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 +
Network Working Group                                        S. Shalunov
 +
Request for Comments: 4656                                B. Teitelbaum
 +
Category: Standards Track                                        A. Karp
 +
                                                            J. Boote
 +
                                                        M. Zekauskas
 +
                                                            Internet2
 +
                                                      September 2006
  
 +
          A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP)
  
 
+
'''Status of This Memo'''
 
 
 
 
 
 
Network Working Group                                        S. ShalunovRequest for Comments: 4656                                B. TeitelbaumCategory: Standards Track                                        A. Karp                                                            J. Boote                                                        M. Zekauskas                                                            Internet2                                                      September 2006
 
 
 
          A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP)
 
Status of This Memo
 
  
 
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
 
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
 
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
 
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
 
improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
 
improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
+
Official Protocol Standards" ([[STD1|STD 1]]) for the standardization state
 
and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
 
and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
  
Copyright Notice
+
'''Copyright Notice'''
  
 
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
 
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
  
Abstract
+
'''Abstract'''
  
 
The One-Way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP) measures
 
The One-Way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP) measures
Line 32: Line 33:
  
 
The IETF IP Performance Metrics (IPPM) working group has defined
 
The IETF IP Performance Metrics (IPPM) working group has defined
metrics for one-way packet delay [RFC2679] and loss [RFC2680] across
+
metrics for one-way packet delay [[RFC2679]] and loss [[RFC2680]] across
 
Internet paths.  Although there are now several measurement platforms
 
Internet paths.  Although there are now several measurement platforms
 
that implement collection of these metrics [SURVEYOR] [SURVEYOR-INET]
 
that implement collection of these metrics [SURVEYOR] [SURVEYOR-INET]
Line 48: Line 49:
 
mesh of Internet paths than is currently possible.  One particularly
 
mesh of Internet paths than is currently possible.  One particularly
 
compelling vision is of widespread deployment of open OWAMP servers
 
compelling vision is of widespread deployment of open OWAMP servers
 
 
 
 
  
 
that would make measurement of one-way delay as commonplace as
 
that would make measurement of one-way delay as commonplace as
Line 77: Line 74:
 
In this document, the key words "MUST", "REQUIRED", "SHOULD",
 
In this document, the key words "MUST", "REQUIRED", "SHOULD",
 
"RECOMMENDED", and "MAY" are to be interpreted as described in
 
"RECOMMENDED", and "MAY" are to be interpreted as described in
[RFC2119].
+
[[RFC2119]].
  
 
=== Relationship of Test and Control Protocols ===
 
=== Relationship of Test and Control Protocols ===
Line 101: Line 98:
 
active measurement sessions and results retrieval in a
 
active measurement sessions and results retrieval in a
 
straightforward manner.  At session initiation, there is a
 
straightforward manner.  At session initiation, there is a
 
 
 
 
  
 
negotiation of sender and receiver addresses and port numbers,
 
negotiation of sender and receiver addresses and port numbers,
Line 110: Line 103:
 
Poisson sampling interval for the test stream, and some attributes of
 
Poisson sampling interval for the test stream, and some attributes of
 
the very general [[[RFC2330|RFC 2330]]] notion of packet type, including packet
 
the very general [[[RFC2330|RFC 2330]]] notion of packet type, including packet
size and per-hop behavior (PHB) [RFC2474], which could be used to
+
size and per-hop behavior (PHB) [[RFC2474]], which could be used to
 
support the measurement of one-way network characteristics across
 
support the measurement of one-way network characteristics across
 
differentiated services networks.  Additionally, OWAMP-Control
 
differentiated services networks.  Additionally, OWAMP-Control
Line 147: Line 140:
 
Fetch-Client        An end system that initiates requests to fetch
 
Fetch-Client        An end system that initiates requests to fetch
 
                     the results of completed OWAMP-Test sessions.
 
                     the results of completed OWAMP-Test sessions.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
One possible scenario of relationships between these roles is shown
 
One possible scenario of relationships between these roles is shown
Line 203: Line 185:
 
unauthenticated mode).
 
unauthenticated mode).
  
 +
== Protocol Overview ==
  
 
+
As described above, OWAMP consists of two inter-related protocols:
 
+
OWAMP-Control and OWAMP-Test.  The former is layered over TCP and is
 
+
used to initiate and control measurement sessions and to fetch their
 
+
results.  The latter protocol is layered over UDP and is used to send
 
+
singleton measurement packets along the Internet path under test.
 
 
 
 
 
 
== Protocol Overview ==
 
 
 
As described above, OWAMP consists of two inter-related protocols:
 
OWAMP-Control and OWAMP-Test.  The former is layered over TCP and is
 
used to initiate and control measurement sessions and to fetch their
 
results.  The latter protocol is layered over UDP and is used to send
 
singleton measurement packets along the Internet path under test.
 
  
 
The initiator of the measurement session establishes a TCP connection
 
The initiator of the measurement session establishes a TCP connection
Line 259: Line 232:
 
First, a client opens a TCP connection to the server on a well-known
 
First, a client opens a TCP connection to the server on a well-known
 
port 861.  The server responds with a server greeting:
 
port 861.  The server responds with a server greeting:
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
   0                  1                  2                  3
 
   0                  1                  2                  3
Line 312: Line 280:
 
Count MUST be a power of 2.  Count MUST be at least 1024.  Count
 
Count MUST be a power of 2.  Count MUST be at least 1024.  Count
 
SHOULD be increased as more computing power becomes common.
 
SHOULD be increased as more computing power becomes common.
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
If the Modes value is zero, the server does not wish to communicate
 
If the Modes value is zero, the server does not wish to communicate
Line 363: Line 326:
 
the client and the server SHOULD close the TCP connection associated
 
the client and the server SHOULD close the TCP connection associated
 
with the OWAMP-Control session.
 
with the OWAMP-Control session.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
In unauthenticated mode, KeyID, Token, and Client-IV are unused.
 
In unauthenticated mode, KeyID, Token, and Client-IV are unused.
Line 390: Line 346:
 
The shared secret is a passphrase; it MUST not contain newlines.  The
 
The shared secret is a passphrase; it MUST not contain newlines.  The
 
secret key is derived from the passphrase using a password-based key
 
secret key is derived from the passphrase using a password-based key
derivation function PBKDF2 (PKCS #5) [RFC2898].  The PBKDF2 function
+
derivation function PBKDF2 (PKCS #5) [[RFC2898]].  The PBKDF2 function
requires several parameters: the PRF is HMAC-SHA1 [RFC2104]; the salt
+
requires several parameters: the PRF is HMAC-SHA1 [[RFC2104]]; the salt
 
and count are as transmitted by the server.
 
and count are as transmitted by the server.
  
Line 397: Line 353:
 
randomly by the client.  AES Session-key and HMAC Session-key MUST be
 
randomly by the client.  AES Session-key and HMAC Session-key MUST be
 
generated with sufficient entropy not to reduce the security of the
 
generated with sufficient entropy not to reduce the security of the
underlying cipher [RFC4086].  Client-IV merely needs to be unique
+
underlying cipher [[RFC4086]].  Client-IV merely needs to be unique
 
(i.e., it MUST never be repeated for different sessions using the
 
(i.e., it MUST never be repeated for different sessions using the
 
same secret key; a simple way to achieve that without the use of
 
same secret key; a simple way to achieve that without the use of
Line 404: Line 360:
 
done, the first repetition is unlikely to occur before 2^64 sessions
 
done, the first repetition is unlikely to occur before 2^64 sessions
 
with the same secret key are conducted).
 
with the same secret key are conducted).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
The server MUST respond with the following Server-Start message:
 
The server MUST respond with the following Server-Start message:
Line 472: Line 409:
 
multi-user general purpose operating system, it could be the time
 
multi-user general purpose operating system, it could be the time
 
when the server process was started.)  If Accept is non-zero, Start-
 
when the server process was started.)  If Accept is non-zero, Start-
 
 
 
 
  
 
Time SHOULD be set so that all of its bits are zeros.  In
 
Time SHOULD be set so that all of its bits are zeros.  In
Line 525: Line 458:
  
 
   1    Failure, reason unspecified (catch-all).
 
   1    Failure, reason unspecified (catch-all).
 
 
 
 
  
 
   2    Internal error.
 
   2    Internal error.
Line 578: Line 507:
  
 
These commands are described in detail below.
 
These commands are described in detail below.
 
 
 
 
  
 
=== Creating Test Sessions ===
 
=== Creating Test Sessions ===
Line 591: Line 516:
 
message MAY refuse a request.
 
message MAY refuse a request.
  
 +
The format of Request-Session message is as follows:
  
 +
  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
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |      1        |  MBZ  | IPVN  |  Conf-Sender  | Conf-Receiver |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                  Number of Schedule Slots                    |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                      Number of Packets                        |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |          Sender Port          |        Receiver Port        |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                        Sender Address                        |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |          Sender Address (cont.) or MBZ (12 octets)          |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                        Receiver Address                      |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |          Receiver Address (cont.) or MBZ (12 octets)        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                        Padding Length                        |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                          Start Time                          |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                      Timeout, (8 octets)                    |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                      Type-P Descriptor                      |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                        MBZ (8 octets)                        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
 +
This is immediately followed by one or more schedule slot
 +
descriptions (the number of schedule slots is specified in the
 +
"Number of Schedule Slots" field above):
  
 +
  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
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |    Slot Type  |                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+        MBZ (7 octets)                        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                Slot Parameter (Timestamp)                    |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
 +
These are immediately followed by HMAC:
  
 +
  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
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
 +
All these messages constitute one logical message: the Request-
 +
Session command.
  
 +
Above, the first octet (1) indicates that this is the Request-Session
 +
command.
  
 +
IPVN is the IP version numbers for Sender and Receiver.  When the IP
 +
version number is 4, 12 octets follow the 4-octet IPv4 address stored
 +
in Sender Address and Receiver Address.  These octets MUST be set to
 +
zero by the client and MUST be ignored by the server.  Currently
 +
meaningful IPVN values are 4 and 6.
  
 +
Conf-Sender and Conf-Receiver MUST be set to 0 or 1 by the client.
 +
The server MUST interpret any non-zero value as 1.  If the value is
 +
1, the server is being asked to configure the corresponding agent
 +
(sender or receiver).  In this case, the corresponding Port value
 +
SHOULD be disregarded by the server.  At least one of Conf-Sender and
 +
Conf-Receiver MUST be 1.  (Both can be set, in which case the server
 +
is being asked to perform a session between two hosts it can
 +
configure.)
  
 +
Number of Schedule Slots, as mentioned before, specifies the number
 +
of slot records that go between the two blocks of HMAC.  It is used
 +
by the sender to determine when to send test packets (see next
 +
section).
  
 +
Number of Packets is the number of active measurement packets to be
 +
sent during this OWAMP-Test session (note that either the server or
 +
the client can abort the session early).
  
 +
If Conf-Sender is not set, Sender Port is the UDP port from which
 +
OWAMP-Test packets will be sent.  If Conf-Receiver is not set,
 +
Receiver Port is the UDP port OWAMP-Test to which packets are
 +
requested to be sent.
  
 +
The Sender Address and Receiver Address fields contain, respectively,
 +
the sender and receiver addresses of the end points of the Internet
 +
path over which an OWAMP test session is requested.
  
 +
SID is the session identifier.  It can be used in later sessions as
 +
an argument for the Fetch-Session command.  It is meaningful only if
 +
Conf-Receiver is 0.  This way, the SID is always generated by the
 +
receiving side.  See the end of the section for information on how
 +
the SID is generated.
  
 +
Padding length is the number of octets to be appended to the normal
 +
OWAMP-Test packet (see more on padding in discussion of OWAMP-Test).
  
 +
Start Time is the time when the session is to be started (but not
 +
before Start-Sessions command is issued).  This timestamp is in the
 +
same format as OWAMP-Test timestamps.
  
 +
Timeout (or a loss threshold) is an interval of time (expressed as a
 +
timestamp).  A packet belonging to the test session that is being set
 +
up by the current Request-Session command will be considered lost if
 +
it is not received during Timeout seconds after it is sent.
  
 +
Type-P Descriptor covers only a subset of (very large) Type-P space.
 +
If the first two bits of the Type-P Descriptor are 00, then the
 +
subsequent six bits specify the requested Differentiated Services
 +
Codepoint (DSCP) value of sent OWAMP-Test packets, as defined in
 +
[[RFC2474]].  If the first two bits of Type-P descriptor are 01, then
 +
the subsequent 16 bits specify the requested PHB Identification Code
 +
(PHB ID), as defined in [[RFC2836]].
  
 +
Therefore, the value of all zeros specifies the default best-effort
 +
service.
  
 +
If Conf-Sender is set, the Type-P Descriptor is to be used to
 +
configure the sender to send packets according to its value.  If
 +
Conf-Sender is not set, the Type-P Descriptor is a declaration of how
 +
the sender will be configured.
  
 +
If Conf-Sender is set and the server does not recognize the Type-P
 +
Descriptor, or it cannot or does not wish to set the corresponding
 +
attributes on OWAMP-Test packets, it SHOULD reject the session
 +
request.  If Conf-Sender is not set, the server SHOULD accept or
 +
reject the session, paying no attention to the value of the Type-P
 +
Descriptor.
  
 
+
To each Request-Session message, an OWAMP server MUST respond with an
 
+
Accept-Session message:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The format of Request-Session message is as follows:
 
  
 
   0                  1                  2                  3
 
   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
 
   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
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     1        |  MBZ | IPVN  |  Conf-Sender  | Conf-Receiver |
+
   |   Accept    |  MBZ          |           Port               |
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
  |                  Number of Schedule Slots                    |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                      Number of Packets                        |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |          Sender Port         |         Receiver Port         |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                        Sender Address                        |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |          Sender Address (cont.) or MBZ (12 octets)          |
 
  |                                                              |
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                       Receiver Address                      |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |          Receiver Address (cont.) or MBZ (12 octets)        |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
 
   |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
Line 666: Line 684:
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  |                        Padding Length                        |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                          Start Time                          |
 
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
   |                       MBZ (12 octets)                        |
   |                       Timeout, (8 octets)                    |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                      Type-P Descriptor                      |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                        MBZ (8 octets)                        |
 
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Line 685: Line 694:
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
 +
In this message, zero in the Accept field means that the server is
 +
willing to conduct the session.  A non-zero value indicates rejection
 +
of the request.  The full list of available Accept values is
 +
described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept Field".
  
 +
If the server rejects a Request-Session message, it SHOULD not close
 +
the TCP connection.  The client MAY close it if it receives a
 +
negative response to the Request-Session message.
  
 +
The meaning of Port in the response depends on the values of Conf-
 +
Sender and Conf-Receiver in the query that solicited the response.
 +
If both were set, the Port field is unused.  If only Conf-Sender was
 +
set, Port is the port from which to expect OWAMP-Test packets.  If
  
 +
only Conf-Receiver was set, Port is the port to which OWAMP-Test
 +
packets are sent.
  
This is immediately followed by one or more schedule slot
+
If only Conf-Sender was set, the SID field in the response is unused.
descriptions (the number of schedule slots is specified in the
+
Otherwise, SID is a unique server-generated session identifier. It
"Number of Schedule Slots" field above):
+
can be used later as handle to fetch the results of a session.
 
 
  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
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |    Slot Type |                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+        MBZ (7 octets)                        |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                Slot Parameter (Timestamp)                    |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  
These are immediately followed by HMAC:
+
SIDs SHOULD be constructed by concatenation of the 4-octet IPv4 IP
 
+
number belonging to the generating machine, an 8-octet timestamp, and
  0                  1                  2                  3
+
a 4-octet random value.  To reduce the probability of collisions, if
  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
+
the generating machine has any IPv4 addresses (with the exception of
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
loopback), one of them SHOULD be used for SID generation, even if all
  |                                                              |
+
communication is IPv6-based.  If it has no IPv4 addresses at all, the
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                        |
+
last four octets of an IPv6 address MAY be used instead.  Note that
  |                                                              |
+
SID is always chosen by the receiver.  If truly random values are not
  |                                                              |
+
available, it is important that the SID be made unpredictable, as
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
knowledge of the SID might be used for access control.
  
All these messages constitute one logical message: the Request-
+
=== Send Schedules ===
Session command.
 
  
Above, the first octet (1) indicates that this is the Request-Session
+
The sender and the receiver both need to know the same send schedule.
command.
+
This way, when packets are lost, the receiver knows when they were
 +
supposed to be sent.  It is desirable to compress common schedules
 +
and still to be able to use an arbitrary one for the test sessions.
 +
In many cases, the schedule will consist of repeated sequences of
 +
packets: this way, the sequence performs some test, and the test is
 +
repeated a number of times to gather statistics.
  
IPVN is the IP version numbers for Sender and ReceiverWhen the IP
+
To implement this, we have a schedule with a given number of slots.
version number is 4, 12 octets follow the 4-octet IPv4 address stored
+
Each slot has a type and a parameter.  Two types are supported:
in Sender Address and Receiver Address.  These octets MUST be set to
+
exponentially distributed pseudo-random quantity (denoted by a code
zero by the client and MUST be ignored by the serverCurrently
+
of 0) and a fixed quantity (denoted by a code of 1).  The parameter
meaningful IPVN values are 4 and 6.
+
is expressed as a timestamp and specifies a time intervalFor a
 +
type 0 slot (exponentially distributed pseudo-random quantity), this
 +
interval is the mean value (or 1/lambda if the distribution density
 +
function is expressed as lambda*exp(-lambda*x) for positive values of
 +
x).  For a type 1 (fixed quantity) slot, the parameter is the delay
 +
itself.  The sender starts with the beginning of the schedule and
 +
executes the instructions in the slots: for a slot of type 0, wait an
 +
exponentially distributed time with a mean of the specified parameter
 +
and then send a test packet (and proceed to the next slot); for a
 +
slot of type 1, wait the specified time and send a test packet (and
 +
proceed to the next slot)The schedule is circular: when there are
 +
no more slots, the sender returns to the first slot.
  
Conf-Sender and Conf-Receiver MUST be set to 0 or 1 by the client.
+
The sender and the receiver need to be able to reproducibly execute
The server MUST interpret any non-zero value as 1.  If the value is
+
the entire schedule (so, if a packet is lost, the receiver can still
1, the server is being asked to configure the corresponding agent
+
attach a send timestamp to it).  Slots of type 1 are trivial to
(sender or receiver).  In this case, the corresponding Port value
 
SHOULD be disregarded by the server.  At least one of Conf-Sender and
 
Conf-Receiver MUST be 1.  (Both can be set, in which case the server
 
is being asked to perform a session between two hosts it can
 
configure.)
 
  
 +
reproducibly execute.  To reproducibly execute slots of type 0, we
 +
need to be able to generate pseudo-random exponentially distributed
 +
quantities in a reproducible manner.  The way this is accomplished is
 +
discussed later in Section 5, "Computing Exponentially Distributed
 +
Pseudo-Random Numbers".
  
 +
Using this mechanism, one can easily specify common testing
 +
scenarios.  The following are some examples:
  
 +
+  Poisson stream: a single slot of type 0.
  
 +
+  Periodic stream: a single slot of type 1.
  
 +
+  Poisson stream of back-to-back packet pairs: two slots, type 0
 +
  with a non-zero parameter and type 1 with a zero parameter.
  
 +
Further, a completely arbitrary schedule can be specified (albeit
 +
inefficiently) by making the number of test packets equal to the
 +
number of schedule slots.  In this case, the complete schedule is
 +
transmitted in advance of an OWAMP-Test session.
  
Number of Schedule Slots, as mentioned before, specifies the number
+
=== Starting Test Sessions ===
of slot records that go between the two blocks of HMAC.  It is used
 
by the sender to determine when to send test packets (see next
 
section).
 
  
Number of Packets is the number of active measurement packets to be
+
Having requested one or more test sessions and received affirmative
sent during this OWAMP-Test session (note that either the server or
+
Accept-Session responses, an OWAMP client MAY start the execution of
the client can abort the session early).
+
the requested test sessions by sending a Start-Sessions message to
 +
the server.
  
If Conf-Sender is not set, Sender Port is the UDP port from which
+
The format of this message is as follows:
OWAMP-Test packets will be sent.  If Conf-Receiver is not set,
 
Receiver Port is the UDP port OWAMP-Test to which packets are
 
requested to be sent.
 
  
The Sender Address and Receiver Address fields contain, respectively,
+
  0                  1                  2                  3
the sender and receiver addresses of the end points of the Internet
+
  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
path over which an OWAMP test session is requested.
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |      2        |                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                              |
 +
  |                        MBZ (15 octets)                        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
SID is the session identifier.  It can be used in later sessions as
+
The server MUST respond with an Start-Ack message (which SHOULD be
an argument for the Fetch-Session commandIt is meaningful only if
+
sent as quickly as possible)Start-Ack messages have the following
Conf-Receiver is 0.  This way, the SID is always generated by the
+
format:
receiving side.  See the end of the section for information on how
 
the SID is generated.
 
  
Padding length is the number of octets to be appended to the normal
+
  0                  1                  2                  3
OWAMP-Test packet (see more on padding in discussion of OWAMP-Test).
+
  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
 
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Start Time is the time when the session is to be started (but not
+
  |    Accept    |                                              |
before Start-Sessions command is issued).  This timestamp is in the
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                              |
same format as OWAMP-Test timestamps.
+
  |                        MBZ (15 octets)                       |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                       |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
Timeout (or a loss threshold) is an interval of time (expressed as a
+
If Accept is non-zero, the Start-Sessions request was rejected; zero
timestamp)A packet belonging to the test session that is being set
+
means that the command was accepted.  The full list of available
up by the current Request-Session command will be considered lost if
+
Accept values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept
it is not received during Timeout seconds after it is sent.
+
Field"The server MAY, and the client SHOULD, close the connection
 +
in the case of a rejection.
  
Type-P Descriptor covers only a subset of (very large) Type-P space.
+
The server SHOULD start all OWAMP-Test streams immediately after it
If the first two bits of the Type-P Descriptor are 00, then the
+
sends the response or immediately after their specified start times,
subsequent six bits specify the requested Differentiated Services
+
whichever is later. If the client represents a Sender, the client
Codepoint (DSCP) value of sent OWAMP-Test packets, as defined in
+
SHOULD start its OWAMP-Test streams immediately after it sees the
[RFC2474].  If the first two bits of Type-P descriptor are 01, then
+
Start-Ack response from the Server (if the Start-Sessions command was
the subsequent 16 bits specify the requested PHB Identification Code
+
accepted) or immediately after their specified start times, whichever
(PHB ID), as defined in [RFC2836].
+
is later.  See more on OWAMP-Test sender behavior in a separate
 +
section below.
  
Therefore, the value of all zeros specifies the default best-effort
+
=== Stop-Sessions ===
service.
 
  
 
+
The Stop-Sessions message may be issued by either the Control-Client
 
+
or the ServerThe format of this command is as follows:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
If Conf-Sender is set, the Type-P Descriptor is to be used to
 
configure the sender to send packets according to its value.  If
 
Conf-Sender is not set, the Type-P Descriptor is a declaration of how
 
the sender will be configured.
 
 
 
If Conf-Sender is set and the server does not recognize the Type-P
 
Descriptor, or it cannot or does not wish to set the corresponding
 
attributes on OWAMP-Test packets, it SHOULD reject the session
 
requestIf Conf-Sender is not set, the server SHOULD accept or
 
reject the session, paying no attention to the value of the Type-P
 
Descriptor.
 
 
 
To each Request-Session message, an OWAMP server MUST respond with an
 
Accept-Session message:
 
  
 
   0                  1                  2                  3
 
   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
 
   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
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Accept    | MBZ         |           Port              |
+
   |      3        |    Accept    |             MBZ             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                     Number of Sessions                      |
 +
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                        MBZ (8 octets)                        |
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
   |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
 
 +
This is immediately followed by zero or more session description
 +
records (the number of session description records is specified in
 +
 
 +
the "Number of Sessions" field above).  The session description
 +
record is used to indicate which packets were actually sent by the
 +
sender process (rather than skipped).  The header of the session
 +
description record is as follows:
 +
 
 +
  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
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
   |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
+
   |                           Next Seqno                          |
  |                        MBZ (12 octets)                        |
 
  |                                                              |
 
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
+
   |                     Number of Skip Ranges                    |
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |                                                              |
 
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
In this message, zero in the Accept field means that the server is
+
This is immediately followed by zero or more Skip Range descriptions
willing to conduct the session.  A non-zero value indicates rejection
+
as specified by the "Number of Skip Ranges" field aboveSkip Ranges
of the requestThe full list of available Accept values is
+
are simply two sequence numbers that, together, indicate a range of
described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept Field".
+
packets that were not sent:
  
If the server rejects a Request-Session message, it SHOULD not close
+
  0                  1                  2                  3
the TCP connection.  The client MAY close it if it receives a
+
  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
negative response to the Request-Session message.
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
 +
  |                      First Seqno Skipped                      |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                      Last Seqno Skipped                      |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
The meaning of Port in the response depends on the values of Conf-
+
Skip Ranges MUST be in order. The last (possibly full, possibly
Sender and Conf-Receiver in the query that solicited the response.
+
incomplete) block (16 octets) of data MUST be padded with zeros, if
If both were set, the Port field is unusedIf only Conf-Sender was
+
necessaryThis ensures that the next session description record
set, Port is the port from which to expect OWAMP-Test packets. If
+
starts on a block boundary.
  
 +
Finally, a single block (16 octets) of HMAC is concatenated on the
 +
end to complete the Stop-Sessions message.
  
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
 +
All these records comprise one logical message: the Stop-Sessions
 +
command.
  
 +
Above, the first octet (3) indicates that this is the Stop-Sessions
 +
command.
  
only Conf-Receiver was set, Port is the port to which OWAMP-Test
+
Non-zero Accept values indicate a failure of some sort.  Zero values
packets are sent.
+
indicate normal (but possibly premature) completion.  The full list
 +
of available Accept values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of
 +
the Accept Field".
  
If only Conf-Sender was set, the SID field in the response is unused.
+
If Accept had a non-zero value (from either party), results of all
Otherwise, SID is a unique server-generated session identifierIt
+
OWAMP-Test sessions spawned by this OWAMP-Control session SHOULD be
can be used later as handle to fetch the results of a session.
+
considered invalid, even if a Fetch-Session with SID from this
 +
session works for a different OWAMP-Control session.  If Accept was
 +
not transmitted at all (for whatever reason, including the TCP
 +
connection used for OWAMP-Control breaking), the results of all
 +
OWAMP-Test sessions spawned by this OWAMP-control session MAY be
 +
considered invalid.
  
SIDs SHOULD be constructed by concatenation of the 4-octet IPv4 IP
+
Number of Sessions indicates the number of session description
number belonging to the generating machine, an 8-octet timestamp, and
+
records that immediately follow the Stop-Sessions header.
a 4-octet random value.  To reduce the probability of collisions, if
 
the generating machine has any IPv4 addresses (with the exception of
 
loopback), one of them SHOULD be used for SID generation, even if all
 
communication is IPv6-based.  If it has no IPv4 addresses at all, the
 
last four octets of an IPv6 address MAY be used instead.  Note that
 
SID is always chosen by the receiver.  If truly random values are not
 
available, it is important that the SID be made unpredictable, as
 
knowledge of the SID might be used for access control.
 
  
=== Send Schedules ===
+
Number of Sessions MUST contain the number of send sessions started
 
+
by the local side of the control connection that have not been
The sender and the receiver both need to know the same send schedule.
+
previously terminated by a Stop-Sessions command (i.e., the Control-
This way, when packets are lost, the receiver knows when they were
+
Client MUST account for each accepted Request-Session where Conf-
supposed to be sentIt is desirable to compress common schedules
+
Receiver was set; the Control-Server MUST account for each accepted
and still to be able to use an arbitrary one for the test sessions.
+
Request-Session where Conf-Sender was set)If the Stop-Sessions
In many cases, the schedule will consist of repeated sequences of
+
message does not account for exactly the send sessions controlled by
packets: this way, the sequence performs some test, and the test is
+
that side, then it is to be considered invalid and the connection
repeated a number of times to gather statistics.
+
SHOULD be closed and any results obtained considered invalid.
  
