Subject: [ipfix-protocol] PROTO-[16-20]: scope issues

From: Benoit Claise <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 17:50:20 +0200

Dear all,

Let me propose an improvement to solve the issue PROTO-16 to PROTO-20.
By proposing it now, you will have the time to think about it before 
next week meeting.

We've got a list of scope

           Currently defined values are:  
               1 System   
               2 Interface  
               3 Line Card  
               4 Cache  
               5 Template  

We've got a list of information element, see draft-ietf-ipfix-info-04.

One of the issues is that we have to maintain two lists with some similar elements
Ex: value 2 for scope interface, and ingressInterface in draft-ietf-ipfix-info-04
This also implies that IANA will have to maintain 2 different lists.
Actually we could improve the protocol by having one list of information elements.
My proposal is to use the information elements defined in draft-ietf-ipfix-info-04 for the scope.
The modifications would only concern the Options Template FlowSet and Options Data Record.

The advantages are:
- no need for IANA to maintain 2 lists, potentially similar
- no need to have a separate mechanism for proprietary scope; we could reuse the same mechanism of "enterprise field type" for proprietary Information Elements
- the collecting process job is easier as it can link easily the information element in the Flow Data Records with the information element in the Options Data Records.
  without this, you have to link for example scope=system with exporterAddressV4 in draft-ietf-ipfix-info-04

The principles would be: 
- if multiple scopes are used, they are treated as logical AND.
	example: scope = line card1, scope = cache2
- the scopes order is irrelevant
- no scope of length 0 are permitted (to specifically address: PROTO-18: Can we have an optional length of 0 bytes for the scope section in the option template?)

Feedback? Do you agree on the above? 

Last minor question:
Do we want to always have a default scope with the EXPORTER ID? 

Regards, Benoit. 

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