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IAB workshop on the Next Era of Network Management Operations (NEMOPS)

Introduction

The IAB organized a workshop in June 2002 to establish a dialog between network operators and protocol developers, and to guide IETF when working on network management protocols. The outcome of that workshop was documented in the "Overview of the 2002 IAB Network Management Workshop" [RFC3535] which identified 14 operator requirements for consideration in future network management protocol design and related data models, along with some recommendations for the IETF.

Those requirements were instrumental in developing first the NETCONF protocol (in the NETCONF Working Group) [RFC6241], the associated YANG data modeling language (in the NETMOD Working Group) [RFC7950], RESTCONF [RFC8040], and most recently CORECONF [I-D.ietf-core-comi].

More than 20 years later, it is timely to evaluate what has been achieved since the original workshop. This new workshop aims to discuss the following key topics:

  • Review the outcomes and results of the 2002 workshop (current deployments, state of the art) and identify any operational barriers that prevent these technologies from being widely implemented (limitations, hurdles).

  • Sketch new requirements for future network management operations in a collaborative manner with the industry, and develop a plan of action and recommendations for the IETF.

Review of the 2002 Workshop Outcomes

The IAB NEMOPS workshop will provide an assessment of the RFC3535 requirements in terms of specifications completeness. Also, this workshop will assess to what extent the RFC3535 recommendations were driving network management efforts within the IETF and influencing other Standards Development Organizations' (SDOs) activities.

Regarding operator deployments, discussion topics will include, but are not limited to:

  • What do implementations and deployments look like today?

  • What issues did operators encounter during implementation?

  • What IETF network management standards are operators deploying today?

  • How are existing IETF network management standards insufficient for operators' needs?

  • What additional features or requirements do operators feel need to be standardized (possibly by the IETF)?

  • What alternative (i.e., non-IETF) solutions are being deployed that better fit operators' needs?

Laying a path for the future of Network Management

Network topologies have become significantly more complex since the 2002 IAB workshop, as have the router and host technologies. Assuming this trend will continue, this workshop's ambition is to lay a new directional foundation for the continued future of network management protocols, gathering new input on what new issues network operators and network management implementers are facing.

The candidate items for discussion include, but are not limited to:

  • Tooling, opensource, experimentation, proof of concept, multi-vendor interoperability test (e.g., EANTC), system integration

  • Data consistency to support richer observability (Data & Knowledge)

  • Integration issues with the business layer

  • Automation, orchestration, and autonomy

Recommendations that may come out of this effort should be helpful to the global industry, including the IETF, the IRTF, as well as implementers, operational groups, and other entities.

Out of scope topics

A workshop dedicated to management techniques related to encrypted networks has recently been held [RFC9490]. Another workshop dedicated to the environmental impact of Internet applications and systems has also been held [RFC9547]. These topics are, therefore, out of scope for this workshop. Topics that are clearly in the scope of NMRG in IRTF are also out of scope.

Pre-Workshop Information Gathering & Outreach

In 2002, many network operators attended IETF meetings and participated in network management protocol discussions. Direct IETF participation from network operators has since decreased, with many operators focusing on conferences that are more central to their needs (RIPE, NANOG, APRICOT, AutoConn, etc.). These are not an official part of the IAB workshop.

Under this effort, we expect to stimulate an outreach effort to attract opinions and interest by visiting these other venues and running virtual sessions. This series of outreach efforts will be concluded by a final online Workshop where the group will summarize the findings.

The mailing list nemops-interest@iab.org will be used for outreach events at other conferences, general announcements, and related discussions before the workshop.

Workshop

Interested participants in the workshop are invited to submit position papers on the workshop topics. There are no restrictions on the format. Participants can choose their preferred format, including Internet-Drafts, text- or word-based documents, or papers formatted similar as used by academic publication venues. Submission as PDF is preferred. Paper size is not limited, but brevity is encouraged. Interested participants who have published relevant academic papers may submit these as a position paper, optionally with a short abstract explaining their interest and the paper’s relevance to the workshop. The workshop itself will be focused on discussions based on the position paper topics received.

All inputs submitted and considered relevant will be published on the workshop website. The organizers will issue invitations based on the submissions received. Sessions will be organized according to content, and not every accepted submission or invited attendee will have an opportunity to present; the intent is to foster an active discussion and not simply to have a sequence of presentations. The workshop may also include breakout sessions. A workshop report covering all submissions and the workshop discussion will be published afterwards.

The workshop will be by invitation only. Those wishing to attend should submit a position paper to address the above topics and questions. Position papers from those not planning to attend the workshop themselves are also encouraged.

The online workshop would likely be three 2-3h sessions spread over the week based on submissions and the availability of the invited participants.

Logistics

This workshop will be held online.

  • Submissions Due: TBD
  • Invitations Issued by: TBD
  • Workshop Dates (TBD): 1 week of December 2024
  • Program Committee (TBD): Wes Hardaker, Qin Wu, Suresh Krishnan, Benoît Claise, Mohamed Boucadair, Mahesh Jethanandani, Dhruv Dhody

Feel free to contact the Program Committee with any further questions: nemops-workshop-pc@iab.org.