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authorThomas Voss <mail@thomasvoss.com> 2024-11-27 20:54:24 +0100
committerThomas Voss <mail@thomasvoss.com> 2024-11-27 20:54:24 +0100
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+
+Network Working Group A. Bivens
+Request for Comments: 4678 IBM Research
+Category: Informational September 2006
+
+
+ Server/Application State Protocol v1
+
+Status 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 (2006).
+
+IESG Note
+
+ This RFC is not a candidate for any level of Internet Standard. The
+ IETF disclaims any knowledge of the fitness of this RFC for any
+ purpose and in particular notes that the decision to publish is not
+ based on IETF review for such things as security, congestion control,
+ or inappropriate interaction with deployed protocols. The RFC Editor
+ has chosen to publish this document at its discretion. Readers of
+ this document should exercise caution in evaluating its value for
+ implementation and deployment. See RFC 3932 for more information.
+
+Abstract
+
+ Entities responsible for distributing work across a group of systems
+ traditionally do not know a great deal about the ability of the
+ applications on those systems to complete the work in a satisfactory
+ fashion. Workload management systems traditionally know a great deal
+ about the health of applications, but have little control over the
+ rate in which these applications receive work. The
+ Server/Application State Protocol (SASP) provides a mechanism for
+ load balancers and workload management systems to communicate better
+ ways of distributing the existing workload to the group members.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 1]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+Table of Contents
+
+ 1. Introduction ....................................................3
+ 1.1. Overview ...................................................3
+ 1.2. Identities .................................................4
+ 2. Requirements Notation ...........................................4
+ 3. Conventions Used in This Document ...............................4
+ 4. General Message Structure .......................................4
+ 4.1. TLV Structure ..............................................6
+ 4.2. Component Types ............................................6
+ 4.3. SASP Protocol Header .......................................7
+ 4.4. Version Negotiation ........................................8
+ 5. Singular Protocol Components ....................................9
+ 5.1. Member Data Component ......................................9
+ 5.2. Group Data Component ......................................11
+ 5.3. Weight Entry Data Component ...............................12
+ 5.4. Member State Instance Component ...........................14
+ 6. Group Protocol Components ......................................15
+ 6.1. Group of Member Data Component ............................15
+ 6.2. Group of Weight Data Component ............................16
+ 6.3. Group of Member State Data Components .....................17
+ 7. Protocol Messages ..............................................17
+ 7.1. Registration Request and Reply ............................18
+ 7.1.1. Registration Request ...............................18
+ 7.1.2. Registration Reply .................................19
+ 7.2. DeRegistration Request and Reply ..........................20
+ 7.2.1. DeRegistration Request .............................21
+ 7.2.2. DeRegistration Reply ...............................22
+ 7.3. Get Weights Request and Reply .............................23
+ 7.3.1. Get Weights Request ................................24
+ 7.3.2. Get Weights Reply ..................................25
+ 7.4. Send Weights ..............................................26
+ 7.5. Set Member State Request and Reply ........................27
+ 7.5.1. Set Member State Request ...........................28
+ 7.5.2. Set Member State Reply .............................29
+ 7.6. Set Load Balancer State Request and Reply .................30
+ 7.6.1. Set LB State Request ...............................30
+ 7.6.2. Set LB State Reply .................................32
+ 8. Example of SASP Message Encoding ...............................32
+ 9. Protocol Flow ..................................................37
+ 9.1. Normal Protocol Flow ......................................37
+ 9.2. Behavior in Error Cases ...................................39
+ 9.3. Example Flow 1: Load Balancer Registration,
+ Getting Weights, and Application-Side Quiescing ...........41
+ 9.4. Example Flow 2: Set Load Balancer State, Application
+ Registration, and Load Balancer Group DeRegistration ......43
+ 9.5. Avoiding Single Points of Failure .........................44
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 2]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ 10. Security Considerations .......................................45
+ 11. Normative References ..........................................46
+ Appendix A. Acknowledgements ......................................47
+
+1. Introduction
+
+1.1. Overview
+
+ The Server/Application State Protocol is designed to enable load
+ balancers or schedulers (1) to receive traffic weight recommendations
+ from Workload Managers, (2) to register with Workload Managers
+ members of load balancing/scheduling groups, and (3) to enable
+ Workload Managers to suggest new load balancing group members to load
+ balancers and schedulers
+
+ The figure below shows where the SASP entities are in typical load
+ balancing topology.
+
+ ----------
+ | Group |
+ -------->|Member 1|<--|
+ | ---------- |
+ | |
+ --------- ---------- | ---------- |
+ |Request|<------>| Load |---| | Group | |
+ |Origins|<------>|Balancer|----------->|Member 2|<--|
+ --------- | |---| ---------- |
+ ---------- | |
+ ^ | ---------- |
+ | -------->| Group | |
+ SASP | |Member 3|<--|
+ ------- ---------- |
+ | |
+ | -------------------- |
+ | | Group | SASP |
+ ------>| Workload Manager |<----------
+ --------------------
+
+ Figure 1
+
+ SASP is a binary protocol that facilitates communication from load
+ balancers/schedulers to Workload Managers. The connection between
+ the Group Workload Manager (GWM) and the load balancer/scheduler is
+ expected to be a long-running TCP connection. In SASP interactions,
+ the GWM acts as a SASP server waiting to receive connections from the
+ other SASP components. Server port 3860 has been registered with the
+ IANA for SASP communications. It is expected that all SASP
+ components are configured with the DNS name of the GWM to develop
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 3]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ this connection. Security in SASP is handled by transporting binary
+ messages over Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS).
+ This document only describes the message format and protocol behavior
+ above the connection and security layers. Connection and security
+ aspects including SSL's authentication and encryption will be
+ implementation specific.
+
+1.2. Identities
+
+ SASP identifies a load balancer by a UTF-8 string called a "LB UID".
+ A group of "equivalent" servers providing a service is identified by
+ a UTF-8 string called a "Group Name", which is interpreted in the
+ context of the LB UID. A server is identified by its IP address and
+ (optional) port and protocol numbers. A GWM is only identified
+ implicitly as the entity on the other end of the TCP connection from
+ a load balancer or group member. All of these identifiers are local;
+ there are no globally unique identifiers. The LB UID and GroupName
+ fields are unstructured so that components could assign values to
+ these fields that are meaningful to an administrator. For example,
+ in many cases, a load balancer would use the name an administrator
+ provided for the serverfarm group as the groupname in a SASP-
+ specified group. Since the naming options in industry load balancers
+ do not carry explicit naming restrictions, SASP naming options also
+ carry no naming restrictions.
+
+2. Requirements Notation
+
+ The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
+ "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
+ document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
+
+3. Conventions Used in This Document
+
+ o Load Balancer - Entity responsible for distributing requests
+ amongst the available members.
+
+ o Member - Machine, process, or application used to service
+ requests.
+
+ o Group Workload Manager (GWM) - Entity responsible for reporting or
+ managing a group of members on multiple machines.
+
+4. General Message Structure
+
+ Any string interpreted by the group workload manager is assumed to
+ use UTF8. Components implementing SASP MUST support the printable
+ ASCII subrepertoire of UTF8 (0x20-0x7E). Components MAY also choose
+ to provide support for additional UTF8 character encodings. It is
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 4]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ recommended that customers using SASP-enabled products configure the
+ string-generating components (load balancers and group members) to
+ use the same character repertoire.
+
+ Many of the SASP structures involve the transfer of multi-byte
+ integer values. In all cases where multi-byte integer values are
+ used, they are considered to be in network-byte order (big-endian).
+
+ SASP is organized into several message components. For extendibility
+ and ease of processing, each message component is described in a TLV
+ (Type, Length, Value) format. An illustration of the SASP structure
+ can be found in the example below. The first section is the header
+ followed by the message component type. As mentioned, the header,
+ message component, and all other components have a TLV format. Each
+ component value contains a variable number of fields, some of which
+ refer to upcoming components (explained component descriptions are in
+ upcoming sections). After the first message component, any number of
+ additional components may be included (as stipulated in the fields of
+ the message type).
