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diff --git a/doc/rfc/rfc5594.txt b/doc/rfc/rfc5594.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..50ee8f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/rfc/rfc5594.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1571 @@ + + + + + + +Network Working Group J. Peterson +Request for Comments: 5594 NeuStar +Category: Informational A. Cooper + Center for Democracy & Technology + July 2009 + + + Report from the IETF Workshop on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Infrastructure, + May 28, 2008 + +Abstract + + This document reports the outcome of a workshop organized by the + Real-time Applications and Infrastructure Area Directors of the IETF + to discuss network delay and congestion issues resulting from + increased Peer-to-Peer (P2P) traffic volumes. The workshop was held + on May 28, 2008 at MIT in Cambridge, MA, USA. The goals of the + workshop were twofold: to understand the technical problems that ISPs + and end users are experiencing as a result of high volumes of P2P + traffic, and to begin to understand how the IETF may be helpful in + addressing these problems. Gaining an understanding of where in the + IETF this work might be pursued and how to extract feasible work + items were highlighted as important tasks in pursuit of the latter + goal. The workshop was very well attended and produced several work + items that have since been taken up by members of the IETF community. + +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) 2009 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the + document authors. All rights reserved. + + This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal + Provisions Relating to IETF Documents in effect on the date of + publication of this document (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info). + Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights + and restrictions with respect to this document. + + + + + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 1] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + +Table of Contents + + 1. Introduction ....................................................3 + 2. Scoping of the Problem and Solution Spaces ......................4 + 3. Service Provider Perspective ....................................4 + 3.1. DOCSIS Architecture and Upstream Contention ................4 + 3.2. TCP Flow Fairness and Service Flows ........................5 + 3.3. Service Provider Responses .................................6 + 4. Application Provider Perspective ................................7 + 5. Potential Solution Areas ........................................7 + 5.1. Improving Peer Selection: Information Sharing, + Localization, and Caches ...................................8 + 5.1.1. Leveraging AS Numbers ...............................9 + 5.1.2. P4P: Provider Portal for P2P Applications ...........9 + 5.1.3. Multi-Layer, Tracker-Based Architecture ............10 + 5.1.4. ISP-Aided Neighbor Selection .......................11 + 5.1.5. Caches .............................................12 + 5.1.6. Potential IETF Work ................................12 + 5.2. New Approaches to Congestion Control ......................14 + 5.2.1. End-to-End Congestion Control ......................15 + 5.2.2. Weighted Congestion Control ........................15 + 5.3. Quality of Service ........................................16 + 6. Applications Opening Multiple TCP Connections ..................17 + 7. Costs and Congestion ...........................................18 + 8. Next Steps .....................................................18 + 8.1. Transport Issues ..........................................19 + 8.2. Improved Peer Selection ...................................19 + 9. Security Considerations ........................................19 + 10. Acknowledgements ..............................................19 + 11. Informative References ........................................20 + Appendix A. Program Committee ....................................21 + Appendix B. Workshop Participants ................................21 + Appendix C. Workshop Agenda ......................................24 + Appendix D. Slides and Position Papers ..........................25 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 2] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + +1. Introduction + + Increasingly, large ISPs are encountering issues with P2P traffic. + The transfer of static, delay-tolerant data between nodes on the + Internet is a well-understood problem, but traditional management of + fairness at the transport level is under strain from applications + designed to achieve the best end-user transfer rates. At peak times, + this results in networks running near absolute capacity, causing all + traffic to incur delays; the applications that bear the brunt of this + additional latency are real-time applications like Voice over IP + (VoIP) and Internet gaming. To explore how IETF standards work could + be useful in addressing these issues, the Real-time Applications and + Infrastructure area directors organized a "P2P Infrastructure" + workshop and invited contributions from subject matter experts in the + problem and solution spaces. + + The goals of the workshop were twofold: to understand the technical + problems that ISPs and end users are experiencing as a result of high + volumes of P2P traffic, and to begin to understand how the IETF may + be helpful in addressing these problems. Gaining an understanding of + where in the IETF this work might be pursued and how to extract + feasible work items were highlighted as important tasks in pursuit of + the latter goal. The workshop's focus was on engineering solutions + that promise some imminent benefit to the Internet as a whole, as + opposed to longer-term research or closed proprietary solutions. + While public policy must inform work in this space, crafting or + debating public policy was outside the scope of the workshop. + + Position papers were solicited in the weeks prior to the workshop, + and a limited number of speakers were invited to present their views + at the workshop based on these submissions. This report is a summary + of all participants' contributions. The program committee and + participant list are attached in Appendices A and B, respectively. + The agenda of the workshop can be found in Appendix C. A link to the + presentations given at the workshop and the position papers submitted + prior to the workshop is in Appendix D. + + The workshop showcased the IETF community's recognition of the impact + of P2P and other high-volume applications on the Internet as a whole. + Participants welcomed the opportunity to discuss potential + standardization work that network operators, applications providers, + and end users would all find mutually beneficial. Two transport- + related work items gained significant traction: designing a protocol + for very deferential end-to-end congestion control for delay-tolerant + applications, and producing an informational document about the + reasoning behind and effects of applications opening multiple + transport connections at once. A separate area of interest that + emerged at the workshop focused on improving peer selection by having + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 3] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + networks make more information available to applications. Finally, + presenters also covered traditional approaches to multiple service- + tier queuing such as Diffserv. + +2. Scoping of the Problem and Solution Spaces + + The genesis for the Peer-to-Peer Infrastructure (P2PI) workshop grew + in large part out of specific pain points that ISPs are experiencing + as a result of high volumes of P2P traffic. However, several + workshop participants felt that the IETF should approach a more + general space of problems, of which P2P-related congestion may be + merely one instance. + + For example, high-volume applications besides P2P, whether they + already exist or have yet to be developed, could cause congestion + issues similar to those caused by P2P. The general class of + congestion problems attributable to always-on, high-volume + applications require the development of solutions that are reasonable + for operators, applications, and subscribers. And while much + attention has been paid to congestion on access links, increased + traffic volumes could impact other parts of the network. Although + the workshop focused primarily on the specific causes and effects of + current P2P traffic volumes, it will likely be useful in the future + for the IETF to consider how to pursue solutions to these larger + problems. + + Obtaining more data about Internet congestion may also be a helpful + step before the IETF pursues solutions. This data collection could + focus on where in the network congestion is occurring, its duration + and frequency, its effects, and its root causes. Although individual + service providers expressed interest in sharing congestion data, + strategies for reliably and regularly obtaining and disseminating + such data on a broad scale remain elusive. + +3. Service Provider Perspective + + To help participants gain a fuller understanding of one specific + network operator's view of P2P-induced congestion, Jason Livingood + and Rich Woundy provided an overview of Comcast's network and + approach to management of P2P traffic. + +3.1. DOCSIS Architecture and Upstream Contention + + In the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) + architecture [DOCSIS] that is used for many cable systems, there may + be a single Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) serving hundreds or + thousands of residential cable customers. Each CMTS has multiple + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 4] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + DOCSIS domains, each of which typically has a single downstream link + and a number of upstream links. Each CMTS is connected through a + hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network to subscribers' cable modems. + + The limiting resource in this architecture is usually bandwidth, so + bandwidth is typically the measure used for capacity planning. As + with all networks, congestion manifests itself when instantaneous + load exceeds available capacity. + + In the upstream direction, any cable modem connected to a CMTS can + make a request to the CMTS to transmit, and requests are randomized + to minimize collisions. With many cable modems issuing requests at + once, the requests may collide, resulting in delays. DOCSIS does not + specify a size for cable modem buffers, but buffer delays of one to + four seconds have been observed with various cable modems from + different vendors. + + Once the CMTS has granted a cable modem the ability to transmit its + data PDU, the modem can piggyback its next request on top of that + data PDU. In situations with a lot of upstream traffic, piggybacking + happens more often, which sends heavy upstream users to the front of + the CMTS queue, ahead of interactive but less-upstream-intensive + applications. For example, if the CMTS is granting requests + approximately every one to three milliseconds, then a cable modem + transmitting data for a service like VoIP with a packetization delay + of 20-30 milliseconds may get into contention with another modem on + the same CMTS that is constantly transmitting upstream and + piggybacking each new request. This may explain how heavy upstream + users ultimately dominate the pipe over more interactive + applications. Consequentially, it is imperative that assessments of + the problem space and potential solutions are mindful of the + influence that specific layer-2 networks may exert on the behavior of + Internet traffic, especially when considering the alleviation of + congestion in an access network. + +3.2. TCP Flow Fairness and Service Flows + + How TCP flow fairness applies to upstream requests to the CMTS is an + open question. A CMTS sees many service flows, each of which could + be a single TCP flow or many TCP flows (or UDP). The CMTS is not + aware of the source or destination IP address of a packet until it + has already been transmitted upstream, so those cannot be used to + impose flow fairness. + + A particular cable modem can have multiple service flows defined. + For example, a modem that is also a VoIP endpoint can provision a + service flow for VoIP that would allow VoIP traffic to avoid the + upstream request process to the CMTS (and thereby avoid contention + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 5] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + with other modems). The service flow would have upstream capacity + provisioned for it. The modem would have a separate service flow for + best efforts traffic. Some ISPs provision such a flow for their own + VoIP offerings; others allow subscribers to pay extra to have + particular traffic assigned to a provisioned service flow. + + It may also be possible for an ISP to provision such a flow on the + fly when it recognizes the need for it. Diffserv [RFC2475] bits set + by the customer premises equipment could be used to classify flows, + for example. + +3.3. Service Provider Responses + + In 2005, ISP customers began increasingly complaining about the + performance of delay-sensitive traffic (VoIP and gaming), due in part + to the issues arising out of the DOCSIS architecture as described + above. At the same time, ISPs were seeing heavy growth in P2P + traffic and an increasing correlation between high levels of P2P + activity and packet loss. + + In responding to this situation, cable ISPs have several avenues to + pursue. The newest generation of the DOCSIS specification, DOCSIS + 3.0, enables faster transfer rates than most cable systems currently + support. While the rollout of DOCSIS 3.0 will provide additional + capacity, it will likely not obviate the need for congestion + management in an environment where client software is designed to + maximize bandwidth consumption regardless of available capacity. + + Congestion management can take many forms; Jason and Rich explained + the new protocol-agnostic approach that Comcast is currently + trialing. Prior to these trials, all traffic was marked as "best + efforts". During the trials, all traffic is re-classified as + "priority". When a CMTS is approaching peak congestion on a + particular upstream or downstream port (the "Near Congestion State"), + some subscribers will have traffic re-classified as "best efforts". + Both the threshold for determining when a CMTS port is in Near + Congestion