To implement this, we have a schedule with a given number of slots.
+
Each session description record represents one OWAMP-Test session.
Each slot has a type and a parameter.  Two types are supported:
 
exponentially distributed pseudo-random quantity (denoted by a code
 
of 0) and a fixed quantity (denoted by a code of 1).  The parameter
 
is expressed as a timestamp and specifies a time interval.  For a
 
type 0 slot (exponentially distributed pseudo-random quantity), this
 
interval is the mean value (or 1/lambda if the distribution density
 
function is expressed as lambda*exp(-lambda*x) for positive values of
 
x).  For a type 1 (fixed quantity) slot, the parameter is the delay
 
itself.  The sender starts with the beginning of the schedule and
 
executes the instructions in the slots: for a slot of type 0, wait an
 
exponentially distributed time with a mean of the specified parameter
 
and then send a test packet (and proceed to the next slot); for a
 
slot of type 1, wait the specified time and send a test packet (and
 
proceed to the next slot).  The schedule is circular: when there are
 
no more slots, the sender returns to the first slot.
 
  
The sender and the receiver need to be able to reproducibly execute
+
SID is the session identifier (SID) used to indicate which send
the entire schedule (so, if a packet is lost, the receiver can still
+
session is being described.
attach a send timestamp to it). Slots of type 1 are trivial to
 
  
 +
Next Seqno indicates the next sequence number that would have been
 +
sent from this send session.  For completed sessions, this will equal
 +
NumPackets from the Request-Session.
  
 +
Number of Skip Ranges indicates the number of holes that actually
 +
occurred in the sending process.  This is a range of packets that
 +
were never actually sent by the sending process.  For example, if a
 +
send session is started too late for the first 10 packets to be sent
 +
and this is the only hole in the schedule, then "Number of Skip
 +
Ranges" would be 1.  The single Skip Range description will have
 +
First Seqno Skipped equal to 0 and Last Seqno Skipped equal to 9.
 +
This is described further in the "Sender Behavior" section.
  
 +
If the OWAMP-Control connection breaks when the Stop-Sessions command
 +
is sent, the receiver MAY not completely invalidate the session
 +
results.  It MUST discard all record of packets that follow (in other
 +
words, that have greater sequence number than) the last packet that
 +
was actually received before any lost packet records.  This will help
 +
differentiate between packet losses that occurred in the network and
 +
packets the sending process may have never sent.
  
 +
If a receiver of an OWAMP-Test session learns, through an OWAMP-
 +
Control Stop-Sessions message, that the OWAMP-Test sender's last
 +
sequence number is lower than any sequence number actually received,
 +
the results of the complete OWAMP-Test session MUST be invalidated.
  
reproducibly execute.  To reproducibly execute slots of type 0, we
+
A receiver of an OWAMP-Test session, upon receipt of an OWAMP-Control
need to be able to generate pseudo-random exponentially distributed
+
Stop-Sessions command, MUST discard any packet records -- including
quantities in a reproducible mannerThe way this is accomplished is
+
lost packet records -- with a (computed) send time that falls between
discussed later in Section 5, "Computing Exponentially Distributed
+
the current time minus Timeout and the current timeThis ensures
Pseudo-Random Numbers".
+
statistical consistency for the measurement of loss and duplicates in
 +
the event that the Timeout is greater than the time it takes for the
 +
Stop-Sessions command to take place.
  
Using this mechanism, one can easily specify common testing
+
To effect complete sessions, each side of the control connection
scenarios.  The following are some examples:
+
SHOULD wait until all sessions are complete before sending the Stop-
 +
Sessions message.  The completed time of each session is determined
 +
as Timeout after the scheduled time for the last sequence number.
 +
Endpoints MAY add a small increment to the computed completed time
 +
for send endpoints to ensure that the Stop-Sessions message reaches
 +
the receiver endpoint after Timeout.
  
+  Poisson stream: a single slot of type 0.
+
To effect a premature stop of sessions, the party that initiates this
 +
command MUST stop its OWAMP-Test send streams to send the Session
 +
Packets Sent values before sending this command.  That party SHOULD
 +
wait until receiving the response Stop-Sessions message before
 +
stopping the receiver streams so that it can use the values from the
 +
received Stop-Sessions message to validate the data.
  
+  Periodic stream: a single slot of type 1.
+
=== Fetch-Session ===
  
+  Poisson stream of back-to-back packet pairs: two slots, type 0
+
The format of this client command is as follows:
  with a non-zero parameter and type 1 with a zero parameter.
 
  
Further, a completely arbitrary schedule can be specified (albeit
+
   0                  1                  2                  3
inefficiently) by making the number of test packets equal to the
+
   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
number of schedule slots.  In this case, the complete schedule is
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
transmitted in advance of an OWAMP-Test session.
+
  |      4        |                                              |
 
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                              |
=== Starting Test Sessions ===
+
  |                        MBZ (7 octets)                        |
 
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Having requested one or more test sessions and received affirmative
+
  |                        Begin Seq                            |
Accept-Session responses, an OWAMP client MAY start the execution of
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
the requested test sessions by sending a Start-Sessions message to
+
  |                          End Seq                              |
the server.
 
 
 
The format of this message is as follows:
 
 
 
   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
 
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     2        |                                              |
+
   |                                                               |
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                              |
+
   |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
   |                        MBZ (15 octets)                        |
 
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
Line 946: Line 1,014:
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
The server MUST respond with an Start-Ack message (which SHOULD be
+
Begin Seq is the sequence number of the first requested packet.  End
sent as quickly as possible)Start-Ack messages have the following
+
Seq is the sequence number of the last requested packetIf Begin
format:
+
Seq is all zeros and End Seq is all ones, complete session is said to
 
+
be requested.
 
 
  
 +
If a complete session is requested and the session is still in
 +
progress or has terminated in any way other than normally, the
 +
request to fetch session results MUST be denied.  If an incomplete
 +
session is requested, all packets received so far that fall into the
 +
requested range SHOULD be returned.  Note that, since no commands can
 +
be issued between Start-Sessions and Stop-Sessions, incomplete
 +
requests can only happen on a different OWAMP-Control connection
 +
(from the same or different host as Control-Client).
  
 +
The server MUST respond with a Fetch-Ack message.  The format of this
 +
server response is as follows:
  
 
   0                  1                  2                  3
 
   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
 
   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
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Accept    |                                               |
+
   |    Accept    | Finished      |          MBZ (2 octets)      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                               |
+
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       MBZ (15 octets)                        |
+
   |                           Next Seqno                          |
   |                                                               |
+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
+
   |                   Number of Skip Ranges                      |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
   |                       Number of Records                      |
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   |                                                              |
 
   |                                                              |
Line 969: Line 1,048:
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
If Accept is non-zero, the Start-Sessions request was rejected; zero
+
Again, non-zero in the Accept field means a rejection of command.
means that the command was accepted.  The full list of available
+
The server MUST specify zero for all remaining fields if Accept is
Accept values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept
+
non-zero.  The client MUST ignore all remaining fields (except for
Field".  The server MAY, and the client SHOULD, close the connection
+
the HMAC) if Accept is non-zero.  The full list of available Accept
in the case of a rejection.
+
values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept Field".
  
The server SHOULD start all OWAMP-Test streams immediately after it
+
Finished is non-zero if the OWAMP-Test session has terminated.
sends the response or immediately after their specified start times,
 
whichever is later.  If the client represents a Sender, the client
 
SHOULD start its OWAMP-Test streams immediately after it sees the
 
Start-Ack response from the Server (if the Start-Sessions command was
 
accepted) or immediately after their specified start times, whichever
 
is later.  See more on OWAMP-Test sender behavior in a separate
 
section below.
 
  
=== Stop-Sessions ===
+
Next Seqno indicates the next sequence number that would have been
 +
sent from this send session.  For completed sessions, this will equal
 +
NumPackets from the Request-Session.  This information is only
 +
available if the session has terminated.  If Finished is zero, then
 +
Next Seqno MUST be set to zero by the server.
  
The Stop-Sessions message may be issued by either the Control-Client
+
Number of Skip Ranges indicates the number of holes that actually
or the ServerThe format of this command is as follows:
+
occurred in the sending processThis information is only available
 +
if the session has terminated.  If Finished is zero, then Skip Ranges
 +
MUST be set to zero by the server.
  
  0                  1                  2                  3
+
Number of Records is the number of packet records that fall within
  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
+
the requested range.  This number might be less than the Number of
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
Packets in the reproduction of the Request-Session command because of
  |      3        |    Accept     |              MBZ              |
+
a session that ended prematurely, or it might be greater because of
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
duplicates.
  |                      Number of Sessions                      |
+
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
If Accept was non-zero, this concludes the response to the Fetch-
  |                        MBZ (8 octets)                         |
+
Session message.  If Accept was 0, the server then MUST immediately
  |                                                              |
+
send the OWAMP-Test session data in question.
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
 
 +
The OWAMP-Test session data consists of the following (concatenated):
  
This is immediately followed by zero or more session description
+
+  A reproduction of the Request-Session command that was used to
records (the number of session description records is specified in
+
  start the session; it is modified so that actual sender and
 +
  receiver port numbers that were used by the OWAMP-Test session
 +
  always appear in the reproduction.
  
 +
+  Zero or more (as specified) Skip Range descriptions.  The last
 +
  (possibly full, possibly incomplete) block (16 octets) of Skip
 +
  Range descriptions is padded with zeros, if necessary.
  
 +
+  16 octets of HMAC.
  
 +
+  Zero or more (as specified) packet records.  The last (possibly
 +
  full, possibly incomplete) block (16 octets) of data is padded
 +
  with zeros, if necessary.
  
 +
+  16 octets of HMAC.
  
the "Number of Sessions" field above).  The session description
+
Skip Range descriptions are simply two sequence numbers that,
record is used to indicate which packets were actually sent by the
+
together, indicate a range of packets that were not sent:
sender process (rather than skipped).  The header of the session
 
description record is as follows:
 
  
 
   0                  1                  2                  3
 
   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
 
   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
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
  |                                                              |
+
   |                      First Seqno Skipped                      |
  |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                          Next Seqno                          |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                    Number of Skip Ranges                    |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
 
 
This is immediately followed by zero or more Skip Range descriptions
 
as specified by the "Number of Skip Ranges" field above.  Skip Ranges
 
are simply two sequence numbers that, together, indicate a range of
 
packets that were not sent:
 
 
 
  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
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
 
   |                      First Seqno Skipped                      |
 
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   |                      Last Seqno Skipped                      |
 
   |                      Last Seqno Skipped                      |
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
Skip Ranges MUST be in order.  The last (possibly full, possibly
+
Skip Range descriptions should be sent out in order, as sorted by
incomplete) block (16 octets) of data MUST be padded with zeros, if
+
First SeqnoIf any Skip Ranges overlap or are out of order, the
necessary.  This ensures that the next session description record
+
session data is to be considered invalid and the connection SHOULD be
starts on a block boundary.
+
closed and any results obtained considered invalid.
  
Finally, a single block (16 octets) of HMAC is concatenated on the
+
Each packet record is 25 octets and includes 4 octets of sequence
end to complete the Stop-Sessions message.
+
number, 8 octets of send timestamp, 2 octets of send timestamp error
 +
estimate, 8 octets of receive timestamp, 2 octets of receive
 +
timestamp error estimate, and 1 octet of Time To Live (TTL), or Hop
 +
Limit in IPv6:
  
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
    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
   |                       HMAC (16 octets)                       |
+
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                              |
+
   00|                          Seq Number                          |
   |                                                              |
+
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
   04|     Send Error Estimate      |    Receive Error Estimate    |
 +
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
   08|                         Send Timestamp                       |
 +
   12|                                                              |
 +
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  16|                      Receive Timestamp                      |
 +
   20|                                                              |
 +
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  24|    TTL        |
 +
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
All these records comprise one logical message: the Stop-Sessions
+
Packet records are sent out in the same order the actual packets were
command.
+
received.  Therefore, the data is in arrival order.
  
 +
Note that lost packets (if any losses were detected during the
 +
OWAMP-Test session) MUST appear in the sequence of packets.  They can
 +
appear either at the point when the loss was detected or at any later
 +
point.  Lost packet records are distinguished as follows:
  
 +
+  A send timestamp filled with the presumed send time (as computed
 +
  by the send schedule).
  
 +
+  A send error estimate filled with Multiplier=1, Scale=64, and S=0
 +
  (see the OWAMP-Test description for definition of these quantities
 +
  and explanation of timestamp format and error estimate format).
  
 +
+  A normal receive error estimate as determined by the error of the
 +
  clock being used to declare the packet lost.  (It is declared lost
 +
  if it is not received by the Timeout after the presumed send time,
 +
  as determined by the receiver's clock.)
  
Above, the first octet (3) indicates that this is the Stop-Sessions
+
+  A receive timestamp consisting of all zero bits.
command.
 
  
Non-zero Accept values indicate a failure of some sort. Zero values
+
+ A TTL value of 255.
indicate normal (but possibly premature) completion.  The full list
 
of available Accept values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of
 
the Accept Field".
 
  
If Accept had a non-zero value (from either party), results of all
+
== OWAMP-Test ==
OWAMP-Test sessions spawned by this OWAMP-Control session SHOULD be
 
considered invalid, even if a Fetch-Session with SID from this
 
session works for a different OWAMP-Control session.  If Accept was
 
not transmitted at all (for whatever reason, including the TCP
 
connection used for OWAMP-Control breaking), the results of all
 
OWAMP-Test sessions spawned by this OWAMP-control session MAY be
 
considered invalid.
 
  
Number of Sessions indicates the number of session description
+
This section describes OWAMP-Test protocol.  It runs over UDP, using
records that immediately follow the Stop-Sessions header.
+
sender and receiver IP and port numbers negotiated during the
 +
Request-Session exchange.
  
Number of Sessions MUST contain the number of send sessions started
+
As with OWAMP-Control, OWAMP-Test has three modes: unauthenticated,
by the local side of the control connection that have not been
+
authenticated, and encryptedAll OWAMP-Test sessions that are
previously terminated by a Stop-Sessions command (i.e., the Control-
+
spawned by an OWAMP-Control session inherit its mode.
Client MUST account for each accepted Request-Session where Conf-
 
Receiver was set; the Control-Server MUST account for each accepted
 
Request-Session where Conf-Sender was set)If the Stop-Sessions
 
message does not account for exactly the send sessions controlled by
 
that side, then it is to be considered invalid and the connection
 
SHOULD be closed and any results obtained considered invalid.
 
  
Each session description record represents one OWAMP-Test session.
+
OWAMP-Control client, OWAMP-Control server, OWAMP-Test sender, and
 +
OWAMP-Test receiver can potentially all be different machines.  (In a
 +
typical case, we expect that there will be only two machines.)
  
SID is the session identifier (SID) used to indicate which send
+
=== Sender Behavior ===
session is being described.
 
  
Next Seqno indicates the next sequence number that would have been
+
==== Packet Timings ====
sent from this send session.  For completed sessions, this will equal
 
NumPackets from the Request-Session.
 
 
 
Number of Skip Ranges indicates the number of holes that actually
 
occurred in the sending process.  This is a range of packets that
 
were never actually sent by the sending process.  For example, if a
 
send session is started too late for the first 10 packets to be sent
 
and this is the only hole in the schedule, then "Number of Skip
 
Ranges" would be 1.  The single Skip Range description will have
 
First Seqno Skipped equal to 0 and Last Seqno Skipped equal to 9.
 
This is described further in the "Sender Behavior" section.
 
  
 +
Send schedules based on slots, described previously, in conjunction
 +
with scheduled session start time, enable the sender and the receiver
 +
to compute the same exact packet sending schedule independently of
 +
each other.  These sending schedules are independent for different
 +
OWAMP-Test sessions, even if they are governed by the same OWAMP-
 +
Control session.
  
 +
Consider any OWAMP-Test session.  Once Start-Sessions exchange is
 +
complete, the sender is ready to start sending packets.  Under normal
 +
OWAMP use circumstances, the time to send the first packet is in the
 +
near future (perhaps a fraction of a second away).  The sender SHOULD
 +
send packets as close as possible to their scheduled time, with the
 +
following exception: if the scheduled time to send is in the past,
 +
and is separated from the present by more than Timeout time, the
 +
sender MUST NOT send the packet.  (Indeed, such a packet would be
 +
considered lost by the receiver anyway.)  The sender MUST keep track
 +
of which packets it does not send.  It will use this to tell the
 +
receiver what packets were not sent by setting Skip Ranges in the
 +
Stop-Sessions message from the sender to the receiver upon completion
 +
of the test.  The Skip Ranges are also sent to a Fetch-Client as part
 +
of the session data results.  These holes in the sending schedule can
 +
happen if a time in the past was specified in the Request-Session
 +
command, or if the Start-Sessions exchange took unexpectedly long, or
 +
if the sender could not start serving the OWAMP-Test session on time
 +
due to internal scheduling problems of the OS.  Packets that are in
 +
the past but are separated from the present by less than Timeout
 +
value SHOULD be sent as quickly as possible.  With normal test rates
 +
and timeout values, the number of packets in such a burst is limited.
 +
Nevertheless, hosts SHOULD NOT intentionally schedule sessions so
 +
that such bursts of packets occur.
  
 +
Regardless of any scheduling delays, each packet that is actually
 +
sent MUST have the best possible approximation of its real time of
 +
departure as its timestamp (in the packet).
  
 +
==== OWAMP-Test Packet Format and Content ====
  
 +
The sender sends the receiver a stream of packets with the schedule
 +
specified in the Request-Session command.  The sender SHOULD set the
 +
TTL in IPv4 (or Hop Limit in IPv6) in the UDP packet to 255.  The
 +
format of the body of a UDP packet in the stream depends on the mode
 +
being used.
  
If the OWAMP-Control connection breaks when the Stop-Sessions command
+
For unauthenticated mode:
is sent, the receiver MAY not completely invalidate the session
 
results.  It MUST discard all record of packets that follow (in other
 
words, that have greater sequence number than) the last packet that
 
was actually received before any lost packet records.  This will help
 
differentiate between packet losses that occurred in the network and
 
packets the sending process may have never sent.
 
 
 
If a receiver of an OWAMP-Test session learns, through an OWAMP-
 
Control Stop-Sessions message, that the OWAMP-Test sender's last
 
sequence number is lower than any sequence number actually received,
 
the results of the complete OWAMP-Test session MUST be invalidated.
 
 
 
A receiver of an OWAMP-Test session, upon receipt of an OWAMP-Control
 
Stop-Sessions command, MUST discard any packet records -- including
 
lost packet records -- with a (computed) send time that falls between
 
the current time minus Timeout and the current time.  This ensures
 
statistical consistency for the measurement of loss and duplicates in
 
the event that the Timeout is greater than the time it takes for the
 
Stop-Sessions command to take place.
 
 
 
To effect complete sessions, each side of the control connection
 
SHOULD wait until all sessions are complete before sending the Stop-
 
Sessions message.  The completed time of each session is determined
 
as Timeout after the scheduled time for the last sequence number.
 
Endpoints MAY add a small increment to the computed completed time
 
for send endpoints to ensure that the Stop-Sessions message reaches
 
the receiver endpoint after Timeout.
 
 
 
To effect a premature stop of sessions, the party that initiates this
 
command MUST stop its OWAMP-Test send streams to send the Session
 
Packets Sent values before sending this command.  That party SHOULD
 
wait until receiving the response Stop-Sessions message before
 
stopping the receiver streams so that it can use the values from the
 
received Stop-Sessions message to validate the data.
 
 
 
  
 +
  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
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                        Sequence Number                        |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                          Timestamp                            |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |        Error Estimate        |                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                              |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  .                                                              .
 +
  .                        Packet Padding                        .
 +
  .                                                              .
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
 +
For authenticated and encrypted modes:
  
 +
  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
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                        Sequence Number                        |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                        MBZ (12 octets)                        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                          Timestamp                            |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |        Error Estimate        |                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                              |
 +
  |                        MBZ (6 octets)                        |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  .                                                              .
 +
  .                        Packet Padding                        .
 +
  .                                                              .
 +
  |                                                              |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
 +
The format of the timestamp is the same as in [[RFC1305]] and is as
 +
follows: the first 32 bits represent the unsigned integer number of
 +
seconds elapsed since 0h on 1 January 1900; the next 32 bits
 +
represent the fractional part of a second that has elapsed since
 +
then.
  
 +
So, Timestamp is represented as follows:
  
 +
  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
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                  Integer part of seconds                    |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
  |                Fractional part of seconds                    |
 +
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
 +
The Error Estimate specifies the estimate of the error and
 +
synchronization.  It has the following format:
  
 +
      0                  1
 +
      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
 +
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 +
    |S|Z|  Scale  |  Multiplier  |
 +
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  
 +
The first bit, S, SHOULD be set if the party generating the timestamp
 +
has a clock that is synchronized to UTC using an external source
 +
(e.g., the bit should be set if GPS hardware is used and it indicates
 +
that it has acquired current position and time or if NTP is used and
 +
it indicates that it has synchronized to an external source, which
 +
includes stratum 0 source, etc.).  If there is no notion of external
 +
synchronization for the time source, the bit SHOULD NOT be set.  The
 +
next bit has the same semantics as MBZ fields elsewhere: it MUST be
 +
set to zero by the sender and ignored by everyone else.  The next six
 +
bits, Scale, form an unsigned integer; Multiplier is an unsigned
 +
integer as well.  They are interpreted as follows: the error estimate
 +
is equal to Multiplier*2^(-32)*2^Scale (in seconds).  (Notation
 +
clarification: 2^Scale is two to the power of Scale.)  Multiplier
 +
MUST NOT be set to zero.  If Multiplier is zero, the packet SHOULD be
 +
considered corrupt and discarded.
  
 +
Sequence numbers start with zero and are incremented by one for each
 +
subsequent packet.
  
 +
The minimum data segment length is, therefore, 14 octets in
 +
unauthenticated mode, and 48 octets in both authenticated mode and
 +
encrypted modes.
  
 +
The OWAMP-Test packet layout is the same in authenticated and
 +
encrypted modes.  The encryption and authentication operations are,
 +
however, different.  The difference is that in encrypted mode both
 +
the sequence number and the timestamp are protected to provide
 +
maximum data confidentiality and integrity protection, whereas in
 +
authenticated mode the sequence number is protected while the
 +
timestamp is sent in clear text.  Sending the timestamp in clear text
 +
in authenticated mode allows one to reduce the time between when a
 +
timestamp is obtained by a sender and when the packet is shipped out.
 +
In encrypted mode, the sender has to fetch the timestamp, encrypt it,
 +
and send it; in authenticated mode, the middle step is removed,
 +
potentially improving accuracy (the sequence number can be encrypted
 +
and authenticated before the timestamp is fetched).
  
 +
In authenticated mode, the first block (16 octets) of each packet is
 +
encrypted using AES Electronic Cookbook (ECB) mode.
  
 +
Similarly to each OWAMP-Control session, each OWAMP-Test session has
 +
two keys: an AES Session-key and an HMAC Session-key.  However, there
 +
is a difference in how the keys are obtained: in the case of OWAMP-
 +
Control, the keys are generated by the client and communicated (as
 +
part of the Token) during connection setup as part of Set-Up-Response
 +
message; in the case of OWAMP-Test, described here, the keys are
 +
derived from the OWAMP-Control keys and the SID.
  
 +
The OWAMP-Test AES Session-key is obtained as follows: the OWAMP-
 +
Control AES Session-key (the same AES Session-key as is used for the
 +
corresponding OWAMP-Control session, where it is used in a different
 +
chaining mode) is encrypted, using AES, with the 16-octet session
 +
identifier (SID) as the key; this is a single-block ECB encryption;
 +
its result is the OWAMP-Test AES Session-key to use in encrypting
 +
(and decrypting) the packets of the particular OWAMP-Test session.
 +
Note that all of OWAMP-Test AES Session-key, OWAMP-Control AES
 +
Session-key, and the SID are comprised of 16 octets.
  
 +
The OWAMP-Test HMAC Session-key is obtained as follows: the OWAMP-
 +
Control HMAC Session-key (the same HMAC Session-key as is used for
 +
the corresponding OWAMP-Control session) is encrypted, using AES,
 +
with the 16-octet session identifier (SID) as the key; this is a
 +
two-block CBC encryption, always performed with IV=0; its result is
 +
the OWAMP-Test HMAC Session-key to use in authenticating the packets
 +
of the particular OWAMP-Test session.  Note that all of OWAMP-Test
 +
HMAC Session-key and OWAMP-Control HMAC Session-key are comprised of
 +
32 octets, while the SID is 16 octets.
 +
 +
ECB mode used for encrypting the first block of OWAMP-Test packets in
 +
authenticated mode does not involve any actual chaining; this way,
 +
lost, duplicated, or reordered packets do not cause problems with
 +
deciphering any packet in an OWAMP-Test session.
 +
 +
In encrypted mode, the first two blocks (32 octets) are encrypted
 +
using AES CBC mode.  The AES Session-key to use is obtained in the
 +
same way as the key for authenticated mode.  Each OWAMP-Test packet
 +
is encrypted as a separate stream, with just one chaining operation;
 +
chaining does not span multiple packets so that lost, duplicated, or
 +
reordered packets do not cause problems.  The initialization vector
 +
for the CBC encryption is a value with all bits equal to zero.
  
=== Fetch-Session ===
+
Implementation note: Naturally, the key schedule for each OWAMP-Test
 
+
session MAY be set up only once per session, not once per packet.
The format of this client command is as follows:
 
  
  0                  1                  2                  3
+
HMAC in OWAMP-Test only covers the part of the packet that is also
  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
+
encrypted.  So, in authenticated mode, HMAC covers the first block
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
(16 octets); in encrypted mode, HMAC covers two first blocks (32
  |      4        |                                              |
+
octets).  In OWAMP-Test HMAC is not encrypted (note that this is
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                              |
+
different from OWAMP-Control, where encryption in stream mode is
  |                        MBZ (7 octets)                         |
+
used, so everything including the HMAC blocks ends up being
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
encrypted).
  |                        Begin Seq                            |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                          End Seq                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |                        SID (16 octets)                       |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  
Begin Seq is the sequence number of the first requested packet.  End
+
In unauthenticated mode, no encryption or authentication is applied.
Seq is the sequence number of the last requested packet.  If Begin
 
Seq is all zeros and End Seq is all ones, complete session is said to
 
be requested.
 
  
If a complete session is requested and the session is still in
+
Packet Padding in OWAMP-Test SHOULD be pseudo-random (it MUST be
progress or has terminated in any way other than normally, the
+
generated independently of any other pseudo-random numbers mentioned
request to fetch session results MUST be deniedIf an incomplete
+
in this document)However, implementations MUST provide a
session is requested, all packets received so far that fall into the
+
configuration parameter, an option, or a different means of making
requested range SHOULD be returned.  Note that, since no commands can
+
Packet Padding consist of all zeros.
be issued between Start-Sessions and Stop-Sessions, incomplete
 
requests can only happen on a different OWAMP-Control connection
 
(from the same or different host as Control-Client).
 
  
 +
The time elapsed between packets is computed according to the slot
 +
schedule as mentioned in Request-Session command description.  At
 +
that point, we skipped over the issue of computing exponentially
 +
distributed pseudo-random numbers in a reproducible fashion.  It is
 +
discussed later in a separate section.
  
 +
=== Receiver Behavior ===
  
 +
The receiver knows when the sender will send packets.  The following
 +
parameter is defined: Timeout (from Request-Session).  Packets that
 +
are delayed by more than Timeout are considered lost (or "as good as
 +
lost").  Note that there is never an actual assurance of loss by the
 +
network: a "lost" packet might still be delivered at any time.  The
 +
original specification for IPv4 required that packets be delivered
 +
within TTL seconds or never (with TTL having a maximum value of 255).
 +
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this requirement was never
 +
actually implemented (and, of course, only a complete and universal
 +
implementation would ensure that packets do not travel for longer
 +
than TTL seconds).  In fact, in IPv6, the name of this field has
 +
actually been changed to Hop Limit.  Further, IPv4 specification
 +
makes no claims about the time it takes the packet to traverse the
 +
last link of the path.
  
 +
The choice of a reasonable value of Timeout is a problem faced by a
 +
user of OWAMP protocol, not by an implementor.  A value such as two
 +
minutes is very safe.  Note that certain applications (such as
 +
interactive "one-way ping" might wish to obtain the data faster than
 +
that.
  
 +
As packets are received,
  
 +
+  timestamp the received packet;
  
 +
+  in authenticated or encrypted mode, decrypt and authenticate as
 +
  necessary (packets for which authentication fails MUST be
 +
  discarded); and
  
 +
+  store the packet sequence number, send time, receive time, and the
 +
  TTL for IPv4 (or Hop Limit for IPv6) from the packet IP header for
 +
  the results to be transferred.
  
