                      Vendor-ID bit         R                      Reserved (MUST be set to 0)         M                      Mandatory bit7.3.  Text Records7.3.1.  ROAMOPS   ADIF (Accounting Data Interchange Format [ROAM-ADIF]) presents a   general, text-based format for accounting data files, described in a   straightforward BNF grammar.  Its file header contains a field   indicating the default protocol from which accounting attributes are   drawn.  If an attribute from another protocol is to be used, it is   preceded by its protocol name, for example rtfm//27 would be RTFM's   "forward bytes" attribute.  Comments in an ADIF file begin with a   cross-hatch.   Example: An ADIF file encoding RADIUS accounting data        version: 1        device: server3        description: Accounting Server 3        date: 02 Mar 1999 12:19:01 -0500        defaultProtocol: radius        rdate: 02 Mar 1999 12:20:17 -0500        #NAS-IP-Address        4: 204.45.34.12        #NAS-Port        5: 12        #NAS-Port-TypeBrownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 21]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000        61: 2        #User-Name        1: fred@bigco.com        #Acct-Status-Type        40: 2        #Acct-Delay-Time        41: 14        #Acct-Input-Octets        42: 234732        #Acct-Output-Octets        43: 15439        #Acct-Session-Id        44: 185        #Acct-Authentic        45: 1        #Acct-Session-Time        46: 1238        #Acct-Input-Packets        47: 153        #Acct-Output-Packets        48: 148        #Acct-Terminate-Cause        49: 11        #Acct-Multi-Session-Id        50: 73        #Acct-Link-Count        51: 28.  AAA Requirements8.1.  A Well-Defined Set of Attributes   AAA needs a well-defined set of attributes whose values are to be   carried in records to or from accounting servers.   Most of the existing sets of documents described above include a set   of attributes, identified by small integers.  It is likely that these   sets overlap, i.e. that some of them have attributes which represent   the same quantity using different names in different sets.  This   suggests it might be possible to produce a single combined set of   "universal" accounting attributes, but such a "universal" set does   not seem worthwhile.   The ADIF approach of specifying a default protocol (from which   attributes are assumed to come) and identifying any exceptions seems   much more practical.  We therefore propose that AAA should use theBrownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 22]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   ADIF convention (or something like it) to identify attributes,   together with all the sets of attributes covered by the [ASG-NBR]   document.8.2.  A Simple Interchange Format   AAA needs a simple interchange file format, to be used for accounting   data.  Several schemes for packaging and transporting such data have   been described above.   The SNMP-based ones fit well within the context of an SNMP-based   network management system.  RTFM and AToMMIB provide ways to reduce   the SNMP overhead for collecting data, and AToMMIB defines a complete   file format.  Both provide good ways to collect accounting data.   As an interchange format, however, ASN.1-based schemes suffer from   being rather complex binary structures.  This means that one requires   suitable tools to work with them, as compared to plain-text files   where one can use existing text-based utilities.   The binary schemes such as RADIUS and DIAMETER have simpler   structures, but they too need purpose-built tools.  For general use   they would need to be extended to allow them to use attributes from   other protocols.   From the point of view of being easy for humans to understand, ADIF   seems very promising.  Of course any processing program would need a   suitable ADIF input parser, but using plain-text files makes them   much easier to understand.   TIPHON's record format is specified by an XML DTD.  While XML   representations have the advantages of being well-known, they are   limited by XML's inability to specify type or other validity checking   for information within the tags.  This situation will likely be   improved by the XML Schema [XML-SCHM] efforts that are underway, but   a stable reference is not yet available.9.  Issues   It is generally agreed that there is a need for a standard record   format and transport protocol for communication between Service   Elements and Accounting Servers.   There is less agreement on the following issues:      o  Separate or integral record format and transport protocol      o  Standard set of base data types      o  Service definitions: part of the protocol or separately definedBrownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 23]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000      o  Service definition namespace management   The following sections address these issues.9.1.  Record Format vs. Protocol   All known Internet-centric billing protocols to date have an integral   record format.  That is, the collection of Properties that describe a   Usage Event are specified as an integral part of the protocol,   typically as a part of a "submit" message that is used to transmit a   Usage Event from a Service Entity to an Accounting Server.   