+
+ -------------------------------------------------
+ | |T| Type (SASP Header Type) |
+ | SASP |----------------------------------|
+ | Header |L| Length of SASP header TLV |
+ | |----------------------------------|
+ | |V| Header fields |
+ |-----------------------------------------------|
+ | |T| Type (Message Type) |
+ | Message |----------------------------------|
+ | Type |L| Length of this Message Type TLV|
+ | Component |----------------------------------|
+ | |V| Component fields |
+ |-----------------------------------------------|
+ | |T| Type (Component Type) |
+ | |----------------------------------|
+ |Component-1 |L| Length of this TLV |
+ | |----------------------------------|
+ | |V| Component fields |
+ |-----------------------------------------------|
+ | ... |
+ |-----------------------------------------------|
+ | |T| Type (Component Type) |
+ | |----------------------------------|
+ |Component-n |L| Length of this TLV |
+ | |----------------------------------|
+ | |V| Component fields |
+ -------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 5]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ Figure 2
+
+4.1. TLV Structure
+
+ An illustration of the TLV format is shown below. The Type is a
+ two-byte field containing a binary value for the component type. The
+ Length is a two-byte field containing the size of the TLV in bytes
+ (including the Type and Length fields). The Value field is a
+ variable-length field that actually contains the data of the
+ component.
+
+ < xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx, xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx, xxxx...........xxxx >
+ |-----------------| |-----------------| |-----------------|
+ Type(2 bytes) Length(2 bytes) Value(variable)
+
+ Figure 3
+
+4.2. Component Types
+
+ The TLV structure requires a type value for each protocol component.
+ All SASP types are listed in this section.
+
+ Reserved 0x0000-0x1000
+
+ Message Types
+
+ Registration Request 0x1010
+
+ Registration Reply 0x1015
+
+ DeRegistration Request 0x1020
+
+ DeRegistration Reply 0x1025
+
+ Get Weights Request 0x1030
+
+ Get Weights Reply 0x1035
+
+ Send Weights 0x1040
+
+ Set Load Balancer State Request 0x1050
+
+ Set Load Balancer State Reply 0x1055
+
+ Set Member State Request 0x1060
+
+ Set Member State Reply 0x1065
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 6]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ Utility Component Types
+
+ SASP Header 0x2010
+
+ Singular Component Types
+
+ Member Data 0x3010
+
+ Group Data 0x3011
+
+ Weight Entry Data 0x3012
+
+ Member State Instance 0x3013
+
+ Group Component Types
+
+ Group of Member Data 0x4010
+
+ Group of Weight Entry Data 0x4011
+
+ Group of Member State Data 0x4012
+
+ Reserved 0xF000-0xFFFF
+
+4.3. SASP Protocol Header
+
+ An illustration of the SASP Header is found in the table below. It
+ is expected that every message will start with the SASP Protocol
+ Header component.
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | SASP header type (0x2010) | Size of this TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Version | Message Length
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Message ID
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 4
+
+ o Version: The version of the protocol used in this message.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 7]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ o Message Length: A 4-byte signed integer value representing the
+ total length of the SASP message. It is said to be a signed
+ 4-byte value to make any Java implementations easier (or any other
+ implementations without unsigned values); however, no negative
+ lengths are valid.
+
+ o Message ID: Each request message is given a 4-byte Message ID by
+ the message originator, which is simply returned in the Message ID
+ field of the reply. This field is meant to assist the requester
+ in correlating replies to the appropriate request when many
+ requests have been sent. In the Send Weights message (the only
+ message transaction that has no reply), this field serves no
+ purpose.
+
+4.4. Version Negotiation
+
+ To negotiate the version of the protocol used by the entities
+ involved in the connection, the GWM views the version included in the
+ load balancer request as the load balancer's proposed version.
+
+ If the GWM supports the version proposed by the load balancer, it
+ will respond to the connection with the appropriate response code and
+ the load balancer's proposed version in the response header. This
+ proposed version should be the version used for all messages in this
+ connection.
+
+ If the GWM does not support the version proposed by the load
+ balancer, the GWM will respond with a "message not understood"
+ response code and the GWM's highest supported SASP version in the
+ version field of the response header. This is an indication for the
+ load balancer to come down to GWM's SASP version level.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 8]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+5. Singular Protocol Components
+
+ The most basic of SASP components are singular components because
+ they describe a single instance of a member, member resource, member
+ weight, or group. Some of the SASP components reuse other SASP
+ components. When this is the case, any component being reused by a
+ base component will simply be given immediately following the base
+ component. Some examples of this technique are seen and explained in
+ the Weight Entry and Member State Instance components.
+
+5.1. Member Data Component
+
+ The member data component describes a particular member and is
+ referred to by other components.
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Member Data Type (0x3010) | Size of this TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Protocol | Port | |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ | |
+ + +
+ | |
+ + IP Address of Member +
+ | |
+ + +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | | Label Length |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | |
+ . .
+ . Label .
+ . .
+ | |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 5
+
+ o Protocol: The assigned number of the IP transport layer used in
+ the Protocol Field of the IP header. These are defined in
+ [RFC1700]; however, a current list is maintained at
+ http://www.iana.org.
+ for example: TCP = 0x06, UDP = 0x11, etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 9]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ o Port: The port number used for communication to the member.
+ *** A value of 0 can be given for the Protocol and Port to signify
+ a system level member. However, 0 shouldn't be perceived as a
+ wildcard for either Port or Protocol fields (i.e., a
+ deregistration request that includes a MemberData component with a
+ 0 for the port doesn't mean deregister all applications listening
+ on any port of that IP and protocol).
+
+ o IP Address: The current format is described by the following 16
+ bytes, where IPv4 addresses are represented as "IPv4-compatible
+ IPv6 addresses" [RFC4291]. In the following example, the x's and
+ zeros represent 4-bit hex values. The x's describe arbitrary hex
+ values.
+
+ IPv4 Address: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 xx xx xx xx
+
+ IPv6 Address: xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx
+
+ o Label length: The length, in bytes, of the label string to follow.
+
+ o Label: A UTF8 string that may be set while registering a member.
+ This string is opaque to the GWM and is simply included with any
+ correspondence containing the member data component. Note that
+ the size of this label is <= 255 bytes. Because UTF8 character
+ encodings may be up to 6 bytes, care must be exercised by the load
+ balancer or member to make sure the UTF8 string it sends the GWM
+ is in fact <= 255 bytes.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 10]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+5.2. Group Data Component
+
+ The group data component simply describes a group with which to
+ associate other singular components.
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Group Data Type (0x3011) | Size of this TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | LB UID Length | |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ . .
+ . LB UID .
+ . .
+ + +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | |Group Name Len |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . Group Name .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 6
+
+ o LB UID Length: Length of the LB UID to follow (in bytes).
+
+ o LB UID: A UTF8 string used as a unique identifier and a context
+ for the Group Name (e.g., a UTF8 representation of the MAC address
+ of the load balancer or some type of Universally Unique Identifier
+ (UUID)). This string is used by the Group Workload Manager to
+ associate application registration and deregistration, and to set
+ state messages with the correct load balancer. This unique
+ identifier should not be any longer than 64 bytes.
+
+ o Group Name Len: Length of the Group Name field to follow (in
+ bytes).
+
+ o Group Name: A UTF8 string the load balancer has chosen to tell the
+ Group Workload Manager that members being registered with this
+ Group Name are equivalent in function. In Get Weight and
+ DeRegistration messages, the Group Name may be omitted (Group Name
+ Length = 0) to indicate all groups from the associated load
+ balancer.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 11]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+5.3. Weight Entry Data Component
+
+ The Weight Entry Component is used by the get and send weight
+ messages to associate a weight with a particular member (or Member
+ Data). It also uses an opaque member state field and a general
+ member flags field to denote extra information about a member
+ (described below). When the Weight Entry component is used, the
+ Member Data TLV it refers to is listed first, immediately followed by
+ the Weight Entry TLV.
