Active and Passive Metrics and Methods (and everything in-between, or Hybrid)
draft-ietf-ippm-active-passive-01

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Last updated 2015-09-06
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Network Working Group                                          A. Morton
Internet-Draft                                                 AT&T Labs
Intended status: Informational                         September 6, 2015
Expires: March 9, 2016

 Active and Passive Metrics and Methods (and everything in-between, or
                                Hybrid)
                   draft-ietf-ippm-active-passive-01

Abstract

   This memo provides clear definitions for Active and Passive
   performance assessment.  The construction of Metrics and Methods can
   be described as Active or Passive.  Some methods may use a subset of
   both active and passive attributes, and we refer to these as Hybrid
   Methods.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on March 9, 2016.

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   Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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Morton                    Expires March 9, 2016                 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft             Active and Passive             September 2015

   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Purpose and Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Terms and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.1.  Performance Metric  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.2.  Method of Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     3.3.  Observation Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     3.4.  Active Methods  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     3.5.  Active Metric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     3.6.  Passive Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     3.7.  Passive Metric  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     3.8.  Hybrid Methods and Metrics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   4.  Discussion  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     4.1.  Graphical Representation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     4.2.  Discussion of PDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     4.3.  Discussion of "Coloring" Method . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   5.  Security considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   7.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12

1.  Introduction

   The adjectives "active" and "passive" have been used for many years
   to distinguish two different classes of Internet performance
   assessment.  The first Passive and Active Measurement (PAM)
   Conference was held in 2000, but the earliest proceedings available
   on-line are from the second PAM conference in 2001
   [https://www.ripe.net/ripe/meetings/pam-2001].

   The notions of "active" and "passive" are well-established.  In
   general:

      An Active metric or method depends on a dedicated measurement
      packet stream and observations of the stream.

      A Passive metric or method depends *solely* on observation of one
      or more existing packet streams.  The streams only serve
      measurement when they are observed for that purpose, and are
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