It may be advantageous to define a record format that is independent   of the transport protocol.  Such a record format should support both   representation of individual records and records in bulk, as Usage   Events are often aggregated and transmitted in bulk.   A separate record format is useful for record archiving and temporary   file storage.  Multiple transport protocols may be defined without   affecting the record format.  The task of auditing is made easier if   a standard file format is defined.  If a canonical format is used,   bulk records may be hashed with MD5 [MD5] or a similar function, for   reliability and security purposes.                                  +------------+                                  |  transport |                                  |   header   |            +------------+        +------------+            |            |        |            |            |   Usage    |        |   Usage    |            |  Event(s)  |        |  Event(s)  |            |            |        |            |            |            |        |            |            +------------+        +------------+                                  |  trailer   |                                  +------------+            record format       transport protocol   If the protocol is written such that it can transmit Usage Events in   the record format, no record rewriting for transport is required.9.2.  Tagged, Typed Data   Record formats and protocols use a combination of data locality and   explicit tagging to identify data elements.  Mail [RFC822], for   instance, defines a header block composed of several Attribute-Value   Pairs, followed by a message body.  Each header field is explicitlyBrownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 24]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   tagged, but the order of the AVPs is undefined.  The message body is   not tagged (except with an additional preceding blank line), and is   found through its position in the message, which must be after all   header fields.   Some record formats make no use of tags--data elements are identified   only by their position within a record structure.  While this   practice provides for the least amount of record space overhead, it   is difficult to later modify the record format by adding or removing   elements, as all record readers will have to be altered to handle the   change.  Tagged data allows old readers to detect unexpected tags and   to detect if required data are missing.  If the overhead of carrying   explicit tags can be borne, it is advantageous to use explicitly   tagged data elements where possible.   An AVP approach has proven useful in accounting.  RADIUS [RADIUS]   uses numeric data type identifiers.  ETSI's TIPHON [TIPHON] uses XML   markup.   For an AAA accounting record format, the authors suggest that each   Property be named by a textual or numeric identifier and carry a   value and a data type indicator, which governs interpretation of the   value.  It may also be useful for each Property to carry a units of   measure identifier.  The TIPHON specification takes this approach.   TS 101 321 also carries an Increment field, which denominates the   Property's Unit of Measure field.  Whether this additional   convenience is necessary is a matter for discussion.   It is not strictly necessary for each data record to carry data type,   units of measure, or increments identifiers.  If this information is   recorded in a record schema document that is referenced by each data   record, each record may be validated against the schema without the   overhead of carrying type information.9.2.1.  Standard Type Definitions   It is useful to define a standard set of primitive data types to be   used by the record format and protocol.  Looking at the prior art,   DIAMETER supports Data (arbitrary octets), String (UTF-8), Address   (32 or 128 bit), Integer32, Integer64, Time (32 bits, seconds since   1970), and Complex.  MSIX [MSIX-SPEC] supports String, Unistring,   Int32, Float, Double, Boolean, and Timestamp.  SMIv2 [SMI-V2] offers   ASN.1 types INTEGER, OCTET STRING, and OBJECT IDENTIFIER, and the   application-defined types Integer32, IpAddress, Counter32, Gauge32,   Unsigned32, TimeTicks, Opaque, and Counter64.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 25]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   An appropriate set would likely include booleans, 32 and 64 bit   signed integers, 32 and 64 bit floats, arbitrary octets, UTF-8 and   UTF-16 strings, and ISO 8601:1988 [ISO-DATE] timestamps.  Fixed-   precision numbers capable of representing currency amounts (with   precision specified on both sides of the decimal point) have proven   useful in accounting record formats, as they are immune to the   precision problems that are encountered when one attempts to   represent fixed-point amounts with floating point numbers.   It may be worthwhile to consider the datatypes that are being   specified by the W3C's "XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes" [XML-DATA]   document.  