State and the number of minutes it remains in this state + are parameters being explored during the trials. To re-classify + upstream traffic, a new default DOCSIS service flow is used that has + the same provisioned bandwidth as the "priority" stream but that is + treated with lower priority. + + The subscribers whose traffic is re-marked will be selected by + determining whether they have temporarily entered a "Long Duration + Bulk Consumption State". This state is achieved by consuming a + certain amount of bandwidth over a certain period of minutes (both + are tweakable parameters being explored during the trials). These + thresholds will depend on the subscriber's service tier -- + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 6] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + subscribers who pay for more bandwidth will have higher thresholds. + The re-marking will not distinguish between multiple users of the + same subscriber connection, so one family member's P2P usage could + cause another family member's Web browsing traffic to be lowered in + priority. There is no current mechanism for users to determine that + their traffic has been re-marked. + + By temporarily reducing the traffic priority of subscribers who have + been consuming bandwidth in bulk for lengthy periods, this congestion + management technique aims to preserve a good user experience for + subscribers with burstier traffic patterns, including those using + real-time applications. As compared to an approach that reduces + particular subscribers' bandwidth during periods of congestion, this + technique eliminates the ability for applications to set their own + priority levels, but it also avoids the negative connotations that + some users may associate with bandwidth reductions. + + This approach involves many tweakable parameters. A large part of + the trial process is aimed at determining the best settings for these + parameters, but there may also be opportunities to work with the + research community to identify the best way to adjust the thresholds + necessary to optimize the performance of the management technique. + +4. Application Provider Perspective + + Stanislav Shalunov provided an overview of BitTorrent's view of the + impact of increased P2P traffic volumes and potential mitigations. + The impact is described here; his proposed solutions (comprising the + bulk of his talk) are addressed in the appropriate subsections of + Section 5. + + As uptake in P2P usage has grown, so has end-user latency. For + example, a user whose uplink capacity is 250-500 Kbps and whose modem + buffer has a capacity of 32-64 Kbps may easily fill the buffer + (unless the modem uses Adaptive Queue Management (AQM), which is + uncommon). This can result in delay on the order of seconds, with + disastrous effects on application performance. On a cable system + with shared capacity between neighbors, one neighbor could saturate + the buffer and affect the latency of another neighbor's traffic. + Even users with dedicated bandwidth can experience delays as their + own P2P traffic saturates the link and dominates their own more + latency-sensitive traffic. + +5. Potential Solution Areas + + The submissions received in advance of the workshop covered a broad + array of work addressing specific aspects of P2P traffic volume and + other related issues. Solution suggestions generally fell into one + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 7] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + or more of three topic areas: improving peer selection, new + approaches to congestion control, and quality-of-service mechanisms. + The workshop discussions and outcomes in each area are described + below. + +5.1. Improving Peer Selection: Information Sharing, Localization, and + Caches + + Peer selection is an integral factor in determining the efficiency of + P2P networks from both the ISP and the P2P client points of view. + How peers are selected will determine both network load and client + performance. + + The way that P2P clients select peers today varies from protocol to + protocol and client to client but, in general, peers are largely + oblivious to routing-level and network-topology information. This + results in P2P topologies that are agnostic of underlay topologies + and constraints. + + Approaches to closing this gap generally involve an entity that has + knowledge of network topology, costs, or constraints (e.g., an ISP) + making some of this information available to P2P clients or trackers. + This information may be used to localize traffic based on some metric + of locality or to otherwise alter peer-selection decisions based on + the provided network information (hereafter referred to simply as + "localization"). One special case of this kind of approach would + help peers find caches containing the content they seek. + + Any alteration to current peer-selection algorithms will have + engineering trade-offs. BitTorrent, for example, used randomized + peer selection by design. Choosing peers randomly out of a large + selection helps to average out problems among peers and allows for + connections to good peers that may be far away. Randomized peer + selection also supports "rarest first" piece selection, which allows + swarms to continue even when the original seed disappears and which + distributes pieces so that more peers are likely to have pieces of + interest to other peers. Any move away from randomized selection + would have to take these factors into account. + + Although localization has the potential to improve peer selection, + the incentives for both parties to the information exchange are + complex. ISPs may want to move traffic off of their own networks, + which could motivate them to provide information to peers that has + the opposite effect of what the peers would expect. Likewise, peers + will want the use of the information they receive to result in + performance improvements; otherwise, they have no incentive to + consult with the network before selecting peers. Even when both + parties find the information sharing to be beneficial, user + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 8] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + experiences will not necessarily be uniform depending on the scope of + the information provided and the peer's location. Localization + information could form one component of a peer-selection decision, + but it will likely need to be balanced against other factors. + + Workshop participants discussed both current research efforts in this + area and how IETF standards work may be useful in furthering the + general concept of improved peer selection. Those discussions are + summarized below. + +5.1.1. Leveraging AS Numbers + + One simple way to potentially make peer selection more efficient + would be for a peer to prefer peers within its own Autonomous System + (AS). Transfers between peers within the same AS may be faster on + some networks, although more data is needed to determine the extent + of the potential improvement. On mobile networks, for example, the + utility of AS numbers is limited since they do not correlate to + geographic location. Peers may also see improvements by connecting + to other peers within a specific set of ASes or IP prefixes provided + by their ISPs. Some ISPs may have an