 +
Packets not received within the Timeout are considered lost.  They
 +
are recorded with their true sequence number, presumed send time,
 +
receive time value with all bits being zero, and a TTL (or Hop Limit)
 +
of 255.
  
 +
Implementations SHOULD fetch the TTL/Hop Limit value from the IP
 +
header of the packet.  If an implementation does not fetch the actual
 +
TTL value (the only good reason not to do so is an inability to
 +
access the TTL field of arriving packets), it MUST record the TTL
 +
value as 255.
  
 +
Packets that are actually received are recorded in the order of
 +
arrival.  Lost packet records serve as indications of the send times
 +
of lost packets.  They SHOULD be placed either at the point where the
 +
receiver learns about the loss or at any later point; in particular,
 +
one MAY place all the records that correspond to lost packets at the
 +
very end.
  
 +
Packets that have send time in the future MUST be recorded normally,
 +
without changing their send timestamp, unless they have to be
 +
discarded.  (Send timestamps in the future would normally indicate
 +
clocks that differ by more than the delay.  Some data -- such as
 +
jitter -- can be extracted even without knowledge of time difference.
 +
For other kinds of data, the adjustment is best handled by the data
 +
consumer on the basis of the complete information in a measurement
 +
session, as well as, possibly, external data.)
  
 +
Packets with a sequence number that was already observed (duplicate
 +
packets) MUST be recorded normally.  (Duplicate packets are sometimes
 +
introduced by IP networks.  The protocol has to be able to measure
 +
duplication.)
  
The server MUST respond with a Fetch-Ack message. The format of this
+
If any of the following is true, the packet MUST be discarded:
server response is as follows:
+
 
 +
+ Send timestamp is more than Timeout in the past or in the future.
  
  0                  1                  2                  3
+
+ Send timestamp differs by more than Timeout from the time when the
  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
+
   packet should have been sent according to its sequence number.
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |    Accept   | Finished      |          MBZ (2 octets)      |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                          Next Seqno                          |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                    Number of Skip Ranges                      |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                      Number of Records                      |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  
Again, non-zero in the Accept field means a rejection of command.
+
+  In authenticated or encrypted mode, HMAC verification fails.
The server MUST specify zero for all remaining fields if Accept is
 
non-zero.  The client MUST ignore all remaining fields (except for
 
the HMAC) if Accept is non-zero.  The full list of available Accept
 
values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept Field".
 
  
Finished is non-zero if the OWAMP-Test session has terminated.
+
== Computing Exponentially Distributed Pseudo-Random Numbers ==
  
Next Seqno indicates the next sequence number that would have been
+
Here we describe the way exponential random quantities used in the
sent from this send sessionFor completed sessions, this will equal
+
protocol are generated.  While there is a fair number of algorithms
NumPackets from the Request-SessionThis information is only
+
for generating exponential random variables, most of them rely on
available if the session has terminated. If Finished is zero, then
+
having logarithmic function as a primitive, resulting in potentially
Next Seqno MUST be set to zero by the server.
+
different values, depending on the particular implementation of the
 +
math libraryWe use algorithm 3.4.1.S from [KNUTH], which is free
 +
of the above-mentioned problem, and which guarantees the same output
 +
on any implementationThe algorithm belongs to the ziggurat family
 +
developed in the 1970s by G. Marsaglia, M. Sibuya, and J. H. Ahrens
 +
[ZIGG].  It replaces the use of logarithmic function by clever bit
 +
manipulation, still producing the exponential variates on output.
  
Number of Skip Ranges indicates the number of holes that actually
+
=== High-Level Description of the Algorithm ===
occurred in the sending process.  This information is only available
 
if the session has terminated.  If Finished is zero, then Skip Ranges
 
MUST be set to zero by the server.
 
  
Number of Records is the number of packet records that fall within
+
For ease of exposition, the algorithm is first described with all
the requested rangeThis number might be less than the Number of
+
arithmetic operations being interpreted in their natural sense.
Packets in the reproduction of the Request-Session command because of
+
Later, exact details on data types, arithmetic, and generation of the
a session that ended prematurely, or it might be greater because of
+
uniform random variates used by the algorithm are givenIt is an
duplicates.
+
almost verbatim quotation from [KNUTH], p.133.
  
If Accept was non-zero, this concludes the response to the Fetch-
+
Algorithm S: Given a real positive number "mu", produce an
Session message.  If Accept was 0, the server then MUST immediately
+
exponential random variate with mean "mu".
send the OWAMP-Test session data in question.
 
  
 +
First, the constants
  
 +
Q[k] = (ln2)/(1!) + (ln2)^2/(2!) + ... + (ln2)^k/(k!),  1 <= k <= 11
  
 +
are computed in advance.  The exact values which MUST be used by all
 +
implementations are given in the next section.  This is necessary to
 +
ensure that exactly the same pseudo-random sequences are produced by
 +
all implementations.
  
 +
S1. [Get U and shift.] Generate a 32-bit uniform random binary
 +
fraction
  
The OWAMP-Test session data consists of the following (concatenated):
+
          U = (.b0 b1 b2 ... b31)   [note the binary point]
  
+  A reproduction of the Request-Session command that was used to
+
Locate the first zero bit b_j and shift off the leading (j+1) bits,
  start the session; it is modified so that actual sender and
+
setting U <- (.b_{j+1} ... b31)
  receiver port numbers that were used by the OWAMP-Test session
 
  always appear in the reproduction.
 
  
+  Zero or more (as specified) Skip Range descriptions.  The last
+
Note: In the rare case that the zero has not been found, it is
  (possibly full, possibly incomplete) block (16 octets) of Skip
+
prescribed that the algorithm return (mu*32*ln2).
  Range descriptions is padded with zeros, if necessary.
 
  
+ 16 octets of HMAC.
+
S2. [Immediate acceptance?] If U < ln2, set X <- mu*(j*ln2 + U) and
 +
terminate the algorithm. (Note that Q[1] = ln2.)
  
+  Zero or more (as specified) packet records. The last (possibly
+
S3. [Minimize.] Find the least k >= 2 such that U < Q[k]. Generate k
  full, possibly incomplete) block (16 octets) of data is padded
+
new uniform random binary fractions U1,...,Uk and set V <-
  with zeros, if necessary.
+
min(U1,...,Uk).
  
+ 16 octets of HMAC.
+
S4. [Deliver the answer.] Set X <- mu*(j + V)*ln2.
  
Skip Range descriptions are simply two sequence numbers that,
+
=== Data Types, Representation, and Arithmetic ===
together, indicate a range of packets that were not sent:
 
  
  0                  1                  2                  3
+
The high-level algorithm operates on real numbers, typically
  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
+
represented as floating point numbers.  This specification prescribes
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
+
that unsigned 64-bit integers be used instead.
  |                      First Seqno Skipped                      |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                      Last Seqno Skipped                      |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  
Skip Range descriptions should be sent out in order, as sorted by
+
u_int64_t integers are interpreted as real numbers by placing the
First SeqnoIf any Skip Ranges overlap or are out of order, the
+
decimal point after the first 32 bitsIn other words, conceptually,
session data is to be considered invalid and the connection SHOULD be
+
the interpretation is given by the following map:
closed and any results obtained considered invalid.
 
  
Each packet record is 25 octets and includes 4 octets of sequence
+
      u_int64_t u;
number, 8 octets of send timestamp, 2 octets of send timestamp error
 
estimate, 8 octets of receive timestamp, 2 octets of receive
 
timestamp error estimate, and 1 octet of Time To Live (TTL), or Hop
 
Limit in IPv6:
 
  
 +
      u  |--> (double)u / (2**32)
  
 +
The algorithm produces a sequence of such u_int64_t integers that,
 +
for any given value of SID, is guaranteed to be the same on any
 +
implementation.
  
 +
We specify that the u_int64_t representations of the first 11 values
 +
of the Q array in the high-level algorithm MUST be as follows:
  
 +
#1      0xB17217F8,
 +
#2      0xEEF193F7,
 +
#3      0xFD271862,
 +
#4      0xFF9D6DD0,
 +
#5      0xFFF4CFD0,
 +
#6      0xFFFEE819,
 +
#7      0xFFFFE7FF,
 +
#8      0xFFFFFE2B,
 +
#9      0xFFFFFFE0,
 +
#10    0xFFFFFFFE,
 +
#11    0xFFFFFFFF
  
 +
For example, Q[1] = ln2 is indeed approximated by 0xB17217F8/(2**32)
 +
= 0.693147180601954; for j > 11, Q[j] is 0xFFFFFFFF.
  
 +
Small integer j in the high-level algorithm is represented as
 +
u_int64_t value j * (2**32).
  
 +
Operation of addition is done as usual on u_int64_t numbers; however,
 +
the operation of multiplication in the high-level algorithm should be
 +
replaced by
  
 +
  (u, v) |---> (u * v) >> 32.
  
 +
Implementations MUST compute the product (u * v) exactly.  For
 +
example, a fragment of unsigned 128-bit arithmetic can be implemented
 +
for this purpose (see the sample implementation in Appendix A).
  
 +
=== Uniform Random Quantities ===
  
 +
The procedure for obtaining a sequence of 32-bit random numbers (such
 +
as U in algorithm S) relies on using AES encryption in counter mode.
 +
To describe the exact working of the algorithm, we introduce two
 +
primitives from Rijndael.  Their prototypes and specification are
 +
given below, and they are assumed to be provided by the supporting
 +
Rijndael implementation, such as [RIJN].
  
 +
+  A function that initializes a Rijndael key with bytes from seed
 +
  (the SID will be used as the seed):
  
    0                  1                  2                  3
+
   void KeyInit(unsigned char seed[16]);
    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
 
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  00|                          Seq Number                          |
 
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  04|      Send Error Estimate      |   Receive Error Estimate    |
 
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  08|                        Send Timestamp                        |
 
  12|                                                              |
 
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  16|                      Receive Timestamp                      |
 
  20|                                                              |
 
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  24|    TTL        |
 
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  
Packet records are sent out in the same order the actual packets were
+
+  A function that encrypts the 16-octet block inblock with the
receivedTherefore, the data is in arrival order.
+
  specified key, returning a 16-octet encrypted blockHere,
 +
  keyInstance is an opaque type used to represent Rijndael keys:
  
Note that lost packets (if any losses were detected during the
+
  void BlockEncrypt(keyInstance key, unsigned char inblock[16]);
OWAMP-Test session) MUST appear in the sequence of packets.  They can
 
appear either at the point when the loss was detected or at any later
 
point.  Lost packet records are distinguished as follows:
 
  
+ A send timestamp filled with the presumed send time (as computed
+
Algorithm Unif: given a 16-octet quantity seed, produce a sequence of
  by the send schedule).
+
unsigned 32-bit pseudo-random uniformly distributed integers. In
 +
OWAMP, the SID (session ID) from Control protocol plays the role of
 +
seed.
  
+  A send error estimate filled with Multiplier=1, Scale=64, and S=0
+
U1. [Initialize Rijndael key] key <- KeyInit(seed) [Initialize an
  (see the OWAMP-Test description for definition of these quantities
+
unsigned 16-octet (network byte order) counter] c <- 0
  and explanation of timestamp format and error estimate format).
 
  
+ A normal receive error estimate as determined by the error of the
+
U2. [Need more random bytes?] Set i <- c mod 4If (i == 0) set s
  clock being used to declare the packet lost.  (It is declared lost
+
<- BlockEncrypt(key, c)
  if it is not received by the Timeout after the presumed send time,
 
  as determined by the receiver's clock.)
 
  
+ A receive timestamp consisting of all zero bits.
+
U3. [Increment the counter as unsigned 16-octet quantity] c <- c + 1
  
+  A TTL value of 255.
+
U4. [Do output] Output the i_th quartet of octets from s starting
 +
from high-order octets, converted to native byte order and
 +
represented as OWPNum64 value (as in 3.b).
  
== OWAMP-Test ==
+
U5. [Loop] Go to step U2.
 
 
This section describes OWAMP-Test protocol. It runs over UDP, using
 
sender and receiver IP and port numbers negotiated during the
 
Request-Session exchange.
 
  
 +
== Security Considerations ==
  
 +
=== Introduction ===
  
 +
The goal of authenticated mode is to let one passphrase-protect the
 +
service provided by a particular OWAMP-Control server.  One can
 +
imagine a variety of circumstances where this could be useful.
 +
Authenticated mode is designed to prohibit theft of service.
  
 +
An additional design objective of the authenticated mode was to make
 +
it impossible for an attacker who cannot read traffic between OWAMP-
 +
Test sender and receiver to tamper with test results in a fashion
 +
that affects the measurements, but not other traffic.
  
 +
The goal of encrypted mode is quite different: to make it hard for a
 +
party in the middle of the network to make results look "better" than
 +
they should be.  This is especially true if one of client and server
 +
does not coincide with either sender or receiver.
  
 +
Encryption of OWAMP-Control using AES CBC mode with blocks of HMAC
 +
after each message aims to achieve two goals: (i) to provide secrecy
 +
of exchange, and (ii) to provide authentication of each message.
  
 +
=== Preventing Third-Party Denial of Service ===
  
As with OWAMP-Control, OWAMP-Test has three modes: unauthenticated,
+
OWAMP-Test sessions directed at an unsuspecting party could be used
authenticated, and encrypted.  All OWAMP-Test sessions that are
+
for denial of service (DoS) attacks.  In unauthenticated mode,
spawned by an OWAMP-Control session inherit its mode.
+
servers SHOULD limit receivers to hosts they control or to the OWAMP-
 +
Control client.
  
OWAMP-Control client, OWAMP-Control server, OWAMP-Test sender, and
+
Unless otherwise configured, the default behavior of servers MUST be
OWAMP-Test receiver can potentially all be different machines(In a
+
to decline requests where the Receiver Address field is not equal to
typical case, we expect that there will be only two machines.)
+
the address that the control connection was initiated from or an
 +
address of the server (or an address of a host it controls).  Given
 +
the TCP handshake procedure and sequence numbers in the control
 +
connection, this ensures that the hosts that make such requests are
 +
actually those hosts themselves, or at least on the path towards
 +
themIf either this test or the handshake procedure were omitted,
 +
it would become possible for attackers anywhere in the Internet to
 +
request that large amounts of test packets be directed against victim
 +
nodes somewhere else.
  
=== Sender Behavior ===
+
In any case, OWAMP-Test packets with a given source address MUST only
 +
be sent from the node that has been assigned that address (i.e.,
 +
address spoofing is not permitted).
 +
 
 +
=== Covert Information Channels ===
 +
 
 +
OWAMP-Test sessions could be used as covert channels of information.
 +
Environments that are worried about covert channels should take this
 +
into consideration.
 +
 
 +
=== Requirement to Include AES in Implementations ===
  
==== Packet Timings ====
+
Notice that AES, in counter mode, is used for pseudo-random number
 
+
generation, so implementation of AES MUST be included even in a
Send schedules based on slots, described previously, in conjunction
+
server that only supports unauthenticated mode.
with scheduled session start time, enable the sender and the receiver
 
to compute the same exact packet sending schedule independently of
 
each other.  These sending schedules are independent for different
 
OWAMP-Test sessions, even if they are governed by the same OWAMP-
 
Control session.
 
 
 
Consider any OWAMP-Test session.  Once Start-Sessions exchange is
 
complete, the sender is ready to start sending packets.  Under normal
 
OWAMP use circumstances, the time to send the first packet is in the
 
near future (perhaps a fraction of a second away).  The sender SHOULD
 
send packets as close as possible to their scheduled time, with the
 
following exception: if the scheduled time to send is in the past,
 
and is separated from the present by more than Timeout time, the
 
sender MUST NOT send the packet.  (Indeed, such a packet would be
 
considered lost by the receiver anyway.)  The sender MUST keep track
 
of which packets it does not send.  It will use this to tell the
 
receiver what packets were not sent by setting Skip Ranges in the
 
Stop-Sessions message from the sender to the receiver upon completion
 
of the test.  The Skip Ranges are also sent to a Fetch-Client as part
 
of the session data results.  These holes in the sending schedule can
 
happen if a time in the past was specified in the Request-Session
 
command, or if the Start-Sessions exchange took unexpectedly long, or
 
if the sender could not start serving the OWAMP-Test session on time
 
due to internal scheduling problems of the OS.  Packets that are in
 
the past but are separated from the present by less than Timeout
 
value SHOULD be sent as quickly as possible.  With normal test rates
 
and timeout values, the number of packets in such a burst is limited.
 
Nevertheless, hosts SHOULD NOT intentionally schedule sessions so
 
that such bursts of packets occur.
 
 
 
Regardless of any scheduling delays, each packet that is actually
 
sent MUST have the best possible approximation of its real time of
 
departure as its timestamp (in the packet).
 
  
 +
=== Resource Use Limitations ===
  
 +
An OWAMP server can consume resources of various kinds.  The two most
 +
important kinds of resources are network capacity and memory (primary
 +
or secondary) for storing test results.
  
 +
Any implementation of OWAMP server MUST include technical mechanisms
 +
to limit the use of network capacity and memory.  Mechanisms for
 +
managing the resources consumed by unauthenticated users and users
 +
authenticated with a KeyID and passphrase SHOULD be separate.  The
 +
default configuration of an implementation MUST enable these
 +
mechanisms and set the resource use limits to conservatively low
 +
values.
  
 +
One way to design the resource limitation mechanisms is as follows:
 +
assign each session to a user class.  User classes are partially
 +
ordered with "includes" relation, with one class ("all users") that
 +
is always present and that includes any other class.  The assignment
 +
of a session to a user class can be based on the presence of
 +
authentication of the session, the KeyID, IP address range, time of
 +
day, and, perhaps, other factors.  Each user class would have a limit
 +
for usage of network capacity (specified in units of bit/second) and
 +
memory for storing test results (specified in units of octets).
 +
Along with the limits for resource use, current use would be tracked
 +
by the server.  When a session is requested by a user in a specific
 +
user class, the resources needed for this session are computed: the
 +
average network capacity use (based on the sending schedule) and the
 +
maximum memory use (based on the number of packets and number of
 +
octets each packet would need to be stored internally -- note that
 +
outgoing sessions would not require any memory use).  These resource
 +
use numbers are added to the current resource use numbers for the
 +
given user class; if such addition would take the resource use
 +
outside of the limits for the given user class, the session is
 +
rejected.  When resources are reclaimed, corresponding measures are
 +
subtracted from the current use.  Network capacity is reclaimed as
 +
soon as the session ends.  Memory is reclaimed when the data is
  
 +
deleted.  For unauthenticated sessions, memory consumed by an OWAMP-
 +
Test session SHOULD be reclaimed after the OWAMP-Control connection
 +
that initiated the session is closed (gracefully or otherwise).  For
 +
authenticated sessions, the administrator who configures the service
 +
should be able to decide the exact policy, but useful policy
 +
mechanisms that MAY be implemented are the ability to automatically
 +
reclaim memory when the data is retrieved and the ability to reclaim
 +
memory after a certain configurable (based on user class) period of
 +
time passes after the OWAMP-Test session terminates.
  
 +
=== Use of Cryptographic Primitives in OWAMP ===
  
==== OWAMP-Test Packet Format and Content ====
+
At an early stage in designing the protocol, we considered using
 
+
Transport Layer Security (TLS) [RFC2246, RFC3546] and IPsec [[RFC2401]]
The sender sends the receiver a stream of packets with the schedule
+
as cryptographic security mechanisms for OWAMP; later, we also
specified in the Request-Session command.  The sender SHOULD set the
+
considered DTLS.  The disadvantages of those are as follows (not an
TTL in IPv4 (or Hop Limit in IPv6) in the UDP packet to 255.  The
+
exhaustive list):
format of the body of a UDP packet in the stream depends on the mode
 
being used.
 
 
 
For unauthenticated mode:
 
 
 
  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
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                        Sequence Number                        |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                          Timestamp                            |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |        Error Estimate        |                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                              |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  .                                                              .
 
  .                        Packet Padding                        .
 
  .                                                              .
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 +
Regarding TLS:
  
 +
+  TLS could be used to secure TCP-based OWAMP-Control, but it would
 +
  be difficult to use it to secure UDP-based OWAMP-Test: OWAMP-Test
 +
  packets, if lost, are not resent, so packets have to be
 +
  (optionally) encrypted and authenticated while retaining
 +
  individual usability.  Stream-based TLS cannot be easily used for
 +
  this.
  
 +
+  Dealing with streams, TLS does not authenticate individual
 +
  messages (even in OWAMP-Control).  The easiest way out would be to
 +
  add some known-format padding to each message and to verify that
 +
  the format of the padding is intact before using the message.  The
 +
  solution would thus lose some of its appeal ("just use TLS").  It
 +
  would also be much more difficult to evaluate the security of this
 +
  scheme with the various modes and options of TLS; it would almost
 +
  certainly not be secure with all.  The capacity of an attacker to
 +
  replace parts of messages (namely, the end) with random garbage
 +
  could have serious security implications and would need to be
 +
  analyzed carefully.  Suppose, for example, that a parameter that
 +
  is used in some form to control the rate were replaced by random
 +
  garbage; chances are that the result (an unsigned integer) would
 +
  be quite large.
  
 +
+  Dependent on the mode of use, one can end up with a requirement
 +
  for certificates for all users and a PKI.  Even if one is to
 +
  accept that PKI is desirable, there just isn't a usable one today.
  
 +
+  TLS requires a fairly large implementation.  OpenSSL, for example,
 +
  is larger than our implementation of OWAMP as a whole.  This can
 +
  matter for embedded implementations.
  
 +
Regarding DTLS:
  
 +
+  Duplication and, similarly, reordering are network phenomena that
 +
  OWAMP needs to be able to measure; yet anti-replay measures and
 +
  reordering protection of DTLS would prevent the duplicated and
 +
  reordered packets from reaching the relevant part of the OWAMP
 +
  code.  One could, of course, modify DTLS so that these protections
 +
  are weakened or even specify examining the messages in a carefully
 +
  crafted sequence somewhere in between DTLS checks; but then, of
 +
  course, the advantage of using an existing protocol would not be
 +
  realized.
  
 +
+  In authenticated mode, the timestamp is in the clear and is not
 +
  protected cryptographically in any way, while the rest of the
 +
  message has the same protection as in encrypted mode.  This mode
 +
  allows one to trade off cryptographic protection against accuracy
 +
  of timestamps.  For example, the APAN hardware implementation of
 +
  OWAMP [APAN] is capable of supporting authenticated mode.  The
 +
  accuracy of these measurements is in the sub-microsecond range.
 +
  The errors in OWAMP measurements of Abilene [Abilene] (done using
 +
  a software implementation, in its encrypted mode) exceed 10us.
 +
  Users in different environments have different concerns, and some
 +
  might very well care about every last microsecond of accuracy.  At
 +
  the same time, users in these same environments might care about
 +
  access control to the service.  Authenticated mode permits them to
 +
  control access to the server yet to use unprotected timestamps,
 +
  perhaps generated by a hardware device.
  
 +
Regarding IPsec:
  
 +
+  What we now call authenticated mode would not be possible (in
 +
  IPsec you can't authenticate part of a packet).
  
 +
+  The deployment paths of IPsec and OWAMP could be separate if OWAMP
 +
  does not depend on IPsec.  After nine years of IPsec, only 0.05%
 +
  of traffic on an advanced backbone network, such as Abilene, uses
 +
  IPsec (for comparison purposes with encryption above layer 4, SSH
 +
  use is at 2-4% and HTTPS use is at 0.2-0.6%).  It is desirable to
 +
  be able to deploy OWAMP on as large a number of different
 +
  platforms as possible.
  
 +
+  The deployment problems of a protocol dependent on IPsec would be
 +
  especially acute in the case of lightweight embedded devices.
 +
  Ethernet switches, DSL "modems", and other such devices mostly do
 +
  not support IPsec.
  
 +
+  The API for manipulating IPsec from an application is currently
 +
  poorly understood.  Writing a program that needs to encrypt some
 +
  packets, to authenticate some packets, and to leave some open --
 +
  for the same destination -- would become more of an exercise in
 +
  IPsec than in IP measurement.
  
 +
For the enumerated reasons, we decided to use a simple cryptographic
 +
protocol (based on a block cipher in CBC mode) that is different from
 +
TLS and IPsec.
  
 +
=== Cryptographic Primitive Replacement ===
  
 +
It might become necessary in the future to replace AES, or the way it
 +
is used in OWAMP, with a new cryptographic primitive, or to make
 +
other security-related changes to the protocol.  OWAMP provides a
 +
well-defined point of extensibility: the Modes word in the server
 +
greeting and the Mode response in the Set-Up-Response message.  For
 +
example, if a simple replacement of AES with a different block cipher
 +
with a 128-bit block is needed, this could be accomplished as
 +
follows: take two bits from the reserved (MBZ) part of the Modes word
 +
of the server greeting; use one of these bits to indicate encrypted
 +
mode with the new cipher and another one to indicate authenticated
 +
mode with the new cipher.  (Bit consumption could, in fact, be
 +
reduced from two to one, if the client is allowed to return a mode
 +
selection with more than a single bit set: one could designate a
 +
single bit to mean that the new cipher is supported (in the case of
 +
the server) or selected (in the case of the client) and continue to
 +
use already allocated bits for authenticated and encrypted modes;
 +
this optimization is unimportant conceptually, but it could be useful
 +
in practice to make the best use of bits.)  Then, if the new cipher
 +
is negotiated, all subsequent operations simply use it instead of
 +
AES.  Note that the normal transition sequence would be used in such
 +
a case: implementations would probably first start supporting and
 +
preferring the new cipher, and then drop support for the old cipher
 +
(presumably no longer considered secure).
  
 +
If the need arises to make more extensive changes (perhaps to replace
 +
AES with a 256-bit-block cipher), this would be more difficult and
 +
would require changing the layout of the messages.  However, the
 +
change can still be conducted within the framework of OWAMP
 +
extensibility using the Modes/Mode words.  The semantics of the new
 +
bits (or single bit, if the optimization described above is used)
 +
would include the change to message layout as well as the change in
 +
the cryptographic primitive.
  
 +
Each of the bits in the Modes word can be used for an independent
 +
extension.  The extensions signaled by various bits are orthogonal;
 +
for example, one bit might be allocated to change from AES-128 to
 +
some other cipher, another bit might be allocated to add a protocol
 +
feature (such as, e.g., support for measuring over multicast), yet
 +
another might be allocated to change a key derivation function, etc.
 +
The progression of versions is not a linear order, but rather a
 +
partial order.  An implementation can implement any subset of these
 +
features (of course, features can be made mandatory to implement,
 +
e.g., new more secure ciphers if they are needed).
  
 +
Should a cipher with a different key size (say, a 256-bit key) become
 +
needed, a new key derivation function for OWAMP-Test keys would also
 +
be needed.  The semantics of change in the cipher SHOULD then in the
 +
future be tied to the semantics of change in the key derivation
 +
function (KDF).  One KDF that might be considered for the purpose
 +
might be a pseudo-random function (PRF) with appropriately sized
 +
output, such as 256 bits (perhaps HMAC-SHA256, if it is then still
 +
considered a secure PRF), which could then be used to derive the
 +
OWAMP-Test session keys from the OWAMP-Control session key by using
 +
the OWAMP-Control session key as the HMAC key and the SID as HMAC
 +
message.
  
 +
Note that the replacement scheme outlined above is trivially
 +
susceptible to downgrade attacks: a malicious party in the middle can
 +
flip modes bits as the mode is negotiated so that the oldest and
 +
weakest mode supported by the two parties is used.  If this is deemed
 +
problematic at the time of cryptographic primitive replacement, the
 +
scheme might be augmented with a measure to prevent such an attack
 +
(by perhaps exchanging the modes again once a secure communications
 +
channel is established, comparing the two sets of mode words, and
 +
dropping the connection should they not match).
 +
 +
=== Long-term Manually Managed Keys ===
  
 +
OWAMP-Control uses long-term keys with manual management.  These keys
 +
are used to automatically negotiate session keys for each OWAMP-
 +
Control session running in authenticated or encrypted mode.  The
 +
number of these keys managed by a server scales linearly with (and,
  
 +
in fact, is equal to) the number of administratively different users
 +
(perhaps particular humans, roles, or robots representing sites) that
 +
need to connect to this server.  Similarly, the number of different
 +
manual keys managed by each client is the number of different servers
 +
that the client needs to connect to.  This use of manual long-term
 +
keys is compliant with [BCP107].
  