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Member Data Type (0x3010) | Size of this Member Data TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . Member Data Fields .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Weight Entry Type (0x3012) | Size of this Weight Entry TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | State Field | Flags Field | Weight |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 7
+
+ o State Field: This field is used by the member to communicate state
+ information to the scheduler. The information placed in this
+ field is opaque to the GWM and will simply be forwarded to the
+ scheduler with the member weights. There are no defined values
+ for this field.
+
+ o Flags Field: This field has several flag values that describe
+ several attributes of the member.
+
+ A. Contact Success Flag (set by the GWM): describes whether the
+ member is currently running. If the contact success flag is
+ off, this member should be avoided by the load balancer.
+
+ + xxxx xxx1 The GWM has located this running system or
+ application.
+
+ + xxxx xxx0 The GWM has not located this running system or
+ application.
+
+ B. Quiesce Flag (set by the load balancer or Member): used when
+ an administrator would like to temporarily remove a member
+ from the weight calculation, but not deregister it from the
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 12]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ group. When quiesced, the member will still show up in the
+ weights, but the quiesce flag will be set, and its weight will
+ be zero. When the administrator returns this member to
+ active, the quiesce flag will be 0, and a weight will be
+ provided. If the quiesce flag is on, this member should be
+ avoided by the load balancer.
+
+ + xxxx xx1x The member is quiesced.
+
+ + xxxx xx0x The member is active (not quiesced).
+
+ C. Registration Flag (set by the GWM): stores how the member was
+ registered.
+
+ + xxxx x1xx This member has been registered by the load
+ balancer/scheduler.
+
+ + xxxx x0xx This member has registered itself.
+
+ D. Confident Flag (set by the GWM): describes whether the GWM has
+ knowledge of this member's state. If this flag is off for
+ only some of the members in the group while the remaining
+ members have valid weights, the load balancer should avoid
+ sending work to those members with the confident flag off. If
+ the confident flag is off for all valid group members, the
+ load balancer should disregard any recommendation from the GWM
+ until the confident flag comes back on for at least one
+ member. In this case where all confident flags are off, the
+ load balancer should determine the correct distribution of
+ work by other means (perhaps a different advisor, previously
+ configured static weights, etc.).
+
+ The goal of the confident flag is to convey to the load
+ balancer that it should look to other methods of distribution
+ recommendations if the GWM cannot give recommendations for any
+ of the valid group members. If some members of the group have
+ the confident flag on but the contact flag off or the quiesced
+ flag on (meaning these members should always be avoided) while
+ the remaining members of the group have their confident flag
+ off, the load balancer should determine the appropriate
+ distribution of work for those members with the confident flag
+ off by other means.
+
+ + xxxx 1xxx GWM has determined it has knowledge of the state
+ of this member.
+
+ + xxxx 0xxx GWM has no knowledge of the state of this member.
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 13]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ E. Leftmost four bits are reserved (0000 xxxx - 1111 xxxx).
+
+ o Weight: This field represents the GWM's recommendation for the
+ relative amount of work that should be sent to this member. This
+ is a 16-bit field with a possible range of 0 to 65536. Load
+ balancers should be prepared to receive a wide range of weight
+ values. Load balancers with limited maximum weight values may
+ restrict the granularity of management by the GWM and in turn
+ cause less than optimal performance. Many existing
+ implementations have supported a minimum raw weight range from 0
+ to 100.
+
+5.4. Member State Instance Component
+
+ The Member State Instance Component is used by the set member state
+ message to indicate the sender's perceived state of the member
+ mentioned. This component is used to set values that will ultimately
+ end up in the WeightEntry component. When the Member State Instance
+ component is used, the Member Data TLV it refers to is listed first,
+ immediately followed by the Member State Instance TLV.
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Member Data Type (0x3010) | Size of this Member Data TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . Member Data Fields .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Member State Instance(0x3013) | Size of Member State Inst TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | State Field | Flags Field |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 8
+
+ o State Field: This field is used by the member to communicate state
+ information to the load balancer or scheduler. There are no
+ defined values for this field.
+
+ o Flags Field: This field describes attributes of the member.
+ Currently the only flag value defined is that of the quiesce flag.
+ The quiesce flag is used when an administrator would like to
+ temporarily remove a member from the weight calculation, but not
+ deregister it from the group. When quiesced, the member will
+ still show up in the weights, but the quiesce flag will be set,
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 14]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ and its weight will be zero. When the administrator returns this
+ member to active, the quiesce flag will be 0, and a weight will be
+ provided.
+
+ A. Quiesce Flag
+
+ + xxxx xxx1 The member or load balancer setting this state is
+ quiescing this member.
+
+ + xxxx xxx0 The member or load balancer setting this state is
+ placing the member in a non-quiesced state.
+
+ B. Leftmost seven bits are reserved (0000 000x - 1111 111x).
+
+6. Group Protocol Components
+
+ Group protocol components each contain a collection of related
+ singular components. In particular, they associate Member Data,
+ Weight Entry, or Member State Instance components to a particular
+ Group Data component. In these cases, the particular "Group of x"
+ component will be immediately followed by the Group Data component.
+ The Group Data component will be immediately followed by any number
+ of singular components the group contains. In figures listed in this
+ document, a component type with an asterisk denotes a component that
+ is repeated a number of times.
+
+6.1. Group of Member Data Component
+
+ The "group of member data" component describes a particular group of
+ members and is used in the registration message components.
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Group of Member Data (0x4010) | Size of GroupOfMemberData TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Member Count | |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ . .
+ . Group Data TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . *Array of Member Data Components .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 9
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 15]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ o Member Count: The number of Member Data Components immediately
+ following the Group Data structure.
+
+ o Array of Member Data Components: There will be as many Member Data
+ TLVs as Member Count has specified. A load balancer/scheduler
+ would use these components to pass information that would enable
+ the Group Workload Manager to identify the members to associate
+ with this Group Name. The Member Data Component was described in
+ Section 5.1. In DeRegistration messages, the Member Count may be
+ set to 0 to indicate all members of a particular group.
+
+6.2. Group of Weight Data Component
+
+ The "Group of Weight Data" Component is used by the get and send
+ weight messages to create a list of Weight Entry Components for a
+ particular group.
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ |Group Weight Entry Type(0x4011)| Size of GroupOfWeightEntry TLV|
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Weight Entry Count | |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ . .
+ . Group Data TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . *Array of Weight Entry Data Components .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 10
+
+ o Weight Entry Count: The number of Member Data / Weight Entry
+ combinations to follow the Group Data TLV.
+
+ o Array of Weight Entry Data TLVs: There will be as many [Member
+ Data / Weight Entry] TLVs as Weight Entry Count has specified.
+ Each Weight Entry component is preceded by its corresponding
+ Member Data component as explained in Section 5.3. This Member
+ Data / Weight Entry data combination will repeat to form as many
+ Weight Entry items as the Weight Entry Count specifies.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 16]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+6.3. Group of Member State Data Components
+
+ The "group of member state data" component describes a particular set
+ of members and their corresponding state fields used in the Set
+ Member State messages.
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ |Group Weight Entry Type(0x4011)| Size of GroupOfWeightEntry TLV|
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Member State Instance Count | |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ . .
+ . Group Data TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . *Array of Member State Data Components .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 11
+
+ o Member State Instance Count: The number of Member Data / Member
+ State Instance combinations following the Group Data component.
+
+ o Array of Member State Data Components: Each Member State Instance
+ component is immediately preceded by its corresponding Member Data
+ component as explained in Section 5.4. This Member Data / Member
+ State Instance combination will repeat to form as many Member
+ State items as the Member State Instance Count specifies.