incentive to expose this + granularity of information because it will potentially reduce their + transit costs. + + A case study was conducted with the four most popular BitTorrent + torrents to determine what the effect of localizing to an AS might + be. The swarm sizes for the torrents were 9984, 3944, 2561, and + 2023, with the size distributions appearing to be polynomial. With + more than 20 peers in a single AS, peers within an AS could trade + only with each other, avoiding interdomain traffic. More than half + (57%) of peers in the four swarms were in ASes like this. Thus, in + these cases connecting to peers within an AS could reduce transit + traffic by at least 57%. If the ASes have asymmetric upload and + download links, however, the resulting user experience may + deteriorate since each peer's download speed would be limited by + slower upload speeds. + + With the largest swarm size at 9984, the probability of two peers + being in the same neighborhood is too low to make localization to the + neighborhood level worthwhile. Attempting a simple localization + scheme, such as the AS localization described above, and determining + its effectiveness likely makes more sense as a first step. + +5.1.2. P4P: Provider Portal for P2P Applications + + The Provider Portal for P2P Applications (P4P) project [P4P] aims to + design a framework to enable cooperation between providers and + applications (including P2P), where "providers" may be ISPs, content + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 9] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + distribution networks, or caching services. In this architecture, + each provider can communicate information to P2P clients through a + portal known as an iTracker. An iTracker could be identified through + a DNS SRV record (perhaps with its own new record type), a whois + look-up, or a trusted third party. + + An iTracker has different interfaces for different types of + information that the provider may want to share. The core interface + allows the provider to express the "virtual cost" of its intradomain + or interdomain links. Virtual cost may reflect any kind of provider + preferences and may be based on the provider's choice of metrics, + including utilization, transit costs, or geography. It is up to the + provider to decide how dynamic it wants to be in updating its virtual + cost determinations. + + In tests of this framework, two parallel swarms were created with + approximately the same number of clients and similar geographical and + network distributions, both sharing the same file. One of the swarms + used the P4P framework, with the ISP's network topology map as input + to its iTracker, and the other swarm used traditional peer selection. + The swarm without P4P saw 98% of traffic to and from peers external + to the ISP, whereas with P4P that number was 50%. Download + completion times for the P4P-enabled swarm improved approximately 20% + on average. + +5.1.3. Multi-Layer, Tracker-Based Architecture + + The multi-layer, tracker-based P2P scheme described at the workshop + is a generic example of an architecture that demonstrates how + localization may be useful in principle. + + In a traditional, tracker-based P2P system, trackers provide clients + with information about seeds and peers where clients can find the + content they seek. A multi-layered tracker architecture incorporates + additional "local" trackers that provide the same information, but + only for content located within their own local network scope. + Client queries are re-directed from the global tracker to the + appropriate local trackers. Local trackers may also exist on + multiple levels, in which case queries would be further re-directed. + This sort of architecture could also serve hybrid P2P/content + delivery networks, where the global tracker functions as both a + tracker and a content server, and local trackers track locally + provisioned caches in addition to seeds and peers. + + + + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 10] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + One challenge in this architecture is determining what "local" means + for trackers, seeds, and peers. Locality could be dependent on + traffic conditions, load balancing, static topology, policy, or some + other metric. These same considerations would also be crucial for + determining appropriate cache placement in a hybrid network. + + This architecture presents in the abstract the problem of re- + directing from a global entity to a local entity. Client queries + need to find their way to the appropriate local tracker. This can be + accomplished through an off-path, explicit mechanism where local + trackers register with the global tracker in advance, or through an + on-path approach where the network proxies P2P requests. The off- + path tracker format approach is preferable for performance and + reliability reasons. + + Inasmuch as the multi-layer scheme might require ISPs to aid peers in + finding optimal paths to unauthorized copies of copyrighted content, + ISPs may be concerned about the legal liability of participating. + +5.1.4. ISP-Aided Neighbor Selection + + ISPs have a lot of knowledge about their networks: everything from + the bandwidth, geography, and service class of particular nodes to + overarching routing policies, OSPF and BGP metrics, and distances to + peering points. The ISP-aided neighbor selection service described + below seeks to leverage this knowledge without requiring ISPs to + reveal any information that could not already be discerned through + reverse-engineering by client applications. + + The service consists of an "oracle" hosted by an ISP. The oracle + receives a list of IP addresses from a network node, sorts the list + according to its own confidential criteria, and returns the sorted + list to the node. The peer ranking provided by the oracle could be + viewed as a special case of the virtual cost interface described in + the previous section. + + This service could be used by P2P clients or trackers, or by any + other application that would benefit from learning its ISP's + connection preferences. The oracle could be run as a web server or + UDP service at a known location (perhaps similar to BIND). + + For interdomain ranking, an ISP could rank its own peers first, or it + could base its ranking on the AS number of the IPs in the provided + list. Another option would be for multiple ISPs to work together to + have their oracles exchange lists with each other. + + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 11] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + The main challenge in implementing the oracle service is scalability. + If peers need to communicate to the oracle the IP address of every + peer they know, the size of oracle requests may be inordinately + large. Additionally, today's largest swarms approach 10000 peers, + and with every peer requesting a sorted list, the oracle request + volume will swell. With the growth of business models dependent upon + P2P for distribution of content, swarms in the future may be far + larger, further exacerbating the problem. Potential mitigations + include having trackers, instead of peers, issue oracle requests, and + using other peers' sorted lists as input, rather than always using an + unsorted list. + + On the