 +
=== (Not) Using Time as Salt ===
  
For authenticated and encrypted modes:
+
A natural idea is to use the current time as salt when deriving
 +
session keys.  Unfortunately, this appears to be too limiting.
  
  0                  1                  2                  3
+
Although OWAMP is often run on hosts with well-synchronized clocks,
  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
+
it is also possible to run it on hosts with clocks completely
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
untrained.  The delays obtained thus are, of course, not directly
  |                        Sequence Number                        |
+
usable; however, some metrics, such as unidirectional loss,
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
reordering, measures of congestion such as the median delay minus
  |                                                              |
+
minimum, and many others are usable directly and immediately (and
  |                        MBZ (12 octets)                        |
+
improve upon the information that would have been provided by a
  |                                                              |
+
round-trip measurement).  Further, even delay information can be
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
useful with appropriate post-processing.  Indeed, one can even argue
  |                          Timestamp                            |
+
that running the clocks free and post-processing the results of a
  |                                                              |
+
mesh of measurements will result in better accuracy, as more
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+
information is available a posteriori and correlation of data from
  |        Error Estimate        |                              |
+
different hosts is possible in post-processing, but not with online
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                              |
+
clock training.
  |                        MBZ (6 octets)                        |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |                      HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                                                              |
 
  .                                                              .
 
  .                        Packet Padding                        .
 
  .                                                              .
 
  |                                                              |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  
The format of the timestamp is the same as in [RFC1305] and is as
+
Given this, time is not used as salt in key derivation.
follows: the first 32 bits represent the unsigned integer number of
 
seconds elapsed since 0h on 1 January 1900; the next 32 bits
 
represent the fractional part of a second that has elapsed since
 
then.
 
  
So, Timestamp is represented as follows:
+
6.10.  The Use of AES-CBC and HMAC
 
 
  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
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                  Integer part of seconds                    |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  |                Fractional part of seconds                    |
 
  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  
 +
OWAMP relies on AES-CBC for confidentiality and on HMAC-SHA1
 +
truncated to 128 bits for message authentication.  Random IV choice
 +
is important for prevention of a codebook attack on the first block
 +
(it should also be noted that, with its 128-bit block size, AES is
 +
more resistant to codebook attacks than are ciphers with shorter
 +
blocks; we use random IV anyway).
  
 +
HMAC MUST verify.  It is crucial to check for this before using the
 +
message; otherwise, existential forgery becomes possible.  The
 +
complete message for which HMAC verification fails MUST be discarded
 +
(both for short messages consisting of a few blocks and potentially
 +
for long messages, such as a response to the Fetch-Session command).
 +
If such a message is part of OWAMP-Control, the connection MUST be
 +
dropped.
  
 +
Since OWAMP messages can have different numbers of blocks, the
 +
existential forgery attack described in example 9.62 of [MENEZES]
  
 +
becomes a concern.  To prevent it (and to simplify implementation),
 +
the length of any message becomes known after decrypting its first
 +
block.
  
 +
A special case is the first (fixed-length) message sent by the
 +
client.  There, the token is a concatenation of the 128-bit challenge
 +
(transmitted by the server in the clear), a 128-bit AES Session-key
 +
(generated randomly by the client, encrypted with AES-CBC with IV=0),
 +
and a 256-bit HMAC-SHA1 Session-key used for authentication.  Since
 +
IV=0, the challenge (a single cipher block) is simply encrypted with
 +
the secret key.  Therefore, we rely on resistance of AES to chosen
 +
plaintext attacks (as the challenge could be substituted by an
 +
attacker).  It should be noted that the number of blocks of chosen
 +
plaintext an attacker can have encrypted with the secret key is
 +
limited by the number of sessions the client wants to initiate.  An
 +
attacker who knows the encryption of a server's challenge can produce
 +
an existential forgery of the session key and thus disrupt the
 +
session; however, any attacker can disrupt a session by corrupting
 +
the protocol messages in an arbitrary fashion.  Therefore, no new
 +
threat is created here; nevertheless, we require that the server
 +
never issues the same challenge twice.  (If challenges are generated
 +
randomly, a repetition would occur, on average, after 2^64 sessions;
 +
we deem this satisfactory as this is enough even for an implausibly
 +
busy server that participates in 1,000,000 sessions per second to go
 +
without repetitions for more than 500 centuries.)  With respect to
 +
the second part of the token, an attacker can produce an existential
 +
forgery of the session key by modifying the second half of the
 +
client's token while leaving the first part intact.  This forgery,
 +
however, would be immediately discovered by the client when the HMAC
 +
on the server's next message (acceptance or rejection of the
 +
connection) does not verify.
  
 +
== Acknowledgements ==
  
 +
We would like to thank Guy Almes, Mark Allman, Jari Arkko, Hamid
 +
Asgari, Steven Van den Berghe, Eric Boyd, Robert Cole, Joan
 +
Cucchiara, Stephen Donnelly, Susan Evett, Sam Hartman, Kaynam
 +
Hedayat, Petri Helenius, Scott Hollenbeck, Russ Housley, Kitamura
 +
Yasuichi, Daniel H. T. R. Lawson, Will E. Leland, Bruce A. Mah,
 +
Allison Mankin, Al Morton, Attila Pasztor, Randy Presuhn, Matthew
 +
Roughan, Andy Scherrer, Henk Uijterwaal, and Sam Weiler for their
 +
comments, suggestions, reviews, helpful discussion and proof-reading.
  
The Error Estimate specifies the estimate of the error and
+
== IANA Considerations ==
synchronization.  It has the following format:
 
 
 
      0                  1
 
      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
 
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
    |S|Z|  Scale  |  Multiplier  |
 
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 
  
The first bit, S, SHOULD be set if the party generating the timestamp
+
IANA has allocated a well-known TCP port number (861) for the OWAMP-
has a clock that is synchronized to UTC using an external source
+
Control part of the OWAMP protocol.
(e.g., the bit should be set if GPS hardware is used and it indicates
 
that it has acquired current position and time or if NTP is used and
 
it indicates that it has synchronized to an external source, which
 
includes stratum 0 source, etc.).  If there is no notion of external
 
synchronization for the time source, the bit SHOULD NOT be set.  The
 
next bit has the same semantics as MBZ fields elsewhere: it MUST be
 
set to zero by the sender and ignored by everyone else.  The next six
 
bits, Scale, form an unsigned integer; Multiplier is an unsigned
 
integer as well.  They are interpreted as follows: the error estimate
 
is equal to Multiplier*2^(-32)*2^Scale (in seconds).  (Notation
 
clarification: 2^Scale is two to the power of Scale.)  Multiplier
 
MUST NOT be set to zero.  If Multiplier is zero, the packet SHOULD be
 
considered corrupt and discarded.
 
  
Sequence numbers start with zero and are incremented by one for each
+
== Internationalization Considerations ==
subsequent packet.
 
  
The minimum data segment length is, therefore, 14 octets in
+
The protocol does not carry any information in a natural language,
unauthenticated mode, and 48 octets in both authenticated mode and
+
with the possible exception of the KeyID in OWAMP-Control, which is
encrypted modes.
+
encoded in UTF-8.
 +
 
 +
10.  References
 +
 
 +
10.1. Normative References
  
The OWAMP-Test packet layout is the same in authenticated and
+
[AES]          Advanced Encryption Standard (AES),
encrypted modes.  The encryption and authentication operations are,
+
                http://csrc.nist.gov/encryption/aes/
however, different. The difference is that in encrypted mode both
 
the sequence number and the timestamp are protected to provide
 
maximum data confidentiality and integrity protection, whereas in
 
authenticated mode the sequence number is protected while the
 
timestamp is sent in clear text.  Sending the timestamp in clear text
 
in authenticated mode allows one to reduce the time between when a
 
timestamp is obtained by a sender and when the packet is shipped out.
 
In encrypted mode, the sender has to fetch the timestamp, encrypt it,
 
and send it; in authenticated mode, the middle step is removed,
 
potentially improving accuracy (the sequence number can be encrypted
 
and authenticated before the timestamp is fetched).
 
  
In authenticated mode, the first block (16 octets) of each packet is
+
[BCP107]        Bellovin, S. and R. Housley, "Guidelines for
encrypted using AES Electronic Cookbook (ECB) mode.
+
                Cryptographic Key Management", [[BCP107|BCP 107]], [[RFC4107|RFC 4107]],
 +
                June 2005.
  
 +
[[RFC2104]]      Krawczyk, H., Bellare, M., and R. Canetti, "HMAC:
 +
                Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication", [[RFC2104|RFC 2104]],
 +
                February 1997.
  
 +
[[RFC2119]]      Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
 +
                Requirement Levels", [[BCP14|BCP 14]], [[RFC2119|RFC 2119]], March 1997.
  
 +
[[RFC2330]]      Paxson, V., Almes, G., Mahdavi, J., and M. Mathis,
 +
                "Framework for IP Performance Metrics", [[RFC2330|RFC 2330]], May
 +
                1998.
  
 +
[[RFC2474]]      Nichols, K., Blake, S., Baker, F., and D. Black,
 +
                "Definition of the Differentiated Services Field (DS
 +
                Field) in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers", [[RFC2474|RFC 2474]],
 +
                December 1998.
  
Similarly to each OWAMP-Control session, each OWAMP-Test session has
+
[[RFC2679]]      Almes, G., Kalidindi, S., and M. Zekauskas, "A One-
two keys: an AES Session-key and an HMAC Session-key. However, there
+
                way Delay Metric for IPPM", [[RFC2679|RFC 2679]], September 1999.
is a difference in how the keys are obtained: in the case of OWAMP-
 
Control, the keys are generated by the client and communicated (as
 
part of the Token) during connection setup as part of Set-Up-Response
 
message; in the case of OWAMP-Test, described here, the keys are
 
derived from the OWAMP-Control keys and the SID.
 
  
The OWAMP-Test AES Session-key is obtained as follows: the OWAMP-
+
[[RFC2680]]      Almes, G., Kalidindi, S., and M. Zekauskas, "A One-
Control AES Session-key (the same AES Session-key as is used for the
+
                way Packet Loss Metric for IPPM", [[RFC2680|RFC 2680]], September
corresponding OWAMP-Control session, where it is used in a different
+
                1999.
chaining mode) is encrypted, using AES, with the 16-octet session
+
 
identifier (SID) as the key; this is a single-block ECB encryption;
+
[[RFC2836]]      Brim, S., Carpenter, B., and F. Le Faucheur, "Per Hop
its result is the OWAMP-Test AES Session-key to use in encrypting
+
                Behavior Identification Codes", [[RFC2836|RFC 2836]], May 2000.
(and decrypting) the packets of the particular OWAMP-Test session.
 
Note that all of OWAMP-Test AES Session-key, OWAMP-Control AES
 
Session-key, and the SID are comprised of 16 octets.
 
  
The OWAMP-Test HMAC Session-key is obtained as follows: the OWAMP-
+
[[RFC2898]]      Kaliski, B., "PKCS #5: Password-Based Cryptography
Control HMAC Session-key (the same HMAC Session-key as is used for
+
                Specification Version 2.0", [[RFC2898|RFC 2898]], September 2000.
the corresponding OWAMP-Control session) is encrypted, using AES,
 
with the 16-octet session identifier (SID) as the key; this is a
 
two-block CBC encryption, always performed with IV=0; its result is
 
the OWAMP-Test HMAC Session-key to use in authenticating the packets
 
of the particular OWAMP-Test session.  Note that all of OWAMP-Test
 
HMAC Session-key and OWAMP-Control HMAC Session-key are comprised of
 
32 octets, while the SID is 16 octets.
 
  
ECB mode used for encrypting the first block of OWAMP-Test packets in
+
10.2.  Informative References
authenticated mode does not involve any actual chaining; this way,
 
lost, duplicated, or reordered packets do not cause problems with
 
deciphering any packet in an OWAMP-Test session.
 
  
In encrypted mode, the first two blocks (32 octets) are encrypted
+
[APAN]          Z. Shu and K. Kobayashi, "HOTS: An OWAMP-Compliant
using AES CBC mode. The AES Session-key to use is obtained in the
+
                Hardware Packet Timestamper", In Proceedings of PAM
same way as the key for authenticated mode. Each OWAMP-Test packet
+
                2005, http://www.springerlink.com/index/
is encrypted as a separate stream, with just one chaining operation;
+
                W4GBD39YWC11GQTN.pdf
chaining does not span multiple packets so that lost, duplicated, or
 
reordered packets do not cause problems. The initialization vector
 
for the CBC encryption is a value with all bits equal to zero.
 
  
Implementation note: Naturally, the key schedule for each OWAMP-Test
+
[BRIX]          Brix Networks, http://www.brixnet.com/
session MAY be set up only once per session, not once per packet.
 
  
 +
[ZIGG]          J. H. Ahrens, U. Dieter, "Computer methods for
 +
                sampling from the exponential and normal
 +
                distributions", Communications of ACM, volume 15,
 +
                issue 10, 873-882, 1972.
 +
                http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/355604.361593
  
 +
[MENEZES]      A. J. Menezes, P. C. van Oorschot, and S. A.
 +
                Vanstone, Handbook of Applied Cryptography, CRC
 +
                Press, revised reprint with updates, 1997.
  
 +
[KNUTH]        D. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, vol.2, 3rd
 +
                edition, 1998.
  
 +
[Abilene]      One-way Latency Measurement (OWAMP),
 +
                http://e2epi.internet2.edu/owamp/
  
 +
[RIJN]          Reference ANSI C Implementation of Rijndael,
 +
                http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/~rijmen/
 +
                rijndael/rijndaelref.zip
  
 +
[RIPE]          RIPE NCC Test-Traffic Measurements home,
 +
                http://www.ripe.net/test-traffic/.
  
 +
[SURVEYOR]      Surveyor Home Page,
 +
                http://www.advanced.org/surveyor/.
  
 +
[SURVEYOR-INET] S. Kalidindi and M. Zekauskas, "Surveyor: An
 +
                Infrastructure for Network Performance Measurements",
 +
                Proceedings of INET'99, June 1999.
 +
                http://www.isoc.org/inet99/proceedings/4h/4h_2.htm
  
 +
[[RFC1305]]      Mills, D., "Network Time Protocol (Version 3)
 +
                Specification, Implementation and Analysis", RFC
 +
                1305, March 1992.
  
HMAC in OWAMP-Test only covers the part of the packet that is also
+
[[RFC2246]]      Dierks, T. and C. Allen, "The TLS Protocol Version
encrypted. So, in authenticated mode, HMAC covers the first block
+
                1.0", [[RFC2246|RFC 2246]], January 1999.
(16 octets); in encrypted mode, HMAC covers two first blocks (32
+
 
octets). In OWAMP-Test HMAC is not encrypted (note that this is
+
[[RFC2401]]      Kent, S. and R. Atkinson, "Security Architecture for
different from OWAMP-Control, where encryption in stream mode is
+
                the Internet Protocol", [[RFC2401|RFC 2401]], November 1998.
used, so everything including the HMAC blocks ends up being
+
 
encrypted).
+
[[RFC3546]]      Blake-Wilson, S., Nystrom, M., Hopwood, D.,
 +
                Mikkelsen, J., and T. Wright, "Transport Layer
 +
                Security (TLS) Extensions", [[RFC3546|RFC 3546]], June 2003.
 +
 
 +
[[RFC4086]]      Eastlake, D., 3rd, Schiller, J., and S. Crocker,
 +
                "Randomness Requirements for Security", [[BCP106|BCP 106]], RFC
 +
                4086, June 2005.
 +
 
 +
Appendix A: Sample C Code for Exponential Deviates
 +
 
 +
The values in array Q[] are the exact values that MUST be used by all
 +
implementations (see Sections 5.1 and 5.2).  This appendix only
 +
serves for illustrative purposes.
  
In unauthenticated mode, no encryption or authentication is applied.
+
/*
 +
** Example usage: generate a stream of exponential (mean 1)
 +
** random quantities (ignoring error checking during initialization).
 +
** If a variate with some mean mu other than 1 is desired, the output
 +
** of this algorithm can be multiplied by mu according to the rules
 +
** of arithmetic we described.
  
Packet Padding in OWAMP-Test SHOULD be pseudo-random (it MUST be
+
** Assume that a 16-octet 'seed' has been initialized
generated independently of any other pseudo-random numbers mentioned
+
** (as the shared secret in OWAMP, for example)
in this document).  However, implementations MUST provide a
+
** unsigned char seed[16];
configuration parameter, an option, or a different means of making
 
Packet Padding consist of all zeros.
 
  
The time elapsed between packets is computed according to the slot
+
** OWPrand_context next;
schedule as mentioned in Request-Session command description.  At
 
that point, we skipped over the issue of computing exponentially
 
distributed pseudo-random numbers in a reproducible fashion.  It is
 
discussed later in a separate section.
 
  
=== Receiver Behavior ===
+
** (initialize state)
 +
** OWPrand_context_init(&next, seed);
  
The receiver knows when the sender will send packets.  The following
+
** (generate a sequence of exponential variates)
parameter is defined: Timeout (from Request-Session).  Packets that
+
** while (1) {
are delayed by more than Timeout are considered lost (or "as good as
+
**    u_int64_t num = OWPexp_rand64(&next);
lost").  Note that there is never an actual assurance of loss by the
+
      <do something with num here>
network: a "lost" packet might still be delivered at any time.  The
+
                ...
original specification for IPv4 required that packets be delivered
+
** }
within TTL seconds or never (with TTL having a maximum value of 255).
+
*/
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this requirement was never
 
actually implemented (and, of course, only a complete and universal
 
implementation would ensure that packets do not travel for longer
 
than TTL seconds). In fact, in IPv6, the name of this field has
 
actually been changed to Hop Limit. Further, IPv4 specification
 
makes no claims about the time it takes the packet to traverse the
 
last link of the path.
 
  
The choice of a reasonable value of Timeout is a problem faced by a
+
#include <stdlib.h>
user of OWAMP protocol, not by an implementor.  A value such as two
 
minutes is very safe.  Note that certain applications (such as
 
interactive "one-way ping" might wish to obtain the data faster than
 
that.
 
  
As packets are received,
+
typedef u_int64_t u_int64_t;
  
+  timestamp the received packet;
+
/* (K - 1) is the first k such that Q[k] > 1 - 1/(2^32). */
 +
#define K 12
  
 +
#define BIT31  0x80000000UL    /* See if first bit in the lower
 +
                                  32 bits is zero. */
 +
#define MASK32(n)      ((n) & 0xFFFFFFFFUL)
  
 +
#define EXP2POW32      0x100000000ULL
  
 +
typedef struct OWPrand_context {
 +
        unsigned char counter[16];/* Counter (network byte order).*/
 +
        keyInstance key;          /* Key to encrypt the counter.*/
 +
        unsigned char out[16];    /* The encrypted block.*/
  
 +
} OWPrand_context;
  
+ in authenticated or encrypted mode, decrypt and authenticate as
+
/*
  necessary (packets for which authentication fails MUST be
+
** The array has been computed according to the formula:
  discarded); and
+
**
 +
**      Q[k] = (ln2)/(1!) + (ln2)^2/(2!) + ... + (ln2)^k/(k!)
 +
**
 +
** as described in algorithm S. (The values below have been
 +
** multiplied by 2^32 and rounded to the nearest integer.)
 +
** These exact values MUST be used so that different implementation
 +
** produce the same sequences.
 +
*/
 +
static u_int64_t Q[K] = {
 +
        0,        /* Placeholder - so array indices start from 1. */
 +
        0xB17217F8,
 +
        0xEEF193F7,
 +
        0xFD271862,
 +
        0xFF9D6DD0,
 +
        0xFFF4CFD0,
 +
        0xFFFEE819,
 +
        0xFFFFE7FF,
 +
        0xFFFFFE2B,
 +
        0xFFFFFFE0,
 +
        0xFFFFFFFE,
 +
        0xFFFFFFFF
 +
};
  
+  store the packet sequence number, send time, receive time, and the
+
/* this element represents ln2 */
  TTL for IPv4 (or Hop Limit for IPv6) from the packet IP header for
+
#define LN2 Q[1]
  the results to be transferred.
 
 
 
Packets not received within the Timeout are considered lost.  They
 
are recorded with their true sequence number, presumed send time,
 
receive time value with all bits being zero, and a TTL (or Hop Limit)
 
of 255.
 
 
 
Implementations SHOULD fetch the TTL/Hop Limit value from the IP
 
header of the packet.  If an implementation does not fetch the actual
 
TTL value (the only good reason not to do so is an inability to
 
access the TTL field of arriving packets), it MUST record the TTL
 
value as 255.
 
 
 
Packets that are actually received are recorded in the order of
 
arrival.  Lost packet records serve as indications of the send times
 
of lost packets.  They SHOULD be placed either at the point where the
 
receiver learns about the loss or at any later point; in particular,
 
one MAY place all the records that correspond to lost packets at the
 
very end.
 
 
 
Packets that have send time in the future MUST be recorded normally,
 
without changing their send timestamp, unless they have to be
 
discarded.  (Send timestamps in the future would normally indicate
 
clocks that differ by more than the delay.  Some data -- such as
 
jitter -- can be extracted even without knowledge of time difference.
 
For other kinds of data, the adjustment is best handled by the data
 
consumer on the basis of the complete information in a measurement
 
session, as well as, possibly, external data.)
 
 
 
Packets with a sequence number that was already observed (duplicate
 
packets) MUST be recorded normally.  (Duplicate packets are sometimes
 
introduced by IP networks.  The protocol has to be able to measure
 
duplication.)
 
 
 
If any of the following is true, the packet MUST be discarded:
 
 
 
+  Send timestamp is more than Timeout in the past or in the future.
 
 
 
+  Send timestamp differs by more than Timeout from the time when the
 
  packet should have been sent according to its sequence number.
 
 
 
+  In authenticated or encrypted mode, HMAC verification fails.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
== Computing Exponentially Distributed Pseudo-Random Numbers ==
 
 
 
Here we describe the way exponential random quantities used in the
 
protocol are generated.  While there is a fair number of algorithms
 
for generating exponential random variables, most of them rely on
 
having logarithmic function as a primitive, resulting in potentially
 
different values, depending on the particular implementation of the
 
math library.  We use algorithm 3.4.1.S from [KNUTH], which is free
 
of the above-mentioned problem, and which guarantees the same output
 
on any implementation.  The algorithm belongs to the ziggurat family
 
developed in the 1970s by G. Marsaglia, M. Sibuya, and J. H. Ahrens
 
[ZIGG].  It replaces the use of logarithmic function by clever bit
 
manipulation, still producing the exponential variates on output.
 
 
 
=== High-Level Description of the Algorithm ===
 
 
 
For ease of exposition, the algorithm is first described with all
 
arithmetic operations being interpreted in their natural sense.
 
Later, exact details on data types, arithmetic, and generation of the
 
uniform random variates used by the algorithm are given.  It is an
 
almost verbatim quotation from [KNUTH], p.133.
 
 
 
Algorithm S: Given a real positive number "mu", produce an
 
exponential random variate with mean "mu".
 
 
 
First, the constants
 
 
 
Q[k] = (ln2)/(1!) + (ln2)^2/(2!) + ... + (ln2)^k/(k!),  1 <= k <= 11
 
 
 
are computed in advance.  The exact values which MUST be used by all
 
implementations are given in the next section.  This is necessary to
 
ensure that exactly the same pseudo-random sequences are produced by
 
all implementations.
 
 
 
S1. [Get U and shift.] Generate a 32-bit uniform random binary
 
fraction
 
 
 
          U = (.b0 b1 b2 ... b31)    [note the binary point]
 
 
 
Locate the first zero bit b_j and shift off the leading (j+1) bits,
 
setting U <- (.b_{j+1} ... b31)
 
 
 
'''Note:''' In the rare case that the zero has not been found, it is
 
prescribed that the algorithm return (mu*32*ln2).
 
 
 
S2. [Immediate acceptance?] If U < ln2, set X <- mu*(j*ln2 + U) and
 
terminate the algorithm. (Note that Q[1] = ln2.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
S3. [Minimize.] Find the least k >= 2 such that U < Q[k]. Generate k
 
new uniform random binary fractions U1,...,Uk and set V <-
 
min(U1,...,Uk).
 
 
 
S4. [Deliver the answer.] Set X <- mu*(j + V)*ln2.
 
 
 
=== Data Types, Representation, and Arithmetic ===
 
 
 
The high-level algorithm operates on real numbers, typically
 
represented as floating point numbers.  This specification prescribes
 
that unsigned 64-bit integers be used instead.
 
 
 
u_int64_t integers are interpreted as real numbers by placing the
 
decimal point after the first 32 bits.  In other words, conceptually,
 
the interpretation is given by the following map:
 
 
 
      u_int64_t u;
 
 
 
      u  |--> (double)u / (2**32)
 
 
 
The algorithm produces a sequence of such u_int64_t integers that,
 
for any given value of SID, is guaranteed to be the same on any
 
implementation.
 
 
 
We specify that the u_int64_t representations of the first 11 values
 
of the Q array in the high-level algorithm MUST be as follows:
 
 
 
#1      0xB17217F8,
 
#2      0xEEF193F7,
 
#3      0xFD271862,
 
#4      0xFF9D6DD0,
 
#5      0xFFF4CFD0,
 
#6      0xFFFEE819,
 
#7      0xFFFFE7FF,
 
#8      0xFFFFFE2B,
 
#9      0xFFFFFFE0,
 
#10    0xFFFFFFFE,
 
#11    0xFFFFFFFF
 
 
 
For example, Q[1] = ln2 is indeed approximated by 0xB17217F8/(2**32)
 
= 0.693147180601954; for j > 11, Q[j] is 0xFFFFFFFF.
 
 
 
Small integer j in the high-level algorithm is represented as
 
u_int64_t value j * (2**32).
 
 
 
Operation of addition is done as usual on u_int64_t numbers; however,
 
the operation of multiplication in the high-level algorithm should be
 
replaced by
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  (u, v) |---> (u * v) >> 32.
 
 
 
Implementations MUST compute the product (u * v) exactly.  For
 
example, a fragment of unsigned 128-bit arithmetic can be implemented
 
for this purpose (see the sample implementation in Appendix A).
 
 
 
=== Uniform Random Quantities ===
 
 
 
The procedure for obtaining a sequence of 32-bit random numbers (such
 
as U in algorithm S) relies on using AES encryption in counter mode.
 
To describe the exact working of the algorithm, we introduce two
 
primitives from Rijndael.  Their prototypes and specification are
 
given below, and they are assumed to be provided by the supporting
 
Rijndael implementation, such as [RIJN].
 
 
 
+  A function that initializes a Rijndael key with bytes from seed
 
  (the SID will be used as the seed):
 
 
 
  void KeyInit(unsigned char seed[16]);
 
 
 
+  A function that encrypts the 16-octet block inblock with the
 
  specified key, returning a 16-octet encrypted block.  Here,
 
  keyInstance is an opaque type used to represent Rijndael keys:
 
 
 
  void BlockEncrypt(keyInstance key, unsigned char inblock[16]);
 
 
 
Algorithm Unif: given a 16-octet quantity seed, produce a sequence of
 
unsigned 32-bit pseudo-random uniformly distributed integers.  In
 
OWAMP, the SID (session ID) from Control protocol plays the role of
 
seed.
 
 
 
U1. [Initialize Rijndael key] key <- KeyInit(seed) [Initialize an
 
unsigned 16-octet (network byte order) counter] c <- 0
 
 
 
U2. [Need more random bytes?]  Set i <- c mod 4.  If (i == 0) set s
 
<- BlockEncrypt(key, c)
 
 
 
U3. [Increment the counter as unsigned 16-octet quantity] c <- c + 1
 
 
 
U4. [Do output] Output the i_th quartet of octets from s starting
 
from high-order octets, converted to native byte order and
 
represented as OWPNum64 value (as in 3.b).
 
 
 
U5. [Loop] Go to step U2.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
== Security Considerations ==
 
 
 
=== Introduction ===
 
 
 
The goal of authenticated mode is to let one passphrase-protect the
 
service provided by a particular OWAMP-Control server.  One can
 
imagine a variety of circumstances where this could be useful.
 
Authenticated mode is designed to prohibit theft of service.
 
