WG Review: Network Inventory YANG (ivy)

[The IESG <[e-mail]>]

A new IETF WG has been proposed in the Operations and Management Area. The
IESG has not made any determination yet. The following draft charter was
submitted, and is provided for informational purposes only. Please send your
comments to the IESG mailing list ([e-mail]) by 2023-06-19.

Network Inventory YANG (ivy)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Current status: Proposed WG

Chairs:
  Daniele Ceccarelli <[e-mail]>
  Qiufang Ma <[e-mail]>

Assigned Area Director:
  Robert Wilton <[e-mail]>

Operations and Management Area Directors:
  Warren Kumari <[e-mail]>
  Robert Wilton <[e-mail]>

Mailing list:
  Address: [e-mail]
  To subscribe: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/inventory-yang
  Archive: https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/inventory-yang/

Group page: https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/ivy/

Charter: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/charter-ietf-ivy/

Network inventory is a foundation for network management in all types
of networks: Network operators need to keep a record of what equipment
is planned and installed in their networks (including a variety of
information such as product name, vendor, product series, embedded
software, and hardware/software versions).  Network inventories may
be constructed from management system data to represent the expected
devices present in the network, and also be used to audit and catalog
what devices are discovered in the network, and to expose that
information in a consistent way.

The purpose of the IVY WG is to provide a venue for discussion of
inventory YANG models from across IETF Areas under a common umbrella
to facilitate distribution of the work, clarify the scope of each
model, and minimize overlap between them.  The Working Group may
also dispatch some inventory work towards Working Groups in the
Operations and Management Area as well as other Areas, if appropriate.

An objective of this effort is to derive common building-blocks for
inventory modeling that can be augmented, imported, or reused by other
IETF models. The WG will also identify a set of requirements and
guidelines to ensure consistency across models related to inventory.

The scope of the work extends to the inventory of network elements,
with a primary focus on those that operate at layers 0-3, and includes
both hardware and software inventory. Mapping the inventory models
that will be produced by the WG into existing IETF models (e.g.,
ietf-network-topology) is also in scope.

The Working Group will consider existing IETF work, including RFC 8348
and RFC 8345.

Work specifying the use of inventory content is outside the scope of
the Working Group, but informative examples describing how the
inventory data may be used is within scope.

The IVY WG will initially focus on developing a core network inventory
model that can be used as a foundation by other models to establish
technology-specific inventory models.  The following activities will
be used to help achieve this goal.  It is expected that many of these
items will not lead to the publication of RFCs, although
Internet-Drafts may be used to track discussions and establish
consensus:

  A. Terminology and Scope: Definition of the scope of inventory as
     well as a common architecture and terminology. An effort will be
     made to keep terminology aligned with, or mapped to,
     industry-wide activities including initiatives in the ITU-T, TMF,
     MEF, Openconfig, and ONF.

  B. Hardware/Software components including licenses: Hardware and
     Software component management to allow network operators to keep
     track of which physical/virtual devices are deployed in the
     network, including software and hardware versions as well as
     licenses/entitlement.

  C. Physical locations: Indicate the physical position of the network
     elements (such as, site, room, rack, shelf, slot) to provide
     precise location information.

  D. Multi-domain and multi-layer: Consistent representation and
     reporting of network inventory to maintain a centralized view of
     all network element component types across multiple network
     segments and layers of the underlying network under the same
     management and ownership.

  E. Mapping and correlation semantics: Correlating the inventory with
     existing IETF models e.g., topology, service attachment points
     (SAP), etc.

  F. Security and privacy issues: The information in a network
     inventory is highly sensitive as it potentially exposes critical
     information about the internal topology, characterization of the
     components that are used to build that topology, and precise
     device location information that could indirectly identify user
     locations.  Standard protocol mechanisms, e.g., the use of NACM
     [RFC 8341], are expected to be used to prevent unauthorized
     access.  However, the Working Group must consider whether
     additional security mechanisms (such as specific operational
     guidance, or data minimization of precise location data) are
     needed to protect this information from unauthorized access,
     manipulation, or the indirect exposition of private user
     identifying data.

Milestones:

  Oct 2023 - Adopt an Internet-Draft describing a core network inventory YANG
  data model that can be used as a foundation by other YANG models to
  establish technology-specific inventory models.

  Jul 2024 - Request publication of the below YANG data model.