+
+7. Protocol Messages
+
+ SASP messages are a collection of TLVs (Type, Length, and Value
+ components). The header has no information as to what type of
+ message it is part of; the purpose-specific information is in the
+ message component. This format could facilitate placing more than
+ one message component in a single message; however, this use of
+ multiple message components is not supported in every GWM and could
+ produce indeterminate behavior. Similar to the other protocol
+ components, when a message component needs to involve other
+ components, the additional components immediately follow the message
+ component.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 17]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ All SASP requests sent to the GWM will be acknowledged with a reply.
+ The reply contains information requested as well as a single-byte
+ response code describing the success of the request. SASP defines
+ some general response codes in the range of 0x00 - 0x3F that may be
+ used regardless of the response message type. However, some request
+ types may cause specific error conditions not covered by the general
+ response codes. The response code range of 0x40 - 0xFF is used for
+ these message-specific response codes. Any given SASP response will
+ only contain one response code (depending on the error type). This
+ section explains the format and purpose of specific SASP messages.
+
+7.1. Registration Request and Reply
+
+ This exchange happens between the load balancer/scheduler and the
+ Group Workload Manager as well as between the Group Workload Manager
+ and the member to register the members in a group specified by Group
+ Name. Applications are identified with an IP address, Protocol, and
+ Port. Systems are identified only with an IP Address (Port = 0x0000
+ and Protocol = 0x00). All members in a group have equivalent
+ functionality, so the Group Workload Manager can direct routers, load
+ balancers, and schedulers to any member in the group. Even though
+ registrations can come from either the load balancer/scheduler or the
+ actual member, member-initiated registrations will only be considered
+ if the Trust flag is set while the state of the load
+ balancer/scheduler is set.
+
+7.1.1. Registration Request
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Registration Req. Type(0x1010)| Size of Registration Req. TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Flag Field | Group of Member Data Count | |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ . .
+ . *Array of Group of Member Data Components .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ *There will be as many Group of Member Data Components as "Group of
+ Member Data Count" has specified.
+
+ Figure 12
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 18]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ o Flag Field
+
+ A. Load Balancer Flag
+
+ + xxxx xxx1 The entity sending this message is the load
+ balancer.
+
+ + xxxx xxx0 The entity sending this message is an
+ Application.
+
+ B. Leftmost seven bits are reserved (0000 000x - 1111 111x).
+
+ o Group of Member Data Count: The number of "Group of Member Data"
+ components immediately following the Registration Request
+ component.
+
+ o Array of Group of Member Data Components: Each "Group of Member
+ Data" component is immediately followed by Group Data Components
+ and its Member Data components (as described in Section 6.1). In
+ the case where several of these "Group of Member Data" components
+ may be present, the second "Group of Member Data" component only
+ appears after all of the internal components that are referred to
+ by the first "Group of Member Data" component are listed. The
+ format is the same for all subsequent "Group of Member Data"
+ components in the message.
+
+7.1.2. Registration Reply
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ |Registration Reply Type(0x1015)| Size of Registration Reply TLV|
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Return Code |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 13
+
+ o General SASP return codes (0x00 - 0x3F)
+
+ * 0x00 Successful
+
+ * 0x10 Message not understood
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 19]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ * 0x11 GWM will not accept this message from the sender. Reasons
+ for this include the following:
+ a. The message was not sent by a LB and trust flag is off
+ b. LB attempted to address members of a different LB in the
+ message
+ c. Vendor specific criteria for this message type were not met.
+
+ o Message-Specific return codes (0x40 - 0xFF)
+
+ * 0x40 Member already registered
+
+ * 0x44 Duplicate Member in Request
+
+ * 0x45 Invalid Group (determined by the GWM)
+
+ * 0x50 Invalid Group Name Size (size == 0)
+
+ * 0x51 Invalid LB UID Size (size == 0 or > max)
+
+ * 0x61 Member is registering itself, but LB hasn't yet contacted
+ the GWM. This registration will not be processed.
+
+ **The Invalid Group error return code refers to the LB or member
+ attempting to form a group that the GWM considers invalid. For
+ example, some GWM vendors may not support the registration of both
+ System and Application members in the same group. To determine what
+ can cause a GWM to return this error code, the vendor's documentation
+ must be consulted.
+
+7.2. DeRegistration Request and Reply
+
+ This exchange happens between the load balancer/scheduler and the
+ Group Workload Manager as well as between the Group Workload Manager
+ and the Member to deregister members from a group specified by Group
+ Name with the Group Workload Manager. Even though deregistrations
+ can come from either the load balancer/scheduler or the actual
+ member, member-initiated deregistrations will only be considered if
+ the Trust flag is set with a Set LB State message.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 20]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+7.2.1. DeRegistration Request
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ |DeRegistration Req.Type(0x1020)|Size of DeRegistration Req. TLV|
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Flag Field | Reason | Group of Member Data Count |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . *Array of Group of Member Data Components .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ *There will be as many Group of Member Data Components as "Group of
+ Member Data Count" has specified.
+
+ Figure 14
+
+ o Flag Field
+
+ A. Load Balancer Flag
+
+ + xxxx xxx1 The entity sending this message is the load
+ balancer.
+
+ + xxxx xxx0 The entity sending this message is an
+ Application.
+
+ B. Leftmost seven bits are reserved (0000 000x - 1111 111x).
+
+ o Reason: Byte describing the reason for deregistering the group or
+ instance.
+
+ A. SASP-defined Reason Codes (0x00-0x7F)
+
+ + 0x00 No reason given.
+
+ + 0x01 Learned and Purposeful, i.e., a human has deconfigured
+ this member from the load balancer configuration.
+
+ + 0x80-0xFF Open for vendor specific deregistration reason
+ codes.
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 21]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ o Group of Member Data Count: The number of "Group of Member Data"
+ components immediately following the DeRegistration Request
+ component.
+
+ o Array of Group of Member Data Components: Each "Group of Member
+ Data" component is immediately followed by Group Data Components
+ and its Member Data components (as described in Section 6.1). In
+ this case, where several of these "Group of Member Data"
+ components may be present, the second "Group of Member Data"
+ component only appears after all of the internal components that
+ are referred to by the first "Group of Member Data" component are
+ listed. The format is the same for all subsequent "Group of
+ Member Data" components in the message.
+
+ ** If Member Count equals zero in the Group of Member Data component,
+ the Group Workload Manager will deregister the entire group.
+
+ ** Recall that the Group Data Component contains both a Unique LB
+ Identifier field and a Group Name field. If the Group Data component
+ has no Group Name (GroupData's Group Name Length==0), the Group
+ Workload Manager will deregister all groups associated with this load
+ balancer.
+
+7.2.2. DeRegistration Reply
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | DeReg. Reply Type(0x1025) | Size of DeReg. Reply TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Return Code |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 15
+
+ o Return Code: A byte return code indicating the status of action
+ taken.
+
+ A. General SASP return codes (0x00 - 0x3F)
+
+ + 0x00 Successful
+
+ + 0x10 Message not understood
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 22]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ + 0x11 GWM will not accept this message from the sender.
+ Reasons for this include the following:
+ a. The message was not sent by a LB and trust flag is off
+ b. LB attempted to address members of a different LB in the
+ message
+ c. Vendor specific criteria for this message type were not
+ met.
+
+ B. Message-Specific return codes (0x40 - 0xFF)
+
+ + 0x41 Application or System not registered
+
+ + 0x42 Unknown Group Name
+
+ + 0x43 Unknown LB UID
+
+ + 0x44 Duplicate Member in Request
+
+ + 0x46 Duplicate Group in Request (for remove all
+ members/groups requests)
+
+ + 0x51 Invalid LB UID Size (size == 0 or > max)
+
+ + 0x61 Member is deregistering itself, but LB hasn't yet
+ contacted the GWM. This deregistration will not be
+ processed.