 
 
An additional design objective of the authenticated mode was to make
 
it impossible for an attacker who cannot read traffic between OWAMP-
 
Test sender and receiver to tamper with test results in a fashion
 
that affects the measurements, but not other traffic.
 
 
 
The goal of encrypted mode is quite different: to make it hard for a
 
party in the middle of the network to make results look "better" than
 
they should be.  This is especially true if one of client and server
 
does not coincide with either sender or receiver.
 
 
 
Encryption of OWAMP-Control using AES CBC mode with blocks of HMAC
 
after each message aims to achieve two goals: (i) to provide secrecy
 
of exchange, and (ii) to provide authentication of each message.
 
 
 
=== Preventing Third-Party Denial of Service ===
 
 
 
OWAMP-Test sessions directed at an unsuspecting party could be used
 
for denial of service (DoS) attacks.  In unauthenticated mode,
 
servers SHOULD limit receivers to hosts they control or to the OWAMP-
 
Control client.
 
 
 
Unless otherwise configured, the default behavior of servers MUST be
 
to decline requests where the Receiver Address field is not equal to
 
the address that the control connection was initiated from or an
 
address of the server (or an address of a host it controls).  Given
 
the TCP handshake procedure and sequence numbers in the control
 
connection, this ensures that the hosts that make such requests are
 
actually those hosts themselves, or at least on the path towards
 
them.  If either this test or the handshake procedure were omitted,
 
it would become possible for attackers anywhere in the Internet to
 
request that large amounts of test packets be directed against victim
 
nodes somewhere else.
 
 
 
In any case, OWAMP-Test packets with a given source address MUST only
 
be sent from the node that has been assigned that address (i.e.,
 
address spoofing is not permitted).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
=== Covert Information Channels ===
 
 
 
OWAMP-Test sessions could be used as covert channels of information.
 
Environments that are worried about covert channels should take this
 
into consideration.
 
 
 
=== Requirement to Include AES in Implementations ===
 
 
 
Notice that AES, in counter mode, is used for pseudo-random number
 
generation, so implementation of AES MUST be included even in a
 
server that only supports unauthenticated mode.
 
 
 
=== Resource Use Limitations ===
 
 
 
An OWAMP server can consume resources of various kinds.  The two most
 
important kinds of resources are network capacity and memory (primary
 
or secondary) for storing test results.
 
 
 
Any implementation of OWAMP server MUST include technical mechanisms
 
to limit the use of network capacity and memory.  Mechanisms for
 
managing the resources consumed by unauthenticated users and users
 
authenticated with a KeyID and passphrase SHOULD be separate.  The
 
default configuration of an implementation MUST enable these
 
mechanisms and set the resource use limits to conservatively low
 
values.
 
 
 
One way to design the resource limitation mechanisms is as follows:
 
assign each session to a user class.  User classes are partially
 
ordered with "includes" relation, with one class ("all users") that
 
is always present and that includes any other class.  The assignment
 
of a session to a user class can be based on the presence of
 
authentication of the session, the KeyID, IP address range, time of
 
day, and, perhaps, other factors.  Each user class would have a limit
 
for usage of network capacity (specified in units of bit/second) and
 
memory for storing test results (specified in units of octets).
 
Along with the limits for resource use, current use would be tracked
 
by the server.  When a session is requested by a user in a specific
 
user class, the resources needed for this session are computed: the
 
average network capacity use (based on the sending schedule) and the
 
maximum memory use (based on the number of packets and number of
 
octets each packet would need to be stored internally -- note that
 
outgoing sessions would not require any memory use).  These resource
 
use numbers are added to the current resource use numbers for the
 
given user class; if such addition would take the resource use
 
outside of the limits for the given user class, the session is
 
rejected.  When resources are reclaimed, corresponding measures are
 
subtracted from the current use.  Network capacity is reclaimed as
 
soon as the session ends.  Memory is reclaimed when the data is
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
deleted.  For unauthenticated sessions, memory consumed by an OWAMP-
 
Test session SHOULD be reclaimed after the OWAMP-Control connection
 
that initiated the session is closed (gracefully or otherwise).  For
 
authenticated sessions, the administrator who configures the service
 
should be able to decide the exact policy, but useful policy
 
mechanisms that MAY be implemented are the ability to automatically
 
reclaim memory when the data is retrieved and the ability to reclaim
 
memory after a certain configurable (based on user class) period of
 
time passes after the OWAMP-Test session terminates.
 
 
 
=== Use of Cryptographic Primitives in OWAMP ===
 
 
 
At an early stage in designing the protocol, we considered using
 
Transport Layer Security (TLS) [RFC2246, RFC3546] and IPsec [RFC2401]
 
as cryptographic security mechanisms for OWAMP; later, we also
 
considered DTLS.  The disadvantages of those are as follows (not an
 
exhaustive list):
 
 
 
Regarding TLS:
 
 
 
+  TLS could be used to secure TCP-based OWAMP-Control, but it would
 
  be difficult to use it to secure UDP-based OWAMP-Test: OWAMP-Test
 
  packets, if lost, are not resent, so packets have to be
 
  (optionally) encrypted and authenticated while retaining
 
  individual usability.  Stream-based TLS cannot be easily used for
 
  this.
 
 
 
+  Dealing with streams, TLS does not authenticate individual
 
  messages (even in OWAMP-Control).  The easiest way out would be to
 
  add some known-format padding to each message and to verify that
 
  the format of the padding is intact before using the message.  The
 
  solution would thus lose some of its appeal ("just use TLS").  It
 
  would also be much more difficult to evaluate the security of this
 
  scheme with the various modes and options of TLS; it would almost
 
  certainly not be secure with all.  The capacity of an attacker to
 
  replace parts of messages (namely, the end) with random garbage
 
  could have serious security implications and would need to be
 
  analyzed carefully.  Suppose, for example, that a parameter that
 
  is used in some form to control the rate were replaced by random
 
  garbage; chances are that the result (an unsigned integer) would
 
  be quite large.
 
 
 
+  Dependent on the mode of use, one can end up with a requirement
 
  for certificates for all users and a PKI.  Even if one is to
 
  accept that PKI is desirable, there just isn't a usable one today.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
+  TLS requires a fairly large implementation.  OpenSSL, for example,
 
  is larger than our implementation of OWAMP as a whole.  This can
 
  matter for embedded implementations.
 
 
 
Regarding DTLS:
 
 
 
+  Duplication and, similarly, reordering are network phenomena that
 
  OWAMP needs to be able to measure; yet anti-replay measures and
 
  reordering protection of DTLS would prevent the duplicated and
 
  reordered packets from reaching the relevant part of the OWAMP
 
  code.  One could, of course, modify DTLS so that these protections
 
  are weakened or even specify examining the messages in a carefully
 
  crafted sequence somewhere in between DTLS checks; but then, of
 
  course, the advantage of using an existing protocol would not be
 
  realized.
 
 
 
+  In authenticated mode, the timestamp is in the clear and is not
 
  protected cryptographically in any way, while the rest of the
 
  message has the same protection as in encrypted mode.  This mode
 
  allows one to trade off cryptographic protection against accuracy
 
  of timestamps.  For example, the APAN hardware implementation of
 
  OWAMP [APAN] is capable of supporting authenticated mode.  The
 
  accuracy of these measurements is in the sub-microsecond range.
 
  The errors in OWAMP measurements of Abilene [Abilene] (done using
 
  a software implementation, in its encrypted mode) exceed 10us.
 
  Users in different environments have different concerns, and some
 
  might very well care about every last microsecond of accuracy.  At
 
  the same time, users in these same environments might care about
 
  access control to the service.  Authenticated mode permits them to
 
  control access to the server yet to use unprotected timestamps,
 
  perhaps generated by a hardware device.
 
 
 
Regarding IPsec:
 
 
 
+  What we now call authenticated mode would not be possible (in
 
  IPsec you can't authenticate part of a packet).
 
 
 
+  The deployment paths of IPsec and OWAMP could be separate if OWAMP
 
  does not depend on IPsec.  After nine years of IPsec, only 0.05%
 
  of traffic on an advanced backbone network, such as Abilene, uses
 
  IPsec (for comparison purposes with encryption above layer 4, SSH
 
  use is at 2-4% and HTTPS use is at 0.2-0.6%).  It is desirable to
 
  be able to deploy OWAMP on as large a number of different
 
  platforms as possible.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
+  The deployment problems of a protocol dependent on IPsec would be
 
  especially acute in the case of lightweight embedded devices.
 
  Ethernet switches, DSL "modems", and other such devices mostly do
 
  not support IPsec.
 
 
 
+  The API for manipulating IPsec from an application is currently
 
  poorly understood.  Writing a program that needs to encrypt some
 
  packets, to authenticate some packets, and to leave some open --
 
  for the same destination -- would become more of an exercise in
 
  IPsec than in IP measurement.
 
 
 
For the enumerated reasons, we decided to use a simple cryptographic
 
protocol (based on a block cipher in CBC mode) that is different from
 
TLS and IPsec.
 
 
 
=== Cryptographic Primitive Replacement ===
 
 
 
It might become necessary in the future to replace AES, or the way it
 
is used in OWAMP, with a new cryptographic primitive, or to make
 
other security-related changes to the protocol.  OWAMP provides a
 
well-defined point of extensibility: the Modes word in the server
 
greeting and the Mode response in the Set-Up-Response message.  For
 
example, if a simple replacement of AES with a different block cipher
 
with a 128-bit block is needed, this could be accomplished as
 
follows: take two bits from the reserved (MBZ) part of the Modes word
 
of the server greeting; use one of these bits to indicate encrypted
 
mode with the new cipher and another one to indicate authenticated
 
mode with the new cipher.  (Bit consumption could, in fact, be
 
reduced from two to one, if the client is allowed to return a mode
 
selection with more than a single bit set: one could designate a
 
single bit to mean that the new cipher is supported (in the case of
 
the server) or selected (in the case of the client) and continue to
 
use already allocated bits for authenticated and encrypted modes;
 
this optimization is unimportant conceptually, but it could be useful
 
in practice to make the best use of bits.)  Then, if the new cipher
 
is negotiated, all subsequent operations simply use it instead of
 
AES.  Note that the normal transition sequence would be used in such
 
a case: implementations would probably first start supporting and
 
preferring the new cipher, and then drop support for the old cipher
 
(presumably no longer considered secure).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
If the need arises to make more extensive changes (perhaps to replace
 
AES with a 256-bit-block cipher), this would be more difficult and
 
would require changing the layout of the messages.  However, the
 
change can still be conducted within the framework of OWAMP
 
extensibility using the Modes/Mode words.  The semantics of the new
 
bits (or single bit, if the optimization described above is used)
 
would include the change to message layout as well as the change in
 
the cryptographic primitive.
 
 
 
Each of the bits in the Modes word can be used for an independent
 
extension.  The extensions signaled by various bits are orthogonal;
 
for example, one bit might be allocated to change from AES-128 to
 
some other cipher, another bit might be allocated to add a protocol
 
feature (such as, e.g., support for measuring over multicast), yet
 
another might be allocated to change a key derivation function, etc.
 
The progression of versions is not a linear order, but rather a
 
partial order.  An implementation can implement any subset of these
 
features (of course, features can be made mandatory to implement,
 
e.g., new more secure ciphers if they are needed).
 
 
 
Should a cipher with a different key size (say, a 256-bit key) become
 
needed, a new key derivation function for OWAMP-Test keys would also
 
be needed.  The semantics of change in the cipher SHOULD then in the
 
future be tied to the semantics of change in the key derivation
 
function (KDF).  One KDF that might be considered for the purpose
 
might be a pseudo-random function (PRF) with appropriately sized
 
output, such as 256 bits (perhaps HMAC-SHA256, if it is then still
 
considered a secure PRF), which could then be used to derive the
 
OWAMP-Test session keys from the OWAMP-Control session key by using
 
the OWAMP-Control session key as the HMAC key and the SID as HMAC
 
message.
 
 
 
Note that the replacement scheme outlined above is trivially
 
susceptible to downgrade attacks: a malicious party in the middle can
 
flip modes bits as the mode is negotiated so that the oldest and
 
weakest mode supported by the two parties is used.  If this is deemed
 
problematic at the time of cryptographic primitive replacement, the
 
scheme might be augmented with a measure to prevent such an attack
 
(by perhaps exchanging the modes again once a secure communications
 
channel is established, comparing the two sets of mode words, and
 
dropping the connection should they not match).
 
 
 
=== Long-term Manually Managed Keys ===
 
 
 
OWAMP-Control uses long-term keys with manual management.  These keys
 
are used to automatically negotiate session keys for each OWAMP-
 
Control session running in authenticated or encrypted mode.  The
 
number of these keys managed by a server scales linearly with (and,
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
in fact, is equal to) the number of administratively different users
 
(perhaps particular humans, roles, or robots representing sites) that
 
need to connect to this server.  Similarly, the number of different
 
manual keys managed by each client is the number of different servers
 
that the client needs to connect to.  This use of manual long-term
 
keys is compliant with [BCP107].
 
 
 
=== (Not) Using Time as Salt ===
 
 
 
A natural idea is to use the current time as salt when deriving
 
session keys.  Unfortunately, this appears to be too limiting.
 
 
 
Although OWAMP is often run on hosts with well-synchronized clocks,
 
it is also possible to run it on hosts with clocks completely
 
untrained.  The delays obtained thus are, of course, not directly
 
usable; however, some metrics, such as unidirectional loss,
 
reordering, measures of congestion such as the median delay minus
 
minimum, and many others are usable directly and immediately (and
 
improve upon the information that would have been provided by a
 
round-trip measurement).  Further, even delay information can be
 
useful with appropriate post-processing.  Indeed, one can even argue
 
that running the clocks free and post-processing the results of a
 
mesh of measurements will result in better accuracy, as more
 
information is available a posteriori and correlation of data from
 
different hosts is possible in post-processing, but not with online
 
clock training.
 
 
 
Given this, time is not used as salt in key derivation.
 
 
 
=== The Use of AES-CBC and HMAC ===
 
 
 
OWAMP relies on AES-CBC for confidentiality and on HMAC-SHA1
 
truncated to 128 bits for message authentication.  Random IV choice
 
is important for prevention of a codebook attack on the first block
 
(it should also be noted that, with its 128-bit block size, AES is
 
more resistant to codebook attacks than are ciphers with shorter
 
blocks; we use random IV anyway).
 
 
 
HMAC MUST verify.  It is crucial to check for this before using the
 
message; otherwise, existential forgery becomes possible.  The
 
complete message for which HMAC verification fails MUST be discarded
 
(both for short messages consisting of a few blocks and potentially
 
for long messages, such as a response to the Fetch-Session command).
 
If such a message is part of OWAMP-Control, the connection MUST be
 
dropped.
 
 
 
Since OWAMP messages can have different numbers of blocks, the
 
existential forgery attack described in example 9.62 of [MENEZES]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
becomes a concern.  To prevent it (and to simplify implementation),
 
the length of any message becomes known after decrypting its first
 
block.
 
 
 
A special case is the first (fixed-length) message sent by the
 
client.  There, the token is a concatenation of the 128-bit challenge
 
(transmitted by the server in the clear), a 128-bit AES Session-key
 
(generated randomly by the client, encrypted with AES-CBC with IV=0),
 
and a 256-bit HMAC-SHA1 Session-key used for authentication.  Since
 
IV=0, the challenge (a single cipher block) is simply encrypted with
 
the secret key.  Therefore, we rely on resistance of AES to chosen
 
plaintext attacks (as the challenge could be substituted by an
 
attacker).  It should be noted that the number of blocks of chosen
 
plaintext an attacker can have encrypted with the secret key is
 
limited by the number of sessions the client wants to initiate.  An
 
attacker who knows the encryption of a server's challenge can produce
 
an existential forgery of the session key and thus disrupt the
 
session; however, any attacker can disrupt a session by corrupting
 
the protocol messages in an arbitrary fashion.  Therefore, no new
 
threat is created here; nevertheless, we require that the server
 
never issues the same challenge twice.  (If challenges are generated
 
randomly, a repetition would occur, on average, after 2^64 sessions;
 
we deem this satisfactory as this is enough even for an implausibly
 
busy server that participates in 1,000,000 sessions per second to go
 
without repetitions for more than 500 centuries.)  With respect to
 
the second part of the token, an attacker can produce an existential
 
forgery of the session key by modifying the second half of the
 
client's token while leaving the first part intact.  This forgery,
 
however, would be immediately discovered by the client when the HMAC
 
on the server's next message (acceptance or rejection of the
 
connection) does not verify.
 
 
 
== Acknowledgements ==
 
 
 
We would like to thank Guy Almes, Mark Allman, Jari Arkko, Hamid
 
Asgari, Steven Van den Berghe, Eric Boyd, Robert Cole, Joan
 
Cucchiara, Stephen Donnelly, Susan Evett, Sam Hartman, Kaynam
 
Hedayat, Petri Helenius, Scott Hollenbeck, Russ Housley, Kitamura
 
Yasuichi, Daniel H. T. R. Lawson, Will E. Leland, Bruce A. Mah,
 
Allison Mankin, Al Morton, Attila Pasztor, Randy Presuhn, Matthew
 
Roughan, Andy Scherrer, Henk Uijterwaal, and Sam Weiler for their
 
comments, suggestions, reviews, helpful discussion and proof-reading.
 
 
 
== IANA Considerations ==
 
 
 
IANA has allocated a well-known TCP port number (861) for the OWAMP-
 
Control part of the OWAMP protocol.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
== Internationalization Considerations ==
 
 
 
The protocol does not carry any information in a natural language,
 
with the possible exception of the KeyID in OWAMP-Control, which is
 
encoded in UTF-8.
 
 
 
== References ==
 
 
 
=== Normative References ===
 
 
 
[AES]          Advanced Encryption Standard (AES),                http://csrc.nist.gov/encryption/aes/
 
[BCP107]        Bellovin, S. and R. Housley, "Guidelines for                Cryptographic Key Management", [[BCP107|BCP 107]], [[RFC4107|RFC 4107]],                June 2005.
 
[RFC2104]      Krawczyk, H., Bellare, M., and R. Canetti, "HMAC:                Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication", [[RFC2104|RFC 2104]],                February 1997.
 
[RFC2119]      Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate                Requirement Levels", [[BCP14|BCP 14]], [[RFC2119|RFC 2119]], March 1997.
 
[RFC2330]      Paxson, V., Almes, G., Mahdavi, J., and M. Mathis,                "Framework for IP Performance Metrics", [[RFC2330|RFC 2330]], May                1998.
 
[RFC2474]      Nichols, K., Blake, S., Baker, F., and D. Black,                "Definition of the Differentiated Services Field (DS                Field) in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers", [[RFC2474|RFC 2474]],                December 1998.
 
[RFC2679]      Almes, G., Kalidindi, S., and M. Zekauskas, "A One-                way Delay Metric for IPPM", [[RFC2679|RFC 2679]], September 1999.
 
[RFC2680]      Almes, G., Kalidindi, S., and M. Zekauskas, "A One-                way Packet Loss Metric for IPPM", [[RFC2680|RFC 2680]], September                1999.
 
[RFC2836]      Brim, S., Carpenter, B., and F. Le Faucheur, "Per Hop                Behavior Identification Codes", [[RFC2836|RFC 2836]], May 2000.
 
[RFC2898]      Kaliski, B., "PKCS #5: Password-Based Cryptography                Specification Version 2.0", [[RFC2898|RFC 2898]], September 2000.
 
  
 +
/*
 +
** Convert an unsigned 32-bit integer into a u_int64_t number.
 +
*/
 +
u_int64_t
 +
OWPulong2num64(u_int32_t a)
 +
{
 +
        return ((u_int64_t)1 << 32) * a;
 +
}
  
 +
/*
 +
** Arithmetic functions on u_int64_t numbers.
 +
*/
  
 +
/*
 +
** Addition.
 +
*/
 +
u_int64_t
 +
OWPnum64_add(u_int64_t x, u_int64_t y)
  
 +
{
 +
        return x + y;
 +
}
  
 +
/*
 +
** Multiplication.  Allows overflow.  Straightforward implementation
 +
** of Algorithm 4.3.1.M (p.268) from [KNUTH].
 +
*/
 +
u_int64_t
 +
OWPnum64_mul(u_int64_t x, u_int64_t y)
 +
{
 +
        unsigned long w[4];
 +
        u_int64_t xdec[2];
 +
        u_int64_t ydec[2];
  
 +
        int i, j;
 +
        u_int64_t k, t, ret;
  
=== Informative References ===
+
        xdec[0] = MASK32(x);
 +
        xdec[1] = MASK32(x>>32);
 +
        ydec[0] = MASK32(y);
 +
        ydec[1] = MASK32(y>>32);
  
[APAN]          Z. Shu and K. Kobayashi, "HOTS: An OWAMP-Compliant                Hardware Packet Timestamper", In Proceedings of PAM                2005, http://www.springerlink.com/index/                W4GBD39YWC11GQTN.pdf
+
         for (j = 0; j < 4; j++)
[BRIX]          Brix Networks, http://www.brixnet.com/
+
                w[j] = 0;
[ZIGG]          J. H. Ahrens, U. Dieter, "Computer methods for                sampling from the exponential and normal                distributions", Communications of ACM, volume 15,                issue 10, 873-882, 1972.                http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/355604.361593
 
[MENEZES]      A. J. Menezes, P. C. van Oorschot, and S. A.                Vanstone, Handbook of Applied Cryptography, CRC                Press, revised reprint with updates, 1997.
 
[KNUTH]         D. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, vol.2, 3rd                edition, 1998.
 
[Abilene]      One-way Latency Measurement (OWAMP),                http://e2epi.internet2.edu/owamp/
 
[RIJN]          Reference ANSI C Implementation of Rijndael,                http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/~rijmen/                rijndael/rijndaelref.zip
 
[RIPE]          RIPE NCC Test-Traffic Measurements home,                http://www.ripe.net/test-traffic/.
 
[SURVEYOR]      Surveyor Home Page,                http://www.advanced.org/surveyor/.
 
[SURVEYOR-INET] S. Kalidindi and M. Zekauskas, "Surveyor: An                Infrastructure for Network Performance Measurements",                Proceedings of INET'99, June 1999.                http://www.isoc.org/inet99/proceedings/4h/4h_2.htm
 
[RFC1305]      Mills, D., "Network Time Protocol (Version 3)               Specification, Implementation and Analysis", RFC                1305, March 1992.
 
[RFC2246]       Dierks, T. and C. Allen, "The TLS Protocol Version                1.0", [[RFC2246|RFC 2246]], January 1999.
 
  
 +
        for (j = 0; j < 2; j++) {
 +
                k = 0;
 +
                for (i = 0; ; ) {
 +
                        t = k + (xdec[i]*ydec[j]) + w[i + j];
 +
                        w[i + j] = t%EXP2POW32;
 +
                        k = t/EXP2POW32;
 +
                        if (++i < 2)
 +
                                continue;
 +
                        else {
 +
                                w[j + 2] = k;
 +
                                break;
 +
                        }
 +
                }
 +
        }
  
 +
        ret = w[2];
 +
        ret <<= 32;
 +
        return w[1] + ret;
 +
}
  
 +
/*
  
 +
** Seed the random number generator using a 16-byte quantity 'seed'
 +
** (== the session ID in OWAMP). This function implements step U1
 +
** of algorithm Unif.
 +
*/
  
 +
void
 +
OWPrand_context_init(OWPrand_context *next, unsigned char *seed)
 +
{
 +
        int i;
  
[RFC2401]      Kent, S. and R. Atkinson, "Security Architecture for                the Internet Protocol", [[RFC2401|RFC 2401]], November 1998.
+
        /* Initialize the key */
[RFC3546]      Blake-Wilson, S., Nystrom, M., Hopwood, D.,                Mikkelsen, J., and T. Wright, "Transport Layer                Security (TLS) Extensions", [[RFC3546|RFC 3546]], June 2003.
+
        rijndaelKeyInit(next->key, seed);
[RFC4086]      Eastlake, D., 3rd, Schiller, J., and S. Crocker,                "Randomness Requirements for Security", [[BCP106|BCP 106]], RFC                4086, June 2005.
 
  
 +
        /* Initialize the counter with zeros */
 +
        memset(next->out, 0, 16);
 +
        for (i = 0; i < 16; i++)
 +
                next->counter[i] = 0UL;
 +
}
  
 +
/*
 +
** Random number generating functions.
 +
*/
  
 +
/*
 +
** Generate and return a 32-bit uniform random value (saved in the
 +
**less significant half of the u_int64_t).  This function implements
 +
**steps U2-U4 of the algorithm Unif.
 +
*/
 +
u_int64_t
 +
OWPunif_rand64(OWPrand_context *next)
 +
{
 +
        int j;
 +
        u_int8_t  *buf;
 +
        u_int64_t  ret = 0;
  
 +
        /* step U2 */
 +
        u_int8_t i = next->counter[15] & (u_int8_t)3;
 +
        if (!i)
 +
                rijndaelEncrypt(next->key, next->counter, next->out);
  
 +
        /* Step U3.  Increment next.counter as a 16-octet single
 +
          quantity in network byte order for AES counter mode. */
 +
        for (j = 15; j >= 0; j--)
 +
                if (++next->counter[j])
 +
                        break;
  
 +
        /* Step U4.  Do output.  The last 4 bytes of ret now contain
  
 
+
          the random integer in network byte order */
 
+
        buf = &next->out[4*i];
 
+
         for (j=0; j<4; j++) {
 
+
                ret <<= 8;
 
+
                ret += *buf++;
 
+
        }
 
+
         return ret;
 
+
}
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Appendix A: Sample C Code for Exponential Deviates
 
The values in array Q[] are the exact values that MUST be used by allimplementations (see Sections 5.1 and 5.2).  This appendix onlyserves for illustrative purposes.
 
/*** Example usage: generate a stream of exponential (mean 1)** random quantities (ignoring error checking during initialization).** If a variate with some mean mu other than 1 is desired, the output** of this algorithm can be multiplied by mu according to the rules** of arithmetic we described.
 
