[alto] Compute metrics for service placement and selection

[Jordi Ros Giralt <[e-mail]>]

Thank you all for the productive conversations we had these past days on compute metrics exposure during the IETF 119 side meeting [1,2] as well as in CATS [2,3,4] and OPSAWG sessions [5].

The chairs of CATS and OPSAWG suggested that we write to the three mailing lists (including ALTO) to anchor this discussion and summarize the outcome. Please feel free to add to or comment on some of these statements.

- From the CATS session, there appears to be broad interest in collaborating to discuss the topic of compute metrics [2,3].

- CATS focuses on service selection, but there is also a need for metrics to support service placement (which is out of scope for CATS). The use cases presented by AI4ME/BBC provide examples [4].

- Whether the metrics can be common across the various use cases it is the subject of ongoing technical discussions [2,3,6]. Since this is a central topic, we encourage people to provide their comments both via this e-mail thread and future meetings.

- The actual forum to hold these conversations is still to be decided. Doing it in CATS seems natural, while there is the question of scope (since CATS needs to focus on metrics for the case of traffic steering).

- There is consensus that we would like to sit down and have a technical deep dive about compute metrics. This could be done first via an interim meeting prior to IETF 119 and then via a side meeting during the IETF 119, in addition to the WG discussions.

We expect to progress discussions via the mailing list. Please use this conversation thread to keep participants informed.

Thank you all.
Jordi

Background sources (this is not a comprehensive list):
[1] Side meeting repo: https://github.com/compute-exposure/ietf-118-side-meeting
[2] CATS chat log minute: https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/118/materials/chatlog-118-cats-202311100930-00
[3] CATS meeting minutes: https://notes.ietf.org/notes-ietf-118-cats
[4] BBC presentation on CATS use cases: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/slides-118-cats-2a-ai4me-and-bbc-cats-use-cases/
[5] Presentation in OPS of compute metrics for service placement: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/slides-118-opsawg-exposure-of-communication-and-compute-information-for-infrastructure-aware-service-deployment-and-selection/
[6] Mailing list conversation on compute metrics and exposure: https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/alto/HkZZrSLm29MuO_-WOrlsDFJBz7g/