+
+7.3. Get Weights Request and Reply
+
+ This exchange happens between the load balancer/scheduler and the
+ Group Workload Manager to get weights for the groups specified in the
+ list of GroupData objects. In the case of application load balancing
+ (balancing workloads between applications with the same
+ functionality), the load balancer would call the Group Workload
+ Manager every Interval (parameter returned by the Group Workload
+ Manager below) to get an array of weights and associated members
+ (e.g., Application1 20, SecondCopyOfApplication 30,
+ ThirdCopyOfApplication 5). The load balancer then uses these weights
+ to determine the fashion in which work will be sent to each of the
+ members. For example, in the case of weighted round robin, the load
+ balancer/scheduler would then send a request to Application1, the
+ next to SecondCopyOfApplication, and the next to
+ ThirdCopyOfApplication. After 15 requests, the load
+ balancer/scheduler would only send work to Application1 and
+ SecondCopyOfApplication. After an additional 30 requests, the load
+ balancer/scheduler would only send requests to
+ SecondCopyofApplication. After another 10 requests, the load
+ balancer/scheduler product would start over using the weights of 20,
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 23]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ 30, and 5 again; or if the Interval number of seconds have passed,
+ the load balancer/scheduler would get a new set of weights.
+
+7.3.1. Get Weights Request
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Get Weights Req. Type(0x1030) | Size of Get Weights Req. TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Group Data Count | |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ . .
+ . *Array of Group Data Components .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ *There will be as many Group Data Components as "Group Data Count"
+ has specified.
+
+ Figure 16
+
+ o Group Data Count: The number of "Group Data" components
+ immediately following the Get Weights Request TLV.
+
+ o Array of Group Data Components: This array of Group Data
+ Components lists the groups for which the load balancer wants to
+ get weights.
+
+ ** If there is no group name in the Group Data structure of the Get
+ Weights Request, the load balancer is requesting weights for all
+ groups registered for the load balancer.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 24]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+7.3.2. Get Weights Reply
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Get Weights Reply Type(0x1035)| Size of Get Weights Reply TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Return Code | Interval | Group of Weight
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ Entry Data Count| |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ . .
+ . *Group of Weight Entry Data Components .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ * There will be as many Group of Weight Entry Data Components as
+ "Group of Weight Entry Data Count" has specified.
+
+ Figure 17
+
+ o Return Code: A byte return code indicating the status of action
+ taken.
+
+ A. General SASP return codes (0x00 - 0x3F)
+
+ + 0x00 Successful
+
+ + 0x10 Message not understood
+
+ + 0x11 GWM will not accept this message from the sender.
+ Reasons for this include the following:
+ a. LB attempted to address members of a different LB in the
+ message
+ b. Vendor specific criteria for this message type were not
+ met.
+
+ B. Message-Specific return codes (0x40 - 0xFF)
+
+ + 0x42 Unknown Group Name
+
+ + 0x43 Unknown LB UID
+
+ + 0x46 Duplicate Group in Request
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 25]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ + 0x51 Invalid LB uid Size (size == 0 or > max)
+
+ o Interval: These two bytes indicate a recommended polling interval
+ for the load balancer to use. The Group Workload Manager is
+ stating that any polling interval smaller than the suggested
+ interval would probably retrieve values before they have had a
+ chance to change.
+
+ o Group of Weight Entry Data Components: Each "Group of Weight Data"
+ component is immediately followed by Group Data Components and its
+ Weight Entry Data components (as described in Section 6.2). In
+ this case, where several "Group of Weight Data" components may be
+ present, the second "Group of Weight Data" component only appears
+ after all of the internal components that are referred to by the
+ first "Group of Weight Data" component are listed. The format is
+ the same for all subsequent "Group of Weight Data" components in
+ the message.
+
+7.4. Send Weights
+
+ This exchange happens between the Group Workload Manager and the load
+ balancer/scheduler to send the new weights for the group specified in
+ Group Name. This message is unique in that it is the only message
+ exchange initiated by the Group Workload Manager and the only message
+ that has no reply. In the case of application load balancing
+ (balancing workloads between applications with the same
+ functionality), the Group Workload Manager would message the load
+ balancer at a possibly dynamic interval (chosen by the Group Workload
+ Manager) to send an array of weights and associated members (e.g.,
+ Application1 20, SecondCopyOfApplication 30, ThirdCopyOfApplication
+ 5). The load balancer then uses these weights to determine the
+ fashion in which work will be sent to each of the members. For
+ example, in the case of weighted round robin, the load
+ balancer/scheduler would then send a request to Application1, the
+ next to SecondCopyOfApplication, and the next to
+ ThirdCopyOfApplication. After 15 requests, the load
+ balancer/scheduler would only send work to Application1 and
+ SecondCopyOfApplication. After another 30 requests, the load
+ balancer/scheduler would only send requests to
+ SecondCopyofApplication. After an additional 10 requests, the load
+ balancer/scheduler product would start over using the weights of 20,
+ 30, and 5 again, if it has not yet received a new set of weights.
+ The Group Workload Manager only sends this message if the Push flag
+ has been enabled using a Set Load Balancer State message.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 26]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Send Weights Type(0x1040) | Size of Send Weights TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Group of Weight Data Count | |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ . .
+ . *Group of Weight Entry Data Components .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ * There will be as many Group of Weight Entry Data Components as
+ "Group of Weight Data Count" has specified.
+
+ Figure 18
+
+ o Group of Weight Entry Data Components: Each "Group of Weight Data"
+ component is immediately followed by Group Data Components and its
+ Weight Entry Data components (as described in Section 6.2). In
+ this case, where several "Group of Weight Data" components may be
+ present, the second "Group of Weight Data" component only appears
+ after all of the internal components that are referred to by the
+ first "Group of Weight Data" component are listed. The format is
+ the same for all subsequent "Group of Weight Data" components in
+ the message.
+
+7.5. Set Member State Request and Reply
+
+ This is a special exchange that can take place between the load
+ balancer and the Group Workload Manager or between the Member and the
+ Group Workload Manager to pass information about the state of the
+ member including placing the member in quiesced or non-quiesced
+ states. In particular, the load balancer/scheduler can use this
+ message to quiesce a set of members. Members can also use this
+ message to quiesce themselves as well as to pass certain state
+ information to the load balancer/scheduler that is opaque to the
+ Group Workload Manager. This opaque state information is passed to
+ the load balancer/scheduler with the weights during get and send
+ weight messages.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 27]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+7.5.1. Set Member State Request
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ |SetMemberState Req.Type(0x1060)|Size of SetMemberState Req. TLV|
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Flag Field | Group of MemberStateData Count| |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ . .
+ . *Array of Group of Member State Data Components .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ *There will be as many Group of Member State Data Components as
+ "Group of Member State Data Count" has specified.
+
+ Figure 19
+
+ o Flag Field
+
+ A. Load Balancer Flag
+
+ + xxxx xxx1 The entity sending this message is the load
+ balancer.
+
+ + xxxx xxx0 The entity sending this message is an
+ Application.
+
+ B. Leftmost seven bits are reserved (0000 000x - 1111 111x).
+
+ o Group of Member State Data Count: The number of "Group of Member
+ State Data" components immediately following the Set Member State
+ Request TLV.
+
+ o Array of Group of Member Data Components: Each "Group of Member
+ State Data" component is immediately followed by Group Data
+ Components and its Member State Instance components (as described
+ in Section 6.3). In the case where several "Group of Member State
+ Data" components may be present, the second "Group of Member State
+ Data" component only appears after all of the internal components
+ that are referred to by the first "Group of Member State Data"
+ component are listed. The format is the same for all subsequent
+ "Group of Member State Data" components in the message.
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 28]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+7.5.2. Set Member State Reply
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Set Member State Reply(0x1025)|Size of SetMemberStateReply TLV|
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Return Code |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 20
+
+ o Return Code: A byte return code indicating the status of action
+ taken.
+
+ A. General SASP return codes (0x00 - 0x3F)
+
+ + 0x00 Successful
+
+ + 0x10 Message not understood
+
+ + 0x11 GWM will not accept this message from the sender.