** Assume that a 16-octet 'seed' has been initialized** (as the shared secret in OWAMP, for example)** unsigned char seed[16];
 
** OWPrand_context next;
 
** (initialize state)** OWPrand_context_init(&next, seed);
 
** (generate a sequence of exponential variates)** while (1) {**    u_int64_t num = OWPexp_rand64(&next);      <do something with num here>                ...** }*/
 
#include <stdlib.h>
 
typedef u_int64_t u_int64_t;
 
/* (K - 1) is the first k such that Q[k] > 1 - 1/(2^32). */#define K 12
 
#define BIT31  0x80000000UL    /* See if first bit in the lower                                  32 bits is zero. */#define MASK32(n)      ((n) & 0xFFFFFFFFUL)
 
#define EXP2POW32      0x100000000ULL
 
typedef struct OWPrand_context {        unsigned char counter[16];/* Counter (network byte order).*/        keyInstance key;          /* Key to encrypt the counter.*/        unsigned char out[16];    /* The encrypted block.*/
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
} OWPrand_context;
 
/*** The array has been computed according to the formula:****      Q[k] = (ln2)/(1!) + (ln2)^2/(2!) + ... + (ln2)^k/(k!)**** as described in algorithm S. (The values below have been** multiplied by 2^32 and rounded to the nearest integer.)** These exact values MUST be used so that different implementation** produce the same sequences.*/static u_int64_t Q[K] = {        0,        /* Placeholder - so array indices start from 1. */        0xB17217F8,        0xEEF193F7,        0xFD271862,        0xFF9D6DD0,        0xFFF4CFD0,        0xFFFEE819,        0xFFFFE7FF,        0xFFFFFE2B,        0xFFFFFFE0,        0xFFFFFFFE,        0xFFFFFFFF};
 
/* this element represents ln2 */#define LN2 Q[1]
 
/*** Convert an unsigned 32-bit integer into a u_int64_t number.*/u_int64_tOWPulong2num64(u_int32_t a){        return ((u_int64_t)1 << 32) * a;}
 
/*** Arithmetic functions on u_int64_t numbers.*/
 
/*** Addition.*/u_int64_tOWPnum64_add(u_int64_t x, u_int64_t y)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
{        return x + y;}
 
/*** Multiplication.  Allows overflow.  Straightforward implementation** of Algorithm 4.3.1.M (p.268) from [KNUTH].*/u_int64_tOWPnum64_mul(u_int64_t x, u_int64_t y){        unsigned long w[4];        u_int64_t xdec[2];        u_int64_t ydec[2];
 
        int i, j;        u_int64_t k, t, ret;
 
        xdec[0] = MASK32(x);        xdec[1] = MASK32(x>>32);        ydec[0] = MASK32(y);        ydec[1] = MASK32(y>>32);
 
         for (j = 0; j < 4; j++)               w[j] = 0;
 
        for (j = 0; j < 2; j++) {                k = 0;                for (i = 0; ; ) {                        t = k + (xdec[i]*ydec[j]) + w[i + j];                       w[i + j] = t%EXP2POW32;                        k = t/EXP2POW32;                        if (++i < 2)                                continue;                        else {                                w[j + 2] = k;                                break;                        }                }        }
 
         ret = w[2];        ret <<= 32;        return w[1] + ret;}
 
  
 
/*
 
/*
 +
** Generate an exponential deviate with mean 1.
 +
*/
 +
u_int64_t
 +
OWPexp_rand64(OWPrand_context *next)
 +
{
 +
        unsigned long i, k;
 +
        u_int32_t j = 0;
 +
        u_int64_t U, V, J, tmp;
  
 +
        /* Step S1. Get U and shift */
 +
        U = OWPunif_rand64(next);
  
 +
        while ((U & BIT31) && (j < 32)) { /* Shift until first 0. */
 +
                U <<= 1;
 +
                j++;
 +
        }
 +
        /* Remove the 0 itself. */
 +
        U <<= 1;
  
 +
        U = MASK32(U);  /* Keep only the fractional part. */
 +
        J = OWPulong2num64(j);
  
** Seed the random number generator using a 16-byte quantity 'seed'** (== the session ID in OWAMP). This function implements step U1** of algorithm Unif.*/
+
         /* Step S2.  Immediate acceptance? */
voidOWPrand_context_init(OWPrand_context *next, unsigned char *seed){        int i;
+
         if (U < LN2)       /* return (j*ln2 + U) */
         /* Initialize the key */       rijndaelKeyInit(next->key, seed);
+
                return OWPnum64_add(OWPnum64_mul(J, LN2), U);
         /* Initialize the counter with zeros */        memset(next->out, 0, 16);        for (i = 0; i < 16; i++)               next->counter[i] = 0UL;}
 
 
 
/*** Random number generating functions.*/
 
/*** Generate and return a 32-bit uniform random value (saved in the**less significant half of the u_int64_t).  This function implements**steps U2-U4 of the algorithm Unif.*/u_int64_tOWPunif_rand64(OWPrand_context *next){        int j;        u_int8_t  *buf;        u_int64_t  ret = 0;
 
        /* step U2 */        u_int8_t i = next->counter[15] & (u_int8_t)3;        if (!i)               rijndaelEncrypt(next->key, next->counter, next->out);
 
        /* Step U3.  Increment next.counter as a 16-octet single          quantity in network byte order for AES counter mode. */        for (j = 15; j >= 0; j--)                if (++next->counter[j])                       break;
 
        /* Step U4.  Do output.  The last 4 bytes of ret now contain
 
 
 
 
 
  
 +
        /* Step S3.  Minimize. */
 +
        for (k = 2; k < K; k++)
 +
                if (U < Q[k])
 +
                        break;
 +
        V = OWPunif_rand64(next);
 +
        for (i = 2; i <= k; i++) {
 +
                tmp = OWPunif_rand64(next);
 +
                if (tmp < V)
 +
                        V = tmp;
 +
        }
  
          the random integer in network byte order */        buf = &next->out[4*i];        for (j=0; j<4; j++) {                ret <<= 8;                ret += *buf++;        }        return ret;}
 
/*** Generate an exponential deviate with mean 1.*/u_int64_tOWPexp_rand64(OWPrand_context *next){        unsigned long i, k;        u_int32_t j = 0;        u_int64_t U, V, J, tmp;
 
        /* Step S1. Get U and shift */        U = OWPunif_rand64(next);
 
        while ((U & BIT31) && (j < 32)) { /* Shift until first 0. */                U <<= 1;                j++;        }        /* Remove the 0 itself. */        U <<= 1;
 
        U = MASK32(U);  /* Keep only the fractional part. */        J = OWPulong2num64(j);
 
        /* Step S2.  Immediate acceptance? */        if (U < LN2)      /* return  (j*ln2 + U) */                return OWPnum64_add(OWPnum64_mul(J, LN2), U);
 
        /* Step S3.  Minimize. */        for (k = 2; k < K; k++)                if (U < Q[k])                        break;        V = OWPunif_rand64(next);        for (i = 2; i <= k; i++) {                tmp = OWPunif_rand64(next);                if (tmp < V)                        V = tmp;        }
 
 
         /* Step S4.  Return (j+V)*ln2 */
 
         /* Step S4.  Return (j+V)*ln2 */
  
 +
        return OWPnum64_mul(OWPnum64_add(J, V), LN2);
 +
}
  
 
 
        return OWPnum64_mul(OWPnum64_add(J, V), LN2);}
 
 
Appendix B: Test Vectors for Exponential Deviates
 
Appendix B: Test Vectors for Exponential Deviates
It is important that the test schedules generated by differentimplementations from identical inputs be identical.  The non-trivialpart is the generation of pseudo-random exponentially distributeddeviates.  To aid implementors in verifying interoperability, severaltest vectors are provided.  For each of the four given 128-bit valuesof SID represented as hexadecimal numbers, 1,000,000 exponentiallydistributed 64-bit deviates are generated as described above.  Asthey are generated, they are all added to each other.  The sum of all1,000,000 deviates is given as a hexadecimal number for each SID.  Animplementation MUST produce exactly these hexadecimal numbers.  Toaid in the verification of the conversion of these numbers to valuesof delay in seconds, approximate values are given (assuminglambda=1).  An implementation SHOULD produce delay values in secondsthat are close to the ones given below.
 
    SID = 0x2872979303ab47eeac028dab3829dab2    SUM[1000000] = 0x000f4479bd317381 (1000569.739036 seconds)
 
    SID = 0x0102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f00    SUM[1000000] = 0x000f433686466a62 (1000246.524512 seconds)
 
    SID = 0xdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeef    SUM[1000000] = 0x000f416c8884d2d3 (999788.533277 seconds)
 
    SID = 0xfeed0feed1feed2feed3feed4feed5ab    SUM[1000000] = 0x000f3f0b4b416ec8 (999179.293967 seconds)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 +
It is important that the test schedules generated by different
 +
implementations from identical inputs be identical.  The non-trivial
 +
part is the generation of pseudo-random exponentially distributed
 +
deviates.  To aid implementors in verifying interoperability, several
 +
test vectors are provided.  For each of the four given 128-bit values
 +
of SID represented as hexadecimal numbers, 1,000,000 exponentially
 +
distributed 64-bit deviates are generated as described above.  As
 +
they are generated, they are all added to each other.  The sum of all
 +
1,000,000 deviates is given as a hexadecimal number for each SID.  An
 +
implementation MUST produce exactly these hexadecimal numbers.  To
 +
aid in the verification of the conversion of these numbers to values
 +
of delay in seconds, approximate values are given (assuming
 +
lambda=1).  An implementation SHOULD produce delay values in seconds
 +
that are close to the ones given below.
  
 +
    SID = 0x2872979303ab47eeac028dab3829dab2
 +
    SUM[1000000] = 0x000f4479bd317381 (1000569.739036 seconds)
  
 +
    SID = 0x0102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f00
 +
    SUM[1000000] = 0x000f433686466a62 (1000246.524512 seconds)
  
 +
    SID = 0xdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeef
 +
    SUM[1000000] = 0x000f416c8884d2d3 (999788.533277 seconds)
  
 +
    SID = 0xfeed0feed1feed2feed3feed4feed5ab
 +
    SUM[1000000] = 0x000f3f0b4b416ec8 (999179.293967 seconds)
  
 
Authors' Addresses
 
Authors' Addresses
Line 2,528: Line 2,377:
  
 
WWW: http://www.internet2.edu/~shalunov/
 
WWW: http://www.internet2.edu/~shalunov/
 
  
 
Benjamin Teitelbaum
 
Benjamin Teitelbaum
Line 2,537: Line 2,385:
  
 
WWW: http://people.internet2.edu/~ben/
 
WWW: http://people.internet2.edu/~ben/
 
  
 
Anatoly Karp
 
Anatoly Karp
Line 2,545: Line 2,392:
  
  
 
  
 
Jeff W. Boote
 
Jeff W. Boote
Line 2,553: Line 2,399:
  
  
 
  
 
Matthew J. Zekauskas
 
Matthew J. Zekauskas
Line 2,561: Line 2,406:
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Full Copyright Statement
 
Full Copyright Statement
Line 2,616: Line 2,451:
 
Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
 
Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
 
Administrative Support Activity (IASA).
 
Administrative Support Activity (IASA).
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
[[Category:Standards Track]]
 
[[Category:Standards Track]]

Latest revision as of 14:12, 5 October 2020

Network Working Group S. Shalunov Request for Comments: 4656 B. Teitelbaum Category: Standards Track A. Karp

                                                            J. Boote
                                                        M. Zekauskas
                                                           Internet2
                                                      September 2006
         A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP)

Status of This Memo

This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

Abstract

The One-Way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP) measures unidirectional characteristics such as one-way delay and one-way loss. High-precision measurement of these one-way IP performance metrics became possible with wider availability of good time sources (such as GPS and CDMA). OWAMP enables the interoperability of these measurements.

Introduction

The IETF IP Performance Metrics (IPPM) working group has defined metrics for one-way packet delay RFC2679 and loss RFC2680 across Internet paths. Although there are now several measurement platforms that implement collection of these metrics [SURVEYOR] [SURVEYOR-INET] [RIPE] [BRIX], there is not currently a standard that would permit initiation of test streams or exchange of packets to collect singleton metrics in an interoperable manner.

With the increasingly wide availability of affordable global positioning systems (GPS) and CDMA-based time sources, hosts increasingly have available to them very accurate time sources, either directly or through their proximity to Network Time Protocol (NTP) primary (stratum 1) time servers. By standardizing a technique for collecting IPPM one-way active measurements, we hope to create an environment where IPPM metrics may be collected across a far broader mesh of Internet paths than is currently possible. One particularly compelling vision is of widespread deployment of open OWAMP servers

that would make measurement of one-way delay as commonplace as measurement of round-trip time using an ICMP-based tool like ping.

Additional design goals of OWAMP include: being hard to detect and manipulate, security, logical separation of control and test functionality, and support for small test packets. (Being hard to detect makes interference with measurements more difficult for intermediaries in the middle of the network.)

OWAMP test traffic is hard to detect because it is simply a stream of UDP packets from and to negotiated port numbers, with potentially nothing static in the packets (size is negotiated, as well). OWAMP also supports an encrypted mode that further obscures the traffic and makes it impossible to alter timestamps undetectably.

Security features include optional authentication and/or encryption of control and test messages. These features may be useful to prevent unauthorized access to results or man-in-the-middle attacks that attempt to provide special treatment to OWAMP test streams or that attempt to modify sender-generated timestamps to falsify test results.

In this document, the key words "MUST", "REQUIRED", "SHOULD", "RECOMMENDED", and "MAY" are to be interpreted as described in RFC2119.

Relationship of Test and Control Protocols

OWAMP actually consists of two inter-related protocols: OWAMP-Control and OWAMP-Test. OWAMP-Control is used to initiate, start, and stop test sessions and to fetch their results, whereas OWAMP-Test is used to exchange test packets between two measurement nodes.

Although OWAMP-Test may be used in conjunction with a control protocol other than OWAMP-Control, the authors have deliberately chosen to include both protocols in the same RFC to encourage the implementation and deployment of OWAMP-Control as a common denominator control protocol for one-way active measurements. Having a complete and open one-way active measurement solution that is simple to implement and deploy is crucial to ensuring a future in which inter-domain one-way active measurement could become as commonplace as ping. We neither anticipate nor recommend that OWAMP-Control form the foundation of a general-purpose extensible measurement and monitoring control protocol.

OWAMP-Control is designed to support the negotiation of one-way active measurement sessions and results retrieval in a straightforward manner. At session initiation, there is a

negotiation of sender and receiver addresses and port numbers, session start time, session length, test packet size, the mean Poisson sampling interval for the test stream, and some attributes of the very general [[[RFC2330|RFC 2330]]] notion of packet type, including packet size and per-hop behavior (PHB) RFC2474, which could be used to support the measurement of one-way network characteristics across differentiated services networks. Additionally, OWAMP-Control supports per-session encryption and authentication for both test and control traffic, measurement servers that can act as proxies for test stream endpoints, and the exchange of a seed value for the pseudo- random Poisson process that describes the test stream generated by the sender.

We believe that OWAMP-Control can effectively support one-way active measurement in a variety of environments, from publicly accessible measurement beacons running on arbitrary hosts to network monitoring deployments within private corporate networks. If integration with Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) or proprietary network management protocols is required, gateways may be created.

Logical Model

Several roles are logically separated to allow for broad flexibility in use. Specifically, we define the following:

Session-Sender The sending endpoint of an OWAMP-Test session;

Session-Receiver The receiving endpoint of an OWAMP-Test session;

Server An end system that manages one or more OWAMP-Test

                   sessions, is capable of configuring per-session
                   state in session endpoints, and is capable of
                   returning the results of a test session;

Control-Client An end system that initiates requests for

                   OWAMP-Test sessions, triggers the start of a set
                   of sessions, and may trigger their termination;
                   and

Fetch-Client An end system that initiates requests to fetch

                   the results of completed OWAMP-Test sessions.

One possible scenario of relationships between these roles is shown below.

   +----------------+               +------------------+
   | Session-Sender |--OWAMP-Test-->| Session-Receiver |
   +----------------+               +------------------+
     ^                                     ^
     |                                     |
     |                                     |
     |                                     |
     |  +----------------+<----------------+
     |  |     Server     |<-------+
     |  +----------------+        |
     |    ^                       |
     |    |                       |
     | OWAMP-Control         OWAMP-Control
     |    |                       |
     v    v                       v
   +----------------+     +-----------------+
   | Control-Client |     |   Fetch-Client  |
   +----------------+     +-----------------+

(Unlabeled links in the figure are unspecified by this document and may be proprietary protocols.)

Different logical roles can be played by the same host. For example, in the figure above, there could actually be only two hosts: one playing the roles of Control-Client, Fetch-Client, and Session- Sender, and the other playing the roles of Server and Session- Receiver. This is shown below.

   +-----------------+                   +------------------+
   | Control-Client  |<--OWAMP-Control-->| Server           |
   | Fetch-Client    |                   |                  |
   | Session-Sender  |---OWAMP-Test----->| Session-Receiver |
   +-----------------+                   +------------------+

Finally, because many Internet paths include segments that transport IP over ATM, delay and loss measurements can include the effects of ATM segmentation and reassembly (SAR). Consequently, OWAMP has been designed to allow for small test packets that would fit inside the payload of a single ATM cell (this is only achieved in unauthenticated mode).

Protocol Overview

As described above, OWAMP consists of two inter-related protocols: OWAMP-Control and OWAMP-Test. The former is layered over TCP and is used to initiate and control measurement sessions and to fetch their results. The latter protocol is layered over UDP and is used to send singleton measurement packets along the Internet path under test.

The initiator of the measurement session establishes a TCP connection to a well-known port, 861, on the target point and this connection remains open for the duration of the OWAMP-Test sessions. An OWAMP server SHOULD listen to this well-known port.

OWAMP-Control messages are transmitted only before OWAMP-Test sessions are actually started and after they are completed (with the possible exception of an early Stop-Sessions message).

The OWAMP-Control and OWAMP-Test protocols support three modes of operation: unauthenticated, authenticated, and encrypted. The authenticated or encrypted modes require that endpoints possess a shared secret.

All multi-octet quantities defined in this document are represented as unsigned integers in network byte order unless specified otherwise.

OWAMP-Control

The type of each OWAMP-Control message can be found after reading the first 16 octets. The length of each OWAMP-Control message can be computed upon reading its fixed-size part. No message is shorter than 16 octets.

An implementation SHOULD expunge unused state to prevent denial-of- service attacks, or unbounded memory usage, on the server. For example, if the full control message is not received within some number of minutes after it is expected, the TCP connection associated with the OWAMP-Control session SHOULD be dropped. In absence of other considerations, 30 minutes seems like a reasonable upper bound.

Connection Setup

Before either a Control-Client or a Fetch-Client can issue commands to a Server, it has to establish a connection to the server.

First, a client opens a TCP connection to the server on a well-known port 861. The server responds with a server greeting:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                      Unused (12 octets)                       |
 |                                                               |
 |+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                            Modes                              |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                     Challenge (16 octets)                     |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                        Salt (16 octets)                       |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                        Count (4 octets)                       |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                        MBZ (12 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

The following Mode values are meaningful: 1 for unauthenticated, 2 for authenticated, and 4 for encrypted. The value of the Modes field sent by the server is the bit-wise OR of the mode values that it is willing to support during this session. Thus, the last three bits of the Modes 32-bit value are used. The first 29 bits MUST be zero. A client MUST ignore the values in the first 29 bits of the Modes value. (This way, the bits are available for future protocol extensions. This is the only intended extension mechanism.)

Challenge is a random sequence of octets generated by the server; it is used subsequently by the client to prove possession of a shared secret in a manner prescribed below.

Salt and Count are parameters used in deriving a key from a shared secret as described below.

Salt MUST be generated pseudo-randomly (independently of anything else in this document).

Count MUST be a power of 2. Count MUST be at least 1024. Count SHOULD be increased as more computing power becomes common.

If the Modes value is zero, the server does not wish to communicate with the client and MAY close the connection immediately. The client SHOULD close the connection if it receives a greeting with Modes equal to zero. The client MAY close the connection if the client's desired mode is unavailable.

Otherwise, the client MUST respond with the following Set-Up-Response message:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                             Mode                              |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 .                                                               .
 .                       KeyID (80 octets)                       .
 .                                                               .
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 .                                                               .
 .                       Token (64 octets)                       .
 .                                                               .
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 .                                                               .
 .                     Client-IV (16 octets)                     .
 .                                                               .
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Here Mode is the mode that the client chooses to use during this OWAMP-Control session. It will also be used for all OWAMP-Test sessions started under control of this OWAMP-Control session. In Mode, one or zero bits MUST be set within last three bits. If it is one bit that is set within the last three bits, this bit MUST indicate a mode that the server agreed to use (i.e., the same bit MUST have been set by the server in the server greeting). The first 29 bits of Mode MUST be zero. A server MUST ignore the values of the first 29 bits. If zero Mode bits are set by the client, the client indicates that it will not continue with the session; in this case, the client and the server SHOULD close the TCP connection associated with the OWAMP-Control session.

In unauthenticated mode, KeyID, Token, and Client-IV are unused. Otherwise, KeyID is a UTF-8 string, up to 80 octets in length (if the string is shorter, it is padded with zero octets), that tells the server which shared secret the client wishes to use to authenticate or encrypt, while Token is the concatenation of a 16-octet challenge, a 16-octet AES Session-key used for encryption, and a 32-octet HMAC- SHA1 Session-key used for authentication. The token itself is encrypted using the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) [AES] in Cipher Block Chaining (CBC). Encryption MUST be performed using an Initialization Vector (IV) of zero and a key derived from the shared secret associated with KeyID. (Both the server and the client use the same mappings from KeyIDs to shared secrets. The server, being prepared to conduct sessions with more than one client, uses KeyIDs to choose the appropriate secret key; a client would typically have different secret keys for different servers. The situation is analogous to that with passwords.)

The shared secret is a passphrase; it MUST not contain newlines. The secret key is derived from the passphrase using a password-based key derivation function PBKDF2 (PKCS #5) RFC2898. The PBKDF2 function requires several parameters: the PRF is HMAC-SHA1 RFC2104; the salt and count are as transmitted by the server.

AES Session-key, HMAC Session-key and Client-IV are generated randomly by the client. AES Session-key and HMAC Session-key MUST be generated with sufficient entropy not to reduce the security of the underlying cipher RFC4086. Client-IV merely needs to be unique (i.e., it MUST never be repeated for different sessions using the same secret key; a simple way to achieve that without the use of cumbersome state is to generate the Client-IV values using a cryptographically secure pseudo-random number source: if this is done, the first repetition is unlikely to occur before 2^64 sessions with the same secret key are conducted).

The server MUST respond with the following Server-Start message:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                         MBZ (15 octets)                       |
 |                                                               |
 |                                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                               |   Accept      |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                     Server-IV (16 octets)                     |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                     Start-Time (Timestamp)                    |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         MBZ (8 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

The MBZ parts MUST be zero. The client MUST ignore their value. MBZ (MUST be zero) fields here and after have the same semantics: the party that sends the message MUST set the field so that all bits are equal to zero; the party that interprets the message MUST ignore the value. (This way, the field could be used for future extensions.)

Server-IV is generated randomly by the server. In unauthenticated mode, Server-IV is unused.

The Accept field indicates the server's willingness to continue communication. A zero value in the Accept field means that the server accepts the authentication and is willing to conduct further transactions. Non-zero values indicate that the server does not accept the authentication or, for some other reason, is not willing to conduct further transactions in this OWAMP-Control session. The full list of available Accept values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept Field".

If a negative (non-zero) response is sent, the server MAY (and the client SHOULD) close the connection after this message.

Start-Time is a timestamp representing the time when the current instantiation of the server started operating. (For example, in a multi-user general purpose operating system, it could be the time when the server process was started.) If Accept is non-zero, Start-

Time SHOULD be set so that all of its bits are zeros. In authenticated and encrypted modes, Start-Time is encrypted as described in Section 3.4, "OWAMP-Control Commands", unless Accept is non-zero. (Authenticated and encrypted mode cannot be entered unless the control connection can be initialized.)

Timestamp format is described in Section 4.1.2. The same instantiation of the server SHOULD report the same exact Start-Time value to each client in each session.

The previous transactions constitute connection setup.

Integrity Protection (HMAC)

Authentication of each message (also referred to as a command in this document) in OWAMP-Control is accomplished by adding an HMAC to it. The HMAC that OWAMP uses is HMAC-SHA1 truncated to 128 bits. Thus, all HMAC fields are 16 octets. An HMAC needs a key. The HMAC Session-key is communicated along with the AES Session-key during OWAMP-Control connection setup. The HMAC Session-key SHOULD be derived independently of the AES Session-key (an implementation, of course, MAY use the same mechanism to generate the random bits for both keys). Each HMAC sent covers everything sent in a given direction between the previous HMAC (but not including it) and up to the beginning of the new HMAC. This way, once encryption is set up, each bit of the OWAMP-Control connection is authenticated by an HMAC exactly once.

When encrypting, authentication happens before encryption, so HMAC blocks are encrypted along with the rest of the stream. When decrypting, the order, of course, is reversed: first one decrypts, then one checks the HMAC, then one proceeds to use the data.

The HMAC MUST be checked as early as possible to avoid using and propagating corrupt data.

In open mode, the HMAC fields are unused and have the same semantics as MBZ fields.

Values of the Accept Field

Accept values are used throughout the OWAMP-Control protocol to communicate the server response to client requests. The full set of valid Accept field values are as follows:

 0    OK.
 1    Failure, reason unspecified (catch-all).
 2    Internal error.
 3    Some aspect of request is not supported.
 4    Cannot perform request due to permanent resource limitations.
 5    Cannot perform request due to temporary resource limitations.

All other values are reserved. The sender of the message MAY use the value of 1 for all non-zero Accept values. A message sender SHOULD use the correct Accept value if it is going to use other values. The message receiver MUST interpret all values of Accept other than these reserved values as 1. This way, other values are available for future extensions.

OWAMP-Control Commands

In authenticated or encrypted mode (which are identical as far as OWAMP-Control is concerned, and only differ in OWAMP-Test), all further communications are encrypted with the AES Session-key (using CBC mode) and authenticated with HMAC Session-key. The client encrypts everything it sends through the just-established OWAMP- Control connection using stream encryption with Client-IV as the IV. Correspondingly, the server encrypts its side of the connection using Server-IV as the IV.

The IVs themselves are transmitted in cleartext. Encryption starts with the block immediately following the block containing the IV. The two streams (one going from the client to the server and one going back) are encrypted independently, each with its own IV, but using the same key (the AES Session-key).

The following commands are available for the client: Request-Session, Start-Sessions, Stop-Sessions, and Fetch-Session. The command Stop- Sessions is available to both the client and the server. (The server can also send other messages in response to commands it receives.)

After the client sends the Start-Sessions command and until it both sends and receives (in an unspecified order) the Stop-Sessions command, it is said to be conducting active measurements. Similarly, the server is said to be conducting active measurements after it receives the Start-Sessions command and until it both sends and receives (in an unspecified order) the Stop-Sessions command.

While conducting active measurements, the only command available is Stop-Sessions.

These commands are described in detail below.

Creating Test Sessions

Individual one-way active measurement sessions are established using a simple request/response protocol. An OWAMP client MAY issue zero or more Request-Session messages to an OWAMP server, which MUST respond to each with an Accept-Session message. An Accept-Session message MAY refuse a request.

The format of Request-Session message is as follows:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |      1        |  MBZ  | IPVN  |  Conf-Sender  | Conf-Receiver |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                  Number of Schedule Slots                     |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                      Number of Packets                        |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |          Sender Port          |         Receiver Port         |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                        Sender Address                         |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |           Sender Address (cont.) or MBZ (12 octets)           |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                        Receiver Address                       |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |           Receiver Address (cont.) or MBZ (12 octets)         |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Padding Length                        |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                           Start Time                          |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                       Timeout, (8 octets)                     |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                       Type-P Descriptor                       |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         MBZ (8 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                       HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

This is immediately followed by one or more schedule slot descriptions (the number of schedule slots is specified in the "Number of Schedule Slots" field above):

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |    Slot Type  |                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+         MBZ (7 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                 Slot Parameter (Timestamp)                    |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

These are immediately followed by HMAC:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                       HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

All these messages constitute one logical message: the Request- Session command.

Above, the first octet (1) indicates that this is the Request-Session command.

IPVN is the IP version numbers for Sender and Receiver. When the IP version number is 4, 12 octets follow the 4-octet IPv4 address stored in Sender Address and Receiver Address. These octets MUST be set to zero by the client and MUST be ignored by the server. Currently meaningful IPVN values are 4 and 6.

Conf-Sender and Conf-Receiver MUST be set to 0 or 1 by the client. The server MUST interpret any non-zero value as 1. If the value is 1, the server is being asked to configure the corresponding agent (sender or receiver). In this case, the corresponding Port value SHOULD be disregarded by the server. At least one of Conf-Sender and Conf-Receiver MUST be 1. (Both can be set, in which case the server is being asked to perform a session between two hosts it can configure.)

Number of Schedule Slots, as mentioned before, specifies the number of slot records that go between the two blocks of HMAC. It is used by the sender to determine when to send test packets (see next section).

Number of Packets is the number of active measurement packets to be sent during this OWAMP-Test session (note that either the server or the client can abort the session early).

If Conf-Sender is not set, Sender Port is the UDP port from which OWAMP-Test packets will be sent. If Conf-Receiver is not set, Receiver Port is the UDP port OWAMP-Test to which packets are requested to be sent.

The Sender Address and Receiver Address fields contain, respectively, the sender and receiver addresses of the end points of the Internet path over which an OWAMP test session is requested.

SID is the session identifier. It can be used in later sessions as an argument for the Fetch-Session command. It is meaningful only if Conf-Receiver is 0. This way, the SID is always generated by the receiving side. See the end of the section for information on how the SID is generated.

Padding length is the number of octets to be appended to the normal OWAMP-Test packet (see more on padding in discussion of OWAMP-Test).

Start Time is the time when the session is to be started (but not before Start-Sessions command is issued). This timestamp is in the same format as OWAMP-Test timestamps.

Timeout (or a loss threshold) is an interval of time (expressed as a timestamp). A packet belonging to the test session that is being set up by the current Request-Session command will be considered lost if it is not received during Timeout seconds after it is sent.

Type-P Descriptor covers only a subset of (very large) Type-P space. If the first two bits of the Type-P Descriptor are 00, then the subsequent six bits specify the requested Differentiated Services Codepoint (DSCP) value of sent OWAMP-Test packets, as defined in RFC2474. If the first two bits of Type-P descriptor are 01, then the subsequent 16 bits specify the requested PHB Identification Code (PHB ID), as defined in RFC2836.

Therefore, the value of all zeros specifies the default best-effort service.