That document specifies a rich set of base types, along   with a mechanism to specify derivations that further constrain the   base types.9.3.  Transaction Identifiers   Each Usage Event requires its own unique identifier.   It is expedient to allow Service Elements to create their own unique   identifiers.  In this manner, Usage Events can be created and   archived without the involvement of an Accounting Server or other   central authority.   A number of methods for creating unique identifiers are well known.   One popular identifier is an amalgamation of a monotonically   increasing sequence number, a large random value, a network element   identifier, and a timestamp.  Another possible source of entropy is a   hash value of all or part of the record itself.RFC 822 [MAIL],RFC 1036 [NEWS], andRFC 2445 [ICAL-CORE] give   guidance on the creation of good unique identifiers.9.4.  Service Definitions   A critical differentiator in accounting record formats and protocols   is their capability to account for arbitrary service usage.  To date,   no accounting record format or protocol that can handle arbitrary   service definitions has achieved broad acceptance on the Internet.   This section analyzes the issues in service definition and makes a   case for a record format and protocol with the capability to carry   Usage Events for rich, independently-defined services.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 26]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 20009.4.1.  Service Independence   It is informative to survey a number of popular Internet protocols   and document encodings and examine their capacities for extension.   These protocols can be categorized into two broad categories--"fully   specified" protocols that have little provision for extension and   "framework" protocols that are incomplete, but provide a basis for   future extension when coupled with application documents.   Examples of fully-specified protocols are NTP [NTP], NNTP [NNTP],   RADIUS Accounting [RAD-ACT], and HTML [HTML].   Aside from leaving some field values "reserved for future use", all   of Network Time Protocol's fields are fixed-width and completely   defined.  This is appropriate for a simple protocol that solves a   simple problem.   Network News Transfer Protocol [NEWS-PROT] specifies that further   commands may be added, and requests that non-standard implementations   use the "X-" experimental prefix so as to not conflict with future   additions.  The content of news is 7-bit data, with the high-order   bit cleared to 0.  Nothing further about the content is defined.   There is no in-protocol facility for automating decoding of content   type.   We pay particular attention to RADIUS Accounting [RAD-ACT].  Perhaps   the second most frequently heard complaint (after security   shortcomings) about RADIUS Accounting is its preassigned and fixed   set of "Types".  These are coded as a range of octets from 40 to 51   and are as follows:         40      Acct-Status-Type         41      Acct-Delay-Time         42      Acct-Input-Octets         43      Acct-Output-Octets         44      Acct-Session-Id         45      Acct-Authentic         46      Acct-Session-Time         47      Acct-Input-Packets         48      Acct-Output-Packets         49      Acct-Terminate-Cause         50      Acct-Multi-Session-Id         51      Acct-Link-Count   These identifiers were designed to account for packet-based network   access service.  They are ill-suited for describing other services.   While extension documents have specified additional types, the baseBrownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 27]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   protocol limits the type identifier to a single octet, limiting the   total number of types to 256.   HTML/2.0 [HTML] is mostly a fully-specified protocol, but with W3C's   HTML/4.0, HTML is becoming more of a framework protocol.  HTML/2.0   specified a fixed set of markups, with no provision for addition   (without protocol revision).   Examples of "framework" protocols and document encodings are HTTP,   XML, and SNMP.   HTTP/1.1 [HTTP] is somewhat similar to NNTP in that it is designed to   transport arbitrary content.  It is different in that it supports   description of that content through its Content-Type, Content-   Encoding, Accept-Encoding, and Transfer-Encoding header fields.  New   types of content can be designated and carried by HTTP/1.1 without   modification to the HTTP protocol.   XML [XML] is a preeminent general-purpose framework encoding.  DTD   publishing is left to users.  There is no standard registry of DTDs.   SNMP presents a successful example of a framework protocol.  SNMP's   authors envisioned SNMP as a general management protocol, and allow   extension through the use of private MIBs.  SNMP's ASN.1 MIBs are   defined, published, and standardized without the necessity to modify   the SNMP standard itself.  From "An Overview of SNMP" [SNMP-OVER]:      It can easily be argued that SNMP has become prominent mainly from      its ability to augment the standard set of MIB objects with new      values specific for certain applications and devices.  