Re: [IPFIX] IPFIX: boolean, dot1qDEI and dot1qCustomerDEI

Andrew Feren <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.ietf.ipfix
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Hi Paul, all,

I think some clarification is needed, but I'm not sure what the right 
answer is.

I see at least three valid readings of the combination of boolean, 
flags, and "The value of the 1-bit Drop Eligible Indicator (DEI) field"

1) send "the value": if DEI bit set (0x01) / unset (0x00) (looks a lot 
like least significant bit set/unset ;-)
This is what the initial correction seems to assume.


2) semantics "flags": if DEI bit set (0x10) / unset (0x00).
This is the interpretation that including pcp would require


3) strict data type "boolean": if DEI bit set (0x01) / unset (0x02).
This is a variation on option 1 where boolean was interpreted strictly.

1 and 2 can be viewed as the same except for which bit gets flipped.


On 09/03/2013 05:57 AM, Paul Aitken wrote:
> Yaakov,
>
>> Fine with me since it simplifies the interpretation (DEI=0 means 
>> green and DEI=1 means yellow).
>>
>> By first bitdo you mean least significant bit?
>>
>
> Yes. If needs be we could add a figure something like so:
>
> 	   0     1     2     3     4     5     6     7
> 	+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
> 	|                Reserved                 | DEI |
> 	+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

This is option 1 and is compatible with 3 as long as reserved bit 6 is 
never used.  Option 2 only ever sets bit 7 to 0, but does change bit 3 
in the reserved area.

>
>
> Although if we were defining this again, it might be more useful to 
> retain the DEI position, and potentially include the PCP bits.
>
> So, per 802.1Q-2011 Figure 9-1 (attached) :
>
> 	   0     1     2     3     4     5     6     7
> 	+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
> 	|       PCP       | DEI |        Reserved       |
> 	+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
>
> However I suspect that this is incompatible with current 
> implementations, so the change is not possible?

This is a total change as this is no longer just dot1qDEI.

I'm slightly in favor of option 1, but ultimately I simply don't want to 
receive an identical value from different exporters which I am expected 
to interpret differently.


-Andrew


>
> P.
>
>
>> *From:*Paul Aitken [mailto:[email protected]]
>> *Sent:* 02 September, 2013 21:46
>> *To:* IETF IPFIX Working Group; [email protected]
>> *Cc:* Yaakov Stein
>> *Subject:* IPFIX: boolean, dot1qDEI and dot1qCustomerDEI
>>
>> Dear IPFIX experts,
>>
>> While reviewing IANA's IPFIX registry, I noticed that although IEs 
>> #388 dot1qDEI and #389 dot1qCustomerDEI are defined as "boolean" 
>> their definitions do not correspond to that type.
>>
>> As a reminder, RFC5101bis says:
>>
>> 6.1.5.  boolean
>>   
>>     The boolean data type is specified according to the TruthValue in
>>     [RFC2579].  It is encoded as a single-octet integer per
>>     Section 6.1.1,with the value 1 for true and value 2 for false.
>>     Every other value is undefined.
>>
>>
>> (for consistency with MIB truthValue).
>>
>> So a boolean IE cannot capture a bit field such as the DEI required 
>> by #388 and #389. I checked the other boolean IEs, and they're fine.
>>
>> To correct this, I propose that #388 and #389 be changed from 
>> "boolean" to "unsigned8", in line with all the other flags fields:
>>
>> 388
>>
>> 	
>>
>> dot1qDEI
>>
>> 	
>>
>> boolean
>> unsigned8
>>
>> 	
>>
>> flags
>>
>> 	
>>
>> current
>>
>> 	
>>
>>
>> The first bit of this octet is the value of the 1-bit Drop Eligible 
>> Indicator (DEI) field of the VLAN tag as described in 802.1Q-2011 
>> subclause 9.6. In case of a QinQ frame, it represents the outer tag's 
>> DEI field and in case of an IEEE 802.1ad frame it represents the DEI 
>> field of the S-TAG. Note: in earlier versions of 802.1Q the same bit 
>> field in the incoming packet is occupied by the Canonical Format 
>> Indicator (CFI) field, except for S-TAGs.
>> The remainder of this octet is reserved for future use.
>>
>> 389
>>
>> 	
>>
>> dot1qCustomerDEI
>>
>> 	
>>
>> boolean
>> unsigned8
>>
>> 	
>>
>> flags
>>
>> 	
>>
>> current
>>
>> 	
>>
>>
>> In case of a QinQ frame, the first bit of this octet it represents 
>> the inner tag's Drop Eligible Indicator (DEI) field and in case of an 
>> IEEE 802.1ad frame it represents the DEI field of the C-TAG.
>> The remainder of this octet is reserved for future use.
>>
>>
>>
>> Feedback?
>>
>> P.
>>
>
>
>
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