If Conf-Sender is set, the Type-P Descriptor is to be used to configure the sender to send packets according to its value. If Conf-Sender is not set, the Type-P Descriptor is a declaration of how the sender will be configured.

If Conf-Sender is set and the server does not recognize the Type-P Descriptor, or it cannot or does not wish to set the corresponding attributes on OWAMP-Test packets, it SHOULD reject the session request. If Conf-Sender is not set, the server SHOULD accept or reject the session, paying no attention to the value of the Type-P Descriptor.

To each Request-Session message, an OWAMP server MUST respond with an Accept-Session message:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |    Accept     |  MBZ          |            Port               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
 |                                                               |
 |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                        MBZ (12 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                       HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

In this message, zero in the Accept field means that the server is willing to conduct the session. A non-zero value indicates rejection of the request. The full list of available Accept values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept Field".

If the server rejects a Request-Session message, it SHOULD not close the TCP connection. The client MAY close it if it receives a negative response to the Request-Session message.

The meaning of Port in the response depends on the values of Conf- Sender and Conf-Receiver in the query that solicited the response. If both were set, the Port field is unused. If only Conf-Sender was set, Port is the port from which to expect OWAMP-Test packets. If

only Conf-Receiver was set, Port is the port to which OWAMP-Test packets are sent.

If only Conf-Sender was set, the SID field in the response is unused. Otherwise, SID is a unique server-generated session identifier. It can be used later as handle to fetch the results of a session.

SIDs SHOULD be constructed by concatenation of the 4-octet IPv4 IP number belonging to the generating machine, an 8-octet timestamp, and a 4-octet random value. To reduce the probability of collisions, if the generating machine has any IPv4 addresses (with the exception of loopback), one of them SHOULD be used for SID generation, even if all communication is IPv6-based. If it has no IPv4 addresses at all, the last four octets of an IPv6 address MAY be used instead. Note that SID is always chosen by the receiver. If truly random values are not available, it is important that the SID be made unpredictable, as knowledge of the SID might be used for access control.

Send Schedules

The sender and the receiver both need to know the same send schedule. This way, when packets are lost, the receiver knows when they were supposed to be sent. It is desirable to compress common schedules and still to be able to use an arbitrary one for the test sessions. In many cases, the schedule will consist of repeated sequences of packets: this way, the sequence performs some test, and the test is repeated a number of times to gather statistics.

To implement this, we have a schedule with a given number of slots. Each slot has a type and a parameter. Two types are supported: exponentially distributed pseudo-random quantity (denoted by a code of 0) and a fixed quantity (denoted by a code of 1). The parameter is expressed as a timestamp and specifies a time interval. For a type 0 slot (exponentially distributed pseudo-random quantity), this interval is the mean value (or 1/lambda if the distribution density function is expressed as lambda*exp(-lambda*x) for positive values of x). For a type 1 (fixed quantity) slot, the parameter is the delay itself. The sender starts with the beginning of the schedule and executes the instructions in the slots: for a slot of type 0, wait an exponentially distributed time with a mean of the specified parameter and then send a test packet (and proceed to the next slot); for a slot of type 1, wait the specified time and send a test packet (and proceed to the next slot). The schedule is circular: when there are no more slots, the sender returns to the first slot.

The sender and the receiver need to be able to reproducibly execute the entire schedule (so, if a packet is lost, the receiver can still attach a send timestamp to it). Slots of type 1 are trivial to

reproducibly execute. To reproducibly execute slots of type 0, we need to be able to generate pseudo-random exponentially distributed quantities in a reproducible manner. The way this is accomplished is discussed later in Section 5, "Computing Exponentially Distributed Pseudo-Random Numbers".

Using this mechanism, one can easily specify common testing scenarios. The following are some examples:

+ Poisson stream: a single slot of type 0.

+ Periodic stream: a single slot of type 1.

+ Poisson stream of back-to-back packet pairs: two slots, type 0

  with a non-zero parameter and type 1 with a zero parameter.

Further, a completely arbitrary schedule can be specified (albeit inefficiently) by making the number of test packets equal to the number of schedule slots. In this case, the complete schedule is transmitted in advance of an OWAMP-Test session.

Starting Test Sessions

Having requested one or more test sessions and received affirmative Accept-Session responses, an OWAMP client MAY start the execution of the requested test sessions by sending a Start-Sessions message to the server.

The format of this message is as follows:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |      2        |                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                               |
 |                        MBZ (15 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                       HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

The server MUST respond with an Start-Ack message (which SHOULD be sent as quickly as possible). Start-Ack messages have the following format:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |     Accept    |                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                               |
 |                        MBZ (15 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                       HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

If Accept is non-zero, the Start-Sessions request was rejected; zero means that the command was accepted. The full list of available Accept values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept Field". The server MAY, and the client SHOULD, close the connection in the case of a rejection.

The server SHOULD start all OWAMP-Test streams immediately after it sends the response or immediately after their specified start times, whichever is later. If the client represents a Sender, the client SHOULD start its OWAMP-Test streams immediately after it sees the Start-Ack response from the Server (if the Start-Sessions command was accepted) or immediately after their specified start times, whichever is later. See more on OWAMP-Test sender behavior in a separate section below.

Stop-Sessions

The Stop-Sessions message may be issued by either the Control-Client or the Server. The format of this command is as follows:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |      3        |    Accept     |              MBZ              |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                      Number of Sessions                       |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                        MBZ (8 octets)                         |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

This is immediately followed by zero or more session description records (the number of session description records is specified in

the "Number of Sessions" field above). The session description record is used to indicate which packets were actually sent by the sender process (rather than skipped). The header of the session description record is as follows:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
 |                                                               |
 |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                           Next Seqno                          |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                     Number of Skip Ranges                     |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

This is immediately followed by zero or more Skip Range descriptions as specified by the "Number of Skip Ranges" field above. Skip Ranges are simply two sequence numbers that, together, indicate a range of packets that were not sent:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
 |                      First Seqno Skipped                      |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                       Last Seqno Skipped                      |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Skip Ranges MUST be in order. The last (possibly full, possibly incomplete) block (16 octets) of data MUST be padded with zeros, if necessary. This ensures that the next session description record starts on a block boundary.

Finally, a single block (16 octets) of HMAC is concatenated on the end to complete the Stop-Sessions message.

 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                       HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

All these records comprise one logical message: the Stop-Sessions command.

Above, the first octet (3) indicates that this is the Stop-Sessions command.

Non-zero Accept values indicate a failure of some sort. Zero values indicate normal (but possibly premature) completion. The full list of available Accept values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept Field".

If Accept had a non-zero value (from either party), results of all OWAMP-Test sessions spawned by this OWAMP-Control session SHOULD be considered invalid, even if a Fetch-Session with SID from this session works for a different OWAMP-Control session. If Accept was not transmitted at all (for whatever reason, including the TCP connection used for OWAMP-Control breaking), the results of all OWAMP-Test sessions spawned by this OWAMP-control session MAY be considered invalid.

Number of Sessions indicates the number of session description records that immediately follow the Stop-Sessions header.

Number of Sessions MUST contain the number of send sessions started by the local side of the control connection that have not been previously terminated by a Stop-Sessions command (i.e., the Control- Client MUST account for each accepted Request-Session where Conf- Receiver was set; the Control-Server MUST account for each accepted Request-Session where Conf-Sender was set). If the Stop-Sessions message does not account for exactly the send sessions controlled by that side, then it is to be considered invalid and the connection SHOULD be closed and any results obtained considered invalid.

Each session description record represents one OWAMP-Test session.

SID is the session identifier (SID) used to indicate which send session is being described.

Next Seqno indicates the next sequence number that would have been sent from this send session. For completed sessions, this will equal NumPackets from the Request-Session.

Number of Skip Ranges indicates the number of holes that actually occurred in the sending process. This is a range of packets that were never actually sent by the sending process. For example, if a send session is started too late for the first 10 packets to be sent and this is the only hole in the schedule, then "Number of Skip Ranges" would be 1. The single Skip Range description will have First Seqno Skipped equal to 0 and Last Seqno Skipped equal to 9. This is described further in the "Sender Behavior" section.

If the OWAMP-Control connection breaks when the Stop-Sessions command is sent, the receiver MAY not completely invalidate the session results. It MUST discard all record of packets that follow (in other words, that have greater sequence number than) the last packet that was actually received before any lost packet records. This will help differentiate between packet losses that occurred in the network and packets the sending process may have never sent.

If a receiver of an OWAMP-Test session learns, through an OWAMP- Control Stop-Sessions message, that the OWAMP-Test sender's last sequence number is lower than any sequence number actually received, the results of the complete OWAMP-Test session MUST be invalidated.

A receiver of an OWAMP-Test session, upon receipt of an OWAMP-Control Stop-Sessions command, MUST discard any packet records -- including lost packet records -- with a (computed) send time that falls between the current time minus Timeout and the current time. This ensures statistical consistency for the measurement of loss and duplicates in the event that the Timeout is greater than the time it takes for the Stop-Sessions command to take place.

To effect complete sessions, each side of the control connection SHOULD wait until all sessions are complete before sending the Stop- Sessions message. The completed time of each session is determined as Timeout after the scheduled time for the last sequence number. Endpoints MAY add a small increment to the computed completed time for send endpoints to ensure that the Stop-Sessions message reaches the receiver endpoint after Timeout.

To effect a premature stop of sessions, the party that initiates this command MUST stop its OWAMP-Test send streams to send the Session Packets Sent values before sending this command. That party SHOULD wait until receiving the response Stop-Sessions message before stopping the receiver streams so that it can use the values from the received Stop-Sessions message to validate the data.

Fetch-Session

The format of this client command is as follows:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |      4        |                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                               |
 |                        MBZ (7 octets)                         |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                         Begin Seq                             |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                          End Seq                              |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                        SID (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                       HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Begin Seq is the sequence number of the first requested packet. End Seq is the sequence number of the last requested packet. If Begin Seq is all zeros and End Seq is all ones, complete session is said to be requested.

If a complete session is requested and the session is still in progress or has terminated in any way other than normally, the request to fetch session results MUST be denied. If an incomplete session is requested, all packets received so far that fall into the requested range SHOULD be returned. Note that, since no commands can be issued between Start-Sessions and Stop-Sessions, incomplete requests can only happen on a different OWAMP-Control connection (from the same or different host as Control-Client).

The server MUST respond with a Fetch-Ack message. The format of this server response is as follows:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |     Accept    | Finished      |          MBZ (2 octets)       |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                           Next Seqno                          |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                    Number of Skip Ranges                      |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                       Number of Records                       |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                       HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Again, non-zero in the Accept field means a rejection of command. The server MUST specify zero for all remaining fields if Accept is non-zero. The client MUST ignore all remaining fields (except for the HMAC) if Accept is non-zero. The full list of available Accept values is described in Section 3.3, "Values of the Accept Field".

Finished is non-zero if the OWAMP-Test session has terminated.

Next Seqno indicates the next sequence number that would have been sent from this send session. For completed sessions, this will equal NumPackets from the Request-Session. This information is only available if the session has terminated. If Finished is zero, then Next Seqno MUST be set to zero by the server.

Number of Skip Ranges indicates the number of holes that actually occurred in the sending process. This information is only available if the session has terminated. If Finished is zero, then Skip Ranges MUST be set to zero by the server.

Number of Records is the number of packet records that fall within the requested range. This number might be less than the Number of Packets in the reproduction of the Request-Session command because of a session that ended prematurely, or it might be greater because of duplicates.

If Accept was non-zero, this concludes the response to the Fetch- Session message. If Accept was 0, the server then MUST immediately send the OWAMP-Test session data in question.

The OWAMP-Test session data consists of the following (concatenated):

+ A reproduction of the Request-Session command that was used to

  start the session; it is modified so that actual sender and
  receiver port numbers that were used by the OWAMP-Test session
  always appear in the reproduction.

+ Zero or more (as specified) Skip Range descriptions. The last

  (possibly full, possibly incomplete) block (16 octets) of Skip
  Range descriptions is padded with zeros, if necessary.

+ 16 octets of HMAC.

+ Zero or more (as specified) packet records. The last (possibly

  full, possibly incomplete) block (16 octets) of data is padded
  with zeros, if necessary.

+ 16 octets of HMAC.

Skip Range descriptions are simply two sequence numbers that, together, indicate a range of packets that were not sent:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
 |                      First Seqno Skipped                      |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                       Last Seqno Skipped                      |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Skip Range descriptions should be sent out in order, as sorted by First Seqno. If any Skip Ranges overlap or are out of order, the session data is to be considered invalid and the connection SHOULD be closed and any results obtained considered invalid.

Each packet record is 25 octets and includes 4 octets of sequence number, 8 octets of send timestamp, 2 octets of send timestamp error estimate, 8 octets of receive timestamp, 2 octets of receive timestamp error estimate, and 1 octet of Time To Live (TTL), or Hop Limit in IPv6:

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 00|                          Seq Number                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 04|      Send Error Estimate      |    Receive Error Estimate     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 08|                         Send Timestamp                        |
 12|                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 16|                       Receive Timestamp                       |
 20|                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 24|    TTL        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Packet records are sent out in the same order the actual packets were received. Therefore, the data is in arrival order.

Note that lost packets (if any losses were detected during the OWAMP-Test session) MUST appear in the sequence of packets. They can appear either at the point when the loss was detected or at any later point. Lost packet records are distinguished as follows:

+ A send timestamp filled with the presumed send time (as computed

  by the send schedule).

+ A send error estimate filled with Multiplier=1, Scale=64, and S=0

  (see the OWAMP-Test description for definition of these quantities
  and explanation of timestamp format and error estimate format).

+ A normal receive error estimate as determined by the error of the

  clock being used to declare the packet lost.  (It is declared lost
  if it is not received by the Timeout after the presumed send time,
  as determined by the receiver's clock.)

+ A receive timestamp consisting of all zero bits.

+ A TTL value of 255.

OWAMP-Test

This section describes OWAMP-Test protocol. It runs over UDP, using sender and receiver IP and port numbers negotiated during the Request-Session exchange.

As with OWAMP-Control, OWAMP-Test has three modes: unauthenticated, authenticated, and encrypted. All OWAMP-Test sessions that are spawned by an OWAMP-Control session inherit its mode.

OWAMP-Control client, OWAMP-Control server, OWAMP-Test sender, and OWAMP-Test receiver can potentially all be different machines. (In a typical case, we expect that there will be only two machines.)

Sender Behavior

Packet Timings

Send schedules based on slots, described previously, in conjunction with scheduled session start time, enable the sender and the receiver to compute the same exact packet sending schedule independently of each other. These sending schedules are independent for different OWAMP-Test sessions, even if they are governed by the same OWAMP- Control session.

Consider any OWAMP-Test session. Once Start-Sessions exchange is complete, the sender is ready to start sending packets. Under normal OWAMP use circumstances, the time to send the first packet is in the near future (perhaps a fraction of a second away). The sender SHOULD send packets as close as possible to their scheduled time, with the following exception: if the scheduled time to send is in the past, and is separated from the present by more than Timeout time, the sender MUST NOT send the packet. (Indeed, such a packet would be considered lost by the receiver anyway.) The sender MUST keep track of which packets it does not send. It will use this to tell the receiver what packets were not sent by setting Skip Ranges in the Stop-Sessions message from the sender to the receiver upon completion of the test. The Skip Ranges are also sent to a Fetch-Client as part of the session data results. These holes in the sending schedule can happen if a time in the past was specified in the Request-Session command, or if the Start-Sessions exchange took unexpectedly long, or if the sender could not start serving the OWAMP-Test session on time due to internal scheduling problems of the OS. Packets that are in the past but are separated from the present by less than Timeout value SHOULD be sent as quickly as possible. With normal test rates and timeout values, the number of packets in such a burst is limited. Nevertheless, hosts SHOULD NOT intentionally schedule sessions so that such bursts of packets occur.

Regardless of any scheduling delays, each packet that is actually sent MUST have the best possible approximation of its real time of departure as its timestamp (in the packet).

OWAMP-Test Packet Format and Content

The sender sends the receiver a stream of packets with the schedule specified in the Request-Session command. The sender SHOULD set the TTL in IPv4 (or Hop Limit in IPv6) in the UDP packet to 255. The format of the body of a UDP packet in the stream depends on the mode being used.

For unauthenticated mode:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                        Sequence Number                        |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                          Timestamp                            |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |        Error Estimate         |                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               |
 |                                                               |
 .                                                               .
 .                         Packet Padding                        .
 .                                                               .
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

For authenticated and encrypted modes:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                        Sequence Number                        |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                        MBZ (12 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                          Timestamp                            |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |        Error Estimate         |                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               |
 |                         MBZ (6 octets)                        |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 |                       HMAC (16 octets)                        |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                                                               |
 .                                                               .
 .                        Packet Padding                         .
 .                                                               .
 |                                                               |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

The format of the timestamp is the same as in RFC1305 and is as follows: the first 32 bits represent the unsigned integer number of seconds elapsed since 0h on 1 January 1900; the next 32 bits represent the fractional part of a second that has elapsed since then.

So, Timestamp is represented as follows:

  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
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                   Integer part of seconds                     |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |                 Fractional part of seconds                    |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

The Error Estimate specifies the estimate of the error and synchronization. It has the following format:

     0                   1
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |S|Z|   Scale   |   Multiplier  |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

The first bit, S, SHOULD be set if the party generating the timestamp has a clock that is synchronized to UTC using an external source (e.g., the bit should be set if GPS hardware is used and it indicates that it has acquired current position and time or if NTP is used and it indicates that it has synchronized to an external source, which includes stratum 0 source, etc.). If there is no notion of external synchronization for the time source, the bit SHOULD NOT be set. The next bit has the same semantics as MBZ fields elsewhere: it MUST be set to zero by the sender and ignored by everyone else. The next six bits, Scale, form an unsigned integer; Multiplier is an unsigned integer as well. They are interpreted as follows: the error estimate is equal to Multiplier*2^(-32)*2^Scale (in seconds). (Notation clarification: 2^Scale is two to the power of Scale.) Multiplier MUST NOT be set to zero. If Multiplier is zero, the packet SHOULD be considered corrupt and discarded.

Sequence numbers start with zero and are incremented by one for each subsequent packet.

The minimum data segment length is, therefore, 14 octets in unauthenticated mode, and 48 octets in both authenticated mode and encrypted modes.

The OWAMP-Test packet layout is the same in authenticated and encrypted modes. The encryption and authentication operations are, however, different. The difference is that in encrypted mode both the sequence number and the timestamp are protected to provide maximum data confidentiality and integrity protection, whereas in authenticated mode the sequence number is protected while the timestamp is sent in clear text. Sending the timestamp in clear text in authenticated mode allows one to reduce the time between when a timestamp is obtained by a sender and when the packet is shipped out. In encrypted mode, the sender has to fetch the timestamp, encrypt it, and send it; in authenticated mode, the middle step is removed, potentially improving accuracy (the sequence number can be encrypted and authenticated before the timestamp is fetched).

In authenticated mode, the first block (16 octets) of each packet is encrypted using AES Electronic Cookbook (ECB) mode.

Similarly to each OWAMP-Control session, each OWAMP-Test session has two keys: an AES Session-key and an HMAC Session-key. However, there is a difference in how the keys are obtained: in the case of OWAMP- Control, the keys are generated by the client and communicated (as part of the Token) during connection setup as part of Set-Up-Response message; in the case of OWAMP-Test, described here, the keys are derived from the OWAMP-Control keys and the SID.

The OWAMP-Test AES Session-key is obtained as follows: the OWAMP- Control AES Session-key (the same AES Session-key as is used for the corresponding OWAMP-Control session, where it is used in a different chaining mode) is encrypted, using AES, with the 16-octet session identifier (SID) as the key; this is a single-block ECB encryption; its result is the OWAMP-Test AES Session-key to use in encrypting (and decrypting) the packets of the particular OWAMP-Test session. Note that all of OWAMP-Test AES Session-key, OWAMP-Control AES Session-key, and the SID are comprised of 16 octets.

The OWAMP-Test HMAC Session-key is obtained as follows: the OWAMP- Control HMAC Session-key (the same HMAC Session-key as is used for the corresponding OWAMP-Control session) is encrypted, using AES, with the 16-octet session identifier (SID) as the key; this is a two-block CBC encryption, always performed with IV=0; its result is the OWAMP-Test HMAC Session-key to use in authenticating the packets of the particular OWAMP-Test session. Note that all of OWAMP-Test HMAC Session-key and OWAMP-Control HMAC Session-key are comprised of 32 octets, while the SID is 16 octets.

ECB mode used for encrypting the first block of OWAMP-Test packets in authenticated mode does not involve any actual chaining; this way, lost, duplicated, or reordered packets do not cause problems with deciphering any packet in an OWAMP-Test session.

In encrypted mode, the first two blocks (32 octets) are encrypted using AES CBC mode. The AES Session-key to use is obtained in the same way as the key for authenticated mode. Each OWAMP-Test packet is encrypted as a separate stream, with just one chaining operation; chaining does not span multiple packets so that lost, duplicated, or reordered packets do not cause problems. The initialization vector for the CBC encryption is a value with all bits equal to zero.

Implementation note: Naturally, the key schedule for each OWAMP-Test session MAY be set up only once per session, not once per packet.

HMAC in OWAMP-Test only covers the part of the packet that is also encrypted. So, in authenticated mode, HMAC covers the first block (16 octets); in encrypted mode, HMAC covers two first blocks (32 octets). In OWAMP-Test HMAC is not encrypted (note that this is different from OWAMP-Control, where encryption in stream mode is used, so everything including the HMAC blocks ends up being encrypted).

In unauthenticated mode, no encryption or authentication is applied.

Packet Padding in OWAMP-Test SHOULD be pseudo-random (it MUST be generated independently of any other pseudo-random numbers mentioned in this document). However, implementations MUST provide a configuration parameter, an option, or a different means of making Packet Padding consist of all zeros.

The time elapsed between packets is computed according to the slot schedule as mentioned in Request-Session command description. At that point, we skipped over the issue of computing exponentially distributed pseudo-random numbers in a reproducible fashion. It is discussed later in a separate section.

Receiver Behavior

The receiver knows when the sender will send packets. The following parameter is defined: Timeout (from Request-Session). Packets that are delayed by more than Timeout are considered lost (or "as good as lost"). Note that there is never an actual assurance of loss by the network: a "lost" packet might still be delivered at any time. The original specification for IPv4 required that packets be delivered within TTL seconds or never (with TTL having a maximum value of 255). To the best of the authors' knowledge, this requirement was never actually implemented (and, of course, only a complete and universal implementation would ensure that packets do not travel for longer than TTL seconds). In fact, in IPv6, the name of this field has actually been changed to Hop Limit. Further, IPv4 specification makes no claims about the time it takes the packet to traverse the last link of the path.

The choice of a reasonable value of Timeout is a problem faced by a user of OWAMP protocol, not by an implementor. A value such as two minutes is very safe. Note that certain applications (such as interactive "one-way ping" might wish to obtain the data faster than that.

As packets are received,

+ timestamp the received packet;

+ in authenticated or encrypted mode, decrypt and authenticate as

  necessary (packets for which authentication fails MUST be
  discarded); and

+ store the packet sequence number, send time, receive time, and the

  TTL for IPv4 (or Hop Limit for IPv6) from the packet IP header for
  the results to be transferred.

Packets not received within the Timeout are considered lost. They are recorded with their true sequence number, presumed send time, receive time value with all bits being zero, and a TTL (or Hop Limit) of 255.

Implementations SHOULD fetch the TTL/Hop Limit value from the IP header of the packet. If an implementation does not fetch the actual TTL value (the only good reason not to do so is an inability to access the TTL field of arriving packets), it MUST record the TTL value as 255.

Packets that are actually received are recorded in the order of arrival. Lost packet records serve as indications of the send times of lost packets. They SHOULD be placed either at the point where the receiver learns about the loss or at any later point; in particular, one MAY place all the records that correspond to lost packets at the very end.

Packets that have send time in the future MUST be recorded normally, without changing their send timestamp, unless they have to be discarded. (Send timestamps in the future would normally indicate clocks that differ by more than the delay. Some data -- such as jitter -- can be extracted even without knowledge of time difference. For other kinds of data, the adjustment is best handled by the data consumer on the basis of the complete information in a measurement session, as well as, possibly, external data.)

Packets with a sequence number that was already observed (duplicate packets) MUST be recorded normally. (Duplicate packets are sometimes introduced by IP networks. The protocol has to be able to measure duplication.)

If any of the following is true, the packet MUST be discarded:

+ Send timestamp is more than Timeout in the past or in the future.

+ Send timestamp differs by more than Timeout from the time when the

  packet should have been sent according to its sequence number.

+ In authenticated or encrypted mode, HMAC verification fails.

Computing Exponentially Distributed Pseudo-Random Numbers

Here we describe the way exponential random quantities used in the protocol are generated. While there is a fair number of algorithms for generating exponential random variables, most of them rely on having logarithmic function as a primitive, resulting in potentially different values, depending on the particular implementation of the math library. We use algorithm 3.4.1.S from [KNUTH], which is free of the above-mentioned problem, and which guarantees the same output on any implementation. The algorithm belongs to the ziggurat family developed in the 1970s by G. Marsaglia, M. Sibuya, and J. H. Ahrens [ZIGG]. It replaces the use of logarithmic function by clever bit manipulation, still producing the exponential variates on output.

High-Level Description of the Algorithm

For ease of exposition, the algorithm is first described with all arithmetic operations being interpreted in their natural sense. Later, exact details on data types, arithmetic, and generation of the uniform random variates used by the algorithm are given. It is an almost verbatim quotation from [KNUTH], p.133.

Algorithm S: Given a real positive number "mu", produce an exponential random variate with mean "mu".

First, the constants

Q[k] = (ln2)/(1!) + (ln2)^2/(2!) + ... + (ln2)^k/(k!), 1 <= k <= 11

are computed in advance. The exact values which MUST be used by all implementations are given in the next section. This is necessary to ensure that exactly the same pseudo-random sequences are produced by all implementations.

S1. [Get U and shift.] Generate a 32-bit uniform random binary fraction

         U = (.b0 b1 b2 ... b31)    [note the binary point]

Locate the first zero bit b_j and shift off the leading (j+1) bits, setting U <- (.b_{j+1} ... b31)

Note: In the rare case that the zero has not been found, it is prescribed that the algorithm return (mu*32*ln2).

S2. [Immediate acceptance?] If U < ln2, set X <- mu*(j*ln2 + U) and terminate the algorithm. (Note that Q[1] = ln2.)

S3. [Minimize.] Find the least k >= 2 such that U < Q[k]. Generate k new uniform random binary fractions U1,...,Uk and set V <- min(U1,...,Uk).

S4. [Deliver the answer.] Set X <- mu*(j + V)*ln2.

Data Types, Representation, and Arithmetic

The high-level algorithm operates on real numbers, typically represented as floating point numbers. This specification prescribes that unsigned 64-bit integers be used instead.

u_int64_t integers are interpreted as real numbers by placing the decimal point after the first 32 bits. In other words, conceptually, the interpretation is given by the following map:

      u_int64_t u;
      u  |--> (double)u / (2**32)

The algorithm produces a sequence of such u_int64_t integers that, for any given value of SID, is guaranteed to be the same on any implementation.

We specify that the u_int64_t representations of the first 11 values of the Q array in the high-level algorithm MUST be as follows:

  1. 1 0xB17217F8,
  2. 2 0xEEF193F7,
  3. 3 0xFD271862,
  4. 4 0xFF9D6DD0,
  5. 5 0xFFF4CFD0,
  6. 6 0xFFFEE819,
  7. 7 0xFFFFE7FF,
  8. 8 0xFFFFFE2B,
  9. 9 0xFFFFFFE0,
  10. 10 0xFFFFFFFE,
  11. 11 0xFFFFFFFF

For example, Q[1] = ln2 is indeed approximated by 0xB17217F8/(2**32) = 0.693147180601954; for j > 11, Q[j] is 0xFFFFFFFF.

Small integer j in the high-level algorithm is represented as u_int64_t value j * (2**32).

Operation of addition is done as usual on u_int64_t numbers; however, the operation of multiplication in the high-level algorithm should be replaced by

  (u, v) |---> (u * v) >> 32.

Implementations MUST compute the product (u * v) exactly. For example, a fragment of unsigned 128-bit arithmetic can be implemented for this purpose (see the sample implementation in Appendix A).