Hence, new      functionality can continuously be added to SNMP, since a standard      method has been defined to incorporate that functionality into      SNMP devices and network managers.   Most accounting protocols are fully-specified, with either a   completely defined service or set of services (RADIUS Accounting) or   with one or more services defined and provision for "extension"   services to be added to the protocol later (TIPHON).  While the   latter is preferable, it may be preferable to take a more SNMP-like   approach, where the accounting record format and protocol provide   only a framework for service definition, and leave the task of   service definition (and standardization) to separate efforts.  In   this manner, the accounting protocol itself would not have to be   modified to handle new services.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 28]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 20009.4.2.  Versioned Service Definitions   Versioning is a naming and compatibility issue.  Version identifiers   are useful in service definition because they enable service   definitions to be upgraded without a possibly awkward name change.   They also enable possible compatibility between different versions of   the same service.   An example could be the service definition of a phone call.  Version   1 might define Properties for the start time, duration, and called   and calling party numbers.  Later, version 2 is defined, which   augments the former service definition with a byte count.  An   Accounting Server, aware only of Version 1, may accept Version 2   records, discarding the additional information (forward   compatibility).  Alternately, if an Accounting Server is made aware   of version 2, it could optionally still accept version 1 records from   Service Elements, provided the Accounting Sever does not require the   additional information to properly account for service usage   (backward compatibility).9.4.3.  Relationships Among Usage Events   Accounting record formats and protocols to date do not sufficiently   addressed "compound" service description.   A compound service is a service that is described as a composition of   other services.  A conference call, for example, may be described as   a number of point-to-point calls to a conference bridge.  It is   important to account for the individual calls, rather than just   summing up an aggregate, both for auditing purposes and to enable   differential rating.  If these calls are to be reported to the   Accounting Server individually, the Usage Events require a shared   identifier that can be used by the Accounting Server and other back-   end systems to group the records together.   In order for a Service Element to report compound events over time as   a succession of individual Usage Events, the accounting protocol   requires a facility to communicate that the compound event has   started and stopped.  The "start" message can be implicit--the   transmission of the first Usage Event will suffice.  An additional   semaphore is required to tell the Accounting Server that the compound   service is complete and may be further processed.  This is necessary   to prevent the Accounting Server from prematurely processing compound   events that overlap the end of a billing period.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 29]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   RADIUS Accounting has some provision for this sort of accounting with   its "Acct-Multi-Session-Id" field.  Unfortunately, RADIUS   Accounting's other shortcomings preclude it from being used in   general purpose service usage description.9.4.4.  Service Namespace Management   "Framework" protocols, as previously mentioned, do not define   complete schema for their payload.  For interoperability to be   achieved, it must be possible for:      (1) content definers to specify definitions without conflicting          with the names of other definitions      (2) protocol users to find and use content definitions   Condition (1) can be readily managed through IANA assignment or by   using an existing namespace differentiator (for example, DNS).   Condition (2) is harder, and places considerable burden on the   implementors.  Their clients and servers must be able, statically or   dynamically, to find and validate definitions, and manage versioning   issues.   As previously mentioned, the XML specification provides no facility   for DTD discovery or namespace management.  XML specifies only a   document format, and as such does not need to specify support for   more "protocol" oriented problems.   For an accounting record format and protocol, an approach closer to   SNMP's is useful.  SNMP uses an ISO-managed dotted-decimal namespace.   An IANA-managed registry of service types is a possibility.  Another   possibility, used by MSIX [MSIX-SPEC], is for Service Element   creators to identify their services by concatenation of a new service   name with existing unique identifier, such as a domain name.   A standard record format for service definitions would make it   possible for Service Element creators to directly supply accounting   system managers with the required definitions, via the network or   other means.10.  