[IPFIX]Re: [Editorial Errata Reported] RFC7011 (8313)

[Paolo Lucente <[e-mail]>]

Hi Benoit, Med,

Looking forward to your thoughts, please let me share some field 
experience from the collector stand point: i have total seen exporters 
using e-bit in conjunction with IANA-allocated fields, they are out 
there (especially in the non-routing business, ie. firewalls, CGNs, etc.).

The meaning for this (i derived myself from field experience) is: the 
exporter is using a IANA-allocated field but "in a special way", 
typically, the purpose is the same but the encoding differs. pmacct, the 
open-source (IPFIX, among the other things) collector i maintain, also 
to tackle these scenarios, does allow users to change the semantics / 
decoder basing (also) on IE/PEN combos.

This leads me to think this errata will contraddict a practice among 
implementors of some IPFIX exporters. My personal take is that the 
current non-restrictive wording of the RFC is added-value.

Paolo


On 25/2/25 14:33, Benoit Claise wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> Med is right in his thinking. We could have more precise with the 
> specifications.
> 
> Whether this errata is Verified or Hold for Document Update, I 
> personally don't believe it's important as IMO this was never an issue 
> in collector implementations.
> 
> Regards, Benoit
> 
> 
> On 2/25/2025 2:13 PM, RFC Errata System wrote:
>> The following errata report has been submitted for RFC7011,
>> "Specification of the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Protocol for 
>> the Exchange of Flow Information".
>>
>> --------------------------------------
>> You may review the report below and at:
>> https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid8313
>>
>> --------------------------------------
>> Type: Editorial
>> Reported by: Mohamed Boucadair <[e-mail]>
>>
>> Section: 3.2
>>
>> Original Text
>> -------------
>>     E
>>
>>        Enterprise bit.  This is the first bit of the Field Specifier.  If
>>        this bit is zero, the Information Element identifier identifies an
>>        Information Element in [IANA-IPFIX], and the four-octet Enterprise
>>        Number field MUST NOT be present.  If this bit is one, the
>>        Information Element identifier identifies an enterprise-specific
>>        Information Element, and the Enterprise Number field MUST be
>>        present.
>>
>>     Information Element identifier
>>
>>        A numeric value that represents the Information Element.  Refer to
>>        [IANA-IPFIX].
>>
>> Corrected Text
>> --------------
>>     E
>>
>>        Enterprise bit.  This is the first bit of the Field Specifier.  If
>>        this bit is zero, the Information Element identifier identifies an
>>        Information Element in [IANA-IPFIX], and the four-octet Enterprise
>>        Number field MUST NOT be present.  If this bit is one, the
>>        Information Element identifier identifies an enterprise-specific
>>        Information Element, and the Enterprise Number field MUST be
>>        present.
>>
>>     Information Element identifier
>>
>>        A numeric value that represents the Information Element. This 
>> field
>>        takes a value in [IANA-IPFIX] when the E bit is set to zero.
>>
>> Notes
>> -----
>> Makes it explicit that the values in [IANA-IPFIX] only applies when 
>> the is E-bit is unset.
>>
>> An alternative would be to simply delete "Refer to [IANA-IPFIX]." as 
>> the exact behavior is already mentioned under the E bit description.
>>
>> Instructions:
>> -------------
>> This erratum is currently posted as "Reported". (If it is spam, it
>> will be removed shortly by the RFC Production Center.) Please
>> use "Reply All" to discuss whether it should be verified or
>> rejected. When a decision is reached, the verifying party
>> will log in to change the status and edit the report, if necessary.
>>
>> --------------------------------------
>> RFC7011 (draft-ietf-ipfix-protocol-rfc5101bis-10)
>> --------------------------------------
>> Title               : Specification of the IP Flow Information Export 
>> (IPFIX) Protocol for the Exchange of Flow Information
>> Publication Date    : September 2013
>> Author(s)           : B. Claise, Ed., B. Trammell, Ed., P. Aitken
>> Category            : INTERNET STANDARD
>> Source              : IP Flow Information Export
>> Stream              : IETF
>> Verifying Party     : IESG
>>
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