+ Reasons for this include the following:
+ a. The message was not sent by a LB and trust flag is off
+ b. LB attempted to address members of a different LB in the
+ message
+ c. Vendor specific criteria for this message type were not
+ met.
+
+ B. Message-Specific return codes (0x40 - 0xFF)
+
+ + 0x41 Application or System not registered
+
+ + 0x42 Unknown Group Name
+
+ + 0x43 Unknown LB UID
+
+ + 0x44 Duplicate Member in Request
+
+ + 0x46 Duplicate Group in Request
+
+ + 0x50 Invalid Group Name Size (size == 0)
+
+ + 0x51 Invalid LB UID Size (size == 0 or > than max)
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 29]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ + 0x61 Member is setting state for itself, but LB hasn't yet
+ contacted the GWM. This request will not be processed.
+
+7.6. Set Load Balancer State Request and Reply
+
+ This is an exchange that can take place between the load balancer and
+ the Group Workload Manager to pass information about the state (and
+ partial configuration) of the load balancer.
+
+7.6.1. Set LB State Request
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ |Set LB State Req. Type (0x1050)| Size of Set LB State Req. TLV |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | LB UID Length | |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
+ . .
+ . LB UID .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | LB Health | LB Flags |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 21
+
+ o LB UID Length: one-byte length field describing the size of the
+ following LB UID.
+
+ o LB UID: This should be the same unique identifier given when
+ registering group members for this particular load balancer.
+
+ o LB Health: This field gives the load balancer a chance to pass in
+ a metric describing its own health or state.
+
+ 0x00 - 0x7F Least Healthy - Most Healthy
+
+ 0x80 - 0xFF Reserved
+
+ o LB Flags:
+
+ A. Push Flag
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 30]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ + xxxx xxx1 The load balancer should receive weights through
+ the Send Weights message (GWM pushes weights to load
+ balancer). Even if this flag is set, the GWM must still
+ respond accordingly to any Get Weights messages from the
+ load balancer.
+
+ + xxxx xxx0 The load balancer will send a Get Weights message
+ to get the new weights. This is the default behavior.
+ (load balancer pulls weights from GWM).
+
+ B. Trust Flag
+
+ + xxxx xx1x Trust any member-initiated registration,
+ deregistration, or set state message. Immediately reflect
+ the registration, deregistration, or new state in the
+ weights sent.
+
+ + xxxx xx0x Do not trust any member-initiated registration,
+ deregistration, or set state message. Registration,
+ Deregistration, and State Setting of members can only occur
+ from the load balancer. Discard any member-initiated
+ registration, deregistration, or set state message. This
+ is the default behavior.
+
+ C. No Change / No Send Flag
+
+ + xxxx x1xx The GWM must not include members whose weights
+ and state (i.e., contact and quiesce flags) have not
+ changed since they were last sent.
+
+ + xxxx x0xx The GWM must include the weights of all group
+ members when sending the weights to this load balancer
+ (including members whose weights and state have not
+ changed). This is the default behavior.
+
+ D. Leftmost five bits are reserved (0000 0xxx - 1111 1xxx).
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 31]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+7.6.2. Set LB State Reply
+
+ 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
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ . .
+ . SASP Header TLV .
+ . .
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Set LB State Reply (0x1025) | Size of Set LB State Reply TLV|
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ | Return Code |
+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
+ Figure 22
+
+ o Return Code: A byte return code indicating the status of action
+ taken.
+
+ A. General SASP return codes (0x00 - 0x3F)
+
+ + 0x00 Successful
+
+ + 0x10 Message not understood
+
+ + 0x11 GWM will not accept this message from the sender.
+ Reasons for this include the following:
+ a. LB attempted to address the state of a different LB
+ b. Vendor specific criteria for this message type were not
+ met.
+
+ B. Message-Specific return codes (0x40 - 0xFF)
+
+ + 0x51 Invalid LB UID Size (size == 0 or > max)
+
+8. Example of SASP Message Encoding
+
+ This section provides an example of the actual SASP message encoding.
+ For this example, we will look at a sample GetWeights Reply in which
+ two webservers are registered to a serverfarm called FARM1. The IP
+ addresses of the two webservers are 10.10.10.1 and 10.10.10.2.
+ Currently the GWM has a weight of 40 for 10.10.10.1 and 20 for
+ 10.10.10.2. The load balancer has a unique Identifier of "LB1" and
+ the message example was sent by the GWM in response to a request
+ (MessageID: 0x32000000) for FARM1's weights.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 32]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ The TLVs necessary for this message are shown in the following list.
+
+ 1. SASP Header TLV
+
+ ------------------------------------
+ | | Field | Size | Value |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |T| Type | 2 bytes | 0x2010 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |L| Length | 2 bytes | 0x000D |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ | | Version | 1 byte | 0x01 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ |V| Mesg Len| 4 bytes | 0x0000 006A|
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | | Mesg ID | 4 bytes | 0x3200 0000|
+ ------------------------------------
+
+ Figure 23
+
+ 2. Get Weights Reply TLV
+
+ ------------------------------------
+ | | Field | Size | Value |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |T| Type | 2 bytes | 0x1035 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |L| Length | 2 bytes | 0x0009 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ | | RetCode | 1 byte | 0x00 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ |V| Interval| 2 bytes | 0x0040 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | |GWD Count| 2 bytes | 0x0001 |
+ ------------------------------------
+ *GWD Count = Group of Weight Data Count
+
+ Figure 24
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 33]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ 3. Group of Weight Data TLV
+
+ ------------------------------------
+ | | Field | Size | Value |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |T| Type | 2 bytes | 0x4011 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |L| Length | 2 bytes | 0x0006 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |V| WE Count| 2 bytes | 0x0002 |
+ ------------------------------------
+ *WE Count = Weight Entry Count
+
+ Figure 25
+
+ 4. Group Data TLV
+
+ ------------------------------------
+ | | Field | Size | Value |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |T| Type | 2 bytes | 0x3011 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |L| Length | 2 bytes | 0x000E |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ | |LBUID len| 1 byte | 0x03 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | | LBUID | 3 bytes | "LB1" or |
+ | | | | 0x4C 42 31 |
+ |V|---------|---------|------------|
+ | |GroupName| 1 byte | 0x05 |
+ | | Length | | |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | | Group | | "FARM1" or |
+ | | Name | 5 bytes | 0x46 41 52 |
+ | | | | 4D 31 |
+ ------------------------------------
+
+ Figure 26
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 34]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ 5. Member Data TLV
+
+ ------------------------------------
+ | | Field | Size | Value |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |T| Type | 2 bytes | 0x3010 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |L| Length | 2 bytes | 0x0018 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ | | Protocol| 1 byte | 0x06 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | | Port | 2 bytes | 0x0050 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ |V| IP |16 bytes | 0x0000 0000|
+ | | Address | | 0000 0000|
+ | | | | 0000 0000|
+ | | | | 0A0A 0A01|
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | |Label Len| 1 byte | 0x00 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | | Label | 0 bytes | |
+ ------------------------------------
+
+ Figure 27
+
+ 6. Weight Entry Data TLV
+
+ ------------------------------------
+ | | Field | Size | Value |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |T| Type | 2 bytes | 0x3012 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |L| Length | 2 bytes | 0x0008 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ | | State | 1 byte | 0x00 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ |V| Flags | 1 byte | 0x0D |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | | Weight | 2 bytes | 0x0028 |
+ ------------------------------------
+
+ Figure 28
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 35]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ 7. Member Data TLV
+
+ ------------------------------------
+ | | Field | Size | Value |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |T| Type | 2 bytes | 0x3010 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |L| Length | 2 bytes | 0x0018 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ | | Protocol| 1 byte | 0x06 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | | Port | 2 bytes | 0x0050 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ |V| IP |16 bytes | 0x0000 0000|
+ | | Address | | 0000 0000|
+ | | | | 0000 0000|
+ | | | | 0A0A 0A02|
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | |Label Len| 1 byte | 0x00 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | | Label | 0 bytes | |
+ ------------------------------------
+
+ Figure 29
+
+ 8. Weight Entry Data TLV
+
+ ------------------------------------
+ | | Field | Size | Value |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |T| Type | 2 bytes | 0x3012 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ |L| Length | 2 bytes | 0x0008 |
+ |-----------|---------|------------|
+ | | State | 1 byte | 0x00 |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ |V| Flags | 1 byte | 0x0D |
+ | |---------|---------|------------|
+ | | Weight | 2 bytes | 0x0014 |
+ ------------------------------------
+
+ Figure 30
+
+ A hex stream representing this same message is below:
+
+ 20 10 00 0D 01 00 00 00 6A 32 00 00 00 10 35 00 09 00 00 40
+
+ 00 01 40 11 00 06 00 02 30 11 00 0E 03 4C 42 31 05 46 41 52
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 36]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ 4D 31 30 10 00 18 06 00 50 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
+
+ 00 0A 0A 0A 01 00 30 12 00 08 00 0D 00 28 30 10 00 18 06 00
+
+ 50 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 0A 0A 02 00 30 12
+
+ 00 08 00 0D 00 14
+
+ (106 bytes)
+
+9. Protocol Flow
+
+ This section describes the expected general flow of the SASP
+ messages.