Encodings   It may be useful to define more than one record encoding.   A "verbose" XML encoding is easily implemented and records can be   syntactically verified with existing tools.  "Human-readable"   protocols tend to have an edge on "bitfield" protocols where ease ofBrownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 30]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   implementation is paramount and the application can tolerate any   additional processing required to generate, parse, and transport the   records.   A alternative "compressed" encoding that makes minimal use of storage   and processing may be useful in many contexts.   There are disadvantages to supporting multiple encodings.   Optionally-supported multiple encodings mandate the requirement for   capabilities exchange between Service Element and Accounting Server.   Also, implementations can tend to "drift apart", with one encoding   better-supported than another.  Unless all encodings are mandatory,   implementors may find they are unable to interoperate because they   picked the wrong encoding.11.  Security Considerations   This document summarises many existing IETF and ITU documents; please   refer to the original documents for security considerations for their   particular protocols.   It must be possible for the accounting protocol to be carried by a   secure transport.  A canonical record format is useful so that   regeneration of secure record hashes is possible.   When dealing with accounting data files, one must take care that   their integrity and privacy are preserved.  This document, however,   is only concerned with the format of such files.12.  References   [ACC-BKG]   Mills, C., Hirsch, G. and G. Ruth, "Internet Accounting               Background",RFC 1272, November 1991.   [ASG-NBR]   Reynolds, J. and J. Postel, "Assigned Numbers", STD 2,RFC 1700, October 1994.   [ASN1]      Information processing systems - Open Systems               Interconnection - Specification of Abstract Syntax               Notation One (ASN.1), International Organization for               Standardization, International Standard 8824, December               1987.   [ATM-ACT]   McCloghrie, K., Heinanen, J., Greene, W. and A. Prasad,               "Accounting Information for ATM Networks",RFC 2512,               February 1999.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 31]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   [ATM-COLL]  McCloghrie, K., Heinanen, J., Greene, W. and A. Prasad, "               Managed Objects for Controlling the Collection and               Storage of Accounting Information for Connection-Oriented               Networks",RFC 2513, February 1999.   [BER]       Information processing systems - Open Systems               Interconnection - Specification of Basic Encoding Rules               for Abstract Notation One (ASN.1), International               Organization for Standardization, International Standard               8825, December 1987.   [DIAM-ACT]  Arkko, J., Calhoun, P.R., Patel, P. and Zorn, G.,               "DIAMETER Accounting Extension", Work in Progress.   [DIAM-AUTH] Calhoun, P.R. and Bulley, W., "DIAMETER User               Authentication Extensions", Work in Progress.   [DIAM-FRAM] Calhoun, P.R., Zorn, G. and Pan, P., "DIAMETER Framework               Document", Work in Progress.   [DSRV-ARC]  Blake, S., Black, D., Carlson, M., Davies, E., Wang, Z.               and W. Weiss, "An Architecture for Differentiated               Services",RFC 2475, December 1998.   [HTML]      Berners-Lee, T. and D. Connolly, "Hypertext Markup               Language - 2.0",RFC 1866, November 1995.   [HTTP]      Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J. Frystyk, H. and T.               Berners-Lee, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol--HTTP/1.1",RFC2068, January 1997.   [ICAL-CORE] Dawson, F. and D. Stenerson, "Internet Calendaring and               Scheduling Core Object Specification",RFC 2445, November               1998.   [IIS-ARC]   Braden, R., Clark, D. and S. Shenker, "Integrated               Services in the Internet Architecture: an Overview",RFC1633, June 1994.   [IIS-SPEC]  Shenker, S., Partridge, C. and R. Guerin, "Specification               of Guaranteed Quality of Service",RFC 2212, September               1997.   [ISDN-MIB]  Roeck, G., "ISDN Management Information Base using               SMIv2",RFC 2127, March 1997.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 32]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   [ISO-DATE]  "Data elements and interchange formats -- Information               interchange -- Representation of dates and times", ISO               8601:1988.   [MAIL]      Crocker, D., "STANDARD FOR THE FORMAT OF ARPA INTERNET               TEXT MESSAGES", STD 11,RFC 822, August 1982.   [MD5]       Rivest, R., "The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm",RFC 1321,               April 1992.   [MSIX-SPEC] Blount, A. and D. Young, "Metered Service Information               Exchange 1.2", Work in Progress.   [NEWS-MSGS] Horton, M. and R. Adams, "Standard for Interchange of               USENET Messages",RFC 1036, December 1987.   [NEWS-PROT] Kantor, B. and P. Lapsley, "Network News Transfer               Protocol",RFC 977, February 1986.   [NTP]       Mills, D., "Network Time Protocol (NTP)",RFC 958,               September 1985.   [Q-825]     "Specification of TMN applications at the Q3 interface:               Call detail recording", ITU-T Recommendation Q.825, 1998.   [RAD-ACT]   Rigney, C., "RADIUS Accounting",RFC 2866, June 2000.   [RAD-EXT]   Rigney, C., Willats, W. and Calhoun, P., "RADIUS               Extensions",RFC 2869, June 2000.   [RAD-PROT]  Rigney, C., Willens, S., Rubens, A., and W. Simpson,               "Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS)",RFC 2865, June 2000.   [RAD-TACC]  Zorn, G., Mitton, D. and A. Aboba, "RADIUS Accounting               Modifications for Tunnel Protocol Support",RFC 2867,               June 2000.   [RAP-COPS]  Boyle, J., Cohen, R., Durham, D., Herzog, S., Rajan, R.               and A. Sastry, "The COPS (Common Open Policy Service)               Protocol",RFC 2748, January 2000.   [ROAM-ADIF] Aboba, B. and D. Lidyard, "The Accounting Data               Interchange Format (ADIF)", Work in Progress.   [ROAM-IMPL] Aboba, B., Lu, J., Alsop, J., Ding, J. and W. Wang,               "Review of Roaming Implementations",RFC 2194, September               1997.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 33]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   [RS-DS-OP]  Bernet, Y., Yavatkar, R., Ford, P., Baker, F., Zhang, L.,               Speer, M., Braden, R., Davie, B., Wroclawski, J. and E.               Felstaine, "A Framework For Integrated Services Operation               Over Diffserv Networks", Work in Progress.   [RSVP-ARC]  Braden, R., Zhang, L., Berson, S., Herzog, S. and S.               Jamin, "Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) Version 1               Functional Specification",RFC 2205, September 1997.   [RSVP-MIB]  Baker, F., Krawczyk, J. and A. Sastry, "RSVP Management               Information Base using SMIv2",RFC 2206, September 1997.   [RTFM-ARC]  Brownlee, N., Mills, C. and G. Ruth, "Traffic Flow               Measurement: Architecture",RFC 2722, October 1999.   [RTFM-MIB]  Brownlee, N., "Traffic Flow Measurement: Meter MIB",               Measurement: Architecture",RFC 2720, October 1999.   [RTFM-NEWA] Handelman, S., Brownlee, N., Ruth, G. and S. Stibler,               "New Attributes for Traffic Flow Measurement",RFC 2724,               October 1999.   [SIP-PROT]  Handley, M., Schulzrinne, H., Schooler, E. and J.               Rosenberg, "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol",RFC 2543,               March 1999.   [SMI-V2]    McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D. and J. Schoenwaelder,               "Structure of Management Information Version 2 (SMIv2)",               STD 58,RFC 2578, April 1999.   [SNMP-OVER] "AN OVERVIEW OF SNMP V2.0", Diversified Data Resources,               Inc.,http://www.ddri.com, 1999.   [TIPHON]    "Telecommunications and Internet Protocol Harmonization               Over Networks (TIPHON); Inter-domain pricing,               authorization, and usage exchange", TS 101 321 V1.4.2,               December 1998.   [XML]       Bray, T., J. Paoli, and C. Sperberg-McQueen, "Extensible               Markup Language (XML) 1.0", W3C Recommendation, February               1998.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 34]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 2000   [XML-DATA]  "XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes", W3C Working Draft 07               April 2000, April 2000.   [XML-SCHM]  "XML Schema Part 1: Structures", W3C Working Draft 7               April 2000, April 2000.13.  Authors' Addresses   Nevil Brownlee   Information Technology Systems & Services   The University of Auckland   Phone: +64 9 373 7599 x8941   EMail: n.brownlee@auckland.ac.nz   Alan Blount   MetraTech Corp.   330 Bear Hill Road   Waltham, MA 02451   EMail: blount@alum.mit.eduBrownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 35]

RFC 2924        Accounting Attributes and Record Formats  September 200014.  Full Copyright Statement   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it   or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any   kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this   document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing   the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other   Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of   developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for   copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than   English.   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be   revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an   "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING   BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION   HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF   MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.Acknowledgement   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the   Internet Society.Brownlee & Blount            Informational                     [Page 36]

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