other hand, this approach is advantageous from a legal + liability perspective, because it does not require ISPs to have any + knowledge of where particular content might be located or to have any + role in directing peers to particular content. + +5.1.5. Caches + + Deploying caches as peers in P2P networks was suggested as a + component of multiple proposals put forth at the workshop. Caches + may help to ease network load by reducing the need for peers to + upload to each other and by localizing traffic. + + The two main concerns about P2P caches relate to network capacity and + legal liability. For caches to be useful, they will likely need to + be large (one suggestion was that a 1 TB cache could service 30% of + requests within a single AS, and a 100 TB cache could service 80% of + requests). Large caches will require sizable bandwidth in order to + avoid contention among peers. Caches would not be usefully placed + within an HFC network on a cable system, for example. + + The legal liability attached to hosting a P2P cache likely reduces + the incentives to do so. Even under legal regimes where liability + for caching may be unclear, ISPs and others may view hosting a cache + as too great of a legal risk to be worthwhile. + +5.1.6. Potential IETF Work + + Much of the localization work discussed at the workshop is still in + its initial stages, and many questions remain about the value that + localization provides for varying network and overlay architectures. + More data is needed to evaluate the effects on both traffic load and + client performance. Understanding swarm distributions is important; + swarms with long tails may not particularly benefit from + localization. + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 12] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + Against this backdrop, the key task for the IETF (as identified at + the workshop) is to pinpoint incrementally beneficial work items in + the spaces discussed above. In the future, it may be possible to + standardize entire P2P mechanisms but, as a starting point, it makes + more sense to single out core manageable components for + standardization. The focus should be on items that are not so + specific to one ISP or P2P network that standardization is rendered + useless. Ideally, any mechanisms resulting from this work might + apply to future applications that exhibit the same bandwidth- + intensive properties as today's P2P file-sharing. + + In considering any of these items, it will be necessary to ensure + that the information exchanged by networks and applications does not + harm any of the parties involved. Not every piece of information + exchanged will be beneficial or verifiable, and this fact must be + recognized and accounted for. Solutions that leave applications or + networks worse off than they already are today will not gain any + traction. + + It should also not be assumed that a particular party will be best + suited to provide a particular kind of information. For example, an + ISP may not know what the connection costs are in other ISPs' + networks, whereas an overlay network that receives cost information + from several ISPs may have a better handle on this kind of data. + Standardization of information sharing should not assume the identity + of particular parties doing the sharing. + + The list of potential work items discussed at the workshop is + provided below. Workshop participants showed particular interest in + pursuing the first three items further. + +5.1.6.1. AS Numbers + + P2P clients are currently reliant on IP-to-AS mapping tables when + they want to determine AS numbers. Providing a standard, easier way + for clients to obtain this information may help to make peer + selection more efficient on certain networks. + +5.1.6.2. Querying for Preferred Peers + + In situations where a peer or tracker can make requests in real time + to a service that expresses its ISP's peering preferences, + standardizing a format for requests and responses may be useful. The + focus would be on the communication of the information, not on the + criteria used to decide preferences. The information provided to + peers would have to be crafted to ensure that it protects the privacy + of other peers and safeguards proprietary network information. + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 13] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + +5.1.6.3. Local Tracker, iTracker, Oracle, or Cache Discovery + + With the deployment of trackers, iTrackers, oracles, or other + mechanisms that provide some information specific to a node's + locality, nodes will need a way to find these resources. One task + for the IETF could be to explore a way to do discovery, potentially + by leveraging an existing discovery protocol (DNS, DHCP, anycast, + etc.). Depending on the resource to be discovered, discovery may + require only a simple look-up, or it may require a more complex + determination of which resource is "closest" to the node issuing the + request. + +5.1.6.4. ISP Account Usage Information + + Where ISP subscribers are bound by network usage policies or volume- + based quotas, it may be useful to have a standard way of + communicating the subscriber's current usage status. This would be + similar to information about how many minutes of cell phone airtime + are left in a subscriber's billing cycle. Applications could use + this information to make decisions about when and how to transfer + data. One challenge in implementing such a standard would be support + for potentially limitless different ISP business models. The level + of granularity that an ISP is able to provide may also be constrained + depending on the pricing model and how dynamic the information is + expected to be. + +5.1.6.5. Tracker Formats + + A multi-layered tracker approach could potentially be aided by a + standard tracker format for re-directing from a global tracker to a + local tracker. While the extent to which existing trackers will be + willing to consult with other trackers is unclear, the re-direction + format may have an analog in another context -- many HTTP servers + build their own indexes of mirror information for a similar purpose, + though these are not standardized. If the two problem spaces prove + to be similar enough, there may be room to standardize a format + across both. + +5.2. New Approaches to Congestion Control + + One recent informal survey presented at the workshop found that ISPs + perceive traffic volumes from heavy users to be a problem, but no + single congestion management tool has been put to wide use. Within + developer and research communities, congestion issues raised by + increased P2P traffic volumes have spurred new thinking about + congestion-control mechanisms at both the transport layer and the + application layer. The subsections below explore some of these new + ideas and highlight areas where IETF work may be appropriate. + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 14] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + +5.2.1. End-to-End Congestion Control + + As noted previously, uptake in P2P usage can result in perceptible + end-user latency on the order of seconds for interactive + applications. One approach to resolving this "round-trip time (RTT) + in seconds" problem would be for P2P clients to implement better + congestion control that keeps the bottleneck full while yielding to + keep the delay of competing traffic low. Such an algorithm has been + implemented in BitTorrent's client by continuously sampling one-way + delay (separating propagation from queuing delay) and targeting a + small queuing delay value. This essentially approximates a scavenger + service class in an end-to-end congestion-control mechanism by + forcing bulk, elastic traffic to yield to competitors under + congestion. + + In a similar vein, the P4P framework supports a component that allows + applications to mark traffic as "bulk data" (not time sensitive). + Applications adjust their behavior according to the feedback they + receive from such markings. + + Experimenting with the standardization of these kinds of techniques + or any congestion-control framework with design goals that differ + from those of TCP may be helpful work for the IETF to pursue. + +5.2.2. Weighted Congestion Control + + Congestion control has typically been implemented at a protocol level + as an optional, cooperative effort between endpoints experiencing + congestion, but in looking for a long-term approach to congestion + control, we may need a more rigorous way for available bandwidth to + be allocated by and between the hosts using a network. The idea + behind weighted congestion control is to allow hosts to give more + weight to interactive applications during times of congestion. + + Comparing such an approach with Diffserv showcases its strengths and + weaknesses. Unlike Diffserv, weighted congestion control could be + implemented on hosts with a simple extension to socket APIs (although + consensus among OSes would be necessary for portability). Through + weighted congestion control, control resides with the host, whereas + even when Diffserv APIs are available, it is difficult for a host to + know that the network is complying with its classifications. With + weighted congestion control, hosts need some disincentive to setting + their weights at maximum levels, whereas Diffserv was not designed + for individual users to employ. Both approaches must rely on traffic + senders to set policies, meaning that the congestion issues stemming + from P2P use on the receiver side are not aided by either mechanism. + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 15] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + With Diffserv, a light user may waste his or her priority connecting + to a heavy user on another network, which is not a problem with host- + controlled weighting. + + Weighted congestion control is just one example of a generalized set + of features that characterize useful approaches to congestion + control. These characteristics include full user control of + priorities within a user's own scope and no possibility of + interpreting ISP behavior as discriminatory. The former means that + ISPs should not override user decisions arbitrarily (though this does + not preclude an ISP from offering prioritization as an option). The + latter means that the metric for decision-making needs to obviate + suspicion of ISP motivations. + + One metric that meets these criteria is a harm (cost) metric, where + cost is equal to the amount of data that was not served to its + destination. Using this metric, cost is greatest when traffic peaks + are greatest. It allows for a policy of not sending too much data + during times of congestion, without specifying exactly how much is + too much. The cost metric could be used either for a Diffserv + approach or for weighted congestion control. + + One important limitation on ISPs from a congestion-control + perspective is that they do not have a window into congestion on + other ISPs' networks. Solving this problem requires a separate + mechanism to express congestion across domains. + + One potential avenue for the IETF or IRTF to pursue would be to + establish a long-term design team to assess congestion problems in + general and the long-term effects of any proposed quick fixes. These + issues are not necessarily confined to P2P and should be viewed in + the broader context of massive increases in bandwidth use. + +5.3. Quality of Service + + Although ISPs have implemented a wide variety of short-term + approaches to dealing with congestion, several of these may not be + viable in the long term. For example, some ISPs have found that + using deep packet inspection to change the delivery characteristics + of certain traffic at times of congestion is more cost effective than + adding additional bandwidth. Over time, this approach could lead to + a cat-and-mouse game where applications providers continually adapt + to avoid being correctly classified by Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) + equipment. Similarly, ISPs implementing traffic analysis to identify + P2P traffic may find that, in the long run, the overhead required of + an effective classification scheme will be excessive. + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 16] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + Quality of service (QoS) arrangements may be more suitable in the + long term. One approach that distinguishes certain classes of + traffic during times of congestion was described in Section 3.3. A + standardized mechanism that may be useful for implementing QoS is + Differentiated Services Code Points (DSCP) [RFC2474]. + + With DSCP, devices at the edge of the network mark packets with the + service level they should receive. Nodes within the network do not + need to remember anything about service flows, and applications do + not need to request a particular service level. Users effectively + avoid self-interference through service classification. + + Although DSCP may have many uses, perhaps the most relevant to the + P2P congestion issue is its ability to facilitate usage-based + charging. User pricing agreements that charge a premium for real- + time traffic and best-effort traffic could potentially shape user + behavior, resulting in reduced congestion (although ISPs would need a + mechanism to mitigate the risk of charging subscribers for things + like unintentional malware downloads or DoS attacks). DSCP could + also be used to limit a user's supply of high-priority bandwidth, + resulting in a similar effect. + + Equipment to support DSCP is already available. Although there has + been some concern about a perceived lack of DSCP deployment, it is + widely used by enterprise customers, and growth has been strong due + to uptake in VoIP at the enterprise level. + + However, DSCP still faces deployment hurdles on many networks. + Perhaps the largest barrier of all to wide deployment is the lack of + uniform code points to be used across networks. For example, the + latest Windows Vista API marks voice traffic as CS7, above the + priority reserve for router traffic. To properly take advantage of + this change, every switch will need to re-mark all traffic. In + addition, disparate ISPs are currently without a means of verifying + each others' markings and thus may be unwilling to trust the markings + they receive. + +6. Applications Opening Multiple TCP Connections + + The workshop discussions about P2P congestion spurred a related + discussion about applications (P2P or otherwise) that open multiple + TCP connections. With multiple users sharing one link, TCP