+
+9.1. Normal Protocol Flow
+
+ SASP first starts with a connection from an LB to the GWM. This is
+ expected to be a long-running connection and will be used for many
+ messages. After establishing the connection, the LB either registers
+ a group of members or sets a Trust flag to allow the members to
+ register themselves. The Trust flag is set using a Set LB State
+ Request (both message flows are shown below).
+
+ Registration from load balancer
+
+ ------------ Registration Request ------------------
+ | |----------------------->| |
+ | Load | | Group Workload |
+ | Balancer | Registration Reply | Manager |
+ | |<-----------------------| |
+ ------------ ------------------
+
+ Set LB State from load balancer
+
+ ------------ Set LB State Request ------------------
+ | |----------------------->| |
+ | Load | | Group Workload |
+ | Balancer | Set LB State Reply | Manager |
+ | |<-----------------------| |
+ ------------ ------------------
+
+ Figure 31
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 37]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ The connection can start with other requests, but any other request
+ would likely result in an error (unless this connection is a
+ reconnection that has happened a short period of time after the
+ original connection). For example, if the load balancer issues a
+ deregistration request as its first message, it will receive an error
+ because it has not registered any groups.
+
+ The load balancer always drops all state information after a loss of
+ connection and can recover it using a GetWeights message. The
+ establishment of a new connection causes the GWM to assume that the
+ old one is broken. In this case, the GWM will keep all state for the
+ load balancer for a limited time after a detected break. After the
+ limited time has expired, all state for the broken connection will be
+ discarded by the GWM.
+
+ Registration of group members may be done at any time. A load
+ balancer can register anywhere from one group with one member to many
+ groups of many members. The member may also register itself if the
+ Trust flag has been set and it knows the appropriate load balancer
+ information. Registrations will add to groups that already exist,
+ but return errors if any of the registered members already exist.
+
+ In the case of system load balancing, the representation of a member
+ is only the member's IP address with a 0 used as the value for the
+ port and protocol. In the case of application load balancing, the
+ representation of a member is the member's IP address and the
+ Application's port and protocol.
+
+ Deregistration of group members may be done at any time. A load
+ balancer can deregister anywhere from one group with one member to
+ many groups of many members. The LB may also deregister entire
+ groups or deregister all of its groups at once. The member may also
+ deregister itself if the Trust flag has been set and it knows the
+ appropriate load balancer information.
+
+ Once members are registered, the GWM will start the monitoring and
+ weight computation processes to determine weights to be sent back to
+ the load balancer. At any time the load balancer may issue a
+ GetWeights message and ask for the weights for members in a
+ particular group. The LB may also set a flag telling the GWM to send
+ the weights without waiting for the GetWeights message. If this flag
+ is set, the GWM will send the weights at an interval it feels is
+ appropriate (the interval could change depending on the algorithm
+ used and variance of the weights generated).
+
+ At any time the LB or a particular member may quiesce the member
+ through the use of a SetMemberState message. In this case, the
+ member's weight will always be zero, and the quiesce flag will be
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 38]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ turned on when sending its weight. Members may also use this message
+ to send an opaque state value that will also be presented when
+ sending weights.
+
+ At any time, the load balancer may choose to send the GWM a
+ SetLBState request to configure its interaction. The message allows
+ the load balancer to set the Push, Trust, and NoChange_NoSend flags.
+ It also allows the load balancer to pass a health value to the GWM to
+ be displayed.
+
+9.2. Behavior in Error Cases
+
+ While behaviors in many error conditions will be product specific,
+ the following error cases should have the following expected
+ behavior.
+
+
+ Case: The protocol is violated in an unrecoverable manner by either
+ end of the connection.
+
+ Behavior: Either end of the connection may choose to disconnect to
+ avoid future message synchronization problems. The state kept
+ when disconnected is vendor specific.
+
+
+ Case: LB or application attempts to connect to the GWM before the
+ GWM is fully up and running.
+
+ Behavior: The LB or application should wait at least 20 seconds to
+ retry the connection.
+
+
+ Case: Members attempt to register or deregister themselves before
+ the LB develops the connection with the GWM.
+
+ Behavior: In this case, the members would receive a reply with an
+ error code signifying that there is no LB registered with that LB
+ UID.
+
+
+ Case: Member registers or deregisters for an LB who has not set the
+ Trust flag.
+
+ Behavior: GWM will send Member a reply containing an error code.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 39]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ Case: LB asks for weights for a group that doesn't exist.
+
+ Behavior: GWM will send LB a reply containing an error code.
+
+
+ Case: LB or Member attempts to register a member that is already
+ registered in that group.
+
+ Behavior: GWM will send sender a reply containing an error code.
+
+
+ Case: LB or Member attempts to deregister a member or group that
+ doesn't exist.
+
+ Behavior: GWM will send sender a reply containing an error code.
+
+
+ Case: LB or Member tries to set state for a non-registered server.
+
+ Behavior: GWM will send sender a reply containing an error code.
+
+
+ Case: LB tries to Get Weights for an unregistered group.
+
+ Behavior: GWM will send LB a reply containing an error code.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 40]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+9.3. Example Flow 1: Load Balancer Registration, Getting Weights, and
+ Application-Side Quiescing
+
+ Load Group Workload
+ Balancer Manager
+ | |
+ | 1) Registration Request |
+ |------------------------>|
+ |<------------------------|
+ | Registration Reply |
+ | |
+ | 2) Set LB State Request |
+ |------------------------>|
+ |<------------------------|
+ | Set LB State Reply |
+ | |
+ | 3) Get Weights Request |
+ |------------------------>|
+ |<------------------------|
+ | Get Weights Reply |
+ | | 4) Set Member State Req. --------
+ | |<-------------------------|Member|
+ | |------------------------->| A |
+ | | Set Member State Reply --------
+ | |
+ | | 5) Set Member State Req. --------
+ | |<-------------------------|Member|
+ | |------------------------->| C |
+ | | Set Member State Reply --------
+ | |
+ | 6) Get Weights Request |
+ |------------------------>|
+ |<------------------------|
+ | Get Weights Reply |
+ | |
+ | | 7) Set Member State Req. --------
+ | |<-------------------------|Member|
+ | |------------------------->| C |
+ | | Set Member State Reply --------
+ | |
+ | 8) Get Weights Request |
+ |------------------------>|
+ |<------------------------|
+ | Get Weights Reply |
+ | |
+
+ Figure 32
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 41]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ 1. The LB registers Members A, B, and C in a group named GRP1. The
+ GWM replies with no error.