Uniform Random Quantities

The procedure for obtaining a sequence of 32-bit random numbers (such as U in algorithm S) relies on using AES encryption in counter mode. To describe the exact working of the algorithm, we introduce two primitives from Rijndael. Their prototypes and specification are given below, and they are assumed to be provided by the supporting Rijndael implementation, such as [RIJN].

+ A function that initializes a Rijndael key with bytes from seed

  (the SID will be used as the seed):
  void KeyInit(unsigned char seed[16]);

+ A function that encrypts the 16-octet block inblock with the

  specified key, returning a 16-octet encrypted block.  Here,
  keyInstance is an opaque type used to represent Rijndael keys:
  void BlockEncrypt(keyInstance key, unsigned char inblock[16]);

Algorithm Unif: given a 16-octet quantity seed, produce a sequence of unsigned 32-bit pseudo-random uniformly distributed integers. In OWAMP, the SID (session ID) from Control protocol plays the role of seed.

U1. [Initialize Rijndael key] key <- KeyInit(seed) [Initialize an unsigned 16-octet (network byte order) counter] c <- 0

U2. [Need more random bytes?] Set i <- c mod 4. If (i == 0) set s <- BlockEncrypt(key, c)

U3. [Increment the counter as unsigned 16-octet quantity] c <- c + 1

U4. [Do output] Output the i_th quartet of octets from s starting from high-order octets, converted to native byte order and represented as OWPNum64 value (as in 3.b).

U5. [Loop] Go to step U2.

Security Considerations

Introduction

The goal of authenticated mode is to let one passphrase-protect the service provided by a particular OWAMP-Control server. One can imagine a variety of circumstances where this could be useful. Authenticated mode is designed to prohibit theft of service.

An additional design objective of the authenticated mode was to make it impossible for an attacker who cannot read traffic between OWAMP- Test sender and receiver to tamper with test results in a fashion that affects the measurements, but not other traffic.

The goal of encrypted mode is quite different: to make it hard for a party in the middle of the network to make results look "better" than they should be. This is especially true if one of client and server does not coincide with either sender or receiver.

Encryption of OWAMP-Control using AES CBC mode with blocks of HMAC after each message aims to achieve two goals: (i) to provide secrecy of exchange, and (ii) to provide authentication of each message.

Preventing Third-Party Denial of Service

OWAMP-Test sessions directed at an unsuspecting party could be used for denial of service (DoS) attacks. In unauthenticated mode, servers SHOULD limit receivers to hosts they control or to the OWAMP- Control client.

Unless otherwise configured, the default behavior of servers MUST be to decline requests where the Receiver Address field is not equal to the address that the control connection was initiated from or an address of the server (or an address of a host it controls). Given the TCP handshake procedure and sequence numbers in the control connection, this ensures that the hosts that make such requests are actually those hosts themselves, or at least on the path towards them. If either this test or the handshake procedure were omitted, it would become possible for attackers anywhere in the Internet to request that large amounts of test packets be directed against victim nodes somewhere else.

In any case, OWAMP-Test packets with a given source address MUST only be sent from the node that has been assigned that address (i.e., address spoofing is not permitted).

Covert Information Channels

OWAMP-Test sessions could be used as covert channels of information. Environments that are worried about covert channels should take this into consideration.

Requirement to Include AES in Implementations

Notice that AES, in counter mode, is used for pseudo-random number generation, so implementation of AES MUST be included even in a server that only supports unauthenticated mode.

Resource Use Limitations

An OWAMP server can consume resources of various kinds. The two most important kinds of resources are network capacity and memory (primary or secondary) for storing test results.

Any implementation of OWAMP server MUST include technical mechanisms to limit the use of network capacity and memory. Mechanisms for managing the resources consumed by unauthenticated users and users authenticated with a KeyID and passphrase SHOULD be separate. The default configuration of an implementation MUST enable these mechanisms and set the resource use limits to conservatively low values.

One way to design the resource limitation mechanisms is as follows: assign each session to a user class. User classes are partially ordered with "includes" relation, with one class ("all users") that is always present and that includes any other class. The assignment of a session to a user class can be based on the presence of authentication of the session, the KeyID, IP address range, time of day, and, perhaps, other factors. Each user class would have a limit for usage of network capacity (specified in units of bit/second) and memory for storing test results (specified in units of octets). Along with the limits for resource use, current use would be tracked by the server. When a session is requested by a user in a specific user class, the resources needed for this session are computed: the average network capacity use (based on the sending schedule) and the maximum memory use (based on the number of packets and number of octets each packet would need to be stored internally -- note that outgoing sessions would not require any memory use). These resource use numbers are added to the current resource use numbers for the given user class; if such addition would take the resource use outside of the limits for the given user class, the session is rejected. When resources are reclaimed, corresponding measures are subtracted from the current use. Network capacity is reclaimed as soon as the session ends. Memory is reclaimed when the data is

deleted. For unauthenticated sessions, memory consumed by an OWAMP- Test session SHOULD be reclaimed after the OWAMP-Control connection that initiated the session is closed (gracefully or otherwise). For authenticated sessions, the administrator who configures the service should be able to decide the exact policy, but useful policy mechanisms that MAY be implemented are the ability to automatically reclaim memory when the data is retrieved and the ability to reclaim memory after a certain configurable (based on user class) period of time passes after the OWAMP-Test session terminates.

Use of Cryptographic Primitives in OWAMP

At an early stage in designing the protocol, we considered using Transport Layer Security (TLS) [RFC2246, RFC3546] and IPsec RFC2401 as cryptographic security mechanisms for OWAMP; later, we also considered DTLS. The disadvantages of those are as follows (not an exhaustive list):

Regarding TLS:

+ TLS could be used to secure TCP-based OWAMP-Control, but it would

  be difficult to use it to secure UDP-based OWAMP-Test: OWAMP-Test
  packets, if lost, are not resent, so packets have to be
  (optionally) encrypted and authenticated while retaining
  individual usability.  Stream-based TLS cannot be easily used for
  this.

+ Dealing with streams, TLS does not authenticate individual

  messages (even in OWAMP-Control).  The easiest way out would be to
  add some known-format padding to each message and to verify that
  the format of the padding is intact before using the message.  The
  solution would thus lose some of its appeal ("just use TLS").  It
  would also be much more difficult to evaluate the security of this
  scheme with the various modes and options of TLS; it would almost
  certainly not be secure with all.  The capacity of an attacker to
  replace parts of messages (namely, the end) with random garbage
  could have serious security implications and would need to be
  analyzed carefully.  Suppose, for example, that a parameter that
  is used in some form to control the rate were replaced by random
  garbage; chances are that the result (an unsigned integer) would
  be quite large.

+ Dependent on the mode of use, one can end up with a requirement

  for certificates for all users and a PKI.  Even if one is to
  accept that PKI is desirable, there just isn't a usable one today.

+ TLS requires a fairly large implementation. OpenSSL, for example,

  is larger than our implementation of OWAMP as a whole.  This can
  matter for embedded implementations.

Regarding DTLS:

+ Duplication and, similarly, reordering are network phenomena that

  OWAMP needs to be able to measure; yet anti-replay measures and
  reordering protection of DTLS would prevent the duplicated and
  reordered packets from reaching the relevant part of the OWAMP
  code.  One could, of course, modify DTLS so that these protections
  are weakened or even specify examining the messages in a carefully
  crafted sequence somewhere in between DTLS checks; but then, of
  course, the advantage of using an existing protocol would not be
  realized.

+ In authenticated mode, the timestamp is in the clear and is not

  protected cryptographically in any way, while the rest of the
  message has the same protection as in encrypted mode.  This mode
  allows one to trade off cryptographic protection against accuracy
  of timestamps.  For example, the APAN hardware implementation of
  OWAMP [APAN] is capable of supporting authenticated mode.  The
  accuracy of these measurements is in the sub-microsecond range.
  The errors in OWAMP measurements of Abilene [Abilene] (done using
  a software implementation, in its encrypted mode) exceed 10us.
  Users in different environments have different concerns, and some
  might very well care about every last microsecond of accuracy.  At
  the same time, users in these same environments might care about
  access control to the service.  Authenticated mode permits them to
  control access to the server yet to use unprotected timestamps,
  perhaps generated by a hardware device.

Regarding IPsec:

+ What we now call authenticated mode would not be possible (in

  IPsec you can't authenticate part of a packet).

+ The deployment paths of IPsec and OWAMP could be separate if OWAMP

  does not depend on IPsec.  After nine years of IPsec, only 0.05%
  of traffic on an advanced backbone network, such as Abilene, uses
  IPsec (for comparison purposes with encryption above layer 4, SSH
  use is at 2-4% and HTTPS use is at 0.2-0.6%).  It is desirable to
  be able to deploy OWAMP on as large a number of different
  platforms as possible.

+ The deployment problems of a protocol dependent on IPsec would be

  especially acute in the case of lightweight embedded devices.
  Ethernet switches, DSL "modems", and other such devices mostly do
  not support IPsec.

+ The API for manipulating IPsec from an application is currently

  poorly understood.  Writing a program that needs to encrypt some
  packets, to authenticate some packets, and to leave some open --
  for the same destination -- would become more of an exercise in
  IPsec than in IP measurement.

For the enumerated reasons, we decided to use a simple cryptographic protocol (based on a block cipher in CBC mode) that is different from TLS and IPsec.

Cryptographic Primitive Replacement

It might become necessary in the future to replace AES, or the way it is used in OWAMP, with a new cryptographic primitive, or to make other security-related changes to the protocol. OWAMP provides a well-defined point of extensibility: the Modes word in the server greeting and the Mode response in the Set-Up-Response message. For example, if a simple replacement of AES with a different block cipher with a 128-bit block is needed, this could be accomplished as follows: take two bits from the reserved (MBZ) part of the Modes word of the server greeting; use one of these bits to indicate encrypted mode with the new cipher and another one to indicate authenticated mode with the new cipher. (Bit consumption could, in fact, be reduced from two to one, if the client is allowed to return a mode selection with more than a single bit set: one could designate a single bit to mean that the new cipher is supported (in the case of the server) or selected (in the case of the client) and continue to use already allocated bits for authenticated and encrypted modes; this optimization is unimportant conceptually, but it could be useful in practice to make the best use of bits.) Then, if the new cipher is negotiated, all subsequent operations simply use it instead of AES. Note that the normal transition sequence would be used in such a case: implementations would probably first start supporting and preferring the new cipher, and then drop support for the old cipher (presumably no longer considered secure).

If the need arises to make more extensive changes (perhaps to replace AES with a 256-bit-block cipher), this would be more difficult and would require changing the layout of the messages. However, the change can still be conducted within the framework of OWAMP extensibility using the Modes/Mode words. The semantics of the new bits (or single bit, if the optimization described above is used) would include the change to message layout as well as the change in the cryptographic primitive.

Each of the bits in the Modes word can be used for an independent extension. The extensions signaled by various bits are orthogonal; for example, one bit might be allocated to change from AES-128 to some other cipher, another bit might be allocated to add a protocol feature (such as, e.g., support for measuring over multicast), yet another might be allocated to change a key derivation function, etc. The progression of versions is not a linear order, but rather a partial order. An implementation can implement any subset of these features (of course, features can be made mandatory to implement, e.g., new more secure ciphers if they are needed).

Should a cipher with a different key size (say, a 256-bit key) become needed, a new key derivation function for OWAMP-Test keys would also be needed. The semantics of change in the cipher SHOULD then in the future be tied to the semantics of change in the key derivation function (KDF). One KDF that might be considered for the purpose might be a pseudo-random function (PRF) with appropriately sized output, such as 256 bits (perhaps HMAC-SHA256, if it is then still considered a secure PRF), which could then be used to derive the OWAMP-Test session keys from the OWAMP-Control session key by using the OWAMP-Control session key as the HMAC key and the SID as HMAC message.

Note that the replacement scheme outlined above is trivially susceptible to downgrade attacks: a malicious party in the middle can flip modes bits as the mode is negotiated so that the oldest and weakest mode supported by the two parties is used. If this is deemed problematic at the time of cryptographic primitive replacement, the scheme might be augmented with a measure to prevent such an attack (by perhaps exchanging the modes again once a secure communications channel is established, comparing the two sets of mode words, and dropping the connection should they not match).

Long-term Manually Managed Keys

OWAMP-Control uses long-term keys with manual management. These keys are used to automatically negotiate session keys for each OWAMP- Control session running in authenticated or encrypted mode. The number of these keys managed by a server scales linearly with (and,

in fact, is equal to) the number of administratively different users (perhaps particular humans, roles, or robots representing sites) that need to connect to this server. Similarly, the number of different manual keys managed by each client is the number of different servers that the client needs to connect to. This use of manual long-term keys is compliant with [BCP107].

(Not) Using Time as Salt

A natural idea is to use the current time as salt when deriving session keys. Unfortunately, this appears to be too limiting.

Although OWAMP is often run on hosts with well-synchronized clocks, it is also possible to run it on hosts with clocks completely untrained. The delays obtained thus are, of course, not directly usable; however, some metrics, such as unidirectional loss, reordering, measures of congestion such as the median delay minus minimum, and many others are usable directly and immediately (and improve upon the information that would have been provided by a round-trip measurement). Further, even delay information can be useful with appropriate post-processing. Indeed, one can even argue that running the clocks free and post-processing the results of a mesh of measurements will result in better accuracy, as more information is available a posteriori and correlation of data from different hosts is possible in post-processing, but not with online clock training.

Given this, time is not used as salt in key derivation.

6.10. The Use of AES-CBC and HMAC

OWAMP relies on AES-CBC for confidentiality and on HMAC-SHA1 truncated to 128 bits for message authentication. Random IV choice is important for prevention of a codebook attack on the first block (it should also be noted that, with its 128-bit block size, AES is more resistant to codebook attacks than are ciphers with shorter blocks; we use random IV anyway).

HMAC MUST verify. It is crucial to check for this before using the message; otherwise, existential forgery becomes possible. The complete message for which HMAC verification fails MUST be discarded (both for short messages consisting of a few blocks and potentially for long messages, such as a response to the Fetch-Session command). If such a message is part of OWAMP-Control, the connection MUST be dropped.

Since OWAMP messages can have different numbers of blocks, the existential forgery attack described in example 9.62 of [MENEZES]

becomes a concern. To prevent it (and to simplify implementation), the length of any message becomes known after decrypting its first block.

A special case is the first (fixed-length) message sent by the client. There, the token is a concatenation of the 128-bit challenge (transmitted by the server in the clear), a 128-bit AES Session-key (generated randomly by the client, encrypted with AES-CBC with IV=0), and a 256-bit HMAC-SHA1 Session-key used for authentication. Since IV=0, the challenge (a single cipher block) is simply encrypted with the secret key. Therefore, we rely on resistance of AES to chosen plaintext attacks (as the challenge could be substituted by an attacker). It should be noted that the number of blocks of chosen plaintext an attacker can have encrypted with the secret key is limited by the number of sessions the client wants to initiate. An attacker who knows the encryption of a server's challenge can produce an existential forgery of the session key and thus disrupt the session; however, any attacker can disrupt a session by corrupting the protocol messages in an arbitrary fashion. Therefore, no new threat is created here; nevertheless, we require that the server never issues the same challenge twice. (If challenges are generated randomly, a repetition would occur, on average, after 2^64 sessions; we deem this satisfactory as this is enough even for an implausibly busy server that participates in 1,000,000 sessions per second to go without repetitions for more than 500 centuries.) With respect to the second part of the token, an attacker can produce an existential forgery of the session key by modifying the second half of the client's token while leaving the first part intact. This forgery, however, would be immediately discovered by the client when the HMAC on the server's next message (acceptance or rejection of the connection) does not verify.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Guy Almes, Mark Allman, Jari Arkko, Hamid Asgari, Steven Van den Berghe, Eric Boyd, Robert Cole, Joan Cucchiara, Stephen Donnelly, Susan Evett, Sam Hartman, Kaynam Hedayat, Petri Helenius, Scott Hollenbeck, Russ Housley, Kitamura Yasuichi, Daniel H. T. R. Lawson, Will E. Leland, Bruce A. Mah, Allison Mankin, Al Morton, Attila Pasztor, Randy Presuhn, Matthew Roughan, Andy Scherrer, Henk Uijterwaal, and Sam Weiler for their comments, suggestions, reviews, helpful discussion and proof-reading.

IANA Considerations

IANA has allocated a well-known TCP port number (861) for the OWAMP- Control part of the OWAMP protocol.

Internationalization Considerations

The protocol does not carry any information in a natural language, with the possible exception of the KeyID in OWAMP-Control, which is encoded in UTF-8.

10. References

10.1. Normative References

[AES] Advanced Encryption Standard (AES),

               http://csrc.nist.gov/encryption/aes/

[BCP107] Bellovin, S. and R. Housley, "Guidelines for

               Cryptographic Key Management", BCP 107, RFC 4107,
               June 2005.

RFC2104 Krawczyk, H., Bellare, M., and R. Canetti, "HMAC:

               Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication", RFC 2104,
               February 1997.

RFC2119 Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate

               Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

RFC2330 Paxson, V., Almes, G., Mahdavi, J., and M. Mathis,

               "Framework for IP Performance Metrics", RFC 2330, May
               1998.

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.

RFC2679 Almes, G., Kalidindi, S., and M. Zekauskas, "A One-

               way Delay Metric for IPPM", RFC 2679, September 1999.

RFC2680 Almes, G., Kalidindi, S., and M. Zekauskas, "A One-

               way Packet Loss Metric for IPPM", RFC 2680, September
               1999.

RFC2836 Brim, S., Carpenter, B., and F. Le Faucheur, "Per Hop

               Behavior Identification Codes", RFC 2836, May 2000.

RFC2898 Kaliski, B., "PKCS #5: Password-Based Cryptography

               Specification Version 2.0", RFC 2898, September 2000.

10.2. Informative References

[APAN] Z. Shu and K. Kobayashi, "HOTS: An OWAMP-Compliant

               Hardware Packet Timestamper", In Proceedings of PAM
               2005, http://www.springerlink.com/index/
               W4GBD39YWC11GQTN.pdf

[BRIX] Brix Networks, http://www.brixnet.com/

[ZIGG] J. H. Ahrens, U. Dieter, "Computer methods for

               sampling from the exponential and normal
               distributions", Communications of ACM, volume 15,
               issue 10, 873-882, 1972.
               http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/355604.361593

[MENEZES] A. J. Menezes, P. C. van Oorschot, and S. A.

               Vanstone, Handbook of Applied Cryptography, CRC
               Press, revised reprint with updates, 1997.

[KNUTH] D. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, vol.2, 3rd

               edition, 1998.

[Abilene] One-way Latency Measurement (OWAMP),

               http://e2epi.internet2.edu/owamp/

[RIJN] Reference ANSI C Implementation of Rijndael,

               http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/~rijmen/
               rijndael/rijndaelref.zip

[RIPE] RIPE NCC Test-Traffic Measurements home,

               http://www.ripe.net/test-traffic/.

[SURVEYOR] Surveyor Home Page,

               http://www.advanced.org/surveyor/.

[SURVEYOR-INET] S. Kalidindi and M. Zekauskas, "Surveyor: An

               Infrastructure for Network Performance Measurements",
               Proceedings of INET'99, June 1999.
               http://www.isoc.org/inet99/proceedings/4h/4h_2.htm

RFC1305 Mills, D., "Network Time Protocol (Version 3)

               Specification, Implementation and Analysis", RFC
               1305, March 1992.

RFC2246 Dierks, T. and C. Allen, "The TLS Protocol Version

               1.0", RFC 2246, January 1999.

RFC2401 Kent, S. and R. Atkinson, "Security Architecture for

               the Internet Protocol", RFC 2401, November 1998.

RFC3546 Blake-Wilson, S., Nystrom, M., Hopwood, D.,

               Mikkelsen, J., and T. Wright, "Transport Layer
               Security (TLS) Extensions", RFC 3546, June 2003.

RFC4086 Eastlake, D., 3rd, Schiller, J., and S. Crocker,

               "Randomness Requirements for Security", BCP 106, RFC
               4086, June 2005.

Appendix A: Sample C Code for Exponential Deviates

The values in array Q[] are the exact values that MUST be used by all implementations (see Sections 5.1 and 5.2). This appendix only serves for illustrative purposes.

/*

    • Example usage: generate a stream of exponential (mean 1)
    • random quantities (ignoring error checking during initialization).
    • If a variate with some mean mu other than 1 is desired, the output
    • of this algorithm can be multiplied by mu according to the rules
    • of arithmetic we described.
    • Assume that a 16-octet 'seed' has been initialized
    • (as the shared secret in OWAMP, for example)
    • unsigned char seed[16];
    • OWPrand_context next;
    • (initialize state)
    • OWPrand_context_init(&next, seed);
    • (generate a sequence of exponential variates)
    • while (1) {
    • u_int64_t num = OWPexp_rand64(&next);
     <do something with num here>
                ...
    • }
  • /
  1. include <stdlib.h>

typedef u_int64_t u_int64_t;

/* (K - 1) is the first k such that Q[k] > 1 - 1/(2^32). */

  1. define K 12
  1. define BIT31 0x80000000UL /* See if first bit in the lower
                                  32 bits is zero. */
  1. define MASK32(n) ((n) & 0xFFFFFFFFUL)
  1. define EXP2POW32 0x100000000ULL

typedef struct OWPrand_context {

       unsigned char counter[16];/* Counter (network byte order).*/
       keyInstance key;          /* Key to encrypt the counter.*/
       unsigned char out[16];    /* The encrypted block.*/

} OWPrand_context;

/*

    • The array has been computed according to the formula:
    • Q[k] = (ln2)/(1!) + (ln2)^2/(2!) + ... + (ln2)^k/(k!)
    • as described in algorithm S. (The values below have been
    • multiplied by 2^32 and rounded to the nearest integer.)
    • These exact values MUST be used so that different implementation
    • produce the same sequences.
  • /

static u_int64_t Q[K] = {

       0,        /* Placeholder - so array indices start from 1. */
       0xB17217F8,
       0xEEF193F7,
       0xFD271862,
       0xFF9D6DD0,
       0xFFF4CFD0,
       0xFFFEE819,
       0xFFFFE7FF,
       0xFFFFFE2B,
       0xFFFFFFE0,
       0xFFFFFFFE,
       0xFFFFFFFF

};

/* this element represents ln2 */

  1. define LN2 Q[1]

/*

    • Convert an unsigned 32-bit integer into a u_int64_t number.
  • /

u_int64_t OWPulong2num64(u_int32_t a) {

       return ((u_int64_t)1 << 32) * a;

}

/*

    • Arithmetic functions on u_int64_t numbers.
  • /

/*

    • Addition.
  • /

u_int64_t OWPnum64_add(u_int64_t x, u_int64_t y)

{

       return x + y;

}

/*

    • Multiplication. Allows overflow. Straightforward implementation
    • of Algorithm 4.3.1.M (p.268) from [KNUTH].
  • /

u_int64_t OWPnum64_mul(u_int64_t x, u_int64_t y) {

       unsigned long w[4];
       u_int64_t xdec[2];
       u_int64_t ydec[2];
       int i, j;
       u_int64_t k, t, ret;
       xdec[0] = MASK32(x);
       xdec[1] = MASK32(x>>32);
       ydec[0] = MASK32(y);
       ydec[1] = MASK32(y>>32);
       for (j = 0; j < 4; j++)
               w[j] = 0;
       for (j = 0; j < 2; j++) {
               k = 0;
               for (i = 0; ; ) {
                       t = k + (xdec[i]*ydec[j]) + w[i + j];
                       w[i + j] = t%EXP2POW32;
                       k = t/EXP2POW32;
                       if (++i < 2)
                               continue;
                       else {
                               w[j + 2] = k;
                               break;
                       }
               }
       }
       ret = w[2];
       ret <<= 32;
       return w[1] + ret;

}

/*

    • Seed the random number generator using a 16-byte quantity 'seed'
    • (== the session ID in OWAMP). This function implements step U1
    • of algorithm Unif.
  • /

void OWPrand_context_init(OWPrand_context *next, unsigned char *seed) {

       int i;
       /* Initialize the key */
       rijndaelKeyInit(next->key, seed);
       /* Initialize the counter with zeros */
       memset(next->out, 0, 16);
       for (i = 0; i < 16; i++)
               next->counter[i] = 0UL;

}

/*

    • Random number generating functions.
  • /

/*

    • Generate and return a 32-bit uniform random value (saved in the
    • less significant half of the u_int64_t). This function implements
    • steps U2-U4 of the algorithm Unif.
  • /

u_int64_t OWPunif_rand64(OWPrand_context *next) {

       int j;
       u_int8_t  *buf;
       u_int64_t  ret = 0;
       /* step U2 */
       u_int8_t i = next->counter[15] & (u_int8_t)3;
       if (!i)
               rijndaelEncrypt(next->key, next->counter, next->out);
       /* Step U3.  Increment next.counter as a 16-octet single
          quantity in network byte order for AES counter mode. */
       for (j = 15; j >= 0; j--)
               if (++next->counter[j])
                       break;
       /* Step U4.  Do output.  The last 4 bytes of ret now contain
          the random integer in network byte order */
       buf = &next->out[4*i];
       for (j=0; j<4; j++) {
               ret <<= 8;
               ret += *buf++;
       }
       return ret;

}

/*

    • Generate an exponential deviate with mean 1.
  • /

u_int64_t OWPexp_rand64(OWPrand_context *next) {

       unsigned long i, k;
       u_int32_t j = 0;
       u_int64_t U, V, J, tmp;
       /* Step S1. Get U and shift */
       U = OWPunif_rand64(next);
       while ((U & BIT31) && (j < 32)) { /* Shift until first 0. */
               U <<= 1;
               j++;
       }
       /* Remove the 0 itself. */
       U <<= 1;
       U = MASK32(U);  /* Keep only the fractional part. */
       J = OWPulong2num64(j);
       /* Step S2.  Immediate acceptance? */
       if (U < LN2)       /* return  (j*ln2 + U) */
               return OWPnum64_add(OWPnum64_mul(J, LN2), U);
       /* Step S3.  Minimize. */
       for (k = 2; k < K; k++)
               if (U < Q[k])
                       break;
       V = OWPunif_rand64(next);
       for (i = 2; i <= k; i++) {
               tmp = OWPunif_rand64(next);
               if (tmp < V)
                       V = tmp;
       }
       /* Step S4.  Return (j+V)*ln2 */
       return OWPnum64_mul(OWPnum64_add(J, V), LN2);

}

Appendix B: Test Vectors for Exponential Deviates

It is important that the test schedules generated by different implementations from identical inputs be identical. The non-trivial part is the generation of pseudo-random exponentially distributed deviates. To aid implementors in verifying interoperability, several test vectors are provided. For each of the four given 128-bit values of SID represented as hexadecimal numbers, 1,000,000 exponentially distributed 64-bit deviates are generated as described above. As they are generated, they are all added to each other. The sum of all 1,000,000 deviates is given as a hexadecimal number for each SID. An implementation MUST produce exactly these hexadecimal numbers. To aid in the verification of the conversion of these numbers to values of delay in seconds, approximate values are given (assuming lambda=1). An implementation SHOULD produce delay values in seconds that are close to the ones given below.

   SID = 0x2872979303ab47eeac028dab3829dab2
   SUM[1000000] = 0x000f4479bd317381 (1000569.739036 seconds)
   SID = 0x0102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f00
   SUM[1000000] = 0x000f433686466a62 (1000246.524512 seconds)
   SID = 0xdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeef
   SUM[1000000] = 0x000f416c8884d2d3 (999788.533277 seconds)
   SID = 0xfeed0feed1feed2feed3feed4feed5ab
   SUM[1000000] = 0x000f3f0b4b416ec8 (999179.293967 seconds)

Authors' Addresses

Stanislav Shalunov Internet2 1000 Oakbrook Drive, Suite 300 Ann Arbor, MI 48104

EMail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.internet2.edu/~shalunov/

Benjamin Teitelbaum Internet2 1000 Oakbrook Drive, Suite 300 Ann Arbor, MI 48104

EMail: [email protected] WWW: http://people.internet2.edu/~ben/

Anatoly Karp Computer Sciences Department University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706

EMail: [email protected]

Jeff W. Boote Internet2 1000 Oakbrook Drive, Suite 300 Ann Arbor, MI 48104

EMail: [email protected]

Matthew J. Zekauskas Internet2 1000 Oakbrook Drive, Suite 300 Ann Arbor, MI 48104

EMail: [email protected]

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