flow + fairness gives users with multiple open connections a larger + proportion of bandwidth. Since some P2P protocols use multiple open + connections for a single file transfer and users often pursue + multiple transfers at once, this can cause a P2P user to have many + more open connections at once than other users on the same link. The + same is true for users of other applications that open multiple + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 17] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + connections. A single user with multiple open connections is not + necessarily a problem on its face, but the fact that fairness is + determined per flow rather than per user leaves that impression. + Workshop participants thought it may be useful for the IETF to + provide some information about such situations. + +7. Costs and Congestion + + Workshop participants expressed diverging opinions about how much the + cost of transferring data -- as experienced by ISPs and, by + extension, their subscribers -- should factor into IETF thinking on + P2P traffic issues. + + On one hand, bandwidth costs may be significant, even when viewed in + isolation from congestion issues. Some estimates put the total cost + of shipping 1 GB between $0.10 and $2. The cost of transit bandwidth + in markets where subscribers are charged flat rates appears to have + leveled off and may no longer be getting cheaper. Thus, it may be + reasonable to expect more service providers to move to volume-based + pricing (where they have not already done so) as a means to control + congestion and increase revenues. This is only feasible if bandwidth + consumption is visible to end users, which argues for some mechanism + of exposing quotas and usage to applications. However, expressing + cost information may be outside of the technical purview of the IETF. + + On the other hand, congestion can be viewed merely as a manifestation + of cost. An ISP that invests in capacity could be considered to be + paying to relieve congestion. Or, if subscribers are charged for + congesting the network, then cost and congestion could be viewed as + one and the same. The distinction between them may thus be + artificial. + + Workshop participants felt that the issues highlighted here may be + useful fodder for IRTF work. + +8. Next Steps + + The IETF community recognizes the significance of both increasing P2P + traffic volumes and network load at large. The importance of + addressing the impact of high-volume, delay-tolerant data transfer on + end-user experiences was highly apparent at the workshop. + + At the conclusion of the workshop and in the days following, it + became clear that the largest areas of interest fell into two + categories: transport-related issues and improved peer selection. + + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 18] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + +8.1. Transport Issues + + Two main transport-related work items evolved out of the workshop. + The first was the creation of a standardized, delay-based, end-to-end + congestion-control mechanism that applications such as P2P clients + could use to reduce their own impact on interactive applications in + use on shared links (as described in Section 5.2.1). The second was + an informational document that describes the current practice of P2P + applications opening multiple transport connections and that makes + recommendations about the best practices for doing so (as discussed + in Section 6). + +8.2. Improved Peer Selection + + Participants expressed strong interest in further pursuing the range + of concepts described in Section 5.1 that support mechanisms for + information sharing between networks and applications to help improve + peer selection. Adding to the appeal of this topic is its potential + utility for applications other than P2P that may also benefit from + information about the network. Because the scope of potential + solutions discussed at the workshop was broad, extracting out the + most feasible pieces to pursue is the necessary first step. + +9. Security Considerations + + The workshop discussions covered a range of potential engineering + activities, each with its own security considerations. For example, + if networks are to provide preference or topology information to + applications, the applications may desire some means of verifying the + authenticity of the information. As the IETF community begins to + pursue specific avenues arising out of this workshop, addressing + relevant security requirements will be crucial. + +10. Acknowledgements + + The IETF would like to thank MIT, which hosted the workshop, and all + those people at MIT and elsewhere who assisted with the organization + and logistics of the workshop. + + The IETF is grateful to the program committee (listed in Appendix A) + for their time and energy in organizing the workshop, reviewing the + position papers, and crafting an event of value for all participants. + The IETF would also like to thank the scribes, Spencer Dawkins and + Alissa Cooper, who diligently recorded the proceedings during the + workshop. + + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 19] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + A special thanks to all the participants in the workshop (listed in + Appendix B) who took the time, came to the workshop to participate in + the discussions, and put in the effort to make this workshop a + success. The IETF especially appreciates the effort of those that + prepared and made presentations at the workshop. + +11. Informative References + + [DOCSIS] CableLabs, "DOCSIS Specifications - DOCSIS 2.0 Interface", + 2008, <http://www.cablemodem.com/specifications/ + specifications20.html>. + + [P4P] Xie, H., Yang, Y., Krishnamurthy, A., and A. Silberschatz, + "P4P: Provider Portal for Applications", August 2008, + <http://uwnews.org/relatedcontent/2008/August/ + rc_parentID43281_thisID43282.pdf>. + + [RFC2474] Nichols, K., Blake, S., Baker, F., and D. Black, + "Definition of the Differentiated Services Field (DS + Field) in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers", RFC 2474, + December 1998. + + [RFC2475] Blake, S., Black, D., Carlson, M., Davies, E., Wang, Z., + and W. Weiss, "An Architecture for Differentiated + Services", RFC 2475, December 1998. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 20] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + +Appendix A. Program Committee + + Dave Clark, MIT + + Lars Eggert, TSV AD + + Cullen Jennings, RAI AD + + John Morris, Center for Democracy and Technology + + Jon Peterson, RAI AD + + Danny Weitzner, MIT + +Appendix B. Workshop Participants + + Vinay Aggarwal, Deutsche Telekom Labs, TU Berlin + + Marvin Ammori, Free Press + + Loa Andersson, Acreo AB + + Jari Arkko, Ericsson + + Alan Arolovitch, PeerApp + + Timothy Balcer + + Mary Barnes, Nortel + + Colby Barth, Cisco Systems + + John Barlett, NetForecast + + Salman Baset, Columbia University + + Chris Bastian, Comcast + + Matthew Bell, Charter Communications + + Donald Bowman, Sandvine Inc. + + Scott Bradner, Harvard University + + Bob Briscoe, British Telecom + + David Bryan, SIPeerior Technologies + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 21] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + Rex Bullinger, National Cable & Telecommunications Association + + Gonzalo Camarillo, Ericsson + + Mary-Luc Champel, Thomson + + William Check, NCTA + + Alissa Cooper, Center for Democracy and Technology + + Patrick Crowley, Washington University + + Leslie Daigle, Internet Society + + Spencer Dawkins + + John Dickinson, Bright House Networks + + Lisa Dusseault, CommerceNet + + Lars Eggert, Nokia Research Center + + Joe Godas, Cablevision + + Vernon Groves, Microsoft + + Daniel Grunberg, Immedia Semiconductor + + Carmen Guerrero, University Carlos III Madrid + + Vijay Gurbani, Bell Laboratories/Alcatel-Lucent + + William Hawkins III, ITT + + Volker Hilt, Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent + + Russell Housley, Vigil Security, LLC + + Robert Jackson, Camiant + + Cullen Jennings, Cisco Systems + + Paul Jessop, RIAA + + XingFeng Jiang, Huawei + + Michael Kelsen, Time Warner Cable + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 22] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + Tom Klieber, Comcast + + Eric Klinker, BitTorrent Inc. + + Umesh Krishnaswamy + + Gregory Lebovitz, Juniper + + Erran Li, Bell-Labs + + Jason Livingood, Comcast + + Andrew Malis, Verizon + + Enrico Marocco, Telecom Italia Lab + + Marcin Matuszewski, Nokia + + Danny McPherson, Arbor Networks, Inc. + + Michael Merritt, AT&T + + Lyle Moore, Bell Canada + + John Morris, Center for Democracy and Technology + + Jean-Francois Mule, Cablelabs + + David Oran, Cisco Systems + + Reinaldo Penno, Juniper Networks + + Jon Peterson, NeuStar + + Howard Pfeffer, Time Warner Cable + + Laird Popkin, Pando Networks + + Stefano Previdi, Cisco systems + + Satish Putta + + Eric Pescorla + + Benny Rodrig, Avaya + + Damien Saucez, UCLouvain (UCL) + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 23] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + Henning Schulzrinne, Columbia University + + Michael Sheehan, Juniper Networks + + Don Shulzrinne, Immedia Semiconductor + + David Sohn, Center for Democracy and Technology + + Martin Stiemerling, NEC + + Clint Summers, Cox Communications + + Robert Topolski + + Mark Townsley, Cisco Systems + + Yushun Wang, Microsoft + + Hao Wang, Yale University + + Ye Wang, Yale University + + David Ward, Cisco + + Nicholas Weaver, ICSI + + Daniel Weitzner, MIT + + Magnus Westerlund, Ericsson + + Thomas Woo, Bell Labs + + Steve Worona, EDUCAUSE + + Richard Woundy, Comcast + + Haiyong Xie + + Richard Yang, Yale University + +Appendix C. Workshop Agenda + + 1. Welcome/Note Well/Intro Slides + Cullen Jennings + + 2. Service Provider Perspective (Comcast) + Rich Woundy and Jason Livingood + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 24] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + 3. Application Designer Perspective (BitTorrent) + Stanislav Shalunov + + 4. Lightning Talks & General Discussion + Robb Topoloski + Nick Weaver + Leslie Daigle + + 5. Localization and Caches + Laird Popkin and Haiyong Xie + Yu-Shun Wang + Vinay Aggrawal + + 6. New Approaches to Congestion + Bob Briscoe + Marcin Matuszewski + + 7. Quality of Service + Mary Barnes + Henning Schulzrinne + + 8. Conclusions & Wrap-Up + +Appendix D. Slides and Position Papers + + Slides and position papers are available at http:// + trac.tools.ietf.org/area/rai/trac/wiki/PeerToPeerInfrastructure. + + Position papers: + + Nick Weaver - The case for "Ugly Now" User Fairness + + Paul Jessop - Position paper of the RIAA + + Nikloaos Laotaris, Pablo Rodriguez, Laurent Massoulie - ECHOES: Edge + Capacity Hosting Overlays of Nano Data Centers + + Bruce Davie, Stefano Previdi, Jan Medved, Albert Tian - Peer + Selection Guidance + + Marie-Jose Montpetit - Community Networks: getting P2P out of prison + - the next steps + + D. Bryan, S. Dawkins, B. Lowekamp, E. Shim - Infrastructure-related + Attributes of App Scenarios for P2PSIP + + Jiang XingFeng - Analysis of the Service Discovery in DHT network + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 25] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + R. Penno - P2P Status and Requirements + + Patrick Crowley and Shakir James - Symbiotic P2P: Resolving the + conflict between ISPs and BitTorrent through mutual cooperation + + Robb Topolski - Framing Peer to Peer File Sharing + + M. Stiemerling, S. Niccolini, S. Kiesel, J. Seedorf - A Network + Cooperative Overlay System + + Y. Wang, S. Tan, R. Grove - Traffic Localization with Multi-Layer, + Tracker-Based Peer-to-Peer Content Distribution Architecture + + Haiyong Xie, Y. Richard Yang, Avi Silberschatz, Arvind Krishnamurthy, + Laird Popkin - P4P: Provider Portal for P2P Applications + + Michael Merritt, Doug Pasko, Laird Popkin - Network-Friendly Peer-to- + Peer Services + + Camiant (Jackson) - Camiant Submission + + Jason Livingood, Rich Woundy - Comcast Submission + + Benny Rodrig - Enterprise IP Networks and the P2P Traffic Load Impact + + Ted Hardie - Peer-to-Peer traffic and "Unattended Consequences" + + Jiang XingFeng, Ning Zong - Content Replication for Internet P2P + + Applications + + Sandvine (Dundas) - Analysis of Traffic Demographics in Broadband + networks + + Sandvine (Dundas) - Traffic Management in a World with Network + Neutrality + + Stanislav Shalunov - Users want P2P, we make it work + + R. Cuevas, A. Cuevas, I. Martinez-Yelmo, C. Guerrero - Internet scale + mobility service: a case study on building a DHT based service for + ISPs + + M. Barnes, B. McCormick - Peer to Peer Infrastructure Considerations + + Henning Schulzrinne - Encouraging Bandwidth Efficiency for Peer-to- + Peer Applications + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 26] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + + Damien Saucez, Benoit Donnet, Olivier Bonaventure, Dimitri + Papdimitriou - Towards an Open Path Selection Architecture + + Eric Rescorla - Notes on P2P Blocking and Evasion + + Vinay Aggrawal, Anja Feldmann - ISP-Aided Neighbor Selection in P2P + Systems + + Enrico Marocco, Vijay K. Gurbani, Volker Hilt, Ivica Rimac, Marco + Tomsu - Peer-to-Peer Infrastructure: A Survey of Research on the + Application-Layer Traffic Optimization Problem and the Need for Layer + Cooperation + + Tony Moncaster, Bob Briscoe, Louise Burness - Is There a Problem With + Peer-to-peer Traffic? + + David Sohn, Alissa Cooper - Peer-to-Peer Infrastructure + Considerations + + Bob Briscoe, Lou Burness, Tony Moncaster, Phil Eardley - Solving this + traffic management problem... and the next, and the next + + Hannes Tschofenig, Marcin Matuszewski - Dealing with P2P Traffic in + an Operator Network + + Jean-Francois Mule - CableLabs submission + + Alan Arolovitch - Peer-to-peer infrastructure: Case for cooperative + P2P caching + + Leslie Daigle - Defining Success: Questions for the Future of the + Internet and Bandwidth-Intensive Activities + + William Check, Rex Bullinger -- NCTA Position Paper + + Jari Arkko - Incentives and Deployment Considerations for P2PI + Solutions + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 27] + +RFC 5594 P2P Infrastructure July 2009 + + +Authors' Addresses + + Jon Peterson + NeuStar + USA + + EMail: jon.peterson@neustar.biz + + + Alissa Cooper + Center for Democracy & Technology + 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 1100 + Washington, DC 20006 + USA + + EMail: acooper@cdt.org + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Peterson & Cooper Informational [Page 28] + |