+
+ 2. The LB turns its trust flag on by issuing a Set LB State message:
+
+ LB Health: 0x00 Flags: 0000 0010
+
+ 3. The LB sends a Get Weights message for GRP1 and gets the reply:
+
+ Members Opaque State Flags Weight
+ -------- ------------ --------- ------
+ Member A 0x00 0000 1101 20
+ Member B 0x00 0000 1101 40
+ Member C 0x00 0000 1101 5
+
+ 4. Member A sends a Set Member State message with flags:
+
+ Members Opaque State Flags
+ -------- ------------ ---------
+ Member A 0x32 0000 0000
+
+ 5. Member C sends a Set Member State message to quiesce itself with
+ the following flags:
+
+ Members Opaque State Flags
+ -------- ------------ ---------
+ Member C 0x0A 0000 0001
+
+ 6. The LB sends the Get Weights message for GRP1 and receives the
+ following:
+
+ Members Opaque State Flags Weight
+ -------- ------------ --------- ------
+ Member A 0x32 0000 1101 20
+ Member B 0x00 0000 1101 40
+ Member C 0x0A 0000 1111 5
+
+ 7. Member C sends a Set Member State message to resume (un-quiesce
+ itself) with the following flags:
+
+ Members Opaque State Flags
+ -------- ------------ ---------
+ Member C 0x0A 0000 0000
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 42]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ 8. The LB sends a Get Weights message for GRP1 and gets the reply:
+
+ Members Opaque State Flags Weight
+ -------- ------------ --------- ------
+ Member A 0x32 0000 1101 20
+ Member B 0x00 0000 1101 40
+ Member C 0x0A 0000 1101 5
+
+9.4. Example Flow 2: Set Load Balancer State, Application
+ Registration, and Load Balancer Group DeRegistration
+
+ Load Group Workload
+ Balancer Manager
+ | |
+ | 1) Set LB State Request |
+ |------------------------>|
+ |<------------------------|
+ | Set LB State Reply |
+ | |
+ | | 2) Registration Request --------
+ | |<-------------------------|Member|
+ | |------------------------->| A |
+ | | Registration Reply --------
+ | |
+ | | 3) Registration Request --------
+ | |<-------------------------|Member|
+ | |------------------------->| B |
+ | | Registration Reply --------
+ | |
+ | 4) Send Weights Mesg |
+ |<------------------------|
+ | |
+ | | 5) Registration Request --------
+ | |<-------------------------|Member|
+ | |------------------------->| C |
+ | | Registration Reply --------
+ | |
+ | 6) Send Weights Mesg |
+ |<------------------------|
+ | |
+ |7) Deregistration Request|
+ |------------------------>|
+ |<------------------------|
+ | Deregistration Reply |
+ | |
+
+ Figure 39
+
+
+
+
+Bivens Informational [Page 43]
+
+RFC 4678 SASPv1 September 2006
+
+
+ 1. The LB sets its state with the Set LB State message and the
+ following parameters.
+
+ Health: 0x7F Flags: 0000 0011
+
+
+ 2. Member A registers itself for work in GRP1 using the Register
+ message.
+
+
+ 3. Member B registers itself for work in GRP1 using the Register
+ message.
+
+
+ 4. The GWM issues a Send Weights message to the LB.
+
+ Members Opaque State Flags Weight
+ -------- ------------ --------- ------
+ Member A 0x00 0000 1001 20
+ Member B 0x00 0000 1001 40
+
+ 5. Member C registers itself for work in GRP1 using the Register
+ message.
+
+
+ 6. The GWM issues a Send Weights message to the LB.
+
+ Members Opaque State Flags Weight
+ -------- ------------ --------- ------
+ Member A 0x00 0000 1001 20
+ Member B 0x00 0000 1001 40
+ Member C 0x00 0000 1001 5
+
+ 7. LB deregisters GRP1 by using the DeRegister message with the
+ Member Data Count = 0
+
+9.5. Avoiding Single Points of Failure
+
+ o To avoid having a single point of failure at the load balancer, an
+ administrator may choose to have multiple load balancers in his or
+ her environment. SASP provides for the GWM to keep track of
+ multiple load balancers through the use of load balancer unique
+ identifiers (LB UIDs).
+
+ o To avoid having a single point of failure at the GWM or enhance
+ the load balancing strategy by utilizing the strengths of several
+ different GWMs, an administrator may choose to have multiple GWMs
+ in his or her environment. In this case, the load balancer would
+
+
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+ connect to multiple GWMs and register the same groups with
+ corresponding members. The load balancer may choose to coordinate
+ the recommendations of each GWM by any method it chooses (e.g.,
+ statistical combination such as averaging). The coordination of
+ weights from multiple GWMs is product specific and not addressed
+ in this protocol.
+
+10. Security Considerations
+
+ SASP is a binary stream expected to be transported over a TCP
+ connection. To secure this protocol, it is expected that
+ implementers of the protocol use a secure mode of transport such as
+ SSL/TLS. Discussions around security concerns have been listed
+ below:
+
+
+ Security Issue: In insecure environments, if the LB UID becomes
+ known by another system, the other system could initiate a
+ connection and send messages to the GWM causing the GWM to replace
+ the previous (possibly valid) connection for the new (potentially
+ bad) connection.
+
+ Solution: This may not be a concern if the load balancer and GWM are
+ in protected parts of the network. If the administrator is
+ concerned about this vulnerability, she should use SSL or TLS to
+ provide authentication for the connection. When using SSL or TLS
+ to secure the connection, the administrator SHOULD use both server
+ and client authentication through client and server certificates.
+ The GWM will trust any certificate that is signed by an authority
+ it's been configured to trust.
+
+
+ Security Issue: In insecure environments, if the load balancer turns
+ the Trust Flag on, any member or other system can send a
+ Registration Message and be included in the serverfarm to receive
+ work. A person with bad intentions and the correct information
+ could exploit this feature and register his own application to
+ receive work. His counterfeit application could capture valuable
+ data from unsuspecting clients as their transactions are sent to
+ his system.
+
+ Solution: This may not be a concern if the GWM and its members are
+ in protected parts of the network. If the administrator is
+ concerned about this vulnerability, she should use SSL or TLS to
+ provide authentication for the member connections. When using SSL
+ or TLS to authenticate the connection, the administrator would
+ need to explicitly install valid certificates on each component
+
+
+
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+ while at the same time establishing the trusted certificates of
+ each component. This would make certain that only those trusted
+ components would be permitted to connect to the GWM.
+
+11. Normative References
+
+ [RFC1700] Reynolds, J. and J. Postel, "Assigned Numbers", STD 2,
+ RFC 1700, October 1994.
+
+ [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
+ Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
+
+ [RFC4291] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing
+ Architecture", RFC 4291, February 2006.
+
+
+
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+Appendix A. Acknowledgements
+
+ The author gratefully acknowledges contributions by Mark Albert,
+ David McCowan, John Fenton, Derek Huckaby, Dyan Collins, and Stefano
+ Testa. Mark Albert, David McCowan, John Fenton, Derek Huckaby, Dyan
+ Collins, and Stefano Testa were supported for this work by Cisco
+ Systems Inc.
+
+ The author would also like to thank John Arwe, Dave Bostjancic, Brian
+ Carpenter, Donna Dillenberger, Gus Kassimis, and Thomas Narten for
+ their efforts in the creation and refining of this work.
+
+Author's Address
+
+ Alan Bivens
+ IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
+ 19 Skyline Drive
+ Hawthorne, NY 10532
+ US
+
+ EMail: jbivens@us.ibm.com
+
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+
+Full Copyright Statement
+
+ Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
+
+ This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
+ contained in BCP 78 and at www.rfc-editor.org/copyright.html, and
+ except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.
+
+ This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
+ "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
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+
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+
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+Acknowledgement
+
+ Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
+ Administrative Support Activity (IASA).
+
+
+
+
+
+
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